Meaningful Youth Participation - Cheryl Kane, Aquinas College
"An engaged student who has experienced genuine participation will be much more engaged in learning and in their experience at school. Meaningful youth participation influences the lives of young people and challenges us to think of our role as educators and teachers of wellbeing. All teachers, not matter what they teach or at what stage at their professional career, are teachers of student wellbeing. It's not a 'thing' you do and it's not a trip to the counsellor; it's something that needs to be embedded in the culture of the school."
Cheryl Kane facilitates a student participation model at Aquinas College, Ringwood, which actively gives students increased responsibility, a genuine voice within the school community and a sense of autonomy.
"The students run the health and wellbeing initiatives at the College with a main focus on parent forums. Over the last three years we've done away with keynote speakers from outside the school. Our students are the experts in adolescence and they are our keynote speakers. Each forum has had a different theme and our students are wonderful at sharing their understanding of adolescent issues with a parent audience. Through planning and presenting at parent forums students get an understanding of the processes involved and experience genuine learning opportunities."
"We're currently in the middle of a review looking at student voice. We have to make sure we attend to all avenues of student voice and find ways that we can pick up on the different learning styles of our students. I'm amazed by what kids can do. The young people we have here knock the socks off me and we need more educators to see what young people are capable of."
The model of student participation at Aquinas is one that can be developed at other schools. "Any school can make their student participation more genuine. The first thing is to look at is how schools select students. We wouldn't be truly democratic if we only targeted youth participation to students who fit into traditional models of student representatives. It is important to start at Year 7 with a classroom culture where all students have a voice. Once that is established in the classroom the next step is to take it to student representation."
