Giving children a voice
Our country is run through democracy but are we using this strategy with children to ensure they are heard?
And what are the benefits of this?
Some great ideas for listening to children of school age include having a school student council. This is a great starting point for children to understand that their voices and opinions are important. A school student council gives children the opportunity to vote on issues that affect them. It helps to foster good communication, leadership, and involvement in school governance.
Alongside the student council it might be useful to have student mental health leaders which can really help with peer to peer support for children who have low level worries.
Other activities student councils can become involved in are environmental issues, fundraising and assembly planning and helping with visitors.
Alternative Strategies for Involving Students
However not all students have the confidence or self-regulation for this, so there are other strategies you can use. These include suggestion boxes, surveys and colour coded messages in red, amber and green depending on how urgent they are. This can support students with general concerns as well as improvement suggestions.
Why give children a voice?
Aside from it being in the United Nations Conventions of the Rights of the Child 1989 (Article 12 and14) giving children a voice has many benefits. It can help build a sense of belonging and nurture positive relationships between students and teachers. It helps improves self-esteem and the responsibility it gives can really connect children to their school life. On top of this it helps improves children’s communication skills and builds cognitive thinking skills such as problem solving and making choices.
Implementing These Ideas
So, if you aren’t already, try and put some of these ideas into practice and you should start to see some improvements in the engagement and motivation of your pupils.
If you are new to working with children and are interested in learning more then please do visit our teaching apprenticeship page https://www.orangemooneducation.co.uk/courses/
