Search

The study of student participation in decision making has been characterised by conceptual vagueness and an absence of empirical tools to compare participatory practices in various contexts and to determine when they achieve their goals. This study presents an integrative theoretical model grounded in the organisational literature on participative decision making (PDM) – particularly on teacher participative decision making – as well as in the children's participation literature. The model focuses on decisions having collective implications made by a group of students or a group of students and adults. It views student participative decision making as a multidimensional structure that emerges within a context. Specifically, the model suggests that the rationales behind promoting student participative decision making (pragmatic, moral, or developmental/pedagogical) will determine its dimensions, which, in turn, will affect student, teacher and school outcomes. It posits that the school organisational culture will shape the patterns of these relationships. The model answers repeated calls in the children's participation literature for frameworks that are more attentive to diverse cultural environments. It provides an empirical foundation for comparative studies to explore how student participative decision making is interpreted, perceived and implemented in different organisational cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child anchors children's right to participate in decision‐making. This right refers to decisions at the individual level as well as collective decisions taken by a group of children. Various studies have indicated that youth from disadvantaged backgrounds face high barriers to participation in collective decision‐making and thus have fewer opportunities to enjoy the educational and developmental benefits of such participation. This study explored school principals' perceptions of at‐risk youths' participation in collective decision‐making in schools. Specifically, it analysed differences between the perceptions of principals who had established participatory frameworks and those who had not. The research design drew on interviews with 18 principals who manage high schools for at‐risk youth in Israel. All interviewed principals acknowledged the potential cultural mismatch between the dominant models of pupil councils and the culture of at‐risk youth. Principals who had established participatory frameworks viewed participation as a gradual process, trusting their pupils' capacity to attain higher levels of participation even if participatory activities did not come as 'second nature' to them. However, principals who did not institute such frameworks viewed their pupils' participation as an 'all‐or‐nothing' enterprise, inappropriate for at‐risk youth. Fulfilling participation rights in schools for at‐risk youth requires efforts to adapt the participatory capital to the pupils' background. The principals' perceptions of the participation process and of their pupils were intertwined with their willingness to engage in such adaptations and take the less‐travelled road of participatory practices in schools for at‐risk youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This debate paper argues that the Office for Students (OfS) has adopted standards of evidence that are inappropriate. These standards offer a problematic typology of different evaluation types, present a flawed hierarchy, and over-prioritise experimental approaches. As the OfS uses these standards of evidence to guide the evaluation of widening participation (WP) activities, this risks misrepresenting the evidence base for different activities, and prioritising methods that may not be the most appropriate. The goal of developing explanations of how WP activities work in particular contexts requires a more nuanced approach to evaluation. Recommendations are made for future practice: the OfS should review its standards of evidence and there should be greater debate in this area, evaluation should assess how WP activities work in particular contexts, and practitioners should make use of theory-driven, qualitative methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In England, evidencing impact of higher education widening participation and access activities, such as mentoring programmes, summer schools and school-university partnerships, has become central to conditions of the newly established regulatory body, the Office for Students (OfS). However, evaluation evidence of these activities remains elusive across the higher education sector (Gorard, 2013; National Centre for Research Methods, 2016; Harrison and Waller, 2017). 'Robust evaluation' (University of Exeter, 2019), is now a core element of the regulatory framework in England. English policy makers and Government departments are also keen to see evaluation evidence, highlighted by the formation of a new 'What Works' centre specifically focussed on evaluation of access and student success activities (TASO, 2019). Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this article analyses the English regulator's guidance documentation for higher education providers' Access and Participation Plans. It explores how the language of evaluation is framed within the discourses of widening participation and access. The article argues that current discourses promote performative evaluation methods, rather than an occasion to explore opportunities to develop transformative widening participation (Jones and Thomas, 2005). The article concludes by suggesting that higher education regulators and providers should rethink what constitutes robust evaluation evidence to facilitate equity in progression to higher education for under-represented groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School self-evaluation (SSE) or data-based decision making is now a common feature of mainstream education in an increasing number of jurisdictions. The participation of stakeholders including students, is promoted internationally as a key feature of effective SSE. Despite this, very little research has been carried out on how education systems might involve students in SSE and even less research has explored how student involvement can move beyond mere tokenism. Similar to many other jurisdictions, Irish schools are encouraged to include students in SSE. However, the research to date would indicate that while students are frequently consulted through the use of surveys they have little or no involvement in decisions that are made as part of the SSE process at a whole school level. This case study explores an atypical approach to student engagement in SSE which was tested in one Irish post-primary school where students participated as co-researchers along with their teachers in the SSE process. In doing so, student participation in SSE shifted from student as data sources to students as co-researchers. Students became members of the SSE Team, responsible for consulting with the wider staff team, student body and parents. They were actively involved in the completion of a whole school self-evaluation report on assessment and the development of a school improvement plan. The study outlines the key stages of the project and how student participation evolved through the process. Interviews conducted with both the teacher and student members of the SSE Team illuminates the experience of the students and staff on the SSE team. The findings indicate that this approach resulted in significant positive outcomes for the school and the individuals involved, but there were also a number of challenges. Student involvement resulted in greater awareness among, and participation of the wider staff team in the SSE process. However, it required more resources and time than is usually the case for an SSE process in Irish schools. The research suggests that this level of participation by students may require