Reflection is essential in creating successful, sustainable partnerships and meaningful engagement experiences. Teachers in particular will already be reflective practitioners but due to time constraints this is often overlooked. After each planning meeting/session delivered to pupils it is worth considering the following both in terms of the activity carried out and the partnership as a whole:
• Did you achieve what you set out to? How do you know? Refer back to you project aims (see the Intended Outcomes section).
• What worked well? What didn’t work well? Why? If you used any of the activities from the Perspectives and Priorities section, refer back to the outputs. Consider repeating activities and looking at any differences in responses.
• How could things be improved for next time?
Pupils collect data digitally and empirically as part of their LifeLab visit day.
‘I was worried I wouldn’t understand but once we were doing the activities the scientific words made sense and I was surprised at how much I got by the end. They used long words but they explained what they meant. I was there to learn that stuff and them speaking to us like that made me feel like an adult.’
Pupil from local school