Survey n°4
Working Group: SLOVAKIA
Your Name: MACHACEK LADISLAV
Title of the study: A representative sociological survey of secondary school and university students – participation in the self-governament life of their schools
Authors (who are they): Ladislav Macháček, Maria Bošnáková(Slovakia)
Relevance for Working Group:
The actual hope for a real increase in the interest of young people in public issues and in participation in a representative democracy (e.g. participation in the elections on all levels) is primarily a new structural opportunity – students´ councils at schools were established in compliance with the Slovak National Council Act No. 596 from November 5, 2003 on Public Administration in Schools and School Self-Governament.
Research Question(s):
In concord with general efforts of European institutions to stop the rising threat of the “civic deficit of youth”, our sociological survey also reflects an effort to better analyze the civic and/or political participation of youth. From the methodological point of view, a thesis from the White Paper on Youth (2001) is of specific importance, stating that democratic European governance requires the willingness of young citizens of Europe to deal with public issues. Participation of citizens can be manifested in different forms (discussions in the media, demonstrations, elections to representative bodies at different levels etc.) and, naturally, different intensity, all of which help to legitimize the political system. Democratic systems depend on the level of political involvement and preparedness of its citizens to actively participate in civic and political life, while participation in public discussions and participation in decision making processes in the municipality, school, self-administered region or country is of different significance.
Methodology (Survey, secondary analysis, qualitative data, no. of respondents etc.):
In the survey, we have placed sufficient attention on establishing the level of knowledge and reader competences of students significant for their civic and political participation. Such procedure is not traditional for common sociological youth surveys. Usually only the attitudes and opinions are surveyed, including the preferred values and verbal expressions of the surveyed individuals. In consideration of the nature of our survey, we had to overcome some inhibitions that might have been expressed by the respondents during “face to face” interviews, in the off chance that the interviewer reacted inadequately to his/her response. Since this survey focused on school-going youth, and, despite the fact that the general public is literally inundated with various knowledge quizzes in the mass-media, we also decided to include a knowledge test in the sociological interview.
We have chosen proven questions from two international surveys:
a/Political participation of young people in Europe (2004) www.ucm.sk/cerys
b/Survey of civic literacy CEA conducted in Slovakia in 1998 ŠPU in Bratislava in 14-year-old pupils (www.statpedu.sk)
Status (running, date for completion):
Was conducted in October 2005 on a surveyed sample of secondary school (870 respondents) and university students (829 respondents) in Slovakia The survey was conducted in cooperation of IUVENTA and UIPS in Bratislava.
The data was collected by ASA s r.o.
Results:
The analysis of the outcomes of the sociology survey conducted among secondary school and university students in 2005 uncovered some very interesting information: Knowledge about national and European politics is at an adequate level, in particular in the area of the most elementary and unchanging data and facts. The somewhat more difficult issues of the political life, in regards to the hectic workings of parliamentary democracy, are mainly grasped by students of secondary grammar schools, and some students of secondary technical schools. A number of students attending secondary vocational schools tended to respond “I don’t know” to some of those questions. The tests of civic literacy focusing on the understanding of texts with political contents showed that approximately 25% of all students – both secondary school and university – have problems in correctly understanding the given information. This is particularly true for students of vocational schools. However, university students – also in smaller numbers – had similar problems – to our great surprise. This proved true for students of the second, the third as well as of the fourth grade, for students of philosophical areas, natural sciences as well as technical branches of the study.The participation of students in the activities of school self-government bodies is developing a classical hierarchical shape – the majority of students are informed about their existence, a somewhat lower number of them follow its activities and results, or even personally participates in their sessions; and, an even smaller number of students participate in the elections, and the smallest group is made up of those students who are candidates and actually work in self-government bodies. This is, in fact, the essence of the functioning representative democracy.
The typology of students proved that there is a kind of “core of organizers” arising and forming among the students. It represents approximately 8-9% of the overall age cohort, and most of the students who are candidates in elections to student school councils and/or academic senates belong to this particular group. Their motivation differs and reflects their different interests and needs, but, in general, their motives and reasons are of a positive nature. It is interesting, though, that the other types of students – “the academics“, “money-making professionals“, or „hobbyists“ – they all perceive these activities as positively motivated, and they accept that it is in the interest of implementing their own system of values. The only exception to this is the small group of students – “enjoyers“ – who participate less in the self-government of the school (e.g. their participation in the elections), but this group also gives the notion of “having benefits by participating in the self-government bodies of the school” negative meanings.The secondary school students prefer – in regards to the agenda of student school councils – the area of services, and extracurricular interest-based activities. In terms of the agenda of the academic senate, the university students prefer information services and defending the interests before the executive representatives at school, and labor services allowing the students to take short-term job contracts. Finally, students at both school levels jointly and specifically emphasized the need to develop student scientific and research activities, the task of equipping the school with modern teaching technology. Their requirement as to the possibility of evaluating the teachers with actual results is of specific significance.
Publications (type of publication, language):
Macháček,L. and Šípoš,J. : Student School Councils: an impulse for non-formal education for democracy in Slovakia. Report for Helsinki,2-4..7. 2006
Macháček,L.: Participácia študentov na samospráve stredných a vysokých škôl Slovenska : (sociologický výskum) Bratislava : Iuventa, 2005. – 58 s. – ISBN 80-8072-045-2.
Macháček,L: Žiacke školské rady: neformálne vzdelávanie k demokracii. Mládež a spoločnosť 2006,č.1
Access to raw data for secondary analysis (yes/no?):
Yes
