1. Using students’ voices to improve teaching in schools
Dr Max Hope, University of Hull 1

2. Aims for session
To explore EU-funded research project which seeks to use students’ voices to enhance teacher development
To outline some of challenges of engaging with students’ voices
To share own ideas, opinions, experiences about using students’ voices in our schools

3. Research agenda
Across Europe one of the biggest challenges for teachers is how to respond to learner diversity
How can teachers develop more inclusive classroom practices by engaging with the views of students?

4. The project EU Comenius Multilateral Project
3 year project: – 2014
3 countries: Spain, Portugal and the UK
13 partners: 5 Universities and 8 secondary schools

6. Rationale for the project
Difficulties experienced by students as a result of the way that schools are organised
Schools have to be reformed
Pedagogy needs to be improved
Students’ voices as a means of identifying ways to improve learning and teaching in schools

7. Aims of the project
The project aims to have a direct impact on practitioners’ practices, as well as on students’ participation and achievement.
3 areas of focus:
diversity
students’ voices (learning and teaching)
teacher development

8. The process Two cycles of collaborative action research
Merging of two frameworks: students’ voices and lesson study as strategies for teacher development
Researchers support and monitor developments in schools

9. Four steps Form research groups
Discuss diversity, learning and teaching
Plan, teach and analyse research lessons
Identify implications for future practice
Engaging with the views of students should
be an emphasis that permeates the whole
approach

10. Engaging with students’ voices as a strategy for teachers’ professional development

11. Engaging with students’ voices
Working with students as co-researchers
Interviews and focus groups
Variety of participative activities (including unfinished sentences, role play, sociograms, pyramid discussions)
Whole-school surveys

12. EXAMPLE - If I were a teacher…

13. EXAMPLE - Pyramid Discussion
From individual reflection to whole class discussion
“Think of three pieces of advice that you would give to your teachers so, at the time of teaching a lesson, every student could learn and feel comfortable in your class”.

14. EXAMPLE - Photo Elicitation

15. EXAMPLE – Student survey

16. EXAMPLE – Using students as co-researchers

17. Using students’ voices to improve teaching and learning
Experimenting with seating plans: “I found the kids were more comfortable in groups … And I think being able to choose who you sat beside, made it so much easier, facilitated the lesson. And I’ve kept it like that, though usually I have a rigid seating arrangement, now I put the emphasis on them … And since then, after I tried it with the Year 7s, I tried it with the Year 9s and it is working quite well with them too. They feel that they have been treated more like adults and their opinions have been taken into account. So, in that respect it has been very beneficial”

18. Using students’ voices to improve teaching and learning
Extending time for groupwork:
John: It’s scary giving them 20 minutes.
Kate: If I thought about a lesson on drama I would give them 10 minutes and then the evaluation would take longer and the key techniques would take longer. I think giving them such a long time, it makes the drama the whole point of the lesson, doing it at the end.
John: It’s frightening giving them a whole 20 minutes to get on with something by themselves.
Kate: And you feel like if someone comes in or – like 20 minutes! – it’s 20 minutes just to do what they’ve got to do, but because it’s such a long time it feels like .. but then you have done something in this lesson, that’s what you have done. And from Marie’s lesson I took that, like I wasn’t confident to give them that amount of time.

19. Changing teachers’ perceptions and practices
“it’s been good staff development ... I’ve been teaching a long time [over 20 years], and I’ve never said ‘what do you like doing kids?’ ... never, so it was good.”

20. Challenges with capturing and engaging students’ voices
Who are the marginalised?
Capturing authentic voices
Diversity of students’ voices
Teacher resistance
Balance between students’ voices and teachers’ voices
External pressures – curriculum, assessments, organisational contexts, funding
Ethical considerations

21. Ways forward – developing dialogue
Need to listen to and acknowledge uniqueness of setting and individuals
Need to offer practical suggestions of ways of engaging with and responding to students
Need to ensure that students see the impact of their feedback on teaching and learning
Need to involve students in feedback, planning, learning process and reflection
Ways of developing dialogue between teachers and students
KEY POINTS ON HOW TO ENGAGE DIVERSE POPULATIONS
Acknowledge that students don’t always know how they learn best – but they can learn this through being given the chance to make decisions
These should be seen in context – there is not a recipe which works for everyone. These are tailor-made responses for countries, cities, schools and students

22. Over to you ...
What are your own ideas, opinions and experiences about using students’ voices in our schools ?