Photoyarn: Aboriginal and Maori girls' researching contemporary boarding school experiences

Few studies have primarily addressed Indigenous girls’ experiences in contemporary boarding schools in Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand. In response, this research was developed in conjunction with Indigenous students attending boarding schools to look at their school experiences. Fifteen Aboriginal girls attending two non-Indigenous Australian boarding schools and ten girls from one Mãori boarding school were involved in this research. An Indigenous research method termed ‘photoyarn’ was developed as a method students could use to drive and control their own research, on their own experiences, using student photography, yarning and yarning circles. Underpinned and viewed through the lens of Martin’s (2008) relatedness theory, this research also drew on Indigenous methodologies centred on connectedness and relatedness, such as storywork. Photoyarn allowed participants to lead their own research in ways that many other methods could not, through participant-led data collection, analysis and dissemination