Schools need to consider how other forms of pupil participation can link in to governing body participation. Schools do not need a perfectly formed model of pupil democracy before they can consider establishing Pupil Associate Members. But at the same time, some foundations need to be in place; otherwise, the appointment of pupil governors is likely to be meaningless and tokenistic. In particular, it is unlikely that any school without a reasonably effective school council would be able to initiate Pupil Associate Members with any confidence that they could have a significant impact on a school’s decision making, or could represent the views of their fellow pupils.
There is a clear option for schools to implement other links between its school council and school governing body, thus launching a discussion of alternative ways to link pupils and governors (Bird 2003). Possibilities include (Clay, Gold and Hannam, 2001):
- Assigning one governor to take responsibility for linking the governing body and the school council;
- Regular meetings between the school council and the whole governing body, or one committee;
- ‘School council matters’ included as a standing item on governing body agendas with a presentation of recent business by pupil councillors as a matter of course;
- ‘Governor matters’ included as a standing item on school council agendas;
- School council members being given observer status on governing body meetings.
Schools may wish to experiment and learn from these less formal links, before moving to the more formal mechanism of Pupil Associate Members. This may be an especially useful route for those schools whose governing bodies, or other stakeholders, may be sceptical of the concept of pupil governance. As Derry Hannam’s study noted:
The formal links between school councils and governing bodies seemed to be significant for raising the profile of several schools councils though interestingly the headteacher of School L, which had a very dynamic council engaged in a very wide range of school issues, said ‘I wouldn’t impose it on them!’ when asked if they were represented at governors meetings. And it was the students he was protecting not the governors.
For those who are already considering the appointment of pupil associate members, Boxes 4 and 5 are designed to help you in this decision.
Box 4: Appointing Pupil Associate Members
Ten steps to take before you make a decision
1. Find out if and when your governing body is planning to reconstitute itself. Most LEAs have given schools advice about this. If it has already reconstituted, it will need to do so again before appointing Associate Members.
2. Find out if any other schools in your area are considering appointing Pupil Associate Members too. If so, consider whether you can work collaboratively – this could involve combined training or secondary school students serving on primary school governing bodies.
3. Consult with pupils, parents, and of course Governors about if and how your school should pursue this route
.
4. Get a provisional ‘permission to proceed’ from your governing body – it will have the ultimate decision on whether to appoint associate members.
Before you start
5. Consider and decide on the following issues:
• The number of pupil associate members – there is no minimum or maximum number.
• Whether associate members will serve on the full governing body, committees or both.
• How associate members will be (s)elected.
• How members will link with the school council.
• The training and/or accreditation of pupil governors.
• How existing governors will be informed and prepared.
6. Create a basic project plan, and if possible include the project in your school development plan and decide how you will evaluate the impact of what you are doing.
7. Inform your LEA’s Governor Services and Citizenship/PHSE teams, who might be able to provide resources and training.
8. Decide whether it is worth finding funding for your activity.
9. Formally reconstitute the governing body, with an agreed allocation of pupil associate members.
10. Tell us!
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Box 5: Opportunities and Challenges
Some quotes and thoughts from the Phase 1 Project Development Day
As noted earlier a group of early potential project partners took part in a Development Day on 13 October 2003. Participants in the day raised the following observations and questions:
• The inclusion of pupils may help governing bodies to explain their message and role more clearly,
increasing transparency and opportunities for involvement.
• Pupils and governors can access the same training opportunities – pupils will not need much
bespoke support.
• Every pupil governor should have a ‘buddy’ on the governing body.
• The ability of pupils to understand detailed issues is often underestimated. In our school pupils are
involved in the decision making at all levels, including complex issues such as a PFI bid. They’ve
been the only ones able to scare the contractors and provoke a response.
• How might Governing Body representation link to other decision-making processes in the school
and Authority?
• How will students deal with the sometime tedious nature of governor’s meetings?
• The (BTEC) accreditation scheme is a good idea. It is a great shame that much of what students
put into school goes unrecognised.
• New governors have the same problems of learning and training as a pupil governor would. They
should be inducted as new governors not as pupil governors.
• They should have access to LEA governor services, national governor services and buddying
schemes with other governors.
• The corporate responsibility of a governing body is a full governing body level not at sub
committee level, there is no reason why pupils should not vote at sub committee level.
• There needs to be an LEA commitment. The outcomes of the project should influence governor
support and training.
• The project should build on the responsibilities of specialist schools to collaborate with primary
schools.
• The ethos of the governing body is as important as the ethos of the school. The invitation of pupils
to join the governing body as the proposal for Associate Members has to come from the governing
body.
• The project needs to make presentations to governors groups and heads. There also needs to be
the involvement of LEA governor services and use these to make sure that resources are
available for the pupils and for the whole governing body.
• The project should link into PSHE and the notion of citizenship and participation in society. It will
reduce the rarefied nature and language of governance. It may be possible that these changes will
enable the Governing Body to reach out to parents and increase the involvement of parents in the
school.
• The project should also look at the inclusion of primary school pupils on Governing Bodies.
Primary school pupils are much more willing to speak - maybe this is because they have a closer
relationship with their teachers or have not yet built up inhibitions. The inclusion of primary pupils
has a knock on effect for secondary schools, pupils will start secondary school with an expectation
of participation, a greater understanding and willingness to participate.
• Students need to become involved in the decision making / planning of the project as soon as
possible.
• The initial survey of schools should look at where schools are “down the route to pupil
participation, so later the different practices can be assessed and best practice can be identified.
However, we must be mindful of the fact that there are many routes to pupil participation without
definite milestones which all schools need to pass.
• The greater the diversity in the approaches to the project the greater the information about the
best way to proceed with the project and identify best practice.
• The project needs to include an element of evolution. For example the students may identify a
different set of needs and challenges than those identified today. The project needs to able to
cope with this.
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