Democracy In Action


Our objective
To broaden the children's understanding of a community's need for rules and sanctions.

What we did
We decided that after discussion and training, misdemeanours which would normally be dealt with by a member of the school's leadership team could be brought to the school council for consideration, for them to make recommendations about punishment or community service. This was to enable children to see that it was not only adults who found antisocial behaviour unacceptable, and also to give pupils themselves a role in ensuring that agreed rules were adhered to. They have the option of inviting a child's parent/ carer to a sitting if they feel it is necessary.

How well it worked
This is early days and the school council has, surprisingly, only had to meet once so far. The school council reps listened with sensitivity and maturity, and when asked if they would like to contact the parent of the child to ask for her to be present, they decided it would not be necessary on this occasion. The child who had to appear before the school council was more ill at ease in dealing with a group of peers than with teachers.

Benefits we see
The fact that there has been a drop in matters to be dealt with means that we are seeing fewer incidents of poor behaviour. We think that this might be because pupils would rather not appear before the school council, but we have seen improved behaviour to date.

Comments
The school would have to choose with care which children were brought before the school council, and we would advise gaining prior agreement of the parent - in out case, enthusiastically given. Schools would have to be sure that there would be no repercussions on the council member, but it is a promising step in the right direction in terms of being a democratic school.