Children should be seen and heard: the power of student voice in sustaining new teachers

Abstract

Recent research has highlighted the merits of consulting children in both primary and secondary schools about their teaching and learning. This article looks at the effectiveness of pupil voice in not only maximizing the potential of pupils and students but also the consequences for helping teachers in turn — and especially newly qualified teachers, who might encounter obstacles during their early months of teaching. Interviews were conducted with 11 secondary school science teachers in their first three years of teaching in order to ascertain the quality of teaching and the degree to which teachers felt that they were successful in communicating the subject matter to their students. The findings showed that consulting young people is one way of responding to the needs of teachers as well as to the pupils themselves and we discuss the potential of pupil voice in harnessing the thoughts and feelings of pupils and ultimately achieving effective teaching and learning.