When deepening a practice of amplifying student voice, the approach to practice matters. When engaging student voice pay attention to these key pieces:

Which students are invited and cultivated to share their voices?

• • An open invitation will often amplify voices that are already centered by dominant cultures.

  • Engaging diverse voices (consider the following social identities: race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, gender, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, disability, first language, nationality, and more) requires intentional invitation and sometimes scaffolding. Scaffolding may include building group agreements that create brave spaces and/or intentional invitation such as mutual invitation that invites all voices to take space.

Have you created a space for students who are historically underrepresented and marginalized to have their voices amplified?

• • Have you built relationships so students know the invitation is legitimate?

  • Have you set the stage to create a safe and brave space for sharing?

  • Have you reflected on your own biases including adultism to support real listening, collaboration and partnership?

Are you providing the resources (education, support, flexibility) necessary for students to share their authentic voice?

• • Creating shared expectations around the setting/space and experience (what and how engagement looks).

  • Are adults in the space prepared to be flexible in their approach to embrace what students might share?

  • Have appropriate resourcing/supports/scaffolding been considered to make sure all students can participate; for example: considering the time of day, translation needs, length of time, format for sharing (written, spoken, etc.), transportation needs, etc.?

What Can be a Barrier: Adultism

“How do we reimagine spaces of power where knowledge is exchanged to allow for value to be redistributed, reimagined, recalibrated to be able to bend itself to the needs of the most marginalized young people'' (Dr. Christopher Emdin).

Adultism confers unearned advantages to adults at the expense of young people. It shows up in conscious and unconscious ways that assume adults are smarter, more worthy, and the ones who should primarily be centered and consulted on a broad spectrum of topics. In education adultism or ageism can show up in ways that systematically exclude students from the decision-making that affects their education at various levels. Culturally and interpersonally, adultism can manifest in negative stereotypes about our students, in assumptions that educators know better than their students, and through the tone of voice used toward, or jokes made about, young people. Student voice is a tool and approach that recognizes the agency, ability, and responsibility students should have to inform decisions that impact their lives. If you suspect your classroom, building or district does not already foster a culture that values and celebrates student input, exploring barriers and assumptions related to adultism may be important before implementing any student voice initiatives (The Free Child Project).

Steps to Counter Adultism (Adapted from Adam F.C. Fletcher: The Basics of Adultism)

• Acknowledge and name your biases about students and youth. Be honest with yourself and remain open to feedback. To make any changes you have to first know where you are.

• Listen directly to your students through what they say in words and actions. Listen for the sake of hearing. Sometimes this is not about your response, but being the space where a youth can speak and know they are heard.

• Learn more about adultism and the ways it may show up. Stay curious about the way you engage students. Where is adultism creeping in? What are strategies that others use to counter the adultism voice in their head?

• Identify your intentions and the practices you are willing to try. Be an ally to your students. Be kind and compassionate. Help other adults recognize and change course when you are in spaces where decisions are being made about students without students’ presence, knowledge or consent.