Session Information
05 SES 12 A, Symposium: Doing Participatory Research In Education With At-Risk Participants: Paradoxes And Provocations
Symposium
Contribution
Recent EU analysis (EU 2022) found that in 2021 over one-fifth of the EU population living in households with dependent children was at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Estimates suggest at least 15 million children and young people in Europe have special educational needs. Increasingly in recent years, children and young people affected by these issues have been categorised under the crude description “vulnerable”. This paper discusses some of the findings from research which explored the experiences of vulnerable young people and their families using participatory approaches. It was undertaken in 2021 in a large city in England with high levels of poverty and deprivation. The paper explores how schools, teachers and other professionals can best work with young people to help them overcome the disadvantages they face and examines the methodological challenges of undertaking funded research using participatory approaches, especially during the pandemic. The theoretical framework for the research drew on strengths-based and co-constructed research approaches (Boyle et al, 2010; O’Neill, 2003), alongside critical examinations of social mobility (Todd, 2021) and the discourse around aspirations (Appadurai 2004). Its guiding research questions were: • What are the hopes and expectations of vulnerable young people and families facing disadvantage? • What support have they had both to achieve their hopes and overcome the barriers they face? • What implications do their experiences have for education and social policy and practice? Funded by local government, the research used a participatory approach and was conducted online in 2021 due to pandemic restrictions. It involved 13 young people and their families who had been supported by, or had sought the support of, social services. The approach developed in-depth narratives of their experiences, drawing on interviews, photographs and retrospective reconstructions of key events in their lives, determined by the participants themselves and their families. Data were analysed using the theoretical framework already outlined and the paper will discuss the difficulties of conducting, and analysing, this kind of participatory research. The paper concludes that shifting the discourse away from aspirations and mobilities, which draw too readily on negative, deficit models, towards exploring young people’s capacities, capabilities and experiences would help them better realise their goals. It also suggests that to do this, we should be prepared to acknowledge the “messiness” of social research (Law 2004); listen to young people more effectively; and find better ways to negotiate representing their views with funders.
References
Appadurai, A. (2004) The capacity to aspire: Culture and the terms of recognition, in Rao, V. and Walton, M. (eds.) Culture and Public Action. Stamford: Stamford University Press, 59-84. Boyle, D., Slay, J., and Stephens, L. (2010) Public services inside out: Putting co-production into practice. London: NESTA. Eurostat (2022) Children at risk of poverty or social exclusion. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Living_conditions_in_Europe. Law, J. (2004). After Method: Mess in Social Science Research. Abingdon: Routledge. O'Neil, D. (2003) Clients as researchers: The benefits of strengths-based research, in Munford, R. and Sanders, J. (eds.) Making a Difference in Families: Research that Creates Change. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 113-129. Todd, S. (2021) Snakes and Ladders: The Great British Social Mobility Myth. London: Vintage.
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