Imagine that you are out for a hike somewhere unfamiliar. Automatically, you look out for something to tell you that you are on the right route: a signpost, a landmark or a traveller coming up the path who can confirm that you’re heading in the right direction.
We all need these signs of reassurance. The same is true in schools. Whatever our role, we are all looking for signs that we are on the right path, and that what we are doing is making a difference.
I would suggest that pupil voice can play an important role in telling us if we are having the impact we hope for.
Getting pupil voice right
Pupil voice is often used by schools, and inspectors, as part of their quality assurance processes. Leaders send out surveys or sit down with groups of pupils as part of subject reviews.
However, in my experience we are often not using pupil voice as well as we could be. So, how can leaders use this valuable resource more effectively?
Be specific
People are unreliable narrators. If you ask someone a general question like, “What is behaviour like in school?” it is unlikely that you will get reliable information.
This is because we all remember negative moments and events that stand out from the ordinary, and then assume these things are more common than they are.
As a way around this, ask about a specific point in time. For example, “Was there any disruption in your last lesson?”
This will allow you to compare answers over time and see if the policies or practices you have brought in are making a difference.
Check assumptions
Leaders at all levels introduce changes that they believe other people are then implementing. For example, there may have been a CPD session on how to check for understanding using mini whiteboards and so leaders now assume that this is happening in every classroom.
Pupil voice is a useful tool for seeing if this is really the case - or if other practices are as common as you would like them to be.
An informal use of pupil voice can often provide you with the information you need here. Simply stop pupils in the corridor and ask them if a particular practice was used in their last lesson. Keep a tally of responses over the day and see what it tells you.
Recognise the limitations
While pupil voice can help us to find out if certain practices are being carried out, we need to be wary of relying on it to tell us if those practices are effective.
For example, pupils can tell us if they have been taught how to revise, but they won’t yet know if that teaching has been effective. They can tell us if they receive feedback on their work but may not know if that feedback is delivered well or not.
Look at learning
Leaders often miss the chance to use pupil voice to check what has actually been learned.
Ask teachers or subject leaders what they hope pupils in a particular class or year group should know about, then sit down with a sample of pupils from that group and find out if they know what you want them to.
Can pupils discuss with confidence the topics they have studied in the past year? Can they make connections between topics? Is their knowledge accurate? Can they fluently demonstrate the skills they have developed?
Follow up
A key element of any quality assurance process is triangulation. As helpful as pupil voice can be, it will only ever be one piece of the school improvement jigsaw puzzle.
We must treat what pupils tell us as tips that we need to follow up.
For example, pupil voice might suggest that a class hasn’t spent enough time practising using the present tense in French. But until we look at curriculum plans, talk to teachers, look at books and visit lessons, we don’t know for sure that this is the case.
We have to remember that while pupil voice might give us an indication of whether or not we are on the right path, we shouldn’t go too far without double checking the map.
Mark Enser is an author and a former HMI
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