One-Day Training for Student Councillors

Held in September (click Events for details of next date), this annual one-day training course empowers school student councillors from primary and secondary schools to set and implement an agenda for change in one or more aspects of their school or neighbourhood community over the year ahead.   It also helps student councillors to empower fellow students in a process of communicating with power-holders.

The course covers the following topics:

1.  Self-interest – What do I want from my experience of being a school councillor?  How do I communicate self-interest, do 121 meetings and listen for the issues affecting the people I represent?

2.  Issues – How do I present my group’s issues and work with other councillors to prioritise the issues which are most important to the student body?

3.  Research – How can I work with others to research the issues we share, develop a vision for the change we want, analyse who has the power to enable the change and plan SMART campaign goals to achieve it?

4.  Negotiation – How do we negotiate with the power holders, understand their different cultures and work in their interests as well as ours, to achieve a win-win solution?

5.  Action – How do we plan and generate turnout for actions to achieve our goals, present powerful testimony and in the process develop other students as active citizens?

6.  Evaluation – How do we know we have succeeded in achieving our campaign goals and developing other students as active citizens?  How do we celebrate, reflect on power and leadership, and develop habits of action that we can use in the future?

This training is open to up to 12 students from each Citizens:mk school member institution.  Although it is preferable for students to be already elected school councillors, there are no entry requirements beyond a willingness to participate in the learning activities and apply the learning to some aspect of community leadership within the member institution.

alliance of diverse community organisations acting together for a thriving, inclusive and fairer Milton Keynes