'I'm Not Seen as One of the Clever Children': Consulting Primary School Pupils about the Social Conditions of Learning

Y

11

Primary Education; Social Environment; Peer Groups; Group Dynamics; Pupil Personnel Services; Academic Achievement; Behavior Problems; Power Structure; Classroom Environment

0013-1911

Bernstein (1996) suggests that we need to engage critically with what it would mean to extend democracy in schools through pupil consultation. This paper explores the ways in which pupil consultation can uncover aspects of both pupil peer group cultures and classroom dynamics that work against fairness, collegiality and a sense of community in classrooms. Often it is the disruptive and the underachieving pupils who are the focus of teachers' concerns. However, the findings of this study suggest that consultation can also reveal the detrimental impact that a fractious, competitive peer group riven with power struggles can have on well behaved, high achieving pupils.

Author

32

2006

EJ736930