An article I wrote drawing on research from my doctoral dissertation, New Learning Imaginaries: Youth Perspectives on Learning In and Outside School, was recently published by the International Journal of Research on Extended Education.
Abstract
This paper draws on the results of an ethnographic project carried out with five groups of secondary students. During one academic year, our research team accompanied youth in an inquiry into learning practices in and outside school. Here their observations and contributions are brought together to problematize the relationship between formal and informal learning, learning and schooling, and the role of students versus researchers. In an attempt to understand the impact of learning as a practice (rather than a result), a mobilities perspective is introduced. The authors use metaphors such as multidirectionality, flow, border crossing and displacements to reimagine learning practices in relation to the personal trajectories of learners, rather than the fixed location of the school.
Keywords: school disaffection, learning mobilities, participatory ethnography, youth voice, secondary school