Valuing the talk of young people: are we nearly there yet?

This paper examines the reasons why young people's talk about themselves and their educational experiences do not seem to be valued in public discourse about education. Drawing on a national dataset of student focus groups, it illustrates how students talk about themselves in educational conte...

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Main Author: Aisling O'Boyle
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UCL Press 2013-06-01
Series:London Review of Education
Online Access:https://uclpress.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.1080/14748460.2013.799809
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author Aisling O'Boyle
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description This paper examines the reasons why young people's talk about themselves and their educational experiences do not seem to be valued in public discourse about education. Drawing on a national dataset of student focus groups, it illustrates how students talk about themselves in educational contexts in a way that is entirely different and more complex than how they are conceptualised by an adult audience and symbolic elites. It demonstrates, contrary to dominant adult perceptions, the critical, communicative and creative use of language offered by young people when asked about their educational experiences, and highlights the potential innovation being missed by not listening.
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spelling doaj.art-5d939531c20c48b1b716f74cf97bf3ed2023-02-23T10:42:18ZengUCL PressLondon Review of Education1474-84601474-84792013-06-011112713910.1080/14748460.2013.799809Valuing the talk of young people: are we nearly there yet?Aisling O'BoyleThis paper examines the reasons why young people's talk about themselves and their educational experiences do not seem to be valued in public discourse about education. Drawing on a national dataset of student focus groups, it illustrates how students talk about themselves in educational contexts in a way that is entirely different and more complex than how they are conceptualised by an adult audience and symbolic elites. It demonstrates, contrary to dominant adult perceptions, the critical, communicative and creative use of language offered by young people when asked about their educational experiences, and highlights the potential innovation being missed by not listening.https://uclpress.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.1080/14748460.2013.799809
spellingShingle Aisling O'Boyle
Valuing the talk of young people: are we nearly there yet?
London Review of Education
title Valuing the talk of young people: are we nearly there yet?
title_full Valuing the talk of young people: are we nearly there yet?
title_fullStr Valuing the talk of young people: are we nearly there yet?
title_full_unstemmed Valuing the talk of young people: are we nearly there yet?
title_short Valuing the talk of young people: are we nearly there yet?
title_sort valuing the talk of young people are we nearly there yet
url https://uclpress.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.1080/14748460.2013.799809
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