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35
LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
In Search of Our Students’ Voices:
The Student Focus Day Story
J. Kenneth Robertson,New Frontiers School Board
uch of the literature on “student engagement” and “student voice”focuses
on “motivating students to learn”(Voke, 2002),and speaks to students’“psy-
chological investment in learning”(Newman, 1992, p. 2). These writings are
often linked to the notion of the classroom as a “professional learning community”as
articulated in the work of Richard DuFour (1998, 2004), and centers on preparing
teachers to give their students an active role in creating the learning and teaching
context.
But what of our students’voice in the context of the school board-wide and
school-wide strategic planning for “their”success that many North American jurisdic-
tions now mandate? The “Student Focus Day Story” is one that shares how the New
Frontiers School Board1(NFSB) attempted to bring its “students’ voice”into the plan-
ning process.
M
ABSTRACT
Much of the literature on “student engagement” focuses on “motivating students to
learn” ( Voke, 2002), but what of our students’ voices in the context of board-wide
planning for their success? This is the story of the New Frontiers School Board’s
Student Focus Day, an initiative aimed at opening the planning process to the voices
of our students by inspiring them to engage in open conversation,share in the lead-
ership, and take responsibility for enacting the changes they envision.
36 LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
Since July 1, 2003,the Province of Quebec in Canada has mandated the cre-
ation of School Board Strategic Plans, as well as school and adult center Success Plans.
The purpose of these plans is to map out priorities for school boards, schools, and
adult learning centres in terms of outcomes, strategies, and indicators of success. In a
typically top-down approach, the Government of Quebec sets priorities based on
data collected from student results on provincial exams and achievement tests and
influence from public expectations of the education system. These are passed down
to school boards, which in turn are expected to establish priorities for schools and
centres.
Early in the initial planning process, the NFSB decided to take a different
approach. Rather than focusing on the provincial priorities,the School Board decided
to base its plan on its schools’ and centres’ priorities.Three themes emerged to form
the foundation for the School Board Strategic Plan for Success (SBSPS): enhancing stu-
dent learning, ensuring students’ social/emotional development, and creating an
effective learning environment. Provincial priorities were then linked to those of the
schools and centres in the context of the SBSPS to satisfy the government require-
ments. The hope was that this “grassroots approach” would focus the School Board
resources to ensure that they serve our schools and centres.
In the second year of implementation of the SBSPS, as the Director General2
of NFSB, I was reminded of the importance of our students’ voice. Through profes-
sional conversation3with a colleague from McGill University who was researching
“student engagement,”I was asked if our students had been provided with an oppor-
tunity to influence the development of the School Board’s plans.Without hesitation I
indicated that the students’ voice was channelled through the Governing Boards’4
input into the development of the School Board’s priorities. Upon reflection I realized
that this was but a faint echo of the students’ true voice.
The challenge was to provide an opportunity for students across the School
Board to give voice to their feelings, concerns, and suggestions for improving the
quality of learning experiences provided by our schools and centres.After discussing
a number of possibilities with colleagues and student leaders, we decided that the
School Board could give our students the opportunity to influence board-wide plan-
ning through a Student Focus Day (SFD), a day dedicated to listening to our students.
The School Board’s four secondary Vice-Principals5provided the leadership
for the day in recognition of their special connection with many of the secondary stu-
dents who find the school experience challenging or prohibitive. As well, it was felt
J. Kenneth Robertson
37
LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
that the Vice-Principals and the students from the elementary feeder schools would
benefit from this early opportunity to engage in the dynamic exchange the day
promised to provide.
Student teachers who were in their final practicum in several of the NFSB
schools were invited to provide the leadership for the small group activities.This was
an opportunity to emphasize the importance of student voice in the planning
process for a group of future educational leaders.
Most importantly, in recognition of the leadership already provided by our
students in our two large high schools,the Student Leadership Team from each school
was asked to animate large group “icebreaker activities”throughout the day. The stu-
dent leaders highlighted for the other students the importance of giving voice to
their questions, concerns, hopes, and dreams. This was to become one of the com-
mon threads woven into future SFD experiences.
From the beginning, it was clear that it would be important to involve stu-
dents with different “school” experiences. Students from each school or program
offered by the School Board were asked to participate in the day: elementary,middle
school6, senior secondary, alternative programs, and adult education. Knowing that
those selected to participate would greatly influence the tone of the students’ voice,
schools and centres were asked to select students to participate who demonstrated
a balance between those who:
• perform well in the context of the school structure, and those who find
living within the school structure challenging;
• enjoy their school experience,and those frustrated by their school expe-
rience; and
• provide formal leadership, and those who provide informal leadership.
