Schooling adolescents’ social identities construction following an ego-ecological approach: a case study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the construction of social identities among adolescents attending school in the South West region of Cameroon using Marisa Zavalloni and Christiane Louis-Guerin’s ego-ecological approach. The study focuses on how adolescents negotiate and shape their identities in response to their social and educational environment through the exploration of the role of peers, teachers and curriculum content in shaping adolescents’ social self-concepts in the particular context of the region’s linguistic and cultural diversity. The methodological approach of this study is qualitative and consists in incorporating in-depth interviews and focus groups with 30 secondary school students selected through a quota sampling among the 3 non-randomly selected schools of the South West Region of Cameroon to uncover the complex dynamics of identity formation in this context. The results show that the construction of adolescents’ social identities is shaped by multiple factors, such as their interactions with peers, their relationships with teachers and their experience of curriculum content. These elements interact to enable adolescents to negotiate and reconfigure their social identities in a dynamic and situational manner, in response to their constantly changing educational and social environments. Key findings indicate that students experience both empowerment and conflict as they navigate diverse social environments, highlighting the importance of taking these complex dynamics into account in the design of curricula and pedagogical practices. The role of institutional frameworks such as school policies, language use and cultural representation is highlighted as important in facilitating or hindering the positive construction of adolescents’ social identities.

Keywords

• social identities
• adolescents
• education
• ego-ecological approach
• South-West region
• Cameroon

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