MOOSE JAW — Making classes more relevant, setting appropriate homework deadlines, punishing absent pupils and ensuring schools are positive environments are some suggestions students want implemented to improve their education.
Twelve high school students in Prairie South School Division (PSSD) — from Assiniboia, Avonlea, Kincaid, Moose Jaw, Central Butte and Rockglen — spoke to trustees during their June meeting as part of the Voices to Encourage Change (VTEC) group.
The group presented results from surveys that asked students why attending school regularly is important, the challenges that make it difficult to attend regularly, who or what motivates youths to attend, what they would change about school to encourage attendance, and the advice they would give to friends struggling to attend daily.
Why attending is important
Youths think attending school regularly is important for their education and future, for socializing and developing meaningful relationships, for learning, for building habits and skills and for staying updated about classes since “being behind is stressful,” the VTEC group reported.
However, the challenges to attend regularly include uncontrollable circumstances, such as lack of transportation; medical appointments, illnesses or mental health issues; bullying, dislike of teacher, or no good reasons to attend; and not wanting to wake up or lack of family support.
Motivation to attend
Meanwhile, survey results for motivation showed that various things influence students to attend daily, including friends, parents or teachers; academics, including post-secondary dreams or love of subjects; and rewards, such as extracurricular participation or gift cards, VTEC students said.
Furthermore, the advice youths would give to friends who struggle to attend regularly would be that school prepares people for the future and missing school causes additional stress to catch up.
Ch-ch-changes
Some changes that students want Prairie South to make to encourage better attendance include:
1) Making classes more engaging, relatable, relevant or applicable
2) Creating consequences for non-attenders and following the attendance policy
3) Having teachers set appropriate work deadlines and sticking to them
4) Aligning coursework so students aren’t overwhelmed with numerous projects at once
5) Ensuring schools or classrooms are positive environments
Recommendations
With change 1, survey respondents suggested that teachers should provide more examples than just one and then hand out assignments; engage students instead of just lecturing, handing out worksheets, or showing a video with questions; and ensure classwork has a purpose; and incorporate hands-on or group work.
With change 2, teachers or schools should engage families early and through in-person conversations instead of faceless technology; deal with attendance issues quickly; force students to lose privileges — such as extracurricular activities — if their attendance is poor; and add a reward system for attenders.
With change 3, teachers should disallow students from having weeks to complete overdue assignments since that’s unfair to pupils who complete the work on time; also, educators should impose consequences within a day or two instead of weeks later.
With change 4, teachers should collaborate to ensure students’ workloads are manageable, while schools should ensure academic and non-academic courses are balanced between semesters.
With change 5, teachers should greet students and make them feel welcome every day; not judge them for non-academic reasons, such as who their parents are; listen to their concerns; and take professional development classes so they can meet students’ needs with instruction, assessments and relationships.
Other suggestions included informing students about graduation plans, prioritizing French immersion classes, enhancing driving training in rural areas, having a counsellor in school regularly, having breakfast/nutrition programs in all schools, and enlarging student parking lots.
Trustee Lew Young said afterward that, while it may be “off the wall a little bit,” offering students with high attendance averages the chance to win a new car could encourage more pupils to attend daily.
“I think a new car sounds great,” one VTEC student said, prompting much laughter around the room.
Ryan Boughen, director of education, said division administration would take these recommendations to principals and have them discuss the recommendations with teachers. Hopefully, he added, these suggestions would reach classrooms and changes would happen.
The next PSSD board meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 2.
