LISTENING TO STUDENTS’ VOICES: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY ON WELL-BEING AND EDUCATIONAL POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UNIVERSITY EXAM PREPARATION

Date

2024-12

Author

Şahin, Elif

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This thesis aims to understand the experiences of 11th and 12th grade students, attending a medium size science high school in a small district in Türkiye’s West Anatolia region. The phenomenological study specifically focuses on participants’ well-being and the mechanisms they use to cope with the stress and other factors they encounter as they are preparing for university entrance examinations. The study included 14 participants (n=9 female, n=5. male), and data is collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The interviews explored students' perceptions of stress, coping mechanisms, and support needs during the exam preparation process while also seeking to reveal students' needs related to the challenges they face during the exam preparation process. The theoretical framework of the study is based on Freire's Critical Pedagogy (1970), Masten's Resilience Theory (2001), and Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (1979) as this study explores how students build resilience in the face of challenges and offers significant insights for educational policies in Türkiye. Ultimately, the study ultimately contributes to policy-making processes at the school level, strengthening the school-parent partnership and identifying actionable methods to enhance student well-being. Emphasizing the importance of giving students a greater voice within the education system, this thesis highlights the need to develop supportive educational policies to help reduce the pressure and stress that hundreds of thousands of students experience throughout the exam preparation period.

Subject Keywords

Well-being, Science High School, University Entrance Exam, Educational Policies

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/112932

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis