Acting Locally, Thinking Globally: An International Research–Practice Partnership for Youth Action

Citation

Chapman C, Madrid R, Duque C & Paez-Silva M (2025) Acting Locally, Thinking Globally: An International Research–Practice Partnership for Youth Action. In: Wyse D, Baumfield V, Mockler N & Reardon M (eds.) BERA-Sage Handbook of Research-Informed Education Practice and Policy. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-bera-sage-handbook-of-research-informed-education-practice-and-policy/book282002

Abstract
Shared Values for Collective Action: The Emergence of an Idea This project is rooted in ideas sparking from a call for social change combined with the need to confront what is probably the most pressing existential pressure on humanity: climate change. On October 18, 2019, as one of us left the University of Chile in Santiago after delivering a seminar on research–practice partnerships (RPPs), they experienced for the first time what it means to be caught up in civil unrest. On emerging from the sanctuary of the university on to the street, we immediately came across groups of students and young people exercising their public right to protest against perceived social injustices and polices that have tended to promote rather than reduce inequities. This direct action, triggered earlier in the morning by students refusing to pay for using the metro and jumping the barriers to get on trains at stations, led to the authorities responding with a show of force including the use of tear gas and water cannon to control and disperse the crowds. In acts of solidarity, restaurant staff lined the streets with trays of lemons to offer an antidote to the effects of tear gas. Meanwhile, the protests spread and moved around the city like an ameba. These protests and the ensuing military response continued as a game of cat and mouse long into the night. The following morning, the 19th October, we noted that El Mercurio, led with the headline “Estado de emergencia en Santiago. Ola de violencia azota la capital y siembra caos y destrucción,” highlighting the tension and desire for change that filled the air. These events and the political uncertainty surrounding them led to COP25, which was due to be held in Santiago, being moved to Madrid in Spain. The spirit and solidarity we glimpsed within the Chilean people made an immediate impression and seemed to resonate strongly with the values and political determination found over the centuries within working class Glaswegians. It also reminded us of a little known, but special relationship between the West of Scotland and Chile. During the military dictatorship between 1973 and 1990, Rolls Royce workers in East Kilbride, just outside of Glasgow, acted in solidarity with the people of Chile by refusing to service and work on Hawker Hunter engines that had powered the jets to bomb the National Palace during the coup. Soon after returning to Scotland, it came to our attention that COP26 was to be held in Glasgow. This seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. Two populations at other ends of the earth, around 7,000 miles apart, have been prepared to act locally within a shared framework of values and direct action to stimulate social change and also have a shared agenda around climate change through a commitment to hosting COP. Building on our partnership working with Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso (PUCV) and other Chilean colleagues (cf. Madrid Miranda & Chapman, 2024; Yancovic et al., 2019) and our commitment to building leadership capacity and place-based RPPs through the ESRC What Works Scotland and Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland (CNS) programs of research (Chapman et al., 2017, 2019), it seemed like a unique opportunity to bring two contrasting education systems together to explore what could be learned from each other. In many senses, the two countries and their education systems could not me more different. Scotland is smaller and located in the Northern Hemisphere, whereas Chile is much larger and located in the South. Scotland has a land mass of 77,900 km2 and a population of about 5.5 million with around 96% of children educated in public schools with a relatively egalitarian society. In contrast, Chile has a land mass of 756,102 km2 and a population of over 19.5 million with less than a third of children educated in public schools and a highly segregated society. Tuition fees for undergraduate programs in Chile are among the most expensive across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries with available data, while in Scotland, tertiary education is free for Scottish residents. There are also similarities. Both countries have diverse topographies and distributions of populations, ranging from mountain ranges to flat coastal regions; both have densely populated urban areas with large educational establishments and also very dispersed isolated communities, including those living on islands, with very small educational establishments that feel a great distance from the pace and pressures of city living. It is within this context that this chapter draws from an international RPP focusing on promoting youth civic engagement in relation to climate change. The chapter sets out to draw out the learning from the RPP by focusing on the role of teachers and students as researchers, illustrating both the possibilities and challenges of placing youth action as central to this work. We argue that creating opportunities to authentically co-construct and incorporate practitioner and student voices into the research and policy process is critical to move toward the development of a networked learning system, which can better position ourselves to explore wicked issues such as climate change.