Forms of Voice: Exploring the Empowerment of Youth at the Intersection of Art and Action

The authors utilize Photovoice methodology to engage in an examination of the possibilities of counternarrative through the photographs, oral accounts and drawings of three inner-city youths. In the process, this article seeks to expand upon and challenge prior uses of Photovoice methodologies and Critical Youth Engagement. The authors posit the existence of an Adult-Child Imaginary which speaks to the distinction between researchers’ aims for community engagement in a given project and children’s desires for relationality. In the process the article suggests ways of thinking about how research listens and responds to voices of youth in creating transformative community projects.     

Using Photovoice as a Tool to Engage Social Work Students in Social Justice

In order to ensure that social workers graduating from social work programs embrace social justice's central role in their professional careers, educators must find creative, theoretically grounded, practice-relevant ways of conveying this value and socializing social work students. This article describes the use of Photovoice as one tool for helping convey that value and describes its theoretical underpinning and use in a social work course. Originally developed as a participatory action research approach largely in public health, Photovoice can also serve as a powerful social work tool that facilitates the development of critical consciousness among community members who photograph and discuss elements of their lives and community. The author describes using this strategy with social work students, asking them as community members themselves to engage in the process of documenting, discussing, and transforming their analysis into an advocacy plan using the photographs. Through this process, the students learn about the power of collaborative creativity and strategic messaging. In the process of demonstrating the importance of relationship and the power of “problem-posing” the professor, as facilitator, role-models while teaching and engendering increasing critical consciousness among class participants.     

Ecological Mural as Community Reconnection

Murals are particularly visually captivating forms of public art due to their size and accessibility. Mural images also capture public attention and provoke viewers to explore layers of meaning and find hidden stories. They are often in places that people come to visit, study, play, congregate and discuss matters that may relate to the content of the mural. To this end, murals can be effective tools for helping communities think about their environmental issues. This article discusses the Mystic River mural project in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA. It addresses how the local art councils, mural artists, local students, community members and non‐profit organisations collaborated to carry out this ongoing mural project. The purpose of this research is to examine how Mystic River eco‐murals were created, what challenges and benefits the eco‐murals provided, how local social concerns were represented through the eco‐murals, how eco‐murals can continue to promote environmental awareness and inspire youth about their community and the local environment, and how the mural can continue to reflect or affect the meaning of the place. This process can serve as an example for other communities that seek to address their environmental concerns through public art.     

Using Photovoice to Promote Body Image Resilience in College Women

Photovoice methodology was used to examine and promote body image resilience. Fourteen female college students participated in a 2‐part group series. Photovoice projects and other artifacts were analyzed. Three themes related to body image resilience emerged from the data analysis: connection, social gender norms, and self. This study contributes to the growing body of literature by examining photovoice as a creative approach for critically discussing body image resilience. Implications for college counselors are provided.     

Child Voice: How Immigrant Children Enlightened Their Teachers with a Camera

Changes in global patterns of residence mean that preschool teachers welcome immigrant children and families into preschools in increasing numbers. Many teachers report both anticipation and apprehension about having immigrant children in the classroom. Apprehension is related to concerns about a lack of enough knowledge about languages and cultures to sensitively work with children and families. To overcome apprehensions and challenges, teachers are encouraged to learn from the work of other adults. This study builds upon research that suggests that teachers can also look to the children as a source of knowledge. The purpose of this study was to explore how preschool immigrant children might use a disposable camera to communicate with their teachers. The participants of this qualitative study were immigrant and native-born students in a local preschool. Each child was given a disposable camera, instruction about taking photographs and the request to take pictures of what was important to them. Data were collected by recording each child telling the teacher about the pictures. Data were analyzed for themes, patterns and categories. Findings indicated that the messages that the children conveyed to their teachers included important information about language development and family cultural identity. Findings also identify teacher strategies that helped and hindered child ability to communicate during the photo-narration process. An implication of the study was a shift of child agency within the teacher child relationship during photo-narration activity.     

