The Courage to Challenge: Students as Co-Designers of Learning

A few months ago, I got to hang out with Summer Howarth and talk all things student voice and agency. Summer Howarth has spent the last decade immersed in the systems, structures and strategies of Australian education – not just observing them, but helping to reshape them. Through her work in both system evolution and school-based practice, Summer has become one of the key thought leaders pushing systems beyond default thinking and into a new paradigm: one where students are co-authors, not just consumers, of their learning.

Her work with the Northern Territory Learning Commission (NTLC) is a powerful example of this shift in action. The NTLC equips students with the skills to lead inquiry and insight work in their schools – gathering data, listening to peers, synthesising meaning and co-designing with educators. These students are not just participating in discussions about change – they are guiding them. They are in the room, asking better questions, offering better context, and elevating the authenticity of improvement work. (for more on this fantastic program, see https://learningcommission.com)

This is what happens when a system steps beyond “student voice” as a tokenistic checkbox and builds a deep culture of contribution.

When schools and systems invite students into strategic dialogue and position them as legitimate partners, the results are not only more relevant, they are more powerful.

During the creation of the current South Australian Department for Education’s statewide plan, Summer helped facilitate the strategic co-design process. Hundreds of students were engaged, not as focus group participants, but as architects. Their insights shaped the strategy’s language, values and priorities. Their questions reframed adult assumptions. Their involvement infused the document with urgency, clarity and care. It didn’t dilute the strategy, it elevated it.

But this type of work cannot thrive in a culture of avoidance or silence.

If we are to genuinely challenge the status quo in our schools and systems, cultures that are deeply connected and courageously candid will get us there. Teams and communities where robust professional debate is not only allowed, it is expected will lead the way. Where disagreement is a sign of commitment, not disloyalty. Where we are safe enough to stretch each other and bold enough to question the way we’ve always done things.

Too often, I see school cultures where fear of tension leads to stagnation. Where politeness masks disengagement. Where innovation is spoken of, but never truly acted upon – because it would mean disrupting the comfort of compliance.

Let’s be clear: high performing cultures don’t emerge from niceness. They emerge from relational trust combined with high expectations. They require us to move from ‘us and them’ to we. To cultivate conditions where curiosity trumps certainty, and challenge is held with care.

Summer’s work shows us that when we connect deeply with each other—and with the purpose of why we do this work—our ability to challenge meaningfully expands. When connection and courage sit side by side, we move out of transactional conversations and into transformative dialogue.

This is Ferocious Warmth in action. High challenge, high care.

It’s not a strategy. It’s a stance. A way of leading that refuses to settle for the safe or the surface. A way of being in leadership where we both hold and stretch, where the expectations of ourselves, each other, and our students are high, and our respect for the people in the work is even higher.

So we ask ourselves and each other:

• What assumptions about students are we still holding on to?
• Are we creating enough space for real debate, or are we skimming along the surface?
• And most importantly—are we listening deeply enough to those who our system is built for?

The courage to challenge the role of students in education starts with us. With our willingness to hold the mirror up to our beliefs, our systems, and our culture. With our choice to invite students in – not to watch change happen, but to lead it with us.

Schools and systems that embrace this way of working won’t just adapt to complexity—they’ll grow stronger because of it. They’ll bounce forward, fuelled by connection, collaboration and a shared determination to make education not just better, but bolder.

I’d love to hear how you are creating cultures of contribution and agency.