Vulnerable student voices are a matter for concern in contemporary higher education, but that concern is directed more towards identifying vulnerable groups, and seeking to widen their participation in higher education. It is less to do with the vulnerability of certain modes of voice when students are there.The concept of student voice may be anatomised into three constituent elements: an epistemological voice, or a voice for knowing, a practical voice, or a voice for doing, and an ontological voice, or a voice for being and becoming. A voice for being and becoming is less valued and validated in contemporary higher education, and more vulnerable, than voices for knowing and doing. Developing an ontological voice is deemed less important than developing epistemological or practical voices, yet an ontological voice is fundamental to those two other voices.The concept of vulnerability needs to be extended from referring to certain underrepresented groups in the student body to indicating the strength or weakness of certain modes of the student voice. Vulnerability is not only about the vulnerability of the presenting student, but also about his voice yet to be uncovered. Reinterpreting vulnerability fosters modes of recovering ontological voices at risk of being lost.
Research tells us that children with developmental disabilities and delays have reduced social interaction and reduced social acceptance by other children in comparison with their same-aged peers within early childhood settings. The consequence of this is that these children have limited access to the possible developmental opportunities within the peer culture, leading to long-term social maladjustment. This can be counteracted by the implementation of carefully planned social interventions; however, the strategies informed by current research are often unable to be implemented because of the lack of user-friendliness for staff. This paper is a quantitative and qualitative case study of a four-year-old child with a moderate developmental disability attending a community kindergarten. The authors investigated the effect of strategies planned in collaboration with kindergarten staff to increase social interaction and acceptance for the focal child within the existing peer culture.
Challenges to become what you want to be permeate higher education recruitment literature, inviting students to realize their dreams. Students do not interpret this invitation only in vocational terms. Other aspects of meaning for being and becoming are important for them: self-realization,
and becoming who as well as what they want to be. A student voice for being and becoming is less valued and validated in contemporary higher education, and more vulnerable, than voices for knowing and doing. Yet if voices for being and becoming are unsupported, voices for knowing and doing
also become vulnerable. Integrity of voice is undermined.
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