Recollections of Exhibits: Stimulated‐recall interviews with primary school children about science centre visits

One issue of interest to practitioners and researchers in science centres concerns what meanings visitors are making from their interactions with exhibits and how they make sense of these experiences. The research reported in this study is an exploratory attempt, therefore, to investigate this process by using video clips and still photographs of schoolchildren’s interactions with science centre exhibits. These stimuli were used to facilitate reflection about those interactions in follow‐up interviews. The data for this study were 63 small group interviews with UK primary school children (129 students, ages 9–11). Interviews were transcribed and then analysed for common themes. The analysis presented here explores how students explain or interpret particular exhibits and the extent to which they were cognitively engaged by the process of observing their interactions with exhibits. The findings show that digital media enable students to re‐visit their experience and engage them with the content underlying science centre exhibits. There was, however, little difference between the patterns of response stimulated by video as opposed to photographs. It seems that such “re‐visitations” of exhibit interactions could serve as a valuable means of developing further students’ scientific concepts and exploiting the value for learning from the experience afforded by informal contexts.     

New understandings of communities and ourselves: community-based participatory research with Alaska Native and Lower 48 youth

In the summer of 2014, students from universities in the contiguous United States (Lower 48) and Inupiat youth from Alaska carried out a pilot project as participants/co-researchers in a process called Intergenerational Dialog, Exchange, and Action (IDEA). This action-oriented, community-based, and participatory research method was first developed in 2008, as a platform for structuring dialog between adults, Elders and youth within a community, and for extending resonant ideas emerging from these discussions through Photovoice and digital storytelling amongst youth participants. This pilot study was designed to investigate the feasibility and potential of university students from the Lower 48 and Indigenous youth from Alaska to carry out the IDEA process together as co-researchers. The results of the pilot suggest that it is both possible and meaningful for IDEA to be conducted by a team of youth co-researchers. We found that participation in IDEA expanded the perspectives of youth co-researchers from both Alaska and the Lower 48 in parallel, yet different ways. Exploring the strengths of older community members, being exposed to different ways of living and being, and having opportunities to reflect on and build narratives around these ideas, allowed all the co-researchers to develop a new understanding of their own communities and their roles and responsibilities within them. This paper shares youth co-researcher reflections of the process and the ways in which the process prompted these new perspectives about themselves, their respective communities and their roles within them.     

Civic Knowledge,Engagement, and Participation Narratives of Youth of Color in Urban Schools

The issues associated with students’ civic knowledge, engagement, and participation have been heightened in intellectual debates and public discussions. However, these discussions have not focused heavily on urban youths’ civic identities or the locations of these identities within the youths’ personal narratives of ethnicity, race, class, and gender. This article presents the narratives of four urban high school youths of color, selected from a larger study about youths’ experiences in school and society and the ways in which classroom learning encouraged their inquiry, assessment of their social worlds and personal goals, and emerging personal and civic identities. Our purpose was to gain insights regarding the youths’ sociopolitical perspectives on local educational and social issues affecting them and to understand their multiple literacies in the context of their civic engagement, increasing youth advocacy, and larger political tensions. The theoretical framing of this investigation is grounded in democratic education and sociopolitical consciousness and draws upon research that focuses on civic participation and democratic society. Four dominant themes emerged from the analysis: educational inequality, social media, schooling, and race and mass incarceration. This article contributes to an expansive framing for civic education by examining the civic knowledge of urban youths of color and offers implications for research, practice, and policy.     

A comparison of Saudi and Canadian children's knowledge of the causes of learning difficulties

In this comparative study, students from inclusive schools in Canada and Saudi Arabia shared their beliefs about factors associated with learning difficulties. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with 36 Canadian and 62 Saudi elementary students in Grades 5 and 6. Thematic analysis uncovered six themes: lack of knowledge, achievement or academic skills; cognitive and social‐emotional barriers; lack of attention and/or motivation and behavioural issues; home and parental concerns; teacher‐related issues; and physical/sensory disabilities and innate conditions. Although participants from both countries had a general understanding of the factors associated with learning difficulties, Canadian students showed a deeper understanding of cognitive and social‐emotional factors associated with learning difficulties. Educational and research implications are discussed.     

