"I just went to school for the sake of it": Housing insecurity, education, and adolescent development in Nigeria

• In Event: Broken Promises - Youth and the Benefits of Schooling

Proposal

The proposed paper examines the educational experiences and perspectives of previously unhoused Nigerian adolescents who currently reside in a shelter through a modified life-story interview and narrative identity framework. The paper addresses the following questions: what role does education play in the narratives of adolescents who have experienced housing insecurity? How do their educational experiences intersect with their housing experiences? What implications do their experiences have on how educational policies are designed and implemented for marginalized adolescents?

As of 2022, Nigeria holds the largest number of out-of-school children and youth in the Sub-Saharan Africa region and one of the largest globally alongside India and Pakistan (UNESCO Statistics 2022). Among the plethora of issues that contribute to this reality is housing insecurity, an umbrella term that encompasses multiple conditions that result in an unstable and/or unsafe living environment. In the densely populated metropolitan area of Lagos, Nigeria, the proliferation of slum communities, street children, and child labor spotlight the rate at which housing insecurity is shaping the area and impacting the education and wellbeing of young Nigerians. Though these young people may not experience stable, traditional schooling, understanding their interactions with and thoughts about education are still significant considering the power of education as a social determinant of health, socioeconomic status, and by extension overall quality of life (Mirowsky & Ross, 2003).

This research centers narrative identity theory, which posits that individuals have an internalized and evolving life story that incorporates a reconstructed past and an imagined future. These constructuions work toward the development of a sense of unity and purpose within the individual (McAdams & McLean, 2013). Narrative identity research has focused on both psychological adaptation and development; positive psychological adaptation, the construction of a life story that features themes such as personal agency or redemption, have been found to be correlated with better mental health outcomes, well-being, and overall maturity (McAdams & McLean, 2013). Scholarship has also highlighted the ways that narrative identity research can work toward countering assumptions made about certain groups that in turn influence policies that target them (Frost & Ouellette, 2004; Hammack & Cohler, 2011). A narrative approach considers both content and context in the construction of an individual's narrative, placing in consideration wider social, historical, and political influences.

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory provides further justification for a narrative approach (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). This ecological model is used to describe human development with two specific propositions. The first posits that development occurs via proximal processes, or complex and reciprocal interactions between an evolving individual and various stimuli in their immediate environment. The second proposition states that these processes are affected systematically by various systems (personal characteristics, environmental factors, and the specific nature of different developmental outcomes) (Bronfenbrenner, 1994, p. 38). While more proximal (immediate) systems may be thought to have more direct impact, this model shows that systems that may be more wide reaching, such as neighborhoods and communities, can also have a significant impact on development during the life course.

Subsequently, this methodology will focus on the participants’ construction of the narrative of their lives in the context of their experience with housing insecurity. This allows the participants to highlight the significance of their life events on their own terms, rather than the researcher’s assumption of its relevance in their experience (Josselson, 2012). While housing undoubtedly shaped the context of the participants’ development, a narrative approach allows us to better understand the mechanisms by which this occurred from the participant’s point of view.

The project utilizes narrative interviews and focus group conversations with adolescents in Lagos, Nigeria who have experienced housing insecurity during their childhood and/or adolescent years and are currently living in a stable environment and enrolled in school. The participants are currently supported by Growing with Hope , a locally staffed and locally run non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Lagos that provides shelter and educational support for homeless and housing insecure children and youth. The present study features 19 in-depth interviews with adolescents between the age of 13-21, with analysis centered on the educational experiences of the adolescents within their narratives.

The study points to the significance of education, both as a tangible experience and as an idea, within the life context of unhoused adolescents. In the midst of chronic housing instability, education, or being educated, was often seen as a positive endeavor by participants and their families, even if its practical applications were not as evident. This philosophy was rooted in the perception of education as a common good, a measure of status, and something that ensures an individual of a more desireable future. The participants' experience with schooling further emphasizes the need to consider marginalized populations in the quest toward United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 of quality education. Developmental pathways play a large role in contributing to a contextually diverse classroom, and this requires various levels of differentiation. This is not solely a matter of access, but rather a situation that necessitates intentionality in the design and structure of schooling for this unique subset of the population. Findings also amplify the significance of advocacy and positive reinforcement for previously unhoused adolescents trying to navigate the process of schooling.

This research adds to a nascent but growing body of literature that centers African adolescent development and places an emphasis on the role of narratives and context in understanding pathways of development. While many of the perspectives on adolescence are presented as universal, a large portion of the research that tends to relies on Western contexts for understanding the emergence of adolescence as a developmental period. This leads to underrepresentation and lack of diversity in the field of adolescent development, in addition to a limited understanding of the ways that context influences the trajectories of development overall. By including perspectives on African adolescents, this work speaks to future directions of positive youth development and works toward creating frameworks designed with an African context at the center.

Author

• Fortunate Kelechi Ekwuruke, Northwestern University