When starting your own (free) school became a distinct possibility, I was very tempted to set one up. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I was far too busy at the time. I was inundated with work, and involved in caring for elderly relatives.
Whether I’d have been a good headteacher or not would have been for others to decide, but I do know that I would have been draconian. Or, to put it another way, I’d have been the adult in the room.
Every so often I read about a headteacher caving in to students ‘demanding’ their rights, or demanding something or other. The usual technique is to go from zero degrees to boiling in no seconds flat, bunking off lessons to ‘protest’.
My response would be to (a) suspend the lot of them and (b) warn the parents that they will be held responsible for their child’s unauthorised absence. But hopefully such confrontation might be avoided at the outset through one of my very first acts as headteacher: setting up a joint staff-student consultative committee.
At the tender age of 17 I was in college, and a student representative on a body called the Joint Consultative Committee. This was a means by which the Principal could learn about the concerns of students in order to, hopefully, address them.
I was asked if I’d like to write an article about the students union for the student magazine. While trawling through the Freedman archives, I came across it, and here it is.
Do I think it’s any good? Well, it gets the facts across, but these days it could have been written by ChatGPT. In other words, there are no literary flourishes.
By Eybl, Plakatmuseum Wien/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
I ended the article with the words, “The union needs you”. A friend of mine said, when I showed him the article in the magazine, said a better ending would have been, “Your union needs you [shades of Lord Kitchener] — and you need your union”.
I think he was right.
Anyway, here’s the article, warts and all.
The Students Union, by Terry Freedman
The Students Union of the college, of which the chairman is Winston Panton, has developed into an intricate network of committees and sub-committees, whose purpose is to support and carry out the wishes of the students.
The Union is completely administered by the students, with the assistance of Mrs. Cook, having its own meetings, executive committee, Secretary and Treasurer. This is to ensure that the staff have the minimum of connections with the union's decisions, so that it doesn't evolve into a constitutional figurehead, reflecting the wishes of the staff and not the students.
One of the committees mentioned above is the social committee, which has organised a number of very successful dances. The Refectory Committee has been established to deal with any enquiries and suggestions regarding the college meal service. The Joint consultative committee has recently been introduced as a medium by which the students can voice their opinions and suggestions to the Principal, Mr. Pitt, who will discuss them with the students and members of staff who are on the committee.
Students who aren't on the Students Union are welcome to attend meetings of the executive committee, the dates of which are publicised well in advance. May I draw your attention to the fact that the students union notices are there for general perusal and not just for the members of the students union. I should like to conclude by saying that I sincerely hope more students will take more interest in the affairs of the union in future since it is there for your benefit.
The union needs you.
For writing that is much better than this, click on the graphic below and have a rummage around my Eclecticism newsletter.
