A Review: Putting Young People at the Centre of the Discussion

What do kids really want from school? Do we really know? Despite current government agendas, which sees education through an instrumentalist lens, many educators would still ascribe to the view that schools exist to meet students' needs. Yet we rarely ask students themselves how they see their own needs. In a recent study (Zyngier, D. et al. 2003a) of students at risk, almost all students interviewed said they had no role in decisions relating to their education programs at their school. In July 2002 a group of young filmmakers from Thornbury Darebin College set out to make a film about what kids think about school, their teachers and how they would improve it. What School Kids Want (WSKW) is a new Education Foundation short but very powerful film that set out to change all this. In the lead-up to its 2002 Summit No More Bored: Radical Solutions for Public Schools, the Foundation brought young media students together with professional film makers to interview Victorian primary and secondary students about how they really feel about the school experience. The result is an imaginative and provocative challenge to our assumptions about how school should look, feel and be run. If we decide to listen and learn then we'll learn. Grade 6 boy Well a lot of the time I think of going to school as an obligation rather than a choice, so I wake up in the morning and think, shit I've got to go to school. Year 11 boy During 2002 six year 11 students workshopped, interviewed and filmed students from both Primary and Secondary schools from Melbourne's western suburbs, taking over 8 hours of video. This has been skillfully and dramatically edited to a punchy 10 minutes- just right for teachers to watch at a staff meeting or professional development day! The young film-makers worked with media professionals on a demanding project which is itself an example of how eagerly young people respond to a real task in the real world which has purposeful outcomes. Here is a very practical, no-nonsense way to start discussions in the staff room or at a PD session.