Running an Election With Primary School Children

Last election I had a fabulous time running school elections, these were on issues the children decided – relevant to the school. While the issues didn’t mirror the national elections we attempted to mirror their structure as much as possible. This meant we had debates and polling, newspaper articles talking about the next big thing and live reaction tracking during debates.

Newspaper articles were used in guided reading sessions and there were discussions about how to carry out statistically valid polling. It created a buzz around the school and there were a lot of lovely moments: a boy confidently telling the school hall they had a decision to make – something he had picked up watching Ed Miliband. Another boy, who had had various behavioural difficulties at school, telling me he had really enjoyed the whole process, particularly how everyone had listened to and respected each other. The best thing about it for me was how conversations on the playground and in the corridors started to follow the forms of those happening around the country. Who had performed best in the debates? Did you trust the polls? Which policies would be best for the school? This provided many pupils who might not have previously engaged in politics a voice in, and understanding of, this national conversation.

Here is one of the articles a child wrote for the election, accompanied by the graph it quotes:

Sun Shines on Rainbow

It’s a happy day for Rainbow politics as they head the running list for Larkrise elections. Though in the initial poll Loyal were leading with twice as many votes after hustings there is a dip in their support. It is surprising that Prime have done so well after coming last in the poll, showing that they appeal to a wide range of people (but maybe not as the first choice). It seems that the people’s favourite is Rainbow, as mood in the audience significantly rose when they performed their polished speech. Though all the parties agree on the subject of food on the floor Prime, showing leadership, was the only one to offer a solution. Despite uniform being Rainbow’s most individual point the mood was lowest when it was mentioned. The same thing is true for Loyal, despite their extremely different views. Curriculum was exceptionally popular for Rainbow, scoring an average of 9 out of 10 compared to Loyal with 6 and Prime on 7. Though this is the current mood it could all change after the KS1 assembly. We can also report exclusive hints from an insider that they will be producing some new policies early next week. Voters should gather in their circles to vote on 6^th May, until then we can only wonder who will win.

Election Correspondent ____________

What next? – We are now discussing what we will do this year. Initial thoughts are tending towards a closer shadowing of the issues of the actual election. I will probably use the Political Compass test with my class to give them a bit of a theoretical background before exploring some specific issues. What are your schools planning to do? What have you done before and how has it worked?

The Power of Stories–Reflections on Oxford Reading Spree

Whenever I sit down to write a blog I feel nervous. This was exaggerated for this blog, many people have already written good blogs on the conference and I wondered what I could add.

I am going to focus on a single thread of the conference and leave aside both the wonderful experience of meeting so many passionate, considerate and talented people and the feeling of energy to try new things I left with.

The thread I am going to talk about is story. Many of the presenters at The Spree delivered their talks in some way through their personal stories. This engaged us and drew on our emotions. This is part of what made the day so uplifting, inspiring and funny. It was a beautiful example of form reflecting content, being encouraged to share wonderful stories by people who were in turn sharing stories. It really highlighted the personal nature of reading, dependent on situation, company, expectation, and much much more. To quote Martin Galway reading is indeed a “Many splendored thing”.

I love the short story “Piere Menard: The Man Who Wrote Don Quixote” by Jorge Luis Borges which explores the idea that a modern man writes and identical text to Don Quixote and contrasts identical paragraphs. This relies on reading as an interpretive negotiation between writer and reader.  I have often imagined what it would have been like to have read a series in a different order and I have recently enjoyed the second in Abi Elphinstone’s Dreamsnatcher series much more than the first due, in part, to reading the wonderful descriptions of nature in the sun of spring.

Besides being a fascinating topic to ponder this has made me very keen to read a little Borges with my class as a way into the idea that in many ways each person reads a different book while they read the same text. I hope to be able to use this to encourage bookish conversation. Writing this has made me wonder whether part of many children’s unwillingness to discuss books, even those they have greatly enjoyed, stems from an assumption that everyone who has read it has read the same book as them.  

Thank-you to all those who made Oxford Reading Spree such a wonderful event. This is but one of many things it made me think about.

False Comfort

I love numbers. I have done all my life. This means I am often excited to look at data, compare percentages and look for patterns. There is a certain comfort there. A solidity of fact. I take this same solidity from research. Both data and research give me security in an often messy and confusing job.

There are 26 children in my class. If 1 child has done something that means nearly 4% of the class have done it. Thus as a way of looking at a class percentages are extremely volatile. This isn’t to say the data is useless but rather that for small samples collecting an aggregate is seldom useful, much more useful is to consider trends in individual children’s performance.

There is a natural human need to make meaning. I enjoy numbers so I often start looking at data in the whole before withdrawing to individual cases. What I need to constantly remind myself of is the need to interrogate the validity and scope of this data. Far from being something that makes me feel comfortable data is something that should make me question and investigate. What does it show? Did it come from asking the right questions? Why did I get the results I did? Am I measuring the right things? What might the causal factors be? How confident am I in my conclusions? And many many more.

I mentioned research as another source of comfort. The issues here are different although the motivation is not, in our busy working lives it can be easy to grasp for easily applicable truths, but many mistakes can be made by using research at face value without deeper interrogation. The methodology, the caveats, the context in which something was introduced. Mary Myatt said that “Growth Mindsets need to be lived not laminated.” The same is true for research, we need to explore the intricacies and depths of research not just brandish it out of context as justification or cling to it for certainty. This is something I hope the Chartered Collage of Teaching will aid.

On my best days I put aside this attraction to certainty and think of teaching with the curiosity and joy of discovery. Often it seems easier or safer to be drawn to solidity and comfort but wonderful conversations with friends remind me that simplicity is a false comfort and that the true comfort is the solidarity of shared uncertainty.