“It’s about creating meaning and being valued”: exploring student teachers’ experiences of voice and participation in teacher education in Ireland and Norway

Whilst voice and participation in schools continues to be of global interest, it is underexplored in the context of teacher education. Our work within teacher education in Norway and Ireland provided the opportunity to talk with student teachers, and we present our findings from group interviews conducted in both countries. In Norway, student teachers wanted to be heard and involved in addressing issues of relevance and quality in teacher education, viewing voice and participation as a human right, whilst in Ireland, student teachers wanted to be acknowledged as equal partners with staff whilst on practice placement in schools. Norway and Ireland promote democratic values espoused in voice and participation as fundamental to education, also within teacher education, but our findings indicate this is difficult in practice; student teachers expressed feelings of powerlessness. Despite this, student teachers believed in the importance of voice and participation for their learning and development as emerging professionals, arguing they would be better equipped as teachers to lead voice and participation work in schools if they were afforded more opportunities to experience it during their training. We propose, therefore, that teacher education can be enriched and improved by affording student teachers authentic opportunities to be heard and to participate actively in their learning. Furthermore, student teachers should be included in finding ways to develop voice and participation practices in teacher education.