Pupil Participation and Pupil Perspective: 'carving a new order of experience'

Pupil Participation and Pupil Perspective: 'carving a new order of experience'
By Jean Rudduck & Julia Flutter
Homerton College, Cambridge, UK, 2000

In this article Rudduck and Flutter explain the changing historical views of the rights and roles and 'voice' of children in society and, more recently, in education. They note that it is the school improvement movement of the 1990's that has provided educators, researchers and policy makers the opportunity to investigate the issue of pupil participation and voice within our schools. Researchers such as Patricia Phelan et al. argue that it important to give attention to students' view of things that affect their learning. By providing pupils an opportunity for sharing their experiences of being a learner, we as educators are likely to see greater commitment and motivation from them. It is important therefore to develop new structures, and activities along with new ways of finding out how students are finding school.

Some key factors for consideration are...

• Find out what students think about the relevance of the curriculum, and its purpose
• Consultation, negotiation and "blank canvas" planning provide opportunities for such inquiry
• Problem solving tasks where students can use their own ideas
• Boys have their own style of learning e.g., reading that is relevant to their interests and rich in practical knowledge, group planning and projects, skills for living (map reading...), and small challenges that build to something large.

What does this mean for my practice?

• Provide opportunities for students to express how they are finding the learning
• Consult with students and gather student voice at various stages of planning, learning and assessment
• Provide opportunities for students to reflect on issues affecting their lives
• Platforms that value and acknowledge student contributions, about their learning or experiences
• Make connections  between the relevance of school knowledge to everyday problems
• Consider the needs of groups of students in the class such as boys, Maori, GATE students, by gaining their insights