Listening to the Voices of the School Community as part of the welcoming, empowerment, and monitoring approach (WEMA) to improve school outcomes

Listening to the Voices of the School Community (LiVoS) is a set of procedures implemented to leverage the voices of multiple members of the school community (i.e., students, educational and non-educational staff members, administrators, and parents) in efforts to enhance the school’s climate and achieve its educational outcomes. LiVoS is rooted in our conceptual model of “schools in evolving contexts” and is a component of the Welcoming, Empowerment, and Monitoring Approach (WEMA) intervention developed by the authors. This approach could be implemented on all levels: individual schools, districts, local authorities, regions, and countries. This chapter describes the conceptual framework and methods developed to help schools achieve their educational goals. The focus here is on the practical aspects of LiVoS, its contributions, and challenges when implemented on scale. We provide examples from our work over the years in multiple places in the world.