Interrogating the value of theatre-based methodologies as a research tool for addressing the effects of violence on young people's education pathways

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OverviewBrazil faces excessively high rates of violence, with homicide rates similar to conflict zones. These extreme rates of violence impact on everyday interactions and relations, and on all public institutions, including schools. This network therefore explores how violence restricts education pathways/access, in ways that reflect localised patterns of inequality, such as gender, race, class, and sexualities. Members share a concern for the emotional and physical well-being of young people affected by extreme levels of everyday violence, and a curiosity in the potential role of theatre methods in deepening our understanding of how people live with exposure to everyday violence. The network will incorporate a pilot study in a high school in North East Brazil, where violence rates are exceptionally high, in order to focus and deepen the discussion on the value of using applied-theatre methods to create safe spaces for pupils and teachers to express their experiences. This collaboration between academics and practitioners, between arts and humanities research and practice, and development and education policy and research will therefore road-test and refine a theatre-based model for researching everyday violence as an urgent and persistent challenge. The issueLatin America has the highest homicide rates in the world for non-conflict zones, which are focused primarily in cities. High levels of interpersonal violence go largely unreported, and rates of violence against women are high. Different groups of people face different sorts of threats and levels of vulnerability. Young people have to deal with the fear, threat and reality of violence, in the home, at school, on the street, and in their relationships with authorities. Evidence suggests that all forms of violence have negative consequences for educational experience, but also negative school experiences are an indicator for future involvement in violent crime. This multidirectional relationship between violence and education, as well as the disengagement this can produce among teachers, is an issue in need of urgent responses. Why theatre?This problem emphasises the need to foster creative and safe spaces that allow young people to express emotions, bodily responses, and social practices that can otherwise get missed in the precarious environment they inhabit. The arts have a long tradition of working for non violence and exploring the ways in which people are impacted by politics, power and discrimination. Moreover, there is a parallel between the expressive use of the body in theatre-based activities, and the body as the target of violence. This convergence offers a creative route for understanding the way people experience violence, physically and emotionally. Activities and outcomesThis work will provide methodological innovation, and fresh insights into the impacts of violence on education. The network will come together to discuss plan, deliver and evaluate a pilot, exploring the value of theatre-based approaches as a research methodology. In particular, the network is interested in unpacking the precise insights produced by theatre methods, and their suitability for investigating such a sensitive and complex topic. The network aims to produce learning that can be shared with professionals and practitioners in the worlds of policy and practice in addressing the impact of the protracted crisis of everyday violence on young people's (YP) education pathways. Secondly, the network will develop a research proposal to build on the knowledge and practices developed, to explore the potential use of theatre approaches in other settings, and the potential of these methodological tools to function not only as tools for research, but also to provide future solutions to these issues.