YOUTH VOICE: How Can It Truly Be Heard?
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YOUTH VOICE: How Can It Truly Be Heard?
In schools, engagement, well-being, motivation, and student success are frequently discussed. But if there is one factor that links all of these issues, it is undoubtedly this: student voice. Not just the voice that is politely acknowledged during a special activity, but the voice expressed every day—the voice that influences, challenges, shapes, and transforms.
Giving students a voice means accepting that adults are no longer the only ones defining what matters. It means recognizing that young people are not simply students to be supervised, but citizens in the making—already capable of analysis, creativity, initiative, and taking a stand. It also means acknowledging that silence is not always a sign of disinterest, but often signals the need for a safer, more authentic, and meaningful space to speak.
This issue explores student voice from several angles. It highlights why student voice remains an underused resource in education and how it can become a powerful driver of engagement and well-being. It also sheds light on the limits of well-meaning efforts, and on the conditions needed to make student participation genuine, not merely symbolic.
Several articles showcase practical ways to amplify student voice: school podcasts, civic engagement projects, opinion-building approaches, initiatives that support linguistic courage, and simple practices for involving children while respecting their fundamental rights.
This issue reinforces a central idea: student voice is not limited to spoken words. It is also expressed through creativity, boldness, resistance, a willingness to defend ideas, and emerging worldviews. As socio-ecological crises, technological disruption, and social tensions continue to accelerate, including young people in conversations —and in decision-making—has become urgent.
Ultimately, making space for student also means learning to listen more closely to the future.
We hope you enjoy this issue!
Martine Rioux
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Student voice grows when learners are trusted with meaningful choices. Chris Colley and Carolyn Buteau, Provincial Pedagogical Consultants at LEARN-RÉCIT Provincial Service for the Anglophone Community, explore how strategies such as choice boards move classrooms beyond one-size-fits-all instruction. By offering multiple ways to engage with content and demonstrate learning, educators can strengthen motivation, agency, and participation in the learning process.
Student voice is not an accessory to schooling but its most underused resource. Sarah Anne Leroux, a teacher at École secondaire catholique régionale de Hawkesbury in Ontario, shows that when students are trusted to design real change, from committees to a student lounge, they do not just participate in school life, they redefine it.
Student voice is not a classroom extra, it is the engine of meaningful learning. Maria Dimitropoulos, an elementary teacher in Montréal, Québec, argues that when students help shape norms, inquiries, assessments, and reflection, they move from passive listeners to confident partners, transforming school into a space where their ideas truly matter.
Distance learning does not weaken student voice; it demands that educators protect it with intention and care. Caroline Viau, Assistant Director at the CAVLFO, shows that when teachers humanize the screen through dialogue, choice, and collaboration, online spaces become places where students are truly present, not distant.
Linguistic insecurity silences capable students, but confidence grows when effort matters more than perfection. Nicole Arsenault of EngagED Learning, Julie Beyea of Tantramar Regional High School, and Paulette Diotte of Bernice MacNaughton High School show that through DéfiLangue and digital reflection tools, students reclaim their voice by daring to use French beyond the classroom.
Podcasting transforms students from consumers of media into creators with something real to say. Caroline Buteau, with LEARN-RÉCIT Provincial Service for the Anglophone Community, argues that projects like BaladoWeb turn research, revision, and collaboration into public voice, giving students pride, purpose, and an authentic audience beyond the classroom walls.
Learning thrives when rights, not rigid content, anchor daily practice. By shifting attention to belief, identity, purpose, resilience, and meaningful challenge, this framework reminds educators that when we protect the conditions that nurture confidence and agency, students do more than absorb lessons, they begin to see themselves as capable learners.
Learning to build an opinion is how students learn to build their voice. Audrey Groleau, Professor at Université Laval, Isabelle Arseneau, Professor at Université du Québec à Rimouski, and Chantal Pouliot, Professor at Université Laval, argue that structured dialogue, critical comparison, and creative expression empower young people to form reasoned positions and act with confidence on issues that matter.
Student voice falters not from lack of goodwill, but from unexamined assumptions about youth competence. Sandrine Gagné-Trudel, Postdoctoral Researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, argues that confronting adultcentrism and cultivating reflexivity can close the gap between intention and action, recognizing young people as capable participants in decisions that shape their lives.
Listening to children is not simply good practice; it is a fundamental right. Caroline Schindler, Consultant in Children’s Public Participation, examines how consulting children can strengthen educational environments and honour their right to participate. Through concrete examples and practical ideas, she shows how inviting young learners into conversations about decisions that affect them can foster engagement, confidence, and meaningful participation.
Socio-ecological crises demand that young people’s perspectives be taken seriously. Émilie Morin, Professor of Educational Psychology (Preschool and Primary Education), Université du Québec à Rimouski, and Isabelle Arseneau, Professor of Education and Chair in Transformative Education for Climate Engagement, Université du Québec à Rimouski, examine how recognizing youth voices strengthens their sense of empowerment and their capacity to participate in climate-related discussions and collective action.
What happens when students are no longer just participants, but true partners in research? In this article by Biondy Capitaine (Université de Montréal), Emma Cognet (Student Commission of Canada), Youth Advisory Committee members at École secondaire Mont-Royal, and Diana Miconi (Université de Montréal), a unique collaboration begins to challenge traditional power dynamics—revealing how trust, dialogue, and shared decision-making can reshape the way youth voices are heard.
Each issue of the magazine features a selection of resources to discover.
What if the classroom became a studio where every student could find their voice? Audrey Miller of Engaged Learning explores podcasting as a space for authentic expression where students learn to question, narrate, and create. More than a technopedagogical project, podcasting becomes a powerful lever for developing ideas, strengthening communication, and giving students the confidence to speak and be heard.
This article contains all the references of EngagED Learning Magazine, Volume 5 issue 3, Spring 2026.
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