Although the school council is doing a lot people don’t know about it.
The suggestion
Whenever the school council does anything make a plaque and stick it up in a relevant place – or as relevant a place as you can find. You want to have the school covered in them.
Plaques could just be laminated card, but the better they look the more important the school council will be seen to be.
The outcome
People are always reminded of the ability of the school council to make change; therefore they are more likely to involve the school council when they want to change something.
It becomes obvious where the school council has not managed to have an impact yet.
Additional ideas
You could develop a logo for the school council to put on these plaques and to help identify the school council.
This is just one way of promoting the school council. The most important thing is to have a strong, regular structure of class meetings and feedback so everyone in the school knows how they are involved in making changes in the school.
The previous two ideas have suggested a couple of ways to improve how meetings are chaired and broaden the scope of issues that meetings cover. But how do you involve the youngest children in your school? Sitting them in a meeting, no matter how well run, can be difficult. Here’s a way to get them involved and learning how to participate.
The issue
Including Reception and KS1 (children aged 4-7) in school council meetings is difficult for them and everyone else.
The suggestion
Rather than having children of this age in meetings ask teachers in their classes to set aside 15-20 minutes per week when members of the school council can come and ask them a question. This is how it would then work:
School council decides on one question to ask Reception and KS1 on an issue that directly involves them. This same question will be asked to all Reception and KS1 classes.
Just before the allotted time Reception and KS1 teachers should organise their classes into groups of 3-5.
Two members of the school council go to each Reception and KS1 class to introduce the question and record responses. This is what they should do in each class:
Introduce themselves. (30 seconds)
Remind the class what question they were asked last time. (1 min)
Explain what has happened as a result of their views from last week. (2 mins)
Explain this week’s question. (1 min)
Get all groups to discuss the question and come up with an answer they all agree on. (5 mins)
Get one person from each group to stand up and explain the decision they came to. (5 mins)
This should be written down or recorded by the school council reps – the easiest way to do this is by video camera or voice recorder.
Thank the class and explain when they will be back. (30 seconds)
The school council reps go over the views of class and summarise them in a couple of sentences.
These summarised views are reported back to the school council to form the basis of their decision, or to feed in to it.
The outcome
Young children have the opportunity to genuinely input in to decisions that affect them.
They start to practice skills of: expressing opinions, compromise, taking turns, reporting back and chairing.
Additional ideas
You could create a more direct democratic structure by asking everyone to vote after their little discussions, and recording these votes and aggregating them across the school.
It is very helpful for the school council reps to have a script to follow. This gives them confidence and ensures that each class is being treated uniformly.
You can also start introducing the concept of a chair person, whose job it is to make sure everyone gets a chance to speak.
Try to make sure that a different person from each small group feeds back each week so all have a chance to practice this. The same should be done with chairing. This can be achieved by having children in the same small groups each week. Within each group people should be numbered. In week 1, all the 1s report back, in week 2, the 2s report back, and so on.
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.
Improving schools should be fun, maybe if she involved pupils Haringey Council Leader, Cllr Claire Kober wouldn't look so glum.
This week Haringey Council Leader, Cllr Claire Kober wrote an open letter to all Haringey parents and guardians about what the council is doing to sort out the mess that is education in Haringey right now.
I am one of those parents. My daughter goes to the Willow School, round the corner from where we live in Tottenham. I am also a community governor of Welbourne Primary School (which is round the corner from our office) and I sit on the Haringey Governors Association (HGA) Executive Committee and the Schools Forum. I also volunteer my time to support Haringey’s school councils.
Cllr Kober is launching ‘Outstanding for All’ a commission “charged to consider the future of education provision in Haringey” with the aim of understanding “how all our schools can make profound improvements in their attainment”. Between her letter and a message sent to the HGA Cllr Kober made it clear that she wants the commission to talk to parents, teachers, headteachers, governors and local businesses. Fatally I think she has missed out the group she identifies as being “the most important people in any discussion about education”, the students themselves.
It seems that this process is in danger, before it even starts, of seeing young people as merely ‘outputs’ and data points rather than as central to the discussion and any solutions. Where this leads is to an education system that is not about inculcating a love of knowledge and an enquiring mind, but simply about learning to pass exams. This process switches off people’s ability to problem-solve, be innovative, creative and enterprising.
Cllr Kober would do well to visit Wroxham School to find out how they went from being in special measures to being outstanding (and have maintained it). Their attainment has gone up, but they would describe that as a side-benefit, rather than the driver or goal. They turned their school around not by focussing on attainment but on the community, including the children; they use their experience, insight and ideas to make their school successful.
I should point out that these are my views as a parent, governor and educator, I am not seeking to represent the HGA, Welbourne or the Schools Forum.
“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
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/
