How can a school put learner participation and pupil voice at the heart of their school community? One crucial way is through providing a safe environment for young people to challenge, discuss, explore, and form lasting values, morals, and opinions.
“We talked about all the different issues in the school and what we could do to make it better It made us more aware of the stuff that’s going on in our school community.”
Guided by experienced and creative youth workers through The SPEAK UP! project, young people and teachers at Craigmount High School formed The Equalities Action and Justice Committee, resulting in a young-person centred approach to decision making in the school community.
Pupil agency
SPEAK UP! supported the development of an Equalities Group at Craigmount. Staff were hoping to create greater agency amongst pupils - giving them a greater voice about issues that affect them.
The initiative had a particular focus on developing creative and critical thinking skills, exploring the young people’s values and attitudes about issues that matter to them such as climate change, Anti-Racist education and Children’s Rights. The learning was split up into weekly sessions over the course of 6 weeks, delivered in school by Jennifer and Jonathon at SCORE Scotland.
The sessions centred on exploring concepts such as climate justice and Rights, what changes the young people in the school would like to see in the school community and creating the Equalities Action Committee. The project forged new connections in the school - the involvement of Jennifer and Jonathon as youth workers changed the traditional teacher-pupil dynamic and created opportunities for more open and honest discussions about changes:
“We have much better links with teachers now - not just ones who have taught us. Before this, I knew who Mr Samson was but I’d never spoken to him before. Now I feel like I can chat with him. I feel like it gave us as students at Craigmount a chance to speak up - to be able to talk about things that matter to us with teachers and the teachers listening to you.”
Equalities group member and pupil, Craigmount High School
Pupil voice
Young people at Craigmount feel more confident in voicing their opinions and thoughts around school life and real-world issues with youth workers - they felt there was a certain level of privacy and a more relaxed approach than having to share with teachers straight away:
“I feel like it gave us as students at Craigmount a chance to speak up - to be able to talk about things that matter to us with teachers and the teachers listening to you.”
Ugandan connections
Jonathon is originally from Uganda and went home for a visit in November, creating an unexpected and brilliant opportunity to connect with young people from his country and resulting in a session exploring Climate Justice in Scotland and Uganda. This visit provided a unique chance for Craigmount pupils to learn all about how Ugandans' lives are being directly affected by real-world issues such as climate change and COVID-19. Climate change is already impacting Uganda through both rapid and slow-onset events - falling lake and river levels, more frequent and severe droughts, and erratic and excessive rainfall leading to flooding, mudslides and landslides.
Young people at Craigmount were able to gain insight into how severely issues like climate are affecting young people in a different part of the world - providing a chance to reflect on what can be done in their school in Scotland to contribute to positive change for both their local community and the global community.
Equalities
Young people now have an understanding of equality and human rights in relation to their own context at Craigmount High School. This knowledge is fundamental to their understanding of how they should be treated and how to treat others within the school community.
“Equal opportunities means everyone who needs extra help can get it - not that we all get exactly the same treatment”
