Why teach pupils leadership skills?

I’m writing this on the eve of our trust’s inaugural ‘Pupil Leadership Summit’, where the pupil leadership teams across our primaries and secondaries will come together to develop their knowledge of what effective leadership looks like and start to plan projects that they lead across this year.  Whilst the event is partly to support collaboration across our schools (we’ve done lots of work on facilitating teacher collaboration, but pupils have not have much opportunity to work with other schools), it’s also an important event in starting to give more of a structure to the development of these young leaders- both to develop them and to ensure that the work they do is meaningful, contributing to our trust’s core purpose.

 

The success of pupil leadership in the schools I’ve worked in so far has relied on the support and enthusiasm of the staff who run them and/or the extent to which the pupils themselves have a clear vision for the changes they wish to make and the legacy that they want to leave behind.  One particular cohort of pupil leader springs to mind, as they were focused throughout on making changes that went beyond running one-off events and projects.  They were led by two head pupils who were determined to leave a legacy and long-lasting impact, especially on the sixth form.  This involved a range of projects, from redecorating their own social spaces to introducing extra-curricular cookery classes so that pupils would be able to look after themselves when they left home.

 

More and more, we’re recognising that leadership in schools requires a suite of professional development for those in leadership roles and – to future-proof our schools amidst a recruitment crisis – those who aspire to be leaders themselves.  When it comes to pupil leadership teams, however, their development as leaders is too often left to chance.  For the school, it means that the impact of such groups depends too much on specific staff or pupils; when they leave, the impact of any pupil leadership work then declines- as they take their ideas and drive with them.  Moreover, not developing the leadership skills of pupils also means that it is those who have developed them outside of school (through engagement with DofE, scouts/guides and sporting clubs, for example) who are primed for the top pupil leadership roles and potentially roles in leadership/management after they leave school.  This leaves the pupils who don’t/can’t access these extra-curricular opportunities (often disadvantaged pupils, due to the extra costs that such activities often involve) behind.

 

I’d argue then that a more strategic approach to developing young leaders is needed.  Luckily there are lots of schemes (such as the Young Leaders Award) to help schools facilitate this across whole cohorts of pupils.  Our trust is also lucky to have two pupil voice leads across our primary schools, who are looking at how we can use these resources in conjunction with cross-trust collaboration to develop the next cohort of young leaders.

 

I’m keen that the event I’m running tomorrow goes beyond a ‘nice day out’ and actively plays a part in developing the knowledge and skills that our pupils need to thrive as leaders in their own schools (through specific leadership workshops and working with external speaker Jo Brassington on their knowledge of how to celebrate diversity in schools).  It also marks the start of more collaboration on shared projects across the year, before we bring the pupils back for a celebration event in the summer.  At this point we hope to premiere a short film that showcases their efforts, something that will also be used in schools to further promote the work of our pupil leadership teams going forwards.

Reflecting on Developing LGBT+ Inclusion

Following the recent Pride & Progress Educators Network meeting, I’ve been inspired to shared my own reflections on the past year.

In April 2022, I started at a new school and got asked to prepare a virtual Pride assembly.  Strangely enough this was the first time that I’d been asked to do this, despite being in the classroom for ten years.  That being said, I’d never volunteered myself either.

As an ITT, I’d not really talked about my sexuality with colleagues in school (though this was more to do with me creating a ‘teacher identity’ than actively hiding my sexuality).  As an NQT, I was fortunate enough to be in a school where elements of representation was not in short supply: there were LGBT+ staff at different levels in the school from the headteacher down.  However, nobody really talked about it.  I was openly gay in the staffroom but in my classroom I still adopted a fiercely ‘professional’ identity.  I was honest about my partner if students asked, but it was never information that I volunteered.

 

If I’m honest, I was largely comfortable with this.  I felt that it worked as part of the ‘teacher persona’ I created (I never really spoke with students about other elements of my personal life either).  But just over a year ago, following that Pride assembly, that changed.

 

At my new school, Year 11 left not long after I started and I barely knew them beyond us greeting each other while I did my duties on the gate and yard.  Despite only having been there a few weeks, I was pleasantly surprised to be given a leaving card from one student, thanking me for sharing my story on the Pride assembly and for being open about who I was, because it made him feel less alone.

 

This made me realise that by enforcing this strict ‘professional’ line, I could be seen to be denying LGBT+ students the opportunity to see others like themselves in the world around them.  In an area where the local council recently voted against displaying a Pride flag during June and transphobic attitudes being rife in the wider world (whether this be on social media, from news outlets or the very people elected to represent us), representation is crucial.

 

This past year, I’ve changed my approach.  Working with other staff on getting the school The Rainbow Flag award has really helped me consider how I want to use my experience (as well as the learning I’m doing myself, thanks to the likes of the ‘Pride & Progress’ community) to improve the LBGT+ inclusion.  We’ve worked on improving the usualisation of LGBT+ representation in the curriculum, as well as improving the CPD offer for staff around understanding how to challenge and prevent homophobia and transphobia (both of which have had a great impact).

 

My proudest moment, however, has come from working with an LGBT+ student group.  It started as an after-school club to feedback about some of the work we were doing for The Rainbow Flag Award but has slowly become an action group.  Over the year, they’ve been doing their own learning about LGBT+ history and experiences and got a lot from attending The Proud Trust’s LGBT+ Youth Summit.  The outcome has been their own action plan for improving inclusion at the school, enlisting the support of various staff stakeholders (they even have their own project management plan).

 

By far my proudest moment was them presenting this to the Headteacher and Personal Development Assistant Headteacher, with our Headteacher going on to stress that he wants to meet them half-termly next year so that they can “hold [me] accountable” (his words) so that LGBT+ inclusion continues to develop and remain a priority.  There were tears (happy ones).

 

Sadly, I’ll be leaving this school and this group of students this summer to return to my old trust, though I’m hoping that this will give me the opportunity to do similar work on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion across multiple school communities.  In the meantime, the student group I’m leaving behind have become determined that their action plan for next year result in a lasting legacy.  The support they’ve secured from staff in the school will ensure it happens and I’ll be keeping in contact with the school as I can’t wait to see what they achieve next.