VOICE, CHOICE,
EXCLUSION IN
Gerry Jeffers (pictured left) is as passionate about TY as he is
knowledgable about it. In this article he highlights some of
the pressing challenges faced by TY Students, their Teachers
and their Parents. Gerry is an educational researcher and
lecturer. He is the author of Transition Year in Action
published by The Liffey Press, Dublin in 2015.
Reading Transition Year
Programmes – Guidelines for
Schools from the perspective of
2017 one might be surprised
that ‘student voice’ is not
mentioned. The Guidelines,
which first appeared in late
1993, have laid a solid
foundation for transformative
education in many schools. With
its emphasis on holistic
education, personal and social
development, student
confidence and active
citizenship one might
reasonably frame TY in terms of
supporting young people ‘find
their voice’.
!
The absence of direct references
to ‘student voice’ in the
Guidelines is one indicator of
how much our thinking about
young people and schooling has
developed in the past quarter of
a century. Ireland’s ratification
of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the
Child in 1992 was a key
milestone.
!
Since then, conceptualising
children and young people as
active rather than as passive
participants in society is more
evident in public policies. The
National Children’s Strategy, the
Office of the Ombudsman for
Children and establishment of
the Department of Children and
Youth Affairs and, of course, the
1998 Education Act, are some
visible manifestations of
changed thinking. Increasingly,
young people’s rights are
recognised and respected in
policies emerged from the
Department of Education and
Skills.
!
Fleming’s (2016) article suggests
shifting positions within the
DES, not least the
accompanying description of the
author as ‘a senior inspector
with the Department of
Education and Skills and … a
researcher and advocate for
student voice’.
TY are very much in tune with
the UNCRC. For example, the
devolution of responsibilities to
school level implies serious
consultation with students and
their parents.
!
!
A central feature of TY is
summed up as:
!
Convention on the Rights of
the Child
The first part of Article 12 of the
UNCRC is especially relevant. It
states:
!
States Parties shall assure to
the child who is capable of
forming his or her own views
the right to express those
views freely in all matters
affecting the child, the views
of the child being given due
weight in accordance with
the age and maturity of the
child (UN, 1989).
!
This perspective challenges
schools to re-imagine many
policies and practices (Jeffers,
2014). Traditions based on the
belief that ‘children should be
seen but not heard’ have been
severely undermined.
Importantly, young people
themselves are increasingly
familiar with the UNCRC and
keenly aware of how school
policies affect them.
!
Despite explicit references, the
underlying thrust and values of
T Y UPDATE MAY 2017
Curriculum content is a
matter for selection and
adaptation by the individual
school having regard to
these guidelines, the
requirements of pupils and
the views of parents (DE,
1993).
!
The guidelines regarding
assessment and evaluation also
imply active student
engagement. In some schools
this has been realised very well
through portfolio assessment
(see, for example, Jeffers, 2105,
p. 78-88).
!
Collaboration
In practice, many schools have
already evolved formal and
informal mechanisms for
listening to TY students and for
monitoring their requirements.
Many programme evaluations
include student perspectives.
The case for consultation with
TY students, preferably
structured and frequent rather
than tokenistic, is a strong one
and one would hope that
updated guidelines for TY would
include such a recommendation.
The experiences of Students’
Council are especially
instructive.