Using “draw and tell” to support young people experiencing socio-economic disadvantage in describing complex educational trajectories

Abstract

This article examines how the use of “draw and tell” as a research method can support adolescents in communities experiencing high levels of socio-economic disadvantage to articulate complex educational trajectories that are often underrepresented in academic literature. The paper presents the findings of qualitative data gathered as part of a wider research study situated in the Irish context which utilizes a multiple case-study approach to examine the role of literacy as a socio-cultural practice in students' educational trajectories from primary school to higher education. The study involved forty-one young people (aged 10–17) attending urban primary and secondary schools identified by the Irish government as experiencing the highest levels of socio-economic disadvantage under the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Ireland (DEIS) program. “Draw and tell” sessions invited students to depict and narrate their experiences of using literacy skills such as reading, writing and speaking in school. “Draw and tell” sessions were audio-recorded and analyzed thematically using a reflexive, inductive approach. Three interrelated themes emerged within the findings: (1) “draw and tell” functioned as a catalyst for communication and empowerment, enabling students to use drawings as low-stakes mediating artifacts through which they could express complex feelings and emotions; (2) “draw and tell” acted as a tool for students to explore their sense of identity and belonging across the continuum of education; and (3) “draw and tell” provided a medium for young people to conceptualize care in education, highlighting their experiences of both instructional and relational forms of care. The findings demonstrate that “draw and tell” can democratize the research space with adolescent research participants, enabling agency to be redistributed in ways that conventional interview or survey approaches can fail to allow for. The paper argues for wider use of creative, youth-centered methodologies in research and policy in order to better understand and address the cumulative nature of educational inequality in communities experiencing high levels of socio-economic disadvantage.