Becoming a Listening School: A Grounded Theory of Student-Adult Collaboration

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Saturday 1:45 pm
  In Poster Session: Division G: Section 4-Policies, Mattering, and Praxis Poster Session

Abstract

This paper presents a grounded theory explaining how high schools can become listening schools, where students achieve moral equality with adults and contribute to decision making. Drawing from a multi-year transformative activist stance study in researcher-formed and facilitated Student Leadership Committees at two high schools (suburban and rural), four iterative stages in the process are indicated: Initiation, Participation, Enabling Collaboration, and Integration. Driving the transformation is a reinforcing process where students' future visions, experiences of moral equality within "prefiguring containers," open listening, creation and sharing of trustworthy knowledge, and open engagement with adults combine to shift perceptions and institutional processes. This research offers a map for fostering the skills and attitudes essential for democracy while honoring students' right to participation.

Author

• Jennifer Sneddon Chace, University of Southern Maine