On Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023, Dr. Annie Gowing hosted a public seminar for the Youth Research Collective at the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne. During this seminar, Dr. Elga Andriana presented the SAELA 2022 project. The project involved teams of child researchers who investigated student wellbeing using the photovoice method in three different locations: Yogyakarta, Kupang, and a jungle child community in Jambi.
Dr. Andriana presented several findings from the study. These included the understanding of well-being as self-acceptance, personal growth, having a sense of purpose, positive interpersonal relationships, and enjoyment of learning. However, there were also concerning findings, such as students being tired of writing tasks, experiencing sexual harassment, and problems arising from ‘jam kosong’ or teachers’ absenteeism leaving the students to study independently. This has caused issues such as bullying towards students with disabilities.
The audience provided insightful feedback, emphasizing the importance of researchers ethically supporting the community to solve problems and the need for models on how research responds to issues found.