Theorizing student voice: values and perspectives

Abstract

This article explores some of the core values which underpin student voice work. We are in the very early stages of trying to understand the values that surround student voice and hope to develop these understandings by drawing on the work of various educational theorists. Throughout the article we examine some of the complexities that arise in theorizing student voice, and allude to the practical implications of the values in the context of student voice work in schools and the implications to school improvement.

Enhancing Education for Sustainable Development in Environmental University Programmes: A Co-Creation Approach

“…Student co-creation allows for stakeholders to listen and to take into account the students' voice in terms of their opinions or feelings about their institutional experience. Nowadays, this fact is a core value in an HE inclusive system [44]. Although several approaches and criteria have been already provided by scholars in an HE context, there is still lack of consensus on how to implement co-creation processes [45][46][47][48].…”

“…It is considered that an inclusive perspective, where students have a voice, co-create their own knowledge, and are involved in different university processes, increases, in this way, their skills and competences [17,44], and hence their further applicability.…”

The significance of student voice: female students’ interpretations of failure in Tanzanian secondary education

“…Similarly, Czerniawski (2012) emphasises the existence of different forms of professional trust in different national locations. To include the other, silent and, perhaps, controversial voices is a requirement for achieving the potential of student voice work that can increase social justice (Robinson and Taylor, 2007). This is particularly relevant to the research involving student voice in African contexts where inequality and marginalization in education are critical issues.…”

“…However, they reported that as private candidates they did not receive equal treatment in the national exams. To include these silent and, perhaps, controversial voices is a requirement for achieving the potential of student voice work that can increase social justice (Robinson and Taylor 2007;Warrington and Kiragu 2012). This issue is particularly relevant to this research involving the voices of female students in Sub-Saharan African contexts where inequality and marginalisation in education are critical issues, particularly in post-primary education.…”

Pedagogy, empowerment and discipline: comparative perspectives of novice teachers in England and Turkey reflecting on ‘the other’

“…This has the effect of sustaining existing hierarchies. Sometimes student voice is assumed to be 'monolingual' (Robinson and Taylor 2007), denying the multi-faceted nature of student perspectives (Rubin and Silva 2003). In particular, students who speak in the language of the dominant discourses of a school, with 'the voice of the subaltern' (Spivak in Morton 2003), are more likely to be heard than those with dissonant voices or who use a different register from that of the dominant discourses (Barton and Tusting 2005).…”