Using students’ voices to improve teaching in schools

Dr Max Hope, University of Hull

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

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?

The project• EU Comenius Multilateral Project

• 3 year project: 2011 – 2014

• 3 countries: Spain, Portugal and the UK

• 13 partners: 5 Universities and 8 secondary schools

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

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:diversitystudents’ voices (learning and teaching)teacher development

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

Four steps1. Form research groups2. Discuss diversity, learning and teaching3. Plan, teach and analyse research lessons4. Identify implications for future practice

Engaging with the views of students should be an emphasis that permeates the whole

approach

Engaging with students’ voices as a strategy for teachers’ professional

development

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

EXAMPLE - If I were a teacher…

“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”.

From individual reflection to whole class discussion

EXAMPLE - Pyramid Discussion

EXAMPLE - Photo Elicitation

EXAMPLE – Student survey

EXAMPLE – Using students as co-researchers

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”

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.

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.”

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

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

Over to you ...

What are your own ideas, opinions and experiences about

using students’ voices in our schools ?