Involving Pupils in Policy Making

The school I am working at will be a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) school. In September all the pupils will be bringing in their own devices and we will be supporting them and the staff. To get ready for this I have been working with the Student Council to develop a fair use policy, partly inspired by Dr. Ohler's workshop at school last year. They have been amazing and truly inspirational. They read through the literature provided, made reasoned arguments and discussed the possible impact of wording and statements. They want a transparent policy that supports both the pupils and staff and gives a structure to the use of the technology within the school. During our meetings they are focused and engaged with the task at hand - questioning statements and suggesting improvements.The policy is in its infancy and I am sure will be changed along the way. However, I believe that when it is supported and constructed by pupils, for pupils, it will have a stronger position within the school.It has reinforced my belief that if you want to get pupils engaged with policy they need to be part of the team creating it. It also helps that this particular group have excellent leadership and run their meetings very effectively. I would love to see this developed further and the Student Council being involved in different whole school policies....but who knows what the future may bring. I do know that I am really enjoying the opportunity to work with them and I hope that they are proud of the finish policy