Welcome to the iNet student online conference.

I am thrilled to welcome you all to the first online conference for students, organised by iNet – the international arm of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. This conference is the first in a planned series of five. It has been designed with students, and all the papers you read, the presentations you see, the contributions you read and all the questions asked, will be by students. Adult involvement in this conference has been kept to a minimum because this conference is yours.

The idea for the conference came following a big piece of work in England that focused on the ways that we can involve student opinions in improving schools. After all, the schools are yours and without your views any attempts to make change will not be as successful as they could be. This conference provides you with a golden opportunity to express your views on all elements of schooling, from the lessons you are taught to the technology you use; from the way that teachers work to the methods of assessment used to help you improve. Many of you have already written papers for others to consider, and those papers are inspiring and challenging. Others have volunteered to be ‘hot-seated’ - three brave students from across iNet countries will be online on nominated days for you to grill about the key issues coming out of the conference.

This really is your chance to be heard, I hope you will seize the opportunity to get involved and have your say. The success of this conference depends on the contributions you make – we really hope to see some lively online debates. In many ways, the world is watching, teachers want to know what you think and they want to use your ideas, so please share them!

Thank you to everyone who gets involved, and enjoy the conference!

Best wishes,

Emma

Emma Sims
Student Voice Coordinator
Specialist Schools and Academies Trust

 

Welcome from Student
Jason H.

Welcome to the FIRST student online conference!

Welcome one and all to the first-ever student online conference, and what a conference this is going to be!

Some of you might be reading this from simply saying ‘Yes’ to be signed up this conference, and you might be thinking ‘What is this all about?’ Whatever you feel, please take this online opportunity to engage, network, and challenge each other’s opinions in this conference.

I really would encourage all of you to take a real look at the papers written by students on the website. Some you might agree with, some you might not agree with . . . whatever you think, please contribute to the discussions! This conference has been put together for you by people like you – enjoy the experience!

Even in the last couple of years, the topic of student voice, and gathering your opinions on different educational issues, has come on leaps and bounds. It has not been one of the easiest rides, however I can say right now that student voice has had a massive impact on education, and will continue to do so into the future. Please do share your ideas . . . shape the future - you are on the receiving end of education, how do you think it could be improved for young people?

I have been lucky enough to take part in other online conferences of this nature with iNet, and I can genuinely say I have found them really enjoyable. You will enjoy the conference so much more if you contribute to the discussions. It will only take a small amount of time, and what’s important is that it is your opinions about education, and that’s just amazing.

Have a fantastic time, and don’t hesitate to contribute. Remember - it’s your space to air your opinions.

Enjoy and have fun!

Jason H.
Year 11 student
Court Fields Community School
Wellington, Somerset, England
United Kingdom

 

Hey everyone,

Welcome to the first iNet Online Conference for students. My name’s Debra Brydon and I’m the manager of this e-vent. I’m currently based in Melbourne, Australia, which might surprise you. But this is an international conference and students from all over the world will be taking part.

For the next two weeks you’ll have the chance to talk about how you’d like to improve your schooling. Some days we’ll be looking at set topics, such as what subjects you learn in school - or what you’d like to learn instead. Two of the days are Open Discussion Days, where you’ll be able to chat online about any ways at all you can think of to improve schooling, so it works better for you. We’ll be open weekdays from the 6th to the 17th of March. The online discussions won’t be active at the weekends but you can read some of the papers then. Join us to chat online at any time of the day or night on Monday to Friday – from home or school.

Thank you to everyone who sent in an essay, a website presentation, an audio file or a PowerPoint for the conference. This is the first online conference where we’ve used so many different types of media. It’s been a real experiment and I’m excited about what will be possible in future online conferences.

There’s a lot to read and I hope you’ll have a lot to talk about online. Don’t be shy and please say what you really think. There are only a few rules you’ll need to remember. First, be friendly. Only use your first name when you’re online. And please don’t mention any teachers’ names or get too personal if you’re annoyed about something at school. We want to keep everyone happy!

If you have any suggestions about future student online conferences, or how this one could be improved, feel free to send me an email.

Lastly, a special thank you to the small team of students from the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, in England, who provided very valuable design advice about this website.

Hope you all have a great fortnight!!!

Debra
brydon@cybertext.net.au