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Tunbridge Wells – Pupils as Researchers Project 2008/2009
Rationale and background to the project:
Pupil voice is not a new concept or phenomena, but it has been gaining in credibility and importance in recent years. Harold Dent said, about fifty years ago, that it is not enough to teach about democracy; you have instead to enact it in the daily exchanges of life in school and classrooms. The United Nations convention on the rights of the child also states that, ‘Children have a right to express their views, to be heard and to take part in decisions that affect them’. This is reflected in Priority 3 within the Tunbridge Wells Local Children and Young People’s Plan - to ‘Increase the positive contribution made by children and young people’.
The ‘Pupils As Researchers’ (PAR)project has sought to encapsulate the reasons why pupil voice is so important in school improvement, whilst simultaneously teaching adults and young people a range of effective research methods. It is hoped that the project will have encouraged students and adults to engage in genuinely open conversations and to think together.
Research by Fielding and Bragg (2003), Alderson (2000), Atweh and Burton (1995), Elliot (1991) and many others has shown that pupils benefit a great deal from taking part in research projects and can be genuine agents of change within schools. It allows pupils to identify and contribute to school improvement initiatives in an authentic and meaningful way and may go beyond the contribution made by school councils and other processes. This is summarised well in ‘Students as Researchers; Making a Difference’ - Fielding and Bragg (Pearson Publishing 2003) from which much of the project has been drawn.
It is believed that the Pupils as Researchers project benefits students by giving them:
- A stronger sense of membership (the organisational dimension) so that students feel more positive about school;
- A stronger sense of respect and self-worth (the personal dimension) so that students feel positive about themselves;
- A stronger sense of self as learner (the pedagogic dimension) so that students are better able to manage their own progress in learning;
- A stronger sense of agency (the political dimension) so that students realise that they can have impact on things that matter to them in school.
- academic skills
- communication skills
- listening skills
- civic skills and
- research skills
- working in teams
- working with different age and ability groups
- working with teachers in different ways
In addition, there are benefits for adults who work with young people because they can:
- experience a different way of working with pupils
- see changes in pupils
- create new partnerships with pupils
- gain insights that help their own professional
The project has the potential to help schools:
- develop their 'learning culture'
- further improve learning and teaching
- evaluate the curriculum
- further develop the ethos and identity of the school
- raise achievement
- changing school structures/processes
Following successful ‘Pupil Voice’ conferences in July, at which a range of research methods were modelled, schools have continued to research a range of issues of importance to them. Projects have included: Safe ways to get into school, enriching the curriculum and rewards system, researching ways of improving our outdoor environment - designing a survey / questionnaire, what helps us learn well in the classroom.
Ken Jones – Independent Education Consultant
Methodologies
Three forms of consultation were identified:
• Direct consultation - Pupils are asked directly for their views in talk or writing.
• Prompted consultation - A stimulus is used to ‘prompt’ pupils to express their views.
• Mediated consultation - Pupils express their views through art or drama and then talk about what they wanted to communicate.
Methodologies used at the event on 8 & 10 July 2009.
What did you think?
Evaluation of the event (Click here to see results)
What's next...
Establishment of a Partnership, Young People’s Council
The skills and experiences gained through the PAR project will contribute significantly to the establishment of the Trust Partnership Young People’s Council in 2010. Schools are invited to engage their pupils / students in considering the following provocative statements in preparation for this:
There is no point having a ‘Partnership Council’ as schools are only really concerned about their own issues.
2. A ‘Partnership Council’ will never work as well as a School Council.
3. The people who got to serve on the Partnership Council would not truly represent the pupils / children at the different schools.
4. There are no issues that all students / pupils have in common across the whole Partnership, so there is no point in a Partnership Council.
5. There are too many schools for a Partnership Council to work properly.
6. Students / Children wouldn’t take a Partnership Council seriously.
7. The Partnership Council, (just like school councils), wouldn’t tackle the issues that are really important to students / children.
8. Adults say that they want to know what we think, but they don’t really. A Partnership council wouldn’t achieve anything important.
One suggested method of approaching this exercise is to replicate each statement on a large flipchart sheet, and to set these sheets out on tables, in a large space. Small groups of students / children (4-6) are then given 3-5 minutes at each sheet to record their thoughts (students take their pens with them – a range of colours can help distinguish individual statements). This can be done as an individual, or through discussion, or a combination (best to allow flexibility). Students / children should be encouraged to read other people’s comments as they proceed and to respond to others comments should they so wish. If required a scribe should be provided. When the activity is completed the key points should be captured and transcribed, clearly labelled with your school details, and then sent to Vicky Andrews who will collate the information.
First meeting of Children and Young People Student Council, 27 May 2010
What did we achieve?
- A better idea of how a Children and Young People's Council might work.
- How representatives might be chosen.
- Ideas for a Tunbridge Wells project.
- Heard from people who already help to run student councils.
- Planned the first council meeting.
- Decided how to inform all schools in Tunbridge Wells about the Council.
- Started to plan how we will celebrate at the end of the first year.
We had fun learning to using the Qwizdom sets, one of the activities was to vote on the provocative questions, click here to see the results.
We all got into different groups to look at the questions below and shared our answers together, here are your ideas for setting up your Student Council.
Activity 2 Partnership Project
- The things we do very well at our school
- The issues that are important to us
- Topics that could make good projects for the first year of the Tunbridge Wells Student Council
To find out what each school came up with click here.
Feedback from the day has already shown an enthusiasm and commitment to the council group:
“Huge thanks to everyone involved in setting up today - our 2 young people came back buzzing and full of ideas! Sue said that Ken had picked up on some of them, too - wonderful! Looking forward to taking this forward - our 2 will be reporting to governors at the next meeting!”
One of the activities during the day was to look at good projects for the student council to focus on for the first year.
Using Qwizdom you voted from six of your best ideas, the chart below shows the results. From this we need you to chose one from the top 3.
1. Improving links between primary and secondary schools
2. Environmental / Eco issues e.g. Graffiti
3. Curriculum – Arts, sport
Please email your choice 1,2 or 3 to Vicky Andrews by Wednesday 30 June 2010. Vicky.andrews@kent.gov.uk