Student Voice

International Student Voice, Agency & Partnerships Conference

The week before school ended last year, I went on a trip with four of my fellow student leaders and Ms Kantzas.  The trip was into the city at the University of Melbourne, and to me the whole day was amazing.  We learned about many different things that affect teachers’ abilities to teach and students’ ability to work and then came up with possible solutions; such as, letting students learn how they want to learn and letting teachers teach the way they want to teach.  There was a variety of stakeholders in education present at the conference, including students, teachers, researchers and academics as well as policy makers.

The group and I took the train and tram into the city and were led into a big hall for a welcoming introduction to the conference and a brief on the plans for the day.  A group of primary-school students presented the system they had designed and set up at their school to help with students' attitude towards learning in class.  Their system focused on different levels of learning using the ocean as a visual metaphor for learning.  Their aim was to try to get students to want to be in the deepest part of the ocean to reach a deep understanding of what they were learning.

After recess, we went into different, smaller home groups.  The first half of the session we went to was focused on Down Syndrome in young females and showing how we can help them in classrooms and learning situations.  The second part of the session focused on how we can support people with learning challenges such as Dyslexia and ADHD to participate and contribute their ideas towards student voice.  Afterwards  we were back in the lecture hall and sent off for lunch.

After lunch I went into a workshop to learn more about growth mindset and had discussions about teaching it to children.   We had one session after this, and all the school students came together to talk and learn more about each other.

For me the best part of the day was the part that I got to sit at a table with a group of teachers and give them my experiences with school, learning and the difficulties I face.  I was treated as an equal participant as I shared my ideas.

Overall, I really enjoyed the day  and the people I spent it with and was grateful for the opportunity.

Ruby Michelli

Student Voice Representative

College Captain ABC Radio Interview

To all the adults reading this edition of the Oak News: what were you like when you were 16? More specifically, if you had the option, would you be able to make an informed decision to cast a vote in a local council election?

Recently, I had the opportunity to discuss giving 16- and 17-year olds the option to vote in local council elections on ABC Radio’s Conversation Hour hosted by Richelle Hunt and Warwick Long, alongside YACVic’s CEO Katherine Ellis and two VicSRC Executives. I was also lucky enough to meet with politicians in Parliament to share my thoughts on the idea.  

If you’d like to have a listen to the broadcast, please see this link: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/theconversationhour/the-conversation-hour/11915906

Thank you to YACVic for this awesome opportunity!

Andrew Leap

College Captain