Content uploaded by Marc Brasof
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Marc Brasof on Mar 10, 2020
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Student voice and school governance: Distributing leadership to youth and adults
Abstract
While student voice has been well-defined in research, how to sustain youth-adult leadership work is less understood. Students are rarely invited to lead school reform efforts, and when they are, their voice is silenced by the structural arrangements and socio-cultural conditions found in schools. This volume investigates problems with the neoliberal school reform movement, and how youth-adult partnerships have resulted in more effective reforms within schools and community organizations nationally and internationally. Stemming from an eight-year ethnographic study at a civic-themed public high school, the volume highlights the process of creating a school governance structure which produces active and informed citizens. Made up of executive, legislative and judicial branches, the program gives students the power to make, implement and review school policies and practices-a model that has found to effectively distribute leadership and trigger organizational learning, and is thus at the forefront of civic education.
... Increasingly, this means listening to children and acting on their views. Listening to "student voice" and incorporating children's views about education in classroom and school decision making is important if we want to encourage authentic forms of belonging, wellbeing, learning, and achievement that really matter to children (Bourke & O'Neill, 2022;Brasof, 2015). In Aotearoa, it is becoming more commonplace to acknowledge that families and whānau are also experts in the lives of their children, "valuing the linguistically and culturally diverse literacies children carry from their whānau, homes, and communities" (Jacobs et al., 2021, p. 265). ...
... And secondly, have children's views on matters that affect them led directly to material changes in learning conditions and relations in classrooms and schools? Indeed, as Brasof (2015) puts it, "student voice is not just about improving a particular program within a school; it is about ensuring that our democracy survives and thrives" (p. 152). ...
Aotearoa New Zealand ratified the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1993, which means its principles and rights are obligatory, not optional. So, UNCRC has important implications for teachers, leaders, and boards of trustees in schools. UNCRC has 54 articles. A good starting point for teachers is the articles that directly impact on their work with their students. These include Articles 12, 13, 28, 29, and 30. The children’s rights framework of “space, voice, audience and influence” developed by Professor Laura Lundy is universally recognised as a useful tool for teachers to use when considering how to practically apply UNCRC Article 12, which states that all children have the right to have their say and express their views on matters of interest to them. This includes their classroom relations with teachers, the curriculum, school policies, and rules. Engaging students in meaningful decision making encourages more democratic and autonomy supportive forms of teaching and learning.
... xix) But creating a democratic organization requires sharing power and giving members of a community chances to govern themselves and practice citizenship (Giroux, 1986(Giroux, , 2003Fielding, 2001Fielding, , 2004Fielding, , 2011Lundy, 2007;Taylor and Robinson, 2009;Gartrell, 2012;Sargeant and Gillett-Swan, 2015;Wood et al., 2018;Connor, 2020). This aligns with the US leadership standards that assert that principals and superintendents share leadership and power with stakeholders (Brasof, 2015;National Policy Board for Educational Administration, 2015). And as the student voice advocates say, school leaders should invite the people who literally have a stake in what happens in schools to the proverbial decision-making table (Lac and Mansfield, 2018). ...
Centering the need for culturally responsive leadership (CRL), this study engages in a critical analysis of one large urban school district’s 5-year plan that aims to be culturally responsive and equity focused. We first define the various facets of CRL, connect its major components to culturally responsive teaching/pedagogy (CRTP) and student voice (SV), and offer an original, integrative framework as a tool for analysis. We argue that CRL is not enough on its own and needs more than the commitment of principals to reach its maximum potential. We also provide recommendations on what needs to happen to make culturally responsive schooling a reality for students and their communities.
... School self-evaluation (SSE) is a key improvement process within the Irish education system and internationally (OECD 2013) that provides opportunities for students to be consulted and to feed into whole school decision-making. There is mounting evidence that school reform requires student involvement in any change process (Brasof 2015) as they offer a unique perspective on the operation of the school and a detailed knowledge of what happens in individual classrooms (Chapman and Sammons 2013). However, efforts to involve Irish students in SSE rarely go beyond gauging their opinions through questionnaires (O'Brien et al. 2022). ...
... Giving students a voice and encouraging strong communication within the classrooms and school building creates a culture of mutual respect. Giving students a voice in the classroom and school empowers them to take ownership of their learning, promotes their engagement and motivation, and fosters a sense of belonging and agency (Brasof, 2015;Gayle et al., 2009). ...
