Tool | CLEAR model for student participation.

The CLEAR model gives you tools to organize student participation effectively, inclusively and sustainably, in line with the UN Convention: “Nothing about us, without us.”

What does the model offer?

The model gives you insight into five success factors for participation: Can do, Like to, Enabled to, Asked to and Responded to. With real-world examples and tips for removing barriers and getting students actively involved.

Who is it intended for?

The model is for education professionals, policymakers and student stakeholders in secondary schools, colleges and universities who want to make student participation more inclusive and effective.

More about the CLEAR model

The CLEAR model of Lowndes, Pratchett and Stoker (2006) can be a tool to organize student participation as effectively as possible.
The UN Convention states as a general obligation that experts by experience should be involved in the development and implementation of policy (Article 4, third paragraph). The starting point of the UN Convention is therefore also: “Nothing about us, without us.” The participation of experts by experience can be organized in different ways, the CLEAR model can support this.

Organizing effective student participation

The CLEAR model gives you insight into the barriers and what it takes to organize effective student participation. CLEAR is an acronym formed from the first letters of relevant factors: Can do, Like to, Enabled to, Asked to, Responded to. Below, these factors are explained with some good practices of participation at Dutch higher education institutions. The good practices show that educational institutions already take into account many barriers and facilitators for student participation. Beyond these examples, much more is happening in the field of student participation.

Five success factors

1. Can do:

Students, should be able to participate. Lack of time, money or skills can be a barrier to participation. Students with disabilities or support needs spend on average over an hour more on self-study per week than students without disabilities or support needs (Van den Broek et al., 2020). This may mean that students with disabilities have less time left to actively participate in, for example, focus groups.

The “Can do” factor also shows that financial compensation can affect participation. The time a student puts into participating in policies could also be put into, for example, a side job or study. The educational institution should take this into account.

Good practice: at a number of Dutch higher education institutions, active students are already rewarded with a volunteer contribution. Students are also sometimes employed as student assistants, such as at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam.

2. Like to:

Students must also want to participate. This depends on how connected students feel to the educational institution. Here it is important that students feel part of the institution. Organizing social activities right from the beginning of study can help with this.

Good practice: at HAN, they developed the College Coins App for prospective students. The app allows them to get to know HAN better prior to the college year. In this way, the institution is betting on student loyalty.

3. Enabled to:

Students should be given the opportunity to participate. This means organizing groups and activities in which students can share their experiences. By offering different opportunities, all students can participate in the way that suits their needs and talents.

Examples of different types of student participation include:

• Promotion/information (e.g., at open days)
• Student or study association (board or active committee member)
• Student coaching / buddy
• Educational Development
• Social activities (organizing an outing)
• Administrative
• Policy (e.g., participation council)
• Project Support

Good practice: at TU Delft, the Student Unlimited platform was created in 2018, on the university’s initiative, to receive more feedback from students. Since March 2020, the platform has become autonomous. As a result, it also organizes activities such as discussion evenings and lectures.

4. Asked to:

Students should be asked to participate. In this, communication is important. Stimulating participation can be done by offering multiple opportunities to participate. For example, using online questionnaires or approaching students directly to participate in discussions. This way there is an opportunity for every student to be heard.

Good practice: a student at the University of Amsterdam tells ECIO in an interview that he was asked by the university to attend consultations with architects on the design of a new campus. In this way, the student voice was directly included in making university buildings accessible.

5. Responded to:

It is important to have feedback to the students. This gives the students insight into what has been done with their input. Sometimes, for practical reasons, for example, a student’s proposal cannot be acted upon. With communicating these reasons to the student, they do not feel ignored. The moment students feel they are ignored, confidence and motivation will drop and they may stop participating.

Good practice: during an interview with a student at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, she indicated that she was very satisfied with the cooperation between the Power platform, of which she is a part, and the university. She talks about a complaint the platform received about the online environment of the college. This suddenly changed and became cluttered. Powerplatform was then allowed to talk with the manager “functional management” to prevent problems like this in the future.

Source: Lowndes, V., Pratchett, L., Stoker, G. (2006). Diagnosing and Remedying the Failings of Official Participation Schemes: The CLEAR framework. Social Policy & Society , pp. 281-291.

Getting Started

Use the CLEAR model to guide participation with impact. Put student voice on the map structurally!