Section 1 Introduction
1.1 A student commission on learning as an innovative and practical approach to improving student engagement Schools face a growing challenge: how to provide an education experience that effectively prepares all their young people for success in an uncertain and fast-changing world. For many education professionals it has become increasingly clear that the only way to achieve this is through the active participation and engagement of students in a range of high-quality and flexible learning opportunities.
This toolkit is designed to help a school, group of schools or LA design and implement a powerful and distinctive approach to improving teaching and learning through increased student engagement.
But how do you achieve this? How do you get students, staff and leaders working together on radically improving the business of learning?
• single schools and colleges
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By setting up a student commission on learning, such organisations can create more motivating and engaging learning experiences for students and staff. This approach has been pioneered across the Harris Federation of South London Schools. Nine Harris Academies have formed the Harris Student Commission on Learning, driven by the firm belief that bringing about radical improvement in young people’s engagement in and commitment to learning is only possible when students lead the way and work in genuine partnership with staff to take more responsibility and control over how they learn. This toolkit of resources shares the lessons of the Harris Student Commission and aims to encourage and support others to take on the approach. It will be of interest to school leaders and teachers, and to other education professionals, and could be applied successfully in: • formal groupings of schools, for example federations or trusts • local authorities.