A Disadvantaged Student Group: Educational Experiences of Working Children

Abstract

Purpose:The present study aims to analyze the availability of educational services for working students.The study attempts to determine the impact of educational activities conducted in schools attended by working students on education quality, the problems and expectations of working students based on the views of the stakeholders.Design/Methodology/Approach: The participants include school administrators, teachers and parents of working students in the qualitative study. Conducting the research at the secondary school level is seen as a limitation. The participants of the study consist of secondary school administrators and children who study in these schools. Semi-structured interview forms are employed as the data collection instrument, and the collected data are analyzed with the content analysis method.Findings: The study findings demonstrated that educational activities had certain negative effects such as disinterest in schooling, academic failure, fatigue, absenteeism, and undesired behavior, as well as positive effects such as acquisition of a vocation, maturity, and protection. The stakeholders suggested issues such as negative role models, absenteeism, fatigue, early professional responsibilities, conflict, academic failure, and recommendations such as parent training, financial support, and vocational training. It was determined that these students expected financial support, parent training and planned work schedules.Highlights: It could be suggested that there are various interactive dimensions of the employment of educational activities for working children, and future policies that are specific to the problem and the region could be more effective when compared to the present centralist approaches.