The National Further Education and Training (FET) Learner Forum: The Benefits and Challenges of Transforming Learner Voice into Policy Change

This article is a reflection on the National Further Education and Training (FET) Learner Forum (NFLF). It uses the NFLF as an example of learner voice in practice, retracing the history of the NFLF as a means of reflecting on some of the benefits and challenges of bringing learner voice into public policy. The article outlines educational debates on learner voice processes alongside public policy debates around the role of qualitative data in decision-making processes to expose the differing perspectives on what learner voice processes should look like. It explores how these debates have shaped the NFLF and addresses what this has meant to learner voice in Irish FET.