Pupil/student Voice

Is this as good as it gets? An analysis of pupil perceptions of a special school. 98% of pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) issues attend mainstream settings, hence only a minority are educated in alternative provisions, pupil referral units (PRUs) or special schools. However in recent years the numbers have started to increase. It is widely documented that the voices of pupils with SEMH are rarely heard or listened to. By analysing pupil voice activities using a Lacanian lens this paper aims to understand the perceptions of pupils of being educated within a special school setting.

This article examines the process of adults and students collaborating in school‐based learning communities. Drawing on interview data from youth and adults participating in student voice initiatives in the San Francisco Bay Area, this study examines contexts that enable “youth‐adult partnerships” in schools, including (1) fostering trust and respect among group members, (2) creating meaningful (not equal) roles, (3) building the capacity for youth and adults to successfully fulfill their roles, and (4) establishing a group size that is not too small and not too large. The article concludes by examining how youth‐adult partnerships can help improve understanding of school‐based collaborations.

Drawing on the parallel literature on increasing student voice in the field of education and on building youth-adult partnerships in the youth development field, this article examines the place of young people in efforts to increase social justice in school settings. Through an examination of thirteen youth-adult partnership initiatives, it considers the ways in which students and adults can collaborate to examine issues of equity and injustice that they experience in their lives, in their schools, in their communities, and in broader society. The findings identify that the groups’ intended goals focused on addressing issues of equity and social justice on three levels— the system level by focusing on issues of intolerance and injustice, the organizational level by advocating for school change, and the individual level by fostering youth leadership and peer helping.

Before youth can be accepted as important players in school decision making, the concept of “student voice must gain acceptance among powerful stakeholders in the school. Using social movement theory as a lens, the paper examines the consequences of positioning a student voice effort inside or outside of school walls. The paper finds that positioning influences the legitimacy, sustainability, and scope of changes that a student voice initiative can pursue.

This article examines a student group’s two-pronged strategy to build partnerships with teachers at a U.S. high school. Through “teacher-focused” activities, students became aware of teachers’ perspectives; “student-focused” activities allowed teachers to learn from students. The article also considers the organizational contexts that enabled this symbiotic strategy to take hold.

School environments offer a particularly difficult setting for fostering youthadult partnerships because of the sharp power and status distinctions among students, teachers, and administrators. Drawing on interview and observational data examining 13 student-voice initiatives in northern California, this research examines the type of supports that can enable the development of strong school-based youth-adult partnerships. The data demonstrate that efforts to reshape student roles face great resistance and require intentional effort on the part of adults and youth to sustain partnerships. Specifically, the institutional constraints of schools required extra attention to fostering more equitable relationships between youth and adults within school walls, establishing the legitimacy of these new relationships through the completion of specific and yet meaningful objectives established by the partnership, and finding sufficient time to engage in the work of building these partnerships.

This article describes a progression of student voice activities, using the case of Whitman High School as an example. It describes the importance youth placed in “being heard” (Mitra, 2003; Oldfather, 1995) during the initial focus groups conducted at the school. Following these focus groups, the school then shifted from solely listening to students to collaborating with them (Mitra, forthcoming) to solve the problems that had been identified. Students then exerted a leadership role in these student voice activities when they were given the institutional space and guidance to think strategically about school change. After the creation of student leader positions, the group developed many successful student-focused and teacher-focused initiatives aimed at improving relationships between students and teachers at the school.

This ethnographic study investigates one of the most robust youth-adult school governance model, which was found to distribute leadership and trigger organizational change.  Chapters highlight youth and adult leadership practices and the supporting coursework.  This book advances both the fields of student voice and distributed leadership with a thorough/extensive literature review; chapter on how to study student leadership capacity building; chapter on preparing democratic citizens; and chapters on distributed leadership. You can find this book here: http://www.amazon.com/Student-Voice-School-Governance-Distributing/dp/113885154X

This article considers the role of student voice in secondary school reform. It defines the concept of student voice within bodies of research on youth participation internationally, noting the ways the United States is distinct and lagging behind. It then looks at the broadening scope of ways that young people have become involved in change efforts. It considers ways that student voice can deepen implementation efforts and strengthen classroom practice. The paper ends with a discussion of the importance of attending to issues of power in youth-adult relationships, including ways to avoid the co-optation of young people.

