Working with young people to support them to be responsible citizens
When a young person is a responsible citizen they respect other people and want to get involved in their own community; they have a better understanding of the world and of different beliefs and cultures; they think about what is right and fair and think about and understand complicated issues; they think about issues to do with the environment and about how science and technology affects us all.
Working with young people to support them to be responsible citizens
Our Buddies scheme is a peer support programme where senior pupils offer support and guidance to junior students. Young people volunteer themselves to become part of this service and, if selected, go on to complete a two day training course run by staff from our service. Their training covers subjects such as managing feelings, active listening skills, boundary issues and relationship development skills. It gives them the chance to help others and through their efforts we also offer them the opportunity to gain the Youth Achievement Award at Bronze, Silver or Gold level. This fairly intensive and demanding work gives young people such a sense of personal achievement and also develops citizenship.
Working with young people to support them to be responsible citizens
We try to work with young people to get them to take a level of responsibility for their learning. This involves finding out what they want to do in the future and helping them to understand the work and effort it will involve to get there.
Working with young people to support them to be responsible citizens
Time out can be a very useful tool in enabling individual young people to develop and learn how to become more responsible. Time out sessions should not be used as a punishment but an opportunity to work with a young person to improve their ability to function more effectively in a group. We recently had one participant who was disruptive and she was asked to participate in some 1 to 1 work to consider and reflect on her action. Using a volcano illustration - which begins with irritation, then frustration and then annoyance until the volcano explodes in a burst of anger – we asked the girl to reflect on her behaviour, how she feels about it and also how it affects the dynamic of the group. After this she was able to re-engage with the group positively and we made a point of asking staff to consistently reinforce and value her positive contribution and behaviour. This reinforcement and valuing are fundamental to enabling pupils to make positive progress.
Working with young people to support them to be responsible citizens
Include Me gives young people the opportunity to experience the value of giving to others and improving the environment during the “Community Challenge” part of the programme. This element involves discussions between the group members and the Local Council on the subject of litter and graffiti, and thereafter participating in a day-long area “clean-up” with the support of the Council’s Cleansing Services. Recently, the young people were involved in tidying up a very run-down and littered section of a pedestrian underpass. While they were cleaning the entire group were given an unexpected boost when a local senior citizen stopped to talk with them and praise the group for their efforts. The lady was also kind enough to write a letter of thanks to the group for helping freshen-up an area strewn with litter.
Working with young people to support them to be responsible citizens
In terms of making pupils more responsible we are lucky in that we have less formal relationships with the pupils than many of the teachers do. This means that they are more likely to ask us our views on subjects which they would not bridge with teaching staff. We can open up debate and also challenge them in respect of some of the prejudices and views which they hold. Pupils are interested in having discussions and I think they like that the fact that we are not easily shocked and are willing to challenge them and speak about our own personal views. I think this approach is useful in terms of giving them a better understanding of different beliefs and also I would hope that it would help them to be more open to new ideas and ways of thinking.
Working with young people to support them to be responsible citizens
One of the things we did with xl was helping out at the parents evening. We went round the teachers to see if they would like tea or coffee as they had to stay at their tables all night. It felt good to be helpful and we got to have a laugh with the teachers. I liked this cause some of the teachers you think would never smile and they were actually really nice. You see a different side to them.
