Student representation on school governance councils

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, many Victorian government schools had elected student members on their school governance councils. However, in the 1990s, changes to regulations meant that the “student” membership category disappeared. So what happened? This study spoke to students and principals, with these two aims: To find out what students and principals across a range of Victorian schools think about students being part of school councils. To collect and create resources to help schools to start or do more to make sure that students are meaningfully involved in school councils. VicSRC partnered with Deakin University and worked with six secondary school students as Research Interns to design, do, and analyse the data. Research findings and 10 key recommendations emerged through consultation with students and principals from metro and regional Victoria.