Student Voice Initiative

A movement to give students a voice in their educationThe Student Voice Initiative

Who we advocate for• High school student leaders across Canada

What we want• Greater student voice in education policymaking

through:• A student trustee or student representative on each school

board• District councils where students can discuss issues and share

solutions• Democratically-elected student councils in all middle and high

schools

How we'll get there• Support from student leaders, administrators, and

policymakers at the school, school board, and provincial levels

• Policy and legislative approval

Executive Summary

1. Student engagement is lacking

2. Students have important input on their own education but are not given a voice in the boardroom decisions that directly affect them

3. Decisions made in the boardroom are rarely effectively communicated with students

4. There is a lack of outlets through which students can have their voices heard

5. Issues regarding youth are often discussed without youth’s input themselves

What are the issues?

6. Civic engagement and voter turnout rates among youth are at an all-time low

7. Youth are not empowered in a way that encourages them to be civically active and makes them feel like they can make a difference

8. Civically active youth who are already involved in their communities do not have a platform through which they can share ideas and best practices and are therefore unable to set a precedence for other young people to get involved

9. The traditional civics curriculum does not teach students enough about how government functions through experiential learning opportunities

10.Students face issues (such as work-to-rule and union situations) that they don’t always have the opportunity to voice their opinion on

What are the issues? (2/2)

1. Student input can improve education policy decision making and can lead to youth having a better understanding of how public policies are crafted

2. Ontario’s student leadership model (which consists of student councils, student senates, and student trustees) has bettered public education for the past 13 years

3. Ontario (since 1998) and New Brunswick (since 2009) are the only two provinces in Canada that have mandated student representatives in all school boards

4. Civic engagement is the heart of a healthy democracy, but fostering a culture of civic engagement must begin at an early age, and civic education must be practical and experiential

5. Students are conscious of their own needs and can improve boardroom decisions

What do we know?

6. Student leadership allows youth to develop soft skills such as decision-making, critical thinking, and public speaking that they cannot learn from a textbook

7. Involving students in their own education can improve student satisfaction

8. Many young people believe they are leaders, but far fewer actually show it at school

9. Celebrating youth who make an impact will encourage more young people to do the same

10.Student leadership is becoming an increasingly important area of education research

What do we know? (2/2)

What is the solution?Give high school students a voice in their education

Locally… through democratically-elected student councils in all high

schools

Regionally… through district student councils that bring students

together


Provincially… through a student trustee on every school board


• Student input can help improve boardroom decisions

• Student leadership allows for learning beyond the textbook

• Civic engagement is the heart of a healthy democracy

Why is this important?

Students who are elected by their fellow peers to represent the voices of the student body on their local school board.

What is a student trustee?

See Appendix A for full responsibilities and privileges

For nearly twenty years, Student Trustees in Ontario have:• Authored a mental health policy

• Urged schools to act on cyber bullying

• Eliminated bottled water in all schools in a school board

• Assisted policy makers in developing classroom curriculum

• Made the collection of student activity fees more transparent

• Produced province-wide student surveys

What is a student trustee?

See Appendix B for more accomplishments

AdvisorsBen LevinCanada Research Chair in Education Leadership and Policy

Dr. Levin is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Education Leadership and Policy. He has just completed two and a half years as Deputy Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario. He is a native of the City of Winnipeg who holds a B.A. (Honours) from the University of Manitoba, an Ed. M. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from OISE. From 1999 until September, 2002, he was deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Deputy Minister of Education, Training and Youth for Manitoba, with responsibility for public policy in all areas of education and training. Dr. Levin is widely known for his work in educational reform, educational change, educational policy and politics.

David AgerLecturer of Sociology, Harvard University

David Ager holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, a joint degree granted by Harvard Business School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. He is also a faculty member in Harvard Business School executive education program, Families in Business: From Generation to Generation and he teaches in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government executive education program, Leadership for a Networked World. Dr. Ager also serves as a faculty member in the Rockefeller Leadership Fellows Program at Dartmouth College.

SVI is supported by prominent names in the education policy making, civic activism, and grassroots engagement sphere.

