As the Summer term progresses managing pupil behaviour can become more challenging. It was interesting to see last week that the EEF invited secondary schools to participate in a school survey to support the scoping phase of research to understand the use and impact of behavioural policies that enable an authoritative school climate, for instance by taking a punitive or a more restorative and supportive approach, Equity in behaviour policies means having consistently high expectations of all moreover, ensuring that all pupils are able to learn in a calm supportive environment, but also the understanding that pupils are individuals with individual needs. Some behaviour policies can disadvantage students from certain backgrounds and take little account of the systemic bias that sadly exists in our school system. It is a human right to be heard and children bring with them a range of personal experiences both from education and home. This means the way interactions with schools are interpreted can be very different. This breadth of personalities is to be celebrated, as it is after all, one of the most enjoyable aspects of working in any social setting. All pupils have a right to learn in a safe and purposeful environment, but it is simplistic to think that anything other than smart approaches that seek to listen and understand pupil starting points when teaching responsibility will achieve this.
On Monday, Camden Learning hosted our first Child Rights steering group meeting as part of a London-wide approach promoted by the Mayor of London. This group will work with a UNICEF professional adviser to promote children’s rights across the Borough and the adoption of Rights Respecting principles in schools. The Rights Respecting framework is already being used by some Camden schools to empower pupils with a sense of self responsibility and belonging. Our Camden Conversation last term shared some of this work in practice. When pupils learn about their rights, they understand that others have rights too and the language of rights and respect provides a shared language for conflict resolution and belonging. The Child Rights steering group will be meeting again in the second half of the term and we will provide regular updates as work gathers pace. In the meantime you can register or fund our more about the Rights Respecting framework here.
Stephen Hall
Chief Executive Officer, Camden Learning
