We’re just back from a week in Prague helping to train school councils link teachers from schools across the Czech Republic. The words “Žákovské parlamenty” are very important to us now :)
We worked with a GREAT organisation called CEDU who support school councils over there. Having showed Kamila and Tomas from CEDU school councils from around London a couple of years ago, it was lovely to do the return trip.
CEDU have been supporting a number of schools across the Czech Republic to set up and maintain effective school councils.
They had put on a three day course for teachers from 13 schools across the whole country. Three teachers came from each school, including a head teacher – great commitment from the staff. Our contribution was to give a one-hour presentation on how school councils work in the UK, and to deliver a couple of training sessions for the 40ish teachers (number not age).
Things I learnt in Prague:
The obstacles that school councils face in the Czech Republic are remarkably similar to the ones that we face in the UK.
Training through a translator is difficult but a good challenge.
Prague is an amazing city and rabbit hearts taste really good.
Jackets from Top Man don’t keep you warm in -20 degrees temperatures.
If a teacher offers you a green drink with cream on the top in a Czech bar, don’t drink it.
Things we did:
Anyway, we started the trip with a visit to a local primary and secondary school called Táborská. After a lovely tour of the school (which you can see here, we sat in on a school council meeting which was translated brilliantly by one of the students, Max. Their school councils is called ‘3 Oko’ which means ‘Third Eye’.
The school council were talking about having a bigger role in supporting learning for younger students and working closely with teachers. It was a really useful start to see a school council meeting.
The next day was the first day of the conference. We had the amazing Honza as our official translator for the training – he was quick, concise and knew his stuff on participation. The whole week was a lot easier because of Honza – thanks!
After some warm up exercises, and three of the teacher participants turning up in traditional Moravian dress (plus shots of slivovitz for everyone!), Tomas gave an update on the programme. We then gave a speech (through Honza) on school councils in the UK. You can see this below; though the fonts are a bit messed up.
It became clear that the obstacles to effective school councils were very familiar to the Czech teachers. Around half of them had been involved in the CEDU programme for two years. They were also very interested in the students being excluded in UK schools, which doesn’t seem to be as common in the Czech Republic.
To give us a flavour of some of the student voice work they’ve been doing, the teachers each gave a short presentation on what their students have been up to. Here’s one of the presentations (you can see a few more here):
The next day we delivered two workshops to the teachers aimed at helping them to overcome some of the difficulties they were having with their school councils. Asher sensibly suggested that the workshops should be in Czech so that the teachers could share ideas, with Honza translating things back to us. This worked out well, and there was a sigh of relief from the teachers when they didn’t have to hear everything in English.
It was a really interesting day, and many of the teachers had made really good progress. We helped them to support one another, and chipped in with our own advice too. I found it difficult not to be able to support the teachers once they were in small groups though, due to the language barrier – often that’s when you can go into more detail and give some tailored support. We did out best though, and the teachers seemed to get a lot out of it.
After a lovely end-of course celebration, and some exciting discussions about future collaboration, our trip to Prague came to an end. I also did a short interview on Prague radio. If you can’t speak Czech, it’s probably not worth clicking :)
So we’d like to say a big thank you to the CEDU team: Tomas, Kamila, Karel, Filip, Honza, Jaroslav and Eliska. You were amazing hosts and we’re very grateful. A massive thank you to all the teachers we worked with too!
“It’s their [the pupils’] school, not my school. Adults need to work in partnership with children.”
Headteacher
Key benefits:
Raised profile of and pride in the school.
The school is now leading and assisting others to improve their practice.
Virtually eliminated vandalism.
Greatly improved behaviour and relationships between students, students and teachers and students and parents. Everyone takes responsibility for their own behaviour.
Reduced absenteeism.
Creates confident learners who have constructive relationships with each other.
Improved attainment (SATs scores).
Top advice
Create a culture of equal respect, rights and responsibilities. Everything flows from this. It allows staff and students to see themselves as part of a community with shared values and goals.
Examine your core purpose. Realise that school is about getting every child to develop as a person, not SATs or pleasing Ofsted. The headteacher’s role is to act as a ‘gatekeeper’ to ensure staff and students are free to get on with those things that address the core purpose.
Involve all students in evaluating and writing your school development plan (SDP). Create something everyone can understand, make it very public and ensure everyone refers back to it throughout the year.
Methods used:
Rights Respecting Schools Award
When the current headteacher took over the school had been without a permanent headteacher for 5 years, morale was low and the school was not well thought of in the area. The new headteacher started conversations with all staff about what they saw as the core purpose of the school. Together the staff and pupils started to take ownership of the school and refocus it. A governor discovered the Rights Respecting Schools Award scheme and saw that it fitted in well with the direction the school was moving in. It has since become central to everything the school does. The linking of rights and responsibilities has improved relationships across the school and externally.