... According to Harris and Muijs (2004), SLs are responsible for ensuring that informal leaders (teachers) get the opportunity and support to lead when their abilities are needed to make changes or innovate. Teachers' professional development may be supported by the distribution of leadership tasks, which can contribute to the development of their teaching and learning (Brasof, 2017;King & Stevenson, 2017). SLs have also validated the meaningfulness in distributed leadership for teacher development, and recognised the importance of encouraging teachers to become more involved in leadership processes (Dinham et al., 2018). ...
Co-teaching has been brought forth as an inclusive teaching approach in research and in the Finnish core curriculum. The realisation of co-teaching at the school level puts great demands on teachers, but also on school leaders (SLs) who are expected to lead educational change. The aim of the study was to examine how SLs in Finnish schools were co-teaching has been realised experience their own and co-teachers' roles in leading the realisation of co-teaching as an inclusive approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with nine SLs in Finland. Inductive thematic analysis was used and revealed two overarching themes: SLs as facilitators of co-teaching and teachers as driving forces of co-teaching. The need for a more active and goal-oriented SL role focused on involving the whole school community in developing co-teaching rather than delegating the responsibility to single teachers is discussed through the lens of distributed leadership and earlier research. ARTICLE HISTORY
... Mounting evidence indicates that school reform requires a much greater role for students in leading change and argues that such practices will also lead to improving the social and academic capacities of students as well as teachers' abilities to work with students in a change process (Brasof, 2015). According to Chapman and Sammons (2013, p. 22), 'a wider range of perspectives is likely to offer more detailed and complex insights into the depths of the organisation'. ...
School self-evaluation (SSE) or data-based decision making is now a common feature of mainstream education in an increasing number of jurisdictions. The participation of stakeholders including students, is promoted internationally as a key feature of effective SSE. Despite this, very little research has been carried out on how education systems might involve students in SSE and even less research has explored how student involvement can move beyond mere tokenism. Similar to many other jurisdictions, Irish schools are encouraged to include students in SSE. However, the research to date would indicate that while students are frequently consulted through the use of surveys they have little or no involvement in decisions that are made as part of the SSE process at a whole school level. This case study explores an atypical approach to student engagement in SSE which was tested in one Irish post-primary school where students participated as co-researchers along with their teachers in the SSE process. In doing so, student participation in SSE shifted from student as data sources to students as co-researchers. Students became members of the SSE Team, responsible for consulting with the wider staff team, student body and parents. They were actively involved in the completion of a whole school self-evaluation report on assessment and the development of a school improvement plan. The study outlines the key stages of the project and how student participation evolved through the process. Interviews conducted with both the teacher and student members of the SSE Team illuminates the experience of the students and staff on the SSE team. The findings indicate that this approach resulted in significant positive outcomes for the school and the individuals involved, but there were also a number of challenges. Student involvement resulted in greater awareness among, and participation of the wider staff team in the SSE process. However, it required more resources and time than is usually the case for an SSE process in Irish schools. The research suggests that this level of participation by students may require a more systematic and sustained engagement of students in decision making at a classroom level in order to build capacity of students to contribute to decision making at a whole school level on an ongoing basis. This study may have an application in jurisdictions aiming to include students in SSE, particularly at a higher level, and it also provides a glimpse into the deliberate planning and structures required if schools are to move beyond an instrumentalist, compliance model of ‘student voice’ towards a more authentic model of inclusive democracy.
... Involving children and youth in decision-making and enabling them to work in partnership with other students and adults as co-creators of their learning environments increases students' sense of autonomy (Brasof, 2015;Cook-Sather, 2002;Mansfield, 2014;Taines, 2014), self-efficacy and competence (Mitra & Serriere, 2012), and changes how young people are regarded and treated by peers and adults (Taft, 2011). Providing opportunities to explore, collectively problem-solve, and advocate for issues they care about and believe in provide youth who experience stress with more control over their lives (Debold, et al., 1999;Silva & Langhout, 4 2016;Pittman, Irby, & Ferber, 2000), reduces experiences of school alienation (Taines, 2012), increases experiences of trust and belonging (Costello, et. ...
