Children's Express members were asked by Teacher Update to talk about how working as journalists has changed the way they see the world.
| Before I came to CE I never used to watch the news. Now I want to be a lawyer. |
The everyday work of a young journalist at Children's Express (CE) includes exploring issues that will form the basis for stories, developing angles, conducting interviews, holding roundtable discussions with other CE journalists and helping to edit finished articles.
The process enables children to set their own agenda and the impact is huge, not only on them, but also on those they come in contact with.
Children's Express is the only programme in the UK enabling children in inner cities to produce journalism for the mainstream media. This year the charity celebrates its fourth year in operation, having worked with more than 400 children and reached out to thousands more. The programme runs in London, Newcastle, Birmingham and Sheffield and is open to young people aged between eight and 18. The results are impressive and the list of headlines for CE articles, which have appeared in the press, bear witness to the influence the young journalists have been able to establish.
"What I like about CE is the atmosphere, says Katherine Faulkner, 13. "Because not only do you work with a lot of people from different backgrounds but a lot of different age groups as well. So I've made loads of friends outside my own age group which is something I just couldn't do at school."
The lessons that the CE approach can offer for the teaching of moral, social and cultural studies lie in the way it allows children to develop a sense of self-esteem and confidence in their own worth. "It's helped me with my writing skills especially in school, says Lorretta Omari-Asor, 12. "I've really enjoyed it."
Story work at Children's Express is organised into teams of five, with one of the older members taking the lead. Two editors and three reporters work together on one idea, with editors, aged 14 and over, and reporters, under 14. Katherine describes the story process.
"Somebody has an idea for a story and they write it down on a story suggestion sheet. The editors chair a board meeting every month. Everyone looks at the story suggestions and decides whether they would make good stories or not.
"They do an interview or a roundtable, which is more of an open discussion. Or it might be an investigation - we once did one on young people being able to buy fireworks - which involves more of an active role.
Teamwork is key to the process as story angles are discussed and ideas pooled. The collaborative ethos provides the means for children to build and manage relationships and the process of investigating a story encourages them to understand the nature of prejudice and conflict. Many of the CE members find this a contrast with their experience of school.
Members get a chance to learn about subjects they would seldom study as part of the curriculum.
"I was on the story about young people who have to care for their sick parents," says Katherine. "It really shocked me how much responsibility these people, who are of my age, have."
"It's hard looking after your parents when they can't give anything back because they're so ill."
The contribution journalism makes to learning about citizenship is very marked. Being a CE journalist means learning to look at an issue from other people's points of view. One young reporter from the London bureau, who was overheard intimidating passengers on a bus, was encouraged to lead an investigation into why some kids cause trouble on buses. The resulting article encouraged other children to assess their own behaviour in the context of the wider community.
Members of the bureau describe some of the special qualities a CE journalists must develop. "An interest in what people are saying," says Katherine.
"You must be friendly, you can't have a stone cold face," adds Pfungwa Chipatiso, 13. "You don't necessarily have to know what to say but how to say it."
Writing newspaper articles and making newspapers is not unusual in schools, but perhaps not everyone has considered the contribution it can play in looking at citizenship. It can even be a way to tackle challenging behaviour. There is no reason why young journalists' ambitions for their work should be limited. Children's Express proves that young people's writing can make it into the mainstream press.
"Before I came to CE I never used to watch the news," says Pfungwa. I wasn't interested in anything. "Now I want to be a lawyer."
About the team
This article was produced by reporters Katherine Faulkner, 13, Pfungwa Chipatiso, 13, Loretta Omari-Asor, 12, and Benjamina Avro-Owiriwa, 11. It was published in Teacher Update.