Some parents initially expressed reservations as they felt that children “already know their rights”, but as the firm link between rights and responsibilities has been learned parents see how they can use this with their children. They have found this to be empowering and it has meant that where previously there may have been conflict now conversations can take place. An example given by the headteacher was of parents and children discussing parents’ responsibility to ensure children get enough sleep so that they can take advantage of their right to education. Without the language of rights and responsibilities this may have been a shouting match.
The headteacher has become an evangelist for Rights Respecting Schools because of the impact she has seen it have on her school and pupils. It does not just deal with rules, behaviour and relationships, but feeds in to every aspect of the school day. Lessons, environmental issues and food are all spoken about in the framework of rights and responsibilities.
The culture of listening and discussion has built great self-confidence in the pupils as well as giving them an understanding of their role in the school community. Pupils who moved up to the secondary school were reporting that, “secondary school treats us like babies; they do not let us make any decisions.” So the headteacher from the local high school visited St James’ and was so impressed with the understanding and maturity demonstrated in the discussions the pupils were having that the schools are now working together to improve involvement of students at the secondary school.
“If children are respecting adults, then adults should respect the children. It has to work both ways.”
Year 6 pupil
School principles, not rules
With the new found self-confidence of the pupils, a challenge was laid down to the new headteacher by one of the Year 5 pupils who was often getting in to trouble:
Year 5 pupil: “I want to talk to you about school, and you. You keep telling us that school’s about real life, well you’re wrong it’s not. And school rules, they’re rubbish. Rules aren’t about real life, rules are about control. And the reason we have rules in school are not to do with real life they’re to do with adults controlling children. And rules are nothing to do with real life, they’re place-specific (this is the phrase she used). When was the last time you went to Morrison’s and put your hand up at the deli counter to get some cheese? You don’t, do you? You wait your turn and you ask nicely.”
Headteacher: “But if you don’t have rules it’s called anarchy.”
Year 5 pupil: “No, you’re not listening to me. What I’m saying is, it shouldn’t be about control and it shouldn’t be place-specific, it should be about responsibility that people accept. So what we need are principles that go underneath everything we do and then it won’t matter who we are or where we are. And I’ve thought it through, we need three:
Be respectful,
be responsible and
be ready to learn.
If we do that it sums everything up. If we respect ourselves, other people and our world and we’re responsible for everything we think, say and do; we take responsibility for our actions towards other people and we take responsibility for our actions in the world and if we’re ready to learn here and now and there and then it won’t matter whether there are rules or not, because everybody would get on. So they should be our principles, Miss.”
This idea was taken to the school council and then to the governors and has become school policy. It has meant that people are responsible for the own behaviour and think about how their behaviour impacts on others, rather than just whether their behaviour will get them in to trouble. It means that there is one set of principles for the whole-school, not rules for teachers and rules for pupils.
Two tier council structure: school council and committees
Each class elects six representatives, two to each of three committees:
Eco-schools
Healthy Schools
Rights Respecting
Each of these has specific areas of responsibility that they discuss with their class in class meetings and then meet together to work on. Members of these committees then stand to be on the school council. This means that all the pupil-led work of the school can be co-ordinated by the school council but more people are involved in carrying it out.
After pupils are elected they are trained to run their committees, and they then do so with no staff support, so the projects and voices coming through are not tempered by staff. The school council meets every Friday and then meets with the governors every half-term to get their support for what the pupils are doing.
Student involvement with the school development plan (SDP)
As with any school, the SDP lays out what the school is aiming to achieve over the next year or more. The difference at St James’ is that rather than being a document referred to (rarely) only by the governors and the senior managers, the SDP has pride of place on its own noticeboard in the school’s entrance. The whole SDP is only two pages long and is written in language that everyone in the school can understand. It is surrounded by the evaluation of last year’s plan in the form of pictures and quotations from pupils, staff and parents.
The SDP is evaluated and written on a yearly cycle. After a new school council has been elected they consult with the whole-school on how well they feel all the targets set out in the previous year’s SDP have been met. They also ask every class, “what do the grown-ups in the school need to do to make you better learners?” The results of these consultations are brought together with the views of staff, governors and parents to form the new SDP. Everything the school does then flows from this plan, and it is there to be referred to by anyone involved with the school.
About the school:
St James is a school of average size serving the village of Wardle. It is situated in an area of some social disadvantage. The proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is above average.
