Open Collections

McLean, Nicole Grace (Chinook)

University of British Columbia

This study explored the creation of transformative learning entwining circle pedagogy, restorative practices in education, and student voice in a Humanities classroom within a rural grade 7-12 school in British Columbia, Canada. Current literature supports taking up restorative practices in education, student voice, and circle pedagogy as interconnected and relational processes that promote learning, empathy, and community building (Cranton & Roy, 2003; Wachtel, 2016). This study employed qualitative practitioner inquiry (teacher research) as a methodology (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009; Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2014), and incorporated concepts from a/r/tography and living inquiry (Irwin, 2004; Meyer, 2010). There were nine student participants, two Certified Educational Assistant (CEA) participants, and one teacher-researcher participant. Qualitative data in the form of student artifacts, focus group circles, one-on-one interviews with classroom CEA participants, and researcher reflective journaling were collected. The qualitative analysis conducted was inductive and thematic, and four key thematic new understandings arose: embedding shared participatory processes elevated student voice in the classroom to create emergent and responsive opportunities for learning; circle pedagogy and restorative practices benefited students when they were personalized, contextualized, and iterative; student agency and engagement was nurtured over time through choice and opportunities for self-regulated learning; and finally, teaching practices could be uncomfortable for educators and students. This research offers a current, practical illustration of the pedagogical concept of transformation, including a discussion of not only what it means in theory, but also what it can look and feel like in the classroom itself. The new understandings add to the body of research relating to transformative opportunities that arise through pedagogies that centre student voice and agency illustrating that all individuals can benefit when dialogical pathways are travelled by learners and educators together as collaborators (Battiste, 2013; hooks, 1994; Taylor & Robinson, 2009). Finally, this study provides insight into the synchronous application of a/r/tography and living inquiry as practical classroom pedagogies, including their promise for generating resonant transformative space (Chambers et al., 2008; Meyer, 2010).

Text

2021-07-08

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/78879

Education

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/