For example,many of the School Board’s secondary alternative students and
adult students have opted for these programs because of their frustration with the
standard secondary program offered in our high schools.Therefore,it was important
to draw on their experiences to determine how they were affected and how things
might be done differently in the future.
To ensure that the students understood that this was a special day and that
something “different” was going to happen, it was decided that the event should be
held at a community venue away from the daily activities of the schools and centres.
In Search of Our Students’Voices:The Student Focus Day Story
38 LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
The buses arrived and the energy and enthusiasm with which the students were
received by the leadership team immediately signaled that something special was
about to happen.
I welcomed the students, emphasizing that this was a first-time event, and
that nowhere else in Quebec had students been asked on a board-wide level to con-
tribute to the planning process. I explained that we had brought them together to
help us understand how students and educators could collaboratively make our
schools and centres more responsive to their learning needs. Immediately the stu-
dent leaders took over,raising the level of excitement with rousing cheers and series
of lively activities that encouraged interaction amongst the students. Small groups
combining students of similar levels but different schools and centres were then
formed,and the sharing began.
The first main activity of the day was a “Think, Pair,Share”that provided each
group with an opportunity to reflect on the three following sets of questions:
• What helps you learn? How do you learn? Think of the strategies and
processes that help you learn best. These can include things you do or
need in class, the type of teaching or learning styles that work best for
you.What else helps you to be successful in school?
• What strategies do you use to be successful? What else can you do when
you have difficulty in school?
• What can other people do to help you? Think of the role that these peo-
ple can play: teachers, principals, school board, peers, professionals (psy-
chologists, social workers, pastoral animators, etc).
Students shared through conversation and wrote their ideas on coloured
Post-it® notes, each colour representing a set of questions that were grouped on dif-
ferent sections of the wall.The sheer volume of the visual representation of the stu-
dents’ thoughts, reflections, and ideas showed that the students had a tremendous
amount to say.The first activity ended in a plenary session with representatives from
each group sharing some of the key notions that had emerged from the paired and
small group conversations.Everyone was amazed by how clearly and articulately the
students expressed their wants, needs, and desires.
The energy the students had built up over the morning spilled into the
lunch break, where the high school students spontaneously began to organize
games and activities for the younger students.
J. Kenneth Robertson
39
LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
After lunch the student leadership team did a quick activity to bring the
group back together.Then in their small groups, the students were asked to review
the feedback they had collected during the morning activity, and formulate specific
recommendations based on the three themes in the School Board’s strategic plan.
The students set to work and within a relatively short period of time they formulated
a large number of specific recommendations.
In Search of Our Students’Voices:The Student Focus Day Story
Fig.1:Visual memory
Everyone felt strongly that it was important to create a “Visual Memory”of
the day,and so a collective piece of art was created that memorialized the day.Each
student was given a plain, white ceramic tile on which to express their feelings about
the day. As the students completed their artwork, the tiles were assembled into a
mosaic that is mounted at the School Board office as a reminder that it is essential to
ensure that our Students’ Voice is woven into every aspect of their education.
The day ended with one final student-led activity that culminated in laugh-
ter and hugs.Everyone left with a feeling that this first Student Focus Day would most
certainly not be the last.
40 LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
It is important to note the following when considering the students’ feed-
back. Although representative of our diverse student population, the sample was still
relatively small and the positive synergy of the day may have influenced student
responses. While we have tried to be true to the students’ voices, it is important to
note that the summary of the student feedback that follows below is how the organ-
izers interpreted the large amount of qualitative data collected during the activities.
Finally, while each summary of the student feedback has been aligned with a specific
School Board priority,the respective summaries often bridge all three priorities.
Learning:
Students voiced, in a variety of ways, the following messages about their
learning needs:
• Teachers are the most important influence on our students’ learning
experience. Students want teachers who are “patient, interesting, fun, and
caring.”
• Students want to be actively engaged in their learning; they want to be
involved in the planning and animation of activities. They link motivation
to being part of goal setting, even “planning the day with the teacher.”
J. Kenneth Robertson
Fig.2:Student feedback
41
LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
• Fifteen elementary students expressed the desire for activities that are
“hands-on and visual”;“seeing what we are learning” is key to their success.
