Call for Contributions: ReConnectEd 3.3

Focus: School Planning for On-Going, Sustainable Student Voice, Agency and Partnerships

You are invited to contribute an article for the third issue of ReConnectEd for 2025.

The Challenge:

Evaluation reports of Student Voice, Agency and Participation/Partnership initiatives within schools frequently point to the sustainability of such approaches. They point to a concern that initiatives are often driven by individual enthusiasms, and vanish when the initiator moves on. “If we came back in five years,” they say, “would this still be happening?”

At the same time, where schools are being asked by their systems to include student voice, agency and partnerships/participation in their school plans, there is little practical guidance as to what this might look like. Schools report that they struggle to know what is required and to define such on-going policy and practice commitments.

Real Case Studies:

This issue of ReConnectEd will build on discussions around this topic at the recent SCV25. It will collect stories and case studies of actual practice about sustainability of approaches: what these look like, and what the processes were in forming them. Conference discussions suggested that both formal school-level policy statements and the role of ‘tradition’ should be examined.

Articles should provide practical information and documentation towards either or both of the above challenges.

You might report very practically on your school’s practices in, for example:

• the development of School Strategic Plans with long term improvement goals;

• the regular development of Annual Implementation Plans, with strategies and actions to meet those goals;

• the establishment of School Improvement Teams, who are in charge of driving and monitoring implementation; and

• the cycles of School Review.

Possible Specific Starters:

Here are some possible sub-themes or ‘starters’ for your writing. Please don’t be restricted by them, however. We are also happy to work with you during the writing process, if you wish, to assist with developing articles from ideas or dot-points to the final article.

• What does embedded student voice, agency and partnerships/participation look like within your school plans and planning processes?  
  Give some specific examples of the wording of your school policy statements, and/or of your implementation initiatives.

• How do such plans reflect what teachers (and others) do, rather than (or as well as) what students will do?

• How do we make such lasting commitments, in ways that ensure that we go beyond individual enthusiasms or sometimes tokenistic responses to central policy directives?

• What are the processes you have used to ensure that there is broad commitment to these policy directions within the school community (teachers, parents/carers, students etc)?

• In particular, how are students included in the process of policy formulation and adoption? How is this inclusive of the wider student body?

• Sustainability is sometimes identified as a ‘tradition’ of the school. How are such ‘traditions’ formed around student voice etc? How are they maintained?

Length of Articles:

(Unhelpfully), articles should be as long as they need to be. However, it is suggested that they should be at least 500 words (for a short comment or example) and a maximum of 3000 words (for a more extended story).

Deadlines and Timeline:

The timeline for this issue is:

• Articles should be submitted by the end of September, 2025

• They will be formally reviewed during October 2025, and any suggested changes or additions negotiated with you at that stage

• It is anticipated that this issue will be published in November 2025.

Roger Holdsworth, Guest Editor

e: r.holdsworth@unimelb.edu.au