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Challenging normative assumptions regarding disengaged youth: a phenomenological perspective
Lewthwaite, Brian Wilson, Kimberley Wallace, Valda McGinty, Sue Swain, Luke
Lewthwaite, Brian
Wilson, Kimberley
Wallace, Valda
McGinty, Sue
Swain, Luke
Abstract
This paper explores the experiences of 12 young people, all teenagers, who have chosen to attend alternative schools known as flexible learning options within the Australian context. Using a phenomenological approach, the study seeks to understand their experiences outside the normalised public discourse that they had ‘disengaged’ from mainstream school. A phenomenological approach is employed because of its potential to draw attention to predetermined assumptions about, in this study’s case, student disengagement, a concept commonly framed within a pathologised and deficit perspective. The study gives evidence for the utility of a phenomenological approach in providing insight into how macrosystem policy, such as a nationalistic neoliberal agenda, influences ‘schooling’ and subsequently students’ experiences with schools. The implications of this study with attention to the nexus between methodology and policy are discussed, especially in drawing attention to how phenomenology as a qualitative methodology provides a means of agency for the disenfranchised to challenge existing policy and public assumptions.
Keywords
flexible learning options, phenomenology, policy, school engagement
Date
2017
Type
Journal article
Journal
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education
Book
Volume
30
Issue
4
Page Range
388-405
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Education
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
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Open Access Status
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Controlled