Fostering youth-led action: Navigating the institutional constraints of school-based Youth Participatory Action Research

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Participatory Action Research for Educational Justice

Abstract

Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is a youth-led cycle of research and action that leads to transformative action. Increasingly, YPAR is practiced in educational settings which present constraints to youth-led action. The current study will examine when and how school-based YPAR reflects its foundational principles, and how students and educators navigate institutional constraints to uphold YPAR’s liberatory goals. Using thematic analysis, we analyzed teacher and student interviews, observations, and artefacts from two school-based YPAR initiatives. We identified three themes: 1) Youth desire for action outpaced institutional pathways; 2) teachers navigated constraints via partial power-sharing; and 3) opportunity structures shape youth-led action. Findings will highlight barriers and facilitators of school-based YPAR as an avenue for transformative action within educational settings.

Authors

• Rosalinda Godinez, Cleveland State University

• Maura Shramko, American Institutes for Research

• Rose Sisay, American Institutes for Research