‘Because it’s your education, not mine’: a retrospective on student voice in curriculum decisions and school policy

ABSTRACT

Student voice has held a prominent place in the tradition of progressive and democratic schools and classrooms around the world. Once engaged it offers a chance to develop and use crucial skills for democratic living and to shape meaningful contexts for learning as students bring their own personal questions, cultural experiences, resources, and prior skills to curriculum planning and school policy. At the same time, engaging student voice raises concerns about curriculum design, teacher and student roles, student expectations, and school politics, as well as the need for scaffolding and support for both teachers and students. This paper outlines the rationale for student voice, a framework to consider options for teacher and student voice in curriculum planning, and a number of examples of student voice in curriculum planning, school policy, classroom organisation, and school culture drawn from the author’s long involvement with student voice projects.

KEYWORDS:

• Student voice
• democratic classrooms
• democratic schools

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.