Case studies
The case studies below were written by practitioners who have used the Youth Voice Toolkit across a range of settings. Each case study describes how practitioners used the resource, how it influenced their practice and the impact it made with learners.
Some examples also include Youth Voice Charters developed by children and young people, as well as findings from peer research that capture the views of a wider range of children and young people who have been consulted on specific themes or topics within these settings.
This page will be updated regularly with new case studies and if you are interested in sharing your own journey please email Youth Voice Toolkit.
Context for using the toolkit
Pupil Voice is already quite strong within our school – we have a Pupil Council, a Junior Leadership Team and an Equalities Group which all seek to improve the experiences of our young people however they weren’t coordinated in their efforts. Using the Pupil Voice Toolkit gave us a springboard to challenge each of these groups in a common way, which was accessible to them, so that they would be able to produce a piece of work that was meaningful to all of them and therefore representative of the school.
How we used the resource
We called a meeting of all three pupil voice groups, which consisted of circa 75 pupils (almost 10% of our student population) and used the challenge questions from the Pupil Voice Toolkit to collect all of their thoughts and ideas regarding how pupil voice data was gathered across the school by staff – what worked well and how it could be improved. This larger group then had the opportunity to form a smaller core group, who were tasked with analysing the information and using it to create a pupil charter for the school. This is still in the process of being finalised – the pupils are wanting to create the charter in the style of the UNCRC and are going to work with the Art Department to achieve this.
Impact on learners and wider community
Using the Pupil Voice Toolkit, it allowed the pupils to really dig deep into the views that they had collected and gave them a real focus on what the end output was going to be. Without this, it would have been hard for the pupils to conceive of an idea that united them all and clearly set out what they wanted to achieve.
Whilst working with the Core group, I invited Jude Henderson from Connected Communities (East Lothian CLD) to work alongside the group to help them achieve the Participation in Democracy Award. This award provided the pupils with an opportunity to take real leadership of the project, approach their peers in a meaningful manner to seek their opinions and reflect on their individual roles and contributions. Of the 12, 10 pupils ranging from S1-S6 gained the Level 5 Award and are amongst the first pupils in Scotland to receive such an award.
Impact on your professional practice and advice for other educators
Whilst using the Pupil Voice Toolkit, and especially the challenge questions, I was constantly reflecting on my own practice and the methods that I have used to collect and implement Pupil Voice within my subject. My main reflection was that whilst I believed that I was informing pupils of how their views were changing my classroom practice, I wasn’t doing this in an explicit enough manner and going forward, I have been more obvious when informing them of how their views have been taken into consideration.
My main tip is to let the process take its time - I had great visions of being able to create a Pupil Charter in the space of half a term however this was unrealistic for a number of reasons and we have had to carry the work on into this academic year. This is by no means a failure, as the pupils involved remain committed to the work as they see the importance of it and they are excited by the opportunity to make real change within the school.
Context for using the toolkit
We chose to use the Youth Voice Toolkit to help us bring children's rights to life in the day-to-day running of our primary school. Following school wide promotion of Children’s Rights, a staff review showed that our pupil voice practices varied a lot from class to class. We wanted to move away from traditional, adult-led consultations and instead give our pupils real, meaningful ownership over school improvement.
To do this, we worked directly with our Pupil Council representatives from Primary 1 through to Primary 7. We wanted to use the Toolkit to train these pupils to step up as active peer researchers who could gather honest feedback from their classmates. This approach gave the children a structured, inclusive way to lead a school-wide survey. Ultimately, this allowed every child in our school to have a genuine say in shaping our new whole-school Pupil Voice Charter ensuring that no one's views were left out.
How we used the resource
We used the Youth Voice Toolkit to support our Pupil Council in leading a complete, school-wide research project. First, we used the resource pack to train our representatives as 'Junior Researchers'. This gave them the skills and confidence to design a customised, school-wide Pupil Voice Survey.
The representatives then facilitated peer-research across all stages, gathering both quantitative data and open-ended qualitative comments from their classmates. Once the surveys were completed, the Pupil Council analysed the data to pull out key themes, such as children wanting clearer feedback on their suggestions and different ways to share ideas, like sticky notes or voting.
The Pupil Council used these findings to draft a brand-new Pupil Voice Charter. This draft was then presented back to school staff during a collaborative meeting, so that teachers, support staff and pupils negotiated the final document together. This process ensured that the resulting charter was truly co-constructed, both protecting teacher classroom autonomy while also establishing protected weekly talking times to act on student views.
Impact on learners and wider community
The toolkit had a direct, positive impact on our school community by turning pupil feedback into real, visible action. Our survey data showed a strong baseline of rights-awareness, with 86% of children stating they knew their rights and 69% feeling listened to. Crucially, our Pupil Council identified a clear gap in the 'feedback loop', realising that many classmates didn't always know what happened to their ideas, or feel they have the chance to share their views with their Pupil Council rep.
