05. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Paper
Counterstories Of Educational Pathways: Life Course Narratives Of Minoritized Young Adults On Counterspaces In Their Communities And Neighborhoods.
Julia Steenwegen, Donna de Maat, Joyce Weeland
Erasmus University, Netherlands, The
Presenting Author: Steenwegen, Julia;
de Maat, Donna
Minoritized youth encounter a myriad of challenges within the realm of urban education. These challenges can manifest as microaggressions and implicit/explicit prejudices from educators as well as structural impediments to their educational trajectories. Additionally, the wealth of knowledge these youth bring to their educational journey is often overlooked, portraying them as lacking in functional resources or capital (Kolluri, 2020; Rios-Aguilar & Neri, 2023). Despite these obstacles, many minoritized students adeptly navigate through these structural challenges to pursue postsecondary education.
Research on the experiences of students from minoritized backgrounds underscores the significant role played by their communities. Community cultural wealth emerges as a crucial support system, aiding these students in overcoming barriers and successfully transitioning to secondary education (Gao & Adamson, 2022; James-Gallaway, 2021; Margherio et al., 2020). Departing from the prevalent deficit approach that often frames minoritized and their communities as mere victims of achievement gaps, this study delves into the diverse resources or funds of knowledge available to these students within their communities and urban neighborhoods (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002: Steenwegen & Clycq, 2023).
To unravel the factors contributing to the resilience of minoritized youth and their ability to overcome obstacles (Ungar & Theron, 2020), we further draw on psychological research that highlights the pivotal role of children's communities and neighborhoods as potential support networks (Beese et al., 2023). This research strand views the ways in which children cope with negative experiences and surmount challenges as complex systems influenced by personal, familial, and contextual factors (Masten, 2018). Contributing elements within these systems are schools, after-hour clubs, sport centers and community members as role models.
Building on prior studies that explored the impact of community cultural wealth on the experiences of college students (Margherio et al., 2020; Ong et al., 2018), we lean in critical race theory and use the concept of "counterspaces" to unravel how community resources shape the ways in which young people counter inequality. Counterspaces represent environments, either as factual places in the neighborhood or symbolic spaces, where prevailing narratives of inequality are displaced, providing support and identity affirmation to minoritized and at-risk youth by connecting them to community cultural capital (Shirazi, 2019).
The primary research question guiding our investigation is: "Which spaces within the neighborhoods of minoritized children prove instrumental in overcoming experiences of inequality?" Within this research project we seek to unravel which spaces, both symbolically understood and effectively, contribute to the ability minoritized youth to overcome challenges and positively impact their educational pathways. This project explicitly focuses on the resources available in the communities and centers the experience of young adults who grew up in disadvantaged urban environments.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedTo unravel which spaces in the urban neighborhoods of youth at risk contribute to the ways in which they overcome obstacles we use an approach of counterstories which have the power to challenge belief systems, build community, and open new opportunities (Magnan et al., 2021; Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). We use a life course qualitative approach or life story method (Bertaux & Thompson, 2017; Scutaru, 2021) . Concretely, we conduct interviews with young adults of minoritized background who grew up in disadvantaged neighborhoods in urban areas of a diverse city in the Netherlands. In these interviews we investigate five themes: (1) their experience in school, (3) experiences of adversary they perceived as hindering their educational pathways (2) the role of their neighborhoods and communities in their educational pathways, (4) their current experience in education or in the workplace, and (5) their aspirations for the future. We focus on how these respondents managed to overcome the structural barriers and hurdles they were confronted with. Their narratives on how they confronted such challenges are interesting in researching the role of counterspaces as well as in in the displacement of common spread deficit approaches.
We understand the interviewees as active co-constructors of the research projects and therefore they are invited to be part of the research process throughout (Bourabain, 2021). The researchers guarantee that the respondents can contact them for any questions, worries and concerns. In addition, the respondents are invited to read their transcripts, change, and erase anything that they discussed during the interview. Ethical approval has been granted by the ethical committee of the humanities and social sciences of the university to which the authors are affiliated.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThis research brings critical insights into urban education by unraveling the complex dynamics shaping the educational pathways of minoritized youth. Firstly, the study identifies specific spaces within urban neighborhoods that serve as instrumental components in the resilience and educational success of minoritized youth. By pinpointing these crucial spaces, ranging from educational institutions to community-driven initiatives like after-hour clubs and sports centers, the research seeks to provide a nuanced understanding of the environments that contribute significantly to overcoming structural barriers. Secondly, the exploration of community resources, often underestimated or overlooked, is expected to shed light on the richness of assets within urban communities. A variety of resources will be examined, offering a comprehensive view of the diverse elements that positively impact the educational trajectories of at-risk youth. This aspect of the research holds the potential to challenge prevailing deficit approaches by highlighting the strengths present in minoritized and at-risk populations. The examination of counterspaces within urban settings represents a pivotal aspect of the study. Understanding how such spaces challenge prevailing narratives of inequality and provide crucial support is crucial. This exploration seeks to underscore the importance of counterspaces in connecting minoritized youth to community cultural capital, fostering resilience and a sense of belonging.
