“Hear my voice”: children and young people in schools and research

Pupil ‘voice’ is heralded as a key tenet of education policy, practice and research, however, ensuring that voice is authentically heard in the spaces that children occupy remains a challenge – one that is explored in this chapter. Models of participation relating to the degree of power either shared or transferred are scrutinised – ranging from tokenistic approaches to true pupil-teacher partnerships in which pupils initiate ideas and share decision-making with adults. Shier’s (2001) five step Pathway to Participation model is considered and practitioners are invited to reflect on their own position and identify necessary steps to increase pupil involvement in their local setting. For guidance, a philosophy club intervention in early years and primary is presented as a real world example. This chapter argues the case for schools to genuinely embrace and utilise pupil voice as part of a whole-school approach to improving mental health and wellbeing within learning communities.