Student Voice

Student interviewers: a distinctive and important voice

scameron — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:58:33 +0000

Student interviewers have received a lot of bad press. Earlier this year, a number of national newspapers featured lurid stories about student panels asking a candidate to sing their favourite song, while rejecting another applicant because ‘he looked like Humpty Dumpty'. Amid a chorus of ‘this never happened in my day', many dismissed such interview panels as the latest piece of evidence supporting the long-term decline of educational standards in the UK.

Exploring pupil voice in primary schools

scameron — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:23:48 +0000

On 25 March an article appeared in The Independent newspaper under the headline ‘Pupil power: the children who chose their own head'. The article concerned the involvement of primary age pupils in the interview process leading to the appointment of a new headteacher at their school. This practice, which is becoming increasingly common, highlights the growing involvement of pupils in strategic developments within their school.

Learning to listen to student voice: part 2

scameron — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:01:20 +0100

It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much.
Yogi Berra

Learning to listen to student voice: part 1

scameron — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:37:24 +0100

By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
Confucius

A whole-school anti-bullying policy

scameron — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:10:06 +0100

In November 2004, Manhood Community College in Selsey, West Sussex, was placed in special measures following an Ofsted inspection which stated that bullying was commonplace throughout the school. The report concluded that action had to be taken immediately to tackle the problem and improve behaviour.

Secondary Assembly: Are politicians servants of the people?

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:39 +0100

Resources

Six readers.

Engagement

Reader 1: Gwyneth Dunwoody died on 17 April, 2008. She was recently most reported in her role as chair of the House of Commons transport select committee, but, more significantly, was the longest-serving female member of parliament. MP for Crewe and Nantwich, Ms Dunwoody was elected to parliament as the MP for Exeter in 1966.

Student feedback in behaviour management

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:39 +0100

Introduction

So, the lesson has ended, the bell has gone and your students are ready to move on to the next lesson or go out to break. How has it gone? Perhaps the supplementary question that should also be asked is, "How do you know?"

Many youngsters will be only too happy to be moving on to the next event of their day. For teachers and support staff, the priority may be to consolidate, recover and prepare for the next lesson.

Secondary Assembly: Loyalty

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:38 +0100

Summary

This week's assembly examines the issue of loyalty. It challenges listeners to question where their loyalties lie and whether the whole idea of loyalty still stands in the twenty-first century. It also explores what people might consider being loyal to.

Resources

Six readers.

Engagement

All readers to say the following, one by one:

Enrichment Activities: planning for the future

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:36 +0100

This week's primary enrichment activity looks at the implications of natural disasters, encouraging pupils to think logically about how to plan effectively for these emergences.

This week's secondary enrichment activity draws on the redesign of the classroom chair, getting pupils to think of innovative ways to improve the design of other items of classroom furniture.

Giving pupils and teachers a voice

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:01 +0100

‘I like something where I can be in the middle: circles would be good, a big circle would be good, but squares are what we are made of.’ (Secondary teacher)

Learner voice is a popular topic (addressed in Learning and Teaching Update in April 2007), but there seems to be less emphasis on teacher voice. This article looks at how teachers and students can be involved in ‘designing for learning’, and reports on activities undertaken in conjunction with the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF).

School democracy: learning conversations

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:01 +0100

Think about your school’s strategic decision-making process. Try drawing it. What does it look like? Who is involved? You will probably have staff meetings, middle management groups and senior leadership teams with some eventual link to the governing body through the governor committees.

Now think about the decision-making process for young people within your school. Draw it. Does it mirror the adult decision-making process? Where, if anywhere, does it even link to the adult decision-making process?

Students as learning partners (SaLP)

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:57 +0100

To me, one of the most challenging and revolutionary aspects of student voice has been students as learning partners (SaLP). After contemplating why this is the case we narrowed it down to the fact there has never been a precedent for this type of thinking before in school. Over the years we have seen versions of student councils, co-construction of lessons and schemes of work, mentoring/coaching but never before have we invited students in to observe and provide a critique our lessons.

