We are excited to share the successful conclusion of our inaugural youth symposium in the North of England, marking a significant milestone in our commitment to cultivating an enriched learning environment. This symposium holds a central position within our methodology, specifically in strand C, where we aim to understand what English secondary school students grasp about EMB (British Empire migration and belonging) and how they acquire this knowledge.
The driving force behind our project the needs of learners, whether they are schoolteachers or young people. Taking inspiration from the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education (CfHE), we recognize the impact of providing teachers with access to scholarship and assisting them in identifying and addressing students’ prior understandings and potential preconceptions about the topic for impactful professional development.
At the core of our comprehensive project strategy is a plan that includes survey work, interviews, and collaborative focus groups with a diverse range of educators. Acknowledging the active contribution of young people to public discourse and the necessity to understand learners in our classrooms, here we emphasize the central role of young people in our work.
Given the intricacies presented by the contested nature of knowledge and the complex ways young people learn, we aim to comprehend how they arrive at their understanding not only in the classroom but also beyond in their communities. This exploration seeks to better understand their interpretive frameworks, as well as their affective needs and desires concerning EMB.
Understanding our students’ interpretive frameworks is crucial for effective learning, shaping their construction of knowledge.[1] This understanding is pivotal not only for individual learning but also for collaborative settings and the design of stimulating learning environments, aligning with Epstein’s work[2], which underscores the importance of recognizing differences in interpretive frameworks, particularly among diverse communities.
To embark on this intricate research element, we advocate for long-term ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative research to grasp the socially situated nature of our students’ knowledge.[3] Our intention is to have a group of young people undertake a yearlong ethnography documenting their encounters with EMB themes. This evidence will inform discussions on how students’ ideas about EMB, learned or encountered outside the classroom, may impact their learning within the classroom.
Ethical considerations are paramount, especially given the age of the participants and the sensitive nature of the themes. We are committed to conducting this work ethically, ensuring it is empowering for the young people involved. Our aim is for any work with young people to be non-extractive, with careful consideration given to the relationships and responsibilities we, as researchers, have with and towards those being researched.
To this end, we have scheduled two dates in early 2024 to host youth symposia, engaging young people to work with us in relation to our strand C work, both enabling them and offering us insights.
First PortraitEMB Youth Symposium
Now, let’s revisit our first symposium day, imagining a school in the North of England buzzing with energy. Our objective was to empower students to share their stories and undertake auto-ethnographies about EMB.
We began with an introduction to the project themes, discussing their ideas around the British Empire and belonging. Students then immersed themselves in workshops led by expert practitioners, exploring auto-ethnographies, poetry, and photography.
Building on the work of Sheehan and Harcourt, who explored students perceptions of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand,[4] our symposium raised essential questions about teaching. It emphasized the importance of engaging students with historical significance to foster critical engagement with contested historical topics like EMB. The influence of social identities on historical thinking was crucial, cautioning against a purely disciplinary approach, and emphasizing the need to consider culture not just as an inert subject but a form of expression and a way of being. At the end of day students expressed thoughts and opinions about the changes they thought were needed at both societal and school levels offering an interesting snapshot, though not representing the views of all students.
Excitingly, 19 out of the 30 students expressed an interest in undertaking autoethnographies of their encounters with EMB over the year. Prepare yourselves, as we get ready to unveil the rich tapestry of their thoughts and ideas beyond the classroom, representing this specific group of students.
NOTES
[1] National Research Council, How Students Learn: History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom (Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2005). https://doi.org/10.17226/10126.
[2] T. Epstein, “Beyond the classroom door: differences in adolescents’ and adults’ interpretations of history and society in home and community settings”, Interpreting National History (New York: Routledge, 2009): 113–138. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203890967-10
[3] Stuart Foster, Pettigrew et al., What do students know and understand about the Holocaust? Evidence from English secondary schools (Centre for Holocaust Education, Institute of Education, University College London: London, UK, 2016): 18.
[4] M. Sheehan, T. Epstein, and M Harcourt, “People Are Still Grieving: Māori and Non-Māori Adolescents’ Perceptions of the Treaty of Waitangi”, Teaching and Learning Difficult Histories in International Contexts, 1st ed. (New York: Routledge, 2018): 109–122). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315203591-9