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Tag: effective
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.
Student voice leaders
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
For the fourth in our series of school council case studies, it’s Beauchamp College, which is a Key Stage 4 and Post-16 college.
Key quote:
“College is a cultural mixing pot, so it’s impossible to say ‘this is what The Students want’, student voice enables teachers to be aware of the huge variety of wants and needs.”
Student governor
Key benefits:
The culture of ‘high respect’ goes hand in hand with ‘high discipline’. There are no bells or uniforms and also no detentions. Students are expected to be responsible, treated as though they can be and so they are.
Staff and students all buy in to and contribute to school improvement: “Staff are with student voice, the school is not for teachers to teach and students to listen; students help the school progress.”
Student-led clubs and societies give every student the opportunity to lead, whilst greatly broadening the range of extra-curricular activities for everyone. This requires minimal staff support.
Students are very clear of the skills they are learning through being representatives, leaders and active participants in their school. They link these directly to the roles they want to take on in later life, both in employment and in wider society.
Top advice:
- “Start small, let it grow and learn from other schools.” Student governor
- “It’s not necessarily the loudest or most confident students who have the best ideas. Student voice is every student’s view, not just the ‘leaders’ in the school. All roles should be important, it is not to do with how many ‘leaders’ there are.” Student governor
- “Communicate and be diverse. If you are the ‘same old, same old’ people, people will not be interested. Give it creativity and glamour. Find different ways to talk.” Student governor
- “Student voice is about being in the community, not just the school: connecting students and the school with what’s going on outside.” Student ambassador
- “Engrain things from a young age, so people know how to use their voice.” Student ambassador
- Beauchamp shows how it values student voice by creating professional-looking posters of all the representatives and teams and the things they’ve been doing. These are displayed all over the college.
Methods used:
Student governors
Rather than a school council the top-level student representation at Beauchamp is a group of four student governors from Year 13 (they are elected while they are in Year 12). This structure was suggested by a student five years ago and has been running since then. Student governors are elected by students from across the whole-school. Any student is able to stand; they realise it will be a significant commitment of time but that their potential to make an impact on the college is equally significant. Their role is to represent the views of all students to the college’s management and to co-ordinate and initiate many of the student-led projects.
The student governors meet with the vice-principal every Monday morning for an hour and a half to catch up with what each other are doing and what the school is working on. Any other student or member of staff can also attend these meetings to comment on issues being discussed or bring up new ones. Students can also get their views to the student governors through their Facebook page, suggestion box or by seeing them in their office. The student governors also attend all meetings of the full governing body – as associate governors – and are given voting rights when they turn 18. Having students as associate governors is a possibility open to all schools.
Student ambassador
The student ambassador is a new role at Beauchamp College. This is an appointed post, rather than elected. The student ambassador’s job is to create links between the student body and the local community. He has been working on representation at the local youth council as well as inter-generational schemes with the local elderly.
The student ambassador sees his role as giving a greater number of students the opportunity and encouragement to become involved in making a contribution to the school and wider community. He has set out to do this in a creative way to add to the avenues for student voice and leadership offered through student governors, INSTED, etc.
‘INSTED’
Like the student governors, INSTED was suggested by a student. It is an internal evaluation of teaching and learning led by a student team that has been running for four years. Places on the team are advertised annually and anyone can apply. Everyone who applies to take part can do so. They are trained by a member of staff who is also an ex-Ofsted inspector, who co-ordinates and supports the INSTED team.
The aims of INSTED are to:
- Celebrate the positive aspects of teaching and learning;
- Suggest areas for improvement and constructively help the college to move forward to be the best.
The INSTED team do this through lesson observations and discussions with staff and students; these follow a set format developed by the school. The results of these are compiled in to reports by a student co-ordinator. This is given to the teacher concerned and to the head of department.
The scheme is seen as a huge success with students being able to see the impact they are having in the classroom and teachers requesting INSTED observations as they see it as a way to push forward their own practice.
Students appointing staff
Students are heavily involved in all staff appointments at Beauchamp, including the appointment of the new principal. Where they have gone further than most schools is that they have completely managed the appointment of a member of staff. The job description and person specification of the Key Stage 5 manager, a pastoral role, was written by students; they advertised the post, managed the interviews and made the appointment. It was felt that as the role was primarily working for the students then the students should make the appointment. The process gave the students a real insight in to what goes into recruitment and the college is very happy with the appointment made.
In the recent process of appointing a new principal, students were present at all stages or the 2 week process, bar one interview.
