Perspectives and experiences of learner participation in an independent school

M. Ed. (Educational Psychology)This study explores the experiences that multiple stakeholders have of learner participation in an independent school in Johannesburg. The school’s policy documents were reviewed, both in order to establish the school’s suitability for the study, and in order to provide some context for understanding. The participants were selected by both their involvement in learner participation bodies at the school in question, and their willingness to participate in the study. To this end, the school’s principal, educational psychologist and two learner leaders agreed to be interviewed in order to try and describe their experiences. It was hoped that the exploring, and rich describing, of the participants’ experiences would be helpful in terms of finding solutions or providing recommendations for the school itself when facing challenges, and for any other school that may benefit from the findings of the study. The researcher embarked on a process of Content Analysis of the transcribed interviews and relevant policy documents to uncover primary themes of experience as described by the participants. It was found that the participants’ experiences could be categorised into themes of difficulty with training; support; feedback; and clarity of roles. Recommendations were made regarding the facilitation of learner participation at both the participating school and other schools in general. These recommendations included: i) Schools communicate clearly the purposes of training programmes and initiatives to learners; ii) Schools utilise multiple training programmes, which are relevant to their own school context; iii) A staff member is formally available as support for each learner participation body in a school; iv) All meetings be scheduled suitably in advance; v) Learner participation bodies schedule regular meetings with their constituencies for feedback purposes - regardless of the length of the agenda; vi) Measures be instituted to hold staff accountable to their commitments without learner initiation; vii) All people who are affected by policies should play a role in their construction (UNCRC, 1990; SASA, 1996); viii) Policy review be seen as a continuous process, including legislated periods of review. Furthermore, conceptual inconsistencies in the design of the Representative Council of Learners (RCL) were suggested - specifically conflicting mandates in terms of representing learner voice and implementing teacher directives - resulting in a suggestion of legislation review