When we were running training for teachers in the Czech Republic in May I suggested a number of simple ideas that our hosts asked me to write up. It’s taken me a while, but this is the first of them. We’ll be posting the rest over the coming days.
The issue
Students don’t have the skills to run meetings themselves.
The suggestion
Finish all your meetings 2 minutes early.
In this time ask one question to all of the participants:
What did the chairperson do well?
Write all the answers on a large piece of paper.
Put this up where the chairperson can see it at every meeting.
At the end of each meeting ask the question again and add new responses.
The outcome
You have a growing list of tips for chairpeople, so more people feel confident to chair meetings.
Reflecting on what made the meeting go well ensures that the meeting is a learning experience.
Additional ideas
Once you feel you have a good list about chairing you could change the question and start coming up with new lists of tips:
What did the adults in our meeting do well?
What did we do well to solve problems?
What did people do well to represent their classes?
With all the chat around curriculum and assessment reform, I thought it timely to blog about something that’s been irking me for a while.
Far too often, politicians and commentators are guilty of an over-reliance on their own experience of school. It’s the whole ‘I did XYZ assessment/exam, and IT DIDN’T DO ME ANY HARM’. Despite being simplistic, I think politicians see it as a useful device to come across as passionate, experienced and in touch with ‘normal people’ since it’s harder to argue with someone’s personal experience. That’s all fair enough, but what about those that aren’t heard?
I mean I don’t think that your view of education should be entirely isolated from your immediate experience of it. But that it needs to be balanced with evidence (not cherry-picked international evidence) and strong input from practitioners and students.
Of course, the latest example of this is Gove’s plan to scrap GCSEs that came out yesterday. Gove went school and he had a pretty difficult background. But he did O Levels, and he got good grades. That means that O Levels work, right?
But what about those that aren’t heard?
The point is that we rarely hear from those that the system has failed. What about those who it did actually do some harm to?
They’re not the ones in Sanctuary Buildings, on the benches of the Commons, or shooting the s*@t with Portillo on This Week.
I’m keen to hear more about Gove’s plan, the substance behind it and the link with the Singaporean model. But let’s take personal experience for what it is, the view of the (very successful and influential) individual and not more than that. Sadly, that may be all that counts.
BTW – like the one exam board idea. Professor Frank Coffield was laying into the exam board industry at a recent NUS event I was presenting at. Interesting how Gove’s idea on this is kind of ‘anti-market’.
I’ve just written to the Children’s Commissioner about the proposed closure of Church Lane PRU in Brent, London.
I’m on the Management Committee and am worried about what will happen to some of the students if the PRU does close.
Here’s a copy of the letter. Would be keen to hear your views:
_________________________
Greg Sanderson
Involver
Enterprise Building – Unit 9
Bernie Grant Arts Centre
London
N15 4RX
22 May 2012
Dear Dr. Atkinson,
I’m writing to draw your attention to the proposed closure of Church Lane Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) in Brent and the disruption it will cause to our students.
As Vice-Chair of the Management Committee at the PRU, it is my job to ensure that our students receive the best education possible. As things stand, the actions of Brent Council are in danger of threatening this.
Our Year 10 pupils are one year into their Home Cooking Skills B.Tec, Arts Awards and the NOCN Step Up Diploma. After the second year, this could help them to achieve between three and six GCSE equivalents.
If Brent Council’s plan to shut the PRU at the end of this academic year is successful, they will not be able to complete these qualifications. Other PRUs in the borough do not have the facilities to provide these qualifications and local schools will not allow these students access to their schools as they consider them to be too disruptive.
There is a significant risk that these students will have wasted an entire year of work. I do not believe that this is something we should accept.
As is typical of PRUs, most of our students have had a difficult journey through education and life. They are challenged students in a challenging borough; less likely to know how to stand up for themselves in these situations, and less likely to have parents or guardians to do it for them.
Even shifting the students to a different PRU is fraught with safeguarding issues. Gang problems in the borough mean that there is a high risk of violence between students. I am aware that it is difficult to legislate for geographical issues when budgets are tight, but they need to be considered.
As an aside, please do not read this letter is a critique of the Taylor Report. It contains some excellent recommendation and schools should take greater responsibility for the students they exclude. Too many schools are guilty of ‘washing their hands’ of difficult students and sending them to the local PRU without handing over any information on attainment, behaviour or attendance.
Alternative Education is in a phase of transition. But it needs to be done strategically, and at a pace that is not at the expense of the students already in the system.
As our ambassador for children’s rights, I urge you to discuss this matter with Brent Council to ensure that our students’ time and hard work is not wasted.
Yours sincerely,
Greg Sanderson
Vice-Chair of Management Committee, Church Lane Pupil Referral Unit
Co-Founder, Involver
I’ve just got back from a fantastic couple of days in Warsaw presenting at an event hosted by Fundacja Civis Polonus. I wanted to quickly note down a few things that came up whilst I was there.
As with our experiences in the Czech Repulbic and Ireland, I found that many of the issues are similar to those we face in the UK and there are things we can learn from how they are dealing with them.
The law
In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland there is no requirement to have a school council, although there is a lot of guidance that pushes schools towards them. Wales does require schools to have a school council but the way their law is framed is quite different to the approach Poland has taken.
