Uppeldi og menntun - 01.01.2010, Side 111

Uppeldi og menntUn/icelandic JoUrnal of edUcation 19(1–2)/2010 111
H Ja lt i J Ó n Sv e i n S So n o g Bö r KU r H a n S en
um Höfunda
Börkur Hansen (borkur@hi.is) er prófessor við Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands.
Hann lauk B.A.-prófi í uppeldis- og sálfræði frá Háskóla Íslands árið 1982, meistara-
prófi frá Háskólanum í Alberta í stjórnunarfræði menntastofnana 1984 og doktorsprófi
frá sama skóla 1987. Rannsóknir hans hafa einkum snúist um skólastjórnun, skólaþróun
og stjórnskipulag skóla.
Hjalti Jón Sveinsson (hjalti@vma.is) hefur verið skólameistari Verkmenntaskólans á
Akureyri síðan 1999. Hann lauk Cand.Mag.-prófi frá Háskóla Íslands árið 1986 og
M.Ed.-prófi í uppeldis- og menntunarfræðum frá sama skóla árið 2009. Megináhuga-
svið hans er stjórnun og skólaþróun.
Enrolment in the Department of General Studies
at Akureyri Comprehensive College
Why do some students drop out while others continue with their
studies?
aBstraCt
The question which forms the basis of this research project is why some students, who
enrolled into the Department of General Studies (DGS) at Akureyri Comprehensive
College (VMA), dropped out after a relatively short stay, while others continued with
their studies. Special actions were made at VMA when schools were given freedom
to organise Departments of General Studies in 1999, resulting in various forms of
assistance for students. The students who enrol in the DGS program have not fulfilled
the minimum requirements in at least two subjects in the National Exams at the end of
10th grade. The general belief at VMA is that a lack of self-esteem, broken self-image
and little interest in furthering their education is characteristic of many of the students
in the DGS program.
Student records at VMA show that 60% of students who had enrolled in the DGS
program had left without completing any definite qualifications. This implied that the
different forms of assistance, especially designed with the needs of this group in mind,
hadn’t been successful enough. This observation made it intriguing to investigate if
factors outside school influenced the students, i.e. in a positive or a negative way.
Accordingly, it was seen as important to look at both the experience of the drop-outs
as well as the students who continued their studies at VMA, i.e. finished them or aim
at doing so. The study focused mainly on two factors; the students’ belief in their own
abilities and their motivation for learning.
When the preparation for the research project began, the ideas of Bandura and