The aim with the present study was to investigate bystander actions in bullying situations as well as reasons behind these actions as they are articulated by Swedish students from fourth to seventh grade. Forty-three semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with students. Qualitative analysis of data was performed by methods from grounded theory. The analysis of the student voices of being a bystander in bullying reveals a complexity in which different definition-of-situation processes are evoked (a) relations (friends and social hierarchy), (b) defining seriousness, (c) victim’s contribution to the situation, (d) social roles and intervention responsibilities, and (e) distressing emotions. There are often conflicted motives in how to act as a bystander, which could evoke moral distress among the students. Our analysis is unique in that it introduces the concept of moral distress as a process that has to be considered in order to better understand bystander actions among children The findings also indicate bystander reactions that could be associated with moral disengagement, such as not perceiving a moral obligation to intervene if the victim is defined as a non-friend (‘none of my business’), protecting the friendship with the bully, and blaming the victim.

Highlighting practical frameworks, important considerations, and real-world examples, this Guide to Meaningful Student Involvement  is all about engaging students throughout education. Recommended for anyone interested in student voice, student empowerment, student engagement, or building community in schools.

With the school graduating just over half (57%) of the students that start in ninth grade and with one-third of its teachers electing to leave each year, the Whitman High School staff saw the need for change. The school’s reform leadership team made the unusual decision of involving students in these reform efforts. Whitman began its work by narrowing its reform focus to the question: “Why are so many ninth graders struggling to pass their classes?” To gather data on this question, fourth-year teacher Amy Jackson convened student focus groups to learn from young people about the types of supports that they needed to enable them to succeed. The focus groups reflected the diverse student body, including students representing a broad range of academic achievement and a variety of social cliques.
The students and adults worked together to identify four main themes in the transcripts as the most pressing areas for reform at Whitman: (1) improving the school’s reputation, (2) increasing counseling and information resources for incoming ninth graders; (3) improving communication between students and teachers, and (4) raising the quality of teaching. The students then presented these findings to the school faculty. The student themes echoed teacher concerns but also focused their attention on student desires for stronger relationships between teachers and students and a strong student desire for school improvement.

The UK Government requires all schools in England to promote ‘Fundamental British Values’. These include democracy, and as Hart (1992) states: ‘A nation is democratic to the extent that its citizens are involved’. My research questions how ’involved’ pupils are within schools and how democratic our schools are. Recent findings from Robinson (2014) found that pupil participation in schools is not as effective as believed. Hart (1992) developed a Ladder of Participation to illustrate the levels of participation and non-participation of young people in schools. This has been used for developing and enhancing the work of school councils for many years, though arguably much of the work can still remain around the lower, tokenistic or ‘consultation’ levels. My research aims to explore pupil participation and voice within the classroom, and within teaching itself. Education has the potential to be socially transformative when that education system actively recognises and engages the learners as agents for their own learning. James and Pollard (2011) argue that pedagogy could influence social aspects such as increased social justice or economic prosperity. Further to that I would argue that engaging in a transformative, ‘participatory’ pedagogy utilises critical, creative and collaborative thinking to greater effect, enabling learners to become ‘transformers of their world’ (Freire, 1968, cited in Robinson & Taylor, 2007: 12). Through this research I have been able to develop a Participatory Pedagogy Framework based on Hart’s ‘Ladder of Participation’ (1992) and, by incorporating the work of Florian and Linklater (2010), adapt it for use within general classroom practice as an approach to developing pupil voice and engagement in learning.  My paper will endeavour to outline the key aspects of the theory around the development of my Participatory Pedagogy Framework and the initial outcomes from a small-scale action research project exploring the educational effectiveness and practicality of employing the framework in a primary classroom.

Dalton education is the largest educational reform movement in the Netherlands. Around eighty years ago it spread throughout the world; Dalton education was found in the USA, England, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, India, China and Japan. Today there is a revival of interest in England and Germany. We examine the origins of Dalton education by comparing the work of its founder Helen Parkhurst (1886–1973) with developments in American education towards the end of the nineteenth century. From 1870 onwards, in numerous American cities, there were experiments with alternatives for lockstep teaching, including experiments with individualised instruction, individual assignments, differentiation, self-direction, self-pacing, freedom, tutor learning and co-operation. In part, these innovations stemmed from methods that were already customary prior to the dissemination of lockstep teaching – methods which, at the onset of the twentieth century, were actually still common in rural one-room schools. The Dalton Plan proves to be not very original. Parkhurst recycled various ideas and methods which had already been developed and tried out in the preceding decades. Her pretension of having introduced something new and authentic is implausible. That raises two questions: how to explain the discrepancy between the image Parkhurst presents of her own work and the image derived from historical comparison, and how to explain the popularity of the Dalton Plan in the 1920s, given that it was not unique or particularly innovative.