By centering the voices and experiences of youth at risk, this research contributes to a broader understanding of urban education, emphasizing the strengths and resources within communities and challenging deficit-oriented perspectives.
ReferencesBeese, S., Drumm, K., Wells-Yoakum, K., Postma, J., & Graves, J. M. (2023). Flexible Resources Key to Neighborhood Resilience for Children: A Scoping Review. In Children (Vol. 10, Issue 11). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). https://doi.org/10.3390/children10111791
Bertaux, D. , & Thompson, P. (2017). Pathways to social class: A qualitative approach to social mobility. Routledge.
Bourabain, D. (2021). Everyday sexism and racism in the ivory tower: The experiences of early career researchers on the intersection of gender and ethnicity in the academic workplace. Gender, Work and Organization, 28(1), 248–267. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12549
Gao, F., & Adamson, B. (2022). Exploring the role of community cultural wealth in university access for minority students. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 43(6), 916-92
James-Gallaway, A. C. D. (2021). What got them through: community cultural wealth, Black students, and Texas school desegregation. Race Ethnicity and Education, 00(00), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2021.1924132
Kolluri, S. (2020). Patchwork capital and postsecondary success Latinx students from high school to college. Race Ethnicity and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2020.1798389
Margherio, C., Horner-Devine, M. C., Mizumori, S. J. Y., & Yen, J. W. (2020). Connecting counterspaces and community cultural wealth in a professional development program. Race Ethnicity and Education, 00(00), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2020.1798378
Masten, A. S. (2021). Resilience in developmental systems: Principles, pathways, and protective processes in research and practice. In Multisystemic Resilience: Adaptation and Transformation in Contexts of Change (pp. 113–134). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190095888.003.0007
Rios-Aguilar, C., & Neri, R. C. (2023). Funds of knowledge, community cultural wealth, and the forms of capital: Strengths, tensions, and practical considerations. Urban Education, 58(7), 1443-1448.
Shirazi, R. (2019). “ Somewhere We Can Breathe ” : Diasporic Counterspaces of Education as Sites of Epistemological Possibility. Comparative Education Review, 63(4).
Solórzano, D. G., & Yosso, T. J. (2002). A critical race counterstory of race, racism, and affirmative action. Equity and Excellence in Education, 35(2), 155–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/713845284
Steenwegen, J., & Clycq, N. (2023). Supplementary schools as sites of access to community cultural wealth and funds of knowledge in Flanders, Belgium. Critical Studies in Education, 1-20.
Ungar, M., & Theron, L. (2020). Resilience and mental health: How multisystemic processes contribute to positive outcomes. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(5), 441-448.
Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/1361332052000341006
05. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Paper
Young People at Risk and (post)digital Disadvantage
Michael Jopling
University of Brighton, United Kingdom
Presenting Author: Jopling, Michael
In 2022, 24.7% of children aged less than 18 in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion (Eurostat, 2023). This compared with 20.9% of adults (aged 18 or more). At the same time, the increasing datafication of societies and education systems (Erstad et al, 2023) means that emphasis, familiar for decades, on a ‘digital divide’ relating to variations in individuals’ digital access, caused by differences in their motivation, physical access, skills and usage opportunities (van Dijk 2006), has now extended to a ‘data divide’ (Andrejevic 2014), where data-driven technologies are not experienced equally. In turn, these have exacerbated existing levels of disadvantage. While only 5.4% of school-aged children in Europe are digitally deprived, the differences across countries are considerable, ranging from 0.7% in Estonia to 23.1% in Romania (Ayllon, Holmarsdottir & Lado, 2023). These forms of disadvantage are interdependent and have been magnified and highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent cost of living crisis (Hayes et al, 2023).
