‘Seeing through different eyes’: exploring the value of participative research using images in schools

This article is an exploration of the value of research involving images in a school, and aims to provoke more general discussion of the purpose, value and risks of educational research using images. It reports on a participative research project in a secondary school which led to the construction of a web site based on images of that school. The value of the process and of the web site in promoting learning within the school community is discussed and assessed, along with the risks of abuse, misuse, and manipulation of those images. The authors consider the value of grouping and clustering the images generated in this project as a means of engaging meaningfully with the images themselves, their context and what they represent. Data are presented from discussions with students and staff involved in taking images, with further reflection on the process that they and we engaged in.