"Learning about research was confusing until we started creating our own questions and research": enacting student voice through a 'Students as Enquirers' project

Despite Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN 1989) being common parlance in Scottish schools, children often remain positioned with little voice or power to make decisions, especially in dialogue about teaching, learning, and curriculum (Flutter, 2007; Leat and Reid 2012). Students as Researchers tackles these critiques by recognising children as agentic rights holders who have expertise the adults do not (Bakhtiar, et al. 2023). This approach is emancipatory and radical; through the research process students develop enquiry skills, with opportunities to engage with self and others in novel, creative ways (Fielding and Bragg, 2003).

This paper reports on a Students as Enquirers project at a Scottish high school. Offering children’s accounts of engagement in their own voices – something missing within much of the academic work on such initiatives – we exemplify the reflexive process undertaken and give insight into the effectiveness of the process and key learnings that arose.