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

Abstract

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.