STUDENT STAKEHOLDERS
Abdication or Emancipation: How
far can students as stakeholders
go?
Joe Gazdula and Amanda Dalzell
OBJECTIVES
Outline current thinking of the student voice
 Conduct an informed study of opinions on
students as stakeholders
 Assess student integration possibilities
 Collect ideas of stakeholder democracy
 Present an informed opinion of qualified
viewpoints for publication
 Plan further research
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STUDENT VOICE
Every Child Matters: The first stated Aim of ECM 4
Make a Positive Contribution, is that Children and
Young People should “Engage in decision making and
support the community and environment”.
The National Healthy School Standard highlights the
“double benefit … when … pupils are involved in the
process (of their education), it helps them understand
the kind of young people the school is trying to
nurture” (NHSS DfES 2004:11).
STUDENT VOICE - ‘Ladder of Participation’
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Educators often use the image of a ‘ladder’
of participation
Bottom rungs: students with little or no
choice about what they do and how they
participate and no real influence over
decisions
Middle rungs: a greater degree of
participation, ownership and decision
making
Top rungs: top of the ladder, students are
empowered, they initiate agendas and are
given responsibility to bring about change.
(National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services, 2010)
STUDENT VOICE - EXAMPLE OF GOOD PRACTICE
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Hastingsbury Business and Enterprise College has been a
leading school in student voice work. The school’s
approach is based on the belief that learning from one’s
peers can be more powerful than learning from a teacher.
For example, the school trains post-16 students to act as
mentors to younger students. The mentors cover
relationship issues for Year 9 pupils, drugs education for
Year 10 and alcohol education for Year 11.
The school was the first in the country to offer a GCSE in
student voice and there is a great emphasis on students
becoming researchers. Students also sit on recruiting
panels for new teachers. The school ethos is to bring
groups of students together to talk about their experiences
and learn from one another. Listening to this discussion
also gives teachers insight into community issues.
STUDENT VOICE –NOT ALL SMOOTH SAILING
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Read the Handout
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Would you judge Student Voice a success?
STUDENT STAKEHOLDERS – NOT A NEW CONCEPT
See
 Stephenson, J. & Yorke, M. (1998)Capability & Quality in
Higher Education, (Eds), Kogan Page,
 Osborne, C. Davies, J. Garnett, J. (1998) Guiding the
Student to the Centre of the Stakeholder Curriculum:
Independent and Work-based Learning at Middlesex
University The HE Academy
 Pearce, L. (2003) Our student stakeholders:
requirements for institutional portals VINE Vol. 3 Iss. 31
P.11-16
STUDENT STAKEHOLDERS
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Independent learning at Middlesex - the basic concept
ILE at Middlesex University arose to cater for students (often mature)
wanting more personally meaningful study opportunity than conventional
curriculum provision. Within the constraints that the topic of study must:
• lend itself to genuine (and respectable) academic study, and
• must not duplicate existing taught modules,
students can design up to half their total programme (modules) for
years two to three. For a proposal to become a 'learning agreement'
(renegotiable), the student must identify, and recruit the support of, a
tutor to oversee (and grade) the work. A further distinctive feature of ILE
working is that, although the student proposes the means (and criteria)
of assessment, a minimum 10 per cent of the marks for each module is
obligatorily assigned to a 'reflective analysis' wherein the student
presents his/her estimation of what has (or has not) been achieved (and
thereby, while not determining a grade, can valuably inform the grading
tutor).
(Osbourne et al 1998)
DEFINING THE STUDENT STAKEHOLDER
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According to some definitions stakeholders in higher
education mean specific groups of external actors that
have a direct or indirect interest in higher education and
cannot always be covered by the consumer-provider
analogy. New stakeholders have penetrated a traditional
monopolistic relationship between the state and public
higher education institutions with two main
characteristics. Firstly, the role of the external actors has
become more important in last few decades. Secondly,
the influence of these external actors has also grown
with respect to internal affairs of individual higher
education institutions
(Maassen 2000)
STUDENT STAKEHOLDER Definitions are fuzzy.
 Cambridge Dictionary online:
a person such as an employee, customer or
citizen who is involved with an organization,
society, etc. and therefore has responsibilities
towards it and an interest in its success
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http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/stakeholder_1
BUT HOW MUCH RESPONSIBILITY?
Your Ladder!
Consultancy Card Sort Exercise:
Sort the cards into columns
Column 1 = those activities you feel students
should and could do. Prioritise
important ones at the top
Column 2 = those activities you feel students
should/could NOT do. Prioritise so the ones you
would least see as important are at the bottom
Prepare to feedback giving your reasons to the rest of the group
SUMMARY
Students can do a lot!
 Student Voice gives us great models and
pitfalls
 Individual institutions all have their own models
 Individuals all have their own models
 Consensus will be difficult
 We will take your advice in our paper
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REFERENCES
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Rogers, J. Frost, B. (Jan 2006) Every Child Matters: Empowering the Student
Voice National Teacher Research Panel
(2010) National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services
http://www.nationalcollege.org.uk/index/leadershiplibrary/leadingschools/
working-in-partnership/ecm/school-families-communities/studentvoice.htm (accessed 12/4/10)
Stephenson, J. & Yorke, M. (1998)Capability & Quality in Higher Education,
(Eds), Kogan Page,
Osborne, C. Davies, J. Garnett, J. (1998) Guiding the Student to the Centre
of the Stakeholder Curriculum: Independent and Work-based Learning at
Middlesex University The HE Academy
Maassen, P. (2000). Editorial. European Journal of Education, 4, 377–83.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/stakeholder_1 (accessed
12/4/2010)