By using the toolkit to create the Pupil Voice Charter, we fixed this gap. One concrete example is the rollout of weekly 'Timetabled Talk' slots across all classes, giving reps dedicated space to feed back decisions to their peers. Pupils reported feeling a real boost in self-esteem; as one pupil shared, 'Having a say means school can be more fun'.
The wider community has also felt the benefit. Our parent feedback highlighted a strong desire for low-stress environments that capitalise on children's unique talents. Parents highly value transparent communication loops and our children having a say in classroom approaches and their learning environment, like 'Fact Fridays' and child-led play layouts, which have noticeably increased student engagement and built a stronger sense of community belonging.
Impact on your professional practice and advice for other educators
Using the toolkit completely transformed how I approach Children's Rights, while grounding pupil voice promotion with use of the Lundy model. It supported me to look past just providing 'Space' and 'Voice' and forced me to critically evaluate whether our pupils had a genuine 'Audience' and measurable 'Influence' over school decisions. By stepping back and letting the Pupil Council lead the research, I learned how to move away from adult-led consultation and instead design structured pathways that ensure student views directly trigger documented changes in our school policy.
My main message to other educators is to use the toolkit as a practical lens to check if your pupil voice is truly impactful, rather than just tokenistic. If you are considering using this resource, here are two practical tips based on the Lundy quadrants:
- Secure the 'Audience' structurally: Don't leave listening to chance. Explicitly build protected slots into your weekly school timetable so class representatives have a reliable space to share peer data and speak directly with decision-makers.
- Prove the 'Influence': Gathering views is only half the battle. Create highly visible feedback loops—like a "You Said, We Did, We Evaluated" framework—so children can clearly see exactly how their ideas have reshaped the school environment.
Pupil Voice Charter: Our Adult's Job
Pupil Voice means that your ideas, your feelings, and your choices really matter in our school. It means you get to help make Dunard a better place by speaking up, and the adults promise to listen to you and work with you.
Our school values
At Dunard we encourage everyone to be the best they can be.
Our Children’s Rights (especially Article 12) and our school values of Friendship, Respect, Effort, Kindness and Honesty guide everything the adults and children do.
We know that to show our values, we all need to hear everyone’s ideas and be nice to each other everywhere. Adults need to show us kindness, active listening and polite manners so we can copy that. Whatever we do, we want adults to be curious about why we did it. If we have ideas for something new, we would like a chance to try it out. The more help and support we get, the better.
Sharing our ideas
If we have an idea for how to improve the class or school, we know we can share ideas with the Headteacher, Depute Headteacher or other adults around the school. Our Pupil Council will also listen to our ideas and some of these will be shared at assembly.
We really want to be able to share our ideas with our teacher. We would like our teacher to let us share our ideas when we put our hand up, or teachers can let us share them in other ways like on a poster or using sticky notes.
We can make sure everyone gets a chance to have their say by letting others talk when someone is listening to them. Our Pupil Council will listen to what we have to say.
We need different ways to make sure everyone has a say, like putting our hand up, being picked at random or posting in a suggestion box. If we don’t have any ideas, we can still have a say by voting on ideas. We need our teachers to ask what we think and listen to what we say.
Our adults job
All adults must join in with developing a positive Pupil Voice ethos, all of the time.
Class Charter
At the start of the school year, each class should negotiate their Class Charter and then review it through the year. This will help us understand what Pupil Voice means, how to use it well, and help ensure we know the best people to hear our views: Our Teacher, Pupil Council Rep or Headteacher.
Timetabling Talk
Adults will build space for speech into the weekly timetable. This gives us a time to discuss class and school issues. During this time, adults step back to act as audience and facilitators, allowing us to lead the discussion. Adults will try to give feedback on why an idea is moving forward or why it cannot.
Pupil-chosen reps
Consultation will be held with us to decide how Pupil Council reps will be chosen and how often they will rotate. Dedicated training will be provided to Pupil Council members, so they understand their roles and how to help promote and respond to peer feedback.
Promoting Pupil Voice
These are a few ways that adults might promote and record pupil voice, adults will regularly ask us how we want to do it too!
- Responsive planning can include:
- votingon classroom layouts or dedicating lessons /topics,
- using exit tickets, reflective plenaries, Circle Time and KWL grids to decide next steps
- leading our own learning through personal projects and play based learning.
- Multi-medium capture can include:
- speaking: class forum, ‘Mend-It Meetings’ and Restorative Conversations, Pupil Researchers (Youth Voice Toolkit);
- non-speaking: suggestion boxes/jars, post-it notes, emotional check-in, vote with feet, drawing & sketching and GMWP surveys
- displays: ‘You Said, We Did’, Wow Wall/Proud Cloud, peer recognition awards