This text is the second part of a seven-year ethnography of individual pupils from the ages of four to eleven in an English primary school. It presents a sociological analysis of children coping with the social worlds of home, playground and classroom over the seven years of a primary school career. The study provides holistic insights into the biographies of four children during their primary school years and the case studies give prominence to the voices and perspectives of parents, children and teachers interacting over time. The reader is invited to engage personally with these accounts and is guided, as the book progresses, to an overall analysis of the significance of social relationships and learning processes on the childrens's career trajectories.

Defining Assessment in the widest possible way, ann Filer and Andrew Pollard have produced the most comprehensive ethnographic study of assessment ever attempted. Their case studies cover all of the most important questions concerning assessment. The findings, which are both profound and unsettling, have major implications for educational practice and policy - particularly on how supposedly objective assessment processes depend on their context and are vulnerable to both bias and distortion. In this colorful and reliable work, Filer and Pollard have provided the definitive study of assessment in the 5-11 age range.

This unique book provides the reader with a mini-library of over one hundred readings containing: --both classic and contemporary readings--international contributors--material drawn from books and journalsAn essential reference resource in its own right, Readings for Reflective Teaching also contains numerous cross-references to Andrew Pollards Reflective Teaching.

Do children still matter in education? With its focus on children's learning in the initial three years of schooling, this book contains the first part of a report of an ethnographic study of individual pupils from the ages of four to 11 in an English primary school.

This fascinating volume compares the experience of young learners in England, France and Denmark in order to examine the relationship between national educational cultures, individual biographies and classroom practices in creating the context for learning. It explores how secondary schools in three very different education systems work to develop the aptitudes and attitudes conducive to lifelong learning in conditions of complexity, uncertainty and multiple change.

This handbook brings together in a single volume the groundbreaking work of scholars who have conducted studies of student experiences of school in Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, England, Ghana, Ireland, Pakistan, and the United States. Drawing extensively on students’ interpretations of their experiences in school as expressed in their own words, chapter authors offer insight into how students conceptualize and approach school. The book examines how students understand and address the ongoing social opportunities for and challenges in working with other students and teachers, and the multiple ways in which students shape and contribute to school improvement.

This book brings together material from wide range of studies, mainly qualitative in character, concerned with exploring what actually goes on in learning situations and explores the perspectives of teachers, and students.

The result of a research project, this work, an attempt to report on what has actually been happening in our schools, answers such questions as: what difference have education reforms made to pupils' experience in schools? and how has recent education policy impacted on children today?

Originally published in 1991, First Episodes: Pupil Careers in the Early Years of School is based on a four-year longitudinal study of pupils from two different catchment areas from the first days of their entry to primary school. Using qualitative methodologies of depth interviewing and ‘naturalistic’ observation, it attempts to examine the social construction of pupil careers in the dynamics of classroom life. Particular attention has been given to the longitudinal and continuing process in the formation of pupils over the first four years of schooling, especially in looking at the moment-by-moment processes of formulation as episode follows episode in the rapid flow of classroom life. It is suggested that teachers operate fundamental distinctions between ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ pupils and, in the ongoing processes of classroom life, a distinction between the episodic and the trans-episodic in their constructions of reality. Central to the analysis has been the notions of ‘relativity’ in the placement of boundaries in interpersonal relations. It is suggested that the casting of pupils within the framework of role (i.e. Other-role) is a central process at both episodic and trans-episodic levels. The book recommends a move away from the more usual notion of rule-transgression and its related ‘societal reactions’ so prominent in the literature on deviance. It is suggested that it is the role rather than the rule which is critical to the perception of deviation and the formulation of pupils in early schooling. In looking for temporal processes of ‘emergence’ it is suggested that there is continuing tension between the episodic and the trans-episodic in teachers’ formulation of children. It seems the construction of present reality as having continuity or discontinuity with previous ‘realities’ is critical.

This book brings together semi-autobiographical accounts from major educationalists about their influential research, focusing on the practical and personal aspects of the research process. The collection reflects the great changes that have occured within educational research since the 1980s and deals with the issues and situations of the late 1990s. It includes accounts that cover the various stages of the research process, a sampling of topics, the diversity of methodologies used in educational research and a range of theoretical perspectives. There is coverage of qualitative and quantitative methodologies and of large and smaller scale research. Also discussed are: ESRC programme research, contract research and theoretical research.