Pupil Typifications of Topic Work

Abstract

This paper explores the suggestion that teaching might become more effective if teachers had a better understanding of pupil states of mind. For three school terms a class of 30, 11‐year‐old children, kept written accounts of their classroom experiences with one teacher. These accounts were ‘typifications’ of their topic‐based work. Four questions are considered. (1) What typifications did the children use? (2) Are typifications unidimensional or multidimensional in meaning? (3) Which typifications are transpersonal and/or transcontextual? (4) Do pupil typifications change over time? Pupil preoccupations were principally of three kinds, ('pupil‐task’, ‘interpersonal’ and cognitive and affective ‘outcomes'). Across the year there was a general shift from a preoccupation with ‘task’ to ‘outcome’. Less able pupils showed a more sustained predilection for ‘pupil‐task’ typifications. The accounts of the more able children reflected an early preoccupation with ‘outcomes’.