‘I think it's about the teacher feeding off our minds, instead of us learning off them, sort of like switching the process around’: pupils' perspectives on being consulted about classroom teaching and learning

Abstract

This article reports on selected findings from a doctoral study which investigated how teachers in an 11–16 secondary school in the UK consulted pupils about teaching and learning in their classrooms. It presents the views of pupils on the consultation practices and responses of their teachers. While interest in consulting pupils has increased over the last decade, there is little published research on pupils' perspectives on being consulted apart from Rudduck and McIntyre who themselves draw upon data from the study reported here. Qualitative case-studies of four teachers were carried out over one academic year. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews (with the teachers, with 75 Year 8 pupils and with school management) and lesson observation. Analysis was guided by a systematic inductive approach aided by NVivo. Key findings were that pupils: (i) welcomed consultation; (ii) had much to say about its benefits; (iii) valued feedback from teachers post-consultation; and (iv) had concerns clustered around issues of trust and anonymity. The article suggests there are implications for teachers, school management and policy-makers if significant benefit is to be realised from teachers consulting pupils on teaching and learning in the classroom.

Keywords:

• classroom teaching
• pupil consultation
• pupil perspectives
• secondary schools

Acknowledgements

In carrying out this research, I would like to acknowledge the participation of all teachers and pupils from the school, the guidance of my supervisor, the late Professor Donald McIntyre of the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, and the support of the Economic and Social Research Council.