Authorizing Students’ Perspectives: Toward Trust, Dialogue, and Change in Education

“In other words, these self-reflection opportunities helped Hermione position herself as an authority over her past, present, and future experiences as a learner, which is foundational to centring student voice (Cook-Sather, 2002).”

“…voice and a mindset change to “ count students among those who have the knowledge and the position to shape what counts as education, to recon fi gure power dynamics and discourse practices within existing realms of conversation about education, and to create new forums ” (Cook-Sather, 2002, p. 3).”

“In particular, educational journals play a crucial role in advancing the field of education and serve as an excellent platform for sharing research with a wider audience (Cook-Sather, 2002).”

“As student voice scholarship has widely documented the absence of young people’s perspectives in school curriculum and pedagogy (Cook-Sather, 2002; Mitra et al., 2014), attention must now be given to research that explores what it looks like for youth to engage in school reform by designing and enacting pedagogical th…”

“To grow stakeholder awareness of the barriers traditional school buildings create, and to deepen support for long-term investment in modernized school facilities, we suggest listening to those most directly affected but least often consulted at school (Cook-Sather, 2002): marginalized or vulnerable students (Flutter,…”

“…groups (e.g., Smith et al., 2005; Gillies, 2007); and in approaches that actively involve students in teaching and learning processes, encouraging student contributions to coursework planning (see Cook-Sather, 2002; European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education [ENQA], 2005, 2015).”

“(Cook-Sather, 2002, p. 10) In exploring perceptions of how student voice in post-compulsory education is espoused, enacted and experienced through a number of lenses (Teacher Educators, Student Teachers and Quality Assurance Managers), the aim of this research has been to consider how these…”

“As such, promoting educational experiences in which students’ involvement is pivotal encourages the development of a critical consciousness that could open a space for democratic dialogue, denunciation of dehumanizing structures and question power dynamics (Cook-Sather, 2002; Freire, 1970).”

“Cook-Sather (2002) writes, “There is something fundamentally amiss about building and rebuilding an entire system without consulting at any point those it is ostensibly designed to serve” (p. 3).”

“The results of this study reinforce the need for learning journals to have a purpose within a unit, for students to be explicitly directed with regard to entries and for student perspectives to be valued as a contributing authority (Cook-Sather 2002).”

“Over the past several decades, educators and researchers who work on capturing students’ opinions on their education needs and concerns have gathered data on curricular and pedagogical practices that work well for all types of learners (Cook-Sather, 2002; Fielding, 2004; Fine, Roberts, Torre, & Bloom, 2004; Jones & Yo…”

“Aliás, estudos desenvolvidos por vários investigadores (Cook-Sather, 2002; Mitra, 2004; Mclntyre, Pedder & Rudduck, 2005; Flechter, 2005; Rudduck & Mclntyre, 2007) provam isso mesmo, demonstrando que a consulta aos alunos transforma a sala de aula num espaço onde o ensino e a aprendizagem se tornam…”

“…could enhance engagement, motivation, and enthusiasm within learners (Arnot, McIntyre, Pedder, & Reay, 2004; Bovill, Cook-Sather, & Felten, 2011; Cook-Sather, 2002, 2006, 2014; Cook-Sather & Alter, 2011; Demetriou, Goalen, & Rudduck, 2000; Houghton, 2001; Kaba, 2000; MacBeath, Demetriou,…”

“As multiple stakeholders 1 navigate institutional boundaries, roles, and expertise to collectively transform the school system (Cook-Sather 2002), the exclusion of authentic student voices – especially those from historically marginalised backgrounds – in educational decision-making processes aimed…”

“Another important component of the ideal teacher, described by Cook-Sather (2002b) as ‘a human teacher’ falls somewhere between the main two components and relates to the teacher’s ability to engage in a meaningful dialogue with students.”

“Cook-Sather (2002) draws attention to evidence which demonstrates that co-investigators in one context cannot provide the answers to problems beyond their unique situation because their answers ‘are neither universal nor monolithic’ (p. 7).”

“Positioning and empowering student voice in schools allows for a shift in the “locus of authority” from a place for teacher dominance to the careful attention to the empowered positioning of students (Cook-Sather, 2002, p. 7).”

“Despite recent calls for a change in mindset to legitimise adolescent perspectives as influences on the development of educational policies and practices (Cook-Sather, 2002), the present study found that adolescent perspectives in feedback dialogues seemed to be of generally low quality and mostly neglected in lower-s…”

“In doing so, youth can reframe their own identities through the validation of being heard (Cook-Sather, 2002; McIntyre & Rudduck, 2007; Mitra, 2008).”

“Through institutionalised processes such as those aimed at protecting vulnerable children during the research process, children have been excluded from participation in the creation of knowledge about themselves.”

“Valorising students’ perspectives also dovetails with the concern that more attention should be paid to students’ views for improving educational practices (Clark, 1995; Cook-Sather, 2002).”

“I chose to use students as the main data source because their perspectives are practically nonexistent in educational research (Cook-Sather, 2002; McQuillan, 1997), yet their agency determines their presence and engagement in school.”

““Because of who they are, what they know, and how they are positioned, students must be recognized as having knowledge essential to the development of sound educational policies and practices,” (Cook-Sather, 2002, p. 10).”

“There is much emphasis at the moment about the significance of ‘pupil voice’ in research (Rudduck & Flutter, 2000; Cook-Sather, 2002) but not much which listens to the voices of very young participants.”

“Yet as Corbett and Wilson (1995) have argued, we need in our educational approaches and reforms to make a difference with, not for, students, because there is something amiss about a system that does not consult the constituency it is intended to serve (Cook-Sather, 2002).”

