Welcome to ReConnectEd Volume 3!

The start of 2025 has been an energizing time for ReConnectEd and the ACSV, especially with the inclusion of our new Review Panel, to streamline editing of this publication. The work of this publication is crucial if student voice is to be thought about and more deeply ingrained into educational thinking and the way that education and student-educator relationships are structured. 

Within the first edition of ReConnectEd for 2025, we’ve coalesced around the topic: “How can schools enable students to be active citizens and foster community involvement by empowering student voice?”

After reaching out for submissions, we’ve had a wide breadth of submissions. Inside this edition, readers will find an in-depth analysis of what co-design in school curriculum really looks like, and how the inclusion of co-design programs can energise students' learning. Readers can discover how schools can support their students with their extra-curricular activities, and how community-minded students can work with their schools to amplify social impact and service. They can also understand on a deeper level the Australian Framework for Student Empowerment, and work towards implementing the policy and all of the challenges and opportunities it presents. Finally, we hear a passionate case for curriculum collaboration, finding a strong evidence base for including all stakeholders in the curriculum collaboration process.

Thanks must also be given to the whole of the ReConnectEd Review Panel. In keeping with the guiding principles of student voice, the ReConnectEd Review Panel consists of educators, policymakers, academics, and students themselves, coming from across the country, from all sectors, to ensure that pieces published in this journal reflect such a complex space.

Special thanks go to Roger Holdsworth, whose breadth and depth of experience is especially invaluable to myself as a relatively junior editor.

Special thanks also go to ReConnectEd Coordinator and ACSV Executive Director, Mitch Sprague. His work does not go unnoticed, and he is the engine that drives the ACSV and ReConnectEd forward.

Lastly, thanks to you – the reader. Student voice can be a difficult topic to conceptualize. What works in one place may not work in another. What works with one student may not work with another. It is only by understanding the varied practices and approaches taken towards student voice that student voice can truly be actioned and be implemented in a way that considers all stakeholders.