INtergenerational Stories of Erosion and Coastal community Understanding of REsilience

Project Description

Withernsea High is a local community school which is situated close to the eroding cliffs and thus its students see the day to day effects of their changing shoreline. Many of these pupils live within the communities that have ongoing threats of a retreating cliff-line, with many properties already lost into the sea.
The project will synergise with elements Halstead’s PhD in understanding children’s perceptions of climate change and will extend Parson’s PhD project with young people at Withernsea High. The participants will be asked to interview older members of their communities and capture lived experiences of coastal erosion. The pupils will work in pairs to interpret the responses and create stories and a narrative. These stories will go alongside a set of photographs they will also take that further describes and identifies the story they wish to tell. These stories will be exhibited in the new Coastal Change Observatory in Pier Towers and the Meridian Centre in Withernsea. It is hoped that the exhibition can move on to other venues including Hull University campus and Earth Arcade outreach events. Not only will this help the youth of Withernsea connect and embed within their broader communities but will also build a community of climate champions, increasing their understanding and their resilience of the accelerating impacts of coastal erosion on their community during their lifetimes. The programme also aims to educate the public, policymakers and community leaders concerning the impacts of coastal change and the feeling of displacement that this can cause on both individuals and broader society.
At the University of Hull and Energy and Environment Institute, school students, teachers, and scientists are already working collaboratively to gain better understanding of erosion along the Holderness coast, through inquiry-based learning approaches and learning outdoors. Many of the young people we are working with currently have low academic projections and Withernsea is an area in the 10% most economically deprived in the UK. By empowering the young people to begin to explore the impacts, causes and effects of coastal erosion through a variety of projects, it is anticipated that this process will not only engage the pupils in their education but will also aid in developing their understanding and their overall community resilience to future coastal erosion.

Aim: The aim of the INSECURE project is for the young people to participate and lead intergenerational interviews with community members, with the purpose of:
1) Exploring the use of “learning outside of the classroom” as a method in engaging a group of young people who are currently disengaged and have a low academic profiling and to explore if this method raises attainment and improves wellbeing.
2) Encourage intergenerational relationships to be created and sustained through storytelling and interviewing, building place connections and kinship amongst communities.
3) Producing an exhibition and educational resources of these untold stories to enhance community and public awareness and create understanding and a more resilient society.