Groups

perceiving different groups, but the way that they conceptualised and labelled these groups varied. For Jay and Jacomo, distinctions between different groups of people seemed more important than for DK, Yusef and Tim; participants will be discussed in this order.

The first indication that distinctions between groups of people could be important for Jay is when she describes an incident when first aiders were needed, ‘we had first aiders within the younger groups including myself, we had first aiders on staff, and within the security at UEL Docklands campus itself’ (page 19, line 408). Looking at Jay’s notion of ‘younger groups’ first, age does seem to be a factor that Jay uses to make distinctions between groups and to position herself. She says, ‘I just connected on the first day because they were all my age range’ (page 19, line 422), which suggests she feels it is easier to build relationships with those her own age.

Alongside age, status also appeared to be a factor between groups for Jay. She says, ‘I’ve met a lot of great people including the staff, we all connected and they treated us as equals’ (page 19, line 407). It seems that a division was made here between groups of people on the project and it may be because Jay classified the interviewer as ‘staff’ and was in some way acknowledging them in the interview. There is a division between ‘them’ and ‘us’ and that fact that she mentions ‘they treated us as equals’ suggests this might not have been something that was expected or experienced before. When Jay later talks about younger adult and staff grouping, there appears to be a more level playing field in her conceptualisation:

times where I got to have conversations with the staff and the younger adults, where it helped me connect with them and helped me treat them equally and help them treat me equally. Even though I’m not their age group, I’m not a-I’m near their age range, but not their group. (page 19, line 413)

She seems to struggle slightly with the definitions she has created and doesn’t sound certain about the differences between age range and age group that she talks about. This even extends to a suggestion that she isn’t sure where she fits in ‘I’m not a-’, by leaving this sentence incomplete, Jay doesn’t classify herself. Perhaps the nature of those involved in the project, a wide range of adults, with different ages and roles was

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confusing, especially if they are meant to be treated equally. Finally, Jay demonstrates the potential importance of groupings for her as she concludes her interview by saying, ‘it’s been a great experience and hopefully I can come back as staff next year’ (page 20, line 438). As much as Jay talks about equality between groups, does this sentence betray the fact that she believes that groups in the project afforded different status, with ‘staff’ being one to aspire to?

When Jacomo talks about different groups in the project, she uses the classifications of those who have experienced care, those that haven’t and student social workers. Although Jacomo said that she felt the project needed more people who had left care (the group she identifies with), she seems to appreciate hearing from those who haven’t experienced care:

…you get to see how people um think about something that you have been through and they haven’t. And ma- kn- they might not always have the right answer, like the right opinions about it but they mean, you kinda get what they think about it because, they haven’t been through it. (page 17, line 365)

The weight of difference between those who have experienced care and those who haven’t is shown by the phrase ‘been through it’. Jacomo may also classify the student social workers on the project as those who haven’t experienced care, but she talks about them separately as a distinct group:

they get to know how we feel and they can make a change because they’re not social workers yet. So they know what to expect um from the young people that they’re gonna work with. And they will know why they’re acting like a certain way because they’ll hear from us… But I think we need to include social workers in the project. So cos, they can tell us why they don’t always call us back or like, why they’re leaving and stuff. (page 17, line 361)

Jacomo explains what she sees as the benefits from having student social workers involved: she believes that by participating with care leavers, the students will be able to make positive change when they become social workers. Jacomo discussed this in what seemed a matter of fact manner but her mention of not being called back or being left by social workers evokes potentially difficult encounters that she may have had with social workers. These may add to the strength of conviction she feels about participating to create change in the care system.

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In DK’s interview, grouping others in the project seems less important and at one stage he describes the project as ‘a small group of people’ (page 12, line 262). DK does mention ‘teachers, tutors’ as one other group when he says, ‘…a lot of teachers, tutors, don’t get that balance right and that’s one thing I’ve gotta say has been done well with this course’ (page 13, line 283). It may be that grouping people on the project was less important for DK because his ideas about others come more from comparing others to his own self-identity than grouping them:

…some people are anti-gun, I’m pro-gun. You know, some people are anti-drug, anti-marijuana should I say, I’m pro, you know, so it’s, I just like hearing the other side of the argument, the other side of the coin, to try and balance out, to try and come to a more informed decision. (page 11, line 245)

DK seems to find listening to and participating with others more helpful (linking to sections 4.7.1 and 4.7.2) and for him, grouping others does not appear important for this.

When talking about others in the project, Yusef – like Jay – makes distinctions by age, as well as talking about another group, ‘mentors’. Yusef talks at length about a game that was played that he said didn’t make sense to him (discussed further in 4.7.2) and part of this seemed to be differences he saw between what he called the ‘kids’ and ‘old people’ (page 8, line 173). Although Yusef doesn’t seem sure why he didn’t like the game, the different groups involved seemed to be at the heart of it: ‘…cos like, kids, kids are more like, old people can’t do it, it’s cos like too much movement, so, yeh, I don’t even know…’ (page 8, line 173). As Yusef was the youngest in the group, age differences might have been emphasised further. Yusef also spontaneously mentions mentors as a group: ‘…the men-mentors, they were useful and they were supportive and that’ (page 8, line 176). The terms ‘useful’ and ‘supportive’ indicate that Yusef saw the mentors as holding a more powerful position than himself. Yusef had previously had a social work student mentor through UEL and it is not clear whether his mention of them as a group was necessarily distinct to his experience of the project. Either way, it seems clear that he found their input worthy of note.

The theme of groups in the project did not seem as important for Tim. He only mentioned a distinct group within the project once: ‘the volunteers and what not, they also were very helpful … they are pretty much half of the group, so without them there

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probably wouldn’t even be a project’ (page 2, line 30). Again, as with Yusef, the word ‘helpful’ indicates that Tim could see the volunteers as being in a more powerful position. Even though he categorises half of the group as volunteers, Tim does not categorise or talk discretely about the other half of the group. We could assume he does not necessarily classify them homogenously from his distinct view of the lead facilitator as discussed in 4.7.2. It could be that he assumed a shared understanding about this half or hadn’t made sense of this half of the group yet or was reluctant to classify himself for some reason.

In summary, all participants discussed the people involved in the project by using groupings of some sort. Although groupings varied, all had relevance to either age, status or power.

4.8.4 Authenticity. Authenticity is a subordinate theme that is present for Jay,