Problematising participatory action research: navigating the complexities of engaging TVET graduates in transformative inquiry

Participatory Action Research (PAR) is championed as a transformative methodology fostering empowerment and collective inquiry, yet its application among Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) graduates in contexts of socio-economic precarity exposes tensions around power imbalances, survival pressures, and institutional constraints. Drawing on a Freirean-inspired study with National Certificate (Vocational) [NC(V)] graduates in South Africa, this article interrogates how precarious living conditions hinder sustained participation and how institutions often appropriate participatory approaches for bureaucratic or policy purposes, thereby weakening their radical potential. While recognising these challenges, the article argues for reflexive adaptations such as trust-building, context-responsive participation, and critical examination of structural barriers. Engaging with contemporary debates in Educational Action Research on the risks of depoliticising participatory methodologies, it calls for a rethinking of PAR that explicitly reclaims its political and transformative roots in Freirean pedagogy. Methodologically, the study draws on life narrative interviews, learning cycle group discussions, and the formation of a student movement to foreground the lived struggles and agency of TVET graduates. In doing so, it contributes to current conversations on how participatory methodologies can remain viable and transformative in structurally constrained environments.