Student voice and teacher improvement. A research in schools in Cantabria

Abstract

Setting up dialogical spaces in classrooms where students’ voices are heard in order to understand the vision of this group about the educational reality can be a very powerful element in propitiating reflective processes in teachers aimed at transformation and school improvement. In this paper we present some of these reflections, which come from 31 semi-structured interviews conducted to different educational professionals who have participated in the implementation of voice experiences of students in 9 schools (infant, primary and secondary education) in Cantabria (Spain). We use a thematic coding to systematize the meanings that these professionals interviewed attribute to these experiences. Some of the most relevant results analyze how the collaborative project has helped to build a more democratic school culture; how listening to the voice of students has led to changes in their teaching work towards a more dialogic and inclusive professional; and how they have transformed the image of their students to see them as critical partners in the processes of change.