Nostalgia, transition and the school: an innovative approach of using photographic images as a visual method in educational research

In the context of the study reported in this paper, of transition from nonformal primary schools to formal secondary schools in Bangladesh, the difficulties of smooth school transition relate not only to the making of new relationships and adaptation to new norms in a new environment, but to a very different approach to educating disadvantaged people. The role of images is explored as part of a research process in which formal secondary school students made connections with their past experiences in nonformal primary schools. Interviews with photographic images in this context represent an innovative approach to learning about students’ experiences, fitting with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. This theoretical framework focuses attention on the significance of the context at several levels of ecological systems to children’s development. Images of their nonformal primary school represent an opportunity for nostalgia for new secondary school students, evoking strong feelings which illuminate the many dimensions of transitional challenges.