Developing a Framework and Agenda for Students' Voices in the School System acrossEurope: from diametric to concentric relational spaces for early school leaving prevention

Abstract

There are significantlacunaein the otherwise highly progressive documents on early school leaving prevention from theEuropeanCommission andCouncil in 2011, as part of theEU2020 headline target of 10% early school leavers across theEU. These documents offer no explicit account or analysis of the voices of children and young people, nor vision of systemic accountability of schools to students’ needs. This article argues that key problems of early school leaving can be interpreted as system level blockages in communication, including blockage in communication of children's voices. It seeks to develop a conceptual framework for understanding relational systems by reinterpreting a particular dimension of the structuralist anthropology ofLévi‐Strauss’ cross‐cultural examination of systems of relation, namely, the interplay between diametric oppositional and concentric relational spaces. The theoretical framework proposed in this article will also seek to translate structural features of system change into structural indicators for system scrutiny and accountability. Identification of key structural indicators is to facilitate change beyond blocked, diametric school space and towards concentric relational spaces in the school system — based on diverse accounts of students’ voices and needs in specificEuropean contexts, as part of a potential strategy atEuropean level to prevent early school leaving. Emerging issues highlighted as an agenda for reform include authoritarian teaching, alternatives to suspension, splits in communication, emotional supports, teacher conflict resolution skills and substantive structures and processes for active student voices in school.