We should regularly review how we collect the views of our pupils, as well as their parents and our wider school community.
The school council
Having a functioning council has often been seen as an indication that pupil voice is sought and listened to. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. It is all too easy for the school council to fall into the hands of a small number of pupils who enjoy this type of role and pop up more than once in voluntary groups around the school.
Through no fault of their own, they can dominate discussions which can focus on the same annual issues of school toilets and playground equipment. The agenda can end up being manufactured and skewed towards outcomes that the school feels confident it can deliver or peripheral issues that can largely be ignored.
This doesn’t mean to say that school councils are a bad idea, just that they must be created and nurtured in a way that seeks to involve those least likely to join in the discussions.
Some schools have achieved this through developing a more regular consultation process that has its origins in class meetings that are so frequent and comfortable that everyone feels able to have their say.
Consider including a rotating chair and representatives who hold temporary and revolving responsibilities. Look for alternative ways of feeding back that do not require public speaking. Involving pupils in question-and-answer sessions through messaging or video or voice-conferencing may suit some pupils more.
The charity Smart School Councils has identified its own formula or structure to help ensure that school councils don’t just become a token gesture. Recrafting the school council as a “Communication Team” that works alongside the Class Meeting and Action Teams, they aim to provide a fresh perspective.
Either way, consider these questions about your council:
- Does its composition reflect the ethnicity, gender profile and variety of needs in your school?
- Does the council return to the same topics each year – if so, why?
- Is there regular opportunity for everyone to raise issues and have feedback about them?
- How do you give the school council the confidence to raise criticisms of processes or practices in the school?
- Is the council monopolised by the same voices?
- How do you feedback what has been done about issues raised?
These questions should not be confined to a senior leader or the member of staff who leads on the school council. Older pupils at least should have opportunity to review the strategies you are using and those class teachers who see it working at grass roots level.
Questionnaires, surveys, suggestion boxes
Pupil questionnaires and surveys can be quick and efficient methods of reaching out to all the pupils in your school. The problem is how do you ensure that they are reliable in the responses they collect?
They can certainly provide useful information and an overview of what your pupils are thinking, but these methods must also be considered alongside other means of gathering information.
Once you have carried out a survey on an issue and have a broad-brush idea of how your pupils are feeling, you will then want to carry out some focus group work with some of the respondents to illicit in more detail their interpretation of the questions and the answers they have given. One advantage of the questionnaire route is that you can produce some interesting charts using the quantitative information and the data can be compared across years, across age groups and other groups that you wish to keep track of.
This is more difficult with a qualitative survey and anecdotal comments, although very important, are difficult to categorise and report. The same goes for parental and community surveys.
Ultimately, combining these methods seems the most sensible. Submitting a questionnaire, holding a focus group, providing suggestion boxes and gathering anecdotal accounts can be combined to provide robust and reliable feedback.
Safeguarding
There is a clear emphasis during Ofsted inspection on how a school listens to pupil views when it comes to safeguarding. Ofsted’s School Inspection Handbook states: “All schools should have an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first. This means they actively seek and listen to the views and experiences of pupils, staff and parents, taking prompt but proportionate action to address any concerns, where needed.”
Some schools have adopted a method whereby children are given a map of the school and are asked to colour code the areas where they feel safe, less safe or not at all safe. Comparing and contrasting the results of this is relatively easy to do and can also show up stark differences in terms of year group and gender.
Attendance
School attendance remains a concern post-pandemic and talking to our pupils about this and how we can best assist them has never been more important. Helping pupils to articulate what they feel and recognising them as an active participant and not just a recipient could help build some attendance bridges.
Such an acknowledgement is particularly important when it comes to pupils with autism or pupils who are struggling with emotionally based school avoidance. Any pupil profile drawn up for a child with difficulties should include respect for their views on the situation – both reasons, outcomes and remedies. For some SEND pupils additional support might be needed to understand what the problem is. By engaging with a keyworker who has the relationship and skills needed, for example.
The key focus should be what we can do to get them back on track and what their hopes and ambitions for the future are. Helping them to voice the problem and searching for the solution together is a good place to start alongside consulting with the professionals and examining their case history.
Final thoughts
Why not begin your review of pupil voice at your school with the pupils themselves. Ask them how you can best discover what’s happening and how they feel. They may tell you that they like the usual methods, but they may also have some novel and school-based suggestions.
Suzanne O’Connell is a freelance education writer and a former primary school headteacher. Read her previous articles for Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/suzanne-oconnell
Headteacher Update Autumn Term Edition 2023
- This article first appeared in Headteacher Update's Autumn Term Edition 2023. This edition was sent free of charge to every primary school in the country in September. A digital edition is also available via www.headteacher-update.com/content/downloads
Further information & resources
- Smart School Councils: https://home.smartschoolcouncils.org.uk