Learning From Them Learning From Us. Participating in Citizenship Through a School/District Council Partnership Project

This paper identifies a number of problems facing school councils and examines their possible remit and function. It outlines a project aimed at improving school councils in a rural community college by fostering links with the local district council. The paper summarizes research aimed at understanding the authors' particular concept of participation and responsible action. They describe work undertaken with pupils and adults involved in this project. It concludes that as well as improving the school councils, such work can provide benefits to both partners by widening pupils' understanding of the functions of local government and providing an opportunity for councillors and council officers to connect with young peoples' perspectives.     

Training needs of rural school council members

School councils have operated successfully in non-government schools for many years. By contrast, the establishment of school councils in the government school sector has had a much shorter history. In New South Wales, school council members are elected representatives of the broader school community. This study focused on government schools in rural areas of southern New South Wales and specifically examined the professional development and training needs of these school council members. The findings indicated that school council members expressed concern about their inexperience as council members. Further, they identified the following areas within which they should specifically seek professional development and training: i) identifying and analysing the educational needs of the school and its community; ii) enhancing and facilitating better communication between the school and its community; iii) assisting the principal to understand local community politics; and iv) promoting public education within the local community. These priority training needs have relevance for policy makers and professional development leaders at the systemic or departmental level.     

School Councils' Influence on School and Classroom Practice

School councils are a prominent feature of most school restructuring initiatives, despite surprisingly little evidence about their contribution to school improvement. This study examined the influence, on both school and classroom practices, of an advisory form of school councils implemented in the province of Ontario in June 1996. Data from interviews with 50 people from 5 schools, selected for the range of council's influence, were used to address questions concerning the extent of council effects and the characteristics of relatively influential councils.

Results indicated that councils had weak positive to negative influences on both schools and classrooms. More influential councils were characterized by their collaborative team approach with the school staff and their involvement in initiatives related to school improvement objectives. These councils were usually found in schools with a history of relatively extensive parental involvement in many forms. More influential councils had facilitative principals who supported and endorsed the councils; provided information, knowledge, and skills to council members; worked closely with the council chair; and assisted the council to build connections with the school staff.     

Enhancing participation in primary school and class councils through visual communication

In the context of citizenship education, many UK primary schools have recently set up school councils. Previous research has overlooked the importance of exploring communicative practices specific to school councils and the implications for children's participation. This paper draws on an action‐orientated research project with teachers in three Norfolk primary schools, which began with ethnographic observation of school and class council meetings. By developing alternative visual strategies for facilitating communication in meetings (based on a methodology known as PRA), teachers were able to encourage involvement by more children and enable them to have a greater voice in decision‐making. We argue that the common focus on adult procedures in school councils puts the emphasis on teaching children about their future role as citizens and can limit children's ownership of decision‐making processes. The alternative is to create contexts in which children have a sense of the democratic purposes of their school council in the here and now, by providing children with means (such as the visual strategies) that are consistent with those purposes and prioritizing action as an end.     

Decision making in school-based management leadership councils: The impact of council membership diversity

School-based management (SBM) is a potentially valuable reform mechanism in urban school districts in which each school serves a unique mix of students drawn from a heterogeneous population. Because SBM usually relies on leadership councils that function as the decision-making bodies for individual schools, its effectiveness as a reform mechanism ultimately depends on the quality of these councils. This research explores how council decision-making quality is affected by five dimensions of council diversity. Results indicate that diversity in terms of council member roles and tenure in the district is related to council decision-making quality, while ethnic and gender diversity and diversity in council experience are unrelated to decision processes. Potential explanations for these findings are discussed.     

Parents’ participation on school councils analysed through Arnstein’s ladder of participation

Although parent school councils are the archetypal arrangement for engaging parents in school improvement planning, their effectiveness is negligible when it comes to building parents’ capacity for and confidence in educational decision-making. Using Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation, this qualitative case study investigated the nature and degree of parents’ participation on six school community councils (SCCs) in Saskatchewan, Canada. Focus groups and interviews with SCC parent members, and school and district leaders were the chief data sources. In most schools, the SCC structure did not dislodge time-honoured barriers that restricted parents’ influence on extracurricular issues. A conceptual examination of participation affords a process-oriented understanding of parent involvement that complements the existing focus on the factors that impact school council effectiveness as an outcome.     

From Scepticism to the Urge to Take Action,or from Daily Frustration to a Solo Initiative

This paper describes an action research project at the elementary school in Wurflach in Lower Austria during the pilot phase of the Ecologisation of Schools programme initiated by the Federal Ministry of Education and the OECD. Over this period, the author was teaching in the school, and counselling another school in Lower Austria also involved in the programme. After a period of conflict, caused by mutual misunderstandings and lack of communication, the positive effects of the project began to emerge. There was increased team work among the teachers; more positive relationships between pupils and teachers; greater understanding and more constructive working relations between the school community and the school caretaker, Hannerl Bartl; and relations between the school and the parents, the local community, and especially the local mayor, were greatly enhanced.     

