Pedagogical Analysis of the Role Models Chosen by High School Students

Abstract

It is considered that role models have a significant influence on individuals’ personality development, academic and occupational careers, social lives and lifestyles. In this sense, the purpose of this study is to determine the role models taken by high school students and to analyze them pedagogically. One of the qualitative research models, case study, was employed in the study. A semi-structured interview form was developed as a data collection tool and was applied to 374 high school students. Content analysis was utilized in order to analyze the data. According to the results, it was identified that the high school students adopted mostly famous people from TV or social media as role models. However, it was also determined that teachers took the lowest place among the role models. Additionally, the students mentioned that they considered fame and prestige as the most important factors when determining their role models. Finally, it was seen that the high school students chose different role models when compared in terms of their grade and school type.