The aim of this project has been to gain insight into subjective student experiences in upper secondary school. The background of the project has been an increased concern for school completion in the Norwegian government's development of education policies. Several studies show that Norwegian school children report relatively high school contentment compared to other countries, yet drop-out rates in upper secondary school have been stable at relatively high rates the last ten years. The eventual impact of school well-being to school withdrawal is the basis of the project. The methodological approach to the topic has been a semi-structured interview of six students in vocational upper secondary school. The interviews were conducted in autumn, 2012. The subsequent analysis was done through phenomenological method. Through these means we attempted to broaden our conception of factors which impact school experience in general and the participants' expressive stances towards different modes of activity, such as tangible and abstract subject matter. Diverse theoretical approaches, such as motivation, critical pedagogy and well-being were seen to be useful in the discussion of the participants' accounts of school experience, which in turn gave a multi-layered insight into different constituents of school life, and the different components' importance for successful school outcomes. Among the most significant findings was that the participants all found upper secondary school to be preferable compared to previous school experiences, as well as how the participants' stances towards teachers and the general social climate changed from lower to upper secondary school. The deductive approach to the problem of school experience is evident in the discussion of the findings. Increased political awareness of drop-outs led to the inquiry about school experience, which in turn led to highlight of the importance of students' bond to school, which subsequently has led to a review of the distinct aims of education in Norway. Whether schools should foremost create future workers to strengthen the Norwegian economy or to ensure a healthy mental development of its students seems to be two perspectives which should be considered further in relation to one another. A comprehensive look on what school participation ultimately should lead to seems warranted, and can be a problem for further study