a more systematic and sustained engagement of students in decision making at a classroom level in order to build capacity of students to contribute to decision making at a whole school level on an ongoing basis. This study may have an application in jurisdictions aiming to include students in SSE, particularly at a higher level, and it also provides a glimpse into the deliberate planning and structures required if schools are to move beyond an instrumentalist, compliance model of 'student voice' towards a more authentic model of inclusive democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student members of governing boards, commonly called student trustees, came about during the 1960s due to the student activist movement. These students were originally intended to bridge the gap between students and governing boards. The scant literature exploring student trusteeship has ignored what effect, if any, the presence of these individuals have had on the relationship between student leaders and governing boards. Using data collected from student government presidents at colleges and universities in the United States, the present study explores this subject. Findings suggest student trustees have a mixed to negligible effect on this relationship. Results also show that undergraduate student government presidents perceive a stronger relationship with their governing boards than presidents of graduate or professional student governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The statistics show that minority Hungarians' education and participation in higher education, lags far behind the majority of society in Central Europe. Furthermore, we also know that the smaller the community, the more educated they are. The explanation for this could be, those who are less educated are more prone to assimilate. As a result, the existential question from these minority groups comes down to the growth of their level of education, a condition of which is university students' acquisition of diplomas. Those factors deserve more scrutiny, in their identification, that increase the chances of getting a diploma. The goal of our study is (1) to identify the students who are persistent and at risk of dropping out, (2) to define the risk factors, and (3) at the same time to uncover the protective/supporting factors as well. The theoretical background for our research was constituted by the institutional integrational model. The database used for this study contains data collected during a survey of Hungarian students from four different countries in Central Europe (IESA 2015, N= 2017). We found from our research that though the effect of intergenerational connections among students at Central European minority schools proved significant, the effect of place of residence, of settlement type, and of relationships within the family was even stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study [Susinos, T. (Dir.), 'Schools moving towards inclusion: Learning from the local community, the student voice and educational support' (I+D+I, EDU2011‐29928‐C03‐03)] is to gain a deeper understanding of the analysis of the discourses that different education professionals in the Spanish education system have on student participation in schools, based on the premise that they tacitly reflect different models of democracy and advance very diverse school practices. The study is based on the Student Voice Movement, which is defined by its commitment to deliberative democratic education and its role in the development of inclusive schools. In this article, we have conducted a qualitative analysis of the data from 31 in‐depth interviews carried out with teachers and other education professionals from nine schools. These teachers' discourses are summarised in four dimensions, which we have named individual, pedagogical, organisational and socio‐political. Some conclusions of this work demonstrate a predominance of discourses linked to an individual and pedagogical dimension of participation, based on the idea that this fundamentally depends on the personal dispositions that some students have. It is less common to appeal to the socio‐political dimension, which refers to participation as a citizen's right to debate and make decisions regarding common and public affairs. This suggests that teachers still see their work from a technical point of view, rather than envisaging the school as a space for democratic participation and practice. In short, with this study we aim to contribute to normative theories on participation and democracy in order to expand their empirical and practical support in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Districts have been engaged in efforts to reduce "differential processing" of discipline-referred students based on their racial backgrounds. They strive for fair assignment of exclusionary consequences across racial groups. The current study examines discipline records for one academic year in an urban school district (N = 9,039 discipline-referred students) to identify the factors associated with equitable assignment of out-of-school suspension (OSS). Multilevel logistic regression found that student participation in restorative interventions substantially reduced the odds that individual students received OSS. However, such participation was only marginally associated with more comparable assignment of OSS to Black students relative to their White peers. Together these findings suggest that alternatives to suspension, such as restorative interventions, may yield benefits for all student groups, but they may result in only marginal narrowing of the disparities in suspension rates between Black and White students. This indicates that greater attention is needed to address the inequitable school contexts in which disparities arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School ground greening has many acknowledged benefits for play, learning and health, but less is known about the outcomes of such projects from children’s perspectives. This study aims to investigate the process, and children’s participation, at two Swedish schools over four years of planning, planting, management and maintenance, using short interviews and observations. There was a large general interest among the children to participate in the development and maintenance of their school grounds, but different participatory and pedagogical approaches were used. The participation of children in the planning stage appears to be of specific importance for the functionality of school grounds, while long-term participation in management and maintenance can affect children’s experiences from, and perspectives on, greening areas and projects positively over time. The results point to the large impact that greening projects with continuity in participation can have on children’s activity and meaning-making. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Student participation in higher education governance is commonplace in many countries around the globe. This participation can take many forms, but one prevalent form is through the inclusion of students as members of institutional governing boards, commonly called student trustees. This practice is not without critique with governance scholars often cautioning against student board membership. They cite the potential for student members to engage in representative behaviour, which may lead them to focus primarily on student issues or cast votes which may be in the best interest of themselves or their fellow students as the primary objection to student board members. This study of student trustees in the United States examines the extent to which these individuals engage in such behaviours, examining interactions between student board members and students at their institutions for signs of whether these oft states concerns have a basis in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]