Using participatory action learning to Empower the active citizenship of young people

ABSTRACT

This article aims to presents the effects of participatory action learning (PAL) as a method of work to Empower the Active Citizenship of young people in schools. The author of the article was involved in an educational project called Future Youth School – Forums (FYS-FORUMS). The basic aim was to create a model of schooling that promotes the idea of active citizenship with the use of a Youth Forum. This study describes the effects of the PAL method on young people in two British schools. The qualitative approach was used to collect data in the study, based on focus group interviews with the youth involved in the project. The impact of the PAL method was identified in a number of areas: (1) the first one concerned the sense of developing the soft/transversal skills and competences; (2) the second one was connected with perceiving oneself as an acting entity; (3) the third one involved improvement of the relationships between students and teachers; and (4) the last effect concerned the evolution of the students’ attitude towards active citizenship, which was reflected in their way of thinking about social actions and the need to get involved in them.

KEYWORDS:

• Participatory action learning
• youth
• empowerment
• citizenship
• school

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Anna Jarkiewicz is a social pedagogue, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Educational Sciences of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Łódź, Poland. Her main field of interests include social work with the socially excluded, participatory action learning, action research, interpretive assessment, and qualitative research. She is the author of the monograph, Reconstruction of social workers’ actions with people with mental disorders (2017).

Notes

1 The first forum took place in 2016, when numerous European countries were experiencing the so-called ‘migration crisis’. Arguing the need to focus the discussion on this topic, young people raised such issues as: the sense of security, the media hype, sympathy, fear and the need to discuss this topic with others.

2 This, in particular, concerns the conclusions from the first round of the study.

3 Detailed research conclusions from the focus group interviews with teachers may be found in the following publication: Leek (2019)

4 More research conclusions may be found, e.g. in the following publications: Jarkiewicz (2019).

5 Italics are used when referring to the statements made by the youth. Numbers and letters preceding the statements are assigned to the students taking part in a given interview. In the first school, the interview was conducted with 5 girls aged 13. In the second school, there were 4 participants (2 boys and 2 girls) aged 14.

6 The category of students described as ‘the Learning-Oriented’ was opposed to the category called ‘the Experience-Oriented’ whose members ‘are involved in a wide range of community activities. They are involved in volunteer work. Their responses reflect their personal (direct or indirect) experience and (…) have a much deeper and greater understanding of the importance of participation, but it needs to be pointed out that this group was much smaller than the second one.’ (Jarkiewicz 2019, 29). More information on this topic may be found in the quoted article.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) disclosed the receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: ‘The inspiration to write this article came from the research work I undertook as a part of the international Future Youth School Forums project led by Oxfam UK and financed by the European Commission (Grant Number 2015-1-UK01-KA201-013456), as well as the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Republic of Poland (Grant Number 3558/ERASMUS +/2016/2).’