Young people navigating the education system in Norway

Youth Research Centre & Social Transformation in Education Hub Seminar

Presented by: PhD Candidate Anna-Maria Stenseth, The Arctic University of Norway

In this seminar, Anna-Maria Stenseth explores how young students make decisions in their pathway from lower to upper secondary school in Northern Norway.  A special focus of this presentation will be placed on the analysis of how gender and geographical context can influence educational orientation and experiences, and transitions for secondary school students. The seminar draws from interviews with 20 students who completed Year 10 in two different schools in two municipalities, one rural and one urban, in the northern part of Norway. It also draws on important concepts within sociology of youth, such as belonging, (indigenous) identity, reflexivity and transitions to explore the experiences of Norwegian students. Against the grain of rural youth and education literature that affirms that rural youth out-migration is inevitable after leaving school, this research shows that some students opt to stay in their communities to make a life.

Anna-Maria Stenseth is a PhD candidate in the Department of Teacher Education and Pedagogy at The Arctic University of Norway. Her research interests revolve around pedagogy, equality in education, Indigenous education and rural youth transitions. Anna-Maria is part of the RUR-ED Spatial Inequalities and Spatial Justice in Education project, which is financed by the Norwegian Research Council (2016 to 2022).