InvolverHansard Society are holding a forum to discuss what contribution should under-18s be making to politics?
Speakers at this event will include Jo Swinson MP, Emily Benn PPC and a member of the UK Youth Parliament. There will also be the opportunity for an open discussion with the audience.
The event is to be held, Wednesday 10 June, 6.45pm, Portcullis House, Westminster
To find out more and to attend this event visit www.hansardsociety.org.uk
Now, I like to think I’m fairly well informed when it comes to pupil voice, but as part of my current project I came across something I’d never heard of before: a Baraza. Any ideas what it is? Well, unless you speak Swahili, it’s unlikely. This concept has come over to us from Kenya, via Norfolk, Hamond’s High School in Swaffham to be precise.
‘Baraza’ is Swahili for ‘meeting’, and in Kenya it’s used to refer particularly to political meetings or councils. This is just what Hamond’s High’s Baraza is, it’s a meeting for all the student and staff leaders in the school. They can raise and discuss anything (except individuals) and expect an answer.
The meeting is run by the Head, Deputy Head and the Student Executives. Up to 100 other students attend: the whole school council, all form reps, peer mentors, sports leaders, eco committee members, community reps, prefects, etc. They run a structured meeting that allows everyone to have a say and ensures that there is positive feedback as well as raising of problems. When I spoke to students at Hamond’s and asked them whether they would recommend this to ther schools they were most enthusiastic. They were clear that it:
lets more people know about what’s going on in the school and what students are doing
and
shows that the school takes students’ views seriously.
The Baraza meets once a term with the School Council continuing and furthering its work in between (there’s a School Council meeting and Surgery every week, with feedback to all form groups). It seems to me like a great way to raise the profile of student voice and get more people directly involved in representing others and taking part in formal meetings.
But, why are they calling it a Baraza and not a Parliament or something like that? Well, it’s because they got the idea from a Kenyan school that came to visit them, Starahe Boys’ Centre & School. I must say when I was told that an idea for improving democracy in schools came from Kenya I was surprised. My mother and step-father lived for a while in Kenya and I visited them there. It seemed to me that Kenyans took their education very seriously, but democratic it most definitely was not. Strict discipline was enforced and learning by rote is the norm.
Hamond’s had told me that at Starahe almost everything in the school is run by the students, through the Baraza. This fascinated me (yes, I’m a democratic education geek) so I had a look into Starahe to see how this actually works in practice. And when I say ‘look into’ I mean ‘put into Google’ of course. Luckily there’s a fair bit of information about Starahe on Wikipedia, including a link to the school’s own website that explains in more detail about the Baraza and the hierarchy of student leadership at the school.
I use the the word hierarchy advisedly as this is a very regimented system. Whilst the Baraza itself appears to be as democratic as you can get – anyone can speak, and can say whatever they like (as long as they use the correct protocol), all vote on decisions and these are binding – the rest of the student leadership runs in a military, almost gang-like fashion. You are drawn into the ranks of the student leaders by those above you. I’d love to go to this school and see this in action and talk to some of the students who are not part of the “Prefectorial Force” (yes, they call it a ‘force’ – it’s as much about discipline and enforcement as it is about leadership) and see whether they feel well represented and that the Baraza protects their interests well enough.
So one great visit has lead to me finding out about two schools on different continents putting a ral emphasis on student leadership. Both have a Baraza and one is inspired by the other, but their systems are very different, influenced heavily by the cultures of the countries in which they appear.
This guy contacted us about training last week, and I though his role was really interesting, so I asked him to write a blog post for us. Here it is.
Vicky
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Stepping back four years ago at Hirst High School Technology College, it would certainly seem like a different school. With a planned student strike against the new senior leadership team which had just taken up their posts amid a range of rumours about various cancelations on student activities it was clear that implementing student voice needed to take place sooner rather than later.
I was determined to really hammer home the messages of my fellow peers in the school, so I became head boy in my senior year. I undertook my responsibility to represent the student body by chairing school council meetings, attending open senior leadership meetings and governor’s termly meetings. To ensure the students were properly represented I made sure that events and student activities are now organised by the students, and they are extremely well organised. The student motto of “doing it for the students by the students” was actually working for the first time in the schools history.
School leaders were keen to continue the positive impact that student voice had made on the whole school community by making my role as student leader a paid position in the school. I am currently working in this position whilst on a ‘gap’ year before university. A clear focus for student leadership has meant I am high profile in the school and students know exactly who I am and what I do. It is beneficial for students to have a central person in school that is close to them in age who they can relate to and available to contact and communicate with throughout the day. Having visited other schools to talk about my role the position has received wide acclaim with many schools wishing to adopt the idea.
Our school council has transformed from a team that “formed” for recruitment purposes to a large group of keen students across all year groups and with all abilities who meet fortnightly to discuss key issues in their school community.
