ABOUT OUR PHOTOVOICE PROJECT
Even though there is some research on access to higher education in South Africa, most studies neglect student voices and lived experiences and do not pay sufficient attention to higher education choice and decision-making processes. An approach is needed to understand pathways to higher education for diverse students, not least because access to higher education is a matter of the public good and social justice, which we understand as the expansion of students' human capabilities.
Capabilities are freedoms or real opportunities to lead the kind of life that people value. Capabilities are put into practice as functionings, that is actual beings and doings. Agency is important in the process - the ability of the individual to pursue and achieve the objectives they value for their own well-being but also that of others. An agent is then someone who acts and makes change happen.
How students from township and rural schools convert their personal biographies into access under social and education conditions and contexts, and how they give voice to their stories is central to our project.
RESEARCH AIMS
1. To understand – through the voices of young people - how they decide to go to university, what and who influences their decision, what challenges (walls) and opportunities (bridges) they face, and how they get on once at university.
2. To involve young people as co-researchers in a participatory research process.
3. To enhance skills and knowledge and empower the researchers.
4. To share these experiences.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
What are the stories that young people tell about getting into university and getting on at university? How can we tell these stories through a photo-essay?
METHODOLOGY
Eleven undergraduate students, supported by facilitators and with training in photography produce individual photo-essays around an access theme of their own choosing, working over six days. Discussion and participation to encourage student voices is central to the process. Students each select six photographs from all those they have taken, provide a title for their photo-essay and a caption for each picture. Students as a group decide on how they wish to share the photo-essays and with whom.
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POLICY BRIEF