Education: Calls for compulsory student councils

Two separate reports released yesterday (18 September) recommend that all secondary schools should be legally obliged to have a school council. Government-commissioned research, carried out by the Institute of Education, say the government should require all maintained secondary schools to have a school council and primary schools should be "strongly encouraged" to have one. The researchers also say head teachers should involve school councils in teaching and behaviour policies, as well as with decisions about school facilities.

In addition, in-depth research by the University of Birmingham, commissioned by Schools Councils UK of eight schools over a three-year period, has said that they should have a central role, and not just a consultative one, in helping to formulate and create policy.

Speaking to CYP Now, Jessica Gold, chief executive of Schools Councils UK, accused the government of giving into pressure from teachers' unions who oppose legally-required school councils.

"The (government's) research was commissioned ages ago, but the government has not published it because the unions don't want school councils to be made statutory," she said.

"Student councils improve schools in very important ways and this can only be recognised if they are made compulsory."

Researchers from the Institute of Education found practice between school councils varied widely, as did the involvement and commitment of senior leadership.

Schools minister Lord Andrew Adonis said the government would focus on improving quality and spreading best practice to schools "rather than in introducing a legal requirement".

Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said there was little point in forcing schools to have councils: "A school council works well when it grows out of the culture of the school. If they are imposed as a top-down model that is simply tokenistic, it will waste everyone's time and be frustrating for the children involved."

The researchers for Schools Councils UK found that in schools with behaviour sub-councils, two-thirds saw an improvement in relationships between students. Students were trained to support disruptive young people through peer mediation and tackled issues like bullying.

And 58 per cent of schools reported an improvement in relationships between staff and students.