Student Voice: Joint Work at the Boundaries of Convention in the Middle Years

• In Event: Roundtable Session 40
  In Roundtable Session: Enhancing Learning Opportunities for Young Adolescents

Abstract

Middle years philosophy emphasizes the importance of student voice as a key ingredient of developmentally responsive curricula and pedagogy (Beane, 1993; 2001; National Middle Schooling Association, 2003; Powell & Faircloth, 1997; Toepfer, 1997) but what constitutes student voice in practice? This research problematises the notion of student voice and foregrounds the complexity of power relations at play in enacting student voice pedagogies. The research conceptualizes student voice as a boundary practice that involves students and teachers doing ‘teacher’ and ‘student’ differently. The research presents effects of power being enacted within student voice pedagogies for teachers and students and considers some of the implications for the development of grassroots middle years pedagogies that position students more powerfully.

Author

• Emily Jane Nelson, University of Waikato