Many schools are already fulfilling this requirement through effective and meaningful school councils that involve all their pupils in decision making, and School Councils UK is working hard to make sure that schools have the training and support to achieve this. Good school councils discuss and influence important areas of the school’s work like teaching and learning, curriculum delivery and behaviour policies. Young people react well when they are given the opportunity and responsibility to influence these fundamental areas of the school and it is proven to help their development.

This is why students at Little Heath School, a large Reading comprehensive, are running a conference today (18th November 2008) on the subject of learning. Student Voice co-ordinator at the school, Jon Linz, explains why they have the conference every year, “we recognise that [students] have opinions and ideas about the things that happen at school and about what they’d like to see and we value their opinions and thoughts. At Little Heath, we think of our students as partners in the learning process, and today’s event is designed to give a range of our students from across the school the opportunity to discuss issues to do with learning and to think about developing their role as learners and partners.”

The legislative approach, which has worked well at European level through the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, will help schools who are yet to concentrate on developing their school council to prioritise this. It will help focus energies in the many schools that have tokenistic and teacher-led school councils.

Jessica Gold, Chief Executive of School Councils UK, said, “a school council which influences the core work of the school is the best vehicle to take account of all pupils’ views, and this legislation will help young people and teachers to work together to build schools that are successful learning communities.”