In de strategische agenda ‘Professionals voor morgen’ belooft het hbo niet alleen in het teken te staan van het beroep van vandaag, maar ook ‘klaar te stomen voor de maatschappij van morgen’ (Vereniging Hogescholen (vh), 2019). Hiermee verbindt de vh de hboopleidingen aan de brede maatschappelijke functie: voorbereiden op beroepsuitoefening in de school, de beroepscontext én de samenleving. In dit artikel verkennen de auteurs op welke manier het hbo voorbereidt op kritische beroepsuitoefening. De kern van deze beroepsvoorbereiding vinden we in kritische studentparticipatie in twee domeinen. Ten eerste in het domein van de onderwijsinstelling waar studenten invloed hebben op de onderwijskundige en organisatorische invulling van de opleiding op klas-, curriculum- en organisatieniveau. Ten tweede in het domein van het beroepenveld waar studenten tijdens stages invloed hebben op de inhoudelijke en organisatorische invulling van de beroepsuitoefening. Studenten kunnen participatie beoefenen en de waarde ervan ervaren. Deze kritische participatie van studenten is nog niet vanzelfsprekend. Gesteund door de inzichten van politiek-filosofe Hannah Arendt, roepen de auteurs op tot het versterken van kritische participatie van studenten in de school én in de beroepscontext en daarmee tot vergaande democratisering van het onderwijs. De kritische participatie in het hbo kan en moet versterkt worden door pluraliteit te omarmen, participatie op te vatten als een emancipatoire opgave voor iedereen en in het hbo met een sterk ‘doenerig’ karakter ruimte te maken voor dénken. Het managerial optreden moet op de schop, om ruimte te maken voor betekenisvolle menselijke ontmoetingen.
Deze voorstudie verkent het begrip student voice en brengt student voice in verband met de kernopgave van het hoger beroepsonderwijs: beroepsvoorbereiding (kwalificatie en socialisatie) en vorming (bildung en emancipatie). Het theoretische onderzoek wordt gevolgd door een casestudy naar studentparticipatie op De Haagse Hogeschool: hoe manifesteert student voice zich en wat zijn belemmerende en bevorderende factoren? Met (half-)open interviews onder studenten van verschillende faculteiten en een enquête onder alle studenten in de medezeggenschap is inzicht verkregen in de soorten en mate van participatie en de mogelijkheden tot versterking. De conclusie uit de theoretische verkenning is dat drie vormen van participatie, being heard, collaboration en leadership, gezamenlijk bijdragen aan de ontwikkeling van een leer- en werkomgeving waarin op basis van openheid, respect, gelijkwaardigheid en wederkerigheid gezamenlijk verantwoordelijkheid wordt genomen voor de ontwikkeling van de onderdelen van de leergemeenschap en van de hogeschool als geheel. Uit het empirisch deel kunnen we voorlopig concluderen dat voor De Haagse Hogeschool winst valt te boeken door studenten op klas-, curriculum- en organisatieniveau serieuzer te betrekken in de besluitvorming. Vervolgonderzoek moet dit bevestigen.
Purpose: Educational leadership traditionally has defined school leadership as an adult-only space. An emerging group of scholars is expanding the field to challenge who should be considered an educational leader and whose voices should be centered in change processes. Examining the ways in which students serve as leaders in schools, student voice scholarship has expanded rapidly over the last two decades. However, it has not cohered around a shared understanding of the central components of the practice of student voice in classrooms and schools. Research Methods: Our process drew upon two different data sources in parallel—a systematic literature review and interviews/focus groups with students, teachers, and school leaders. We designed our process in this format to draw upon what has been done before and to understand whether the past still aligns with current practice. We hope that in addition to articulating student voice constructs, this article also can offer methodological contributions as demonstrating ways to understand educational practices based on past and new research. Findings: This article presents a framework of the core components of student voice in classrooms and schools: structures (setting, focus, and intent) and relationships (access, representative, roles, and responsiveness). Implications for Research and Practice: This framework provides a roadmap for students, teachers, school leaders, and academic scholars to understand how leadership at the school and classroom levels can envision and design student voice practices. Further, it offers a starting point for articulating the range of possibilities for student voice in classrooms and schools.
