While offering my congratulations, I wondered why the student voice is so often confined to trivial decisions. Tradition, fear and paying lip-service to political pressure all play their part.
Traditionally, school councils are asked to decide the colour of toilet walls and old habits die hard. Students are not involved in curriculum planning or in giving feedback on teaching methods. Many in education fear giving students meaningful power and, ironically, this is exacerbated by political support for the student voice.
The battle over whether or not to have the student voice is largely won, but the discussion over the nature of that voice has just started. The challenge now is to prevent the "how" becoming an excuse for those never truly won over in the first place.
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