The tripartite collaboration amongst parents, teachers and students keeping the latter at the centre of pedagogical process is cardinal for a desired and successful outcome. Timely appraisal of students’ understanding is just as important, if not all the more so, than teaching itself as it provides all three stakeholders with a chance at reflection for a requisite course of action for betterment. A student led conference where the students themselves take the lead in reporting their learning to their parents could be a very effective appraisal process as it requires the firsthand involvement and active role of the students themselves.

Giving out mark sheets on a results day is commonplace, the practice which is here to stay for a foreseeable future and something considered sacrosanct in getting the picture of a student’s progress and understanding. What of a 15 minute parent-teacher bilateral talk regarding the very student then? Such meets are indeed helpful, definitely   better than simply making up a mind about a student’s progress through a report card. It still falls short though as it doesn’t involve students, the main stakeholders to the whole learning process.

There could be various models of SLCs and schools can opt for what suits them the best as per their infrastructure and resources but the central idea of it is to let the students relate their learning experience to their parents for themselves with evidences of their work. The teacher here remains in the sidelines being just an observer to the whole process, intervening only when it is absolutely essential to help the student out. A general and oft used setting and approach to the student led conference would be setting stations (tables and chairs) in the classroom with the portfolios of their works across various disciplines placed thereon which they’d use as evidences while sharing their learning experience. Making that leap from judging a child solely through a report card to sitting down, listening and interacting with them while letting them take ownership of  their own learning can seem superfluous at the outset for parents. It’s a hectic task for teachers too for while they are merely observers on the conference day, they need to play a huge role in the run up to it in preparing them and getting things organized.  Student led conferences can be a pedagogical process worth going for nevertheless as it, aside from  being an effective way of appraisal, helps students bring out their best in learning.