Humanising research relationships: Democratising education-based enquiry with student researchers

Abstract

This paper critically reflects upon the experiences of three student researchers during a participatory research project conducted in an English sixth-form academy. Discussion is centred upon a research conversation involving three student researchers (aged 17 years) and two postgraduate researchers, from York St John University, UK. Collectively, critical insights are offered into the process of conducting education-based participatory research; leading to the identification of situations in which ethical challenges, tensions and power imbalances arose. Through reflection, attention is paid to how researchers can disrupt neoliberal educational agendas and create opportunities for democratic research. The narratives presented in this paper offer recommendations for facilitating more democratic research relationships, that centralise the valuing of all voices and promote collaborative approaches to research. Envisioning this ‘space’ for future research through adaptation of Freire's ‘culture circles’, the article concludes with suggestions of how researchers may work to humanise research relationships.