Traversing the Threshold in Child and Youth Care Education: A Qualitative Inquiry into the Meaning-Making Experience of Student Participants in an International Study Tour

This qualitative, relational-centred inquiry explores the learning experiences of a group of twenty Child and Youth Care (CYC) students who completed a twelve-day international study tour through parts of Ireland and Scotland. The international study tour offers experience-based learning opportunities for CYC students to see first-hand Irish and Scottish history, culture, and social care systems. Through this inquiry the student participants communicated and interpreted the meaning of their study tour experience. The data analysis revealed five thematic categories organized around five guiding research questions, the results of which are described below.