Exploring the Touch Experiences of Individuals with PMLD in Education
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Multimodal Ethnographical Study to Explore the Human-Touch Encounters of Three Teenage Participants with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD) Whilst in Education.
IRAS ID
306616
Contact name
Lila Kossyvaki
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 6 days
Research summary
The study aims to discover the touches three teenage participants with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) encounter whilst in their educational establishment, from as close to their perspective as is possible. All aspects of the lives of people with PMLD has been under-researched but it is recognised they experience high levels of touch. The few empirical studies on touch with people with PMLD have focused on the perspective of the professional. Overarching fears of allegations of abusive touch appear to underpin a moral panic of touching children whilst in education, with little advice for schools on appropriate touching other than when used for restraint.
This study is built on previous master’s research identifying and categorising the touches individuals with PMLD experienced in school from the perspective of an educational professional. A 2021 pilot study explored the utilisation of body-worn cameras by participants with PMLD to enable a shift in the researcher’s perspective closer to that of the individual.
The research questions:
1. What human-touches do participants with PMLD encounter when in their school environment?
2. What might each participant with PMLD prehend of the human-touches tin their school environment?
The study will take place in a school in the north of England using a multimodal ethnographical approach, utilising a pair of body-worn cameras, facing towards the individual and from the individual to simultaneously record their immediate environment and their external responses to it. Selected ‘touchpoints’ recorded will be analysed in-depth using multimodal discourse analysis to try and establish how the individual prehended the touch.
The researcher will spend up to 30 hours in school with each individual and record up to 20 hours of footage within a 10-month period.
The outcome of the research may broaden the dialogue about touch in education to include the perspectives of individuals with PMLD.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/NW/0180
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jun 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion