ABOVE: Assistant head Sally Kay sits in on the interviews.
PUPILS are interviewing prospective new teachers in a bid to give youngsters a voice at their school.
A panel of youngsters from Blakewater College's school council are allowed to fire questions at potential new staff as part of the recruitment process.
It is part of a growing national trend of primary and secondary pupils' involvement in teacher selection, which also sees pupils sitting in on lessons to monitor teaching styles.
The move has been slammed by unions as "an abuse of the concept of student voice" and detrimental to teachers' authority, but supporters say it provides beneficial insights for both pupils and staff.
Lee Harris, the headteacher of Blakewater in Shadsworth Road, Blackburn, said: "The school council is involved in many areas of the school, and the interviewing started as a way to establish youngsters' confidence, and it really took off."
Assistant headteacher Sally Kay sits in on the interviews.
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Mrs Kay said: "The students work together to formulate questions to put to the candidates, and the candidates come for interview with them one by one.
"If students are not satisfied with the answers, they will ask for further explanations. They take turns to take notes during the interview and then discuss their thoughts after each candidate has left.
"The students have always proved very astute in their perceptions of the candidate, but they are very forgiving and understanding of people's weaknesses and don't judge them by how they look or where they're from.
"Their feedback is then passed to the selection panel for a final decision to be made, after which it's explained to them who has been selected and why."
The Schools Council UK, an independent charity which promotes pupil participation, estimates that around 30 per cent of schools are using pupil interviews or lesson monitoring.
Communications manager Asher Jacobsberg said: "Young people often think of questions that the governors and head had not thought of. On the flip side, in the instances where pupils work with teachers on their lesson plans, they get an insight into the effort involved in making sure all students are catered for in a lesson."
Pupil Sajeel Khan, 16, who has been on the school council for over a year, said: "I think it has made a considerable change to the school and gives the interviewee an idea of what's on offer in the school."
But Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), said: "The balance of power is bound to be altered if pupils are allowed to go around judging staff.
"It is an abuse of the concept of student voice' and will undermine the relationship between pupils and teachers."
Mrs Kay said: "Feedback from candidates is that this is a fun and engaging part of the selection process."
Posted by: school inspector, home on 4:58pm Mon 21 Apr 08
This school is a complete joke,there has been no improvement with the new head,everything is just kept out of the papers and not reported to the authorities to make it look good.
This school is a complete joke,there has been no improvement with the new head,everything is just kept out of the papers and not reported to the authorities to make it look good.
Posted by: Head girl, Blackburn on 7:33pm Mon 21 Apr 08
[quote][bold]Gangsta[/bold] wrote:
Blakewater is ****
Queens Park High School was the best when i was there...
Big Up[/quote] Yeah - it was better when it was Queens Park - I left in 1998 and since then things seem to have gone downhill. I'm ashamed to tell people which schoool I went to now!
Gangsta wrote:
Blakewater is ****
Queens Park High School was the best when i was there...
Big Up
Yeah - it was better when it was Queens Park - I left in 1998 and since then things seem to have gone downhill. I'm ashamed to tell people which schoool I went to now!
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