ABSTRACT
A few decades ago in a primary school in Victoria, Australia, I sat with a group of school children who had been elected to their school’s Student Representative Council. Together with a couple of teachers in the school staff room, we discussed various student concerns. Among the students were two new members from First Grade (about five years of age) whose presence was considered by the teachers to be as ‘apprentices’, to observe and learn about the Council’s processes. These students, however, had taken their role very seriously and had asked their peers to identify school issues of importance. They took the opportunity to raise a concern about the section of the school grounds that, by tradition, was where the youngest children played during class breaks. Although this area was partly covered, the rain and wind blew into it. The school was in a town that is noted for its inclement weather for most of the year, so the problem was very real. At the meeting, the older students confirmed the problem while the teachers present admitted to being unaware of it. At that time, I was coordinating a program that had access to funds to assist in refurbishment of schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. With assistance from the staff and myself, the student group developed a submission for an amount of $50,000. The submission was successful and the school was allocated the requested funds to redevelop the area in line with the students’ suggestions. Why the issue had not been raised previously (or, if it had, why it had not been acted on) in the school’s long history was never clear, but listening to the students’ voices on this occasion had benefits beyond a new, dry, windproof play area: the students made a tangible impact on the physicality of their learning environment, and this, according to teachers’ anecdotal reports, produced a sense of ownership and belonging that helped to raise student achievement in this ‘disadvantaged’ school. Also, the teachers took ‘student voice’ seriously, listening more closely to their students after that successful outcome.