“…on students being able to make some kind of contribution to education governance or at least the discourse that could influence such governance (Cook-Sather, 2002; Conner et al., 2015; Fleming, 2015; Quinn & Owen, 2016; Duan, 2020; Gourlay et al., 2021; Jones & Bubb, 2021; Messiou et al.,…”

“Articulate, assertive, and opinionated, she had views and accounts of her own lived experience on the tip of her tongue, ready to parcel up for collection by people like me (Cook-Sather, 2002; Fitzgerald et al., 2021).”

“In keeping with scholars such as Cook-Sather (2002), Freire (1998) and Giroux (1992) who point out the need to attend to the voices of those who are directly affected by educational policy decisions, 29 boys, both high and low achievers in English language arts from five different school sites,…”

“As well, as Cook-Sather (2002) identified, they were able to assume the position of authorities on learning and teaching as afforded the opportunity. As Tyler asserts, ‘‘There’s real strength in the points they made. I can’t ignore that.’’ Further, Tyler’s account makes clear that as much as a change in curriculum usu…”

“The meaningful participation4 of young people in educational, development, and prevention programs is central to their own and their community’s development (Cook-Sather 2002, 3).”

“As a participant in this movement, I have argued for integrating the voices of secondary students into discussions of educational practice and reform, methods of research, and processes of teacher preparation (Cook-Sather, 2002, 2007a, 2007b, 2009a).”

“The findings in this study indicate that students can provide academia very responsible and intuitive answers about their perspectives and attitudes towards curriculum (Atula, 1997; Cook-Sather, 2002; Wiggan, 2007) if they are included in the discussion; and that is a valuable finding.”

“…scholars suggest that adults ’ distrust of students pervades hierarchical educational environments and makes collaborative and non-hierarchical research activities dif fi cult to implement with youth leaders (Brown & Rodriguez, 2017; Cook-Sather, 2002; Irizarry & Brown, 2014; Winn & Winn, 2016).”

“Nonetheless, schools and the policies that guide them rarely include input from students (Cook-Sather, 2002; Weis & Fine, 1993).”

“Far from being opposed to freedom and autonomy, as is sometimes assumed in debates on educational authority (Cook-Sather, 2002; Magolda et al., 2012; Shor, 1996), authority actually presupposes freedom.”

“…requires, on the one hand, awareness of the value of the method, built on participatory teaching and a teacherstudent authentic relationship (CookSather, 2002; CookSather & Luz, 2015; Fedeli, 2017), while on the other hand, knowledge of the possible causes and forms of resistance connected…”

“On the positive side, the open dialogue in the classroom helped create an atmosphere of trust, where students felt comfortable sharing their reflections, comments, and suggestions with the instructor, an outcome similar to the findings of both Cook-Sather (2002) and Wells (1999).”

“At the same time, as Cook-Sather (2002) argued, we must caution against glamorizing students’ voices as they are likely to be imbued with status quo values.”

“…in which a sense of trust and respect is developed (Grundy, 1998; Bland & Atweh, 2003), although several studies emphasise the impossibility of avoiding unequal power relations between teacher researchers and students as researchers (Fielding, 2001; Cook-Sather, 2002; Blant & Atweh, 2003).”

“As Cook-Sather (2002) observed, “There is something fundamentally amiss about building and rebuilding an entire system without consulting at any point those it is ostensibly designed to serve” (p. 3).”

“Centering student voice represents a logical imperative, for “there is something fundamentally amiss about building and rebuilding an entire system without consulting at any point those it is ostensibly designed to serve” (Cook-Sather, 2002; p. 3).”

“This study is rooted in Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), an approach that places young people at the center of investigating, understanding, and transforming the conditions that shape their lives, communities, and institutions (Caraballo et al., 2017; Cook-Sather, 2002; Irizarry, 2009).”

“Following them, Cook - Sather (2002) and Russell (1997) authored the second (539) and third (485) most cited studies, respectively.”

“…2013), we are aware of the further tension between both our place within institutional power structures highlighted above and the potential for us to be seen as ‘devoid of those qualities that would make them authorities: trustworthiness and legitimacy as knowers’ (Cook-Sather, 2002, p. 5).”

“By co-creating this space where greater understanding and knowledge were generated, co-researchers learned to resist socially accepted inequities (Cook-Sather 2002).”

“In this way, education researchers are increasingly calling for the inclusion of student voice in educational reform efforts (Cook-Sather, 2002; Fine et al., 2007).”

“Young people are the main users of school spaces, the most affected by, but least often consulted about their learning spaces (Cook-Sather 2002), their views and perspectives have little impact on the design of learning environments.”

“Cook-Sather (2002) argued that students know more than anyone about ‘what it means to be a student in the modern world and what it might mean to be an adult in the future’ (2002, p. 12).”

“Inviting students’ experiences and under-standings is useful for teachers who can, through writing, begin to see the world from their students’ perspective (Cook-Sather, 2002).”

“The work of authorizing student perspectives is essential because of the various ways it can improve current educational practice, re-inform existing conversations about educational reform, and point to the discussions and reform efforts yet to be undertaken’ (Cook-Sather, 2002).”

“To positively involve student voice requires listening to and acting on students’ perspectives and affording them opportunities to engage in shaping their education (Cook-Sather, 2002).”

“The work of writing the poems was also an intentional act that gave power (Cook-Sather, 2002) to the children in the form of being able to shape statements about themselves with someone else's words, in this case, their teacher's, Lian's, words.”

“Le mouvement anglo-saxon de la student voice (Cook-Sather, 2002, 2006; Fielding, 2001, 2004, 2007) promeut l’écoute des élèves et en distingue plusieurs bénéficiaires : les élèves, les enseignants, les institutions, les chercheurs, le personnel politique.”