This study provides an account of the agendas, participation and influence of management, teachers, students and parents at a primary school in Tigray, Ethiopia. A literature review revealed gaps in the knowledge of these stakeholders’ involvement in school leadership structures in the current national policy context. A broader review of the major traditions of school research informed the design of this ethnographic case study. Fieldwork at ‘Ketema School’ took place over an eight-month period in 2014, and involved participant observation, informant-led interviews, and the collection of institutional documents. Data collection focused on the meetings of various bodies, and the activities of a single class in Grade 6 and 7. Inductive analysis of the case data was supported by Atlas.ti.

The study reveals a convergence of understandings about the purposes and processes of the school consistent with the state-authorised model of schooling for national development. Structures and processes of surveillance and control incentivise and normalise compliance with government directives. These include positions of distributed leadership and mechanisms of mutual surveillance and internal accountability through which teachers and students share responsibility for supervising peers and colleagues. For example, the student leaders of the ‘one-to-five’ networks perform an academic support and behavioural control function in relation to their peers; and gim gima is a practice of public critique used for exposing misconduct. Meetings and other participative spaces enable members of the school community to share their views on conditions in school according to their interests and priorities; however, these forums are dominated by management agendas, and school-level decisions are restricted by a strong external policy context.

This study extends knowledge of school leadership practices in Ethiopia and informs wider debates around community participation, accountability and school autonomy in developing countries. Recommendations are made for sharing and strengthening democratic practices and for future research.

While youth tend to have few opportunities for civic engagement, a growing body of research has examined the potential role of increasing student voice in schools. Called a variety of names including student participation, active citizenship, youth leadership, and youth empowerment (McQuillan, 2005), the concept of student voice describes the many ways in which youth have opportunities to share in the school decisions that will shape their lives and the lives of their peers (Fielding, 2001; Goodwillie, 1993; Levin, 2000). 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 (Mitra, 2005b). All types of student voice, from limited input to substantial leadership, are considerably different from the types of roles that students typically perform in schools (such as planning school dances and holding pep rallies). This chapter reviews the range of student voice activities present in the literature.

(English translation) This chapter is a reflection on the first three years of a student voice project where Year 9 students were positioned as co-researchers in a low socio-economic school. Three vignettes of students’ performances are explored in order to consider the significance of adopting alternative positions for reflection in individuals and schools.  We argue that student voice opens a space where students and teachers can step outside of their conventional roles, shifting the traditional ‘script’ of deficit messages in school environments. At the same time, the vignettes also point to the multiplicity of possible responses to the invitation to adopt an alternative position.

Students involved in the interactive whiteboard (IWB) evaluation, sponsored by the Centre for British Teachers (CfBT), were interviewed about their perceptions of IWBs. Twelve group interviews (72 students) were conducted between January and Easter 2004 with Year 6 students (between 10 and 11 years of age) in six Local Education Authority (LEA) areas located in the North and South of England. Students were very enthusiastic about particular aspects of IWBs, such as their versatility in the classroom, multimedia capabilities and the fun and enjoyment they brought to learning. Students also highlighted, however, technical problems, teacher and students’ information and communication technology skills and students’ lack of access to the technology as negative aspects.

