Sound, Presence, and Power: “Student Voice” in Educational Research and Reform

Abstract

Every way of thinking is both premised on and generative of a way of naming that reflects particular underlying convictions. Over the last fifteen years, a way of thinking has reemerged that strives to reposition school students in educational research and reform.i Best documented in Australia, Canada, England, and the United States, this way of thinking is premised on the following convictions: that young people have unique perspectives on learning, teaching, and schooling; that their insights warrant not only the attention but also the responses of adults; and that they should be afforded opportunities to actively shape their education.ii As will become apparent as this discussion unfolds, one of the challenges of analyzing this reemergent way of thinking is that words and phrases such as "attention," "response," and "actively shape" mean different things to different people. And yet a single term has emerged to signal a range of efforts that strive to redefine the role of students in educational research and reform: "student voice.""Student voice" has accumulated what Hill (2003) describes as "a new vocabulary-a set of terms that are necessary to encode the meaning of our collective project." These terms strive to name the values that underlie "student voice" as well as the approaches signaled by the term.Like any attempt at such encoding, however, an effort to identify a new vocabulary that captures the attitudes and practices associated with student voice work raises questions, especially because it makes use of already common terms, albeit in new contexts and in new ways. These questions prompt us to re-examine the terms we think capture our commitments as well as those commitments themselves. Such a re-examination is critical, particularly in regard to terms we think we understand. Indeed, the word "term" itself is defined as a word or phrase referring to a clear and definite conception, and yet despite its increasing and emphatic use, none such clear and definite conception exists for "student voice."In an attempt both to clarify and to complicate current understandings of "student voice,"I organize this discussion as follows: I trace the emergence of the term; I explore positive and Curriculum Inquiry 36, 4 (Winter 2006), 359-390"Student Voice" -p. 2 negative aspects of the term, some of which are identified in the research literature and some of which I offer from my own perspective; I identify two underlying premises of student voice work signaled by two particular words-"rights" and "respect"-that surface repeatedly in publications on student voice efforts; and I focus on a word that also appears regularly in the research literature but that refers to a wide range of practices: "listening." The first two subsections are intended to offer an overview of how the term "student voice" came to enter our discourse and to bring together in a single discussion some of the positive and negative associations with the term. The subsequent sections, in which I take a close look at three associated terms, are not...

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