My key reflection from the first workshop was that the workshop felt like other workshops I have facilitated with students in which there is a student / teacher dynamic. I think this is partly to do with the workshop being so structured, for this next workshop I want to raise the following points at the start of the workshop;

• Reminder of the PAR process, we are all equal participants in the research. Discuss the above quote with them.
• Highlight that I had expectations of what the research would produce and that I had unconsciously outlined the workshops to achieve this. I was not going to structure the following workshops to allow more room for a collaborative inclusive process.
• Discuss and decide what it is we collectively want to address and how.

DYNAMICS OF SPACE

‘the significance of circles across world cultures and how they promote a sense of safety, equality, friendship….They dissolve power dynamics, the moment you put people in a circle, something feels different about that experience.’

Talisma, Ivy; Muchenje, Fungisai (2022). Participatory data gathering and co-analysing data with participants using thematic analysis. University of Manchester. Presentation. https://doi.org/10.48420/21065971.v1

In preparation for one of our PG Cert workshops we were asked to look at a series of resources about data collection. I watched the presentation above as it seemed relevant to my research project. In this presentation the presenters discuss the power of the circle form used in group meetings as a way of breaking down power dynamics. Reflecting on workshop 1 were I felt the dynamics were more traditional student/teacher, I realised the spatial format of the workshop was set up like other in curriculum workshops. For workshop 2, I wanted to set up the space in a circular format to see if this changed the dynamic.