ABSTRACT

In a publication with so many eminent contributors, it is perhaps worth starting with an introduction and an explanation of my interest in Student Voice. I am a 19-year-old student heading to university after around five years in the field of participation. After various Student Voice activities at school, I have worked for a year as the Student Support Officer of the English Secondary Students’ Association (ESSA). ESSA is a representative organisation for young people in secondary education in England, i.e. people between 11 and 19 years of age. The association operates much like a union, gathering the views of its members and representing them to government, the media, academics and any other interested bodies. ESSA also delivers a large amount of training in schools to enable students to express themselves most efficiently and effectively, and in the last year has branched more into political lobbying and contracted consultation work. At the time of writing the organisation (established in 2005) is three years old and continues to expand its membership base and the breadth of its activities. In line with its ethos, ESSA is run at a strategic level by a National Council of elected students, two from each government region. These young people drive the organisation forward and make all the key decisions associated with its operation. The Student Support Officer, nearly always a student on a gap year between school and university, coordinates ESSA’s activities, with a focus on enabling the association’s members to get involved in ESSA’s work as fully as possible. My interest in Student Voice is, therefore, both personal and professional, and I hope to bring a ‘youthful’ perspective to the debate to balance my relative inexperience in the field.