Imagining the world through participatory video: Children's experiences of global education in Australia and Timor-Leste

Abstract

This thesis explores how children learn to imagine and engage with development and global education through participatory video. Enabling children to participate in shaping a more just, inclusive and peaceful world is at the heart of global education, and many child-focused international non-government organisation (INGO) programs. Yet there are few empirical studies that explore children’s views and experiences of engaging with intercultural and social justice issues through development programs. Participatory video has gained prominence in development practice and is presumed useful in assisting children to amplify their voices and agency on matters that affect their lives. However, there is also a scarcity of analysis into specific and overlapping challenges facing development workers and educators using media to facilitate meaningful participation from children.

Drawing on iterations of visual and participatory research with 27 children, and semi-structured interviews with 13 teacher/development workers involved in an INGO program in Australia and Timor-Leste between 2013 and 2014, this thesis places children’s views at the centre of debates about global education and children’s participation. In doing so, this thesis argues that development programs aimed at increasing children’s participation may succeed in amplifying children’s voices on development issues, but fail to extend substantive and critical forms of participation and agency. This reflects the marginal status of participatory communication within INGOs and schools generally, but also the challenge of listening and responding to children’s voices and agency.

The findings show that children’s participation in media-facilitated global education is often constrained by adult and institutional beliefs about children’s limited capacity, political neutrality and juvenile interests. In these situations, participatory video may provide a particularly effective vehicle for assisting children in exploring their values, aspirations and sense of community and, in so doing, provide insights into their capacity to challenge inequality in both local and global contexts. However, the potential of participatory video to facilitate children’s participation may also be limited by institutional pressures placed on teachers, minimal integration between development programs and school contexts, and unequal relationships between children. These findings reveal a number of important, and often overlooked, avenues for strengthening children’s participation and critical engagement with global education.