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The purpose of this paper is to consider the role of student voice in secondary school reform.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the role of student voice in secondary school reform.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a literature review, it defines the concept of student voice within bodies of research on youth participation internationally.
Findings
It notes the ways the USA 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. It breaks this discussion into: outcomes for classroom instruction, organizational change, and the relationship between student voice and power. 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.
Originality/value
This paper reviews the most recent work showing how student voice can impact change, with a particular focus when possible on urban secondary schools to fit with this special issue. It updates a previous review of the field conducted ten years ago (Mitra, 2006). Before beginning this review, however, it is important to understand how student voice varies across global contexts.
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This paper seeks to provide instructional methods for using blackout poetry and primary sources to learn about marginalized voices from history within a social studies classroom…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to provide instructional methods for using blackout poetry and primary sources to learn about marginalized voices from history within a social studies classroom. Blackout poetry provides students with authentic opportunities to engage in meaningful learning experiences using primary sources and marginalized voices that are both hands-on in nature and promote the use of critical thinking.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper opted to describe an approach to teach students about marginalized voices in history through the use of primary sources and blackout poetry. Step-by-step instruction was provided via an included table so that readers can recreate the lesson in readers' own classrooms.
Findings
This paper offers insights about how blackout poetry can be used to provide students an authentic experience with primary sources and historically marginalized voices. These experiences include opportunities to critically think about the context and significance or these marginalized voices and impact of marginalized voices on history through individual and cooperative learning opportunities.
Practical implications
This paper is designed for teachers to utilize and replicate in teachers' own social studies classrooms.
Social implications
This paper provides teachers with detailed steps on how teachers can amplify traditionally marginalized voices in social studies instruction of teachers.
Originality/value
This paper recognizes the important role that primary sources have in the social studies classroom along with the historically under representative role that marginalized voices have had in the author's social studies classrooms. Through an original approach, using blackout poetry, the author presents a unique perspective on how to teach about historically marginalized voices using primary sources in a manner that supports historical thinking.
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The purpose of this paper is to understand the organizational mechanisms by which schools can increase opportunities for student leadership.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the organizational mechanisms by which schools can increase opportunities for student leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of the student voice literature conducted in high schools was used to identify organizational mechanisms for enhancing student leadership.
Findings
Five leadership-fostering organizational mechanisms were identified: consistency, research, group makeup, governance structure and recognition.
Originality/value
This paper examines the existing body of student voice research to identify organizational mechanisms for fostering student leadership in schools. Researchers can use this to operationalize student leadership mechanisms and study their impact. Practitioners can implement these mechanisms in schools to support youth leadership development.
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Olga Khokhotva and Iciar Elexpuru Albizuri
The purpose of this paper is to report the findings from a case study of an action research project in the context of a secondary school in Kazakhstan where, for the first time in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report the findings from a case study of an action research project in the context of a secondary school in Kazakhstan where, for the first time in their teaching practice, three English as a Foreign Language teachers introduced student voice (Flutter and Rudduck, 2004) into their practice within the Lesson Study (LS) framework. The research aimed at conceptualizing Student Voice Space in LS as one of the valuable factors capable of triggering situations of disjuncture (disorienting dilemma, disruption) for teachers which could potentially lead to teacher’s transformative learning, educational beliefs change and improved practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts the qualitative research design and follows narrative inquiry methodology (Lyons and LaBoskey, 2002) with a series of narrative interviews (Bauer, 1996) as the main method of data collection within a single case study (Bassey, 1999) of an action research project. The data were analyzed as text following a general inductive approach (Thomas, 2003) where emerging themes were identified by means of data reduction.
Findings
The findings suggest that listening to student voice triggers teachers’ going through certain stages of Mezirow’s transformative learning theory including critical assessment of own assumptions, testing new options for behavior and reflecting critically on the teaching practice. Therefore, the authors suggest that Student Voice Space in LS is one of the important factors capable of triggering the teacher’s transformative learning. Moreover, it has an enormous potential not only to bring about positive changes in teachers’ practice but also challenge the ossified teachers’ educational beliefs, and thus, potentially, pave the way for a gradual change from “inappropriate beliefs” (Mayrhofer, 2019), or subconscious assumptions that lie in the core of teachers’ folk pedagogies (Torff, 1999), or taken-for-granted frames of reference (Mezirow, 2000) into true, justified or informed educational beliefs.
