What factors promote participation at school among adolescents in secondary education?

This study presents an analysis of the factors favouring participation among adolescents in compulsory secondary education in the city of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Catalonia, Spain). The sample was composed of 297 young people with an average age of 15. We investigated the adolescents' co...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Folgueiras Bertomeu, Pilar, Vilà Baños, Ruth, Aneas, Assumpta
Format: article
Status:Versión aceptada para publicación
Publication Date:2019
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/225417
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/225417
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Educació secundària
Adolescents
Participació ciutadana
Pluralisme cultural
Secondary education
Teenagers
Citizen participation
Cultural pluralism
Description
Summary:This study presents an analysis of the factors favouring participation among adolescents in compulsory secondary education in the city of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Catalonia, Spain). The sample was composed of 297 young people with an average age of 15. We investigated the adolescents' concept of participation, enquiring into what principles, behaviours and feelings they identified with it. Also, we questioned them on their purposes for participating and the consequences deriving from their practice. Finally, we enquired into the different spheres in which they thought they could participate. One outstanding finding was that respondents saw participation in much broader terms than simply voting in elections, instead associating it with feelings of belonging, expression and learning. For the adolescents participation brought personal benefits linked to self-esteem, but above all social benefi ts oriented towards community development. The different spheres in which they participated were mostly their families and schools. A regression analysis was carried out, calculating the predictive weight of all the variables relating to participation. Results indicated that adolescents with a broader concept of participation, i.e. those for whom participating brought a wider range of benefits, participated more. Also, higher levels of participation in the family and neighbourhood were related to greater participation at school.