The recent intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health crises, and structural racism has deepened distrust within our education system, particularly affecting students of color.
Newly in the journal Ethnography and Education by a team of researchers at the Crown Institute explores how multimodal testimonio (testimony) can be used as a tool to identify and mend distrust, spark imagination, encourage genuine individual and institutional care, and bolster students' wellbeing.
鈥淪tudents from marginalized communities often face additional barriers to trust and inclusion, leading to feelings of isolation and disengagement. It is crucial that we take this moment as an opportunity to create environments that foster trust, inclusion, and belonging for all students,鈥� said Leah Pe帽a Teeters, PhD, research lead and Outreach and Education Program Director at the Crown Institute.
Circles de Confianza
鈥淭丑别 Circles de Confianza study, a sub-study of our larger Belonging & Trust research, emerged from years of deep collaborative and ethnographic research at various partner sites. Through this study, we aim to address the deepening distrust within our education system, particularly affecting students of color, immigrants, and Latinx students,鈥� said Pe帽a Teeters.听
One of the innovative approaches employed during this research in Colorado was the use of multimodal testimonio. This involves students using photography and storytelling to express their vision of trusted schools, or 'schools de confianza'. By sharing their stories and perspectives, students can highlight the necessary actions and changes needed to achieve their vision.
Furthermore, this approach encourages genuine individual and institutional care. By actively listening to students' stories and incorporating their insights into decision-making processes, schools can create a culture of trust and care. Students feel seen, heard, and valued, which contributes to their overall wellbeing and academic success.
For Pe帽a Teeters, it was surprising to see how simple some of the actions were to support students鈥� . Students suggested things like: at the start of class know my name and pronouns, and ask us how we鈥檙e doing.
听
Participatory Design
At the Crown Institute participatory design is key to all research. In this case it involved students, teachers, and other stakeholders. This approach ensures that the solutions we propose are grounded in the needs and aspirations of the school community.
鈥淧articipatory approaches ensure that whatever is designed is applicable, but more importantly when we鈥檙e talking about constructs like trust, belonging, and well-being, there鈥檚 a huge amount of variance at the individual, cultural and social levels. This approach opens a way by which to invite cultural differences as well as perspective, recognizing that no cultures are homogenous. It鈥檚 also reflects this moment in time and this group of people, in a way that is very fluid and constantly changing,鈥� added Pe帽a Teeters.
In conclusion, promoting trust and inclusion in schools requires a multifaceted approach; participatory research, first-person storytelling, and artistic representation are powerful tools to support this work. The creation of a space for students to share their experiences is crucial. The team is currently exploring ways that this work can be integrated sustainably into schools.
Pe帽a Teeters concludes by emphasizing the need for mixed methods when it comes to reporting and data collection at schools. 鈥淣umbers can only tell so much of the story, the call to action with numbers alone can be very limited- you need those two to stand together. Student voice, first person storytelling, is an important part of school accountability measures and school reform.鈥