School improvement is a question of dealing with the deep structures of school and the habits of thought and values they embody. Our view of students has, for a long time, been held in place by such ‘habits of thought’ but we are now moving beyond the ‘silenced voices’ to a re-valuation of what young people can contribute to the analysis and planning of their experiences as learners. What forces are sustaining this development? Are they sufficiently robust for teachers to work with them to effect real change in the conditions of learning in school? And, as Stewart Ranson asked, is encouraging young people to find a voice and to learn the practices of cooperative agency fundamental to the revitalisation of our schools as learning communities within democratic society? Are we creating a new order of experience for students in schools – or is this just a passing fashion, a tokenistic nod in the direction of consumerism?
Three gifted middle school students' perspectives on peer-led discussions and each other highlight issues of voice, gender, interruption, and empowerment.
Attempts to raise student performance have focused primarily on either relationships between adults in the system or formal curriculum. Relatively ignored has been a focus on what sociologists believe is the primary relationship of consequence for student outcomes - authority relationships between students and educators. Successful school reform is akin to baking a cake: Many ingredients are needed to yield the desired outcome. An important component requires a school climate that is safe and orderly. Absent this, other school-level reforms will be ineffective.
Background/Context
The sustainability of change efforts continues to be an important and challenging question in educational research.
Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study
By examining 13 programs aimed at increasing student voice in school reform, this article examines conditions that enable and constrain the sustainability of this challenging form of educational change.
Population/Participants/Subjects
The 13 high schools in this study all received grant funding from a local foundation in the San Francisco Bay Area to work on building a student voice initiative in their school. All the grant recipients and their schools in the sample were situated within an urban environment, either within an inner city or a bedroom community in the Bay Area that possessed urban characteristics of the region. These characteristics include an ethnically diverse population comprising students of Asian, Latin, African, and European descent, insufficiently funded public schools, and high concentrations of poverty.
Intervention/Program/Practice
When placed into practice, student voice initiatives provide youth with opportunities to participate in school decision-making that will shape their lives and the lives of their peers. Student voice can range from the most basic level of youth sharing their opinions of problems and potential solutions, to allowing young people to collaborate with adults to address the problems in their schools, to youth taking the lead on seeking change.
Research Design
This study consists of a multiple case study designed for the purpose of explanation building.
Data Collection and Analysis
Semistructured telephone interviews served as the primary data source for this article. Observations, documents, and external evaluations served as validity checks and sources of triangulation for this study.
Findings/Results
The data indicate that the persistence of a student-voice effort after the initial influx of funds and support disappeared requires support from an intermediary organization (IO)—an organization located outside the auspices of school walls. IOs can help with fostering a clear and long-term vision, providing a more stable source of leadership, identifying ongoing financial and collaborative resources, and building a network for knowledge generation and sharing.
Conclusions/Recommendations
Although they are a part of many reform initiatives, partnerships with IOs are usually considered to be short-term relationships during the implementation phase of an initiative. This research instead suggests that IOs might be better suited as long-term partners in many change efforts. An awareness of the important roles that IOs can play in the long-term work toward change could help researchers, practitioners, and policy makers think more intentionally about how to plan for stabilizing such partnerships as an avenue toward sustaining reform initiatives.
Each of four theoretical traditions in the study of American politics—which can be characterized as theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic-Elite Domination, and two types of interest-group pluralism, Majoritarian Pluralism and Biased Pluralism—offers different predictions about which sets of actors have how much influence over public policy: average citizens; economic elites; and organized interest groups, mass-based or business-oriented.
A great deal of empirical research speaks to the policy influence of one or another set of actors, but until recently it has not been possible to test these contrasting theoretical predictions against each other within a single statistical model. We report on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key variables for 1,779 policy issues.
Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.
In this essay, Jennifer Keys Adair aims to clarify the concept of agency as a tool for improving the educational experiences of young children in the early grades. She conceptualizes agency in the context of schooling as the ability to influence what and how something is learned in order to expand capabilities, drawing on economic theories of human development, agency, and capability as they might be applied to early learning in schools. An understanding of early childhood education aimed at expanding children's capabilities stands in contrast to the currently prevalent emphasis on preparing children for the knowledge and skills tested in elementary grades. Through her classroom-based examples of student agency and her call to bring cultural and varied perspectives into the discussion, Adair hopes to encourage dynamic, agentic learning experiences for all children, not just those of privilege.