STUDENTS’ VIEWS ON THEIR PARTICIPATION IN PUBLICLY MANAGED SECOND LEVEL SCHOOLS IN IRELAND: The importance of student-teacher relationships

Researching how student voice plays out in relation to classroom practice in Irish post-primary schools: a heuristic device

“…Drawing on large-scale surveys, researchers have reported that students in Ireland, relative to students elsewhere, perceive themselves to have considerably less input into decision-making in schools (Cosgrove and Gilleece 2012) and that perceived participation decreases as students move from primary to post-primary schools (de Róiste et al 2012). More recent research, and typically qualitative data, suggeststhat student voice remains rudimentary (Horgan et al 2017;Forde et al 2018;McCormack, O'Flaherty, and Liddy 2021;Brown et al 2020a), although it remains debatable whether or not more senior students have more voice than junior students. SSE arguably represents the most significant and visible policy-driven and mandated advance for the voice of students in pedagogy and in consultation in school decision-making in Ireland to date (Fleming 2013), but it is important to note that while SSE is now mandatory in Irish schools, it remains a low-stakes policy.…”

“…The lack of opportunity for students to critically question would appear to greatly influence the prevailing culture of the classroom. Students questioning their teachers appeared to be easily misinterpreted, not seen as providing constructive feedback but rather as a challenge to the persona of the teacher: 'if they do question it, we teachers find it hard to see it as other than a personal criticism' (Mooney Simmie, Moles, and O'Grady 2019, 64) Recent research exploring the views of second-year students towards their participation in school life in ETBs by McCormack, O'Flaherty, and Liddy (2021) found that while during quantitative data collection students tended to agree that they are encouraged to be actively involved in lessons, the qualitative data presented a discrepancy in that students indicated that this depended on the teacher. The common message was that during lessons, students usually listened, read, or took notes in teacher-centred lessons (McCormack, O'Flaherty, and Liddy 2021).…”

“…Students questioning their teachers appeared to be easily misinterpreted, not seen as providing constructive feedback but rather as a challenge to the persona of the teacher: 'if they do question it, we teachers find it hard to see it as other than a personal criticism' (Mooney Simmie, Moles, and O'Grady 2019, 64) Recent research exploring the views of second-year students towards their participation in school life in ETBs by McCormack, O'Flaherty, and Liddy (2021) found that while during quantitative data collection students tended to agree that they are encouraged to be actively involved in lessons, the qualitative data presented a discrepancy in that students indicated that this depended on the teacher. The common message was that during lessons, students usually listened, read, or took notes in teacher-centred lessons (McCormack, O'Flaherty, and Liddy 2021). However, there are indications from Mihut and McCoy's (2020) research that student voice 'guides instruction and evaluation' in the classrooms of Educate Together schools and that teaching is 'driven by feedback from peers and students', upholding the building anecdotal evidence in recent years that student voice is considerably more advanced in these multi-denominational schools.…”

“…Do students in disadvantaged schools focus more on the quality of their relationships with teachers when consulted? The quality of interactions and relationships between students and their teachers is a very important factor in how students in Ireland perceive their teachers (see, for example, Darmody, Robson, and McMahon 2012;Smyth, Banks, and Calvert 2011;Smyth and Banks 2012;Fleming 2013;Smyth 2016;McCormack, O'Flaherty, and Liddy 2021) and to this end, due attention should be paid to the classroom climate in DEIS schools which can be particularly challenging at times. For example, 'more positive classroom climates were observed' in non-DEIS schools by Devine, Fahie, and McGillicuddy (2013, 95).…”

“…This work is particularly timely and topical in that student voice has become prevalent in official discourse in Irish education . While student councils in Ireland have not tended to focus on teaching and learning matters (Keogh and Whyte 2005;Smyth 2016;McCormack, O'Flaherty, and Liddy 2021), students are now regarded as key stakeholders in school self-evaluation (SSE), the internal form of school review that is now the main form of school evaluation in Ireland. Thus, there is now a wider concept of student voice in Irish schools and student voice is, for the first time, located in the context of classroom practice (Fleming 2013).…”