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16 FEBRUARY 2009
NO 1401
Children's voices
In order to investigate how far schools and colleges had developed their practice and to obtain a brief snapshot of attitudes about pupil involvement, the author, together with Shirley Moyse carried out a small scale survey of the issue.
The aim of this study was to identify whether schools and colleges valued and therefore wished to encourage pupil involvement, particularly in the central areas of assessment, curriculum and decision making. It also aimed to examine whether, in the light of recent trends and legislation, it was perceived that there had been an increase in pupil involvement during the past ten years. It was hoped that interesting initiatives and examples of good practice would be identified. The project was undertaken in May and June 1994 in an outer London borough. Given the constraints of time, a questionnaire was sent out to all Heads of Nursery, Infant, Junior, Primary, Secondary, Special Schools and Colleges in the area. A total of 87 organizations were contacted. Of these, nearly 40 per cent (33) completed and returned their questionnaires.
The overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that pupil involvement should be encouraged and also felt that to some extent it was being encouraged in their organization. The majority of responses also indicated that it was perceived that there was higher degree of pupil involvement than ten years ago. In the important areas of assessment, curriculum and decision making, once again the majority of organizations which responded felt that pupils were involved to some degree.
It was in the area of assessment where schools indicated greatest pupil involvement and in the area of curriculum least. A number of schools referred to the fact that involvement had now to be set within the framework of the National Curriculum. The findings indicate that assessment in schools is now viewed as more of a partnership between teacher and student. The most commonly reported method of assessing the merits of work, at all ages, was through discussion. Pupils were said to be given opportunities to choose what they believed to be their best piece of work for assessment. In the area of curriculum a large proportion of schools surveyed had implemented reading partnership schemes, such as paired reading. Such schemes typically involve a parent listening to a child read, but taking over the reading when the child indicates that he or she wants this to happen (such as by tapping on the table). The child tends to take an active and leading role in the reading practice.
When it came to decision making, pupils were most often involved in drawing up behaviour policy and school councils were seen as important ways of involving pupils both in secondary and primary schools. The issues discussed at council meetings were often more sophisticated than teachers might have expected and often led to improvements in the school's procedures. Other schemes reported were victim/bully support groups, pupil-run newspapers, pupils selecting their own rewards and involvement in school development plans. In one primary school pupils set rules and modelled acceptable ways of behaving that were then photographed. These photographs formed the basis of a booklet on behaviour which was then sent home to parents. A girls' secondary school outlined their method of choosing prefects, where staff and pupils voted together and that also involved those shortlisted attending a `leadership' weekend in Wales.
IRVINE S. GERSCH
Gersch, I. S. (with Moyse, S.; Nolan, A. and Pratt, G.). (1996). Listening to children in educational contexts. In Davie, R.; Upton, G. and Varma, V. (Eds.). The Voice of the Child: A Handbook for Professionals. pp. 30-31
