Patterns of Partnership: Student Voice, Intergenerational Learning and Democratic Fellowship

Whilst there have been many encouraging developments in the field of student voice in the last 15 years, much of it has been dominated by a neo-liberal model which denies the legitimacy of dispositions and values other than those typical of a consumerist view of human flourishing. Having critiqued this high performance schooling, market accountability model, in its stead I offer one committed to person-centred education for democratic fellowship. The main section of the chapter develops a new typology of student voice—Patterns of partnership: how adults listen to and learn from students in schools—that accommodates both neo-liberal and person centred democratic approaches. Practical illustrations are given of the typology working at classroom, team or department, and whole school levels. Particular emphasis is placed on approaches inspired by a person-centred, democratic fellowship model of education and schooling.