Passion and Resistance in Youth Work Research
Research that involves and elevates the perspectives of youth is critical for understanding the priorities, needs, and desires of the next generation.
But graduate students engaging in research with and for youth face unique challenges in designing, implementing, and disseminating their work to ensure equitable outcomes and positive impacts for young people.
On March 5th, YouthREX hosted a workshop with critical youth studies and youth work scholar, author, youth worker, and academic Dr. Tania de St Croix to address these challenges for graduate students.
The workshop brought together students from Canada and the UK who are focused on youth and youth work research across diverse sectors, including child welfare, climate justice, newcomer youth and immigration, and mental health.
We created a collaborative space to connect and share strategies for successful youth research and to grapple with unique challenges. Conversation focused on institutional and structural barriers impacting research design, and innovative knowledge translation approaches for sharing research within academia and with youth and communities.
To kick off the conversation, Tania shared a presentation about her research with youth and youth workers, grounding our discussion in the value of anti-oppressive work with youth. She highlighted the importance of situating our work within current political and social contexts to understand society’s undervaluation of youth work.
Tania pointed out that systems of neoliberalism promoting racial capitalism, ecological destruction, the military-industrial complex, and genocide conflict with the grassroots and liberatory practices celebrated in youth work.
By acknowledging these harmful systems, she underscored the importance of creativity, collaboration, and improvisation, in both youth and youth work research, to effectively engage young people. Tania’s research explores the tension between the reality of the material devaluing youth work and the importance of spaces for youth to be themselves, receive support, and pursue their goals.
During facilitated discussions, we acknowledged a common challenge – ensuring that young people’s contributions to research lead to positive change, especially given the time and funding constraints typical in graduate research.
Participants stressed the importance of not engaging in extractive research that devalues youth’s knowledge.
We brainstormed creative ways to use our research to empower youth. For example, using consent processes to balance sharing necessary information and explaining to youth how their insights could have further impact (or not). We also discussed the significance of sharing research findings in youth-friendly ways, such as through social media or artwork. A suggestion was made to facilitate workshops on change-making with youth involved in our research projects to empower them to continue motivating change.
One attendee, Dena Arya from Nottingham Trent University in England, talked about her experience using film as a tool to share her research with youth, and described her thesis work, in which diverse youth from the UK shared their feelings about climate activism. This short film captured the learnings from Dena’s research and was developed in collaboration with young people and community members, modeling conversations about climate action that promote a more expansive definition of ‘climate activism’.
Dena’s example demonstrates how graduate students get creative with limited funding to engage in collaborative work with youth for the change they want to see in the world.
Workshop participants recognized that meaningful youth and youth work research takes time and resources that are not always readily available. At the same time, we all recognized the importance of the work. We are all motivated to take up the challenge because of the joy of working alongside inspiring young people, the innovative ideas youth contribute, and a collective commitment to amplifying youth voices.
Opportunities for students to share their challenges and find support are important to promote meaningful research with youth and identify shared challenges to support change in the landscape of graduate youth and youth work research.
This workshop was co-facilitated by Dr. Tania de St Croix and Adrienne Young. Tania is a renowned scholar, youth worker, and professor at King’s College London focused on critical reflection on youth work, storytelling, dialogue, and deliberation. Adrienne is a PhD student in social work at York University studying the processes and impact of youth engagement in mental health program design, implementation, and evaluation.
Image: By Finn Greig, from the cover of de St Croix, T. (2016). Grassroots youth work: Policy, passion and resistance in practice. Bristol University Press, Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1t88zhj