What can students really tell us?

Video of students.

Why?Why do we have student

voice movements / student councils etc?

Ofsted?School policy?To improve teaching?

OfstedBefore Sep 2011 - Schools had

to show how they had engaged with and listened to students.

Ofsted inspectors met with students (the school council).

Ofsted wrote a clear, simple letter directly to students (via the school council) explaining the key findings of their inspection.

DfE The Government is committed to the promotion and

protection of children’s rights, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It believes that children and young people should have opportunities to express their opinion in matters that affect their lives.

This legislation is underpinned by the general principles of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), - articles 2, 3, 6 and, in particular, article 12 which states the following:

“1. Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

2. For this purpose, the child shall, in particular, be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.”

NASUWT.…empowerment of pupils to enable

them to be engaged and involved in the learning process…

In some schools ….opinion surveying of pupils and strategies which privilege pupils in a way that undermines, disempowers and deprofessionalises teachers. …interviewing of staff for new posts and promotion and being trained to undertake classroom observation of teachers

NUT.“…any issue which had privacy/confidentiality

implications or would impact on employees’ employment, salaries or conditions of service should be excluded from eligible areas for pupil involvement…

…pupils can play a valuable advisory role ……all pupils have the right to be consulted on a

range of issues which directly affect them. The same right to consultation should be extended to school staff, who are equally affected by these matters and who should enjoy the same right to contribute to the development of school policies as their pupils will now have…”

“With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in man, than any other association of men.”- Clarence Darrow

“There are clearly contradictions in insisting on listening to pupil voice when teacher voice has been undermined.”

“schools should not be idealised as harmonious learning communities.”

Teacher voice“…key focus (was) to address

teacher voice alongside pupil voice, working right from the start to value all staff, to renew their confidence in their professional judgement and to encourage the development of skills and qualifications …”

“whilst adult support for pupil voice is crucial in ensuring its success and sustainability, it is important to recognise the demands it places on teachers, for instance in changing their identities as professionals and their relations both with children and with other staff.”

“the voices of all those in a learning community, including support staff…

…teacher voice ‘has to be developed alongside pupil voice for the dialogue to be truly meaningful within a whole-school situation’.”

“Radical collegiality”

“…teachers learn not only with and from each other, from parents and from their community, but also, and more particularly, from their students.” Fielding

“If teachers aren’t prepared to respect and learn from someone with fewer qualifications or years of experience than them, how will they listen to children?”

Radical thinking?“…more overt openness and

reciprocity indicative of a more flexible, dialogic form of democratic practice.”

“…teacher learning is both enabled and enhanced by dialogic encounters with their students in which the interdependent nature of teaching and learning and the shared responsibility for its success is made explicit.”

Emancipation?“Emancipation is any of

various efforts to procuring political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group”

“Being freed from someone else's control or power .”

Transversal?

“Transversal thinking”?“a transformative,

‘transversal’ approach in which the voices of students, teachers and significant others involved in the process of education construct ways of working that are emancipatory in both process and outcome.”

“children have everything to teach us because they’re the ones that are evaluating what we’re doing all the time.”

“…the sophistication and insight of the students was substantial, their concerns and aspirations mirrored those expressed by staff and the issues they wished to explore included matters of profound significance, both to themselves and to their teachers.”

“they were arguing for a move away from curriculum as delivery to curriculum as the joint making of meaning. … a negotiated curriculum and a negotiated pedagogy seemed to them to make more sense.”

“Pupil voice undoubtedly troubles existing relationships and identities, but it also fosters new ones, as this account reveals. Changing relationships between pupils and teachers ultimately became supportive as teachers came to see how ‘they don’t want to hurt you, they just want to make it better’ and as pupils were encouraged to understand the dilemmas of teaching. Perhaps with more difficulty, hierarchical relationships between different staff members diminished too. And teachers were eventually enabled to take up a different relationship to themselves, redefining their professionalism in terms of collegiality with other staff as well as with children”

‘Trainee teacher professional development is enhanced by reciprocal dialogic encounter with students about the quality of teaching and learning.’

Teacher attitude?“whilst children seemed to

rise quickly to the challenge of pupil voice ways of working and being, the perceptions, experiences and reactions of the teachers tell a more ambiguous story of the complexities that emerge as intentions are implemented.”

“Negative outcomes are less likely where students are supported in their work and enabled to understand the broader context of their activities, and where issues of values and ethics are addressed early on and returned to throughout the process.”

“They may be sceptical about young people’s knowledge, intentions or capabilities, especially where they do not have a particularly positive relationship with them.”

“Without the wholehearted adult support for, and belief in, the potential of Student Voice, the role and contribution of students to their learning communities cannot be fully realised.”

The student feedback surveyAdapted from MET survey by Nick Rose at

Turnford School (@turnfordblog )

35 questions in 7 categories:CareControlClarifyChallengeCaptivateConferConsolidate

Strongly disagree – strongly agreeCareMy teacher in this class makes

me feel she/he really cares about me.

My teacher seems to know if something is bothering me.

My teacher really tries to understand how students feel about things.

ControlStudent behaviour in this class is under control.I hate the way that students behave in this

class.*Student behaviour in this class makes the

teacher angry.*Student behaviour in this class is a problem.*My classmates behave the way my teacher

wants them to.Students in this class treat the teacher with

respect.Our class stays busy and doesn’t waste time.

ClarifyIf you don’t understand something, my

teacher explains it another way.My teacher knows when the class

understands, and when we do not.When she/he is teaching us, my teacher

thinks we understand when we don’t.*My teacher has several good ways to

explain each topic that we cover in class.My teacher explains difficult things clearly.

ChallengeMy teacher asks questions to be sure we are

following along when she/he is teaching.My teacher asks students to explain more

about the answers they give.In this class, my teacher accepts nothing less

than our full effort.My teacher doesn’t let people give up when

the work gets hard.My teacher wants me to explain my answers

—why I think what I think.In this class, we learn a lot almost every day.In this class, we learn to correct our mistakes.

CaptivateThis class does not keep my

attention—I get bored.*My teacher makes learning

enjoyable.My teacher makes lessons

interesting.I like the way we learn in this

class.

ConferMy teacher wants us to share our

thoughts.Students get to decide how activities

are done in this class.My teacher gives us time to explain our

ideas.Students speak up and share their ideas

about class work.My teacher respects my ideas and

suggestions.

ConsolidateMy teacher takes the time to

summarize what we learn each day.My teacher checks to make sure we

understand what she/he is teaching us.We get helpful comments to let us

know what we did wrong on assignments.

The comments that I get on my work in this class help me understand how to improve.

Survey done on FROG (VLE)

Data comes out like this:

Nick Rose’s magic turns it into:

And this!

Care [56%] -6% 72% 01 My teacher really tries to understand how students feel

about things 61% 06 My teacher in this class makes me feel s/he really cares

about me [+0%] 33% 21 My teacher seems to know if something is bothering me

[-6%] Control [91%] +20% 94% 02 My classmates behave the way my teacher wants them to 83%* 05 I hate the way students behave in this class 78% *20 Student behaviour in this class makes the teacher angry

[+39%] 100% 22 Student behaviour in this class is under control 94%* 24 Student behaviour in this class is a problem 94% 31 Students in this class treat the teacher with respect 94% 34 Our class stays busy and doesn’t waste time

Where now?Doing the student surveys.Analysing data for my lessons.Survey on student feedback for

teachers at my school.Focus group with pilot group of

teachers.Analysis of teacher attitudes.

Video – teacher attitude to student feedback.