This paper aims to explore the interactions between social and digital deprivation by examining the experiences of both disadvantaged young people and those who support them. To do this it brings together two theoretical perspectives. The first situates constructions of vulnerability, risk and disadvantage and their effects in a range of social, economic and political contexts, seeing them as constituent elements of being human rather than deficits located in the individual (Beckett, 2006; McLeod, 2012; Jopling & Zimmermann, 2023). The second is postdigital theory, a critical perspective which takes as a starting point the increasing ubiquity and indivisibility of digital technologies in our lives (Jandrić, MacKenzie & Knox, 2022). As such, it is deliberately hybrid, hard to define and unpredictable, representing “both a rupture in our existing theories and their continuation (Jandrić et al, 2018: 894). It is hoped that bringing these perspectives will offer new perspectives on how disadvantage is constructed and understood. The research questions for this study are:
- To what extent has digital disadvantage affected disadvantaged young people?
- How can disadvantaged young people be supported more effectively to develop the skills and capacities they need to overcome disadvantage and flourish in the future?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis paper brings together data and findings from two overlapping projects. The first brought together cross-sector stakeholders from agencies, companies and consortia who worked with disadvantaged young people, as well as academic researchers in four collaborative dialogues held online during 2021 and 2022. Most participants were based in the West Midlands of England but the online location allowed their reach to extend nationally. The workshops were designed to facilitate debate on human data interaction (Mortier et al, 2014) and inclusive approaches to training and support for disadvantaged young people, especially in relation to areas such as developing skills in digital technologies and improving how young people understand data. Summaries of the workshops were shared with participants, but rather than using these as the basis for reporting on the study, participants were invited to contribute to an edited book (reference withheld) which allowed academic and non-academic contributors to extend the dialogue begun online. Chapters from the book have been used as data to be further analysed for this paper.
The second project is ongoing at the time of submission and also uses a postdigital perspective to explore digital policy and practice in four schools (three secondary and one primary) in two highly deprived areas in the South-East of England. It explores issues such as the extent to which schools take into account children and young people’s digital lives and levels of access outside of school; how they are helping children and young people prepare for the (post)digital future in areas such as skills development; and the ways in which schools attempt to compensate for and overcome digital and data disadvantage among young people. The research is based on semi-structured individual and group interviews, held both online and in school, with school leaders, teachers, and technology leads in the schools. Data analysis is thematic (Braun & Clarke, 2021), informed by the theoretical frameworks already outlined.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsConclusions and expected outcomes are likely to focus on identifying the extent and effects of digital and data disadvantage among young people. They will also address the challenges schools, social services and other agencies face in attempting to support them and how they overcome these challenges. Indications for the first project were that disadvantage is both more various and deeper than stakeholders had anticipated, findings which will be explored in more detail in the presentation. Although the research is located in England, some of the dialogue participants drew on research undertaken in other countries and the presentation of conclusions will be careful to draw out the implications for other European contexts.
ReferencesAndrejevic, M. (2014) Big data, big questions| the big data divide, International Journal of Communication, 8(17).
Ayllón, S. Holmarsdottir, H. and Lado, S. (2023) Digitally Deprived Children in Europe. Child Indicators Research, 16, 1315-1339.
Beckett, A. E. (2006) Citizenship and Vulnerability: Disability and Issues of Social Engagement. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Virginia Braun & Victoria Clarke (2020): One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis? Qualitative Research in Psychology, 18(3), 328–352
Erstad, O. et al (2023) Datafication in and of Education – a literature review. http://agile-edu.eun.org/documents/9709807/9862864/Updated+D2.1+Datafication+in+and+of+Education_090623.pdf
Eurostat (2023) Children at risk of poverty or social exclusion. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Children_at_risk_of_poverty_or_social_exclusion
Jandrić, P., Knox, J., Besley, T., Ryberg, T., Suoranta, J., & Hayes, S. (2018). Postdigital Science and Education, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 50(10), 893-899.
Hayes, S., Jopling, M., Connor, S. and Johnson, M. (2023) Human Data Interaction, Disadvantage and Skills in the Community: Enabling Cross-Sector Environments for Postdigital Inclusion. Cham: Springer.
Jandrić, P., MacKenzie, A. & Knox, J. (2022) Postdigital Research: Genealogies, Challenges, and Future Perspectives. Cham: Springer.
