Encouraging voices : respecting the insights of young people who have been marginalised

When provided with an opportunity to reflect upon their experiences of education, young people can o ften offer insights into those procedures and actions which have either supported or inhibited learning. In this article Richard Rose and Michael Shevlin describe how a team of researchers came together with a group of young people from marginalised communities, including those with disabilities, from refugee families or from ethnic minorities to explore the ways in which they had been included or excluded by the education system. The project described involved a team of people drawn from the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Their work focused upon the experiences of young people who were concerned to tell their stories and, in so doing, inform teachers and education policy makers about the steps which may be taken to enable the inclusion agenda to be more thoughtfully addressed.