On the 17th of February 2023, as part of the research titled Our (photo) Voice: Children and Young People’s Joint Action Research on Student Wellbeing for All conducted under SEAMEO-Australia Education Link Award (SAELA) 2022, Dr. Elga Andriana conducted a photovoice training session for co-researchers from Yogyakarta, Kupang, and Jambi. The training was conducted in order to increase the understanding of using photovoice as a data collection tool in research involving children from the three mentioned regions.

In summary, the training discussed about:

1. Photovoice’s Theoretical Framework

Photovoice is not just a way to obtain data but more than that, photovoice is also a tool to empower the participants. Therefore, researchers must have the mindset of “educating” and not solely aim to collect the needed data. 

2. The Goal of Photovoice

Photovoice aims to encourage participants to reflect on their surroundings as well as to address issues in their communities with the hope of generating solutions and creating a change in the community. 

3. Step by Step of Conducting Photovoice

In general, after assessing the participants and obtaining consent, researchers need to:

• Pose the initial theme for taking photo
• Introduce basic photography method
• Provide the time for participants to take photos
• Discuss the photographs with the participants 
• Plan the ways to communicate the photos and result to the stakeholders

The training ended with a sharing session about Dr. Andriana’s previous Photovoice research as well as discussing possible problems that may arise during the research in Yogyakarta, Kupang, and Jambi. 

A research entitled Our (photo) Voice: Children and Young People’s Joint Action Research on Student Wellbeing for All is currently held by Dr. Elga Andriana and team for SEAMEO-Australian Education Link Award (SAELA) 2022. In order to gain deeper understanding on the topic, an initial training was conducted on February 4th, 2023 with two amazing source persons who shared their knowledge that relates to the topic of the research. The two people are Dr. Annie Gowing, whose presentation focused on wellbeing, specifically in the context of the school, as well as on peer support and its role in student wellbeing, and Professor David Evans whose presentation was entitled “Inclusive Education: Inclusive for Whom?”

The first presentation was delivered by Dr. Annie Gowing. She described several definitions of wellbeing, but specifically, student wellbeing is defined as a sustained state of positive mood and attitude, resilience, and satisfaction with self, relationships, and experiences at school. This concept has multiple dimensions, and this presentation covered four of them: cognitive, social, emotional, and physical. Below are the efforts that school can put to promote all four aspects of wellbeing of the students:

1. Cognitive

• Nurture competence
• Nurture autonomy
• Support relatedness

2. Social

• Promote positive relationships and connectedness
• Promote pro-social behavior

3. Emotional

• Create safe classrooms, playgrounds, spaces and online learning environments
• Teach social-emotional skills
• Developing and supporting school-wide strategies

4. Physical

• Promoting physical activity
• Creating a safe environment
• Good nutrition and sleep
• Adopting a whole school approach

In addition to support from the school, peer support is also important in promoting students’ wellbeing. Peer support allows students to interact with one another in a safe and encouraging environment. It can be formal or informal, organized or spontaneous. It can especially help students with disabilities and those who have experienced bullying or trauma, as it can increase levels of interaction with peers, academic engagement, progress on individualized social goals, social participation in class and the formation of new friendships, and a sense of belonging at school.

The training session was then continued by a presentation by Professor David Evans on the topic of inclusive education, which was still related to the context of learning and education. Professor David Evans first explained the topic’s foundation, which is inclusion, before delving too deeply into it. Inclusion is “the action or state of being included within a group or structure”. Meanwhile in the context of education, education is the right of all students that is needed to be worked on using all the resources in the community. This aligns with the fourth goal of UN Sustainability Goals, which is to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning. In short, build a learning environment that allows all students to not just participate in schools but also allows them to actually learn regardless of their backgrounds.

To achieve the goal of inclusion, we must go through a process that includes several steps. The first one is to embrace diversity and build a sense of belonging which is rooted in the belief that every person has value and potential and should be respected. Next is to change and modify content, teaching methods, approaches, structures, and strategies in education to overcome barriers with a vision of providing all students the resources they need corresponding to their needs and preferences. Not only that, we also have to transform culture, policy, and practice in all education settings to accommodate differences among students and remove barriers that impede that possibility. Finally is to focus on full and effective participation, accessibility, attendance, and achievement of all students.

Professor David Evans additionally provided two frameworks that may serve as a guide for stakeholders in education in supporting the development of inclusive education, which are:

1. Inclusive Pedagogical Approach in Action (IPAA) proposed by Florian (2014)

• Assumption 1: Differences is accounted for as an essential aspect of human development in any conceptualisation of learning
• Assumption 2: Teachers must believe they are qualified/capable of teaching all children
• Assumption 3: Teachers continually develop creative new ways of working with others

2. Universal Design for Learning proposed by Hall and Johnson (2015)

• Assumption 1: Learning is the dynamic interaction of the individual with the environment or context 
• Assumption 2: Learner ability and disability is at the intersection of the individual and the environment or context
• Assumption 3: Learners in any learning environment represent a range of variability
• Assumption 4: “If we design our instruction for the ‘average’ learner, we’re designing for no one.”

The training ended with a very inspiring closing statement from Professor David Evans, “but, where are the students in the discussion of inclusive education?” So far, “talk of ‘including’ can only be made by those occupying a position of privilege at the center” (Graham & Slee, 2006, p.20). Therefore, Children and Young People’s Joint Action Research on Student Well-being for All can put students in the center of the discussion of inclusive education and listen to their voice.