26 May 2023

I have been thinking about this student voice following on from last week. It’s not exactly new - in fact, a growing theme from research from the 1990s is actually closely tied to wellbeing.

When we look at the United Nations Convention Rights of a Child, it sits firmly in place… in saying that, if things go topsy turvy at school or at home I know it can be difficult to get excited about children’s rights!

Of course, it is age and stage dependent but we can learn so much by listening to our children’s aspirations, fears, dreams, joys, frustrations….. the whole gambit!

Action research by Nottingham Educational Psychology Service asked 4-11 year olds their views on various aspects of wellbeing including school environment, how others helped them feel good about themselves and when they enjoyed joining in - it was evident that student voice was incredibly important in guiding school staff to tweak and change to better support wellbeing.

One way in which we are encouraging our children to build their discussion skills is through our Philosophy for Children programme and Talk Moves in Maths.

So, Philosophy for Children aka “P4C” builds on children’s curiosity about ideas they wonder about. Teachers teach how to think - not what to think. Concepts may include such things as truth, reality, knowledge, evidence, freedom, justice, goodness, rights, mind, identity, love, friendship, rules, responsibility, action, logic, language, fairness, reason……

I recall a lesson I taught in the 90s “If I had a different name would I be the same person”.

Another way of encouraging talk is through an aspect of Maths teaching called Talk Moves. Talk Moves refers to “discussion strategies to promote equitable participation in a rigorous classroom learning environment”.

Source: Makar, Bakker, & Ben-Zvi (2015).

We need to hear what they have to say and get the conversation supporting great learning.