An official study of pupils’ perceptions of school life suggests many don’t feel safe or supported enough to learn. But solutions do exist, says Cara Cinnamon.
The Department for Education’s newly published pupil experience data should stop all of us in our tracks.
The figures are stark. Almost a quarter of pupils (23 per cent) say they “never” feel safe or “only on some days”. In a class of 30, that’s around seven children who feel unsafe in the place they are meant to learn.
Enjoyment paints an equally troubling picture. Half of all secondary school pupils (50 per cent) say they “only sometimes” or “never” enjoy school, and parents aren’t always aware – they underestimate this figure by a factor of three.
Then there’s relationships. Nineteen per cent of pupils say they “never” or “rarely” have someone at school who believes in them.
For children on free school meals or in need, it’s even higher. That’s just under one million secondary-aged children (19 per cent) going through their school day believing that nobody thinks they can succeed.
Children need to feel safe to learn. And not just physically safe, but psychologically safe. They need an environment where they can feel safe to ask questions, try new things and make mistakes – all foundational parts of the learning journey.
They also need adults who believe in them.
Before they arrive at school, some young people may have overcome enormous hurdles just to get dressed and get themselves through the door. Encouragement from a teacher who believes in them and sees their potential can be life changing.
So what do we do with this data?
1. Reframe youth voice
Measuring how children feel about school is not a “nice to have”. Creating mechanisms for young people to tell us how they feel about school is an essential way of ensuring the system we’re building is responsive to their needs.
And those voices must be representative, not just the loudest or most confident. When young people feel listened to at school, they feel valued, they develop stronger relationships with staff – this can all lead to increased engagement in their learning.
2. Flip the blame narrative
Too often, when things don’t work, we default to child-focused interventions – implicitly or explicitly asking “what’s wrong with this child?”
But the child isn’t broken, the system around them is. Labelling pupils as “disengaged” or “hard to reach” assumes they choose not to engage, rather than asking whether schools are meeting their needs.
That thinking is, at best, prejudicial and at worst, discriminatory – and means we intervene far too late, once harm has already been done.
3. Invest in educators
Nobody enters teaching to run an exam factory that makes children unhappy.
Countless teachers and school leaders work tirelessly to do the best for their students. Often, they’re working against the grain, without credit from an accountability system that cannot see the entirety of their efforts.
The lucky ones find strong leaders who build an inclusive workplace that helps them grow in their careers. And this in turn delivers excellent results for children.
4. Build the case for inclusion
Focusing on wellbeing doesn’t have to come at the expense of attainment.
It has always struck me as strange that we understand the importance of wellbeing in the workplace and its impact on adults doing their best work, but wellness in children – who are still learning to read and write, regulate emotions, communicate and build confidence – is often overlooked.
Schools that centre pupil experience are not lowering standards; they are creating the conditions for real learning. We need to find ways to empower those schools, scale those models, and let them know we’re here to support them.
Mission 44 campaigned for more pupil experience data and we are pleased that it’s been published. The next step, however, is even more important: the government must be brave enough to act on it and change what isn’t working.
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