Creating an inclusive school community: Exploring school leaders' perceptions of student voice and student participation in decision-making in Irish post-primary schools

From a research and policy perspective, the importance of including student voice in education is recognised, however a gap exists between research, policy and practice. The current research explores this gap from the position of school leaders on their perspectives and experiences with student voice and student participation in decision-making, in an Irish post-primary context. A phenomenological research design was utilised adopting qualitative semi-structured interviews with 12 participants. Findings suggest that school leaders have an acute awareness of the positive impacts of authentic student voice; that an open, inclusive culture of trust and dialogue and the provision of key supports underpin the development of student voice; that challenges influence engagement levels and diverse implementation; that it is necessary to develop students' leadership capacity and participation in decision making. Suggestions for policy and practice are provided.