• A culture of respect shatters stereotypes based on age.

• Students respect teachers who listen and ask challenging questions.

• A culture of respect provides all people the opportunity to act on their dreams and learn from their mistakes.

• Students are best heard when teachers step back and students speak up.

• Teachers are best heard when they are straight up and explain where they’re coming from.

• All people's ideas and opinions are valuable and must be heard.

• Students and teachers must first set their fears aside and take a chance on each other.

• Teachers must provide students with the information, education and support they will need to succeed. They must also develop their own ability to engage students.

• Strong partnerships require patience and courage.

• Teachers need to support students in taking on responsibility based on what they can do, not what they have done.

• Reflection helps everyone appreciate the importance of their education - for themselves, for their communities and for their lives.

• Students and teachers must hold each other accountable for all their decisions and actions.

• Students and teachers should continually challenge the impact of schools in their lives.

When Student Voice is supported, Student-Teacher partnerships can be successfully created. Students must be empowered to change schools if education is going to change. These Principals for Student-Teacher Partnerships offer those guidelines.

Originally created by the Youth Voice Project at UNC - Chapel Hill. In 1996 the Youth Voice Project gathered 500 youth from around the US and developed these Principles. Adapted from Youth Voice Begins With YOU by K. Markendorf and N. Straw (1996), Vancouver, wA: Project Service Leadership.