Students as Agents of Change in Curriculum Designing and Implementation: Involvement and Participation Drives

Abstract

A student as agent of change in the curriculum design and implementation, involvement and participation in the secondary schools is of critical importance. The need to adopt and change to a competency learning approach that meets the needs of the student, and members of the community. To further scholarly understanding of, and appreciation for, students voice in decision making, participation, student participation in participatory design, as well as and student partnership in curriculum design and implementation. This paper clarifies the unique contributions of each, shaped by differing contexts of interaction, and articulate issues arising by confounding and conflating partnership and representation in the name of student voice. Advancing an argument for an ecosystem of student participation grounded in student voice, we warn of the harm in positioning student partners as speaking for other students and the risk of diminishing the importance of elected student representation systems in favor of staff selected student partner models of student representation.