Session Information
07 SES 05 A, Student Voice and Belonging
Paper Session
Contribution
Students form a diverse under-caste which is distinguished by markers of age and levels of academic knowledge from teachers and more senior leaders in schools and colleges. Students’ voices reflect students’ aspirations and experiences as citizens in and outside different educational institutions. They are linked to students’ senses of identity, agency and belonging to school and society (Ecclestone, 2007). Students’ voices and identities, like those of everybody are shaped by the intersectionality of their social characteristics of class, gender, ethnicity and religion (Chandra, 2012) leading to a multiplicity of student voices (Rubin and Silva, 2003). Unwarranted assumptions about the homogeneity of students’ views (Robinson and Taylor, 2007) may lead to staff in schools and colleges listening to a limited range of voices, possibly only those perceived as displaying the cultural capital commensurate with existing social structures. Further, student consultation on its own does not reduce ethnic, class or gender inequalities that are imported from the discourses of a wider society and play out in educational institutions. The highly gendered, classed and racialised cultural frameworks within which schools and colleges operate tend to enhance divisions between students but are often not perceived by students (Arnot and Reay, 2007).
Schools and colleges in England are regimented by performative national and local discourses and policies that are maintained by inspection regimes and national league tables of performance that make both teachers and students feel oppressed (Busher et al., 2015). This disciplinary framework sustains asymmetrical power relationships between teachers and students (Handley et al., 2006) as schools and colleges seek to optimize their own performance (Ecclestone, 2007) in part by consulting students to try to improve practice as required to do by school and college inspectors. However, the assumption that dialogue between teachers and students naturally empowers students is questionable (Fielding, 2004). Student consultation can be tokenistic because the agenda for that consultation may be dominated by senior staff and because of fears among teachers of ‘losing control’ if they listen to students’ views (Busher and Cremin, 2012).
Limitations on students’ agency and the possibilities for action to develop the project of the self (Giddens, 1991) in different social situations limit students’ senses of belonging to their schools and colleges and impede students’ development as current and future citizens by excluding them from many of the negotiative processes that make up the workings of societies and communities. Accessing students’ perspectives acknowledges students have a right to be heard and to influence the shaping of their own learning in educational institutions (Troman et al., 2007). Involving students directly in institutional decision-making helps to give students a sense of ownership of school and college processes, to develop respectful cultures that reflect the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and raises students’ general levels of enthusiasm and achievement (Nabhani, Busher and Bahous, 2012). In economically and socially disadvantaged areas listening to students can also contribute to the development of successful educational institutions (Mujis et.al., 2005).
This paper presents the diversity of students’ views and perspectives on what, for them, leads to successful teaching, learning and educational organisations, showing how student voices, if listened to, can be used to inform the practices of teachers and more senior staff. In doing so it considers how gender and social status appear to affect students' perspectives and argues that not listening to students' voices by teachers and other (senior) staff helps to disempower students, limit their development as people and contribute to their disengagement from education.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Arnot, M. and Reay, D. (2007) A sociology of pedagogic voice: Power, inequality and pupil consultation. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 28 (3) 311–25. Busher, H. and Cremin, H. (2012) Developing understanding through ethnography: Students’ and teachers’ perspectives on schooling in performative times, in Jeffrey, B. and Troman, G. (Eds) Performativity across UK education: ethnographic cases of its effects, agency and reconstructions, pp.1-22 Painswick: E&E Publishing. Busher, H., James, N. and Piela, A. (2015). ‘I always wanted to do second chance learning’: Identities and experiences of tutors on Access to HE courses. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 20 (2) 127–139 Chandra, P. (2012) Marxism, Homi Bhabha and the Omissions of Postcolonial Theory: Critique. Journal of Socialist Theory 40(2) 199-214. Ecclestone, K. (2007) An Identity Crisis? Using Concepts of ‘Identity’, ‘Agency’ and ‘Structure’ in the Education of Adults: Editorial. Studies in the Education of Adults 39(2) 121-131. Fielding, M. (2004) Transformative approaches to student voice: Theoretical underpinnings, recalcitrant realities, British Educational Research Journal, 30 (2) 295 - 310 Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity Press. Handley, K., Sturdy, A., Fincham, R. and Clark, T. (2006) Within and beyond Communities of Practice: Making Sense of Learning through Participation. Identity and Practice, Journal of Management Studies 43: 641–653. James, N., Busher, H., Piela, A. and Palmer, A.-M. 2013. Opening Doors to Higher Education Phase 2: Access Students' Learning Transitions: Final Project Report. Leicester: University of Leicester. Mujis, D., A. Harris, C. Chapman, L. Stoll, and J. Russ. (2005) Improving schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas: a review of research evidence. In P. Clarke (ed.) Improving schools in difficulty, London: Continuum pp.94 – 113. Nabhani, M., Busher, H., and Bahous, R. (2012) Cultures of engagement in challenging circumstances: Four Lebanese Primary Schools in urban Beirut, School Leadership and Management, 32 (1) 37-55 Robinson, C. and Taylor, C. (2007) Theorizing student voice: values and perspectives Improving Schools; 10 (5) 5–17 Rubin, B.C., and E.M. Silva. (2003) Critical voices in school reform: Students living through change. London: Routledge Falmer Tas, M and Busher, H (2013) Gendered student perspectives on KS4 Science education European European Conference on Education Research (ECER) Baceseshir University, Istanbul, Turkey, 10-13 Sept Troman, G., Jeffrey, B. and Raggl, A. (2007) Creativity and performativity policies in primary school cultures. Journal of Education Policy, 22 (5) 549-72.
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