Julia Flutter

Teacher development and pupil voice

The principle of ‘pupil voice’ has attained a high profile over the past decade and its key principles of encouraging pupil consultation and participation are evident in official policy and guidance in many countries around the world. While there has been official endorsement of the notions that pupils have a right to voice their opinions and should have some involvement in decision-making affecting their lives, the implications of these arguments for day-to-day practice are less clear and sometimes contentious. Since the early 1990s Jean Rudduck and I have been looking at the role of pupil voice strategies in developing more effective teaching and learning in the classroom. We have examined how these strategies are used in a range of different settings—from small, rural primary schools to large, inner city comprehensive schools facing challenging circumstances. Evidence from our research, and in studies in the UK and internationally, suggests that pupil voice strategies can be transformational experiences for teachers and for pupils. This article examines the relationship between pupil voice and teacher development and, drawing on evidence from research, it will demonstrate how pupil voice strategies have enabled teachers to gain a deeper understanding of the teaching and learning processes and have helped them to change the way they think about pupils and their learning.

Exploring and Explaining ‘Dips’ in Motivation and Performance in Primary and Secondary Schooling

a particular aspect of schooling that needs attention – ‘dips’ in progress in years 3–4 of primary schooling and in year 8 of secondary schooling. Where the Chief Inspector identifies the dips on the basis of performance data we identified them on the basis of interview data, and where he explains them largely in terms of ‘unsatisfactory teaching’ we think there are grounds for broadening the explanation to include issues of school organisation and pupil motivation. In this article we argue that, at particular stages in their school career, both secondary and primary school pupils’ commitment to learning can become vulnerable. During post-transitional periods in particular – when pupils have adjusted to a new regime – organisational features of schooling can combine with developmental features to produce a restlessness which may affect motivation and performance. In exploring these issues we use Goffman’s concept of ‘school career’. Its value, as Goffman (1961, p. 119) explains, is its ‘two-sidedness’: one side is linked with such things as ‘image of self and self-identity’ while the other concerns the relationship of the individual to the ‘institutional complex’. Hence pupils’ time in school can be looked at not only in terms of chronological movement where the yearly passage to another class promises academic pro gressionbut also in terms of social progressionand whether pupils’ enhanced sense of social competence and maturity is being recognised and respected in the day-to-day encounters of school and classroom.

Joining up the DOTs: authentic teaching and learning in Design and Technology education

This paper reports on an innovative approach for teaching creativity in Design and Technology education based on the notions of authentic learning. Working with secondary schools in England and Ireland, the research team has been developing an intervention known as ‘Designing Our Tomorrow’ (DOT) which introduced students to the important principles of Inclusive Design (also known as Universal Design). Through interview and survey data, the team gained insights into students’ responses to the DOT intervention and they found that students’ creativity and empathy were enhanced following their engagement with the intervention materials.

Year 8 - a Suitable Case for ® School Improvement

Some of our findings were explored further through interviewing year 8 pupils taking part in other projects (e.g. Cambridgeshire LEA’s Effective Learning Project and Lincolnshire LEA’s School Improvement Project). In all three, pupil responses were the main source of data. (Quotations from pupil interviews in the longitudinal study are referenced MYW [’Making Your Way through Secondary School’] 1, in the Cambridgeshire project, CAM2, and in the Lincolnshire project, LIN3.)