The Journey to Authentic Non-Self: A Course-Based Qualitative Inquiry Into the Lived Experience of Child and Youth Care Students

  ABSTRACT: Cultivating a greater sense of self-authenticity is a major emphasis of child and youth care (CYC) education. This requires a supportive and safe teaching and learning environment that fosters introspection, curiosity, critical dialogue, and most importantly, creative and experiential learning assessments. This qualitative course-based inquiry explored CYC students’ perceptions of becoming more authentic as a result of their CYC education experience. A non-probability, convenience sampling strategy was used to recruit CYC students from all four years of study at MacEwan University. A triangulated data-collection strategy consisting of a focus group, an open-ended online survey, and an arts-based activity was used to enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of the findings. Two dominant themes supported by a deeper, over-arching implicit theme emerged in the analyses: a) learning to embrace who I am, b) a lifelong learning journey of liberation, and c) the over-arching implicit theme, the symbiotic relationship between authenticity and relationality.

KEYWORDS: child and youth care; course-based research; authenticity; learning assessment