Defending the defended subject: managing the researcher as advocate role in working with young people

The overall context for this work is that of the increased attention that has been focussed on school singing through the government’s £40m National Singing Programme. A significant issue of inclusion arises through boys’ self-policed exclusion from singing. This paper draws on the author’s work with young subjects who have a vested interest in identity protection as young male singers positioned within discourses such as “real boys don’t sing” or “singing is for gays”. These boys face the choice, through this work context, of on the one hand being peer educators and role models for encouraging other boys to sing or, on the other hand, maintaining the secret, underground identity that has served them well as a self-protection strategy. The paper explores the ethical, methodological and epistemological dilemmas raised when the uniqueness of a project pushes the boundaries of conventional research governance.