Making School a Better Place: What the Children Say

Year 2009, Volume: 26 Issue: 1, 49 - 56, 02.09.2015

Özhan Öztuğ Helen Cowie

Abstract

In line with current view that children should be consulted about issues that concern them in their daily life and that their ideas must play a significant role in finding solutions, in the present study, children were asked to give their views on what would make school a better place to be. The research was carried out in four secondary schools in a small rural town, each with a well-organised pastoral care system and an active anti-bullying policy; two of the schools had established systems of peer support. The study involved 931 pupils aged between 11 and 14 years of age. Although a sizable minority of the sample chose not to offer any suggestions for improving their schools, of those who did respond, only a small number were negative, for example, suggesting that certain groups, such as ‘chavs’ be banned from the school. (The typical ‘chav’ is an aggressive young person who repeatedly engages in anti-social behaviour). Most of the suggestions were positive and ones that schools could easily implement. The results of the present study indicate that students are concerned about issues, such as the problem of school violence, but that they also have constructive ideas for dealing with the problem.

Keywords

Peer support, bullying; school violence, safety; active participation of young people, emotional health and wellbeing

Making School a Better Place: What the Children Say

Abstract

In line with current view that children should be consulted about issues that concern them in their daily life
and that their ideas must play a significant role in finding solutions, in the present study, children were asked
to give their views on what would make school a better place to be. The research was carried out in four
secondary schools in a small rural town, each with a well-organised pastoral care system and an active antibullying policy; two of the schools had established systems of peer support. The study involved 931 pupils
aged between 11 and 14 years of age. Although a sizable minority of the sample chose not to offer any
suggestions for improving their schools, of those who did respond, only a small number were negative, for
example, suggesting that certain groups, such as ‘chavs’ be banned from the school. (The typical ‘chav’ is an
aggressive young person who repeatedly engages in anti-social behaviour). Most of the suggestions were
positive and ones that schools could easily implement. The results of the present study indicate that students
are concerned about issues, such as the problem of school violence, but that they also have constructive ideas
for dealing with the problem. 

Keywords

Peer support, bullying, school violence, safety, active participation of young people, emotional health and wellbeing

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