The Civic Lessons and Immigrant Youth (CLAIY): Implications for Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

In this article, we draw from the Civic Lessons and Immigrant Youth study to present key issues and implications related to teachers' work with immigrant youth. This synthesis draws on data and analyses from over six years of work examining the experiences, skills, and roles of teachers of immigrant youth as they navigated the complex terrain of teaching topics of citizenship in settings when not all youth had formal citizenship rights. Major themes include: the significance of building trusting relationships with immigrant students; the importance of approaches to teachers' knowledge building and legitimization of their immigrant students; and, finally, the prevalence of teachers' concern with the safety of their undocumented students. Subsequently, we pose questions for the field of teacher education in an era when immigration, education, and citizenship are intersecting in complex ways. Amid over-generalized conceptions of teaching for diversity, this article contributes to understanding how experienced teachers who supported immigrant rights practiced their craft, creating affirming environments in schools.     

Images and stories: through the eyes of at-risk college learners

In a study with at-risk Scottish college learners (n?=?81), a participatory action research method called Photovoice was strategically employed. Participant-driven photographs were used to access learners’ intimate thoughts and emotions while photograph-inspired stories were used to understand further their views and experiences. This photo-elicitation method provided access to rich and informative findings and enhanced the overall research process where photographs and narratives encouraged reciprocal validation. The study uncovered four key aspects in supporting at-risk learners: (a) overcoming psychological barriers; (b) addressing physical barriers; (c) providing adequate social support; and (d) assistance through suitable support for learning. This led to three pragmatic results: it (a) raised awareness about the plight of vulnerable learners, (b) afforded them a coordinated voice and (c) brought real benefits to both at-risk and other college learners alike. The implications of the study findings were discussed using the Human Capital Theory.     

The Influences of University-Based Coursework on Field Experience

This study explored the influence of university-based teacher education courses on preservice teachers as they engaged in the field-based portion of their preparation. Forty-two preservice teachers contributed reflective writings about the successes and challenges they faced during field experiences in light of knowledge and skills learned during their university-based coursework. Participants’ self-reflective writings were coded and analyzed for emerging themes that cut across all responses. The results indicated a shift from concerns about performance of teaching tasks in the classroom to concerns about the performance of students in terms of learning. This shift was consistent with a goal of the preservice program, namely, helping preservice teachers focus on student learning.     

Tweens' conceptions of privacy online: implications for educators

There is considerable debate about young people's concern for privacy today, given their frequent use of social media to share information and other content about themselves and others. While researchers have investigated the online privacy practices of teens and emerging adults, relatively little is known about the attitudes and behaviors of younger youth. Drawing on interviews with 42 middle school students, or ‘tweens’, we explore how youth in this age group think about and manage privacy issues online, as well as the messages they report hearing from educators about online privacy. Our findings suggest that most tweens value privacy, seek privacy from both strangers and known others online, and use a variety of strategies to protect their privacy online. Further, tweens' online privacy concerns are considerably broader than the ‘stranger danger’ messages they report hearing from teachers. We discuss the educational implications of these findings.     

College/University Counseling Centers Supporting Study Away: Challenges and Opportunities

Research points to significant numbers of students on college campuses experiencing mental health distress and an ever increasing number of college students who are choosing to make an off-campus educational experience a part of their college careers. When we consider both of these trends together, it is quite apparent that a significant number of students with mental health concerns will spend periods of time studying away from campus, with converging concerns among college mental health and study away professionals about how to best support these students. This article seeks to outline both challenges and opportunities inherent in the collaboration between campus professionals in supporting students with mental health issues before and during their study away experiences.     

