Tag: democracy

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involver blog

School council success: improvement or representation?

How do you talk about the success of your school council?

When people visit your school do you tell them:

(a) About how this great group has redesigned the uniform, carried out an in-depth study into learning styles, raised thousands of pounds and reduced the school’s carbon footprint to zero?

(b) How it has enabled students from across the school to work together, been a channel for frustrated students to be heard and made staff think about things differently?

Benito Mussolini
How do we judge politicians? On whether they 'make the trains run on time', or how democratic they are*?

Almost every school I go to tells me the (a) type things – and the problems they talk about are similarly about their inability to make visible improvements to the school. But, if I ask them what their school council is they will say it’s,

a democratic body of students, there to give the students a voice in the running of the school.

They very rarely say it’s,

a group of keen and able students who help the staff.

But more and more frequently I meet teachers who tell me they’ve selected a few of the people on the council ‘to help it work better – because some of the ones who got elected might struggle’, or even that they’ve done away with elections completely to make the school council ‘more effective’.

More effective at what?

What are the success criteria for a democratic organisation?

I would suggest that the most important is how well it involves everyone, not how well it involves the ‘right’ people. If you need to change the system to make it more effective this should be to make it more inclusive, not more efficient.

But if you’re going to change the system (and I think most schools need to), why not do both? Getting the whole school involved in identifying issues, coming up with solutions and taking action will result in far more changes and and wider engagement. Focus on spreading discussion and action to class councils, rather than pulling it in to the school council.  Use whole school meetings, have online forums and noticeboards that the whole school can contribute to, set up action groups that anyone can be on, set up ‘social action time’ when the whole school is supported to work on their own projects.

* Fascist dictator of the 1920s and 30s, Benito Musolinni is often claimed to ‘have made the trains run on time’, it may well be that even this achievement is over-stated: http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.asp

Comic about Mussolini making the trains run on thyme
Searching for images to illustrate this article I came across this comic. It made me smile, which then made me think that I am falling in to the 'dad' stereotype. Ho hum.
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involver blog

School councils and student voice: why bother?

Hard work never killed anyone - but why take the chanceSchool councils. Student voice. Giving young people a say in how their school is run. Sounds like effort, doesn’t it? Kids are there to be educated, not to take part in it, right?

So why do so many schools bother with it? Because the Government says you have to listen to pupils? Because Ofsted might come and chat to your school council? Because some kids had a couple of good ideas and you might as well give it a go? Because some kids want to practice being politicians, and you need to give them a way to do that?

Let’s be clear : schools present a unique opportunity for young people to learn about democracy.

And let’s be double – clear: this opportunity is being missed by too many schools.

Student voice and school councils are often tokenistic. Young people are told that they have influence (but only the cleverest or most confident are allowed to use it), that they are listened to (as long as they give the right answer), and that they are free to talk about what they want (but can’t actually do anything to make things better).

Our approach is to help schools make the most of this opportunity, challenge tokenism, and help get more young people involved.

Very simply, we want young people to understand how their ideas can turn into actions which can turn into improvements for themselves and others. Learning democracy by ‘doing democracy’. Less sitting back and moaning about things, and more action!

Action Man poster
See what I did there?

I was working in Islamia Primary School in Brent yesterday, helping their new student voice team to plan for next year. One of the big ideas that came up was trying to get mirrors in the girls’ toilets. The girls’ headscarves were coming loose during the school day, and they had no mirrors to check if they were on properly. When they return from their summer break, the team plan to get going on this idea. They are six years old.

Now this might just be a few mirrors, but if young people can see how they can influence their lives and surroundings from a young age this plants important seeds. As they become secondary age students they will believe that they can take action and change things, and then university students will too.

Young people will find it more difficult to have the desire or to understand how they can change things in adult life if they’ve had no practice! Or if they’ve been kept in a simulated democratic world where they are ‘listened to’ but never have the experience of negotiating, collaborating and struggling to achieve their own, shared aims.

And this should never be just about training the next generation of politicians – if you know how to ‘plan’, ‘do’ and ‘reflect’ a project with a group of people, that is useful whatever you choose to do in life.

It’s also very important that schools connect learning about the same concepts. We’re all agreed that democracy and empowerment are important concepts, right?

So let’s use every opportunity we can to connect what we can learn about in the news, in the curriculum, with what we do in student voice. It’s about connecting what others do, with what we do.

Let’s reflect on MPs expenses, by talking about school councillor expenses; let’s discuss the coalition government by talking about how easy it is to decide things by committee; let’s think about the civil rights movement and suffragettes when planning a student voice election. We grasp things best when we understand them from different angles.

Barack Obama

Not seeing these links can undermine everything. You might be less inspired about by Barack Obama’s democratic journey if your ‘democratic’ school council is just the ten brightest pupils, picked by the head teacher!

So let’s be clear: a healthy democracy needs curious, active people. A healthy democracy needs healthy democratic education, and schools are central to that.

Let’s not be complacent.

Greg

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involver blog

Democra-citizen-educata-participata-ball!

Democra-ball! flyer

We’re starting up a friendly, monthly five-aside game in Old Street for anyone working in the youth and citizenship fields:

bit of fun, bit of sweat, bit of networking

It’s going to be on the second Thursday of every month at 5.50 at Old Street Power Leage. The first one is on the 11th of March. The first 8 people to reply to our email each month get to play so if you want us to email you again next month, let us know even if you don’t want to play this time.

