ABSTRACT
The natural corollary of the drift away from the classroom is less and less contact with children. It is unsurprising, therefore, that senior leaders often embark on complex improvement programmes without really considering either their impact in the classroom or the views of the pupils involved. In order to assess the quality of teaching and learning, the obvious thing to do is to ask the pupils themselves. Most schools nowadays attempt to consider the views of pupils; ‘pupil voice’ is a widely promoted improvement strategy. One of the ways to ensure that both groups of pupils–the traditional elected council and the alternative council–really began to contribute to the school improvement agenda was to insist that meetings focused on teaching and learning. Most guides to school improvement focus quite rightly on teachers and pupils, but they also include lengthy discussions considering the importance of parental involvement.
