This chapter considers opportunities for education to mobilise student agency, through authentic voice and choice, in order to respond to pervasive social, political, environmental, and economic challenges. Taylor & Francis It is a timely and direct argument: that rising anxiety, disillusionment and disengagement among young people are not aberrations to be managed but signals to be responded to — and that education has the means to do so, if it is willing.
Numbers of young people who feel anxious, depressed, disillusioned, or disengaged have been increasing across Australia and comparable democracies, and the unprecedented experiences of crisis in 2020 saw feelings of despair and hopelessness in young people concerningly exacerbated. Taylor & Francis Longmuir’s response to this is not therapeutic but educational: she argues that what young people need is not reassurance but genuine agency — real opportunities to exercise voice and choice in ways that connect their learning to the challenges they can actually see in the world around them.
Drawing on case studies from Australian educational settings where student voice initiatives generated visible belonging and empowerment, the chapter examines what those conditions look like in practice and how they shape young people’s capacity to develop active, resilient citizenship. The argument is that belonging and empowerment are not byproducts of good schooling — they are its purpose. When students experience themselves as genuine participants in their learning communities, with real influence over things that matter, the despair and disconnection that characterise so much of adolescent disengagement begin to shift.
For the hub’s focus on Years 7 to 9, this chapter speaks directly to the connection between engagement and meaning. It is not enough to make school more stimulating or better resourced if young people still experience themselves as powerless within it. The gateway out of disengagement, Longmuir argues, is the experience of mattering.