Residential Child Care – standing in solidarity with those in need and oppressed. What? How?

Interviewing potential Residential Child Care workers we look for people with curiosity, who can think before, beneath, beyond, behind what is occurring in the here and now. We look for people who are not passive recipients of experience or knowledge. We look for people to think critically, the here and now can be different. In Residential Child Care what is latent in the present is always in the process of being acted upon becoming what it can be.

We work with real world problems, analyse their causes and participate with young people creating new ways of understanding and living.

‘With’ is an important word. We work children understanding events and experiences thinking through resolving the past to be able to take their own responsibility for their future.

Paolo Friere – Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Paolo Friere in the Pedagogy of the Oppressed calls this ‘dialogue’, an act of love, humility, requiring mutual trust, critical thinking and hope. Sch reflection together brings actions of exploring their current reality and how it can be different. Together we uncover the themes that shape a child’s world and create a transformation through problem solving together so that they can shape their world their way, and participate positively in the wider world.

Is there anyone who ever came to Residential Child Care who was not committed to the fullest development of a child’s potential and the creation of a more just society? Isn’t the changing of a child’s status quo transformation?

Residential Child Care is about empowerment.

Augusto Boal – Theatre of the Oppressed

Boal developed a set of ideas and practices designed to help people examine power, inequality, and social dynamics. His central belief was that people are not passive recipients of knowledge. They are active participants in shaping their world. Education, for Boal, should rehearse reality, not just describe it.

A core idea in Boal’s work is the shift from being a spectator to someone who is not just watching but thinking, questioning, and imagining alternatives.

Here he is talking about it What is Theatre of the Oppressed

In the Theatre of the Oppressed passivity is disrupted gently. Instead of presenting a single ‘correct’ response, participants explore:

• What is happening here?
• Who holds power?
• What assumptions are at work?
• What could be done differently?

What is the story? What does the story mean? What needs to happen?

Professional curiosity is central to the approach as professional judgment is situational, relational, and ethically complex.

Residential Child Care workers are experts at synthesising and analysing data, evaluating it and drawing conclusions.

A Boal-inspired mindset helps by: 

• Surfacing hidden dynamics – making micro-aggressions and structural issues visible.
• Normalising uncertainty – recognising that people are learning and will make mistakes.
• Rehearsing intervention – allowing participants to think through how they might respond in challenging moments.
• Decentring the facilitator as ‘expert’ – creating shared inquiry rather than top-down instruction.

Instead of asking ‘What should I do here?’, we might think ‘What is happening between the people here? Where is the power? What assumptions are shaping responses?’

Even a short pause to consider alternative actions, or experiences of the same situation, turns an everyday something into a space for critical thinking. This doesn’t mean stopping or taking more time, it means using the deeper reflection to dive beneath the surface leading to greater engagement. We recognise the complexity of everyday life and how it affects us all powerfully..

It is about analysing rather than accepting, questioning rather than giving answers.

Here’s some of the ways Theatre of the Oppressed ways could be used in Residential Child Care

Newspaper theatre – use a piece of news from a newspaper, or from any other written material, to create a critical and empathic investigation of the social reality. See The 12 Techniques of Newspaper Theatre – ImaginAction

Invisible theatre – “If I transform the clay into a statue, I become a Sculptor”. Create that sculpture together. “If I transform the stones into a house, I become an architect” Build that house together. “If I transform our society into something better for us all, I become a citizen”. What would we do to create a better place for us to live in?

Image theatre – communicating together by images, more than words alone. Filling the emptiness of words.

Forum theatre – create a scene or a play that shows a situation of oppression that a person does not know how to fight against. Then act out potential possible solutions, ideas, strategies.