Research limitations/implications
Further analysis of teachers’ narratives is required to elicit and categorize reported changes (shifts, transformations) concerning specific teachers’ educational beliefs, and draw a more clear line between student voice and its impact on the research lesson planning and its modification in LS. Finally, a supplementary study utilizing classroom observation methods is needed to explore if student voice intervention results in tangible (actual) changes in teachers’ classroom practice and educational beliefs, rather than potential transformations that are mainly reported in this study.
Originality/value
Carried out in the largely overlooked by the academic literature context of the Reform at Scale (Wilson et al., 2013) in Kazakhstan and building on the original combination of theoretical lenses, the research contributes to the academic literature aiming at illuminating “the black box of teachers’ learning” in Lesson Study (in Widjaja et al., 2017, p.358) since it is one of the rare studies attempting to connect teacher learning, student voice and Lesson Study (Warwick et al., 2019). Additionally, approaching teacher learning in Lesson Study from the transformative learning perspective combined with the literature on teachers’ educational beliefs and student voice, this study contributes to the further development of a shared vocabulary for discussing teacher learning in Lesson Study.
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Stephanie White and Davar Rezania
Ethics and leadership are ongoing topics in high performance sports. The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the relationship between coaches’ ethical leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
Ethics and leadership are ongoing topics in high performance sports. The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the relationship between coaches’ ethical leadership behaviour, as perceived by athletes, and its impact on student-athlete accountability, voice and performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines the constructs of coaches’ ethical leadership behaviour, felt accountability and voice behaviour. The authors surveyed student-athletes from a variety of sports who compete in the Ontario University Athletics Regional Association. A total of 303 respondents (n=303) completed the survey. Partial least squares path modelling algorithm was utilised for testing hypotheses.
Findings
The results of the study indicate a significant relationship between a coach exhibiting ethical leadership behaviour and student-athlete voice behaviour and performance. Felt accountability mediates the effect of ethical leadership on voice and performance.
Practical implications
This study provides support for the hypothesis that coaches who behave ethically and whose actions represent their words create an environment where a student-athlete feels accountable. This is a powerful concept as it can positively impact individual and team success. The findings suggest that one of the ways that coaches can impact athletes’ performance is to demonstrate and model ethical conduct, and reward ethical acts.
Originality/value
The paper examines how coaches’ ethical behaviour might impact individual processes of accountability, voice and performance. Second, the paper uses the construct of accountability to explain how coaches’ ethical leadership impacts student-athlete behaviour. The accountability literature indicates that followers’ behaviours can be understood as the consequences of his/her perceived accountability towards the leader.
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– The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the student voice in enhancement of the quality of educational provision in universities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the student voice in enhancement of the quality of educational provision in universities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used the longitudinal approach, carried out as two separate surveys covering a period of three years. An initial survey to determine the issues affecting teaching and learning quality in eight public and five private universities was made from June 2011 to May 2012. In 2013, a follow-up survey targeting three state and three private universities was done to check whether the issues of concern raised by students had been addressed. The study used triangulation of qualitative and quantitative approaches. Data were collected using observation, document analysis, semi-structured questionnaires and focus group discussions with students and academic staff.
Findings
The findings showed that the major issues affecting quality of teaching and learning were inadequate assignments, absentee lecturers, poorly qualified lecturers, sexual harassment and the lack of public address systems for mass lectures. During the second survey, results showed that all universities had addressed the students’ concerns but new challenges caused by the ever increasing enrolments had emerged.
Practical implications
The study pointed to the need to continuously engage the student voice as a way of improving the quality of the teaching and learning environment.
Originality/value
The study adds to the body of knowledge on utilising the student voice to improve the quality of educational provision in institutions of higher learning
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This study aims to explore three methods of soliciting student-to-teacher feedback in a tenth-grade English classroom.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore three methods of soliciting student-to-teacher feedback in a tenth-grade English classroom.
Design/methodology/approach
The foundational inquiry asks what type of instructions – sentence stems, open-response or directed-response – yields the most honest and actionable responses when soliciting feedback. The data were coded for the presence and quality of constructive feedback and rationales, and their content was examined for classroom implications relating to the inclusion of student voice writ large.
