What do you want your teachers to know? Using intergenerational reflections in education research

Abstract

The Intergenerational Reflections technique was developed to bring together the voices of connected stakeholders of different ages and positions—in this case, students and teachers—to create recommendations that build on both groups’ perspectives. This article describes its use and results as piloted in the Time to Teach about Gender-Based Violence in Canada project. The project gathered 11 teacher participants in a participatory workshop to mobilize teachers’ reflections on student-produced cellphilms responding to the prompt: “What do you want your teachers to know when teaching about gender-based violence?” Framed using hooks’ engaged pedagogy, analysis describes teachers’ identification of potential pedagogical adaptations responding to student recommendations, demonstrating Intergenerational Reflections’ value in getting teachers to actively listen to student messages in educational research and practice. Results identify the need to involve other educational stakeholders in Intergenerational Reflections, particularly in addressing a lack of multi-level institutional support to enhance pedagogy about gender-based violence.

Keywords:

• Participatory research
• teachers
• students
• engaged pedagogy
• student voice

Acknowledgements

I am eternally grateful to the teacher and student participants of this study for the time and wisdom they contributed to this initiative. The students’ participation was made possible by their community group leaders, Jennifer Altenberg, Morris Green, Laura Riggs, and Allison Sephton. It has been my privilege to learn from the talented research assistants who have been part of this project: Yasmeen Shahzadeh, Allison Holloway, and Salsabel Almanssori. Finally, Dr. Claudia Mitchell’s mentorship has been an invaluable asset throughout.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 2SLGBTQ refers to Two Spirit Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer people; it is used here to correspond to the reports referenced. 2SLGBTQQIA, which stands for Two Spirit Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Questioning Intersex and Asexual people, is used shortly afterward to reflect its use in the 2019 National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls that is subsequently referenced.

2 hooks uses lower case letters in her pseudonym, a tribute to her great-grandmother, as a means of focusing attention on her message instead of herself.

3 The first two steps served to lay the groundwork and were not part of data collection.

4 As of 2021, the Ontario College of Teachers now requires teachers to complete an online sexual abuse prevention program.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship [756-2018-0576] and a SSHRC Insight Development Grant [430-2019-0223].

Notes on contributors

Catherine Vanner

Catherine Vanner is an Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. Her research uses qualitative and participatory methods to study the relationship between gender, violence, and education in diverse country contexts.