Make new friends, leave my friends: A dialogical investigation into transition experiences and agency in children from UK Armed Forces families

Abstract

This article provides new perspectives on the transitions of children from military families. It examines the experiences and agency of a group of UK primary-school Service children who were undergoing far-reaching transitions while participating in an arts-based research project. Transitions are conceived here not as events, such as school moves, but as processes of changing, the dialogical interplay between ever-changing socio-cultural and physical environments and the psychological work individuals undertake in response to change. This reconceptualisation of transitions shifts attention away from children's resilience, or lack thereof, and towards unique, nuanced understandings of their subjective experiences and priorities. Presenting multimodal pieces created by three children as they explored the question, ‘What's it like to be a Service child in this school?’, I describe their diverse and agentic responses to their changing circumstances, as they sought to mitigate anticipated and past losses and perceived disadvantage and to use their transitions as positive opportunities for self-development. Although punctuated by observable moments of change, this transition work happened over an indefinite timescale, highlighting a need for long-term support informed by understandings of children's agency and priorities. Such support and insight may be achieved through developing spaces for multimodal dialogue with Service children.