The results have been outstanding: seeing an increase at all levels in students who are actively involved in student participation at all levels. Our most senior students form the voice of the whole school and lead their own leadership team which has a direct match to that of the staff model. By using all the resources available from the School Councils UK website I have made a pack for training everyone on the school council and I’m always referring back to it.
I created and implemented the role of student subject leaders who act as student Heads of Department (HODs) in all subjects. They discuss and record issues under a series of headings which include curriculum issues and coursework support. All students have been issued with a log book which they can use throughout the year and which I designed to aid and develop student roles throughout the school. The leaders are now being used to develop teaching and learning on a whole school level.
It is simply impossible to speak about everything Hirst High School Technology College has to offer in terms of its student voice in this one single article and I am constantly looking at improving the service for the students including a partnership with our link schools to form an overall school council. I also hope to be taking part in the School Councils UK Experts course in November. Five years back seems like a century ago when you see the major improvements we have made to ensure students know their views are being heard. One thing however is certain, our student voice is now far greater than the tokenistic school councils some schools seem to have.
James Leslie, Hirst High School Technology College
Over the last couple of weeks whilst searching the internet for news on school councils I have noticed a number of stories celebrating the positive praise school councils are receiving through their inspection reports. I have picked out a few examples to share with you.
Shilbottle First School celebrated receiving Ofsted’s outstanding rating for the third time last month. Ofsted were extremely impressed with how the school valued its pupils and offered the opportunities in contributing to the school community through the school council.
http://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/Northumberland-school-is-top-of.5221622.jp
Pupils take on responsibilities to contribute to the school seriously, which is evident in the work of the school council
is what Ofsted had to say about St John’s School in Bromsgrove. The inspectors spent a long time interviewing the Learning Council and described them as ‘exemplary’ and pupil voice as a real strength of the school.
http://www.bromsgroveadvertiser.co.u/news/4318207.School_celebrates_its_superb_report/
It’s not only Ofsted who are taking note of the changes school councils can produce within a school Estyn are paying particular attention to them as well. In the inspection report of Birchgrove Primary School it was highlighted that when the pupils were given the formal responsibility of being school councilors they excelled as enthusiastic learners. Estyn said that an outstanding feature of the school was the pride evoked in the pupils through their involvment in the decision making process.
We are pleased that these schools are being recognised for the hard work they do through their school councils to make their schools great.
Daisy
I was reading through Gordon Brown’s big speech on education yesterday: http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page19209 (I was a little surprised at the lack of full stops, but that’s not the main point of this post) I really liked the main thrust of his argument: that we get out of recession by making education better and fairer rather than cutting back on spending. That said, I think he really misunderstands who schools are there to serve. Well, maybe ‘misunderstands’ is a bit strong, but he does neglect the key group: pupils.
It’s amazing, compared to parents they’re hardly mentioned at all, and especially not as stakeholders in their own education. ‘Pupil’, ‘student’ or ‘young person’ features 20 times, ‘parent’ 48; more than twice as often. Now, don’t get me wrong, the more parents are involved in education and schools the better, but this speech puts a huge amount of weight in what parents, school leaders and teachers can do to improve schools, but completely overlooks the fact that schools will only really improve when they engage their pupils in school improvement. Alongside school staff, who has the best view of how a school is doing, and how it needs to improve? Pupils.
Gordon says that he doesn’t want to just advantage the educated, able parents; but a system that relies on parents and excludes pupils will do just that. It will be just those parents who lobby the school and LA in an effective way. If we train up all young people to use their critical faculties in a constructive, collaborative and sensible way, then we can have a universal view of schools from a pupil’s perspective.
This would also lead to far more praise of the good work schools do, not just criticism where they get things wrong. Ask any teachers you know how often a parent has rung up to tell them what a great job they’re doing, and then ask them to compare how many times they speak to parents with complaints. Pupils, having a full picture of life in school can reflect on the positive and the negative, not just focus on the one time Jimmy comes home crying.
Well, anyway, rant over. Hopefully Gordon Brown’s office are reading this post and writing his next speech without this big black hole in. Now the rant’s really over.
Asher
I’ve just got back from the launch of the English Secondary Students’ Association’s (ESSA) new project, ‘Manifesto for Change’. It’s a campaign in the form of a competition. The idea is to collect together the thoughts and views of young people aged 11-19 and form these into Manifesto for Education. ESSA are asking people to make short videos on any subject they feel strongly about and the best and most thought-provoking ones will be shown on Channel 4 (one of the sponsors of the scheme). Videos should focus on the (broad) categories of:
All entries need to be in by the 18th of June. There are more details here: www.studentvoice.tv
The launch itself was a pleasant event, held at Portcullis House, which, despite externally being one of the ugliest buildings in London is a actually very nice inside. Natascha Engel MP hosted the event and seems to genuinely have a strong interest in young people’s rights and democracy, I guess that’s why she’s involved with UKYP and the BYC.