An examination of the adjustment journey of international students studying in Australia

This study examined at two Australian university campuses the types of problems that prompt international students to seek counselling services. The concerns reported by ninety students fell within three broad categories; adjustment issues, academic concerns and psychosocial problems. Follow-up interviews with a subset of these students (21) were used to gain more detailed information about their personal adjustment issues and also their experience of counselling services. Counsellors were also interviewed to obtain their perspective on the adjustment and counselling experience of students. Most problems for students occurred within the first 12 months of commencing studies and for many tended to reduce in incidence thereafter, but for some students the issues and problems remained ongoing. While the findings are limited to international students at only two Australian campuses, and furthermore the sample sizes are not large, the results suggest that these students often face extreme adjustment difficulties. Moreover, it is suggested that such students tended to only access counselling services when near the point of collapse, or following academic referral. The importance of pre-departure orientation packages for prospective students, while still in their home country, might reduce the incidence of such adjustment issues.     

Children of same-sex parents: in and out of the closet

An estimated 14 million children are parented by gay or lesbian couples. Research indicates that children of same-sex parents are as well adjusted as their peers of opposite-sex parents. However, previous research has yet to examine how these youth negotiate their own process of coming out about their families to others. We sought to identify the patterns, issues and themes that recur in the coming out process of these youth. Recommendations for school personnel are described.     

Using photovoice to engage orphans to explore sexual violence in and around a township secondary school in South Africa

ABSTRACT

This article examines the vulnerability of orphans to sexual violence in and around their township secondary school. Using photovoice as a methodology with which to unearth these experiences and narratives, we examine how such an approach might engage the voices of orphans to inform thinking regarding sexual violence. Our analysis was informed by our desire to engage learners as critical and creative thinkers who are capable of grounding and thinking critically about their own issues. Findings highlight the vulnerability of orphaned girls both in and outside school. The photographs they produced demonstrate the pervasive nature of sexual violence directed against them. Photovoice enabled both ourselves and our participants to investigate experiences of sexual violence among orphaned learners. In particular, as a participatory visual method, photovoice facilitated the development of a transformative pedagogy in which we created a safe space for orphaned learners, a group that is often marginalised and silenced in many spaces to speak about their experiences. While many groups, particularly poor girls and women, experience high rates of sexual violence, the vulnerability of orphaned girls and boys is further increased by their social status within their families, communities and at school.     

Enterprise,Economic and Industrial Awareness: making the links in initial teacher education ‐‐ two case studies

Abstract

Two case studies of work in initial teacher education provide the stimulus for a discussion of the incorporation of enterprise, economic and industrial issues within student programmes’. The first case study describes a seminar at Manchester University where these issues are introduced to students within the constraints of a 36‐week PGCE course. The second describes IT‐INSET activities undertaken by primary BEd students from Edge Hill College of Higher Ecucation.

A number of issues are raised, not least of which is the need to overcome student concerns about the incorporation of the National Curriculum cross‐curricular themes into teaching. The conclusion reached is that much work remains to be done and some possible future developments are examined.     

Groundwater scarcity impact on inclusiveness and women empowerment: Insights from school absenteeism of female students in two watersheds in India

A survey was conducted in eight secondary schools located in two watersheds in Gujarat and Rajasthan (semi-arid region of India) to assess students’ perceptions about groundwater scarcity issues and the impact of the scarcity on their educational opportunities. Survey responses to a detailed questionnaire by a cohort of students in both watersheds; school attendance records of year 8 class students (13–14 years old) and responses gathered via a socio-economic survey involving 500 families in the study area were used in the study. In both watersheds, >90% students identified groundwater scarcity as a major issue. Required to work at home or farm, about 65% students in Gujarat and 60% in Rajasthan missed school for up to 2 days/month; and a smaller proportion (～ 30%) missed schools for 4 or more days/month. School absenteeism was found to be linked with gender; female students missed schools more frequently than their male counterpart. The school attendance records in Rajasthan showed that the frequency of female students missing schools for 5 or more days/month was on an average 2–10 times greater than that for males. The gender difference in absenteeism in all schools was statistically significant (P?<?.018**). The study highlighted that groundwater scarcity in the study area, and consequent demand on their time for household work including fetching drinking water are contributing factors towards limiting their educational and economic opportunities. Groundwater scarcity can be one of the key factors that can limit inclusiveness and empowerment of women and need to be considered in policy-making.