One of the guiding lights in Student Participation and Active Citizenship over the last 20 years in Melbourne has been Roger Holdsworth. Roger has given time, energy and resources in the promotion of Student Participation and collaborative learning for well over 15 years. We are grateful for the support he has provided us in developing both this section and the Student Council sections of this website.

In December 1989, Roger Holdsworth produced an editorial for "Connect", the magazine he had produced almost single handedly for the previous 10 years. Part of his reason for getting involved in Student Participation can be summed up in the following words:

Roger has helped to run numerous programs over the years that have focused on training students to be more effective in their participation in a range of school activities and organisations. He has acted a little like a clearing house of ideas on how to develop more effective curriculum for student participation. One of his key concerns now is that there is a focus on student leadership by a few select students rather than participation for all students. He argues that we need to provide genuine participation for all students.

This march by secondary school students in Averio, Portugal displayed some of the strength of feeling in relation to what was happening in East Timor. Student participation to make a difference can take many forms. Participation in student council is one form of action, showing your feelings on issues like this is another. See our action section for further ideas. (Photo by Roger Holdsworth)

In terms of his own heroes, Roger talks about Bunker Roy. He is a man who was was very prominent in the Indian government, but who got annoyed at the ways in which the rich and city people were ripping off the poor and rural people. So he 'dropped out' and started working digging ditches in Rajasthan, and working with poor people in the villages. He has been doing this now for over 20 years. Bunker Roy says that "An expert is just an ordinary person from another village". He may be an ordinary person, but he is one whose actions make him a hero.

Most importantly according to Roger, we must consider the nature of the difference we wish to make. If it is a selfish difference in which some people are worse off in order to make you personally better off, then it is not one that will necessarily help to improve the world. As a teacher, you can help to make a difference to the lives of students by giving them the opportunity to be involved and do really important things while at school.

The push to student participation in education was at its peak in the 1970's and 1980's. While it died off for a while, it is interesting that in Australia, the concept of participation has been brought back to life through a program called Civics and Citizenship. Like the Service Learning Programs in the United States, the idea is very much one of encouraging participation by students in bringing about positive change in their communities.