Student equity action research

Background and aims

SEAR was a pilot project jointly funded by Sydney region and Priority Schools Programs (PSP).

The project built on student equity forums held in the Sydney region during 2007 at a number of PSP high schools. The purpose of these forums was to provide opportunities for students in Years 5 to 11 from Priority Schools in the Sydney region to have a voice on issues that impact on their learning, to learn more about the NSW Quality Teaching model and to explore social justice and equity principles that underpin the work of PSP.

The SEAR project aimed to build leadership capacity in young people from low socio-economic (SES) status communities by supporting them to engage in student led action research projects in their schools. It was informed by international research in the area of student voice, particularly work carried out in the United Kingdom on Consulting pupils about teaching and learning.

SEAR was planned in collaboration with the regional coordinator Equity Programs and Distance Education, regional Student Equity Advisory Team (SEAT) members, the Sydney region PSP consultant and partnership officer and PSP state office coordinators. The project provided the impetus for student leaders to share research about issues and ideas raised in their own school communities with other Priority Schools in the region and across the state.

Implementation

Priority Schools in the Sydney region were invited to nominate a research team of four or five students and one teacher to participate in the project. Research teams from seven Priority Schools met at Yaama Dhiyann [include link]  for a planning conference to learn about action research and data collection and develop an initial research question.

Since SEAR aimed to promote and develop student voice, leadership and research skills in order to improve student learning outcomes, a key component of the planning conference was to revisit the PSP focus areas of literacy, numeracy and engagement and the three interrelated action areas: quality teaching and learning, home/school/community partnerships and classroom and school organisation and school culture. This ensured that research teams remained focussed on issues that impact on student learning.

Download the planning conference presentation and action research support sheet.

Research questions

Each school team devised a research question to explore as part of the research project. Read more about the school research teams and their questions here.

How did research teams share their findings?

Students completed action plans and written evaluations of the network meetings and showcased their achievements. SEAT members reported on achievements and issues raised in projects at SEAT meetings. Feedback was provided to participating school communities at meetings and via school assemblies and newsletters.

Resource development to support the action research projects was be determined by individual research teams. Resources were shared in shopfront presentations at the sharing conference.