All in all it's just another brick in the wall,

All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2 - Pink Floyd

As the strains of Roger Waters' Pink Floyd classic died away and the Li Po Chun United World College dancers who had been interpreting it left the stage, more than 250 people settled in for a day of debate.

It was just after 9am last Saturday and the gathering of leading academics, education officials, principals, teachers and pupils was set to discuss a relatively new concept in Hong Kong.

'It's nice to hear Pink Floyd on a Saturday morning,' Deputy Secretary for Education Chris Wardlaw told the British Council forum discussing 'student voice'.

The forum, held at the Independent Schools Foundation Academy in Cyberport, was billed as a response to Hong Kong's education reform agenda.

In addition to Mr Wardlaw, keynote speakers included Geoff Whitty, director of the Institute of Education in London, Cheng Kai-ming, chair professor of education at University of Hong Kong, Archie McGlynn, founder and director of Hong Kong Schools' Self-Evaluation Network, and Derek Wise, principal of Cramlington Community High School, Northumberland, the UK.

British Council Hong Kong director Ruth Gee introduced the theme: 'This is the beginning of a debate, discussion and points of action around student involvement in schools,' she told the forum, adding that she wanted 'action points' rather than 'a talking shop'.

Mr Wardlaw said the idea of student voice had been a discussion that had been going on for many years, but needed to be contextualised in Hong Kong.

He said the Education Bureau had a lot of data from student feedback and school self-evaluation and there was a clear message.

'Teachers are concerned about the extent to which students discuss and share their experiences, share their learning experiences with others in a class, are involved in managing their own learning and take the initiative to learn,' he said.

Students wanted more active involvement and more opportunities to ask questions in class, share with classmates and to take the initiative. 'These are crunch issues,' he said.

If Hong Kong is just setting off down the 'student voice' road, Britain offers examples of its success.

Mr Wise used a multimedia presentation to demonstrate what could be achieved in just four years. A student council was active in school administration, running its own TV station and even playing a role in infrastructure design.

'What do you do when your students choose ghastly red furnishings,' he asked, adding that although he did not think them appropriate, he 'held his tongue' and now quite liked them. Students had even controlled the budget for redesigning the area.

He said a 'mayor' would be elected next year to represent students in a new Year Seven and Eight Learning Village.

'We are progressing with this [involving students in management]. We're on a journey,' he said.

Progress was echoed by the Northumberland students.

'We have a choice of what happens in school rather than being told what happens,' said one in a video presentation. 'We spend most of our lives here. Why not make an environment we are happy with?'

The often unforeseen outcomes of giving students power was a theme picked up by Chris Forse, the English Schools Foundation's head of parent and student services.

'Two words come to mind over student voice,' he said. 'Trust and risk. This goes way beyond student councils. You have to trust students, take the risk and be prepared for unexpected outcomes.'

But it was Professor Whitty who set the British scene. Fresh from carrying out research on student councils for the government, he explained that although it was not compulsory for schools in England to have a student council - unlike in Wales - the government encouraged them to do so. Councils were just one element of student voice.

His survey of 1,000 teachers, 2,500 secondary school students, and visits to 15 schools, showed that 95 per cent of teachers worked in a school with a council. A further 4 per cent said their school had other provisions for student voice and only 1 per cent had no provision.

He said the impact was 'reasonably positive although not overwhelmingly so'.

Forty one per cent of teachers felt the school environment and facilities had improved and 28 per cent thought students were more engaged. Just under half felt students should be involved in the process of appointing new teachers, but only 35 per cent felt students should sit on governing bodies.

The survey revealed that where students were involved in decision-making it was mainly linked to facilities, such as toilets and refectories, or school policies like anti-bullying. Disappointingly, only 7 per cent had been involved in decisions relating to teaching or the curriculum.

Professor Whitty said the message for Hong Kong was that educators needed 'a clear rationale' for student voice. The focus should be on 'why we would want to do it' rather than just 'how to'.

Other forum highlights included a session by self-evaluation architect Archie McGlynn with students who attended his school workshops, a student panel mock interviewing Robin Cheung Man-biu, principal of Tsung Tsin College in Tuen Mun, for a job, and workshops for educators and students.

Mr McGlynn showed results of a drawing exercise in which he asked pupils to describe their school. Although many were positive, some depicted school as oppressive, with one showing a prison.

His students were not shy to exercise their voices in support of pupil power.

Jessie Ip Hin-tung, a Form Seven student from Marymount School, said: 'I see an opportunity for students to tell us what they want, what they need, or about changes they hope to see at the administrative level, which is rare in Hong Kong.'

And Henry Wong Yan-chun, a Form Five student at Hong Kong Chinese Women's Club College, said: 'Raising our student voice is very important - about giving our opinions and influencing with our suggestions for the future.'

The mock interview with Mr Cheung showed how searching students' questions can be. The interview process had made him focus on his suitability as a candidate, he said.

It was down to the experts to answer the big questions at the final plenary session. How could students' voices be developed in a society with a traditional blind respect for elders, principals and teachers, and had a predominantly collective top-down culture?

Professor Cheng, moderating the final debate, said student voice could be interpreted in a number of ways; to do with welfare and well-being, civil rights or even political power . 'It matters how principals perceive it as a real item on their agenda,' he said.

Mr McGlynn said the main factor was the 'ethos and leadership' of schools. 'Schools where there is evaluation, a willingness to accept new challenges, to look at new ways of doing things, to involve students are the schools that are thriving, flourishing,' he said.

Tsung Tsin College's Mr Cheung said more dynamic principals, who were more amenable to democratic values and practices, were slowly coming to the fore.

David Coles, the Education Bureau's chief quality assurance officer, said it was down to pioneers to drive change. 'Yes, some of our schools are very hierarchical and teachers don't even get a voice in some of them, let alone students. However, I think it's more to do with pioneers and people with ideas who do something,' he said.

But it fell to Professor Cheng to spell out why he felt Hong Kong had no choice but to pursue more radical educational change.

'The system we have now, the way they teach students and the way students spend their lives in schools, is not working. We have very few jobs now where you don't have to express yourself, communicate, face clients, make decisions, design products, innovate. That is why we have this reform. And this reform is really just a tiny step towards opening up the education system.'

Fittingly, the final voice to be heard came from a student.

Island School's Michael Luk, 17, told the forum student voice should not be an extra-curricular exercise. 'It is as important as what you learn in maths, English and history,' he said.

The British Council is to work with the Education Bureau on a series of student-teacher seminars involving about 50 schools, with Archie McGlynn using four schools as case studies, leading to a second forum next October.