This article was written by Kirsten Jones, Natspec’s Policy Officer (Wales) and Andrew Evans, Natspec’s Learner Voice Co-ordinator.
Staff in specialist colleges continuously communicate with learners to understand their wants and needs to make sure their voices are heard. For some providers, this could be the extent of what is deemed ‘learner voice’ work. For others, it is just part of an approach that spans and shapes organisations.
Examples of different approaches include:
- Learner Councils / Student Unions
- Learner representation on governing bodies
- Learner involvement in college self-assessment processes
- Learner involvement in curriculum and transition planning
- Learner-led research
For learners, the benefits of being involved in activities where they are consulted and have responsibility for seeking the views of others, and to then see the results of being listened to include:
- life skills development including communication, self-advocacy and confidence
- increased higher order thinking including empathy and an understanding of citizenship
- achievement of EHCP /IDP outcomes.
In general terms, the more opportunities a learner has to effect change, the better prepared they will be to represent themselves and make positive contributions in their post-college adult lives. Feeling listened to, valued and included at college is an important component of feeling included in society more widely.
For colleges, we can increasingly see how listening and responding to what learners say contributes to overall quality improvement. For example, through:
- positive learner experiences and improved outcomes
- evidence of learners being consulted as part of college self-assessment and quality improvement processes
- improved staff and learner relations and an enhanced sense of a college community
- opportunities for workforce development and collaboration.
Many colleges have a Student Council where elected or appointed representatives play leadership roles in actively seeking the views of all the young people they represent. For example, through undertaking wider class or college consultations. To be fully inclusive this can often mean members of the student bodies learning about different approaches to data collection, for example by incorporating the use of symbols, videos or observations of behaviour into surveys. These activities and the development of learners’ skills often contribute to the achievement of accredited and non-accredited targets and goals. In turn, this makes a positive contribution to overall college achievement data.
A way to garner the learner voice while measuring learner progress is to use short daily video diaries of learners’ views on how they their lesson has gone and to use that feedback to inform quality improvement planning.
Of course, listening to the learner voice means colleges should be prepared to respond to what they hear! For example, one college implemented a longer lunch break following learner voice activity that revealed how some learners felt stressed about being late for afternoon classes having had inadequate time to move across the college site, eat lunch, and attend to personal care needs.
Natspec’s Student Voice Parliament provides an inclusive opportunity for learners to be part of a collective and learner-led voice. The agenda is set by members of the Parliament and chaired and hosted by learners from a different college each time it meets. Attendees at the last meeting in May 2022 shared their work on how they are seeking to educate the wider community about their abilities and accessibility needs. The Parliament also talked about the negative effect that poorly planned transitions have on them and their families. The Parliament is currently undertaking learner-led research on what learners want and need from the staff who work with them.
Natspec’s Learner Voice Toolkit includes an overarching best practice checker against which practitioners can assess how inclusive, purposeful and meaningful their plans are.
