Voice and the Ethics of Children’s Agency in Educational Research

O’Neill, John

doi:10.1007/978-981-13-1858-0_3

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Other researchers have raised similar concerns about governmentally sanctioned student voice efforts in the UK that claim to improve pupil performance by building local partnerships, but in practice fail to include students in the process despite the rhetoric (Whitehead and Clough, 2004). A related body of research looks carefully at the ethics of involving young people in activism, organizational change and research (Bourke, 2017;Cook-Sather, 2014;Cowie and Khoo, 2017;O'Neill, 2014, Sinha, 2017Wall, 2017). Consideration must be given of the purpose of involving young people and the tokenization of youth.…”

Section: Student Voice and Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

Student voice in secondary schools: the possibility for deeper change

Mitra

2018

JEA

123

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the role of student voice in secondary school reform. Design/methodology/approach Through a literature review, it defines the concept of student voice within bodies of research on youth participation internationally. Findings It notes the ways the USA is distinct and lagging behind. It then looks at the broadening scope of ways that young people have become involved in change efforts. It considers ways that student voice can deepen implementation efforts and strengthen classroom practice. It breaks this discussion into: outcomes for classroom instruction, organizational change, and the relationship between student voice and power. The paper ends with a discussion of the importance of attending to issues of power in youth–adult relationships, including ways to avoid the co-optation of young people. Originality/value This paper reviews the most recent work showing how student voice can impact change, with a particular focus when possible on urban secondary schools to fit with this special issue. It updates a previous review of the field conducted ten years ago (Mitra, 2006). Before beginning this review, however, it is important to understand how student voice varies across global contexts.

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Section: Student Voice and Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

Student voice in secondary schools: the possibility for deeper change

Mitra

2018

JEA

123

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“…In this process which is designed to map perceptions of student voice, it would indeed seem unreasonable to omit children. This is supported by O’Neill (2018, p. 41), who argues that ‘only children can provide or permit the collection of the requisite data on their own educational knowledge and experiences’.…”

Section: Methods and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 95%

Student voice to improve schools: Perspectives from students, teachers and leaders in ‘perfect’ conditions

Jones

Bubb

2020

Improving Schools

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This article explores the use of student voice to contribute to improving schools. Through the gathering of perspectives and experiences of staff and students, it considers how the responses to requirements for both student voice and school improvement interrelate and identifies challenges to be addressed. The research was conducted in Norway because, with its long-standing engagement with children’s well-being and rights expressed through its comprehensive framework of legislation and allocation of resources, it has arguably created ideal conditions for students to be involved in improving schools. Findings revealed some recognition of the centrality of student voice in the enactment of democracy in schools: students and teachers had positive perceptions of student voice, and school leaders were willing to incorporate student voice in school improvement processes. Current uses of student voice were, however, largely restricted to the operations of the student council for a range of reasons. The absence of alternative structures, time constraints and doubts about competence were reported, leading to student voice having little impact on school improvement, even in what might be considered ‘perfect’ conditions.

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“…Some authors discuss the linkage between interest in students' voices and potential research methods. Hanna explains that interest in pupils' voices grew with the recognition that children had agency (Kellett, 2010;O'Neill, 2014) and so their opinions and views need collecting, particularly in health and education. Hanna chose methods which she hoped the children would relate to personally.…”

Section: The Relational Ethical Lensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical ethical reflexivity

Fox¹,

Busher²

2021

Thinking Critically and Ethically About Research for Education

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1992). It is enforced through university Ethical Review Boards (ERBs) acting as 'disciplinary technologies' (Foucault, 1977) to protect participants in research project carried out under their auspices and universities' reputations. Non-compliant researchers can lose access to resources or even their jobs (Adler and Adler, 2016). However, this framework, originally intended for bio-medical studies has been extended to studies in other disciplines in Global North universities, such as the Social Sciences and Humanities, often inappropriately (Stark, 2012). This is especially a problem for critical research in educational spaces that are socially and politically distinct and fundamentally different ethically and culturally (Kara, 2018) from a Global North framework. This book offers a step towards understanding how alternative ethical frameworks can be used to complement the UEF and justify a wider range of studies which, none the less maintain ethical integrity. The comprehensive CERD framework (Stutchbury andFox, 2009, Fox andMitchell, 2019), based on earlier work by Flinders (1992) and Seedhouse (2008), can reveal the key issues of ethics and methodologies facing any study. It offers four complementary lenses (Consequential, Ecological, Relational and Deontological) for thinking about ethical appraisal.

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Voice and the Ethics of Children’s Agency in Educational Research

Cited by 9 publications

References 37 publications

Student voice in secondary schools: the possibility for deeper change

Student voice in secondary schools: the possibility for deeper change

Student voice to improve schools: Perspectives from students, teachers and leaders in ‘perfect’ conditions

Critical ethical reflexivity

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