The School Voices Research-Practice Partnership (School Voices RPP) is an initiative between University of Southampton researchers and schools in the city of Southampton. The purpose of this Research-Practice Partnership is to support schools in responding to student diversity in order to improve learning outcomes for all, whilst at the same time promoting inclusion. This will be achieved by focusing on students’ voices and dialogues between teachers and children and young people through participatory research approaches.
Building on earlier research led by Prof Kiki Messiou, which included schools in this country and internationally, and more importantly based on the findings of a pilot study with a network of schools in Southampton, a strategy for a city-wide initiative was developed in September 2023. The strategy was co-developed between researchers, school leaders and key members of staff that were involved in the pilot study. The strategy focuses on reaching out to all schools in Southampton (early years, primary, secondary, and special schools), and will expand more widely in the future. Existing links with Stanford University and schools in California and other European countries will be strengthened through the School Voices Research-Practice Partnership.
The steering committee of the School Voices RPP consists of university researchers (Prof Kiki Messiou and Dr Jay de los Reyes), school leaders Kirsten Buist (Headteacher – St John’s Primary School), Daniel Constable-Phelps (Executive Headteacher – St Mary’s Primary School), Anna Payne (Headteacher – Redbridge Primary School) and key members of staff from each of these schools: Steph Mander (Deputy Headteacher – St John’s), Faye Bauck (Deputy Headteacher – St Mary’s) and Alex Young (Professional Development Lead – Redbridge). These three schools are now our hub schools supporting the expansion of the research ideas that we piloted last year, within their own schools and in other schools in the city of Southampton. On 8th February 2024 we conducted a workshop at the University of Southampton where we had participants from Banister Primary School, Fairisle Infant and Nursery School, Foundry Lane Primary School, Freemantle Academy and Valentine Primary School.
During the workshop, participants had the opportunity to explore the approach of collaborative action research and the use of participatory approaches to explore students’ voices in schools. With a focus on promoting inclusion, schools chose topics based on areas that were of interest to them or of concern to them (e.g., improving students’ confidence, raising children’s aspirations, improving children’s writing etc.).
The three hub schools took a leading role during the workshop based on their experience of the pilot study and addressed various questions about the ways in which they implemented participatory research approaches in their own contexts. The new schools are now implementing the ideas that we explored during the workshop, focusing on students’ voices and dialogues between teachers and students in relation to their chosen areas. The hub schools are supporting this process whilst university researchers are supporting and monitoring progress in each of the schools. Five PhD students (Chinmaya Potnis, Ping Dong, Josette Crispin, Karen Ibáñez Riquelme, Maria Giulia Tongiani) are supporting as research assistants, and analysing data in each of the schools to explore further the processes involved in implementing such approaches in schools.