Findings
The three sets of anonymous responses, each prompted by one of the types of instructions named above, suggested four trends irrespective of solicitation style: students were unlikely to critique their teacher; students seldom provided a rationale for their comments; students often spoke more about the personal rather than academic nature of their experiences; and students often addressed the class environment and the class collective as integral to their learning experiences.
Originality/value
These trends encouraged six considerations in the practice of including student voice in the author’s own classroom and beyond: we must validate student critique, co-define concepts that are central to effective feedback, time invitations thoughtfully, create a constant feedback loop rather than isolated collections, invite feedback practices that are collaborative among students and let go of singular notions of student voice.
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Farhana Alam, Happy Kumar Das and Shaikh Shamsul Arafin
Incorporating student voice to improve both academic and institutional performances is the contemporary innovative way to enhance and ensure quality in higher education. Higher…
Abstract
Purpose
Incorporating student voice to improve both academic and institutional performances is the contemporary innovative way to enhance and ensure quality in higher education. Higher education organizations are developing a culture and an encouraging environment for the students where they can express their opinions and be an integral part and partner of educational improvement process. The purpose of this paper is to explore students preferred learning and teaching methods for management education, to study current intended learning outcome and practiced teaching methods, to investigate prerequisites to implement students expected teaching methods in the college-level management education of National University.
Design/methodology/approach
Nature of the study is exploratory and descriptive as well. Primary data were collected using focus group discussions, surveys conducted using structured and closed-ended questions and in-depth, face-to-face interviews employed to collect data from academic staff.
Findings
The key findings include the need for bringing changes in teaching techniques at college-level management education. Furthermore, the study has explored challenging issues which can hinder changes in teaching techniques.
Practical implications
The study pointed to the need of including student voice to keep improving teaching techniques that can satisfy students' learning needs continuously.
Originality/value
The study adds the body of knowledge on incorporating student voice to improve the quality of higher education teaching techniques and in other services as well in Bangladesh.
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Zeeda Fatimah Mohamad, Mohd Zufri Mamat and Muhamad Faisal Muhamad Noor
The notion of students as change agents have widely been used in the campus sustainability literature, but very little has been done to unpack what it really means in practice…
Abstract
Purpose
The notion of students as change agents have widely been used in the campus sustainability literature, but very little has been done to unpack what it really means in practice. This paper aims to critically investigate university students’ perspectives on their role as a change agent for campus sustainability in the context of Malaysian universities.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews were carried out with 21 students that have been categorized as change agents through selection criteria at three leading universities in the area of campus sustainability in Malaysia. The data collected from the interviews were analysed through content-based and thematic analysis.
Findings
Findings demonstrate that students are the backbone behind the implementation of campus sustainability activities. They play the multi-faceted role of leaders, supporters and ambassadors in initiating and driving campus sustainability. The results further suggest that support and freedom to act are the empowering factors that have driven these change agents in carrying out their initiatives. However, without a position, the students’ voices are not significant.
Originality/value
This study provides deeper evidence-based insights on the notion of students as change agents and how it can be operationalized in the context of campus sustainability.
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Joanne E. Marciano, Lee Melvin Peralta, Ji Soo Lee, Hannah Rosemurgy, Lillian Holloway and Justice Bass
This paper aims to provide insights for educators seeking to enact culturally responsive-sustaining education and research in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide insights for educators seeking to enact culturally responsive-sustaining education and research in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The authors examine what happened when the community-based Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) initiative they engaged with traditionally marginalized high school students was interrupted as a result of physical distancing necessitated by COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for this inquiry were taken from a broader on-going ethnography of youth’s participation in the YPAR project and included audio and video recordings from meetings of the YPAR initiative and messages exchanged between and among authors and youth. Authors used components of culturally responsive-sustaining education and theories related to student voice as an analytic frame through which they considered how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced their work.
Findings
Three findings are examined in this paper. They consider: how youth participants and the authors stayed connected after they were no longer able to meet in person; how youth chose to center the needs of the subsidized housing community where they lived while continuing their work; and how youth and authors navigated the uncertainties they encountered in looking ahead to future possibilities for their study as the pandemic continued.
Originality/value
This study provides urgently needed insights for educators and researchers grappling with how they may enact culturally responsive-sustaining education and research during the COVID-19 global pandemic and beyond.
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