Students support teaching staff to create engaging lessons and inclusive assessments

 By Beth Dixon and Shengbo Liu

What is ASVG?

The Active Student Voice Group (ASVG) is a student–staff co-production group within the Faculty of Social Sciences Education Team, set up to bring student voice into the heart of decision-making. Unlike typical consultation groups, ASVG is action-focused. Students act as partners, not just participants. Together, we’re tasked with initiatives aligned to faculty priorities, and we are trusted to shape the solutions.

This year marked the third year of ASVG, with past projects including academic tutoring and the development of the university’s Student Voice Principles. Being part of ASVG means not only contributing to meaningful change but also developing skills in research, collaboration, and innovative thinking.

What we created this year

Our project this year was to look at how we could support teaching staff to have a deeper understanding of students' experiences of teaching and assessment. We have done this through the creation of staff-facing materials. This was built on the work of Dr Emma Jones, a senior lecturer in Law, who led a task and finish group to investigate student and staff perspectives on effective teaching practices. This was inspired by both the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities scoring lower than expected on the ‘Teaching on my Course’ question of the National Student Survey (NSS). These findings were collated into a report, titled ‘Teaching on my Course Report’, which we greatly utilised in the creation of our materials, alongside other reports on this topic, created across the university.

As a result, we created:

• A Making Your Teaching Engaging Handbook, offering practical strategies for staff to use before, during, and after teaching. This includes a visual roadmap to help staff understand the process. 
• An Inclusive Assessment Handbook, focused on designing fairer and more accessible assessments.
• Slide decks to support the use of these handbooks in staff development sessions and away days. Including interactive activities for staff to engage and reflect.
• Staff video interviews, embedded in the resources to highlight real teaching experiences and good practices from across the university. (Kaltura playlist)

Our resources are designed to be easy to use and adaptable in different contexts—something staff can dip into for quick guidance or inspiration. They could be used for staff training sessions.

Personal Reflections

Before joining ASVG, we often felt like our voices only mattered when filling in a survey. ASVG changed that perspective. We can see our effort has paid off, and there is active change happening. It has been so important that student voices were elevated and prioritised in our work this year,  something we feel we achieved through the incorporation of many student experiences and direct quotes in the handbooks, showing staff not just what we think, but why it matters. 

We were part of a great team that shaped a university-wide resource. Presenting our work at the Education Conference in April was a standout moment—it made clear that our contributions were valued at every level of the institution. ASVG brings together students and staff from across Schools in the Faculty of Social Sciences to tackle meaningful questions. It’s a space where everyone’s voice is valued—and where students are not just listened to but relied upon. 

As a team, it has been so rewarding to increase awareness of the value of student voice, as well as creating high-quality, impactful outputs. We are immensely grateful and proud to have worked in a team that is so focused and dedicated to improving the experiences of both staff and students at the university. 

Beth Dixon is a final-year student studying MA Politics, and Shengbo Liu (Bob) is a final-year student studying BA Business Management.