Against the wider background of increasing interest in pupil voice, this article
gives examples of the student involvement activity in the largest of the National
College of School Leadership (NCSL) development and enquiry initiatives: the
Networked Learning Communities project. In programme-level research, student voice
and participation were commonly reported as a significant dimension of network
development. Recognizing and conceptualizing such involvement as leadership is
discussed in relation to students’ roles as active agents in improving
learning in schools and networks of schools. A study for NCSL indicated generally
low levels of discourse among those in schools around what leadership might be,
particularly among students, but indicated a preference for people-based, relational
forms. It is argued that a perception of leadership as a relational process of
influence rather than of hierarchical power strengthens the possibility of
recognizing the potential of students as leaders. Schools and networks of schools
are suggested as important sites for the enactment of leadership as influence
through lateral modalities of power such as negotiation and persuasion which may
contest and change existing structures.
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New spaces for dialogue? What are adults learning about student involvement
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