Identity exploration is a pivotal component in shaping effective student leadership trainers. This article examines identity exploration in student leadership training, highlighting the role of self-awareness, reflection on positionality, and the intricate interplay of power and privilege within identity development. By delving into the nuances of…

Feelings of empowerment among students are crucial prerequisites to their participation in change agency in both educational and non-educational settings. Educators notice a compelling correlation between student empowerment and academic achievement and other positive outcomes in K-12 educational environments. School counselors are optimally…

Against the backdrop of greater emphasis on learner centredness and growing attention to learners' voices in recent decades, concerns have been raised over researchers' dominance in shaping research scope and findings. Whether it be quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods research, learners' voices are mostly absent at the methodological…

We describe how a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) "enrolling" educational institution can transform its practices to embrace and include student voices and become HSI "affirming and thriving" by focusing on the introductory semester-long public-speaking course as a site for liberatory learning outcomes and by using digital…

Since the publication of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire has been important for disseminating the concept of dialogue in education. Dialogue is often framed as the kind of interaction that educators should enact in their practice, to right historical and socio-political wrongs. With this, speaking and assuming one's voice has a special…

YA author Pérez offers encouragement and insight into book challenges today, which are about much more than just a book. Offering tips for how to prepare for challenges and amplify student voices, the reader will also find ideas to help marginalized learners still find their way to targeted books.

This article seeks to challenge existing power dynamics both within the service-learning classroom and between the classroom and community by offering a model of an alternative approach to community engagement. The class partnered with a community organization, at their request, to engage their community as the organization worked through a change…

Societal expectations are rising for higher education to help learners develop into engaged, responsible and resilient citizens of the world. Against this backdrop, the 2024 EUA Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Group 'Learning and teaching to empower students' explored a crucial prerequisite for cultivating these qualities in graduates: an…

Widespread global interest and adoption of deliberative democracy approaches to reinvigorate citizenship and policymaking in an era of democratic crisis/decline has been mirrored by increasing interest in deliberation in schools, both as an approach to pedagogy and student empowerment and as a training ground for deliberative citizenship. In…

In this article, the authors focus on how educators can use their responsibility and power to create learning spaces that foster change by empowering Black and Brown students to emancipate themselves through a process of critically dreaming (Wellington, 2023). The authors approach this work as a West Indian Black woman and a white woman from the…

In the context of neoliberal and neoconservative educational reforms, student voice work is faced with a number of potential difficulties in creating the conditions, skills and dispositions necessary for student empowerment. One of the key challenges is evaluating whether student voice initiatives are effective, relevant and transformative.…

This essay explores the use of contract grading as a means to combat the commodification of education. Starting with an examination of traditional grading practices, the author moves on to explore contract grading as an alternative to the free-market, capitalistic approach to higher education in the United States and its apparent ultimate goal of…

There exists a power asymmetry between instructors and students in the physical classroom and other learning spaces which symbolizes the distribution of power in social spaces. Because of the structured power asymmetry in most learning spaces, promoting effective classroom teaching sometimes requires instructors to replace existing hierarchical…

This article provides an overview of a digital storytelling proyecto final (final project) completed by 18 young bilingual Latinxs as part of a Spanish for "heritage/native" speakers course at a university in the U.S. Midwest. Specifically, the article charts out the move from concepto (concept) to proyecto, zooming in on key aspects of…

Providing effective leadership and mentorship to students often requires an understanding of power systems and a focus on amplifying marginalized voices. The author, who identifies as a queer white woman, in her years as a graduate student, has found that attention to voice is essential, but also messy. As Donna M. Lanclos reminds,…