Inspiration SEND Network Book Blog #8

Diverse Voices in Educational Practice: A workbook for promoting pupil, parent and professional voice.  Alexandra Sewell (ed.)

Social justice aims to address power imbalances in society; the concept of voice is unavoidably linked with social justice. Many of us work in education for a reason that is in some way related to the idea of social justice - either through our work in developing a curriculum  that represents all of our students, or through our passion for working with young people and helping them thrive no matter their background. Alexandra Sewell combines theory with case studies by calling upon the experiences of seventeen contributors who share their real life experiences in a specific area; each chapter can be read independently and in any order based on the reader’s interests. The book, put simply, is a powerful acknowledgement of the need for professionals to find their own voices if we are to achieve the promotion of social justice. 

This is a self-titled ‘workbook’ - it forces us to self-reflect. We are guided to consider, grow and strengthen our own voices by being offered a space to clarify our own values in a professional setting and then consider how these can be reflected in actions and relationships with colleagues, parents, and pupils. If I had to choose a single golden thread running through the entire book, it is this: listen to others - and hear what they have to say. Woven into this thread are specific elements that have resonated with me - either because it is something I’ve already been thinking about, or as something I now recognise as lacking in my current practice.

Hermeneutical injustice: Sewell describes hermeneutical injustice as something that occurs “because a listener cannot understand the knowledge being spoken to them as they do not share the same concepts as the speaker or…speakers.” I feel like this happens a lot in education - both in student-teacher interactions and professional-professional interactions. Though only briefly mentioned, I was prompted to look deeper into this idea. Fricker explains that suffering from hermeneutical injustice happens when “one lacks the conceptual resources to express one’s experiences.” I am fascinated by how well this idea explains the all too often clash between people in professional settings whilst also explaining issues within the curriculum. For example, we often refer to abstract concepts in English and assume all of the students in our class have the same experience - e.g. the concept of love. By assuming we all have the same understanding, we could be immediately blocking students out of the conversation before it can even get started. This can similarly happen amongst colleagues with varying levels of experience or time spent in schools- e.g. a new colleague not knowing the acronyms commonly used may miss out on a meeting because of not knowing where to go. 

Hermeneutical injustice then is on a scale - but in all situations, it prevents people from demonstrating their true understanding. Developing voice practice, according to Sewell, means that we seek knowledge and views from others who have different perspectives - we construct a different understanding of reality together to ensure everyone feels included. Therefore, it is crucial that we develop our voice practice if we are to combat hermeneutical injustice.  

The idea of co-construction for understanding is a powerful one - it came up again in the chapter on student voice. Sewell explains that listening to student voice in an authentic way “requires acknowledgement that children have experiences and perspectives all their own.” Too often, I fear we become so preoccupied with teaching young people what to think instead of how to think. This is particularly pertinent in the English literature classroom where students need to be able to make their own inferences and deductions - while these will be rooted in the rich bank of knowledge they possess, the independence in forming their own ideas comes only from intrinsic motivation and participation. In my current role, we are already working on developing our pedagogy within our subject community to instil more confidence in young people to share and develop their ideas - to bring themselves to the classroom. 

By listening to student voice through the curriculum itself, we can start to tip the power imbalance in education and begin to consider what a community means. The noun ‘community’ is used so often in education - community within schools; community with the local area; subject communities. The insistence on participation for all and including everyone is a common feature of most schools nowadays. This book however is the first place I’ve seen an acknowledged difference between participation and co-construction. This distinction is a powerful one for leaders or facilitators in any setting; Sewell explains that “a culture cannot be dictated, but has to result from discussions and common effort.” A common effort means equal investment and this is when we get actions and values truly aligned. 

For leaders to be able to reflect on their own actions in a valuable way, Sewell offers Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation: it outlines eight levels of participation with the bottom ‘rungs’ reflecting less meaningful and more ‘show’ types of participation, and the higher ‘rungs’ demonstrating meaningful participation where citizens actually hold power. For example, the bottom rung is ‘manipulation’ where there is a guise of participation to manipulate those without power into thinking they have been listened to. In reality, the agenda of those with power is simply promoted. At the other end of the scale is citizen power: this is when those without the power are now in a position to negotiate and make substantial changes. 

Arnstein’s typology of power and engagement has fascinated me; it has provided me with the vocabulary for a phenomenon I’ve experienced regularly - in jobs outside of education as well as within. I would argue that a lot of leadership can be found amongst the bottom rungs - perhaps due to a fear of losing control, or having too many opinions to deal with. For me personally, it has encouraged me to consider my own leadership decisions but also how we can work with our young people in the classroom too. 

Closely linked with the idea above is the alignment of espoused and enacted values. Developing our voice practice in a powerful and meaningful way means that our actions and words will be aligned - this idea encouraged me to sit and write down what was important to me in my role, and if the actions I carry out on a daily basis are reflective of those values.Alongside those specific elements that have resonated with me are some challenges and questions I’m still processing:

1. How can I use my own voice to reassure others that I want to help develop theirs? I appreciate what it can be like if you feel your voice isn’t being heard - what can I do to make people feel listened to? These questions are so powerful because of the significance they carry across so many aspects of school: from SEND termly reviews, to parent consultation meetings, attendance meetings and more. 
2. The tension between the ideal and reality: I would love nothing more than every single person’s voice to be heard and for all stakeholders to have equal contribution to decisions being made. Despite my confidence in being able to hear everyone with respect, I do not feel confident that we can create a space where everyone’s voice is truly represented right now. This requires change on a much larger scale and something that will take time and conscious effort to put into place. This brings me to my final - and biggest - challenge. 
3. The final chapter on supporting LGBTQIA+ colleagues and students struck me the most with this question: what does it mean to only have each other hear us? Feeling passionate about wanting to make change and create a truly inclusive space can be exhausting when you feel the pressure to be the person pushing that change - whilst it can be comforting to be surrounded by people who are like minded, it can feel like you are never moving forward. Echo chambers are comfortable places to be - but not necessarily effective places to be. Who is in our team? How can we build a team that’s more diverse? We need to challenge and be challenged; whilst this is an incredibly difficult task, developing our own voice practice is an excellent place to start.

Reviewed by Dena Eden, Director of Secondary English at Inspiration Trust