This paper explores the potential of expanding ethnography creatively, by using playful and arts-based methods (Barone & Eisner, 2012; Coleman, 2009, 2013). In the case of this study, methodological exploration, consisting of collage making and card games, has been part of field work with young people, investigating their aspirations and orientations toward future educational pathways and how this connects to larger patterns of social inequality.

Building on data from this field work, the paper reflects on the co-production of knowledge in educational research with young people and asks the research question: How can arts-based and creative methods be particularly useful in a participatory exploration of how social and affective imaginaries help shape young people’s educational choice-making processes?

In Denmark, education is viewed as a cornerstone of the welfare state, essential for promoting social mobility and equality. Public schools have been considered crucial as meeting places and for promoting social integration. However, recent decades have seen stagnation in social mobility traditionally facilitated by education (OECD, 2020, p. 4) and despite policies aimed at ensuring equal access to education, social divisions and unequal opportunities are increasing. Using the welfare state of Denmark as a case study, where education is free and (in theory) equally accessible, the research set out to investigate educational choices and the inequalities these perpetuate. Building on anthropological perspectives that conceptualize choice as a social ongoing process (Boholm et al., 2013), young people's choices are examined through the analytical lens of affective imaginaries (Zembylas, 2023). This framework highlights how affect shapes their social orientation (Ahmed, 2006) toward certain institutions while steering them away from others. This paper is thus occupied with expanding ethnographic research through creativity and playfullness to generate knowledge about affective dimensions of educational choice-making processes and social division.

Drawing on fieldwork conducted in two neighboring schools and employing a mix of qualitative, arts-based and playful methods, the study adopts a youth-perspective (Kehily, 2007; McLeod, 2010), highlighting the specific situatedness of youth, as for example the cultural and social context, and the often-overlooked importance of peer relationships in educational decision-making processes (Andersen & Hjortskov, 2022). Young people’s heightened social orientation toward their peers significantly influences their imaginaries of future educational environments. The study highlighst the social weight of choice-making processes, which extend beyond academic considerations. Many aspire to identify with future classmates, thrive socially, and feel a sense of alignment with the atmosphere of specific educational institutions. However, official policies, and educational institutions emphasize a rational and linear approach to educational choice-making, which can inadvertently lead to anxiety and tension among young people. This highlights the need for research methods that go beyond replicating the more traditional framework of educational choice and rather fosters open and reflective dialogue with young people. Thus, an arts-based approach does not only make the research process more inclusive, relatable, and accessible for young participants. It also aligns with young people’s educational choice-making process, as it emerges as a social and affective process shaped by human and non-human relations.

Based on field work experiences and the data produced through creative ethnography, the paper argues that understanding how young people’s educational choice making processes are shaped requires attention to affect and becoming, which can be fostered through arts-based methods (Coleman, 2013). It furthermore finds that by doing research through arts-based approaches, enables engagement with youth on terms attuned to them. This makes it possible to do research-with research participants, and co-produce knowledge and insights that illuminate the situatedness and complexities of young people’s educational choices and aspirations. 

This paper is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted over an eight-month period (Autumn 2023 – Spring 2024) in two Danish school classes: a 9th-grade class in a public school and an 8th-grade class in a neighboring private school. The schools were located in two suburbs of Copenhagen, one an ethnically mixed middle-class area, and the other a predominantly white upper-middle-class neighborhood. The selection of these schools was designed to explore how social difference, particularly in relation to class and ethnicity, manifests in educational aspirations and decision-making within the same geographical area. The study engaged 40 students (aged 13–15 years) through a multi-method approach, incorporating participant observation, semi-structured group interviews, creative workshops, and game-based inquiry. Over the course of the fieldwork, I actively participated in class activities, integrating into the everyday school environment while collecting observational notes, photographs, and relevant materials. The body of data includes 11 semi-structured friend-group interviews and 12 creative workshops, facilitating a youth centered and participatory research approach. A key methodological component involved arts-based and game-based inquiry, designed to research-with young participants rather than imposing a traditional hierarchical researcher-subject dynamic. This approach is grounded in feminist philosophy, which frames knowledge production as situated, embodied, and co-constructed between researcher and participants (Coleman et al., 2024). Fieldwork is conceptualized as a research event, where knowledge does not preexist but rather emerges through interaction, dialogue, and affective engagement. One of the primary participatory methods used was a card game designed to explore young people’s perceptions and valuations of different educational trajectories. The game consisted of playing cards featuring various educational programs and job titles, prompting students to discuss and rank their preferences. As participants played, they articulated aspirations, desires, and discomforts surrounding different educational routes, offering insight into their social imaginaries connected to education. Beyond verbal exchanges, the embodied and affective dimensions of the game, waves of laughter, hesitation, and intensity, were equally significant in shaping the data. Collage-making workshops (Coleman, 2009) were integrated into the group interview process. Participants created paper collages during in-person sessions or digital collages on Padlet afterward, visualizing their aspirations, future trajectories, and everyday imaginations. The workshops concluded with presentations and discussions, where students reflected on their collages, elaborating on their choices and interpretations. These discussions, alongside the artistic products themselves, formed a critical part of the data, revealing abstract and affective dimensions of young people’s orientations toward education and the future.

This study demonstrates the potential of arts- and play-based ethnographic methods in generating new insights into how young people navigate educational choice. By engaging participants in digital collage-making, the research captured how they collectively envisioned their futures. These collages revealed shared themes, such as financial stability, heterosexual family life, and conventional success. All dominating expectations of a Danish middle-class life, that highlighting the constraints young people face in imagining alternative routes. Individual collage-making further illustrated how young people engage in building their futures, actively constructing and negotiating imagined trajectories. However, while participants expressed a desire for a middle-class life, their immediate concerns were overwhelmingly social and rooted in the here and now. Relationships, place attachment, and present experiences shaped their choices far more than long-term academic aspirations. This underscores how educational decision-making is deeply embedded in social and relational contexts, rather than being purely individual or future oriented. The card game method added another layer of insight by capturing participants’ spontaneous and affective reactions to different educational trajectories. The game revealed how certain routes emerged as more or less desirable through play, shaped by embodied responses and social interactions. As knowledge was produced through immediacy and affective intensity, the game provided a valuable, relational perspective on how educational choices take form. In conclusion, this study highlights the methodological value of integrating arts- and play-based approaches into ethnographic research with young people. The methods culturally sensitive approach and attention to attunement and situatedness, contributes knowledge useful to the international field of studies on education and social division.

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