Jopling, M. and Zimmermann, D. (2023) Exploring vulnerability from teachers’ and young people’s perspectives in school contexts in England and Germany, Research Papers in Education, 38(5), 828-845.
McLeod, J. (2012) Vulnerability and the neo-liberal Youth Citizen: A view from Australia, Comparative Education, 4(11): 11-26.
Mortier, R., Haddadi, H., Henderson, T., McAuley, D., & Crowcroft, J. (2014) Human Data Interaction: The Human Face of the Data-Driven Society. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Van Dijk, J. (2020) The Digital Divide. London: John Wiley & Sons.
05. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Paper
Inequalities in Pupils’ Reactions to Territorial Stigmatization in Finnish Schools
Riikka Oittinen1, Tiina Luoma1, Heidi Huilla2, Sonja Kosunen2
1University of Helsinki, Finland; 2University of Eastern Finland
Presenting Author: Oittinen, Riikka
This study focuses on comprehensive schools that are located in Finnish post-war high-rise suburban housing estates, known in Finland as lähiö. Since the 1990s, many lähiös have become socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods, where ethnic minorities have also begun to cluster. Finnish lähiös are often seen in a negative light in the public debate and in the eyes of outsiders even though residents do often not share this view. However, little research has so far been done in Finland on neighbourhood stigma, especially in the everyday school lives of pupils.
In this ethnographic study, we examine the everyday reactions of pupils from socio-economically different neighbourhoods to lähiö stigmatization. Pupils lived both inside and outside the stigmatized lähiös, but attended the same lähiö schools. We focus on the spatial and social hierarchies and inequalities that responding to lähiö stigma creates among pupils in schools. In this study, we ask:
1) How is lähiö stigma reflected in the everyday lives of pupils from different backgrounds and neighbourhoods, and how do they react to lähiö stigma at schools?
2) What kind of spatial and social hierarchies and inequalities are created among pupils as they react to lähiö stigma?
Theoretically, we draw on Wacquant’s (2007, 2008) concept of territorial stigmatization and Pryor and Reeder’s (2011) taxonomy of four types of stigma: public stigma, self-stigma, stigma by association and structural stigma (see also Bos et al. 2013). We are not only interested in how pupils from different backgrounds internalize stigma and what it entails, as Wacquant's stigmatization framework (2007; 2008) would suggest, but also in how they are able to resist and challenge it (e.g. Kirkness 2014; Palmer et al. 2004) at the level of different types of stigma.
Studies on territorial stigma have often focused either on the perceptions of residents of stigmatized neighborhoods or housing (e.g. Kirkness 2014; McKenzie 2012; Palmer et al. 2004), including young people (e.g. Sernhede 2011; Visser, Bolt and Kempen 2015), or on how residents from middle-class backgrounds seek to disengage from notorious neighborhoods (e.g. Pinkster, 2014; Watt 2009). However, the role of the school in territorial stigmatization and the perspectives of pupils from different backgrounds have received less attention.
The novelty of our research for European research on urban education and educational inequalities among young people is that 1) we analyse and compare the perspectives of pupils from different socio-economic backgrounds who live both inside and outside stigmatized lähiös, 2) we have a research design in which the structural factor that connects pupils is school and 3) we examine territorial stigmatization as a mechanism of inequality in pupils' school life.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe ethnographic data of this study was produced as part of a research project Local Educational Ethos, examining educational inequalities and the response of schools to the challenges of urban segregation. In this study, we use interview and observation data from two case schools that are comprehensive schools located in the metropolitan area of Helsinki. The schools were selected for the research project based on their neighborhoods’ socio-economic context and location in statistically disadvantaged areas – in low SES and ethnically diverse neighborhoods compared to the city average. The majority of the pupils lived close to the schools, in low SES and ethnically diverse high-rise suburban housing estates. However, the schools also had pupils from surrounding relatively higher SES areas of mostly detached and terraced housing.
Our ethnographic data comprise pupils’ (aged 13–15) interviews (n=46) and daily observations (88 school days) from two lähiö schools. The ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in both schools during the 2019–2020 school year. We observed everyday school life during lessons, breaks, events, excursions and other school activities. The interviews were semi-structured and conducted either individually or in small groups of two or three. The questions in the interviews centered around the school (What is this school like?) and neighborhood (What is it like to live in your neighborhood?). Parental consent was required from the guardians of the pupils who participated in the study, and all ethical procedures were conducted accordingly.