SEN students' views on ECM outcomes

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:57 +0100

A learning project in two Cornish comprehensive schools shows how the views of students with SEN can be listened to and acted on. The project shows both similarities in the positive and negative experiences of students with SEN in the two schools as well as institutional differences. The project involved SEN students acting as researchers to help improve their own learning experiences.

Project context

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Student voices: Year 7 pupils leading the plenary

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:51 +0100
There were only a few reasons for introducing this project two years ago but now there are many to keep it going. Initially, training up Year 7 students to be able to confidently lead their peers through three different types of plenary was about raising the profile of the plenary and highlighting the importance of students reflecting on their learning.

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Philosophy for Children: emotional literacy in Year 6

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:47 +0100
Background
Gallions opened in 1999 in a newly developed area of the London Borough of Newham, with high levels of social deprivation and special educational need.

From the start, the school worked hard to create an environment where every child felt encouraged to learn and to achieve. The vision for the school was that it would be a place where people would get on well and want to cooperate with each other.

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Learning detectives: learning to learn

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:42 +0100
In 2006, three advanced skills teachers for assessment for learning (Linda Baines, Lucy Watts and myself), from three Leading Edge secondary schools in Cornwall, planned a joint project on learning. We wanted to investigate how students saw their learning and how they could have a say in their learning. We planned an outline which would be cross-phase and cross-school spread over three years.
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'Pressure is good for me' says one Year 10 gifted pupil

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:42 +0100

How do you feel when people refer to you as gifted and talented?
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Achieving a fully inclusive school: Brampton Manor

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:40 +0100

In December 1999 an Ofsted inspection found that Brampton Manor’s academic standards were below the national average. Other failings cited included overall unsatisfactory teaching in KS3, below average pupil attendance and weaknesses in leadership and management that ‘reduced the impact of management commitment on pupils’ learning.’

I was appointed as headmaster within two months of the inspection and a recovery plan was written by the school and agreed by Ofsted for immediate implementation.
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Primary pupil voice: collecting views

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:40 +0100
Being asked about ‘the student voice’ by the editor of G&T Update made me think about how to collect feedback from our most able pupils and conduct a sort of litmus test of ‘customer satisfaction’. I decided to incorporate a reflective writing task in the work I was doing with a group of G&T writers, introducing it as a response to the publishers request for pupil opinion.
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G&T labelling - student views

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:39 +0100

Our school (an 11-18 urban mixed comprehensive) is probably in much the same situation in terms of G&T as many other schools. Colleagues run some really inspirational out-of-class activities, and there is a lot of very good practice within lessons, but we can’t be sure that our most able students are consistently getting the stimulus and challenge to which they are entitled.

Cross-curricular observations
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Listening to the views of very young children

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:38 +0100
Historical context

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Pupils respond to a teacher's marking

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:35 +0100
Many pupils want to be involved as active participants in the consideration of what makes good teaching and learning so that their role changes from being an ‘object’ of research attention, to one of active participation (Flutter and Ruddock, 2004).

Double loop learning

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Students have their say on learning

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:34 +0100
As recipients of your ‘curriculum offer’, the students themselves can give invaluable insights into what really works for them. Although one of the current trends in education is to pay more heed to student voice, some would say that those who create the national initiatives, which curriculum managers then have to make work in their school context, are not listening enough to the views of pupils. So this recent research review from the National Foundation of Educational Research (NFER) could make useful reading for policymakers as well as the schools themselves.

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Young people support family diversity

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:33 +0100
Young people participating in the recent HeadsUp (www.headsup.org.uk) online forum It’s a Family Affair! What Is the Place of Family in Society? were adamant in their support for the quality of parenting they receive. They identified several reasons behind what keeps families together and also what drives them apart. Many were speaking from first-hand experience.

Key questions in the debate

What makes up a family? Does every family need a father/mother figure plus 2.4 children to function?

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Involving students as researchers in the setting up of a school council

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:32 +0100
This pilot is part of a three-year action research project, LSSCARP (the London Secondary School Council Action Research Project) which has been exploring how school councils can improve schools. As part of making school councils more effective, some of the schools involved in the project have been focusing on areas such as teaching and learning.

