Abstract
There is substantial evidence from international research that student voice engagement has the potential to empower students to participate meaningfully and collaboratively in improving their experience of school. The facilitation of student voice is a key component in constructing discourses of respect, empowerment and citizenship. One of the prevailing arguments for the pursuit of student perspectives is recognising their expertise with respect to the knowledge and understanding of what it is to be a student, which is inherent to that role. There is also a body of literature which argues that student voice engagement should move beyond ascertaining perspectives from young people towards a more democratic process of shared curricular development and co-construction with collective responsibility for developing solutions in education discourse. Significant themes to the interrogation of this topic include ‘Student Voice and Children’s Rights’, ‘Voice and Power’ and ‘Student Participation in Curricular Development’. Generated from a research study of student voice in the context of Irish curricular reforms at second level, this chapter concludes with an argument for fostering more democratic engagement in school activity for all stakeholders, while interrogating and proposing a framework for moving towards a sustainable process for authentic engagement with students on such meaningful issues as curriculum reforms.
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Notes
- 1.
Comhairle na nÓg are local councils comprised of children and young people under the age of 18 and provide opportunities to become involved in the development of local services and policies.
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Flynn, P., Hayes, N. (2021). Student Voice in Curriculum Reform: Whose Voices, Who’s Listening?. In: Murchan, D., Johnston, K. (eds) Curriculum Change within Policy and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50707-7_3
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