Picturing urban slum education in Jakarta through photovoice with school-aged children

• In Event: Reimagining education: Educational improvement in digital societies across Southeast Asia

Proposal

A. Background. Amidst rapid urbanization and slumization worldwide, 42.73% of the population in Jakarta lives in slums, of which 38.2% have children (BPS, 2022; Kusumaningrum et al., 2021). In education policy discourse, these children and their education conditions are often framed in a deficit approach (DeHaan & Macdermid, 1996), supposing slum children’s educational disadvantages as irrevocable facets of their lives while overlooking the physical and social resources available for education in urban slums. Contrasting to the mainstream discourse, this study takes an asset-based lens, to explore the supportive environments in and around the non-formal education (NFE) space—i.e., NGO learning center—in the Jakarta slum and how such learning environments impact children's identity development.

The following questions orient this study: (1) How does the NGO learning center mediate the identity development of children in the urban slums of Jakarta? How do children make sense of in and around the NGO learning center? (2) How might reflections on personally meaningful photos elicit deeper meaning-making on identity among children in Jakarta?

B. Conceptual Framework. This study adopts an original framework that integrates the geographies of informal education (e.g., Mills & Kraftl, 2014) and adapted Raffo’s (2011) three-level approach. The framework deems the spaces in meso and micro levels as where children experience cognitive and socio-emotional learning through various interactions with others and objects. Here the meso level denotes children’s second-level social contexts (e.g., neighborhoods), and the micro level symbolizes children's immediate surroundings (i.e., interactions with family members, teachers, and peers) which are most influential on children's identity development (Raffo, 2011). The framework further suggests that the children’s interactions contribute to their identity development related to identity development, including individualistic identity relating to future academic/professional aspirations and collective identity relating to the sense of belonging.

C. Analytical Methods & Data Sources. To focus on children’s perspectives and understand how they see the NFE spaces, this study adopted photovoice, a participatory photo-elicitation methodology, to capture children’s ways of seeing and pursue participant empowerment (Clark, 2005; Shah, 2015). Photovoice was implemented with 25 children aged 11-16 (lower-secondary education level) at the NGO learning center in Jakarta slum in the summer of 2023. Children took photos in and around the NGO learning center they interacted and participated in one-on-one storytelling interviews. The photo-elicitation interviews aimed to listen to each child participant’s experiences and stories of learning behind the photos. Additionally, to gain a nuanced understanding of the issue, semi-structured interviews were conducted with adults who provided children with direct/indirect educational support: 10 parents, 8 NFE teachers, and 3 local development specialists.

D. Findings. Findings reveal that children's interactions with social actors (i.e., peers, NFE teachers, and parents) and material objects take place both inside and outside the NGO learning center. Children’s interactions in the meso and micro systems of the Jakarta slum, encompassing children’s cognitive and emotional learning, foster a positive learning climate and impact children’s identity development—both individualistic identity and collective identity.

At the meso level, public spaces in slum neighborhoods (e.g., under the overpass and at bus stations) and neighbors’ houses are recreational spaces where children engaged in play and socialization. Some slum parents also proactively reached out to other parents in the slum neighborhood and convinced them to support their children’s learning, instead of letting them work and play on the streets. At the micro level, NFE teachers, who feel sympathetic about children’s street work for household income generation, proactively facilitated various learning programs to promote children’s academic advancement and emotional well-being. NFE teachers also listened to children’s struggles and provided encouraging words to boost their confidence in recognition of children’s deprived adult care. Moreover, most parents showed strong motivation for supporting their children’s attendance at the NGO learning center and sharing affection with children through hugs and kisses. With peers at the NGO learning center, children felt reciprocal empathy by sharing personal concerns (e.g., school bullying), feeling mutual sympathy/empathy, and instilling academic motivation through exchanging supportive words. Children’s affective memories of gratitude toward NFE teachers contributed to forging strong and lasting teacher-student bonds based on a sense of belonging, feelings of support, acceptance, and care. Children’s affective interactions with material objects (e.g., trophies) were also closely related to their aspirations of future career choices (cita-cita), skills acquisition, and public recognition.

E. Significance. The inquiry of this study is significant by addressing the knowledge gaps of the following concepts: spaces of education, urban slum children, asset-based approach of slum education, education in Jakarta slums, and children's lived experiences in urban slum spaces. This study also provides a new and more accurate insight into the spatial representation in education spaces in urban slums by illuminating the existing supportive mechanisms in slum spaces, from an asset-based approach. To the existing studies on education in urban slums that have largely focused on formal education settings in limited country contexts (e.g., India and Kenya), this study expands the current discourse on education to NFE, beyond the formal education setting, in the context of Indonesia, about which little is known.

The study also aligns with the themes of CIES 2025 in terms of challenging to examine the status quo of urban slum education and proposes a preferable future of education for hundreds and thousands of slum children in the world. Recognizing the absence of discourse on urban slum education, it is also the hope of this study to serve as the foundation motivating other studies to be conducted on urban slum education in different contexts, for ultimately ensuring the right to education for all slum children around the world.

Author

• InJung Cho, The George Washington University