How Alternative Education teachers embarked on getting to the heart of young people’s schooling stories

ABSTRACT

This article documents the first phase of an Action Research project that examines how teachers can inquire with young people into critical moments across their schooling journey. Each year, approximately 3000 young people aged from 13 years to 16 years are directed to continue their schooling in Alternative Education sites in New Zealand. More than 60% are Māori young people. Most arrive in Alternative Education with just referral documents detailing the negative reasons for exclusion. Teachers are expected to make a fresh start with re-engaging young people in learning, while the stories young people hold closest remain largely unspoken. Six teachers volunteered to plan inquiries that give voice to students’ schooling experiences. The findings from this research should inspire a shift in schooling practices, particularly for those who are marginalised. Data from the first phase revealed that the teachers’ critically informed outlooks, their considered responses to the complexity of lived experience, and finding cultural reference points were all central to formulating their inquiry. Moreover, the teachers embraced Action Research as a professional learning opportunity. In turn, these approaches closely reflect a philosophy of pedagogy found in Alternative Education that make for potentially messy but, nevertheless, liberating inquiries.

KEYWORDS:

• Alternative Education
• Action Research
• schooling experiences
• young people

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Ethics approval gained from Auckland University of Technology Ethics Committee , 21/23.

2 Pseudonyms.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative, under Grant number 9204.

Notes on contributors

Adrian Schoone

Dr Adrian Schoone is a senior lecturer in Education at Auckland University of Technology. Adrian's research focuses on educational opportunity and access for disenfranchised students and the professional development and qualification needs of a broad social education workforce. He is the principal investigator for this AE Stories research project.

Judy Bruce

Dr Judy Bruce is Research Associate at the University of Canterbury. She works as an education consultant and researcher in New Zealand. Her research interests are in Alternative Education, youth development and cultural capability.

Eileen Piggot-Irvine

Eileen Piggot-Irvine is a Professor of Leadership at Auckland University of Technology, NZ, and Adjunct Professor at Royal Roads University, Canada. She has been passionate about action research for over 20 years and led or been a participant in multiple projects across the globe. Her goal in action research is to support others to understand and employ an approach which deeply honours the involvement, development, and improvement of others in their role. Eileen has written 83 published journal articles, 7 books and too many presentations to note.

Hana Turner-Adams

Dr Hana Turner-Adams is a lecturer in Education at the University of Auckland. Hana's research focuses on students' and teachers' experiences in education and the achievement disparities between Māori and non-Māori. Her PhD investigated the schooling experiences of high achieving Māori and non-Māori secondary school students and the factors that contributed to their success.