Is Pupil Voice Really all its Cracked up to be? An analysis by Jonathan Pitt
Headmasters and Headmistresses all over the Country are jumping onto The Pupil Voice Drive. The idea of pupil voice is core to the My School and my Boarding House as it allows pupils to take an active part in the decision making of the school.
However, is this a good idea? Is it working? Does it help Pupils' education? and is it not actually just a way to make pupils argumentative and rebel against a system rather than help them to assist in the growth of a school.
Thankfully, I have just gone through a week where pupil voice has worked brilliantly and where I can say that without a doubt, pupil voice (when done well) is a huge asset to any pupil and any school.
On Monday, we hosted Wine Society in House. When two of the 6th form first approached me about this idea, I said that we could look at it but that they would need to get permission from the Head and would need to organise it themselves. On Monday, I saw the result of their efforts and I am proud to say that they had pulled off a hugely successful evening.
A wine tasting evening is one that has all of the risks of bad pupil voice - it could be an evening where pupils just want to drink, where they drink too much and just create an unruly mess rather than a victory for pupil voice.
However, the boys had bought the wine with their parents' supervision, had produced a guide to tasting, a detailed PowerPoint and notes about the wines, regions, soils and what to expect from clarity, colour and smell. The boys led the evening, they held their audience for the whole time and could answer questions thrown at them brilliantly. This really was pupil voice at its very best!
The next element was a pupil led inspection of the boarding house. A team of 12 boys had been selected to go around the House and check for compliance. They had a compliance self assessment checklist and created a detailed account of areas of success and things that they did not know about. It then allows me to create a personalised inspection report completed by the boys of the House. They each carried out their inspection with seriousness and I am already looking forward to meeting with them this coming Tuesday to talk about their findings.
Alongside this, the boys also carried out their own Questionnaires looking at the quality of tutoring, matroning and Housemastering (I think its a real word), in their boarding House. Again, this will form part of the feedback from the self inspection team.
When pupils are given responsibility and know that their own points and opinions will lead to discussions, reflections and actions - again, this is where pupil voice works at its best. The boys know that they are listened to, they know that changes happen when they put ideas forward - whether it is chupa chups in tuck shop, chicken nights or the new NBA game for the PlayStation. They can set targets for spending, we can budget this around the money from tuck shop and the boys can help to mould the House around their ideas. It does not matter whether they are 3rd Form or 6th Form, everyone has a voice and knows that they are listened to - again, essential to pupil voice.
If an idea is put forward and the pupil feels like they have not been heard, pupil voice fails. If a pupil gets the wrong idea of pupil voice and starts using it as a way of whingeing with no real productive solution, again pupil voice fails.
The seminar that was held on Wednesday was another victory for pupil voice. Peter Allison kindly offered to host an evening looking at the 'success of failure'. It used his experiences from: Marks and Spencers, Victoria's Secret. The Gap and Umbro. He used examples from these companies to show how failure happens and it is how one responds to the failure that is important in the modern working world. This seminar was attended by 18 pupils and not a single one had been forced to attend, they had all come along because they wanted to be there, they wanted to listen and they wanted to be part of this event. Not run by pupils this time but attended without being compulsory - another thing that happens when pupil voice is working well. These events are then written up by the boys for the House newsletter and forms the start of their University preparations.
5 of the boys then stayed in matron's office after the event talking about failures, business and their futures until eleven o'clock in the evening. Having a boarding house where pupils actually want to sit around and talk to adults all because they have been inspired by the series of seminars that we have hosted is brilliant and, again, an aspect of pupil voice that is not normally seen or understood.
Finally, I hosted an assembly in front of the whole school on Friday and asked a 4th Form boy to help me. This assembly was a joint assembly with me and the boy and Darryl V. fully wrote and prepared his own section of the talk. He managed to put this together with just one run through, wrote every word himself and even managed to overcome a dodgy microphone in the actual assembly itself. I cannot think of a better example of pupil voice than this.
Overall, this has been the perfect week to write a blog entry about pupil voice, I am proud to say that I have witnessed pupil voice at its best; where pupils use their own ideas and determination to make things happen. Even as I sit here now a 6th form boy has cooked a pizza for a new boy that has started today and has gone upstairs to tell him that the food is ready. Pupil voice is a great idea, it can undoubtedly lead to pupils understanding their own needs, pushing themselves to work harder and getting closer to attaining that all important 'growth mindset'.
However, I am also all too aware of the pitfalls where pupils use pupil voice to avoid hard work, moan rather than suggest solutions and complain when their moan has not led to change. This kind of pupil voice can be toxic and lead to a re-enforcing of a fixed mindset. This kind of pupil voice is also hard to solve, it is hard to help pupils to understand that they are not using pupil voice, they are using their own voice to cut corners and whinge.
Thankfully, this has not been the case this week. The other great thing is that I can then use this platform to praise the pupils, I can highlight and praise in House assembly, I can tweet it, Instagram it and show the pupils just how successful they have been and just how proud I am. Just like bad pupil voice, a winging House master can just become background noise - However, a praising one, pierces through the background noise and can even make the most stubborn boy look up from his mobile phone, pause the sending of the next snapchat and listen enough for them to know that you are proud of them.
