Young People as Visual Culture Producers? Reflections on the Results of a Questionnaire

Author(s):

Lander Calvelhe(presenting / submitting)Amaia Arriaga Ilargi Olaiz Idoia Marcellán Baraze

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

05. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

05 SES 12, Urban Education & Children and Youth at Risk

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-21

09:00-10:30

Room:

ESI 2 - Aula 6

Chair:

Mark Hadfield

Contribution

This paper presents the first analysed data from the research project "Youth as Visual Culture Producers: Artistic Skills and Savoir in Secondary Education" financed by the Spanish Innovation and Science Ministry (EDU2009-13712). The focus of the project is onto an aspect that has hardly been of the Spanish researchers' interest in comparison with consumerism and the uses and effects of Visual Culture and media. In this case the spotlight is on the Visual Culture production of young people. The hypothesis underneath is that in secondary education is no taken into account how teenagers are connecting with savoirs in and outside school, particularly, those involving artistic skills and aesthetic experiences (Birbili, 2005; Hargreaves, Earl and Ryan, 1998). Therefore, in this context, the main goal of the project is to provide an understanding that could bring together what school teaches and the cultural activities and skills young people develop in their everyday lives.

After the first two years and having completed the state of the question phase (Aguirre, 2011), 786 teenagers - ages 15 to 19 from schools all around Spain -, answered a three-parts questionnaire:

The first meant to draw a general picture of their Visual Culture production.
The second goes deeper on the contexts and circumstances in which the activity the teenager has chosen as her/his most frequent takes place.
The third explores the connection between school learning and the savoirs they put into play as Visual Culture producers.

Method

The basic method of every science is the observation of the data or facts and the interpretation (hermeneutic) of their meanings. As Semiotic and Cultural Anthropology has taught us (Geertz, 1995; Barthes, 1971), social life is constituted by facts that shall be observed as texts in order to analyze and understand them, texts with multilateral performative effects. Hence, our perspective is to research them as live experiences (Van Manen, 2003; Dewey, 1949). The questionnaire was designed taken into consideration the feedback of a small group of stakeholders who answered and comment on its first version and by introducing reflexivity (Macbeth, 2001) as an important aspect of our framework (Aguirre et al., 2011). It was never meant to supply statistic data or implied differences amongst cities/villages or schools. This method of research has been used to gather up significant abductions (Sebeok & Sebeok, 1981) that are already affecting the interview phase that is about to begun. Therefore, research findings ought to be understood as outcomes negotiated by all the agents involved in the research process (Wiesenfeld, 2000).

Expected Outcomes

First point - On their production’s references, vehicles and sharing platforms: An overwhelming majority of the inquired teenagers takes pictures and very few are into graffiti, comic or web designing despite these are popularly understood to be youth’s interests. Most of them inform that the origin of their images relays always or very often on her/his imagination and strikingly very few on media images. Second point – On role and meaning of the productive activity: As photography is the activity of the majority, it is considered as a way of sharing and keeping a record of their everyday lives. Third point – On the connections and opinions they express about learning the activities. Non-formal contexts are mostly where they start producing images, among friends, but unaware of collaborative learning. Fourth point – On the school role on this matter: school learning and the professionals working there are actually irrelevant in their activities as Visual Culture producers, teenagers do no expect any encouragement or interest from them and few of them informs it is better that way.

References

AGUIRRE. I. (2011) Cultura visual, política da estética e educação emancipadora. En Martins, R. & Tourinho, I. (Eds). Educaçao da Cultura Visual: Conceitos e contextos. pp. 51-68. Santa Maria (Brasil): Editora UFSM. ISBN: 978-85-7391-148-0. AGUIRRE, I.; OLAIZ, I.; CALVELHE, L. (2011) Efectos de la reflexividad en una prueba piloto sobre una investigación con jóvenes. In Hernández, F. (coord.) Investigar con los jóvenes. Cuestiones temáticas, éticas, metodológicas y educativas. Esbrina Recerca nº 7 pp. 115-123. Universitat de Barcelona. BARTHES, R. (1971) Elementos de semiología. Madrid: Alberto Corazón. BIRBILI, M. (2005) Constants and Contexts in Pupil Experience of Schooling in England, France and Denmark, European Educational Research Journal, 4(3), pp. 313-320. DEWEY, J. (1949) Arte como experiencia. México/Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica. GEERTZ, C. (1995) La interpretación de las culturas. Barcelona: Gedisa. HARGREAVES, A.; LORNA, E; RYAN, J. (1998) Una educación para el cambio: reinventar la educación de los adolescentes. Barcelona: Octaedro. MACBETH, D. (2001) “On “Reflexivity” in Qualitative Research: Two Readings, and a Third”. Qualitative Inquiry, Vol. 7, n. 1, 2001, pp. 35-68. SEBEOK, T. & SEBEOK, J. (1981) 'You Know My Method,' In Sebeok, T. The Play of Musement, Bloomington, IA: Indiana. VAN MANEN, M. (2003) Investigación educativa y experiencia vivida. Barcelona: Idea Educación. WIESENFELD, E. (2000) “Entre la prescripción y la acción: la brecha entre la teoría y la práctica en las investigaciones cualitatica”. In FORUM: Qualitative Social Research vol. 1, n,2, Art. 30.

Author Information

Lander Calvelhe (presenting / submitting)

The Public University of Navarre, Spain

Amaia Arriaga

The Public University of Navarre, Spain

Ilargi Olaiz

The Public University of Navarre, Spain

Idoia Marcellán Baraze

The University of the Basque Country, Spain

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