Children may experience classroom teaching in ways that, as teachers (or parents), we have not imagined. By finding out from children themselves what is making them tick, we can adapt teaching to make it supportive of both their formal attainment and, crucially, of the social factors that facilitate their higher attainment as well as their personal flourishing. These are the ideas explored in my new book, Children’s Experiences of Classrooms. The book is contextualised within Michael Schiro’s framework of four common purposes for state-funded schooling. Classrooms are explored in relation to which purpose seems to be emphasised in each different context: acquiring discrete bodies of ‘knowledge’; preparing pupils for employment later; nurturing the individual; or transforming society towards social justice.
Pupils explained how useful they found choice during learning tasks. One child commented that otherwise he felt like a postman who just delivered letters. Some other children described the benefits of choosing who you want as a ‘talk partner’. For example, Genesis said, “I will choose a sensible person. I will not just choose a friend as I get detracted and I talk too much”; while Eduardo noted, “If you are doing partner work and you don’t get on with them, it will affect your learning”. In relation to so-called ‘ability’ grouping, pupils described the shame they felt of being moved ‘down’ to a lower group. Curtis found that this shame even infiltrated his relationships at home: “Basically I was moved down and [because of that] I was barely talking to my parents or my sisters”.
I think this bit’s good because it actually tells, ‘Detail and description’. Then I know I’m good at that and I need to keep that up. But just putting ‘Excellent’ doesn’t help actually.
More extreme, children told us when and why they felt fear in the classroom and how this affected their learning. For example, a pupil in a Palestinian classroom told us that ‘My brain stops’. Others said, ‘I can’t listen carefully’, ‘I just pretend that I am listening’ and ‘I slow down’, ‘My hand shakes’.