Young Leadership: Their Voices and Opinions Matter

Thoughts on Mohan Sivaloganathan’s TED Talk ‘The breakthrough power of young leaders’

As an educator on summer holiday, the time between closing the final chapter of last school year and beginning anew can feel endless, boundless. While I enjoy slow mornings, freedom to shop at Tesco in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday and the bright sunshine, I find this liminal time unstructured and less relaxing as hoped for.

In an effort to remain engaged in learning, this time my own learning instead of the pupils, I decided one way of maintaining that connection could come through podcasts. TED Talks Daily has become a favourite, which is unsurprising. I can remember watching TED Talks on YouTube as a child with dial-up internet. Yes, I am that old, but as a baby at the tail end of the millennial era, I have often towed the line between pre- and post-tech world. It has its advantages, most of which I’ve discovered in my adult working life.

In this thread of thinking, I listened to Mohan Sivaloganathan’s TED Talk ‘The breakthrough power of young leaders’ from the 2024 TED Ed Educator Talks. I’m not sure I thought I would glean much in 14 minutes, but I was pleasantly surprised. That remains the beauty of TED Talks – the knowledge and wisdom that speakers convey in such short moments. 

Mohan Sivaloganathan quite eloquently states ‘leadership is not a title; it’s a verb that requires action.’ It reminded me of a Pinterest list I saved years and years ago that tried to describe the key differences between manager and leader. I religiously studied this list as any nineteen year old finding their feet in different organisations would. Leadership was always important to me growing up. I wanted leadership roles in the sports and clubs I joined in secondary school. I made strides to attain these roles in university, working my way up to a position of significant influence in my organisation. I had a vision and a passion to work with and build that organisation and the people within it. The reward of leading was seeing the progress those around you made with your support and guidance. It was an addicting feeling – something I knew would be necessary for me to feel fulfilled in my life.

What I didn’t realise coming out of university was just how difficult it would be to transition that leadership experience to a workplace setting. I was lucky to have amazing teachers and professors in secondary school and university that fostered a learning environment that appreciated and uplifted the voices of students. I had professors that wanted to hear my ideas, that allowed me to create my own understanding of the world. They questioned me, yes. They played devil’s advocate, yes. They corrected me, yes. However, all of this was done with the intention of helping me develop and grow. There was never an emphasis on fitting into a box or ideal that they or society valued. 

I think a lot of schools today are the same in that respect, and the majority of teachers would feel just as passionately about fostering that environment in their own classrooms. I can only speak from my experience, but I haven’t always seen that style of leadership in my working life so far, both in education and before. There seems to be a real disconnect between the level of leadership and voice we work tirelessly to build in pupils through their education and the reality of what a work environment feels like after.

When I started this post I had listed quite a few quotes from the TED Talk to discuss and lead my thought process. Sivaloganathan talks about how his non-profit Our Turn is ‘a movement that uplifts the voices and changemaking ability of young people to be able to create a thriving education system.’ He discussed how they help young people ‘build community,’ ‘elevate their stories’ and work with the adult leaders in their lives to ‘forge that new future together.’ The talk inspired me to think about my own classroom and teaching. To consider how I use leadership, how I support pupils to develop leadership qualities and whether I include opportunities for leadership in my classroom. This post solely started as a way for me to discuss leadership in the classroom. What I didn’t expect to come out of it was an exploration of the disregard of leadership in young people when they leave education.

Hierarchy in workplaces and careers is not something I claim to be an expert on. I completely understand that the longer you’ve been in a position the more you would know about how to do that exact position. Experience is important, there is no doubt about that. The issue comes when experience is valued over everything else. Where experience is considered more highly over the thoughts and ideas of others. Where the thoughts and ideas of young people are disregarded and sometimes silenced because they ‘haven’t been there long enough’ or they ‘haven’t earned their stripes yet.’ That logic does not resonate with me. I cannot accept it as a professional myself, when my professional career hinges so closely on supporting and inspiring my pupils to use their voices, because what they have to say matters. 

It breaks my heart to even consider the possibility that they may have a job someday where their ideas for improvement or the future will be glanced over and ignored. 

So, yes, this post started as a commentary on building leadership in our young people in education. There is still room for improvement on that front. That goal is something I want to continue to work on personally.

However, there is a bigger takeaway from fleshing these ideas out in written form. There is a desperate need for the leadership shown from our younger population to be valued in society without ageism factoring in. Their voices and opinions are not inferior because they have spent less time on this planet. Their voices and opinions matter.

I will continue to instil that confidence into each and every young person who walks through my classroom door. I can only hope you’ll do the same.