Student Voice Research Symposium: Theory, Methods, and Innovations From the Field

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Student voice research is a field with its own epistemology, philosophies, and methodologies that researchers need awareness of to engage in productive research. Researchers’ past experiences, biases, and theoretical positions can romanticize or conjure negative images of young people, resulting in overgeneralizing the impact of student voice or reifying systems and outcomes that marginalize students. These possibilities raise a critical issue: to what extent does the design and enactment of research impact youths’ responses and the overall quality of research. This symposium will (re)introduce a series of principles and several examples that embrace these challenges by examining how research around the world on and with students can produce critical knowledge necessary for schools to be responsive, democratic, and just.

Sub Unit

• SIG-International Studies

Chair

• Marc Brasof, Arcadia University

Papers

• Student Voice: Assessing Research in the Field - Lindsay Lyons, Self-employed; Vanessa Gold, McGill University; Ellen MacCannell, McGill University

• Making Meaning and Planning Change With Students Using Photo-Cued Interviewing - Kayla Johnson

• Balancing Breadth and Depth: Using Mixed Methods in Scale Development Research - Lindsay Lyons, Self-employed

• Intersecting Voices: Integrating Student Voice Approaches in Teacher Education - Chanelle Wilson, Bryn Mawr College

• Considering Space and Time: Power Dynamics and Relationships Between Young Children and Adults - Kate Wall, University of Strathclyde; Claire Cassidy, University of Strathclyde; Carol Robinson, Edgehill University; Mhairi Catherine Beaton, Leeds Metropolitan University; Lorna Jane Arnott, University of Strathclyde; Elaine Hall, Legal Education and Professional Skills

Discussant

• Joseph Levitan, McGill University