Student voice in Irish post-primary schools: is the challenge too challenging?

Abstract

All of us, as students, attended school and sat in classrooms for long periods. We listened (most of the time!), we absorbed, we learned, we sat and passed examinations (hopefully!), but we were largely silent participants in the whole classroom process. Yes, we answered and asked questions about what we were learning and responded to our teachers and classmates but, did anyone in our schools ever ask us what we thought about how we were being taught or whether and how we were learning? Did anyone ever ask us for our opinions on our schools or the classrooms in which we sat for all of that time? The answer is often a resounding no. There is no tradition in Irish schools to ask, consult or discuss with students their views on their school, their classroom, their teachers, their learning or their experience in this very important and formative period of ...