“I won’t try my best”: a narrative inquiry of a student’s graduation policy appropriation

• Published in: Asia Pacific education review Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 743 - 755
• Main Authors: Yu, Chengyuan, Zhao, Cecilia Guanfang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.12.2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V; 교육연구소
• Subjects: Beliefs; College Students; Education; Educational Policy; Graduation; Graduations & commencements; Interviews; Power Structure; School Policy; Semi Structured Interviews; Sociocultural Patterns; Student Attitudes; Student Experience; 교육학; Master of Translation and Interpreting; Higher education; Policy appropriation; Educational policy
• ISSN: 1598-1037; 1876-407X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12564-021-09714-9

This narrative inquiry documented a university student’s graduation policy appropriation from a sociocultural perspective and explored how various factors may have affected this appropriation process in a particular higher education context. Longitudinal data from various sources, such as semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, and diary entries, were analyzed to reconstruct the student’s lived experience of the policy appropriation process. It was found that the student policy appropriation was possibly related to the constant reformation and negotiation of their own personal interests, motivations, beliefs, and experiences, and the dynamic influences of other policy actors and their actions. The student policy appropriation was found to be situated within a local context of power hierarchy. Students, at the lower end of the power hierarchy tended to compromise when their interests, motivations, and beliefs were in conflict with the teachers and program coordinators. This study contributes to an understanding of the complexities involved in educational policy appropriations from a student perspective and reveals the implications for educational policymaking and policy implementation.