Teachers

Smart Education

Getting participation right
by Jenny Wales


Participation is a key theme in Citizenship and perhaps the most challenging for many schools. The Citizenship Programme of Study at Key Stage 3 and 4 asks students to negotiate, decide and take part responsibly in school and community-based activities and reflect on the process of participating.

Participation activities could include anything from organising school events promoting environmental, human rights or health awareness to volunteering with local organisations. There is a growing list of examples of participation from schools across the country on the Get Involved website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/getinvolved/projects/.

This article aims to identify some of the issues surrounding participation and provide strategies for dealing with them.

Why participate?
Participation has been shown to help schools improve their performance across the curriculum. Recent research¹ evidence has shown that schools which take participation seriously tend to have


better GCSE results

fewer exclusions

better attendance.


Head teachers in the schools involved in the research all considered that ‘student participation impacts beneficially on self-esteem, motivation, sense of ownership and empowerment and that this, in turn, enhances attainment.’ Teachers expressed very similar views and some gave examples of ‘transforming ‘ impact on some students.

Participation for all
The Citizenship programme of study expects every student to participate so schools have to set up systems which ensures that it is not just for the few. From early inspections, Ofsted has reported that participation is often regarded as an extra-curricular activity for groups of enthusiasts and therefore the requirements of the programme of study are not being met.

Ofsted on participation for all²
The issue of entitlement is of particular relevance for those schools that include citizenship provision in their extra-curricular programme. It is no doubt true that participation in extra-curricular activities can provide pupils with some of their richest experiences. These might include, for example, involvement in a national debating competition, a visit to parliament or a volunteering activity. However, some of these are available to just a few pupils, and can only be considered as enrichment. For these activities to be considered as part of the citizenship curriculum, equivalent activities, need to be available for all pupils.

What counts?
Many students are involved in some form of participation in school – but is it Citizenship?
The Programme of Study for KS4 asks students to


negotiate, decide and take part responsibly in school and community-based activities
reflect on the process of participating.

The process of reflection turns an activity into a citizenship activity. A student should be able to recognise how they are contributing to the community by taking part.

Activities also help students to understand the knowledge content of the programme. Recognising that playing a part in the school council – whether as a class representative or taking part in class discussion and voting on issues – helps to develop an understanding of ‘the importance of playing an active part in democratic and electoral processes’.

Running fund raising events for a charity or pressure group provides practical experience of ‘the opportunities for individuals and voluntary groups to bring about social change locally, nationally, in Europe and internationally’.

Real participation
If participation is to reflect the contents of the Programme of Study and meet Ofsted’s requirements, it must involve everyone and be real citizenship. Many activities can be branded as participation but do not meet these criteria because the processes have not been thought through. The following examples show how to make the most of opportunities.

The School Council must be democratic and should have some real power. Students quickly recognise a ‘paper’ council if their proposals are ignored. Classes should be electing their representatives, coming to democratic conclusions on issues and feeding their ideas into the Council via their representative. There should be feedback to the class about the decisions that have been made.

Work experience is used by some schools for the participation element at KS4. If it is to count, the experience needs to be put into the context of Citizenship. There are plenty of opportunities. The programme of study includes:


‘the rights and responsibilities of consumers, employers and employees’.
‘how the economy functions, including the role of business and financial services’.
‘the wider issues and challenges of global interdependence and responsibility, including sustainable development and Local Agenda 21’.

By asking students to carry out investigations in these areas during their work experience, they are making genuine contributions to their Citizenship course. Suggested topics for work experience investigations include:

The strategies a business uses to minimise its impact on the environment
Ways in which a business supports and develops its employees
How a business sets out to achieve its objectives

Peer activities are often easier to manage because they happen within the school context.
A group of GCSE students, for example, taught a Citizenship lesson on the political system for a Year 9 class. There were great gains all round.

The Year 10 students certainly knew their stuff because having to teach means you really have to understand the material. They gained in self-esteem and the Year 9 students responded with enthusiasm. The lower attaining students seemed to gain even more than the rest because they felt relaxed with their peers in the role of teacher.

There are all sorts of ways in which young people can help each other. Some schools set up systems in which older students provide support for new arrivals in Year 7 others work with feeder primary schools on the same basis.

Fund raising events provide an opportunity for students to participate, work together and learn the benefits of doing so provided that they reflect on the activity and relate it to the Citizenship Programme of Study.

There are tips and ideas on running fund raising events on the following sites:
Get Involved - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/getinvolved/
CBBC Newsround - http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/
Children in Need - http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/
Comic Relief - http://www.bbc.co.uk/rednoseday/



Assessing participation
Assessment will vary according to the activity. When students are working in groups, self and peer assessment are useful tools. Asking young people to evaluate their own contribution helps them to reflect on what they have done and consider improvements for the future.

At the simplest level, this can mean asking students to record their activities and assessing their contribution on a scale of 1 to 5. When organising activities, students have a tendency to decide on what other people want. It is worth asking them to consider how effectively their activity met the needs of the people it was aimed at.

Some questions that might be asked are:



Did your activity meet the needs of the group it was aimed at? Score 1 to 5
How effectively did you participate? Score 1 to 5
How effectively did other people in your group participate? Score 1 to 5
How did you measure the success of your activity?
How would you do things differently in future?
What Citizenship knowledge and understanding have you gained from carrying out the activity?
The last question could be accompanied by a relevant list for the specific activity, which students tick if they feel they have understood.

Keeping a log and personal assessment documentation on the intranet means that it is easily accessible so students can record information at convenient moments and teachers can monitor coverage and achievement.


References
¹ Hanham D, 2003 ‘Participation and responsible action’ for all students – the crucial ingredient for success, Teaching Citizenship, Issue 5 Spring 2003

² Source: National Curriculum Citizenship: planning and implementation 2002/03, Ofsted, 2003

Jenny Wales has been involved in Citizenship since its inception, including membership of the DfES’s committee on community involvement. She is currently Director of Education for Citizenship at the Nuffield Foundation and Chair of Examiners for Edexcel. Her background in education includes teaching experience in schools, colleges and higher education, assessment and training. She is a member of the Association of Citizenship Teachers

From : BBC News