School is an exceptional place for the transmission of democratic organization and values since it allows both the practice and the learning of participation. In this doctoral thesis I focus on the study of student participation as a main component of school democracy. I define it as a group of processes –dialogue, decision-making and action- that make pupils become authors of their own education. Despite the fact that there are different reasons to support that pupil participation is a relevant matter, and that there is a political and legislative recognition of it in the European Union, several studies in different countries have showed very restricted participation processes in our schools. In addition, many teachers recognize they do not know the meaning or the implications of participatory principles in their practice. For these reasons, the general aim of this work is to study how pupil participation can be organized and promoted in schools. For this purpose, I have carried out a qualitative case study of Primary and Secondary schools with good participatory practices in order to illustrate possible courses of action and to open ways of reflection about this issue. Among the practices that have been analyzed we can find the creation of pupil participation structures in the classroom and the school and the use of participatory methodologies in the classroom. To sum up, this thesis is an inquiry into the implications and the meaning of pupil participation through a constant dialogue between theory and practice

La escuela es un espacio privilegiado para la transmisión y la construcción de la organización y los valores democráticos porque permite a la vez el ejercicio y el aprendizaje de la democracia y la participación. En esta tesis me centro en el estudio de la participación del alumnado, un componente fundamental de la democracia en la escuela. Entiendo la participación del alumnado como un conjunto de procesos –diálogo, toma de decisiones y acción- por el que los alumnos y las alumnas se hacen protagonistas de su educación.
A pesar de que hay razones de distinto tipo para considerar que la participación del alumnado es importante, investigaciones en distintos países señalan de forma recurrente que en la vida cotidiana de nuestras escuelas los procesos de participación están muy restringidos o son prácticamente inexistentes. A esto debemos sumarle que, aunque la necesidad de la democracia y la participación en la escuela están bien fundamentadas y están reconocidas formalmente a nivel político y legislativo en Europa, hay sectores del profesorado que no tienen claro su significado y sus implicaciones en la práctica y en la investigación no destacan las propuestas a este respecto. Por estas razones, este trabajo tiene como objetivo general responder a la siguiente pregunta: ¿cómo se puede organizar y promover la participación del alumnado en la escuela? Para ello, he estudiado casos de escuelas de Educación Primaria y Secundaria que tienen buenas prácticas de participación del alumnado, con la intención de ilustrar posibles formas de actuar en los centros y abrir vías de reflexión sobre esta cuestión. Algunos ejemplos de prácticas que serán analizadas serán la creación de estructuras de participación estudiantiles a nivel de aula y de centro y el uso de metodologías participativas en el aula.
En definitiva, esta tesis indaga, mediante un constante intercambio entre la teoría y la práctica, sobre lo que implica que en la escuela los alumnos y las alumnas participen y sobre cuál es el significado de la participación.

Gymnastics is key ingredient for implementing the CARE Curriculum. The three sections of this chapter will help the reader to understand what is distinctive about Gymnastics as a cultural activity, along with some initial ideas to comprehend the aesthetic of Gymnastics and some basic knowledge to implement Gymnastics lessons in a plan of education. Sections are interlinked and developmental:
(i) The cultural significance of Gymnastics over time; how gymnastics has been deployed for different purposes and agendas,
(ii) Performance features: importance of understanding aesthetic appearance as to what is Gymnastic, and what isn’t, which in turn points to some useful criteria for the teaching of Gymnastics well, (not poorly) i.e. outlining knowledge and expectations to recognise and praise what is done well, and correct the not so well… i.e. an understanding of aesthetics within a Gymnastic education.
(iii) A look at the distinctive structure of a Gymnastics lesson which imparts the key elements to develop skills, knowledge/critique, learning and performance in gymnastics. Leading to a conclusion of Gymnastics in the CARE Curriculum.

Available in hard copy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/CARE-Curriculum-Physical-Education-Sport/dp/0995574464

