Making space for community learning : engaged research with teacher aides in disadvantaged schools

Community groups are connected to much larger social, cultural and organisational systems that shape members’ perceptions, identities, roles and capacity to adapt to change. This chapter examines the constraints that social and organisational discourses place on the role perceptions of community groups and their subsequent ability to participate actively in collaborative partnerships in engaged research projects. Using data from one community research project conducted with teacher aides in a regional city in Queensland, significant themes emerge to illustrate the power implications of discourse memberships that threaten to constrain reciprocity and true collaboration between university researchers and communities. This study highlights the importance of engagement strategies that acknowledge and respond to these contextual factors to empower community groups.