Manchester Met case study adapts Lundy’s model for student participation

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Drawing on Lundy: A Holistic Approach to Student Voice and Participation describes student participation in Manchester Metropolitan University’s Department of Social Care and Social Work. The journal published this reflective practice account on 23 September 2025. Publisher record.

What the department describes

The authors adapted Lundy’s space, voice, audience and influence framework. Alongside surveys and representation, they describe timetabled discussions, tutorials, Padlets, drop-ins and student partnerships.

A 2023–24 pilot recruited ten paid reverse mentors, who contributed perspectives on jargon, learning resources and assessment descriptions. The account also describes co-created placement resources and routes for students to speak with decision-makers.

The authors acknowledge that their approach still favoured regular attenders and online participants. They report improvements in student voice measures, especially NSS, but provide no causal evaluation or numerical effect estimate. Their conclusion explicitly rejects a claim of universal effectiveness. Full case study, pages 150–157.

Use the case as a design prompt

Our practical suggestion is to map the demands of each participation route. Consider timing, location, accessibility, preparation and whether students know who will receive their contribution.

Ask students which routes are usable and what would help them take part. Additional channels should have a purpose and an accountable audience; their mere existence does not demonstrate wider representation.

For written feedback, retain the source context and avoid assuming that comments from different routes can be pooled without qualification. A survey, a representative discussion and a mentoring conversation may have different expectations of confidentiality and use.

The governance checklist can help plan a suitable survey comment review. Analytics cannot identify all absent voices from the responses it receives or guarantee that participation will improve.

Review note, 7 September 2026: checked the substantive case study, added the pilot date and participation limits, and separated reported activity from proven effects. The citation below follows the journal’s recommended order; the PDF places Evans before Mitchell-Smith.

Reference

Zinnia Mitchell-Smith, Ffion Evans and Rachael Rooke (2025). Drawing on Lundy: A Holistic Approach to Student Voice and Participation. Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 7(1), 150–161. Publisher citation and DOI. Publisher-listed DOI: 10.66561/sehej.v7i1.1409.