AdvisorsGerard KennedyFormer Member of Parliament and Ontario Minister of Education

Mr. Kennedy served as Member of Parliament from 2008-2011. Prior to federal politics, Mr. Kennedy served as the Minister of Education for Ontario and as a member of the Planning and Priorities Board of Cabinet. As Minister, he led a widely acknowledged province-wide turnaround in the $19 billion, 2 million student publicly-funded education system. He dramatically improved public confidence, increased reading and math scores and lowered high school drop-out rates following a decade of conflict, cutbacks and turmoil. Mr. Kennedy is also credited with innovative advances in labour peace, collaboration within the sector, teacher training, francophone education, healthy schools, school repairs, and special education among others.Hon. Jean AugustineFairness Commissioner of Ontario

Hon. Jean Augustine was appointed as the first Fairness Commissioner for Ontario in March 2007. After university, she became an elementary school principal with the Metropolitan Separate School Board in Toronto, and was chair of the Metro Toronto Housing Authority. Ms. Augustine was the first African-Canadian woman to be elected to the House of Commons. She was elected in the riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore in 1993 and sat in Parliament until 2006. During this time, she served as minister of state for multiculturalism and the status of women, sat on several standing committees, and was a deputy Speaker. She also played a major role as parliamentary secretary to the prime minister.


SupportersLaurel BrotenFormer Ontario Minister of Education

Laurel Broten was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 2003 and was re-elected in 2007 and 2011. She was appointed Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs in February 2013. Broten is also the Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues. As Minister of Education, Broten introduced the Accepting Schools Act, which is helping ensure Ontario students feel welcome, accepted and connected to their school, making them more likely to succeed academically. She was also responsible for introducing the Putting Students First Act to protect the gains made in education, including smaller class sizes, increased test scores, more students graduating and the continued implementation of full-day kindergarten.

Kathleen WynnePremier of Ontario and Former Minister of Education

Kathleen Wynne is Ontario’s 25th Premier. She was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 2003 as the MPP for Don Valley West, and she became the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in January, 2013. As Minister of Education, Kathleen led the government’s efforts to reduce class sizes, implement full-day kindergarten and provide more opportunities for high school students to reach their full potential. Kathleen has served as a Public School Trustee in Toronto. She has led citizens’ groups in a number of grassroots community projects, and has played a major role as an organizer and facilitator. This experience has contributed to her results-based approach to life, government and community.


EndorsementsCatherine FifeFormer Vice-President, Canadian School Boards’ Association; Former President, Ontario Public School Boards’ Association; MPP Kitchener-Waterloo for NDP

“I support The Student Voice Initiative because those student voices at the local table and provincially lend credibility to the debates that we are having. And they lend credibility because they bring the facts and the real life experiences of students in our schools. We get feedback from parents; we get feedback from community partners; ultimately, student voice is the most important voice we should be listening to.”.Shaun ChenVice Chair, Toronto District School Board

“I support The Student Voice Initiative because I think this is the structure we have to create, which is to have student trustees at every school board in Canada. I’ve seen the benefits here at the TDSB where we have had amazing student leaders come to the table, bring their own initiatives forward, provide valuable input on board policies and procedures that we as adults sometimes forget about.”

A number of thought leaders also believe in the student voice.

1. Learn all there is to learn about the Student Trustee position• What is it all about?

• Why is it important?

• What does having a Student Trustee mean for my school board?

• How can I adapt the Student Trustee idea to my own school board?

Bring the student voice to your board!


2. Understand your community• What are some of the largest youth

groups and who are their main contacts?

• What are the key media outlets and who are their main contacts?


3. Understand your school board• What is your school board’s

structure?• Who are the main decision maker

and how many degrees of separation are there between you and them?

• Who is the most supportive of students and how many degrees of separation are there between you and them?

• How does an idea of proposal get implemented at your school board?


4. Understand your province• Who is your Minister of Education?• What is your Ministry of Education’s

structure?• Who are the key decision makers

and how many degrees of separation are there between you and them?

• Who is the most supportive of students and how many degrees of separation are there between you and them?

• How does an idea or proposal get implemented at the provincial level?


5. Start talking to other students• Send emails to other students and

youth-led organizations and ask them to endorse your campaign

• Ask the students you know to connect you with other student leaders from other school boards who might be interested in spreading the campaign

• Post on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks and invite them to www.studentvoicei.org to learn more


6. Connect with an administrator at your school board• Connect with individuals you already

know (i.e. ask your principal to connect with a school board superintendent)

• Set up an in-person meeting to share your cause


7. Ask an official at your school board for their support• Have the official (superintendent,

etc.) to advise you on some next steps you need to take to bring your student representative proposal to your Board of Trustees


