Students’ Voices and Inclusive Education for a Democratic Education

Abstract

This chapter argues for the need to engage with students' voices in schools to promote inclusive and democratic learning contexts. The chapter introduces theories of inclusive and democratic education and points out two polysemous and controversial concepts with elements of convergence: students’ voices and participation in schools. Listening to students’ voices is closely related to notions of inclusion, since theories of inclusion support the idea of valuing all members’ views. In this chapter, illustrative examples from research in primary and secondary schools that focused on students’ voices are discussed, to highlight how these can lead to the development of more democratic and inclusive contexts. The first example, comes from a study in one secondary school in Catalonia focused on student participation and examined how a democratic school is conceived in relation to student participation. The second example comes from a study in a primary school in England where dialogues between children and teachers were used as a key to develop inclusive practices. Drawing understandings from the two studies, different challenges and opportunities that emerge in primary and secondary schools that adopt student voice approaches are discussed, to understand the link between the students’ role and the promotion of inclusive and democratic education in schools.