Therapeutic playwork: exploring playworkers’ perceptions of therapeutic playwork training and its usefulness in supporting children in afterschool clubs

After School ◽

Challenging Behaviour ◽

The South ◽

Participatory Action ◽

School Settings ◽

Reflective Practitioners

This study developed from observations that playworkers in after school clubs in a county in the south of England were struggling to respond to what they saw as challenging behaviour. The study used a hybrid of participatory action research and ethnography in order to extend playworkers’ understanding of Sturrock and Else’s (1998) model of therapeutic playwork and explore their perceptions of its usefulness in after school settings. Playworkers attended introductory training on Sturrock and Else’s (2005) model of therapeutic playwork and then reflected on their practice. They articulated a different understanding of challenging behaviour, seeing it as children playing out latent material or strong emotions, expressing transference, or manifesting a breakdown in the play process. Participants believed they became more reflective practitioners, more able to read the play process and more self-aware, and they advocated championing this perspective to other practitioners.

Collaborative inquiry: Youth, social action, and critical qualitative research

Action Research ◽

10.1177/1476750317752819 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 194-211 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Limarys Caraballo ◽

Jamila Lyiscott

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Research ◽

Action Research ◽

Social Action ◽

Collaborative Inquiry ◽

After School ◽

Participatory Action ◽

Critical Qualitative Research ◽

Research In Education

Youth participatory action research is part of a revolutionary effort in educational research to take inquiry-based knowledge production out of the sole purview of academic institutions and include those who most directly experience the educational contexts that scholars endeavor to understand. Seeking to extend the robust legacy of participatory action research in schools and communities, in this article, we focus on the pedagogical contributions of youth participatory action research collaborations for the teaching of critical qualitative research. We discuss strategies developed and implemented in an after-school youth participatory action research seminar in order to highlight how collaborative educational spaces can contribute to teaching and engaging in critical qualitative research. We also reflect, in our role as educators and researchers, on the possibilities and limitations of teaching qualitative research critically and reflexively, particularly at the intersection of qualitative action research, critical literacies, and youth social action. We conclude with a discussion of the broader implications of collaborative inquiry for the teaching of qualitative research in education and beyond.

Youth Participatory Action Research (Youth PAR) in Public Schools: Opportunities and Challenges in an Inner-City High School

Practicing Anthropology ◽

10.17730/praa.26.2.06r3v534h2377531 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 10-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Stephen Schensul ◽

Lisa LoBianco ◽

Christina Lombardo

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Action Research ◽

Formal Education ◽

After School ◽

Teaching Staff ◽

Participatory Action ◽

Formal Curriculum ◽

Inner City High School

The public school system, the central institution for the formal education of youth in nations throughout the world, provides great potential for the implementation of the principles and methods of Youth Participatory Action Research (Youth PAR). Governmental school systems utilize formal curricula which are reviewed and revised regularly, a professionally trained teaching staff to implement curricula a majority of youth who attend school at least until the legally required age, an annual budget, parental involvement, societal standards and evaluation protocols, and an administrative infrastructure. In contrast to non-standardized, decentralized after-school and other specialized programs, public schools offer innovative programs such as Youth PAR the opportunity to "go-to-scale" to institutionalize the program, to involve teachers in implementation, to build and establish formal curriculum, and to engage large numbers of students on a required, rather than voluntary, basis.

Youth Participatory Action Research and Possibilities for Students of Color in Educational Leadership

Educational Administration Quarterly ◽

10.1177/0013161x18761344 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 54 (3) ◽

pp. 366-395 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Melanie Bertrand

Keyword(s):

Action Research ◽

Educational Leadership ◽

Students Of Color ◽

White Supremacy ◽

After School ◽

Participatory Action ◽

Research School ◽

Community Issues

Background and Purpose: Students of Color hold intimate knowledge about institutional racism and White supremacy in schools—expertise that could be leveraged in school leadership. One approach that could mediate efforts to include Students of Color in leadership is youth participatory action research (YPAR), in which students and adult partners research school and community issues and take action. Guided by cultural historical activity theory, this article explores how YPAR may be a path to realizing the vision of including Students of Color in school decision making by sharing findings from a study of an after-school YPAR program for seventh and eighth graders. Research Methods/Approach: A range of data was collected, including videos of YPAR meetings and presentations and interviews with YPAR youth and school adults. Ethnographic and inductive approaches were used to analyze the data. Findings: Analysis of the data indicated that students within the YPAR program (re)positioned themselves as leaders through their production and presentation of intersectional, social justice research. School adults, however, positioned the students in contradictory ways. They verbalized support for student input without also positioning students as leaders while, in some cases, dismissing the students’ research and viewpoints. Implications: This article adds to the educational leadership field by indicating that YPAR and similar programs can act as mediators to increase the potential for Students of Color to expand their leadership at schools by shining light on existing leadership and opening up possibilities for students to further reposition themselves as leaders.

The End of the Cognitive Empire<subtitle>The Coming of Age of Epistemologies of the South</subtitle> ◽

Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Participatory Action Research, and Epistemologies of the South

10.1215/9781478002000-012 ◽

2018 ◽

Keyword(s):

Action Research ◽

The South ◽

Participatory Action ◽

Pedagogy Of The Oppressed

The Quandary of Youth Participatory Action Research in School Settings: A Framework for Reflecting on the Factors That Influence Purpose and Process

Harvard Educational Review ◽

10.17763/1943-5045-88.4.429 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 88 (4) ◽

pp. 429-454 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

GRETCHEN BRION-MEISELS ◽

ZANNY ALTER

Keyword(s):

Action Research ◽

Power Dynamics ◽

Participatory Action ◽

School Settings ◽

School Based ◽

Cultural Power ◽

Critical Participatory Action Research ◽

Level Of Analysis

Youth participatory action research (YPAR) is a form of critical participatory action research that provides young people with opportunities to identify injustices in their current social realities, to gather and analyze data about these phenomena, and to determine actions that will begin to rectify their negative outcomes. A growing body of evidence suggests that YPAR projects improve outcomes for individual youth as well as the organizations/settings they act on. Despite this, the extent to which YPAR can and should be used in institutions that reproduce dominant cultural power dynamics remains a subject of debate. Building on recent studies that explore the tensions inherent in school-based YPAR projects, in this theoretical essay Gretchen Brion-Meisels and Zanny Alter put three fundamental tenets of YPAR—participation, purpose, and level of analysis—into conversation with each other. Illustrating their points using examples from an ongoing YPAR project that explores barriers to on-time graduation at an urban high school, they describe the ways in which these tenets are central to YPAR projects and identify several elements of schooling that complicate decision making around these fundamental ideas.