Almost all pupils are of White British backgrounds and none are learning English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is average although the percentage with a statement of special educational need is above average. The school holds the Activemark and Healthy Schools awards and the United Nations Rights Respecting School award.
Involver conducted these case studies for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in 2011, as part of a project to encourage schools to involve their students in decision making
“If we weren’t listened to it just wouldn’t be right. It makes you feel really welcomed, because you’ve got your say.”
Year 5 pupil
Key benefits
Behaviour is not an issue in the school. This is a result of the incredibly positive relationships between staff and pupils and the understanding they share of rights and responsibilities.
By the time they leave the school all children are adept at expressing their opinions, talking to adults and relating to one another in a civilised, caring way.
Children show a clear affection for the school, the staff and all other pupils. The sense of ownership they feel is impressive.
Top advice
To express oneself compassionately and effectively one needs to learn to listen to and work with others. Group project work from a young age teaches the skills needed.
Staff need to see themselves as role models. Leading by example is essential. If you are trying to teach children respect, you need to show them that same respect.
Set your expectations higher. It is easy to underestimate how responsible young children can be and how intelligently they can contribute.
Pupil voice does not work unless everyone shares the value of listening. So, we need to educate around rights and responsibilities for pupil voice to work.
Methods used
Whilst Kirk Merrington has certain structures to listen to pupils, what is most important is the relationships between staff and pupils, which are open, friendly and mutually respectful. This is not to say that this is just a happy coincidence, the school has chosen to be this way:
Shared values
There is a very strong set of values which underpins everything the school does. Central to this is that the school has to act in a way that reflects the values it is trying to teach:
“We try to teach respect therefore young people are listened to.”
Headteacher
Initially these values grew from what the school wanted its children to learn. It was understood that for this to happen the school would have to be based on these values too and so all its interactions would need to be on this basis. Over time the school formalised this way of working first through the Investors in Pupils scheme and then the Rights Respecting Schools Award. The latter helped the school make clear the links between rights and responsibilities. Everything the school does now is framed within the language of rights and responsibilities. Whilst it cuts across many rights and responsibilities, pupil voice is clearly linked in the school to the right of everyone to be listened to and therefore the responsibility to listen to others.
“Rights Respecting Schools isn’t the be all and end all, but it’s easy to assume that you’re doing it [involving pupils] without something like this. The children will tell us what we want to hear, they are very loyal to us. These schemes help us to understand what’s going on, to audit it.”
Headteacher
‘Righty Duck’
In a primary school the concept of rights and responsibilities can be difficult to convey so the school has come up with a mascot to help. ‘Righty Duck’ can be seen all over the school and all pupils know that wherever they see him, there are rights and responsibilities at play. For example, the school council noticeboard has a picture of ‘Righty Duck’ next to notes explaining in simple language what the school council is for and which article of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) it relates to.
So, both those who can read the explanation and those who cannot understand that there is a link between the class charters, the work they do on sustainability, the school council and so on.
Staff modelling respectful communication
There are honest, open relationships between pupils, parents and staff. The school has an open door policy in its staff room and the headteacher’s office. This is part of the headteacher’s aim to ensure that all Kirk Merrington pupils will have the confidence and self-esteem to talk to any adult. It is absolutely understood that for pupils to learn how to relate positively to one another this behaviour needs to be modelled in the relationships staff have with them.
“Schools can run on auto-pilot; we don’t want to do that, we want to understand why we’re doing it and be purposeful about it.”
Headteacher
This means that, for example, when the school council asks for something the answer is never ‘no’, there is always an explanation and an ‘adult discussion’ about the reasons why. This is the starting point for attempting to find a solution, rather than the end of the matter.
This culture of problem-solving starts very early in the school and is seen as an essential building-block for positive communication and teamwork as the pupils get older.
Variety of opportunities for leadership and responsibility
In the classroom every child engages in project-based, team learning that helps them build skills of listening, collaboration and leadership. Everyone then has the opportunity to take on other roles of responsibility through which they can represent others or get their own voice heard. Although it is a very small school it makes available a variety of opportunities:
Play leaders (run games and sessions in the playground)
Singing leaders (teach songs on the playground)
Pupils elected to work with architects designing the new school
Peer-mediators
About the school (adapted from Ofsted)
This smaller than average sized school, south of Durham, is attended by pupils from the immediate area and beyond. The small number of pupils in the school results in mixed key stage classes. The areas served by the school have below average indicators of socio-economic circumstances and all the pupils are of White British heritage with English as their first language. The proportion of pupils in receipt of free schools meals is below the average as is the proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The school holds several awards including Healthy Schools accreditation.
