Connecting Classrooms is a new British Council initiative to create sustainable, mutually beneficial partnerships between schools and school systems in the UK and all regions of the world. These partnerships will build trust and understanding between people in different societies and develop in young learners the cultural awareness and skills they need to mature into global citizens – positive contributors, in life and work, to our global society.

The British Council in Hong Kong has chosen Student Voice as the first focus for its Connecting Classrooms activities. Empowering young people in Hong Kong and the UK to take responsibility in school and give them a voice relates closely to the ambitions of Connecting Classrooms.

Student Voice is highly relevant in Hong Kong, where education reforms are about creating a new type of learner: informed, articulate and  able to think independently.

Supported by the Education Bureau, British Council's Student Voice project began with a forum in October 2007, bringing together students, principals, teachers and academics from across Hong Kong and leading practitioners from the UK. Since then, Student Voice has been taken forward in a series of school initiatives and workshops led by project consultant Archie McGlynn, and a new link between schools in Hong Kong and the English city of Portsmouth.  Portsmouth was chosen because of its ground-breaking work in student voice that has formed a key part of the Portsmouth Learning Community school improvement project run by Portsmouth Schools, University of Sussex and Portsmouth City Council.