Enabling participation

Pupil participation is at the heart of the health promoting school. Children and young people have the right to participate in decision making that affects them.

All children and young people, regardless of their age or ability can offer experience and knowledge, new perspectives, skills, time and both creative and practical ideas.

School life and education affects and concerns most children and young people and they should be provided with opportunities and supported to participate in school decision making processes and structures.

'Healthy schools are finding that participation has a positive effect on their ethos, school improvement plans, teaching and learning, inclusion, health and well-being and reduction of inequalities'
(Health Development Agency 2004)

Visual resource

A new visual resource highlighting the importance of pupil participation in the development of health promoting schools has been distributed by the Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit. This bright, eye-catching poster has been designed to support and encourage all school staff to increase the involvement of children and young people in the day-to-day life of the school.

The poster provides key messages about what participation means, how it can work, the benefits for pupils and for the whole school community.

Positive about Pupil Participation

The poster will complement a forthcoming practice briefing, 'Positive about Pupil Participation', which will be published by the Scottish Executive later this year as part of the new 'Practice for Positive Relationships' series. The series will be sent direct to staff who lead on pastoral care in schools and additional copies will be available on request.

'Positive about Pupil Participation' will help school staff to reflect on how they involve pupils in a variety of circumstances, including formal meetings, pupil councils and peer support settings, as well as in the broader life of the school. It is designed to be teacher-friendly and will include practical tips, ideas and resources as well as case studies showing good practice in Scottish schools.

'Positive about Pupil Participation' will be made available on the Scottish Executive's Better Behaviour website.

Citizenship

Education for Citizenship in Scotland: A Paper for Discussion and Development (Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2002) forms the basis for schools' approach to citizenship. It outlines how young people are enabled to make informed choices and decisions and take action both individually and as part of a collective process:

Education for citizenship is important because every society needs people to contribute effectively, in a variety of ways, to the future health and well-being of communities and the environment. Fostering active and responsible citizens contributes to the process of developing a healthy and vibrant culture of democratic participation.

Examples of how citizenship can be incorporated into schools and the curriculum can be found on the Education for Citizenship website, which also contains evaluation and audit materials. 

Dialogue Youth is another major initiative aimed at encouraging active citizenship and local Dialogue Youth forums are being established throughout the country. 

Pupil councils

The creation of a pupil council enables young people to play an important role in school life and it can help in various different ways, for example: 

• to enable a two-way process of consultation between pupils and staff
• provide formal means for pupils to raise issues
• consult pupils on major issues that will affect them
• help raise pupil morale
• make a positive contribution to the school ethos.

Essential aspects of a pupil council are: 

• drawing up a constitution
• clearly defining its role and the scope of its work
• allowing enough time
• ensuring that the senior management team responds to the issues raised.

Information and resources to support pupil councils can be found on the School Councils UK website.