Visual techniques in education: A literary review of recent researches and an inquiry on educational relation

Abstract

Given the current welfare crisis, pedagogical research is required to make use of ground-breaking techniques in order to analyse the educational relation that takes place in schools between children and adults—either teachers or researchers. Accordingly, visual techniques make the adult world closer to that of children, thanks to a mutual collaboration aimed at the enhancement of the learning environment—where the first social and relational networks
are built. By creating pictures, drawings, videos with the help of children, it is possible to construct individual and collective narratives that boost different pedagogical approaches. There are many example of how metaphors, stories and narratives about children’s experiences are made clearer by making use
of visual techniques within an educational environment—especially when conflicts oppose resilience to other course of actions. Therefore, a comparison is made between various cases found in the educational literature, with particular focus on Italy, Northern Ireland, Australia, and Israel/Palestine. The aim is that of reflecting on the utility and the limitations of this methodology, as well as reflecting on the best way to inquiry its effectiveness when minorities are concerned.