Involver conducted these case studies for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in 2011, as part of a project to encourage schools to involve their students in decision making
“You can’t force children to get involved. But you can give them lots of chances and build their confidence slowly and they will start to take part.”
Student, Year 6
Key benefits:
Confident and articulate students who are willing and able to speak up about their ideas, and work together to put them into action.
Better behaviour from students who are proud of their school and what it achieves.
Students who are keen to learn and take responsibility for aspects of their learning.
Improved teaching and learning. Teachers who give students a say on their ‘learning journey’ are more flexible, adaptable and able to meet the needs of students.
A happy and cohesive school community that raises aspirations for students at the school.
Top advice
Buy-in from school leadership is crucial. It is really important to get the headteacher and senior leadership team involved in student voice and on your side. They need to be visibly promoting student voice in and around the school, supporting different projects. Crucially, they also need to be supporting staff to embrace student voice in their teaching and the different approach that this requires.
Staff will be more convinced of the value of student voice if they see the impact and appeal it has to students. Showcasing the students’ good work will help them to see the value in it, and get on board.
Encourage students and staff to listen to everyone’s ideas, even ones that are a bit silly. When students have trust and responsibility, students will quickly learn how to ask the right questions about projects and ideas. They will begin to realise and understand what an unrealistic idea looks like, and how to turn bad ideas into good ones.
Value everyone in the school. Not just the pupils and teachers, but governors, cleaning staff, technicians, teaching assistants and kitchen staff.
Taking risks is an important part of helping students to lead, and embracing student voice, but you will need senior management support to do this!
Give young people some ownership of their learning. Students who create their own learning journey, deciding on the how they learn, and what they learn (within boundaries) will be more engaged and perform better.
Methods used:
Friday Forums
On two Fridays every term, the school runs a Friday Forum. This is a really important way to show every child that it is their school and that their ideas to improve the school are really valued and listened to.
On each Friday Forum, children discuss a particular topic in their classes. These topics are picked and voted on by the school council and might be a topic like ‘learning’ or ‘safety’.
Pupils talk about what they would like to change or improve, and two representatives from each class then meet to present their thoughts to everyone in the school. A Friday Forum assembly is then planned, written and presented by Year 6 pupils who round up the feedback, and support them with statistics.
The school also has a traditional school council with class council representatives in each class.
The school council is extremely popular and has an extremely high profile in the school. Every child would love the opportunity to be on it. It has recently improved the playground equipment for the school.
Student’s input into teaching and learning through learning journeys
The school is keen on co-construction of the curriculum, and gives students a significant say in choosing their ‘learning journey’ through a topic. Teachers introduce a topic and explore what students already know, what they are interested in, what they would like to learn and how they would like to learn it. Being able to customise their learning engages students. It has also helped teachers to be more flexible with their teaching styles, and more responsive to the changing needs of students. The school is a brave and challenging place to learn.
About the school:
St Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School serves two parishes in the urban West Midlands. This area is very mixed socially and many pupils face social and economic disadvantage. Just under half of the pupils are from Catholic families. Over half the pupils come from a wide range of minority ethnic groups.
Twice the usual proportion of pupils start school with little or no English. An above average number of pupils have learning difficulties or disabilities. When children start in Nursery they have low levels of skills and knowledge.
Involver conducted these case studies for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in 2011, as part of a project to encourage schools to involve their students in decision making
Many schools are doing great, exciting things with their school councils and student voice; last year we were commissioned to write up some good practice case studies and we’ve (finally) been allowed to publish them. Have a look, steal some ideas and tell us what you’re doing that’s even better!
Case study: Student governors
Beauchamp College doesn’t really have a school council, they have elected student governors and a student ambassador instead. They perform many of the same roles, but as they sit on the governing body, are completely tied in to decision-making in their school. http://involver.org.uk/?p=3297
Resource: Quick minutes template
Ensure that you get down the most important facts from your school council (or any other meeting): what decisions were made, and WHO is doing WHAT by WHEN. http://involver.org.uk/?p=3272
Case study: Whole school democracy
Wroxham Primary School was turned around by creating a culture where everyone is listened to and is asking the question ‘how could we improve?’ They have cross-age circle times led by Y6, pupil-led parent evenings and an emphasis on self-evaluation. http://involver.org.uk/?p=3198
News: By and for young people
This is a podcast produced as part of the Our Say Our Way project, which is linking up young people on housing estates around the country. We’re currently writing a toolkit to spread what they are doing further: http://www.oursay-ourway.co.uk/blog/2011/12/2012-legacy/
Student voice networking in London: We’re putting on some free evenings to get school council co-ordinators together to share ideas, tips and tales of woe. We’ll provide the venue, refreshments and advice if you tell us where you’d like to meet up (if there’s strong interest in an area outside of London, we’ll happily come to you too, so let us know): http://bit.ly/wxwhDX
Even more case studies!