This really is just a fun game, Asher and Greg are both rubbish at football and out of shape, so anyone who fancies it should drop us an email and come. We’ll mix teams up every month.

Please pass this on to everyone else in your office (there’s a flyer attached you could stick up on your noticeboard/in your toilet), or other related orgs who might be up for it.

Email us if you want to play this month or in the future: info@involver.org.uk

Update: We’ve now created a Facebook Group for Democraball! We’ll be doing sign-ups through this from now on, so join: http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=897#!/group.php?gid=127543770612104

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Resources

Being a Good Class Rep (Representative)

The most important job on any council is being a representative. Most people forget after they’ve been elected what they were elected to do: be a link between the people who elected them and the council they sit on.

Created by Lois Canessa and Asher Jacobsberg at School Councils UK.

Print or download (‘save’) this resource using the ‘More’ button.
Being a Good Class Representative

So you want to be a … Representative (Rep) School Councils UK Role Guide 01 What is a rep? Reps are elected by their class, form or tutor group (we’ll just call these all ‘classes’ from now on, to make it easier) to represent those people who elected them. They act as a link between their class and other groups – year councils, school councils and other committees. Reps have to be willing and able to put forward other people’s views even if they disagree with them. What kind of person makes a good rep? • • • • • • • Approachable Good listener – everyone in the class has to feel comfortable talking to you Organised – it will be your responsibility to make sure meetings happen in your class on a regular basis Assertive – the opinions of your class are just as important as everyone else’s Efficient – class discussions must cover a lot of issues in a short space of time Fair – everyone has the right to express a point of view Good communicator – you need to be able to work with staff and students from across the school So if I were a rep what would I actually have to do? As a rep you have three main jobs: • Collecting the views of your class and passing them on to other committees. Letting your class know what goes on in the meetings you attend. Taking an active part in meetings. then your job to talk to the chair of the other committee and get your class’s concerns on the agenda. You will then need to put forward your class’s views at year council or whole school council meetings. You are the link between the school/year council and your class so you need to let your class know what happened in the other meeting, any decisions that were made or questions that need to be asked. It’s particularly important to make sure you know what is happening to suggestions made by your class: it’s your job to let them know that their ideas are being taken seriously. You need to be prepared to go to meetings and make yourself heard, but also be willing to listen and discuss. Remember, you are there to represent all the different points of view that people in your class may have, so you need to spend time listening to your class and be flexible enough to put across a range of opinions. • • To do these jobs well you should have regular meetings with your class where you will listen to people’s concerns and issues and note them down. Remember that not everyone likes talking in meetings, so make sure you are approachable in other ways. Make it clear that people can talk to you at break times; have a suggestions box or suggestions email account. With your class you should decide which of these issues can be dealt with by the class itself, and which need to go to another committee (the year council or school council). It’s School Councils UK 108-110 Camden High Street, London NW1 0LU 0845 456 9428 info@schoolcouncils.org www.schoolcouncils.org © School Councils UK 2006. Written by Lois Canessa and Asher Jacobsberg. Please feel free to reproduce this resource with acknowledgement (non-commercial use only). So you want to be a … Representative (Rep) School Councils UK Role Guide 01 That’s quite a job, what help can I get? Yep, being a class rep is the most important job on the school council, but don’t worry you’re not alone! Most schools elect two reps from each class who can help each other. Some schools have class reps and deputy class reps who can help out generally but don’t go to meetings unless the main rep is away. Also, How often would I be doing things? Well, each school is different but this is what we recommend: make sure you use your class teacher, without his or her help you’ll find it difficult to organise meetings with your class. Also, don’t feel that you have to run the class council meetings. Get other people in the class to take it in turns. It’s easier for you to take notes if you’re not chairing too. When? All the time All the time What? Listen to your class-mates Make sure there is a running agenda that class mates can add too Run a class council meeting (following the class agenda) Make sure a record ( called ‘the minutes’) is kept of what is discussed and decided Work out which things you can do as a class and create an action plan Take your class minutes to the year council and represent your class and their views Report back to your class which suggestions have been actioned and what decisions were made Stand for election With whom? The other rep in your class Any one in the form/tutor group/class should be able to add to it The rest of your form/tutor group/class Your whole class, you may ask other class members to act as secretary and chair Your whole class Once a week Once a week Once a week Once a month/ fortnightly With the year councillors and a member of staff Once a month/ fortnightly With your class tutor and your form/tutor group/class Once a year Your form/tutor group/class School Councils UK 108-110 Camden High Street, London NW1 0LU 0845 456 9428 info@schoolcouncils.org www.schoolcouncils.org Can I get any more information on being a rep? There isn’t a huge amount of information around about being a school council rep, but there are reps for all sorts of other organisations (your MP is a rep!) so there is information on how to do those similar jobs. Go to www.schoolcouncils.org, click ‘resources’ and go to ‘download resources’, there you’ll find a list of links to other websites with information about what it means to be a representative. In the resources section you will also see our Handbooks for primary and secondary students which give you loads more ideas about how to get things done through your school and class councils. © School Councils UK 2006. Written by Lois Canessa and Asher Jacobsberg. Please feel free to reproduce this resource with acknowledgement (non-commercial use only).