Here at Pivot, we believe that student voice is more than just asking students to speak up. Student voice is about promoting meaningful dialogue between students and teachers, that turns feedback into action. Why is this so important? Because it leads to students feeling more engaged in their classroom, and allows young people to learn in a way that best suits them.
Meet our new Student Voice Advocates!
In the latest episode of the Student Voices Podcast, we introduce our two new Student Voice Advocates, Andrew and Lexi. Every year Pivot employs recent high school graduates as Student Voice Advocates in an effort to connect and amplify the experiences and opinions of students. Together, our aim is to help educate others around the importance of authentic and meaningful student voice, agency and partnerships within schools.
Below is a recap of their latest episode. To listen to the full episode (14 minutes), go to https://pivotpl.com/student-voices-podcast/
What does Student Voice mean to you?
For Lexi, she believes that students must be part of the discussion around any decisions made in the classroom as they are directly affected. The world is constantly changing so educators should regularly check in with their students to create the best environment for them to learn.
For Andrew, student voice provides the opportunity for students and teachers to develop partnerships within their classroom to improve teacher practice, increase student engagement and strengthen student outcomes.
What sparked your passion for student voice?
Lexi was grateful that her school emphasised the importance of student voice, encouraging students to be part of the discussion and openly share their concerns. She shared an example of how her literature teacher really engaged with her students by asking them what worked well, what didn’t work well and became reactive to their thoughts and feelings around learning within the classroom. Lexi wanted other students to have this feeling of being heard and encourage them to share their voice too.
Andrew talked about how one opportunity led to another within high school and throughout his experience, he really enjoyed working with the school’s leadership team and listening to students’ concerns. He spoke about the intrinsic satisfaction around being able to tangibly see student voice being put to action, particularly within the classroom and developing a student voice culture to engage students.
When was a time that you felt most heard?
Lexi spoke about how her student leadership team created a survey asking students what could improve their school experience. When reviewing the results, the teachers were very responsive to the request around allowing girls to wear pants. The immediate response was highly valued by the school community. The students really felt that the school cared about their opinions.
Andrew revisited his experiences around how his teachers shared their Pivot Student Perception Survey results with their classrooms. This allowed the class and their teacher to explore different ways that they could learn and emphasised the importance of continually improving teacher practice as well as student outcomes and engagement.
What are you most excited about your role as a Student Voice Advocate at Pivot?
Lexi is excited to help make student voice accessible to all students. She loves how Pivot is a liaison between students and teachers, and how easy Pivot makes it for students to share how they are feeling.
Andrew is excited to see how Pivot can transform the student voice culture within schools. Whether they are at the beginning of their student voice journey or already have a strong student voice culture, Andrew is looking forward to being a part of helping schools across the country.
We can’t wait to see our new Student Voice Advocates in action! Check out the full episode https://pivotpl.com/student-voices-podcast/ to hear the discussion.