Twenty-two others called for “projects,group work, and discussion.”Middle
school and high school students added to these by calling for “energetic
activities”and “real-life experience learning.”One student went as far as to
state directly,“Stop the lectures!” Clearly, they intuitively embrace the con-
structivist approach7.
Practical comments
• At the high school level, students expressed the need to review the
semester system, the length of periods, and the use of double periods.
• Students at all levels called for more “field trips,” emphasizing the impor-
tance of experiential learning.
• Throughout the activities,students repeatedly returned to the challenges
of homework, suggesting the need for “longer days” to do the homework
at school, study halls, and time in class where they could seek the assis-
tance of their teachers and peers.
Emergent notions about social/emotional development:
• Students crave the synergy created by engaging others intellectually and
socially. They need access to teachers, friends, peers, family, and others.
(Interestingly, the students reached beyond the traditional contacts and
supports and talked about the need to engage: aides,technicians,librari-
ans, security guards, volunteers, custodians, nurses, counselors, vice-prin-
cipals,principals,community members,and tutors,as summarized by one
student,“friendly people.”)
• Students have to learn to be their own advocates and actively seek help.
Schools and centres have to assist our students by: showing them how to
advocate effectively,by encouraging them to seek help, ensuring help is
available when needed, developing specific strategies and mechanisms
to provide help (e.g., Mediation Stations), and by ensuring that everyone
supports the creation of a helping culture.
The practical comments related to this priority
• Students called for opportunities to “get to know our peers better,” the
opening of possibilities can be created by “class discussions about us.”
In Search of Our Students’Voices:The Student Focus Day Story
42 LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
• Students feel the need for more direct contact with their teachers, more
one-on-one. This was expressed in two different ways: calls for smaller
class sizes, and the suggestion that there be “two teachers in a classroom.”
This speaks to the benefits of team-teaching or having resource teachers
work directly with the classroom teachers.
Environmental themes
• There was a clear expression of the need for a student-friendly learning
environment. Students want to be engaged in creating classrooms that,
while being disciplined, orderly, clean, and quiet, allow for music, gum
chewing, more colour,fresh air, and water.In essence,they are looking for
classrooms, schools, and centres that they can call their own.
• Students want to be supported not only in the ways adults want to sup-
port them, but also in the ways they feel they need to be supported.For
example, they want help in “figuring out (their) weaknesses,” learning to
“focus on (their) work,” learning how to “quiz (themselves),” and even “find-
ing tricks, such as, guess and check.”
• While it might be tempting to place the use of technology under “learn-
ing,” in fact the students made surprising little direct reference to the
need for technology in their learning. Rather, the students often referred
to the use of technology more as an integral and necessary part of their
environment, an ever-present tool or support to which they should have
ready access, as three students simply noted,“use the Internet.”
Practical comment (articulated by many of the students)
•Create “quiet space”where students can study, read, and reflect.
J. Kenneth Robertson
43
LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
Summary of the Key Messages
We recognized the richness of the feedback we received from the students,
and thought that it is helpful to summarize some of the key messages our students
sent to the adults who control our school system:
• It is extremely important to accept and encourage our students’ role in
creating the conditions for their success.
• Students need to be given ownership and to be engaged.
• Teachers have a profound responsibility,for they have the greatest impact
on our students’ educational experience and ultimate success.
Moving Forward
It was not long before we recognized that this first day with our students
was just a beginning.It is not enough to take student feedback and assume that their
voices have been heard.Giving our students a voice is not only about “listening,” but
In Search of Our Students’Voices:The Student Focus Day Story
Fig.3:Encouraging our students
44 LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
also about empowering them.This notion led to a significant shift in the nature of the
Student Focus Days to come.
Over the past two years we have held three subsequent Students Focus Days.
SFD II was based on the realization that it was not enough to allow our students to
“tell” us what they wanted, but that they had to “lead” the change in the context of
their schools and centres. This meant that they had to translate their feedback into
priorities and outcomes they could work towards with the support of the student
body and adults within the schools.
Recognizing that there would be a number of significant challenges for stu-
dents returning to their schools and centres to implement their plans,SFD III focused
on providing them with enablers to carry out the work.These included the help of an
adult and a small amount of financial support.The day was spent preparing to imple-
ment their plans with the support of these enablers.