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Building emotional safety in groups

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:30 +0100
Circle time is still mostly thought of as a primary school activity. It is likely that most children of primary age have had an experience of circle time. More than that, many of them will have a weekly opportunity to sit in a circle with their classmates to discuss issues that are of immediate concern to the class, or to explore emotions and learn social skills.

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Students as partners in learning

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:30 +0100

2020 Vision, the report by the review group chaired by Christine Gilbert, recommends that a personalised approach to teaching and learning would:

treat students as partners in their learning

listen to what they think about the services they receive (see below).

What the Gilbert review said:
Reflective schools view ‘pupil voice’ as far more than establishing a pupil council. They are engaging pupils actively in shaping learning and teaching, for example, by:
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What makes a good teacher for gifted and talented students?

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:30 +0100

Different teachers can be good in different ways, depending on their method of teaching and the types of pupils they teach. One teacher may be better suited to teaching pupils who struggle with certain subjects and another might be great at working with children who thrive on their subject and do really well in it.

Enjoyment
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Involving students as researchers in the setting up of a school council

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:30 +0100
This pilot is part of a three-year action research project, LSSCARP (the London Secondary School Council Action Research Project) which has been exploring how school councils can improve schools. As part of making school councils more effective, some of the schools involved in the project have been focusing on areas such as teaching and learning.

read more

Putting wellbeing at the centre

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:26 +0100

In my five years as head of Yeading Junior, we have sought to embed emotional health and wellbeing into our school: for our staff, our children and our whole community. We have done this out of a conviction that wellbeing is closely linked to achievement. If you don’t feel good, you certainly aren’t going to do very well. We wanted the children to feel confident, so that they could face the challenge of learning.
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Students as researchers: making a difference

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:23 +0100

The students as researchers (STARS) project was launched at Deptford Green school in 2003 and began by targeting students in Year 9. The project was launched in an assembly and thereafter 56 Year 9 students volunteered. The project started small with 18 of these students selected from across the ability range. These students then attended a training day held off campus to practise their teamwork skills and aspects of research project design, including research ethics, research methods, data analysis and evaluation.
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Implementing the Thinking Through School approach at Corbridge Middle School

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:22 +0100

Corbridge Middle School, near Hexham, Northumberland is a 9-13 mixed comprehensive with approximately 350 on roll. Pupil attainment on entry to the school is generally above the national average, although the full range is present. In this case study, the process of trialling Thinking Through School is exemplified and the lessons learned are outlined.
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Evidence-informed teaching: the answer (or part of it) is out there

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:22 +0100

You might like to bookmark this website: http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/EPPIWeb/home.aspx?page=/reel/reviews.htm.
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Including young people in our conversation

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:19 +0100

On the day before the Antidote conference, I taught a couple of lessons at the Shropshire secondary school where I work. I confessed to one group that I was feeling nervous about talking to around 100 people whom I didn’t know. As always when I share my vulnerabilities with the young people I teach, they were little stars of support. Paul told me not to worry as he was sure they would like me. Sally told me that, if I was feeling nervous, I should just remember that my baby (I was about 23 weeks pregnant) would look after me!
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Assessing the benefits of participation

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:17 +0100

In Working Together: Giving Children and Young People a Say, the DfES presented the ‘benefits’ of participation in school councils and similar activities. The Carnegie Trust Young People’s Initiative recently commissioned the Centre for International Education and Research (CIER) at Birmingham University to investigate the ‘impact’ evidence further.
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Raising standards through wellbeing

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:15 +0100

Education minister Andrew Adonis surprised many this autumn when he brought forward an amendment to the education bill that required schools to promote the ‘wellbeing’ of students. Having previously dismissed such a clause as unnecessary, he conceded that sending a message to teachers about their duty to promote wellbeing would help to deliver an ‘undoubted premium on school standards’.
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Reconciling emotional literacy and targets

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:09 +0100

The school where I work is a large, 11-16 co-educational comprehensive in the Marches, on the English-Welsh border. It does not have much ethnic diversity. However, it has been part of an education action zone and now an excellence cluster, on account of its geographical and cultural isolation.
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Investigating underachievement

