Just Like Our Lives

The research utilises our innovative research approach Emancipatory Participatory Action Research (EmPAR) that enables the voices of disadvantaged children, young people and community groups to be heard in order to create meaningful change.

The young people involved in the project were ‘active’ key partners rather than passive recipients. They were valued as the experts in relation to their lived experience which could then be acted on by practitioners and policy-makers to change cultures and practices thereby enhancing young people’s educational experiences.

Building and maintaining positive relationships is at the heart of the EmPAR approach. This recognises that meaningful social change usually occurs incrementally, through an iterative process of research and collective action, so that research and impact are intimately connected.

Within this project, the young participants made key decisions about how research findings could be used and the direction the project should take. After discussing key findings for example, they decided they wanted to use those findings to create a film to be used by teachers/trainee teachers to raise awareness of the issues they faced. This decision shaped the development of the project.

Finally, EmPAR as employed in this project involves the use of creative and innovative engagement methods and tools both as vehicles for research and for communicating with a wide range of audiences to enhance social change.