The School as an Arena for Co-Creating Participation, Equity, and Well-Being—A Photovoice Study from Norway

Schools may play an essential role as an arena for co-creating community activities that enhance well-being, equity, and citizenship. Still, there is limited knowledge about physical and non-physical factors that contribute to well-being within such approaches. The aim of this study was to identify important factors for well-being as perceived by pupils, school employees, and parents in a community school in Norway. The participatory method photovoice was used, and seven pupils, six employees, and four parents participated by taking photos used as the basis for six focus group discussions. Transcripts of the discussions were analyzed using Systematic Text Condensation. The analysis showed that the participants experienced that the school’s built and natural environment, the activities happening there, and the human resources and organization at the school facilitated perceptions of safety, inclusion, and cohesion, which in turn contributed to well-being. Furthermore, the results showed that co-creating schools as a community arena could be an innovative way of ensuring participation, equity, and well-being in the community. Such an approach might be especially important in deprived areas or in multi-ethnic communities. An important prerequisite to succeed is the openness of the school’s staff to engage in co-creation with other stakeholders in the community.publishedVersio

Skolen som nærmiljøhus : trivselsskapende faktorer for de ansatte ved Alvimhaugen barneskole : en photovoicestudie.

Bakgrunn: Arbeid er en stor del av voksne menneskers liv, og det er et økende fokus på å styrke de positive forholdende på arbeidsplassen for å opprettholde og bedre helse og trivsel for de ansatte. Trivsel er med på å styrke motstandskraften når man møter på ulike belastninger i livet. Skolen blir nå sett på som en nøkkelarena for helsefremming, og utviklingen av skolen som et nærmiljøhus blir stadig mer utbredt. Det foreligger derimot lite tidligere forskning på hvordan en slik tilnærming påvirker de ansattes trivsel. Mål: Hensikten med denne masteroppgaven er derfor å undersøke hvilke faktorer som ansatte opplever at fører til trivsel på Alvimhaugen barneskole i Sarpsborg, en skole som også fungerer som et nærmiljøhus. Metode: Den kvalitative metoden photovoice ble benyttet for å samle inn data. Utvalget bestod av seks kvinnelige ansatte. Deltagerne fotograferte det de opplevde at førte til trivsel for dem, og bildene var utgangspunkt for et fokusgruppeintervju. Dataene ble analysert etter Malteruds systematiske tekstanalyse. Salutogenese og opplevelse av sammenheng er benyttet som teoretisk rammeverk i oppgaven. Resultat: Analysen identifiserte tre hovedkategorier som var viktige for deltagernes trivsel. Skolens funksjon som nærmiljøhus reflekterte deltagernes opplevelse av ”hva vi er” hvor underkategoriene fysiske omgivelser og sosiale aktiviteter var forutsetninger som bidro til deltagernes trivsel ved at de møtte elvene på andre arenaer. Hovedkategorien identitet gjenspeilet deltagernes tanker om ”hvem vi er” og underkategoriene stabilitet, felles visjon, flat struktur og sosialt fellesskap bidro til en sterk ”vi-kultur”. Den siste hovedkategorien psykososialt arbeidsmiljø handlet om ”det vi opplever” og inneholdt faktorene sosial støtte, trygghet, humor og belønning, som deltagerne opplevde at bidro til et svært godt arbeidsmiljø og stor grad av trivsel på arbeidsplassen sin. Konklusjon: Resultatene viste at deltagerne opplever sin arbeidshverdag som begripelig, håndterbar og meningsfull – som igjen tyder på at de opplever høy grad av arbeidsrelatert opplevelse av sammenheng. I videre forskning vil det være interessant å utforske forholdet mellom hovedkategoriene, samt å undersøke samspillet mellom alle partene i et nærmiljøhus; elever, ansatte, foresatte og innbyggere.Background: Work is a huge part of the adult life and positive conditions in the workplace with intention to keep the employees healthy have received more attention during the last decade. Well-being contributes to building resistance in life. Schools are now seen as a key arena for health promotion and the concept “nærmiljøhus” based on a “Whole School Approach” is tried out at a school in Sarpsborg. No previous studies have investigated how a “Whole School Approach” affects the employees. Aim: This study’s aim is to investigate factors that lead to well-being among employees at Alvimhaugen primary school – a school that also function as a “nærmiljøhus”. Method: The qualitative method photovoice was used to collect the data. The participants were six women. They photographed elements that brought them well-being at their workplace and the photos were later base for a focus group interview. The data were analyzed using Malteruds systematic text condensation. Salutogenesis and sense of coherence are the theoretically framework used in this study. Results: The analysis identified three main categories important for the participants well-being. The first main category was “nærmiljøhus” where the participants experiences of “what we are” were reflected. The subcategories physical structures and social activities contributed to the participants well-being by letting employees meet their students at different arenas. The second main category identity reflected the participants feeling of “who we are” and the subcategories stability, common vision, horizontal structure and social fellowship formed a “we-culture”. The third main category was psychosocial work environment with social support, safety, humor and reward as subcategories who contributed to the participants well-being at their workplace. Conclusion: The results showed that the employees in this study experienced their work as comprehensible, manageable and meaningful – which again shows that they experience a high level of work sense of coherence. Investigating the relationship between the three main categories and the interaction between all parts (pupils, employees, parents and residents) in a “nærmiljøhus” will be of interest in future research.submittedVersionM-FO