Education research in the UK is informed by the British Education Research Association (BERA) ‘Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research’ (revised 2004). These guidelines demand respect for persons, knowledge, democratic values, quality of educational research and academic freedom. Within these elements lie inherent conflicts and various positions are taken as to what is of most importance (Christians, 2005) in different contexts. This paper engages with these ethical tensions throughout the research process of a study of young people from an isolated rural community with significant social and economic difficulties. Through their community ‘Neighbourhood Renewal’ process, poor attendance at secondary school was identified as a particular issue. The research focused on listening to the student’s own experience of schooling. The research is framed as an ‘ethical project’, informed by Foucauldian ethics, using a grounded theory approach interpreted from a social justice perspective (Charmaz and Mitchell, 2001): the problematic nature of this is acknowledged and explored. Many people working alongside the researcher in this project were seeking change and we found that a mutual engagement in a process of consciousness raising (Lather, 1986,1994) is a good place for development of critical thinking, civic courage (Ball, 1994) and the examination of ethical research practice.