Student Voice - Always worth listening to!

I had an interesting chat today with a year 3 boy. He was identified 3 years ago as a child we would track over their primary school years to gage any movement in his development and understanding of the identified Life Long Learning competencies. When I asked this young man if he believed he was a life long learner his response was 'not really because I don't use it all the time' I probed a little deeper to discover he could indeed recall (quite surface) all the Life Long Learner qualities that we reinforce at Red Beach School and he could describe in full which each of the Life Long Learning qualities was. As the developmental framework we have developed over time highlights the goal is for students to apply these qualities in their everyday school and outside school life. I then asked 'What will it take for you to apply these qualities more?' He said I could pick a quality a day and really work on applying that during the day, positive self talk and making myself do it helps'. It appeared he had all the Life Long Learning literacy necessary. I have been reflecting on what he said all day - what enablers help to shift students, shunt them into really applying the qualities? What can we do better to demonstrate the gain/value add? Do students experience enough challenges each day in their learning to truly have opportunities to apply such qualities? All good food for thought! I continue to rate highly the power of student voice in directing our where to next steps. This kid has huge potential are we really building his learning capacity as best we can?