Project Overview
Funded through QUT’s ECR Grant Scheme, this project trialled a new research methodology called youth-adult participatory action research (YAPAR). Through four mini projects that incorporated multiple curriculum areas, 11 students and their teacher worked in partnership with the researcher to revitalise their flexible learning program in ways that enhanced engagement for the students and teacher. The project’s outcomes extended beyond tangible improvements to the program, as the students also learned about their capabilities, the teacher reported a greater sense of efficacy and the researcher was able to refine her own practice.
Methodology
Embedded in Nancy Fraser’s conceptualisation of justice as parity of participation, coupled with Paolo Freire’s notion of intergenerational dialogue and a critical-democratic conceptualisation of engagement, Youth-adult participatory action research (YAPAR) aims to make a difference through differences that matter (Barad, 2007). It achieves this by generating communities of praxis in which students, teachers (and/or other adults) and researchers form explicit tripartite partnerships as co-investigators and co-learners.
For further information on the YAPAR methodology, see Howell (2023) From disenfranchisement to hope through youth-adult participatory action research in the ‘Publications’ section.