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Young people need more involvement in running of schools |
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Tuesday, 23 October 2007 |
Scotland’s foremost consumer watchdog called today on the Scottish Government to create a working group to ensure that every young person is given the opportunity to shape decisions made about their schools.
An Ipsos MORI survey of nearly two thousand young people about
representation and pupil councils found that only one in eight
secondary school students felt that their schools consulted them
regularly on issues affecting them.
Fewer than one third of pupils could think of one important thing that
had changed in their school because pupils asked for it to happen,
despite an increase in pupil councils and legislation requiring young
people to be involved in decisions about how their schools are run.
The majority of secondary school pupils were aware that their school
had a pupil council; eight per cent of those questioned sat on one; and
nearly one third said they had been on one in the past, suggesting that
many pupils would experience being a member at some point in their
schooling.
However, of those who were not currently members, nearly one third
regarded their school council as “boring” while 18 per cent felt that
the council did not have enough power to make a difference.
Scottish Consumer Council chair Douglas Sinclair said young people, as
the consumers of education services, had clear rights to be involved in
decisions by schools and council education departments.
“Our concern is that young people in different schools are having
entirely different experiences of schools councils – and of being
consulted in other ways. While most secondary school pupils know that
school councils exist to represent their views, too often they feel
cynical about the extent to which pupils can actually change things.
“We believe that the Scottish Government should convene a working group
to develop guidance on pupil participation to ensure consistent
standards across Scottish schools.
Sinclair said that the Council also believed that, given the legal
expectation on headteachers and education authorities to consult, there
should be a uniform programme of training for pupil council members and
school staff to improve pupil participation.
“We also think instruction on effective pupil participation should be
part of teacher training and their Continuous Professional
Development,” he added.
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