Cultural Politics of Student Voice

Introduction

The notion of student voice, in the context of the general meaning of this term, occurs against a long historical background in which young people are considered by adults to be basically immature, incapable, and needing to be “seen but not heard.” In other words, they are supposed to be silent, including in matters to do with their learning. This is an idea that no longer has any legitimacy in a contemporary context in which young people are making all manner of important decisions about their lives and futures. Yet much of educational policy is still framed around the outdated presumption that adults somehow know best when it comes to the organization and enactment of all aspects of young people’s learning.

In this entry I am using the term student voice in quite a specific way that may not necessarily concur with the way others envisage or use that term. In particular, when I use the term “student voice,” I am referring to students being given a realistic measure of...