student voice
Year 8 Student Agency forum
An Dang
2019 SEC Leader (Learning)
2020 School Captain
The Year 8 Student Agency forum was conducted earlier in Term 4.
Students from Year 7 to Year 11 volunteered to be facilitators in the forum. We brainstormed questions and after much reflection and refinement, came up questions about success and what actions students and teachers could do to help students to achieve their definition of 'success'. Each pair of facilitators worked with a group of 8 students within the Home Group session.
Running this forum was a great way for students from different year groups to bond and to share ideas, and many of the student's suggestions aligned with the school’s proposed Instructional Model. It was a great experience for both facilitators and Year 8 students.
The forum feedback provided insightful reflections for teachers and students which will contribute to a shared understanding and responsibility for a better classroom environment.
Paul Ting
Year 10
Forum Facilitator
This is my second time facilitating a student forum at school. I keep coming back because I enjoy having a chat with students about anything they want to talk about as well as getting to understand their feelings towards certain aspects of school life.
These forums enable both teachers and students to gather a deeper understanding of how they learn best and what environment they feel is most conducive to a productive workspace. I spent my session talking to a group of Year 8 boys and we discussed a range of topics- from their favourite subjects to why they should still try in subjects they dislike. Students conveyed their enjoyment of having the opportunity to share their ideas with an older student, as they felt they could relate to me and open up more, making the feedback more authentic and valuable. I am glad to be part of an opportunity where students can lead their own development and I hope the voices of students will influence the future to come.
Matthew Rasip
Year 8
Forum Participant
The session was really productive. A lot of good ideas sparked up and will be worked on in the near future. I think this exercise was good because it gets everyone’s opinion on ways to improve the school.
Alia Wong
Year 9
Forum Facilitator
I felt that running the Year 8 forums gave me a really good insight into the opinions of other students. I enjoyed this experience overall and think that it would be good to do more of these forums in the future because I could really see them having a benefit to students at the college. I think that reporting back to the Year 8 students regarding changes made in response to their feedback would be really beneficial. This way they would get to see the difference they had made and realize the value of the forums, making them more likely to be interested in participating in them in the future. I think that we need more people get involved in the discussion, as it would allow for more students’ opinions to be taken into account.
Alex Lockhart
Year 8
Forum Participant
The activity was quite good as we could discuss school with another student and hear their feedback and ideas/point of view. I think it was better than with a teacher because they had the same/similar experience and it isn't really biased to the curriculum. It explained why we need to work hard even on a topic that we didn’t like and how good homework practices are important but the facillitator REALTED IT BACK TO REAL LIFE AND HOW IT WOULD EFFECT US displaying both positive and negative sides to the argument.
Ella Davis
Year 9
Forum Facilitator
I found the process of asking Year 8 students about their school experience was fun and insightful. It was interesting to hear their responses to questions and how they defined 'success' as well as their desired student and teacher actions. The opportunity to facilitate these discussions was very valuable, as I learned a lot about the Year 8 cohort. I strongly believe in Student Voice, so it was great to use my communication skills at the forum in order to work for better student representation at BSC.
Stephanie Antoniadis
Year 8
Forum Participant
I think the forum was a really good idea. The only change I would make is to let students choose the group they want to be in because people like to bounce off their friends, so if friends were put together I think students would feel more comfortable to say what they really feel.
Viet Nguyen
Year 8
Forum Participant
I enjoyed this activity because I got to discuss issues about school with other students and to express my views. I also enjoyed the conversation about how to improve my 'learning mindset' and how teachers want to help me with this.