Background: European and national policies on citizenship education stimulate the implementation of a participative approach to citizenship education, fostering active citizenship. The reason given for fostering active citizenship is the decline of participation in political and social life jeopardizing democracy. Schools have to implement a participative approach through stimulating participation within school and its direct environment, while fostering a certain kind of political literacy, critical thinking and analysing skills, certain kind of values, attitudes and behaviours. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to problematise the participative approach of citizenship education advocated by policy makers and several researchers. In order to do so, four different categories that citizenship education has to cover will be theoretically and empirically analysed: political knowledge, critical thinking, values, attitudes and behaviours, and active participation. The practical implications for educational practice will be discussed.
Source of evidence: Two types of documents have been analysed: The 2005 and 2012 Eurydice reports and the 2009 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) research reports. These documents are exemplary of the mainstream idea of citizenship and citizenship education held by policy makers and many researchers on citizenship education. The Eurydice reports have analysed citizenship education in more than 30 countries while promoting a certain concept of citizenship education, namely active citizenship. The ICCS has researched pupils’ competencies on citizenship education and school practices in 38 countries. It is an interesting source because it had to define and operationalise the different constituents of citizenship education.
Main argument: In jurisdictions where citizenship education is compulsory, schools have to implement this participative approach and account for it. We suggest that this educational approach to citizenship education may be problematic because each aspect – political literacy, critical thinking and analysing skills, values, attitudes and behaviours, and active participation – presents challenging demands on the curricu- lum, head teachers and teachers. We argue three kinds of constraints that make the implementation of such a participative approach unrealistic: (1) insufficient specialist knowledge on the part of teachers and head teachers, (2) time and budget constraints and (3) an overcrowded curriculum. We demonstrate that the broad range of themes that political literacy has to cover demand specific knowledge on the part of teachers regarding each of the themes. Then we argue that critical thinking skills are hard to learn and demand continuous practice. Implementing and sustaining active participation structure within school and in the direct environment, again, require specific skills and curricular organisation. The demands made by values, attitudes and behaviours on teachers and pupils could not be explored because of the lack of conceptual clarity in the documentation under scrutiny.
Conclusion: The feasibility of a participative approach to citizenship education has been questioned through theoretical and empirical critical analysis. On this basis, we suggest that the scope of the citizenship education curriculum should be reconsidered or that teacher and head teacher should receive the necessary and adequate training, and support to implement such a participatory structure.

Apart from John Dewey, no American educational reformer has been as internationally successful and influential as Helen Parkhurst, the founder of Dalton education. In the twenties and thirties of the twentieth century, Dalton education was spread throughout the world. There was Dalton education in America, England, Germany, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, India, China and Japan. Particularly in the Netherlands and Japan, Dalton education has remained in existence. In recent years there has been a revival of international interest. It crops up again, for instance, in England, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Poland and China.

The Netherlands is the country with the highest density of Dalton schools. At the moment there are four hundred, three hundred and seventy of which are elementary schools. Comprising five percent of all elementary schools, Dalton education is by far the largest educational reform movement in the Netherlands. And, contrary to Montessori, Jena Plan and Waldorf education, it is steadily on the increase: approximately one hundred schools have been founded in the past five years. The only Dalton school in America, is the school that Helen Parkhurst founded herself in 1919, and which she was subsequently to direct for more than twenty years: the Dalton School in New York. It is a renowned school. But its fame is not due to its origins as an experiment in progressive education. The Dalton School is the second most expensive private school in New York.

We begin with an account of the original practice and theory of the Dalton Plan. The first chapter is mostly historical: a concise reconstruction of the history of the development of the Dalton Plan. The second chapter characterizes the theory of the Dalton Plan based upon our interpretation of texts written by Parkhurst.

Children as Researchers in Primary Schools is an innovative and unique resource for practitioners supporting children to become ‘real world’ researchers in the primary classroom. It will supply you with the skills and ideas you need to implement a ‘children as researchers’ framework in your school that can be adapted for different ages and abilities. Children in primary schools are accustomed to being set short-term goals and are often unaware of long-term aims or of the connections between the concepts and skills they are learning. In contrast, this book demonstrates that children engaging in the research process have authentic opportunities to apply invaluable personal, learning and thinking skills while managing their own projects, making their ‘voices’ heard and experiencing increased levels of engagement and self-esteem.

Based on the author’s 4-year research study exploring the experiences of young researchers and teachers in primary schools, and on her considerable experience of training young researchers, this book also contains:

    the history and theory behind ‘children as researchers’ initiatives;

    a model for good practice based on successful real life case studies;

    questions for reflective practice;

    practical examples of research in the classroom;

    photocopiable resources;

    opportunities for self-evaluation.

This comprehensive resource will be appeal to primary teachers, educational practitioners and students on CPD and ITT courses. It will also be of interest to teacher trainers, to academics involved in teaching and research and to all those interested in promoting children’s voices.

