Student voice and the politics of listening in higher education

Abstract

The promise of giving voice to under-represented and marginalized groups has been a mainstay of emancipatory agendas in educational research. It has been an especially influential focus in feminist and gender equity reform projects and is increasingly a feature of policies and programs directed to enhance youth participation and civic inclusion. Voice typically signals a concern with representation and empowerment and associated claims for transformation have been criticized on several grounds, from offering only superficial forms of inclusion to the problem of power in the selective bestowing of voice. Yet the appeal of voice remains powerful. What can be learnt from feminist and other critical attention to promoting voice in education; and what might be the challenges – limitations and benefits – of adopting a pedagogy and politics of voice as a strategy to promote equity and wider participation in higher education? I outline an argument for how we might re-frame voice as problem not so much of expression and representation, but of listening and recognition, and consider some of the implications of such a reframing for student equity strategies in higher education.