Student Participation in schools

The Carnegie Foundation and Esmee Fairbairn produced this report which evaluates the impact student participation has on outcomes. They define participation as "involvement in a collective decision-making process with a recognisable social and/or educational outcome".

Key points:
- The review has been able to identify consensus on positive and definite outcomes from a range of participation activities, such as community involvement, school councils, and committee work.
- They found problems with the evidence base as: it is mostly perceptual; direct causation or attribution is problematic; there is generally an uncritical presentation of participation or of the quality of student input; that there is a lack of balance shown between benefits and costs; and there is little discussion of whether outcomes could be achieved in different ways
- There is an indirect link between student participation and achievement with students being happier, having greater control over their learning, enhancement of communication skills and increased self-esteem and confidence.