ABSTRACT:
This article presents and discusses the perspectives of newcomer upper secondary school students about academic difficulties they mention to have experienced in the transition to this last compulsory stage of schooling in Portugal, relating them with the curriculum structure of their courses’ modalities. According to the perspectives gathered in six focus group discussions, this transition seems to bring more positive feelings to students in vocational courses than to those in general academic courses. The former only state to have to adapt to the busy weekly schedules of their courses. The latter struggle with the teaching speed and high demand for autonomous work as a result from the pressure of syllabuses and exams. These findings support the need to invest in the curricular organization of upper secondary education with greater flexibility and openness.
Keywords:
Students’ transitions; Upper secondary school; Student voices; Difficulties