8. Seek your Board of Trustees' formal approval• Seek a formal board motion and

recorded vote at a committee and/or board meeting


9. Promote your student representative pilot project publicly• Reach out to media contacts and ask

for them to cover the pilot project, whether it is on the radio, newspaper, blogs, social media, magazines, or television

• Reach out to your youth group contacts and ask them to publicize the pilot project to other students


10.Send an email to an administrator at your Ministry of Education to set up an in-person meeting• Ask for the adoption of the student

trustee at the provincial level so that you can bring the student voice to students throughout your province

1. Recognized as being the representative and voice of the school board’s student body at the school board

2. A current, full-time student in satisfactory academic standing

3. Mandated in every school board through the province’s Education Act

4. Supported by local school board-specific policies and procedures

5. At a minimum, permitted to attend and speak at all public committee and board meetings (with full in-camera participation privileges being the preferred option)

6. At a minimum, permitted to exercise a non-binding recorded vote on all public matters (with full binding vote participation privileges being the preferred option)

7. Permitted to submit reports and motions to the board to consider at its committee and board meetings

8. Given access and privileges that other school board trustees have to board staff, training, and resources

9. Democratically elected by students across the school board to serve for one academic year

10.Supported and advised by a democratically elected committee of students representing school districts across the school board

11.Responsible for directly reporting to the school board committee of students, and, in turn, the student body as a whole

12.Granted a modest but adequate budget to use towards professional development, program development, and the satisfactory completion of their normal tasks and responsibilities

13.Compensated for their time and efforts at the end of their term

14.Allocated at least one adult advisor at the school board

Appendix AStudent representative responsibilities and privileges

1. Authored a mental health policy [1]

2. Urged schools to act on cyber bullying [2]

3. Eliminated bottled water in all schools in a school board [3]

4. Assisted policy makers in developing classroom curriculum [4]

5. Made the collection of student activity fees more transparent [5]

Appendix BStudent trustee accomplishments (1/4)

[1] http://www.insidehalton.com/print/817786 [2] http://digitaljournal.com/article/313201[3] http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/998205--catholic-schools-to-phase-out-bottled-water[4] http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2011/05/20110518-203544.html[5] http://www.thestar.com/parentcentral/education/article/889279--toronto-school-board-tightens-rules-on-student-fees


6. Produced province-wide student surveys [6]

7. Supported the Haiti earthquake redevelopment effort [7]

8. Collected socks for the homeless in Toronto [8]

9. Spoke against frivolous spending by school boards [9]

10.Influenced standardized religion test development in Catholic Schools [10]

[6] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/sexual-diversity-belongs-in-classroom-cellphones-dont-student-survey/article570605/[7] http://www.communitypress.ca/2010/04/17/students-sell-t-shirts-to-help-haitians[8] http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/2011/12/15/students-collect-socks-for-homeless-in-toronto[9] http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2268770&archive=true[10] http://www.insidehalton.com/insidehalton/article/650172


11.Raised funds for needy families [11]

12.Influenced school board meeting procedures [12]

13.Advised the Minister of Education on Civics curriculum development [13]

14.Published recommendations on how to revamp the Civics and Careers curriculum [14]

15.Sought more student representation in school councils [15]

[11] http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2218707&archive=true[12] http://www.insidehalton.com/print/829064[13] http://www.insidehalton.com/community/oakvillebeaver/article/626654[14] http://www.zuza.com/community-story/47132-education-canadian-flags-to-be-treated-with-respect-again/[15] http://www.durhamregion.com/DurhamRegion/Article/1119998


[16] http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1114403[17] http://www.insidehalton.com/insidehalton/article/650172[18] http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2009/oct/photo131009.aspx[19] http://www.thestar.com/parentcentral/education/schools%20and%20resources/article/778191--teacher-s-day-at-acc-gets-major-downsizing[20] http://www.thestar.com/parentcentral/education/article/648999--school-board-vending-machine-ban-looms[21] http://www.zuza.com/community-story/43808-program-aims-to-feed-hungry-students/[22] http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/10/14/11392596-sun.html

16. Influenced nutritional standards in school cafeterias [16]

17. Influenced uniform requirement policies in schools [17]

18. Promoted non-profit organizational fundraisers [18]

19. Support cost-cutting efforts [19]

20. Stopped a vending machine ban; fixed all water fountains [20]

21. Led fundraising efforts for nutritional programs in schools [21]

22. Advocated for healthier options in school cafeterias [22]

A movement to give students a voice in their education

The Student Voice Initiative

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Date post:	22-Nov-2014
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