Socialisation theories have traditionally focused on how children are socialised in a rather unidirectional manner, according to a transmission model. However, more recent research and theories show that children are not just passive recipients, but active agents in their socialisation process. At the same time, children are subordinated to adult control. In school, they are regimented and involuntarily subjected to mass routines, discipline and control. The aim of this study was to explore and give a voice to pupils’ critical thinking about school rules and their teachers’ behaviour in relation to these rules. Ethnographic fieldwork and group interviews with students were conducted in two Swedish primary schools. The findings show that pupils criticise some school rules, distrust teachers’ explanations of particular school rules, perceive some school rules and teachers’ interventions as unfair and inconsistent, perceive no power over the construction of school rules, and express false acceptance and hidden criticism. The findings are discussed in terms of hidden curriculum, power, mentality resistance, democracy, participation and democratic citizenship education.

Brutalism is a movement in building design and architectural style which has been influential since the 1950s, becoming prominent in the post-war era for using building materials in modern and innovative ways; concrete, steel and glass, rather than predominantly brick, timber and stone, for large social housing projects and municipal buildings. The aesthetic of Brutalism strives to show materials ‘in the raw’, derived from the French phrases béton brut (raw concrete) and art brut (raw art). The Brutalist style is a reaction against the nostalgia of the 1940s and an embrace of minimalist, Swedish-influenced architecture, with angular sweeps and block construction which these materials made possible.

Youth-adult partnerships are much different than the common misconception that an increase in youth leadership means that adults must simply “get out of the way” (Camino, 2005). This assumption suggests that power is a zero-sum game. Instead, research has found that the more empowered adults are, the more they can enable power in others, including youth (Camino, 2000; Ginwright, 2005; McQuillan, 2005).  Nevertheless, in instances such as the formation of youth-adult partnerships, where the imbalance of power among group members is extreme, adults often had to make explicit gestures that signaled their stepping back in order to create a space in which youth could have a shared responsibility for group decision making. Such a process does not entail handing over control to youth per se, but instead consists of creating a space in which all group members—youth and adults—could develop a common vision for their collective, could carve out an important and meaningful role for themselves in the activities, and could share responsibility for decisions and accountability for group outcomes (Mitra, 2005).

This paper reviews research discussing the school-wide, organizational mechanisms that make it possible for more students to take part in and reap the benefits of student voice initiatives. This review synthesizes existing research and identifies five organizational mechanism to foster student leadership: research, consistency, governance structure, recognition, and group makeup. These mechanisms will allow researchers to more closely examine the effectiveness of organizational structure and culture as well as practical strategies to build capacity for wider student leadership.

This case study explores how a community-based truancy prevention program mediates against absenteeism, truancy, and dropping out and positively transforms the lives of Black and Latina/Latino middle school youth. Findings suggest that community—school partnerships are critical in the quest to combat truancy and the alarming dropout rate among urban youth. This study also shows how committed individuals can work to engage and empower low-income urban youth who are disengaged from school. Extensive interviews and observations with Latina/Latino and Black youth demonstrate how the intervention program mediates against social and academic failure. Using grounded theory, this article explores four student-identified dimensions that impact his/her (re)engagement with school: (a) the importance of space that promotes peer relations, (b) incentive structures within programs, (c) the need for social networks, and (d) youth advocacy as a mechanism for institutional accountability. Implications for combating truancy, reducing dropout, and promoting student engagement are discussed.

Rodríguez, L. F. & Conchas, G. Q. (2009).  Preventing Truancy and Dropout among Urban Middle School Students:  Understanding Community-Based Action from the Student Perspective.  Education and Urban Society, 41 (2), 216-247.

Editors: Marc Brasof, Arcadia University & Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Commonwealth University The Journal for Ethical Educational Leadership invites researchers, practitioners, and graduate students to submit manuscripts that examine the intersection of student voice and school leadership. When students are genuinely included into school change processes, more socially just, democratic schools emerge and teachers, students, administrators, and schools improve across a wide range of important indicators. However, student leadership activity is often undermined by sociocultural conditions and structural arrangements found in schools. Many adults do not consider students as a source of valuable insight about school reform, nor are they perceived as mature enough to be real partners in change initiatives. Adults' negation of students' capabilities for leadership leads to exclusionary structures and decision-making processes, positioning students on the fringe of school change rather than as central partners. Whether unintentional or not, the lack of student voice is detrimental to effective school leadership. Conversely, inviting students to participate in the governance of their schools enables school leaders to learn necessary perspectives about school challenges and ultimately design and build community around effective change strategies. For this special issue of JEEL, Student Voice and School Leadership, researchers and practitioners use theory, research, and praxis to examine how the field of educational leadership benefits from the inclusion of youth-adult leadership practices. Educators from a wide-range of fields are encouraged to submit manuscripts discussing the intersection of student voice and school leadership with any of the following concepts:

