Creating access or limiting authenticity? An examination of the potential and pitfalls of school-based Youth-Participatory Action Research

Youth-Participatory Action Research (YPAR) challenges traditional research hierarchies between young people and adults by situating youth as co-researchers rather than the objects of research. Like all forms of community-engaged research, Youth-Participatory Action Research involves collaborations between scholars and community members, and requires relationship-building to facilitate these partnerships. Power dynamics can be of particular importance in Youth-Participatory Action Research, given the prevalence of adultism in society. Conducting Youth-Participatory Action Research within the context of schools offers a mechanism to increase access for youth to participate, but can also pose challenges to Youth-Participatory Action Research’s liberatory aims and youth’s authentic engagement, given the often-hierarchical nature of schools. To expand research on the affordances and challenges of school-based Youth-Participatory Action Research, we conducted a qualitative self-study, examining two rounds of Youth-Participatory Action Research that occurred within the same Title 1 middle school, one of which took place virtually, via Zoom, and one that occurred in-person, on campus. Drawing upon fieldnotes and reflective memos, we identified key differences in processes and practices that impacted students’ experiences, which focused on project structure, roles and responsibilities of team members, and meeting durations and frequency. We found that increasing accessibility for youth involvement was not ‘one-size-fits-all’, but instead nuanced, based on both the setting and the students. Overall, this study revealed the complexity of conducting Youth-Participatory Action Research in school settings and the contextual factors that may influence student engagement.