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:08 +0100

Underachievement has been an issue in schools as long as there have been schools. As Younger and Warrington asserted as recently as 2005, ‘The underachievement of girls and boys is a complex and multi-dimensional problem.’ Numerous studies have addressed what is seen as an increasingly urgent problem. Millions of pounds have been spent by a succession of governments trying to alleviate the problem. And have any of the initiatives worked?
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Making learning better: listening to pupil voice

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:07 +0100

Giving young people a voice and listening to what they have to say is an important part of democratising schools. Using this data for school self-evaluation and to assess school effectiveness makes good sense if schools are to understand school experience through the eyes of young people, rather than reflected through an adult lens.
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Pupil voice

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:05 +0100

The Cornish cluster in which I work has recently been involved in a pilot for Every Student Matters (ESM), a process that helps improve the way in which we listen to students (the pupil voice). We use a questionnaire to find out how students see things and then act on that information to change attitudes to learning within the school.
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Discussion and democracy

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:55 +0100

In this column I have looked at topics that are relevant for both PSHE and citizenship. If there is one topic that might seem to belong just to citizenship it is democracy. After all, the Crick Report of 1998, which had so much influence on the decision to incorporate citizenship into the National Curriculum, was called ‘Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools’.

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Networking to engage student voice

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:53 +0100

Ingrid Cox, Deputy Principal, Rivington and Blackrod High School, Bolton
Time is right
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Legal case notes: Shared care – children's views

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:50 +0100

The Facts
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Praise for SEN Regional Partnerships

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:49 +0100

The report considers composition of the partnerships, the roles of facilitators and consultants and models of working practice and concludes that, for a relatively modest financial input to each region, the DfES has released a considerable degree of professional time and expertise across authorities. This, in turn, results in outcomes which improve professional practice and quality of provision, and extend the repertoire of strategies and approaches in relation to services for young people with SEN.
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Decision-making in school: involving pupils with no verbal communication

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:49 +0100

Introduction

This article is based on findings from a survey of special and mainstream provision in England, which formed the first phase of the Participation in Education (PIE) project. This study developed from a partnership between the University of Bristol, Bristol Local Authority and the West of England Centre for Inclusive Living. It is based on a social model of disability and on the assumption that disabled children may be excluded from involvement in decision-making because we lack knowledge about how to achieve this.

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Whole school change and human rights education – UNICEF UK reflection

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:48 +0100

The Developing Citizenship project has provided a tremendous learning experience about how to bring about change in secondary schools, and one that has been extremely beneficial for the UNICEF UK Education Dept.
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Martin Luther King Day – student inspiration at Benjamin Britten High School

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:48 +0100

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Pupil discussion at CDEC – bullying, fair trade and global citizenship

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:48 +0100

Kath: I'm Kath. I'm the anti bullying co-ordinator for the county. There's only me and I only work part time, so you won't see very much of me at all. I've just finished doing the research on bullying in schools, and if you're really interested in it it's on the website. Have a look at it.
The other thing that I'm going to be doing shortly is an anti-bullying website which will be interactive, and you should be getting details of that. So feel free to use it if you want or need to.
So do you know what you're here for today?
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Student voice at Whalley Range High School

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:47 +0100

Yes, we had a school council. But was it really representative of the whole school student voice? Councillors were keen elected volunteers, but our canvassing of all our students concerns through them and our feedback mechanisms were certainly not as rigorous as they could be. How real was their power and the say they had, anyway?

Yes, we did surveys, interviews, questionnaires and talked to students about different things at different times but all in a rather ad hoc way. So time for a rethink.
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The Trading Game – human rights workshop at Diss High School

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:47 +0100

A Citizenship Department has been set up with a Head of Citizenship for Years 7 – 11 and another person who oversees Citizenship in the Sixth Form. There is also a Human Rights Group for Sixth Formers as an option in Enrichment Studies. There has therefore been full support for promoting Global Citizenship throughout the curriculum.
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