Student voice and future schools: building partnerships for student participation

Abstract

This article describes the early stages in the formation of a partnership between the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education and a group of secondary schools to develop a variety of approaches to student participation. The article focuses primarily on research undertaken by over 100 students in 12 secondary schools in Kent, and the Highest Common Denominator Student Partnership (HCDSP), based at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education. It describes how the initiative was taken by a group of secondary headteachers with support from the LA to inform both their vision for secondary education and their response to the government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative. This enquiry was designed to actively involve students in collecting and presenting their own data. The most significant outcome of this project is that it signals the beginning of a genuine conversation between schools and their students about learning.