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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 4
Publication Date: April 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/assrj.84.9993. Bellefeuille, A., Monahan, A., & Bellefeuille, G. (2021). What Does Leadership Look Like in Child and Youth Care Practice: A Course- Based Qualitative Inquiry. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(4). 169-177.
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What Does Leadership Look Like in Child and Youth Care Practice:
A Course-Based Qualitative Inquiry
Andrew Bellefeuille
BCYC, MacEwan University, Alberta, Canada
Alyc Monahan
BCYC, MacEwan University, Alberta, Canada
Gerard Bellefeuille
Professor, BCYC, MacEwan University, Alberta, Canada
ABSTRACT
The aim of this course-based research is to explore how child and youth care (CYC)
students understand the concept of leadership within the context of CYC practice.
Data was collected through online interviews and an arts-based activity. From the
data analysis, four main themes were extracted: leadership as relational process,
leadership as authenticity, leadership as complexity, and leadership as praxis. The
findings reveal that CYC students characterize CYC leadership as a way of being
relationally engaged with others that is more a way of being in the world than a
matter of what one knows or does.
Keywords: child and youth care, leadership, research, qualitative
INTRODUCTION
As first-year child and youth care (CYC) students at MacEwan University, we are quickly
introduced to the concept of praxis. It is presented to us as a critical, empowering, and
transformational educational framework to inspire a more personal and holistic learning
experience. Intrinsic to the concept of praxis is the view point that CYC practice is less a matter
of what one knows or does, although these are important, and more a matter of who one is as a
practitioner (White, 2008). As a result, we were constantly encouraged to develop critical
thinking skills and to embrace the idea that learning lies not in the proclaimed outcomes (what
is to be known) but in the process of learning (how we arrive at what we understand). The
quotation cited below is one of many from a course-based research project that explored how
the concept of praxis was expressed and exercised by CYC practitioners in the field:
...it got our heads spinning as we thought about ourselves, others, and the world in
new ways. As first-year university students, relatively new to the application of
critical-thinking skills and abstract reasoning, we were invited to rethink our desire
to “know” and to seek comfort in curiosity, exploration, non-judgmental awareness,
and open mindedness...we were prodded and, at times, thrust from our comfort zone
into unconventional learning that required taking risks, thinking critically and
creatively, and stepping into the unknown...To help inspire us to embrace praxis as a
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guiding conceptual framework to promote excellence in CYC practice, we were
encouraged to think of ourselves as artists rather than workers or practitioners.
(Brown, Gautreau, Dhalla, & Bellefeuille, 2018, p. 1)
The course-based research project that yielded this quote concluded that the attention to praxis
not only encouraged risk taking, creative thinking, unconventionality, and interpersonal
awareness, but it also generated inspiration, confidence, competence, and moral courage in
students to participate as transformational leaders in the field.
Child and Youth Care Practice
The field of CYC practice is generally described as a dynamic and challenging one in which CYC
practitioners enter directly into the life space of the children, youth, and families they serve
(vander Ven, 1991). The overriding philosophy of CYC practice is to provide support in the
moment to children, youth, and families as they go about living their lives (Fulcher 2004). As
Garfat and Fulcher (2012) explain:
Whether it is with a family in their home as they are doing dishes or playing soccer
with a young person in the community park, or chatting with a homeless youth on
the streets of a major city; whether it involves hanging out with a mother in jail,
helping a supervisee learn a new skill, pausing at a desk with a student, or
participating with a young person in a church activity; whether it involves being in
the sandbox, on the football field or sitting with a child as she falls asleep after a
difficult day–CYC Practitioners involve themselves in all aspects of the daily life of the
people with whom she or he works (p. 8).
Fostering meaningful relationships is, therefore, the main feature that distinguishes CYC practice
from other helping professions. The challenge, however, for today’s 21st century CYC graduates
is to successfully engage in interpersonal relationships with children, youth, and families at a
time of rapidly changing community needs. For example, Bellefeuille and Berikoff, (2019),
educational leaders in the field, note the following:
Having just crossed the threshold of the 21st century, it is indisputable that the world
today is radically different than it was when we, the authors, began our professional
careers some four decades ago. Although humans are not yet hovering off to work
with our own personal jetpacks, the shift towards global interconnectedness and the
explosion of technological advances have brought about profound and far-reaching
changes that have virtually reshaped every aspect of our daily lives. It is in this world,
that packs more into each day and is changing more rapidly than at any time in
human experience, that child and youth care (CYC) education programs aim to
prepare their students to practice their profession...a globalized, technological, and
diverse world order that has and continues to revolutionize how we communicate,
work, engage in interpersonal relationships, rear families, and perceive the world in
general while we seek meaning in life (p. 14).
