Abstract
Research shows that it is challenging to obtain reliable information on the experiences of children living in tenuous circumstances, where they have faced daunting challenges and difficulties. The aim of this chapter is to explore the information provided by asylum-seeking children on their well-being, especially their feelings of security, through use of the Storycrafting method, in which children are given opportunities to tell stories. We also examine how the Storycrafting method functions as a means of creating narrative knowledge among children who live in difficult situations and within a culture of silence. The results show that, through Storycrafting, children tell intense and thick descriptions of their well-being, both positive and negative ones. The Storycrafting method is a valid method for encouraging children who are asylum seeking, immigrants and refugees, as well as other children living in difficult situations, to discuss their well-being and enable professionals to gather information that may be unobtainable in other ways.
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Notes
- 1.
The KOTO Project conducted by the University of Eastern Finland, aims to develop and design new and diverse learning methods, which support active participation of immigrants and asylum seekers. KOTO is funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, South Savo Regional Fund.
- 2.
The Storybridges Project is a project of the Children are Telling group, which aims to support language learning through methods that promote children’s participation and action. The Storybridges is funded by the KONE foundation.
- 3.
Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, since 2009, the National Institute for Health and Welfare.
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Acknowledgements
We would particularly like to thank the asylum-seeking children involved in the study and the Academy of Finland research project ‘Children talk about their well-being – Who listens?’ (TelLis, project number 1134911), the Finnish Cultural Foundation, South Savo Regional Fund (KOTO Project), the KONE Foundation (Storybridges Project) and KASVA (Doctoral Programme in Educational Studies) for making this study possible.
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Karlsson, L., Lähteenmäki, M., Lastikka, AL. (2019). Increasing Well-Being and Giving Voice Through Storycrafting to Children Who Are Refugees, Immigrants, or Asylum Seekers. In: Kerry-Moran, K.J., Aerila, JA. (eds) Story in Children’s Lives: Contributions of the Narrative Mode to Early Childhood Development, Literacy, and Learning. Educating the Young Child, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19266-2_3
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