At SFD IV, the students came ready to share the stories of their implementa-
tion, using aids that ranged from hand-drawn posters and collages to PowerPoint®
presentations. Their use of language, ease in front of peers and adults, and ability to
summarize the experience were astounding. However, the most powerful part of
each presentation was the level of empathy,compassion, and benevolence that was
a significant part of each and every plan. Our students showed their capacity to act
both locally and globally,with results ranging from enabling extracurricular activities
to “growing”their funds to support the development of wells in third world countries.
We had no idea when we began to “listen” to our students that first Student
Focus Day that this experience would evolve into a part of the School Board culture.
We have learned that sharing leadership with students involves risks that make some
educational leaders uncomfortable. We know our students will challenge our accep-
ted practices and bring to the conversations unique and innovative ideas that shake
the foundations of these practices. However, our hope is that we will continue to have
the courage to tap into the wealth of ideas and energy that our students bring to
shared leadership.
J. Kenneth Robertson
45
LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
Notes
1. The New Frontiers School Board offers quality educational services to approxi-
mately 5,000 English youth and adult students in the Southwest region of
Quebec, Canada. Its territory stretches from the St. Lawrence River to the North,
Autoroute 15 to the East,the American border to the South,and the Ontario bor-
der to the West.The School Board has a total of fourteen schools and centres in
rural and suburban areas, including two adult and professional education cen-
tres, two secondary schools, and ten elementary schools.
2. “Director General” is the term used for the chief executive officer of a Quebec
school board; elsewhere in North America this position is most commonly called
“Superintendent” or “Director of Education.”
3. Professional conversation refers to conversations between and amongst profes-
sionals that are as free as possible from competition for resources; conversations
that open one’s experiences and opinions and those of colleagues to question-
ing, testing, and play in the hope of generating new possibilities (Robertson,
2002, p. 49).
In Search of Our Students’Voices:The Student Focus Day Story
Fig.4:Shared leadership
46 LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
4. A “Governing Board” is the school or centre governance body, as mandated with
the Quebec Education Act, which guides school orientations through such things
as the Education Project, policy, and input into Success Plans. Governing Boards
include a majority of parents, students at the secondary and adult levels, staff
representation, and community representation.The Principal or Centre Director
acts as a resource to the Governing Board.
5. Over the three-year period the Vice-Principals changed as some became Prin-
cipals and new educational leaders joined the team, including: Suzan Fournier,
Mike Helm, Daryl Ness, Lauren Small, Irene Agosto, Marc Brindle, and Jo-Anne
Daviau.
6. While the School Board does not have separate middle schools,each of the sec-
ondary schools has developed a “middle-school program.”
7. The Quebec Education Plan uses the Constructivist Approach as the cornerstone of
curriculum change. This approach places students at the centre of their educa-
tion, giving them control of their own learning. By using a project-based
approach and carefully analyzing students’ understanding, teachers are able to
address their students’ various learning styles and needs, while exploring the
curriculum and various subject areas.
J. Kenneth Robertson
DuFour, R. & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional
Learning Communities at Work: Best
Practices for Enhancing Student
Achievement. Bloomington, IN: National
Educational Service.
DuFour, R. & Eaker, R. (May 2004). What is a
“professional learning community”? Educ-
ational Leadership, 61(8),6-11.
Newman, F.M. (1992). Student engagement and
achievement in American secondary
schools. New York:Teachers College Press.
Robertson, J. Kenneth (2002). Possibilities for
educational leadership: The hermeneutics
of superintendent-principal conversations.
Unpublished dissertation. Edmonton, AB:
University of Alberta.
Voke, Heather (2002, February). Student
engagement: Motivating students to
learn. Infobrief 28.Alexandria,VA:
Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development.
References
47
LEARNing Landscapes | Volume 1, Number 1, Autumn 2007
In Search of Our Students’Voices:The Student Focus Day Story
J.Kenneth Robertson,B.Ed.,M.A.,Ed.D.,was the Director
General of the New Frontiers School Board from July 2002 to
September 2007, and is now the Director General of
Champlain Regional College. He is an Adjunct Professor in
University Centre for Educational Leadership at McGill
University and a member of the Quebec Superior Council on
Education.He spent six years in Western Canada, as a Regional
Director for Alberta Education and Superintendent of Schools.
LINK TO:
http://www.csnewfrontiers.qc.ca/anglais/intro_en.htm
