High school experience and agency of South Korean and Finnish pre-service educators

Abstract

The upper secondary schooling period is the time when the young seek their interests and gain a deeper understanding of themselves while making initial major choices in their life. Therefore, the agency of students to realize their own values and pursue them should be enhanced in the school environment. This research aims to trace high school education and its effect on agency. For this study, semi-structured individual interviews and quantitative sur veys were done with ten pre-service educators from South Korea and Finland, who have experience of studying subject teacher qualification at master’s level. The interview and survey questions were related to their studying experiences and relationship with others at high school, parents’ influence, career choices, and ideas about the future. The Capability Approach (CA) and family resources were taken as discussion tools over the findings. The findings indicate that the score-oriented educational climate of high school education in South Korea hinders students’ expansion of their capabilities and freedom. Finnish pre-service educators have higher satisfaction about their upper secondary education than their South Korean counterparts. Family influence on education and career choice in South Korea is bigger than in Finland. The study sheds a light on the importance of a healthy upper secondary school environment, where students are supported to explore and follow their interests. To encourage the expansion of capabilities of the youth, interesting and in-depth learning opportunities, supportive educational climate including respectful relationships at school and at home are required.