‘It’s a life-changing point for me’: critical consciousness, collective empowerment and global awareness as activist identity change in ‘popular education’

Sarah Jay, Maura Adshead, Sahra Ryklief

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The Youth Global Awareness Programme (YGAP) is a 2-week residential ‘popular education’ programme for young, diverse, international, labour movement activists, run by the International Federation of Workers Education Associations in Cape Town, South Africa. In this mixed method study (N = 47), we draw on the Social Identity Approach to Education and Learning. We propose that the participatory, peer-to-peer learning during YGAP leads to activist identity change, where critical consciousness, collective empowerment and global awareness develop as group norms. The first longitudinal questionnaire study found significant increases in activist identity and critical consciousness, which predicted increased collective empowerment. In the second focus group study, data were analysed with reflexive thematic analysis and two themes provide compelling evidence of learning during YGAP as identity change processes. Participants’ commonalities and differences enhanced activist identities with global awareness. Simultaneously, new knowledge, passion, hope and connection to a global activist community created collective empowerment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)161-178
Number of pages18
JournalEuropean Journal of Psychology of Education
Volume38
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2023

Keywords

  • Collective empowerment
  • Global awareness
  • Identity change
  • Participatory learning
  • Popular education

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