In Poland since the fall of Communism schools have been required to have a school council. Their law also specifies which areas of school life the school council should be involved in and that all students need to be involved. This sounds great to me and much more useful than a law that specifies structures (numbers of meetings, electoral processes, etc.) but not areas of influence.
Despite this, the issues are around the law not being enforced, or at least the important aspects of it are not. Whilst just about every school has a school council they are not widely involved in school life and they involve very few people. The consensus amongst those at the event was that they tended to focus on just raising money for charity and organising parties. One of the other presenters, Michal from Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej (CEO), showed research that suggested that over 40% of students hadn’t even voted in a school council election, let alone been more deeply involved.
So the law in itself isn’t enough, there needs to be support for students and schools to understand what they could and should be doing and help them to do it. That’s the aim of Funacja Civis Polonus, CEO and their partners. We’ll be doing what we can to support them and also to learn what we can from them to support schools in the UK.
The bright coloured text apparently means 'Small Government' Michael Gove would be proud.
Ideas from a Warsaw school council co-ordinator
On Tuesday I visited a primary school in the suburbs of Warsaw (which has students up to the age of about 14) and met with the school council co-ordinator who explained how their school council works. There was lots of good stuff happening but three things jumped out at me as possibly of interest to UK schools:
There is a teacher with responsibility for children’s rights. This is an advocate for the children in the school. It seems to me that it might be good to have a governor with this responsibility.
The school council co-ordinator is elected by students. Teachers who are willing nominate themselves and commit to the job. I imagine they may have to produce a manifesto and/or campaign. Students then elect the person they think will support them best. I wonder how this would work in UK schools? Would it raise the profile of student voice amongst staff and students?
The school council are allowed to use the Tannoy to keep people up to date with what they are doing and to remind the student body of what they need to discuss or do to support student voice. I don’t know how many schools have public address systems like this, but where they exist it could be a useful tool.
We’ve spent quite a big chunk of this year working on a youth engagement guide for social housing providers with Peabody, Home Group, CBHA and CDHT.
That’s a fancy way of saying that we’ve been collecting loads of good hints and tips to help young people who live in houses owned by the council or housing associations to get more involved in their community.
We’ve been working closely with the Our Say Our Way partners and visited lots of young tenants and staff on estates across the country. It’s been brilliant to work with young people outside of schools. Especially since it has helped us to learn about participation in a slightly different setting from what we’re used to.
Here’s the final case study in our series of school council case studies. A great example of how school councils can drive school improvement from Barming Primary in Kent.
Key benefits:
Better relationships between students, teachers and governors. There is a strong feeling that they are all working together and the school council helps the school to achieve this.
Every student wants to have a say in how the school runs and school councillors have a high profile.
Students are better prepared to understand and overcome difficult issues. They learn that that helping to improve the school is not always easy and quick, and that it is not just about moaning. For example, the school council are concerned about the relationship between students and the dinner ladies. They have organised a meeting to try to improve things.
Top advice:
Link the students with the governors. Put a standing item on the governing body’s agenda to look at the school council’s minutes and to hear from the children.
To strengthen this link, ask a member of the governing body to be responsible for going to school council meetings. It helps give everyone a rounded experience of the school by sharing different perspectives.
As headteacher, do not attend school council meetings. Students will be less frank and less willing to say what they feel. The headteacher at Barming Primary School meets after each school council meeting with the chair, secretary and treasurer to understand what was agreed and discussed.
Do not shy away from difficult issues, but use them as learning points for all.
Give the school council a budget. Even if it is small, it shows a commitment to the school council and their ability to make realistic choices.
Methods used:
School council
The school council meets regularly and plays an important role in the life of the school. School councillors have a high profile and feature on a prominent display in the school hall. The school council is very popular and the school councillors talk with pride when they discuss what they’ve been working on.
Recent projects include getting more signs in the school to help students know where they are going, mirrors in the school toilets and the relationship between students and the dinner ladies. The school also ran a very successful ‘Apple Day’ which celebrated local varieties of apples and invited the community into the school. The school council is leading on other fruit-themed days using local produce.
The school council has a budget of £50 a year, but the school has decided to raise this to £100.
Strong system of class councils
Class councils regularly talk about ideas and issues that they have in the school. For the school council meetings, they have to come up with their two most important ideas that they would like to be discussed. Two students from each class attend the school council meeting and describe their two ideas.
Regular circle time
Regular circle time helps to boost students’ confidence and ability to talk in front of a group. This strengthens the class councils and school council meetings.
Governor interaction
A governor attends the school council meetings, and there is a standing item on the agenda for all governors meetings to get an update on the school council, and to look at their minutes.
About the school:
Barming Primary School is larger than average. Several significant changes in staff have taken place in the past 18 months, including the headteacher. The school has more boys than girls. Most pupils are White British. The proportion of other minority ethnic heritages is below the national average and includes pupils from a variety of Asian or Black British or Black African heritages. A significant minority of these pupils speak more than one language but few are at the early stages of learning English as an additional language.
The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or learning disabilities is broadly average, as is the proportion with a statement of special educational needs. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, there are two Reception classes. The school has several awards reflecting its commitment to healthy lifestyles.
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