Student-led clubs and societies
The college has a system whereby students can apply to set up and run clubs and societies, like in many university student unions. This not only greatly increases the number and range of extra-curricular activities the college can run, but provides a great number of leadership opportunities for students. The sense of ownership and responsibility this gives to students means that minimal staff support and supervision is needed.
These clubs and societies can come from any aspect of students’ lives, covering religious, sporting, cultural, philosophical and creative interests.
Student-led research
This offers all students the opportunity to become involved in research. Students are encouraged to choose an area which is of particular interest to them but is also in some way linked to the college’s corporate plan. All students who join the programme initially attend a seminar at a university campus in order for them to experience a taste of university life as well as learning the rudiments of carrying out a research project. Students can work individually or as a team and are allocated a mentor who supports and guides them throughout the process. There are currently over 40 students involved in the programme.
Students present their recommendations to the college leadership team once their data is collected and analysed. As students frequently tackle these projects from a different perspective to staff, their observations are of particular interest and regularly student proposals are both innovative and thought provoking.
About the school (adapted from Ofsted):
Beauchamp is a coeducational comprehensive 14-19yrs Upper School, with approximately 2150 students. It was formerly an old-established grammar school in Kibworth dating back 600 years. It is currently situated on the southern outskirts of Leicester city, in an area considered to be relatively affluent.
The Sixth Form is one of the country’s largest, with over one thousand of the college’s 2150 students enrolled. 58 per cent of all students are from ethnic minority backgrounds, including 39 per cent Indian, 6 per cent Asian and 13 per cent mixed, producing a rich and diverse centre of learning for students. 32 per cent of students have a first language other than English. The college has about one third of the national average proportion of students with learning difficulties and/ or disabilities. However the proportion of students with a statement of SEN is about average.
Beauchamp consistently achieves above the national average GCSE and A Level results and ‘outstanding’ Sixth Form Ofsted reports. Amongst its other achievements Beauchamp is an International School, with Leading Edge and Training School status. The college gained technology specialist status in 1996 and gained a second specialism in vocational education in 2006.
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
Categories
Quick minutes template
I knocked this up to use in our training sessions, when we don’t need to go back over old minutes, etc. but it actually works pretty well as a simple way to get down the most important information in any meeting: the actions.
It just lays out simply for everyone what decision was taken and WHO needs to do WHAT by WHEN.
Download the editable Word version: [download id=”241″]
Download the PDF version: [download id=”242″]
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These are a few ideas for how you can run discussions in your school or class council meetings. In fact you could use them in any meeting really.
| Method | Good for | Be aware of |
|---|---|---|
| Yes/No/Maybe – designate a different area of the room for each answer. Ask the question and get people to stand in the area that represents their answer. Ask people to explain their reasoning and persuade others.
A more sophisticated version is an ‘opinion line’ where participants place themselves along a line to show how strongly they agree/disagree with something. A further level of sophistication is to make a graph with 2 axes (e.g. difficulty vs importance or agree vs care). |
Getting people out of their seats.
Pushing people to explain their reasoning. Getting different people talking. Being a physical demonstration of changing opinion and persuasion. |
Peer pressure: people not wanting to stand on their own. You can often avoid this by starting with trivial questions and supporting and praising those who do stand on their own. |
| Passing the ‘conch’ – an object is passed around and only the person with that object can speak.
Different rules can be applied: e.g. when you have the ‘conch’ you have to speak; the ‘conch’ has to be passed round the circle; the ‘conch’ can be passed to anyone you like; the conch only goes to those demonstrating good listening. |
Stopping interrupting: it gives a very clear signal of who is supposed to be speaking.
Can help quieter people to speak, because they know they won’t be interrupted and/or they are required to. |
The ‘conch’ becoming a distraction.
Meetings becoming slow if there is no Chair to pass the ‘conch’ on. |
| Small groups – set the question and then split the class in to small groups (3-6). Ask them to discuss it and come up with one answer that they can all agree on. Have one person from each group give their group’s answer and reasoning. | Allows everyone to have a say without taking too long.
Encourages compromise within the small group. |
One person dominating a small group.
If all the small groups come up with different answers coming to a conclusion may need further discussions. |
| Losing your marbles – give each person 3 marbles. When someone speaks they have to hand over a marble, so once they’ve contributed three times they need to stay quiet. You can also turn this round and say by the end of the meeting everyone needs to have lost all of their marbles. | Making sure the meeting isn’t dominated by a few people.
Encouraging people to consider what is really important for them to contribute to. Keeping track of who contributes and who doesn’t. |
Having everyone run out of marbles before the end – you need to make sure everyone knows what is coming up, so they can plan when to use a marble. |
What methods do you use to liven up your meetings and ensure that everyone gets a say?