Challenging Learner Voice
Programme highlights - Morning
Keynote sessions
Beyond student voice: current challenges, radical responses, new opportunities
Michael Fielding, Professor of Education, Institute of Education, University of London
Taking stock of some of the exciting developments in student voice, Michael suggests that we need to ask some fundamental questions about our educational values, and work more deliberately towards an inclusive, creative and democratic future.
The challenge of free speech
Lynn Davies, Professor of International Education, Centre for International Education and Research (CIER), University of Birmingham
This session examines the complexity around when learner voice is – and is not - acceptable to schools. It highlights two contemporary examples: learner critique of teaching, and learner expression of extremist or radicalised views.
Parallel sessions
Delegates need to select stream A or B
Stream A
Choose one of the following sessions (A1, A2 or A3) when booking:
A1 Pupil voice?
Dr Nick Lee, Associate Professor, Warwick Institute of Education
This session uses data from group interviews with secondary school pupils that explored their responses to question-answer routines in class, as well as delegates’ own insights concerning educational technologies and learner voice, to pose two questions: what is learner voice for, and what difference do educational technologies make?
A2 Are we educating for democracy or for compliancy? A critical examination of ‘pupil voice’ and ‘rights friendly’ schools
Audrey Osler, Director, Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights Education, University of Leeds
Across the globe, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is having a direct impact on education policy and is challenging current conceptions of childhood. This session examines the concepts of ‘pupil voice’ and ‘rights-friendly schools’ and argue that they are likely to produce compliancy rather than the critical thinking and skills necessary to participate in a democracy. Therefore, do we need a different rights-based approach to education?
A3 What does learner voice look like for the learner?
Shane Chowen, President of City College Plymouth Students Union and Robert Whitaker, Further Education Policy Officer, National Union of Students
This session, led by elected learner representatives from further education, examines how a college or school that genuinely puts learner voice at its heart looks and feels to learners themselves. Learners share their experience of learner involvement as well as their thoughts on how colleges and schools can better engage learners in issues like quality improvement, facilities, teaching and learning and pastoral support.
All delegates choosing stream A will also attend the following session:
Learner voice and new possibilities through technology
Chris Yapp, Executive Technical Strategy Consultant, Capgemini UK
Chris reviews some of the key issues and themes arising from the sessions in stream A, and considers how new and emerging technologies might play a role in overcoming barriers and promoting greater learner voice.
Stream B
Delegates choosing stream B will attend both of the following sessions:
B1 Who asks the questions?
David Gribble, Coordinator of the International Democratic Education Network
This session argues: that the most important aim of education is not simply to impart knowledge and skills, but to cooperate in the individual development of each child; and that a genuine commitment to a subject is only possible when the learner’s appetite for learning has overtaken the teacher’s desire to teach, ie when the learner is asking the questions, rather than simply following a course designed by someone else.
B2 Giving voice to experience
Chris Davies, Lecturer in Education, and Sue Cranmer, Research Officer, Department of Education, University of Oxford
This session argues that it is asking a great deal of young people – and of adults too – to articulate the ways in which they make sense of their learning, and their opinions about how it can be made better. Drawing on data from current research, the session goes on to argue that only through the slow and patient exploration of the complexity of learners’ own experiences can we help them to find out and articulate what they really think.
Programme highlights - Afternoon
Keynote sessions
What does it mean to be an ‘adult’ in an era of children’s rights and learner voice?
Keri Facer, Research Director, Futurelab
This session argues that a changed view of childhood, and a recognition of children’s rights, requires us to re-examine the relationship between the generations. By reflecting on a range of studies of formal and informal learning, Keri explores the question, ‘what are adults really good for today?’ and asks ‘how should we redesign education on that basis?’
The progression of learner voice
Simon Binns, Joint Leader, The Edge Learner Forum
This session focuses on the way learner voice is progressing, due to the proactiveness and great opinions of young people today. Simon shows how the Edge Foundation does things in partnership instead of consultation, and involves young people in the session.
Parallel sessions
Delegates need to select stream C or D
Stream C
Choose one of the following sessions (C1, C2 or C3) when booking:
C1 Summerhill – that dreadful school!
Zoë Readhead, Principal, Summerhill School
This session is an introduction to alternative education and child-rearing as practiced for 87 years at Summerhill School. Summerhill is no longer an experimental school but instead, after over 80 years of successful teaching, a valuable resource to the education world and a model of how democracy and freedom can change the lives of children and help them develop into well-balanced, happy and effective adults.
C2 Youth voice in the work of Creative Partnerships
Helen Manchester, Research Associate, and Sara Bragg, Research Council UK Research Fellow, The Open University
In this session, Helen and Sara report on the initial findings from their research project which examines youth voice initiatives in the work of Creative Partnerships. This is an interactive session in which participants are asked to discuss emerging themes and issues.
C3 Exploring personalisation through learner voice : a school case study in partnership with Edison Schools UK Ltd
Kevin Crossley, Achievement Advisor, EdisonLearning, Chris Holmwood, Deputy Head, Shenley Brook End School and Ella Newland, Director of Extended Learning, Shenley Brook End School
The session presents the work that Shenley Brook End School in Milton Keynes has been doing with Edison since early 2007 on developing learner voice and the ‘learning to learn’ skills of students. By listening and responding to student feedback, the school has developed a language for learning that is shared between students and staff, as well as an online tool that facilitates 'learning conversations' between students and staff for mentoring purposes, and helps the school reflect on its pedagogic practice. This session is co-presented by learners.
All delegates choosing stream C will also attend the following session:
Learner voice and new possibilities through technology
Chris Yapp, Executive Technical Strategy Consultant, Capgemini UK
Chris reviews some of the key issues and themes arising from the sessions in stream C, and considers how new and emerging technologies might play a role in overcoming barriers and promoting greater learner voice.
Stream D
Delegates choosing stream D will attend both of the following sessions:
D1 A school without boundaries – why schools need to understand informal education
Ian McGimpsey, Senior Manager – Education, Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts
This session seeks to explore what informal learning processes are, why they are increasingly important in the 21st century, and what some of the implications might be for schools. In doing so, it builds on the RSA’s work with leading innovative practitioners through the RSA Future Schools Network.
D2 Eliciting learner voice – exploring the enabling/constraining influence of the school setting
John Potter, Lecturer in Education and New Media, Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media, London Knowledge Lab
This session explores the theoretical and practical issues of entering into dialogue with learners about technology within the school setting. Drawing on experience from a recent project with primary pupils, the presenters discuss the effectiveness of various online and offline methods of stimulating reflection and debate amongst learners.