In the book "The Dalton Plan: Origins and Theory of Dalton Education" we have depicted the historical-theoretical context of the Dalton Plan by comparing the practice and theory of Parkhurst with ideas on education and reform to which she refers: those of the poet cum philosopher Emerson, the developmental biologist Conklin, the psychologist Swift, the educational philosopher Dewey, the education reformer Montessori and the efficiency researchers Taylor and Bobbitt. In this last chapter we discuss the outcome. First we consider how Parkhurst relates to then contemporary science, research, theory development and discussion on education. We then summarize our findings.

The aim of the present study is to investigate schoolchildren's social representations on the causes of bullying. Individual qualitative interviews were conducted with 56 schoolchildren recruited from five elementary schools in Sweden. Mixed methods (grounded theory as well as descriptive statistic methods) were used to analyze data. According to the findings, the most prevalent social representation on bullying causes among the children is to view bullying as a reaction to deviance. The second most frequently used explanation type is to view bullying as social positioning. Other social representations on bullying causes are to explain bullying as the work of a disturbed bully, a revengeful action, an amusing game, social contamination, and a thoughtless happening. Social representations of bullying causes appear to be linked to the more general process of social categorization and seem in many bullying cases to promote moral disengagement among the children.

What roles are you preparing your students for throughout their lives? Consumer? Recipient? Or Creator and Leader? Does leadership only belong to special students?

With those provocative questions, world-renowned student voice expert Adam Fletcher unveils a powerful classroom program designed to teach students how to change schools. In eight modules totaling 200 hours of classroom instruction, Fletcher provides 24 detailed, practical lesson plans designed in actual classes with real students. Beginning with teaching students about schools and student voice, the curriculum then "pulls back the curtain" on education by showing students how to research schools, plan learning, teach classes, evaluate themselves and their teachers, make systemic decisions, and advocate for school improvement.

Engaging, hands-on activities are punctuated with fun worksheets, and with a comprehensive teacher's guide, there are no questions left unanswered. There are also planning guides, assessment tools, and more included. The answers to these questions and many more make the SoundOut Student Voice Curriculum the ideal program for engaging students as partners to transform our schools into what they must become: learning organizations that match the times in which we live.

The notion of ‘‘student voice,’’ or a student role in the decision making and change efforts of schools, has emerged in the new millennium as a potential strategy for improving the success of school reform efforts. Yet few studies have examined this construct either theoretically or empirically. Grounded in a sociocultural perspective, this article provides some of the first empirical data on youth participation in student voice efforts by identifying how student voice opportunities appear to contribute to ‘youth development’’ outcomes in young people. The article finds that student voice activities can create meaningful experiences for youth that help to meet fundamental
developmental needs--especially for students who otherwise do not find meaning in their school experiences. Specifically, this research finds a marked consistency in the growth of agency, belonging and competence--three assets that are central to youth development. While these outcomes were consistent across the students in this study, the
data demonstrate how the structure of student voice efforts and nature of adult/student relations fundamentally influence the forms of youth development outcomes that emerge.

The aim of this study was to investigate the PBEC (Post Basic Education Curriculum) the views of key participants (pupils and students) about the PBEC effectiveness and the extent to which the PBEC aims, skills and content prepare young people for the world of work or higher education. In addition, we consider the question, what are the important aims, skills and content for these participants' future? And how can these be made effective to prepare students for their future? This study used specially designed questionnaires to collect data. The total sample was 550 pupils and students. The results showed that the participants tended to strongly support the PBEC aims, skills and subjects in principle. However, they seemed less satisfied with them in practice. Further, Participants were quite sceptical about the importance and need for some PBEC subjects; specifically, music and research methodology in preparing them for the world of work and HE. This research evaluates how the PBEC is viewed by pupils and provides the Ministry of Education with information about the PBEC efficacy in achieving its aims. This will give policymakers feedback to develop the PBEC to be more effective. A number of recommendations: the need to review and develop the content of PBEC to meet pupils' expectations and be more flexible so teachers can use it