Raising aspirations within school communities: the Learning Catalysts project

This article accounts for a project that rests on a collaboration between the Leadership for Learning group at the Faculty of Education and the county council in King's Lynn and West Norfolk to address a concern regarding the low aspirations in the community. At the heart of the project was the development of a cadre of ‘Learning Catalysts’ who work with schools and with parents to raise aspirations. The project pursued questions such as: What do we really understand about the way aspirations are shaped and play out in the interface of school and community? How can we gain a deeper insight into the cultures of families and how aspirations about occupational and social identities affect children's performance in school? Of central interest too was the way in which people without formal status in their institutions were able to assume leadership roles. The tension between leadership activity in the community setting and leadership within the formal hierarchies of schools was to prove both a source of data and a continuing challenge.     

巴基斯坦旁遮普省农村地区学校管理委员会的现状、问题与启示

巴基斯坦旁遮普省是发展中国家里文盲率最高的地区,教育的严重滞后已经影响到了这一地区经济的发展和人民生活水平的提高。从1994年开始,巴基斯坦政府在全国范围内推广学校管理委员会,以期解决农村基础教育问题。这项制度在旁遮普省的实施过程中,取得了一些成果,但仍存在很多的问题,这些对我国少数民族农村地区的教育有一定的启示。     

Promoting participation at a time of social and political turmoil: what is the impact of children’s and young people’s city councils?

Youth councils are examined as spaces of citizenship education where young people are educated as political subjects. At a time of political and economic instability data were collected in a Catalan city through tests and focus groups involving 112 students, three teachers and two youth council managers during one academic year. Students’ political trust decreased and their cynicism towards politics increased; there were no changes in students’ anticipated future participation. The article avoids drawing simplistic causal links between students’ involvement in a council and the expression of their views. The participants also discuss the councils as performance sites. It is speculated whether, in students’ views, this metaphor of performance applies not only to the councils but to the wider political context in which they live. It is argued that youth councils are, in some ways, potentially valuable for promoting participation and recommendations are made in light of the findings.     

Effective Partnerships in School Reform: Lessons Learned From the Midwest Child-Parent Center Expansion

The Midwest Expansion of the Child-Parent Center Education Program (MCPC) is a pre-K to 3rd grade intervention program aimed at improving economically disadvantaged children's school success by enhancing continuity in instruction and increasing parental involvement. Opened in Chicago in the 1960s, this school reform model has undergone significant changes and is currently being expanded in five demographically heterogeneous school districts in Illinois and Minnesota. This article describes the collaborative process that has contributed to effective implementation of the expansion project within at-risk communities. Three themes of collaboration are emphasized: (a) improving the quality of data, (b) establishing and maintaining implementation fidelity, and (c) using research to inform practice. We discuss lessons learned from our partnerships with a number of collaborators including those involved with implementing the pre-K program, researching and evaluating the project, and providing professional development to teachers. Consideration is given to advancing the field of implementation science by successfully initiating and enhancing exemplary partnerships in comprehensive school reforms through effective research design.     

The Institute for Educational Technology (IET) at the University of Surrey

This paper first takes a brief look at the school system and the teaching of biology in Germany. Then a research project is described which is aimed at improving methods of teaching biology. Within the framework of this project, several teaching models are examined and their effectiveness, in both cognitive and affective terms, analysed. This research project includes empirical studies in which more than 2000 school students have been involved. The results of four of these studies will be looked at in detail. The following models were studied and compared: Lab work completed by students compared with lab work demonstrated by the teacher and with pencil and paper lessons. Classroom instruction on the identification of plants compared with outdoor instruction. Lessons using living invertebrates compared with lessons using models, slides and pictures. The effect on the attitudes of students towards AIDS infected children and on their knowledge about AIDS after lessons showing films on the subject compared with lessons on the same subject with no films.     

Bridging the gap between a learning support centre and school: A solution‐focused group approach

This paper describes a small‐scale action research project that aimed to increase the effectiveness of a learning support centre within a secondary school. Central to the project was the use of a solution‐focused approach with groups of pupils. The added dimension in this project involved a focus on class teacher involvement. The paper discusses the importance of peer support and teacher involvement in working to enhance positive behaviour by bridging the gap between the learning support centre and the wider school system. It details the work undertaken by two educational psychologists (EPs) working in one secondary school.     

Reciprocal Learning in the Partnership Project: From Knowing to Doing in Comparative Research Models

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to describe an international project aimed at building a knowledge base between Canada and China and beyond for cross-cultural educational understanding and harmonious relationships. The overall purpose of this work is to move beyond cross-cultural comparison and competition to collaborative reciprocity. Reciprocal learning is the guiding term for the Canada–China Partnership Project. The term is relatively commonplace and its deceptive simplicity veils important research and public discourse consequences. The Partnership Project, though not explicitly comparative in nature, draws heavily on the literature of comparative education, particularly with respect to methodology and understandings of Chinese and Canadian education. We describe four comparative education approaches which we think of as models of reciprocal learning across cultures. In the following remarks, we unpack these ideas of reciprocal learning as they apply to collaborative studies of Chinese and Canadian education. The models are assessed for their potential to generate collaborative teaching and learning situations with associated reciprocal learning.     

