ERIC EJ1101185: What Does It Mean to Be a Student in Different Types of High Schools in Turkey through the Eyes of Students?

KURAM VE UYGULAMADA EGiTiM BiLiMLERi EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE Received: June 25,2015 Revision received: November 6,2015 Copyright © 2016 EDAM Accepted: December 31,2015 www.estp.com.tr OnlineFirst: February 29,2016 DOI 10.12738/estp.2016.1.0157 ♦ February 2016 ♦ 16(1) ♦ 231-259 Research Article What Does It Mean To Be a Student in Different Types of High Schools in Turkey through the Eyes of Students?* Mustafa Sever 1 Ankara University 4 Yonca Koc'inar Ankara University A. Fulya Soguksu 2 Ankara University Mtige Olgun’ Gazi University inci Ozttirk' Ankara University Ersin Ture 3 Ankara University Nergiz Ugiincu 1 ’ Ankara University Abstract Being a student describes a multi-component reality with both individualistic and social inclusions. How this reality is established and how subjects position themselves in their current educational environments historically, culturally, and sociologically are one of the most controversial topics of educational sciences. Therefore, this study investigates what it means to be a student in different types of high schools in Turkey through students’ eyes. This study was conducted using a phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research designs. Convenience sampling was used to determine which schools and which types of schools would take part in the study. Semistructured, personal, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 96 eleventh graders from six different types of high schools (eight girls and eight boys from each type of high school: science, Anatolian, vocational and technical Anatolian, fine arts, social sciences, and Anatolian imam and preacher high schools) from the central districts of Ankara. The data was analyzed using the phenomenological analysis method in order to reach the core that turns different experiences into commonalities. The cores that were revealed as a result of the analysis were consolidated under two main themes: “who the students think they are” and “how they differ themselves from other students.” Keywords Phenomenology • High school types • High school student • Student experience • Educational sociology * An earlier, abbreviated version of this article was presented at the International Congress on Education for the Future: Issues and Challenges, Ankara, Turkey, May 13-15, 2015. This research was funded by the Ankara University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit (Project No. 15B0630001). The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the Ankara University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit. 1 Correspondence to: Mustafa Sever (PhD), Department of Secondary Social Sciences Education, Ankara University, Ankara Turkey. Email: sever@education.ankara.edu.tr 2 Department of Foreign Language Education, Ankara University, Ankara Turkey. Email: fsahin@ankara.edu.tr 3 Department of Curriculum, Ankara University, Ankara Turkey. Email: eture@ankara.edu.tr 4 Department of Cultural Foundations of Education, Ankara University, Ankara Turkey. Email: ykocmar@ankara.edu.tr 5 Department of Curriculum, Gazi University, Ankara Turkey. Email: mugeolgunO@gmail.com 6 Department of Cultural Foundations of Education, Ankara University, Ankara Turkey. Email: nucuncu@ankara.edu.tr 7 Department of Educational Administration and Policy, Ankara University, Ankara Turkey. Email: iozturk@ankara.edu.tr Citation: Sever, M., Soguksu, A. E,Tiire, E., Kogmar, Y., Olgun, M., Uguncti, N., & Ozttirk, 1. (2016). What does it mean to be a student in different types of high schools in Turkey through the eyes of students? Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 16, 231-259. http://dx.doi.Org/10.12738/estp.2016.1.0157 edam EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE The notion of “student” does not correspond to a totally homogenous group in daily life when one considers such components as their interests, requirements, future expectations, socio-economic status, and environment. Being a student describes a multi-component reality with both individualistic and social inclusions. How this reality is established or how subjects are positioned historically, culturally, or sociologically in their current schools or educational environments is one of the most controversial topics of educational sciences. Nevertheless, the central problem in this research is what kind of interactions do students with different characteristics (positive attitudes, successful/unsuccessful, learning disabilities, etc.) have, rather than what it means to be a student. School, on one hand, forms a different base for one to establish being a student; on the other hand, school works in tandem with what is brought in from outside. In the most general sense, this research discusses the workings of the deliberation between school and student rather than the results of the deliberation. Accordingly, the research is intrinsically structured as an effort to discover how experiences are interpreted by students while investigating these experiences fro