Page 81 - Getting of the fence

we have argued that including student voice through this perspective can allow for
a large group of students to actively engage in research. Especially when combined
with the Learners in dialogue (as we did in this case) or the Learners as initiators
perspectives, a multi-dimensional dialogical process can be established through
which traditional conventions of research can be deconstructed. In aiming for
this reciprocal relationship Christensen and Prout (2002) argue that “researchers
need to explore and justify details of children’s participation in research and the
decision to involve them in or exclude them from the research process” (p. 483). 3 Because educational research has not yet fully embraced the three perspectives of
including student voice, future research in these fields should take Christensen and Prout’s (2002) argument to the next level: educational research should at all times justify why students are involved or excluded and should provide sufficient details in what way(s) their voices played a part in the research process. If we put a halt to the incongruous situation where the Learners as data source perspective is frowned upon but is at the same time the dominant way of including student voice, and start observing our students’ voices as sui generis with “presence, power, and agency” (Cook-Sather, 2006, p. 363) their voices will soon become indispensable from future knowledge construction.
Connecting students and researchers
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