This article offers an account of using photographs and memory-work as a visual participative method in research conducted by a deputy principal with novice teachers in a South African primary school. The study was prompted by observations of how novice teachers struggled to manage learner behaviour in socially just and compassionate ways. It aimed to help novice teachers express the uncertainties and challenges they encounter, and prompt candid discussions on learner behaviour. The article shows how visual participative methods can facilitate collaborative learning with novice teachers. Additionally, it illustrates how the novice teachers came to see their critical role in influencing learner behaviour and the value of positive teacher-learner relationships in supporting learner behaviour. This work will be valuable to educational researchers in diverse contexts interested in growing their participative research methods repertoire. Furthermore, it illustrates how working with photographs and memory-work can facilitate the expression of participants' viewpoints and understandings and intensify educational researchers' learning from and with others in the interests of social change.