From research idea to interpreting findings: How young people have shaped the Behaviour in Schools Study
19 July 2024
Elizabeth is a peer researcher from our Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG), involved in every stage of the Behaviour in Schools Study. Dr Sarah Bell, Senior Research Associate in Qualitative Research is a lead researcher on the project. Here they share their experiences of working on this innovative co-produced piece of work.
Elizabeth, YPAG peer researcher
I have been involved in this project since it started in 2020, when I took part in a creative workshop exploring issues that impact young people’s mental health and wellbeing. Disciplinary behaviour management in secondary schools was highlighted as an issue.
Following the meeting, a smaller group of six YPAG members was created: myself, Azin, Alex, Maddie, Sophie and Freya, and we were trained to conduct peer interviews. It was lovely having time to bond as a group, as this helped us feel comfortable with one another and therefore able to give our honest opinions on ideas.
Learning how to conduct an interview in a conversational and personal but also professional way has greatly improved my confidence in speaking to people.
I really enjoyed coming up with the list of questions that we would be asking during the interviews. This was truly empowering as we were able to guide the content and style of the interviews.
A barrier we encountered was arranging the interviews, firstly due to COVID-19 then our GCSE exams taking over. Although I was disappointed not to be able to do any interviews, I enjoyed hearing about the experiences of other YPAG peer researchers that did.
Alex said:
“I really enjoyed doing the interviews, it was really good to hear what the young people we were interviewing felt first hand and explain it in their words. Being the interviewer with support also felt like a really valuable experience.”
We were also trained and involved in analysis of the data, for example coding the pupil interviews and creating a framework matrix of quotes.
It was evident that change to behaviour management in secondary schools was needed and a key theme was the use of isolation rooms and how detrimental it is for young people’s mental health and wellbeing. But we were aware that solutions for schools needed to be realistic and easy for them to implement.
We decided to use animations to share the key messages and highlight the main issues and solutions raised in the young people’s interviews. Sophie, from YPAG, along with two of her creative arts friends recorded the voice-overs for the animations.
Sophie said:
“I was lucky enough to be a part of the peer interviewing process and help with voicing the animations. It has been so rewarding to see all our research come to life through these animations and I am looking forward to these being shared so we can help educators and schools. It has been a privilege working on this research and I have gained very valuable experience.”
To ensure we had a balanced view, and in order to make change, we realised we had to speak to those who can bring the change: school staff and others involved in implementing behaviour management in secondary schools. Sarah is nearly finished interviewing these experts and analysis is underway. Myself and Alex have been involved, coding the interviews and discussing preliminary findings.
I am really grateful to have been involved in such an important study and hope we can bring about some positive changes to behaviour management in schools.
Dr Sarah Bell, Senior Research Associate in Qualitative Research and a lead researcher on the project
The Behaviour In Schools Study is a truly collaborative project and a real joy to work on. I have been so impressed with the YPAG peer researchers whose involvement has really enhanced this study.
It is important that research we do is relevant, and the issue of disciplinary behaviour management in secondary schools was raised by the young people as something they wanted us to explore further.
Our peer researchers have been involved in the complete research process in a meaningful way, learning skills along the way.
The benefit of having young people’s perspectives on research about young people is invaluable. They were able to shape the interview guide, lead the interviews (with minimal support needed from us researchers!), and contribute to the analysis, their interpretation adding to understanding of the data.
Their creativity and expertise guided the discussions on the format for sharing the findings and I am delighted with the two animations we have created together. They really capture the young people’s views and experiences beautifully. The aim is to share the animations with schools, for both staff and pupils to watch.
We are now analysing the interview data from school staff and other experts involved in behaviour management, and again the peer researcher’s contributions have been vital.
This is an exciting project that we have now worked on together for four years, and we hope to continue this important work. We are now discussing the next steps for this research, and hope to support schools to try alternative approaches to disciplinary behaviour management. Watch this space!
