What is student voice and agency

Student voice and agency is a powerful lever to inspire excellence in all our work, enabling meaningful participation to enhance every student's experience, opportunities and outcomes across all aspects of their learning and school life.

What is student voice?

Student voice is the meaningful opportunity for all students to share their ideas and perspectives, and to be genuinely heard, so that their knowledge and experience are considered and acted on in decisions affecting their learning and school life.

'Student voice means my ideas and perspectives genuinely matter.'

What is student agency?

Student agency is the capacity and opportunity for students to make choices, take initiative and share responsibility for their experience and outcomes in classrooms, schools, the education system, and their broader communities.

'Student agency means I can make positive changes to my learning and school life, and to the education system.'

Personal or representative voice and agency

There are 2 main categories of student voice and agency: personal and representative.

Personal voice and agency

Personal voice and agency is when a student speaks up or takes action to advocate for their own needs and interests. This might be asking for more challenging work during a lesson, seeking help with a social situation in the playground or sharing their personal experience in an anonymous survey.

Representative voice and agency

Representative voice and agency is when a student speaks or acts on behalf of others. This can take place through formal structures such as student representative councils or ambassador programs. It can also happen through informal channels, for example if a student speaks up during a class discussion to reflect what others think or feel, or if a group of students advocates to create a special interest club.

There is a wide range of formal representative voice and agency structures in our system. Most schools have student leaders or councils. Many school networks and directorates have higher level councils, bringing together students from multiple schools to share their insights and inform decision-making. Our peak student representative body is our Minister's Student Council (DOVES) which reports directly to the NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning.

Personal and representative voice and agency are equally important and have a place in all our work in public education. Understanding the distinction helps us support student participation more effectively.