Interactive interviewing and imaging: engaging Dutch PVE-students in dialogue

Schools are important settings to promote health as they provide a context where children and young people learn to develop competencies to understand and influence their lifestyles and living conditions. This requires a school climate that encourages democratic learning processes and empowers students to become agents in their own lives. This process can be supported by taking an asset approach which focuses on opportunities and resources to enable change. It also requires methods that enable students to express their perspectives and engage in dialogue with peers and adults. Based on a case study in the Netherlands, this paper explores the use of two methods to actively engage Pre-Vocational Education (PVE) students in peer dialogue about their perspectives on active lifestyle, thereby rapidly mapping their assets instead of their needs. For this purpose, two action research methods were adapted and field-tested: the Structured Interview Matrix (SIM) and Photovoice. We describe the optimization process of these methods to fit with PVE-students in classroom settings. The protocols developed were applied in different PVE-schools with children aged 12-14 years and adapted iteratively based on the evaluations by critically reflecting on the experiences. We conclude that a combination of these methods (labelled Triple I) provides students with real opportunities to visualise their perspectives and engage in mutual deliberation. It also allows for efficiently collecting qualitative data from a large group of participants in an engaging way.