By Jessamyn Guinanao
Time and time again, we have seen adults in a school system, as well as policymakers, politicians, and the public, debating on how they believe the quality of education should be reinvented or improved. Shifts in what students should learn to keep up with the times are a hotly contested topic.
But as Professor Allison Cook-Sather of Bryn Mawr College once said, “There is something fundamentally amiss about building and rebuilding an entire system without consulting at any point those it is designed to serve.”
For a long time, school decisions have been routinely made by adults, the 8% of any given school population, as revealed in research by Dennis Harper. But what about the 92% that is left behind? This highlights the often-forgotten, yet primary, stakeholders of schools: us, the students.
When students do get asked for their input, it is usually the selected confident ones who get to share their views. And while they are permitted to speak up, several obstacles prevent their concerns from being listened to and addressed. According to the Council of Europe’s project, Free to Speak—Safe to Learn: Democratic Schools for All, among these obstacles are window dressing and other stakeholders’ perceptions.
Window dressing or tokenism poses the challenge of ensuring that student participation is genuine and makes a real difference. For instance, this may be observed when students hold positions in student organizations, giving them leadership opportunities, yet are only expected to lead by a set of decisions over which they have little to no say.
Moreover, as per the Council of Europe, “Parents, teachers, school leaders, and others who have traditional views of schooling sometimes feel that children and young people should be ‘seen and not heard’ in school.” For them, respect and authority foster through a culture of deference, thereby perceiving Student Voice as undermining their own power or authority. Teachers, in turn, may feel that students have more rights than they do.
However, this further stresses the importance of constructing a whole-school culture where all stakeholders feel safe to express themselves and trust that their opinions will be considered. Hence, Student Voice is intricately bound to a general culture of democracy and human rights in school.
Simply put, Student Voice is defined as “The right of students to have a say in matters that affect them in their schools and to have their views and opinions taken seriously. It encompasses all aspects of school life and decision-making where young learners can make a meaningful contribution, adapted to their age and stage of development.” This right is established for children, whether in or out of school, by Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
It is about more than letting students voice their concerns and feedback. As Peter DeWitt wrote in his article, Do We Really Listen to Students?: many schools claim to apply student voice in their decision-making process by conducting surveys. However, as said by Russell Quaglia and Michael Corso, authors of Student Voice: The Instrument of Change, there is nothing worse than a school that does a survey but does not change practices.
When students are given a platform to speak out but see that things do not change, Student Voice merely becomes a drowned chorus of unanswered yearning. Although we obviously have not had as many experiences as adults, no one knows our world better than we do. As written by Quaglia and Corso, “Students are the absolute experts [on] their own point of view.”
Thus, student involvement becomes holistic only when our roles are actively realigned from being passive recipients to becoming active partners. “[This] is not easy or instantly rewarding,” says Author Adam Fletcher of Meaningful Student Involvement: A Research Guide. “It demands that the system of schooling change and that the attitudes of students, educators, parents, and community members change.”
However, as this work unfolds, it will be unmistakable that – in the words of Author Nelson Beaudoin of Elevating Student Voice – “There is no better engine to pull the train of school reform than Student Voice, and once it picks up steam, it is difficult to derail.”
If this were given more light, perhaps educational institutions would recognize that Student Voice is the most powerful tool to enhance student learning. “The following outcomes include improving learning, teaching, school improvement, youth development, school culture, diversity, the bottom line, integrity, and civic engagement,” Fletcher states.
We become more proficient learners when our emotional, intellectual, and social needs are met. In fact, researchers at the University of California, Riverside and Northwestern University found that students’ confidence in schools being responsive to their ideas correlates with a higher grade-point average and better attendance.
Furthermore, educational attitudes, policies, and structures transform when students are engaged as allies. Barbara Cervone and Kathleen Cushman, writers of Moving Youth Participation into the Classroom, observed that learning environments would become mutually supportive for teachers and students. This leads to healthier democratic cultures where everyone can partake as partners.
Young people would consequently acquire the participation skills they need now and in the future. Also, cultivating a sense of citizenship shapes a positive sense of belonging and school discipline. This, according to Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of Hope, teaches youth the responsibilities required to be sufficient members of their larger communities.
Therefore, the key lies in student empowerment. True empowerment is evident when students are granted the ability to “not only have a voice and share their thoughts and ideas but to believe that their voice can lead to positive change,” Peter Cottle writes in How to Empower K–12 Students Beyond the Classroom. Empowered students are more inclined to take pride in their school and develop into capable, open-minded individuals with civic responsibility and a global understanding.
When children discover their potential, incredible things happen. They start to take what they hear to heart, using their voices as megaphones for the unheard. However, the longer they are overlooked, the longer it will take them to learn that they truly have a voice.
“Change starts from within.” We, as students, are what lies within—where the evolution begins. But after a chorus of our voices has striven for the change we wish to see, what comes next? Our yearning for change is not the complete solution, especially if we remain unheard. More must be done to awaken those who can effect real change.
Accordingly, we must never grow tired of using our voices. It is not about speaking the loudest but about speaking the deepest. Perhaps then we would reach the roots to change the fruits. Only then will visible and lasting change blossom. Only then will the decision-making rely on the 100%.