Student Stakeholders

1. Abdication or Emancipation: How far can students as stakeholders go? Joe Gazdula and Amanda Dalzell Student Stakeholders

2. Outline current thinking of the student voice Conduct an informed study of opinions on students as stakeholders Assess student integration possibilities Collect ideas of stakeholder democracy Present an informed opinion of qualified viewpoints for publication Plan further research Objectives

3. Every Child Matters: The first stated Aim of ECM 4 Make a Positive Contribution, is that Children and Young People should “Engage in decision making and support the community and environment”. The National Healthy School Standard highlights the “double benefit … when … pupils are involved in the process (of their education), it helps them understand the kind of young people the school is trying to nurture” (NHSS DfES 2004:11). Student Voice

4. Educators often use the image of a ‘ladder’ of participation • Bottom rungs: students with little or no choice about what they do and how they participate and no real influence over decisions • Middle rungs: a greater degree of participation, ownership and decision making • Top rungs: top of the ladder, students are empowered, they initiate agendas and are given responsibility to bring about change. (National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services, 2010) Student Voice - ‘Ladder of Participation’

5. Hastingsbury Business and Enterprise College has been a leading school in student voice work. The school’s approach is based on the belief that learning from one’s peers can be more powerful than learning from a teacher. For example, the school trains post-16 students to act as mentors to younger students. The mentors cover relationship issues for Year 9 pupils, drugs education for Year 10 and alcohol education for Year 11. • The school was the first in the country to offer a GCSE in student voice and there is a great emphasis on students becoming researchers. Students also sit on recruiting panels for new teachers. The school ethos is to bring groups of students together to talk about their experiences and learn from one another. Listening to this discussion also gives teachers insight into community issues. Student Voice - Example of good practice

6. Read the Handout Would you judge Student Voice a success? Student Voice –Not all Smooth Sailing

7. See • Stephenson, J. & Yorke, M. (1998)Capability & Quality in Higher Education, (Eds), Kogan Page, • Osborne, C. Davies, J. Garnett, J. (1998) Guiding the Student to the Centre of the Stakeholder Curriculum: Independent and Work-based Learning at Middlesex University The HE Academy • Pearce, L. (2003) Our student stakeholders: requirements for institutional portals VINE Vol. 3 Iss. 31 P.11-16 Student Stakeholders – Not a new concept

8. Independent learning at Middlesex - the basic concept ILE at Middlesex University arose to cater for students (often mature) wanting more personally meaningful study opportunity than conventional curriculum provision. Within the constraints that the topic of study must: • lend itself to genuine (and respectable) academic study, and • must not duplicate existing taught modules, students can design up to half their total programme (modules) for years two to three. For a proposal to become a 'learning agreement' (renegotiable), the student must identify, and recruit the support of, a tutor to oversee (and grade) the work. A further distinctive feature of ILE working is that, although the student proposes the means (and criteria) of assessment, a minimum 10 per cent of the marks for each module is obligatorily assigned to a 'reflective analysis' wherein the student presents his/her estimation of what has (or has not) been achieved (and thereby, while not determining a grade, can valuably inform the grading tutor). (Osbourne et al 1998) Student Stakeholders

9. According to some definitions stakeholders in higher education mean specific groups of external actors that have a direct or indirect interest in higher education and cannot always be covered by the consumer-provider analogy. New stakeholders have penetrated a traditional monopolistic relationship between the state and public higher education institutions with two main characteristics. Firstly, the role of the external actors has become more important in last few decades. Secondly, the influence of these external actors has also grown with respect to internal affairs of individual higher education institutions (Maassen 2000) Defining the student stakeholder

10. Definitions are fuzzy. Cambridge Dictionary online: a person such as an employee, customer or citizen who is involved with an organization, society, etc. and therefore has responsibilities towards it and an interest in its success http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/stakeholder_1 Student Stakeholder -

11. Your Ladder! Consultancy Card Sort Exercise: Sort the cards into columns Column 1 = those activities you feel students should and could do. Prioritise important ones at the top Column 2 = those activities you feel students should/could NOT do. Prioritise so the ones you would least see as important are at the bottom Prepare to feedback giving your reasons to the rest of the group But How Much Responsibility?

12. Students can do a lot! Student Voice gives us great models and pitfalls Individual institutions all have their own models Individuals all have their own models Consensus will be difficult We will take your advice in our paper Summary

13. Rogers, J. Frost, B. (Jan 2006) Every Child Matters: Empowering the Student Voice National Teacher Research Panel • (2010) National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services http://www.nationalcollege.org.uk/index/leadershiplibrary/leadingschools/working-in-partnership/ecm/school-families-communities/student-voice.htm (accessed 12/4/10) • Stephenson, J. & Yorke, M. (1998)Capability & Quality in Higher Education, (Eds), Kogan Page, • Osborne, C. Davies, J. Garnett, J. (1998) Guiding the Student to the Centre of the Stakeholder Curriculum: Independent and Work-based Learning at Middlesex University The HE Academy • Maassen, P. (2000). Editorial. European Journal of Education, 4, 377–83. • http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/stakeholder_1 (accessed 12/4/2010) References