Loading...
A tale of two narratives: student voice – what Lies before us?
Hall, Valerie Joyce
Hall, Valerie Joyce
Authors
Editors
Other contributors
Affiliation
Epub Date
Issue Date
2016-12-20
Submitted date
Alternative
Abstract
As the last century closed, and a bright new millennium dawned, the concept of ‘student voice’ within education emerged as something to be ‘identified’ and ‘captured’. In effect, it became reified and driven by a raft of government and institutional policies and strategic initiatives; initially within the compulsory sector, but soon followed by the post-compulsory sector as the 2000s moved on. In an increasingly quasi-consumerist environment, a mechanism had emerged with potential to ‘measure’ student satisfaction. Institutions quickly took up the ‘call to arms’, assigning responsibilities to ensure there was evidence of ‘student voice’ engagement; but there was no conversation with the ‘students’ about how this was experienced by them. This concept had become a ‘portmanteau’ term; a ‘catch all’ (Fielding, 2009) competing between two narratives – student voice as democratic and transformational; and student voice as ‘policy’ and strategic initiative. Formal research that could contribute to this discussion has been sparse and this paper takes a critical stance to the literature and policy, exploring the current status of student voice and proposing a research focus that has the potential to involve students in a discussion about how their voice is heard, and for what purpose.
Citation
Hall, V.M.J. (2017). A tale of two narratives: student voice—what lies before us?. Oxford Review of Education, 43 (2), pp 180-193.
Publisher
Journal
Research Unit
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
Embedded videos
Additional Links
Type
Journal article
Language
en
Description
This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor and Francis in Oxford Review of Education on 20/12/2016, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2016.1264379
The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.
Series/Report no.
ISSN
0305-4985