We have defined the skills of effective participation as the following four skills. Click each to view the ladder defining these skills in detail.
Get involved – This is the emotional aspect of effective participation
Persuade Others – This is the social aspect of effective participation
Find solutions – This is the strategic aspect of effective participation
Identify Issues – This is the cognitive aspect of effective participation
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Creating Opportunities to Practice these Skills
Use the following key to work out the level of challenge of any activity you are planning to do. Simply answer yes or no to the first question. If the answer is yes then progress to the next question.
Think of a time when your teaching group did some work to help your school community or your local community.
Q – Did most pupils have the chance to debate a ‘right or wrong’ issue and come up with ideas for how they personally could get involved to improve things?
If No then stop here, your activity is level 0. If YES then carry on to the next question
Q – Did most pupils have the chance to debate an issue, hear people’s views and emotions then come up with their own suggestions for how they personally could make a difference ?
If No then stop here, your activity is level 1. If YES then carry on to the next question
Q – Did pupils have the opportunity to consider an issue as a whole group (15+ people?) and work out what different skills people could bring to make a difference AND what different views they had e.g. about what was fair?
If No then stop here, your activity is level 2. If YES then carry on to the next question
Q – Does the activity unlock positive passions: Are pupils who feel strongly about an issue able to whip up support for a campaign or get the class actively involved in some way? For example taking charge of charity raising for a cause they believe in.
If No then stop here, your activity is level 3. If YES then carry on to the next question
Q – Were one or more pupils supported to run a campaign in which they… Surveyed or researched people’s views in the community AND came up with ideas that would help AND convinced people to support them AND saw it through to make a real difference in their community?
If No then stop here, your activity is level 4. If YES then carry on to the next question
Q – Activities up to now could be done by a ‘hero’ campaigner following their passion. Did this activity go further than that so that even if the top five active people in the group were removed it would have carried on the same because the whole group felt it was the campaign of the whole group?
If No then stop here, your activity is level 5. If YES then carry on to the next question
Q – Did this opportunity result in an issue being solved for a big community (e.g. the whole school)? A problem that was tough to solve had been solved by pupils finding ways for everyone to agree then making it happen.
If No then stop here, your activity is level 6. If YES then carry on to the next question
Q – Did this opportunity result in pupils running a campaign over perhaps a year that mobilised a whole community inside and outside the school? No single pupil led it because it was owned by the whole community who kept it going and solved new problems as they came up.
If No then stop here, your activity is level 7. If YES then carry on to the next question
Q – Did most pupils achieve a level 9 in their peer assessment or peer review using the criteria in the ladders?
If No then stop here, your activity is level 8. If YES then your activity is a level 9
Learning By Ladders 