Therefore, the expectation today is that CYC practitioners will possess the leadership capabilities
to address a continuously evolving, highly diverse, and complex practice context. Hence, the
primary aim of this course-based research is to explore how CYC students understand the
concept of leadership within the context of CYC practice.
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Bellefeuille, A., Monahan, A., & Bellefeuille, G. (2021). What Does Leadership Look Like in Child and Youth Care Practice: A Course-Based Qualitative
Inquiry. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(4). 169-177.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.84.9993
CYC Practitioners as Transformational Leaders
The concept of leadership is complex and multi-dimensional. A quick review of the literature
reveals that although it is commonly studied, no universally accepted definition or theory of
leadership exists. For example, in a survey on leadership Northouse (2004) concluded that “there
are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define
it” (p. 2). So, where does CYC education stand when it comes to leadership as a core practice
competency? Which leadership perspective best fits the mission and values of the CYC
profession? How does the style and quality of leadership skills adopted by CYC students affect
outcomes in their work with children, youth, and families? Finally, the age-old adage that leaders
are born and not made suggests that people have innate characteristics and attributes that lend
them to leadership, while others simply do not. The implication being leadership can be taught
but it cannot be learned. Hence, the aim of this course-based research project is to explore the
perceptions of CYC students and faculty regarding the main components of leadership within the
context of CYC practice.
UNDERGRADUATE COURSE-BASED RESEARCH:
A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL TO FOSTER CRITICALITY, REFLECTIVITY, AND PRAXIS
This section begins with a word about course-based research. The Bachelor of Child and Youth
Care program at MacEwan University is continuously searching for new pedagogical approaches
to foster critical thinking, reflection, and praxis as integral components of the overall student
educational experience. As such, a course-based research approach, in contrast to the traditional
didactic approach to research-methods instruction, offers fourth-year undergraduate students
the opportunity to master introductory research skills by conceptualizing, designing,
administering, and showcasing small low-risk research projects under the guidance and
supervision of the course instructor—commonly, a professor with an extensive background in
research and teaching.
The use of course-based research in higher education has increased substantially in recent years
(Allyn, 2013; Bellefeuille, Ekdahl, Kent, & Kluczny, 2014; Harrison, Dunbar, Ratmansky, Boyd, &
Lopatto, 2010). The benefits derived from a course-based approach to teaching research
methods are significant for CYC students. First, there is value in providing students with
authentic learning experiences that enhance the transfer of knowledge learned in traditional
education practice. For example, former students have reported that their engagement in course- based research enabled them to deepen their scientific knowledge by adopting new methods of
creative inquiry. Second, course-based research offers students the opportunity to work with
instructors in a mentoring relationship; one result is that a greater number of student’s express
interest in advancing to graduate studies. Third, results generated through course-based
research can sometimes be published in peer-reviewed journals and online open-access portals
and thereby contribute to the discipline’s knowledge base. The ethical approval required to
permit students to conduct course-based research projects is granted to the course instructor by
the university’s research ethics board (REB). Student research groups are then required to
complete an REB application form for each course-based research project undertaken in the
class; each application is reviewed by the course instructor and an REB committee to ensure that
the project is completed in compliance with the ethics review requirements of the university.
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RESEARCH PARADIGM
A research paradigm is an overarching philosophical or ideological stance about the nature of the
world (Weaver & Olson, 2006). The assumptions of the various research paradigms form the base
from which researchers go about producing knowledge (Rubin & Rubin 2005). This course-based
research project is located within the interpretivist paradigm. The central endeavor of the
interpretivist approach is to grasp “the subjective world of human experience” (Cohen, Manion
& Morrison, 2011, p.17). Though no research paradigm is factually superior, the choice of
paradigm does guide the direction of the research (Yin, 2013). By its very nature, interpretivism
promotes the aims of qualitative research, which strive to capture the subjective meaning of
participants’ experiences (Kaplan and Maxwell, 1994).
