Young people as co-researchers in schools: a collaborative research methodology which benefits young people and school culture

Mcpartlan, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1445-8613 (2024) Young people as co-researchers in schools: a collaborative research methodology which benefits young people and school culture. Pastoral Care in Education .

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Abstract

The voice of young people in schools is often tokenistic. They are asked to contribute to surveys for OFSTED or are part of an adult-led school council. Rarely are they asked to work with adults to create new knowledge for school improvement. Returning to my previous school to conduct research resulted in developing an inclusive and collaborative methodology. Whilst initially intending to use a participative action research (PAR) process, I synthesised this with Critical Communicative Methodology (CCM) to create Youth Participative Dialogic Action Research (YPDAR). This approach created a research power dynamic where responsibility was shared more equally between the young people and the researcher. The results of this approach were unexpected. As the process developed, the young people’s confidence grew, their trust in the school developed, and they felt empowered to act. This paper explores the processes involved and how YPDAR could be used as a school improvement model with the potential not only to transform young people’s lives, but also the culture of the school.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Pastoral Care in Education
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis Group
ISSN:	1468-0122
Departments:	Institute of Education > Primary PGCE
Additional Information:	Dr Dave McPartlan, Youth Participative Action Researcher, University of Cumbria, UK. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	17 Jul 2024 15:06
Last Modified:	17 Jul 2024 15:15
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7809

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