‘If they don’t listen I shout, and when I shout they listen’: hearing the voices of girls with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties

Abstract

Young people particularly girls, constructed in the education system as having behavioural, emotional and social difficulties are amongst the most ‘missing voice[s] in research’ (Lloyd & O’Regan, 2000). Frequently denied a place to speak from, we direct attention to the importance of hearing girls, who are troubled and troubling and deemed ‘doubly deviant’ in their resistance to both school rules and gender-stereotyped norms (Lloyd, 2005), speak about their dis/engagement in education. We argue that participatory research methods can provide meaningful ways for girls to construct and better understand their own narratives. In so doing we draw on our ongoing research in England with teenage girls excluded from mainstream provision. Findings from analysis of their narratives are discussed in relation to Lundy’s (2007) key elements of voice, space, audience and influence. This process reveals the significance of hearing and responding to the multilayered complexities of girls’ voices in purposeful ways.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Melanie Nind: orcid.org/0000-0003-4070-7513

Catalogue record

Export record

Altmetrics