We analysed the data using thematic content analysis (e.g., Braun and Clarke 2019). In the first stage of the analysis, we discussed what themes concerned territorial stigma and inequalities among pupils and their reactions to it. We then coded the interview and observation data from the two schools with Atlas.ti software. First, we coded the data with two codes: neighborhood and neighborhood comparison. Finally, we coded these sections with even more specific codes: public stigma, self-stigma, stigma by association, structural stigma, spatial hierarchies, challenging stigma and internalizing stigma.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsOur findings demonstrate that a public stigma of living in a disadvantaged lähiö, or being associated with it through school, affected pupils’ lives and they used several strategies to avoid, alleviate and challenge the lähiö stigma. However, pupils from socio-economically diverse neighbourhoods and circumstances had different opportunities to react to lähiö stigma, leading to inequalities between them.
Among pupils living in disadvantaged lähiös, the stigma caused ambivalent and negative feelings and a sense of shame towards their living environment. This may indicate the internalization of the lähiö stigma into a self-stigma. Pupils living outside stigmatised lähiös feared that the stigmatisation of school neighbourhoods would also affect them. This phenomenon could be called stigma by association (Boss et al. 2013; Pryor & Reeder 2011). Among pupils from relatively higher SES neighbourhoods, lähiö stigma was associated with the stigma of social problems and poverty in the neighbourhood and they used stigmatising language towards the school neighbourhood. Thus, reactions to lähiö stigma created spatial and social hierarchies among pupils. This contributed to the divisions and boundaries among pupils living in socio-economically different neighborhoods but attending the same school. Territorial stigmatization is thus one of the mechanisms that feed inequalities among young people at school.
It is therefore important to reflect on school from the perspective of structural stigma, meaning the role of the school as an institution in alleviating spatial and social hierarchies and the use of stigmatized language among pupils from socio-economically different neighborhoods. Thus, active efforts are needed from school staff to raise awareness of the spatial hierarchies and neighbourhood stigma in pupils’ lives, to promote the grouping and encounters of pupils from different backgrounds and to support respectful interaction among them.
ReferencesBos, Arjan, John Pryor, Glenn Reeder and Sarah Stutterheim. 2013. “Stigma: Advances in Theory and Research.” Basic and Applied Social Psychology 35 (1): 1-9.
Braun, Virginia and Victoria Clarke. 2019. “Reflecting on Reflexive Thematic Analysis.” Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health 11 (4), 589–597.
Kirkness, Paul. 2014. “The Cités Strike Back: Restive Responses to Territorial Taint in the French Banlieues”. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 46 (6): 1281–1296.
McKenzie, Lisa. 2012. “A Narrative from the Inside, Studying St Anns in Nottingham: Belonging, Continuity and Change.” The Sociological Review 60 (3): 457–475.
Palmer, Catherine, Anna Ziersch, Kathy Arthurson and Fran Baum. 2004. “Challenging the Stigma of Public Housing: Preliminary Findings from a Qualitative Study in South Australia.” Urban Policy and Research 22 (4): 411–426.
Pinkster, Fenne. 2014. “’I Just Live Here’: Everyday Practices of Disaffiliation of Middle-class Households in Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods.” Urban Studies, 51 (4): 810–826.
Pryor, John and Glenn Reeder. 2011. “HIV-related stigma.” In HIV/AIDS in the Post-HAART Era: Manifestations, Treatment and Epidemiology, edited by Brian Hall, John Hall and Clay Cockerell, 790–806. Shelton, Connecticut: PMPH-USA, Ltd.
Sernhede, Ove. 2011. “School, Youth Culture and Territorial Stigmatization in Swedish Metropolitan Districts.” Young, 19 (2): 159–180.
Visser, Kirsten, Gideon Bolt & Ronald van Kempen. 2015. “‘Come and live here and you'll experience it’: youths talk about their deprived neighbourhood.” Journal of Youth Studies 18 (1): 36–52.
Wacquant, Loic. 2007. “Territorial stigmatization in the age of advantaged marginality.” Thesis Eleven 91 (1): 66–77.
Wacquant, Loic. 2008. Urban outcasts: A comparative sociology of advanced marginality. Cambridge: Polity.
Watt, Paul. 2009. “Living in an oasis: middle-class disaffiliation and selective belonging in an English suburb.” Environment and Planning A 41 (12): 2874–2892.
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