However, is this a good idea? Is it working? Does it help Pupils' education? and is it not actually just a way to make pupils argumentative and rebel against a system rather than help them to assist in the growth of a school.
Thankfully, I have just gone through a week where pupil voice has worked brilliantly and where I can say that without a doubt, pupil voice (when done well) is a huge asset to any pupil and any school.
On Monday, we hosted Wine Society in House. When two of the 6th form first approached me about this idea, I said that we could look at it but that they would need to get permission from the Head and would need to organise it themselves. On Monday, I saw the result of their efforts and I am proud to say that they had pulled off a hugely successful evening.
A wine tasting evening is one that has all of the risks of bad pupil voice - it could be an evening where pupils just want to drink, where they drink too much and just create an unruly mess rather than a victory for pupil voice.
However, the boys had bought the wine with their parents' supervision, had produced a guide to tasting, a detailed PowerPoint and notes about the wines, regions, soils and what to expect from clarity, colour and smell. The boys led the evening, they held their audience for the whole time and could answer questions thrown at them brilliantly. This really was pupil voice at its very best!
The next element was a pupil led inspection of the boarding house. A team of 12 boys had been selected to go around the House and check for compliance. They had a compliance self assessment checklist and created a detailed account of areas of success and things that they did not know about. It then allows me to create a personalised inspection report completed by the boys of the House. They each carried out their inspection with seriousness and I am already looking forward to meeting with them this coming Tuesday to talk about their findings.
Alongside this, the boys also carried out their own Questionnaires looking at the quality of tutoring, matroning and Housemastering (I think its a real word), in their boarding House. Again, this will form part of the feedback from the self inspection team.
When pupils are given responsibility and know that their own points and opinions will lead to discussions, reflections and actions - again, this is where pupil voice works at its best. The boys know that they are listened to, they know that changes happen when they put ideas forward - whether it is chupa chups in tuck shop, chicken nights or the new NBA game for the PlayStation. They can set targets for spending, we can budget this around the money from tuck shop and the boys can help to mould the House around their ideas. It does not matter whether they are 3rd Form or 6th Form, everyone has a voice and knows that they are listened to - again, essential to pupil voice.
If an idea is put forward and the pupil feels like they have not been heard, pupil voice fails. If a pupil gets the wrong idea of pupil voice and starts using it as a way of whingeing with no real productive solution, again pupil voice fails.
The seminar that was held on Wednesday was another victory for pupil voice. Peter Allison kindly offered to host an evening looking at the 'success of failure'. It used his experiences from: Marks and Spencers, Victoria's Secret. The Gap and Umbro. He used examples from these companies to show how failure happens and it is how one responds to the failure that is important in the modern working world. This seminar was attended by 18 pupils and not a single one had been forced to attend, they had all come along because they wanted to be there, they wanted to listen and they wanted to be part of this event. Not run by pupils this time but attended without being compulsory - another thing that happens when pupil voice is working well. These events are then written up by the boys for the House newsletter and forms the start of their University preparations.
5 of the boys then stayed in matron's office after the event talking about failures, business and their futures until eleven o'clock in the evening. Having a boarding house where pupils actually want to sit around and talk to adults all because they have been inspired by the series of seminars that we have hosted is brilliant and, again, an aspect of pupil voice that is not normally seen or understood.
Finally, I hosted an assembly in front of the whole school on Friday and asked a 4th Form boy to help me. This assembly was a joint assembly with me and the boy and Darryl V. fully wrote and prepared his own section of the talk. He managed to put this together with just one run through, wrote every word himself and even managed to overcome a dodgy microphone in the actual assembly itself. I cannot think of a better example of pupil voice than this.
Overall, this has been the perfect week to write a blog entry about pupil voice, I am proud to say that I have witnessed pupil voice at its best; where pupils use their own ideas and determination to make things happen. Even as I sit here now a 6th form boy has cooked a pizza for a new boy that has started today and has gone upstairs to tell him that the food is ready. Pupil voice is a great idea, it can undoubtedly lead to pupils understanding their own needs, pushing themselves to work harder and getting closer to attaining that all important 'growth mindset'.
However, I am also all too aware of the pitfalls where pupils use pupil voice to avoid hard work, moan rather than suggest solutions and complain when their moan has not led to change. This kind of pupil voice can be toxic and lead to a re-enforcing of a fixed mindset. This kind of pupil voice is also hard to solve, it is hard to help pupils to understand that they are not using pupil voice, they are using their own voice to cut corners and whinge.
Thankfully, this has not been the case this week. The other great thing is that I can then use this platform to praise the pupils, I can highlight and praise in House assembly, I can tweet it, Instagram it and show the pupils just how successful they have been and just how proud I am. Just like bad pupil voice, a winging House master can just become background noise - However, a praising one, pierces through the background noise and can even make the most stubborn boy look up from his mobile phone, pause the sending of the next snapchat and listen enough for them to know that you are proud of them.
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