Listening to students improves academic performance

Educational institutions are constantly looking for strategies that help students achieve effective learning. Now, a study shows that listening to students improves academic performance, making schools more flexible and promoting a commitment from all the actors in the educational community.

The adult-centric view that continues to prevail in the teaching process arises from those who “know” and those who simply do not have a certain knowledge. From that position, students must receive what teachers are going to deliver.

However, we have spent many years with a model that is increasingly being called into question, and the results are widely questionable. So what can we do?

A study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Riverside and Northwestern Universities has found that when students are listened to and their input is incorporated into the strategies of teachers and administrators, performance increases.

This changes the paradigm of how teaching-learning strategies are built, incorporating an active and responsible role in the participating students. Although this may seem obvious, the truth is that it does not happen inside educational establishments.

However, listening to students is not enough to improve academic performance. The proposals must be incorporated into the way in which it is carried out in the teaching-learning process, that is, the institution must be flexible and adaptive to its students.

This challenge is not only technical, but essentially cultural. As specialist Heather Van Benthuysen of Chicago Public Schools points out, “If we want students to have truly meaningful collaboration, we have to build the capacity of adults to have those conversations as well.”

This study, conducted between 2018 and 2019, included 12,000 ninth-grade students from Chicago schools and was published in the American Journal of Education.

An investigation that should make us think about how schools are built and what is the best way to carry out a plan that enhances learning and improves student performance.