We’re adding a case study a day for the next two weeks, so keep checking the link below. There are already ones up about Design Teams at New Line Learning Academy and the student-led consultations at Westfield Community School: http://involver.org.uk/category/case-studies/
Here’s a student voice case study from one of involver’s favourite schools, Little Heath School in Reading.
You can see more from their amazing student voice conference here , here and here.
Key quote:
“There’s lots of students that aren’t very sure, or are less confident to have a voice. We say that everyone has a voice. Even the shy pupils have a voice and can talk to anybody, can talk with teachers, try and get into the STARS group, and can really make a difference.”
School council member, Year 8
Key benefits:
Improved relationships between students and teaching staff. Teachers genuinely want to hear what students think, run with their ideas, and realise that good participation is often a step into the unknown. Students respond to this and like being taken seriously.
A school that meets the needs and learning styles of Little Heath students. Students who are keen to get involved in shaping important aspects of the school, and teachers who encourage and support them to do so.
Involving students in school life helps to turn around badly behaved students. Students realise that acting badly or being naughty are not the only ways to get noticed, and that they can get involved in student voice and try to improve the school.
More confident students who are willing to plan, organise and evaluate large events and influence major areas of school life.
Top advice
Give staff the time to support student voice. Student voice needs staff to make it work, who have the time and resources to be able to do it well. In Little Heath’s case, there is a passionate student voice coordinator with dedicated time in the week to support student voice. He is supported by an ex-pupil who has just finished Year 13, and is spending the year as a paid member of staff supporting student voice.
Hold dedicated events like a conference that allow you to get lots done with student voice projects.
Encourage students to get other students involved. Students having an influence and having fun at the same time are the best selling points to get others who are less interested involved.
You can help to get a wide range of students taking part when there is a wide range of ways to be involved. Hooks might be skills-based (like design or campaigning skills) or content based (like environment issues or politics).
Student involvement should not be an add on to the core work of the school. Students should be involved in helping to improve areas like teaching and learning – it will benefit everyone if they do. They just need to be organised in an appropriate way.
Have a central coordinating body for all student voice work – in Little Heath’s case this is the school council. It helps to avoid duplication and keep track of everything that is going on.
Methods used:
Student voice conference
Every year Little Heath holds a student voice conference in a local hotel in Reading. Several hundred pupils from the school come along and spend a focused day on student voice work. It is an exciting event for the students, who enjoy being able to concentrate on the different projects. This dedicated time helps the school to get lots done in a short space of time.
The student voice conference is a student-led project from start to finish, and it is an impressive example of how young people can run an amazing event.
As well as time for work on projects, there is a panel discussion in the afternoon so that students can ask questions to teachers, senior staff, local politicians and other organisations that have worked in the school.
Some of the work on the day, and throughout the school year, includes:
STARS project (students as researchers)
Students take a lead on researching and trying to improve certain aspects of school life. For example, one group in the STARS team had looked at ‘How students prefer to learn, and which ways are most effective’. They had looked at three specific subjects; English, History and ICT in Year 7 and 8. Their findings were presented to governors and the headteacher, and also in a booklet which is available to students.
Another group had looked at how popular homework is in Year 7, and the types of homework they enjoy. These projects have flourished since the conference, and one group’s look into the co-construction of learning is helping teachers to plan their lessons.
The student voice leaders are older students in the school who take a lead on the conference and facilitate the different sessions. They are a reminder that student voice is taken seriously in the school and getting involved in student voice can be a progression throughout school.
School council
A school council sits alongside the different student voice groups. This also has as an important role in school improvement. It has representatives from each year group and meets every week.
Recent topics for discussion include homework, praise and reward and students’ rights and responsibilities. It is the central forum for student voice in the school, and all other groups feed into the school council.
About the school:
Little Heath School is a larger than average oversubscribed comprehensive school with a large sixth form. It has specialist college status in mathematics and science and in 2008 gained a second specialism as a high performing specialist school for ‘raising achievement transforming learning’.
The proportion of students eligible for a free school meal is low. The proportion of students from minority ethnic groups or who speak English as an additional language is below average. The proportion of students with a learning difficulty and/or disability is slightly below average and there are fewer students with statements of special educational needs than nationally.
Involver conducted these case studies for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in 2011, as part of a project to encourage schools to involve their students in decision making
We’re just back from a week in Prague helping to train school councils link teachers from schools across the Czech Republic. The words “Žákovské parlamenty” are very important to us now :)