RESEARCH DESIGN
Developing a research design that is well-suited to answering the research questions involves
consideration of the alignment between the researchers’ ontological and epistemological
assumptions (Creswell, 2013). While there are many definitions of ontology, for the purposes of
this course-based research, ontology is defined as the fundamental, taken-for-granted
assumptions about the ultimate reality of things and, particularly for CYC students, the nature of
self (i.e., what it is to be a human being; Bellefeuille & Ricks, 2010). The term epistemology is
associated with the acquisition of knowledge. It poses the following questions: What counts as
knowledge? What is the relationship between the knower and what is known? How do we know
what we know? The relational-centered ontological assumptions we hold regarding the nature
of reality and the nature of human knowledge as CYC students did in fact direct us toward the
adoption of a qualitative research design grounded in the interpretive paradigm. As Creswell
(2014) describes, the strength of qualitative research is that it focuses on gaining greater insight
into how people interpret their experiences and construct their worldviews and what meaning
they assign to their lived experiences. It is an approach to scientific inquiry that seeks to interpret
meaning from data to allow for description and interpretation of participant experiences in the
natural setting and context in which they occurred (Gentles, Charles, Ploeg, & McKibbon, 2015).
This course-based research project is also regarded as preliminary or exploratory. As Creswell
(2013) explains, exploratory research design is often carried out as initial research before
more conclusive research is undertaken. An exploratory research design does not aim to provide
conclusive results to the research questions but merely explores the research topic with varying
levels of depth (Polit & Beck, 2012). As such, exploratory research is used to gain greater
familiarity with an existing phenomenon to attain new insight and identify a more precise
research focus.
STATEMENT OF RESEARCH QUESTION
How do CYC students and faculty understand the concept of leadership within the context of CYC
practice?
SAMPLING STRATEGY
A non-probability purposive sampling strategy was used to both identify and recruit CYC student
participants. A non-probability expert sampling strategy was used to identify and recruit CYC
faculty. As Creswell (2013) explains, deciding on the most appropriate sampling strategy is
critical to the overall research process. Non-probability sampling is one of the most common
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Bellefeuille, A., Monahan, A., & Bellefeuille, G. (2021). What Does Leadership Look Like in Child and Youth Care Practice: A Course-Based Qualitative
Inquiry. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(4). 169-177.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.84.9993
sampling strategies used in qualitative research to identify and select “information-rich”
participants from whom the most can be learned (Patton, 2002). It entails the recruitment of
research participants that are especially knowledgeable about or experienced with the
phenomenon of investigation (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011).
DATA COLLECTION STRATEGY
Our primary data collection strategy was an online written survey with an online interview
option using the Zoom video conferencing platform. An arts-based activity was also used. Remote
data collection was the most suitable option due to the social distancing requirements of the
Covid-19 pandemic. Scholars have produced abundant literature on remote data collection
methods (Chen & Neo, 2019; Ferrante,2016 et al.; Tuttas, 2015). According to Cater (2011) and
Jankowski and van Selm (2005), remote-mediated communication not only offers greater
flexibility in time and location of data collection but can also be regarded as a highly socialized
form of interaction.
The arts-based activity involved asking participants to draw an image of leadership. This activity
was optional. Participants who chose to engage in the arts-based activity were asked to take a
photo of their image and send it to the researchers by email. Arts-based research methods are
increasingly used to explore, understand, represent, and challenge human experiences (McNiff,
2007). They include a wide range of practices, from visual arts, performance, dance, and music,
to creative writing and poetry (Angelides & Michaelidou, 2009; Bagnoli, 2009; Leavy, 2009). As
Bellefeuille, Ekdhal, and Kluczny (2014) note, “arts and science are alike in that both are driven
by curiousity, discovery, and the aspiration for knowledge of what it is to be human in this world”
(p.2). They further explain that arts-based research methods offer an approach to the human
sciences that is ontologically and epistemologically different from the positivist empiricism of
knowledge making.
DATA ANALYSIS STRATEGY
Thematic analysis was used to identify themes. This approach provides a set of techniques to
identify, analyze and report themes within data. According to Braun and Clarke (2006), a theme
captures something about the data in relation to the research question, represents a type of
patterned response or meaning within the data set, and is not dependent on quantifiable
measures. The sequence of analysis consisted of the six steps that are described by Braun and
Clarke: (1) familiarizing oneself with the data, (2) generating initial codes, (3) searching for
themes, (4) reviewing and refining themes, (5) defining and naming themes, and (6) producing
a report. From the data analysis, four main themes were extracted: leadership as relational
process, leadership as authenticity, leadership as complexity, and leadership as praxis.
Leadership as Relational Process
The first theme that emerged from the data was the relationality of the concept of leadership,
which was indicated by participants speaking about the relational attributes of CYC leadership.
For example, one participant commented that “leadership in child and youth care is relational
and reciprocal.” Another participant referred to CYC leadership as a way of being in the world
together with practical wisdom, intersubjectivity, and dialogue, saying, “CYC leadership is a
different kind of leadership than we're used to in other parts of society. I've heard it described as
moving from the sage on the stage to the guide on the side. We walk with people and are