Student councils as an example of building school community - creating, way of functioning and cooperation with teachers

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a research on the student councils in Warsaw high schools. School principals, their deputies, student council supervisors and representatives of student council board were interviewed. The aim of the study was to find the features, problems and way of functioning of student councils inside the school community. Research has shown two faces of student self-governance. One is connected with activities for the community, not only at school, but also local, in which the supervisor is a guide, and the pedagogical council supports and contributes to greater motivation in activities, the other shows student council as frustrated fake who follows the guidance of a director or supervisor and has no strength or desire to encourage the school community to get involved in self-governance activities. It is crucial to select and train proper student council supervisors that can attract active pupils and support them to lead their own colleagues with student council.