Student voice in digital media practices: tension, resistance and potentialities in secondary education. A critical meta-ethnography

This article presents a meta-ethnographic synthesis of recent qualitative research on student voice in secondary education, focusing on digital media practices. From a critical and interpretive perspective, the review identifies five key dimensions through which student voice materialises: (i) autonomous expression in teacher-led digital environments; (ii) visual and narrative representation of personal experience; (iii) critique of digital surveillance and datafication; (iv) pedagogical decision making and content design; and (v) critical appropriation of knowledge in meaningful contexts. The discussion advocates the need to rethink the place of student voice not only as an object of consultation or as a form of instrumental participation, but also as an epistemic practice with transformative potential. The findings suggest that effectively including student voice requires institutional and pedagogical conditions that redistribute curricular power and recognise student knowledge from the perspective of social justice. This review sheds light on both the potential and the current limitations of digitally mediated educational practices in secondary education and underscores the pressing need for further ethnographic research into students’ experiences, narratives and positioning.