Student Voice and School Strategy

The proper trajectory of schools is inextricably linked to a secret sauce of aspiration, kinship and pathways to success for their students. School strategy that defines this direction for a community of inquiry and practice must be built on an appreciation of the relationship between the success of the school and the voices of students.

Great schools understand the importance of honouring the new social contract of education – today’s learning for tomorrow’s world – by aligning all of their work towards the quality of the citizens who their educational programs will shape. If students are imbued with a deep understanding of how to balance the opportunities and obligations that arise from their mature membership of their communities, then schools will know that they have succeeded; schools exist not just to sustain themselves but to serve their communities. They model this service intentionally so that the voices of their students become the voices of true servants concerned for their:

• Purpose, Commitment & Contribution: students generate a sense of purpose and connect this to their participation in the classroom, co-curricular activities and the wider life of the school. 
• Community, Inclusion & Citizenship: students have a circle of school friends from diverse backgrounds, perspectives and/or year groups.

The hopes represented through these voices need to be influenced by a perspective that balances the local, regional and global communities in which students find themselves situated. In time, they need to be bolstered by capabilities in detailed planning and organisation that can turn aspiration into reality. The strategic development of voice:

“calls you to think about “to whom” and “for what” you will contribute yourself and your work – how you will connect people, place and purpose in your practice [and] your vocation – how you find your calling within the supportive network of people for and with whom your sense of belonging, fulfillment of potential and propensity to do good and right can come together.”

Ref: www.aschoolfortomorrow.com/the-pathway-to-excellence/work

Expert teachers support their students to become responsible citizens who have a perspective shaped by an enduring understanding about who they are and the purpose to which their planning and organising might be put within their local, regional and global communities. Their practice is sophisticated in its use and appreciation of context and focuses on:

• Purpose, Commitment & Contribution: students generate a sense of purpose and connect this to their participation in the classroom, co-curricular activities and the wider life of the school. 
• Community, Inclusion & Citizenship: students have a circle of school friends from diverse backgrounds, perspectives and/or year groups.

Nonetheless, as our Global Educational Research program reveals, while teachers can often be heavily invested in their work of realising the school’s mission and strategy, they tend to rate their engagement in this work more highly than students:

We need to listen to our students and their feedback, even as we are doing the work of helping them to develop their voices over their time in our care. We also need to show our students how to become responsible citizens with the capacity to balance the local, the regional and the global with perspective by serving our mutual needs before self-interest.

Often referred to as ‘human’ or ‘soft’ skills, the global educational research program of a School for tomorrow has identified six core Employability Skills. Educating for Student Voice is enabled by the alignment of planning and organisation with strategy, tempered by a strong sense of self-awareness. We need to be both real about what we are doing and flexible in how we think and act.

I often say that I've got a strong sense of direction, but a very loose hold of the reins. And I think that's really important, because you can close the world off to opportunity, you can not be alive to the dynamism of the circumstances in the world around you that requires you to continually be thinking about the way to keep adapting, to maintain relevance, to make sure it's achieving the results that you're after.  

Holly Ransom | Game Changers insight*

So much of the work of leaders in school strategy** is about how to make the vision for what a community might become so real that students, families, teachers, other staff and community members overwhelmingly feel as though they understand the brand promise of the school. Through the articulation of the voices of the students and the alignment of these to the intention of the school’s ethos, in particular, they can see that it is being delivered on a daily basis to the vast majority of its learners. Adriano and I have shown in our recent book*** that strategic leaders:

… reinforce strategic clarity and connection in school activity by aligning school culture with strategy and translating this into daily operations, particularly in their capacity to graduate responsible citizens.

Ref: Game Changers: Leading Today's Learning for Tomorrow's World (Hawker Brownlow Education 2022) p.136

Let’s go!

Phil

* You can listen to Holly Ransom’s Game Changers Episode here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/game-changers/id1503430745?i=1000516884384

** You can learn more about school strategy and its role in strengthening student voice here:  https://www.aschoolfortomorrow.com/game-changers/lead/school-strategy

*** Game Changers: Leading Today’s Learning For Tomorrow’s World is available for purchase here: https://www.hbe.com.au/hb1338.html