Pupil Participation in Scottish Schools: Final Report

Improving Schools, 2011

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989), which applies to all children under the age of 18, established the overarching principles guiding pupil participation. In most European states, signatories to the Convention have enacted policies to promote the voice of the child or young person in decisions that affect them. In education systems strategies to enhance the pupil participation are an increasing feature of deliberation on education for citizenship, curriculum flexibility, pedagogical approaches and assessment for learning. Despite the positive policy context and professional commitment to principles of inclusion, translating policy intentions so that the spirit of the legislation is played out in the day-to-day experiences of pupils is a constant challenge. This article reports on research that examines how pupil participation is understood and enacted in Scottish schools. It considers how the over-laying of diverse policies presents mixed messages to practitioners.

Pupil participation and curriculum relevance

Participatory Pedagogy, 2018

The UK Government requires all schools in England to promote ‘Fundamental British Values’. These include democracy, and as Hart (1992) states: ‘A nation is democratic to the extent that its citizens are involved’. My research questions how ’involved’ pupils are within schools and how democratic our schools are. Recent findings from Robinson (2014) found that pupil participation in schools is not as effective as believed. Hart (1992) developed a Ladder of Participation to illustrate the levels of participation and non-participation of young people in schools. This has been used for developing and enhancing the work of school councils for many years, though arguably much of the work can still remain around the lower, tokenistic or ‘consultation’ levels. My research aims to explore pupil participation and voice within the classroom, and within teaching itself. Education has the potential to be socially transformative when that education system actively recognises and engages the learners as agents for their own learning. James and Pollard (2011) argue that pedagogy could influence social aspects such as increased social justice or economic prosperity. Further to that I would argue that engaging in a transformative, ‘participatory’ pedagogy utilises critical, creative and collaborative thinking to greater effect, enabling learners to become ‘transformers of their world’ (Freire, 1968, cited in Robinson & Taylor, 2007: 12). Through this research I have been able to develop a Participatory Pedagogy Framework based on Hart’s ‘Ladder of Participation’ (1992) and, by incorporating the work of Florian and Linklater (2010), adapt it for use within general classroom practice as an approach to developing pupil voice and engagement in learning. My paper will endeavour to outline the key aspects of the theory around the development of my Participatory Pedagogy Framework and the initial outcomes from a small-scale action research project exploring the educational effectiveness and practicality of employing the framework in a primary classroom.

2018

Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 2020

The purpose of this English secondary school pilot case-study is to establish if the research design addresses the questions about teachers' and students' patterns of participation in institutional processes and practices. Such participation is important because individuals can prepare for participating within labour markets, and shape culture in their communities' and 'big society'. The case study draws from a post-positivist and an interpretivst approach. The mixed methods case study included qualitative interviews with two teachers and two students that focused on their experiences, concerns and aspirations. The findings revealed that leadership systems of value enabled learning to start with students and fostered collaboration between teachers and teachers, and teachers and students' learning, assessment for learning and planning. Collaboration was underpinned by healthy relationships characterized by friendliness, trust, respect and an ethic of care, an inclusionary approach, a sense of fun, and a spirit of enquiry. Research participants stated optimal participation had been reached, and further participation would require the creation of time in the curriculum. The findings were theorized from which we developed pilot questionnaires to test the findings. The evidence from the pilot of the questionnaires is here reported. Reporting the qualitative findings is not possible because it would not be possible to maintain the confidentiality of the teachers and students.

2018

Key factors influencing a school or pre-school's predisposition to enhancing learner participation included: • the training and experience of staff in relation to initiatives, • the values of teachers (especially the head teachers and senior staff) concerning learner participation and children's rights, • the degree of trust among staff and between staff and leaners which was seen as critical for taking learner participation on board, and • the historical context of the setting with respect to learner participation. Key aspects of how different settings took the guidance forward included school/preschool culture, vision, values, as well as the degree to which connectivity among initiatives was seen to help with addressing participation across the culture of the setting. It was noted that an ethos of trust and participation among staff themselves was a bedrock for all for actualising learner participation. The implication perhaps is that if this is not widespread and based on shared understandings, learner participation may be more challenging to develop. In all settings, whilst change is of course an ongoing phenomenon, there was ample evidence the use of the guidance played a role in: • communicating the main ideas to staff, • advancing new work on participation, catalysing change in settings, • noticing and developing 'learner participation' as a feature of the four connected arenas, • changing traditional perspectives on what counts as learner participation; embracing the view that learner participation is much more than listening to pupils or solely the work of formal 'councils', • providing senior management teams with starting points and tools to promote staff development, • addressing particular issues around inclusion and developing a more democratic school culture.

International Journal of Adolescence and Youth

There is growing support for the relevance of adolescents' participation in school, as a result of different works which focus on singular aspects of pupils' involvement. Yet, there is a lack of advancement in regard to integral analytical frameworks that are capable of providing fundamental dimensions and concepts in the study and evaluation of student participation in school. This article aims to fill the gap by introducing an analytical framework for a more holistic examination of such practices. By using data from a mixed methods research, which included qualitative work in two schools from contrasting municipalities of Mexico City, and a representative survey (n ¼ 828) of third grade students from the secondary schools in these two areas, the article shows the empirical applicability of the model, and reveals its capacity for mapping, understanding and evaluating student participation in school from an integral perspective, based on two fundamental dimensions of inquiry: scope and quality.

British Educational Research Journal, 2012

2021

In current scientific literature a wide variety of definitions and terms are used to describe student participation and student voice. In particular, this article examines how the terms participation, student voice, and their synonyms are used in the current literature to provide a structured overview of how these terms are being used. A systematic literature review led to 325 articles. From this number we selected 126 articles according to the criteria of topic (student participation in school), age group (primary and secondary school) and language (English or German). The results showed that student participation was discussed across five contexts: democratic education, children's rights, well-being, learning and school practice. After comparing similarities and differences between the five contexts, three characteristics which characterize student participation became apparent: considering others, power dynamics between students and teachers, and change that is inherently con...