Recently, a school in Devon made the news for the students’ effort to clean their classrooms. The school suggested that it was a great way to instil respect into the pupils, as well as cutting the janitor’s workload. It was a nice gesture, but should students be cleaning their schools, or is this a misleading idea?

The positives of students cleaning their schools:
 

• It encourages a sense of responsibility because students become partly in charge of the appearance of the school, which may affect the wellbeing of staff and fellow students.
• It shows students that they should treat their environment with respect - when they are the ones who have to deal with the mess, they will take far more care in their future conduct.
• Having students on hand, in addition to a janitor, may lead to a less cluttered learning environment as they can pick up litter and tidy away books.

The negatives of students cleaning their schools:
 

• Cleaning the school might take away from valuable learning time.
• If schools begin to use students to replace regular cleaning by a janitor or specialist company, they will see a much poorer learning environment.
• You shouldn’t use students to replace an actual school cleaner, only a professional service will ensure a truly safe and healthy environment.
   

What can we take away from this?
 

At Birkin, we believe that there is a big difference between cleaning and tidying and the two should not be confused. It’s a great idea for students to help ensure that the school is tidy, and this might include picking up litter, clearing away resources after each lesson and generally maintaining the tidiness of the school.

However, students tidying the school cannot be a substitute for a professional cleaning team. Proper cleaning requires a specially trained team who provide a dedicated service. Staff must be trained how to use equipment and products, equipment needs to be properly maintained and PAT tested each year, and the school requires thorough deep cleaning from time to time, as well as the daily clean.

We would therefore always recommend hiring a specialist cleaning company, even when this is in addition to students cleaning their schools. As well as the more typical services, specialist services are incredibly important to schools who require washroom services, janitorial supplies or even graffiti removal.

For more information on the cleaning service we provide in schools, take a look at our dedicated Education page.