Suchergebnisse

Acquisition and enhancement of social capital is a continuous process of negotiation and interaction between self and social context. While the concept of social capital has been dealt with extensively in international research, relatively few studies have explored social capital among young people, particularly in the school context. This paper considers access of first-year students (age twelve to thirteen years) to school-based social capital in secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland. Drawing on several theories dealing with social capital, the paper describes factors that are likely to have an impact on the acquisition process. It is argued in the paper that access to teacher- and peer-based social capital may provide valuable resources that ease the transition process for students as they move from primary schools to secondary level.

In this study we explore how absence from sociology classes is understood by undergraduate students at University College Dublin. The authors use Scott and Lyman's (1968) concept of accounts to explore absence sociologically. Drawing on data generated via focus groups, an open-ended questionnaire, and an online survey with students, we outline the different excuses and justifications for missing classes used by students and present their understanding of attendance at classes as an optional feature of student life. Individual students' attendance differed across courses, throwing doubt on the usefulness of individual-level frameworks for understanding attendance. We argue that decisions to attend are influenced by a variety of contextual issues, including knowledge of legitimate accounts for the setting, pedagogic approaches in use, and students' perceptions of the usefulness of classes. We conclude that to counter the trend of declining attendance and enhance student learning, it is important to better understand how both local norms, values, curriculum design, and assessment practices combine to facilitate students' absences. Focusing on accounts allows us to better understand student absence rather than accepting this as an inevitable feature of contemporary student behavior about which nothing much can be done.