Locality,Education and Authority in Scotland: 1902-2002 (via 1872)

ABSTRACT This paper offers a synoptic survey of forms of local management and administration of education (primarily schooling) in Scotland in the century from 1902 to the present. It considers the operation of the school boards from 1872 to 1918, the ad hoc authorities from 1918 to 1929, the county and city councils from 1929 to 1974, the regional councils from 1974 to 1995 and the unitary authorities from 1995 to 2002. It explores the circumstances surrounding the establishment and demise of each successive form of local educational administration in Scotland and concludes by considering the prospects for further change in the future, following the devolution of domestic powers -- including powers over education -- to the recently (re-)established Scottish parliament.     

The last place to look: the place of pupil councils within citizen participation in Scottish schools

This article critically examines pupil councils as a means of developing pupils’ citizenship participation. It draws on findings across two research projects. The first study is a mixed method study commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) that reviews the range of participatory activities in Scottish schools and their contribution to Scotland’s major curriculum revision, the Curriculum for Excellence (CFE). The second is a longer ethnographic study examining young people’s experience of participation projects in more detail. The findings lend strength to the argument that pupil councils as a stand-alone approach are not an effective means of citizenship participation. When pupil councils are complemented by other participation activity across spheres of school interaction, young people’s understanding of and interest in participation can be greatly enhanced. The article examines the cross curricular linkages schools are making, the barriers that impede such linkages and the benefits derived from successful coordinated approaches in light of criteria for ‘graduated participation’ developed through decades of work internationally on children’s participation.     

When Race Enters the Room: Improving Leadership and Learning Through Racial Literacy

This article explains (a) why racial literacy—an understanding of the origins and function of race in US schools and society—is essential to the work of educational leaders, and (b) how educational leaders can improve their leadership through racial literacy. It introduces the concept of racial literacy as a first step to improving school leadership practices, to be followed by racial realism, racial reconstruction, and racial reconciliation in racially diverse school communities. The article concludes with recommendations and resources designed to advance the racial literacy of educational leaders and their teams as part of a broader commitment to inclusion and social justice in US schools.     

Neo‐liberal Subjectivities and the Limits of Social Change in University–Community Partnerships

In this paper the authors analyse a university–school partnership that went awry. It was designed to develop a new set of philosophical principles to inform work with violent student behaviour in schools. The project brought together a team of researchers from the university and school sector with a strong record of examining and improving the management of behaviour in classrooms. The authors sought volunteer school‐based educators to work with them as co‐researchers. Despite the team's strong school‐based research background, the mutual interest in developing a new approach to work with violence, and the strong collaborative base, they found themselves, as the initiating research team, unable to progress in the ways they had anticipated. This paper analyses the dynamics at work in that lack of progress. The analysis is put forward with the hope of enlivening discussion about what makes for successful collaborative projects between schools and universities.     

The transfer of local authority school support services to external social enterprises

This paper explores an emerging and largely unresearched sector of the school education market, the transfer of local authority support services to external social enterprises. It locates these new social enterprises as a consequence of government strategies to reduce public spending, shrink local government and create competitive markets in public service provision. Non-profit social enterprises create and occupy a sector of a differentiated market in school support services which is not sufficiently commercially attractive to for-profit companies. The government discourse of these social enterprises as employee-led mutuals is contradicted by their user-led ownership and governance regimes. The analysis offered by this paper is substantiated by a case study, based on interviews and policy documents, of the transfer of the Birmingham local authority's Music and Health Education Services to a social enterprise independent from the city council.     

Education for sustainability within early childhood studies: collaboration and inquiry through projects with children

This paper considers an Action Research project which was implemented to establish a shared understanding of the term ‘Education for Sustainable development’ within the context of an Early Childhood Studies degree. Students engaged in projects with children and local early years’ providers, and the research aligns with previous work undertaken by Siraj-Blatchford, Smith, and Samuelsson (2010. Education for Sustainable Development in the Early Years. Organisation Mondiale Pour ?Education Prescolaire (OMEP)), which explored the role of education for sustainability in the field of Early Childhood Education. With the lingering and persistent preoccupation with testing, results and outcomes in early childhood education, compulsory school education and higher education the research aimed to capture the idea of the student as a change agent with opportunities to work with children as agents of change. The main findings lean towards participatory action research as an emancipatory reminder that research does not need to be a technical activity and the voices and actions of children, students and early childhood educators can be foregrounded in a way that validates authentic involvement by all participants.