Upper Secondary School Students’ Learning at Work: The Effect on Agency in School
In light of the fact that an increasing number of upper secondary school students in Estonia work in parallel with attending school or during school holidays, the purpose of the study was to ascertain whether work experience and the competencies acquired through work are, in combination with other s...
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MDPI AG
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Social Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/1/17 |
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| author | Maria Erss Krista Loogma |
| author_facet | Maria Erss Krista Loogma |
| author_sort | Maria Erss |
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| description | In light of the fact that an increasing number of upper secondary school students in Estonia work in parallel with attending school or during school holidays, the purpose of the study was to ascertain whether work experience and the competencies acquired through work are, in combination with other school-related (teacher agency support), personal (resilience, achievement in Estonian language, mathematics and history) and socio-demographic (gender and mother tongue) factors, related to student agency in school. The second aim was to broaden the understanding of what students learn at work. The study used a mixed-methods approach involving a survey of upper secondary students (aged 16–19, <i>N</i> = 3179) in 30 schools followed by qualitative interviews with 18–19-year-old students who have gained work experience (<i>N</i> = 13). The analysis comprises a hierarchical linear regression analysis (<i>N</i> = 1947) and a thematic analysis of the interviews. The results indicate that work experience, perseverance, teacher agency support, male gender and Estonian mother tongue are positively related to agency while various skills learned at work had no relationship and student achievement in history was only relevant before work experience was added to the model. The interviews showed that students develop skills related to, e.g., self-regulation, self-awareness, career-awareness, social skills and self-confidence through work. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-316d114c342a4672853c6a6f513c224c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2076-0760 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-316d114c342a4672853c6a6f513c224c2025-01-24T13:49:41ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602025-01-011411710.3390/socsci14010017Upper Secondary School Students’ Learning at Work: The Effect on Agency in SchoolMaria Erss0Krista Loogma1School of Educational Sciences, Tallinn University, 10120 Tallinn, EstoniaSchool of Educational Sciences, Tallinn University, 10120 Tallinn, EstoniaIn light of the fact that an increasing number of upper secondary school students in Estonia work in parallel with attending school or during school holidays, the purpose of the study was to ascertain whether work experience and the competencies acquired through work are, in combination with other school-related (teacher agency support), personal (resilience, achievement in Estonian language, mathematics and history) and socio-demographic (gender and mother tongue) factors, related to student agency in school. The second aim was to broaden the understanding of what students learn at work. The study used a mixed-methods approach involving a survey of upper secondary students (aged 16–19, <i>N</i> = 3179) in 30 schools followed by qualitative interviews with 18–19-year-old students who have gained work experience (<i>N</i> = 13). The analysis comprises a hierarchical linear regression analysis (<i>N</i> = 1947) and a thematic analysis of the interviews. The results indicate that work experience, perseverance, teacher agency support, male gender and Estonian mother tongue are positively related to agency while various skills learned at work had no relationship and student achievement in history was only relevant before work experience was added to the model. The interviews showed that students develop skills related to, e.g., self-regulation, self-awareness, career-awareness, social skills and self-confidence through work.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/1/17student agencywork experienceperseveranceteacher supportstudent achievementgender |
| spellingShingle | Maria Erss Krista Loogma Upper Secondary School Students’ Learning at Work: The Effect on Agency in School Social Sciences student agency work experience perseverance teacher support student achievement gender |
| title | Upper Secondary School Students’ Learning at Work: The Effect on Agency in School |
| title_full | Upper Secondary School Students’ Learning at Work: The Effect on Agency in School |
| title_fullStr | Upper Secondary School Students’ Learning at Work: The Effect on Agency in School |
| title_full_unstemmed | Upper Secondary School Students’ Learning at Work: The Effect on Agency in School |
| title_short | Upper Secondary School Students’ Learning at Work: The Effect on Agency in School |
| title_sort | upper secondary school students learning at work the effect on agency in school |
| topic | student agency work experience perseverance teacher support student achievement gender |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/1/17 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mariaerss uppersecondaryschoolstudentslearningatworktheeffectonagencyinschool AT kristaloogma uppersecondaryschoolstudentslearningatworktheeffectonagencyinschool |