Changes in thinking about pupil participation: Foreign inspiration

The topic of the contribution is pupil participation in school life. It is a topical issue of present Czech and foreign education, which has been discussed with varying degrees of intensity in the context of changing social conditions and related changes in current schools, teaching approaches and position of pupils in these processes. The study deals with changes in thinking about pupil participation in recent years which have shown development of new models of pupil participation. The article provides an overview of those models in which their authors emphasize listening to pupil voices by adults at school. Another part of the text is devoted to presentation of three typical ways of defining the pupil voice that appear in foreign educational literature. Considerations about appropriateness of the use of the term pupil voice are also described as a part of an attempt to define it. In conclusion we off er key issues related to pupil participation in the Czech Republic. The study focuses primarily on research studies dealing with this issue but its' focus brings ideas and inspiration also for school practice.