Abstract:

The commonplace belief that students hate schools and teachers does not seem to apply to the 6000 Greek adult students who willingly attend courses on Greek Language, Mathematics, English Language, Information Technology, Social Education, Environmental Education, Physical Sciences, Cultural - Aesthetic Education in the 63 Second Chance Schools across Greece, in order to complete secondary education and develop their academic, social, and professional skills. However, social benefits and professional profits deriving from their studies in Second Chance Schools do not seem to be enough to explain the strong positive feelings these students experience. On the contrary, their satisfaction is more likely to be linked to the strategies and procedures of project-based learning which are implemented within adult students’ classrooms. The present questionnaire-based research examines through statistical and factor analysis the views of 677 Greek adult students in 24 Second Chance Schools as regards their participation in project-based learning procedures which are widely used in Second Chance Schools and scarcely in ordinary mainstream schools in Greece. The results of the study show that project-based learning facilitates adult students’ academic and socioemotional achievements because it increases, inter alia, sharing responsibility, interpersonal cooperation, commitment and self-regulation. They also show that adult students, during project-based learning, are more willing to get involved in researching procedures, to check and strengthen their cognitive background, to cooperate with their teacher, to present their work in public, to exchange ideas and feelings in a secure learning environment. From this point of view learning in Second Chance Schools is more likely to be attractive and constructive as well, at least in comparison to ordinary mainstream Greek secondary education schools where, as earlier research has shown, traditional, frontal, teacher-centred methods minimize cooperativeness, socioemotional achievements, and, consequently, the feelings of learning satisfaction as experienced by both teachers and students.

Keywords:

Project-based learning, adult education, second chance schools, Greece.