Student voice in educational research: reflections on an international mixed-method study

ABSTRACT

This article reports on an international mixed-method study on student leadership that sought to maximize opportunities for students to be engaged as researchers. Applying the conceptual lens of student voice, we reflect on students’ contributions to each stage of the research. This included efforts to integrate the components of Mitra’s ‘pyramid of student’ voice – listening, collaboration, and leadership – into the research design, data collection, and analysis. We worked with ‘research ambassador’ teams consisting of two students and one teacher at 12 schools in Australia, Argentina, China, Chile, India (two schools), New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Tanzania, and the United States. The students enhanced the research quality by playing an integral role in an online survey (n = 8,455) and interviews (n = 114) with students and teachers worldwide. The successes involved illuminating student perspectives, gathering contextual knowledge, and (potentially) overcoming power disparities. The pitfalls were a steep learning curve, navigating cross-cultural differences, and persistent power disparities. Our recommendations centred on maintaining a balance between adult researchers sharing foundational knowledge and fostering student voice. To conclude, we discuss the role of student-adult research partnerships and student representation in furthering student voice, as well as how other school stakeholders could contribute to research.

KEYWORDS:

• Student voice
• educational research
• youth
• student leadership
• mixed-method

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 All schools were located in countries/jurisdictions that have signed or ratified Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, stating that all children have the right to express views, be heard, and participate fully in decision-making that affects their lives (United Nations 1989). This included Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States.

2 Two separate meetings were held to account for time zone differences.

3 In two schools, the student exceeded the expected number of interviews. Conversely, in one school, the students were unable to complete the sixth interview.

4 The sample criteria were students between 14 and 18 years old in their school. We also encouraged the students to recruit students with different characteristics according to age, gender, and ethnicity.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Round Square.