ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines what is meant by voice, power, and social justice, as these are foundational concepts for growing teachers own voice practice. In qualitative social science research, a position statement allows the researcher to reveal key aspects of who they are and the context within which they are working in order to address any potential bias. The chapter develops a personal understanding of the concept of meaningful voice practice. The concept can be deceptively simple; voice practices can only be meaningful if they result in tangible action that directly address power imbalances as an act of social justice promotion. Based on these concepts and ideas, S. R. Arnstein developed the ladder of citizen participation as a typology of citizen power/engagement. Organisations like schools or the local education authority directly state their espoused values in a range of formal ways, such as vision and mission statements, policy documents, formal aims, slogans and mottoes, and in day-to-day discourse.
