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This chapter explores the use of three different approaches to capturing other perspectives in lesson study: lesson artefacts, pupil voice and pupil participatory approaches. Lesson artefacts and pupil voice appear to be the more common, whereas pupil participatory approaches are more recent initiatives in a lesson study context. Observation of pupils provides one perspective, but is limited because, among other things, it does not include the pupils’ perspectives. These approaches, especially when used together in triangulation, can provide a broader and potentially deeper understanding of pupil learning.

The purpose of this paper is to juxtapose different sources concerning educational experiments embarked on by an English primary school teacher, Muriel Pyrah. Pyrah taught at Airedale School, Castleford, Yorkshire, UK, from the 1950s until 1972. Her approach was celebrated in the fields of oracy and arts education in the final years of her working life. Airedale was a Local Education Authority (LEA) school within the West Riding of Yorkshire, an LEA led by Alec Clegg, from 1945 to 1974.

Using film footage, sound recordings, artwork and topic books produced by her pupils, the paper entangles these archival sources with recent interviews from Pyrah’s former pupils and a former school inspector (HMI). Pyrah’s actual name has been used, as has that of the HMI. The names of pupils who contributed insights are anonymised.

The former pupils provide accounts that encourage a move away from a revisiting of progressivism that is predominantly anchored in studying the intentions and hopes of high profile educationalists postwar.

The number of former pupils willing to discuss their memories was small, so no claims are made that their perspectives represent the dominant views of former pupils. However, these interviews reveal details that are absent in the other surviving archival sources.

The paper lays the foundation for further research on the voices of former pupils, inviting a focus on the way those participants reflect on the long-term impact of being involved in an educational experiment. Thus far, the representation of Pyrah’s pedagogy has been choreographed in print to build the legacy of the LEA. The pupils’ stories resonate differently.

Learning is a total human experience. Research rarely reaches the grounds of the inner world of how students experience learning. Conventional methods relying on spoken or written language suffer from the fact that the power relationship is slanted in the adults’ favour when young people are confronted with verbal argumentation or pre-fabricated questionnaires. Culturally and historically speaking, this has to do with academic tradition, founded as it is on the written word. A move beyond the “outer” world of spoken and written language requires other possibilities of looking into the “inner world” of schools from the pupils’ perspectives without their (and our) falling into the traps set by language.

Preventing and tackling bullying effectively are important agenda for schools to safeguard all children’s well-being, engagement and sense of belongingness. Children perceived to be different from their peers tend to have a higher risk of being bullied at school, in particular, children with disabilities. It can be challenging for teachers to stop bullying that targets children with disabilities. This chapter considers bullying as a barrier to ensuring inclusive and quality education for everyone. It draws on findings from an ethnographic study concerning the status of inclusion of children identified as having learning difficulties in mainstream schools in China, by listening to what children and teachers have to say (Wang, 2016). The study found that the child participants were subject to forms of bullying. They found it useful to gain support from others when bullying happened, and they showed empathy towards peers’ well-being. The teacher participants reflected on the dilemmas and challenges of dealing with bullying and were keen to share experiences about what they found helpful in addressing the issue. The chapter discusses how insights about bullying learned from children and teachers can be used to inform the enactment of inclusive pedagogy. It is concluded that an inclusive pedagogical response that recognizes every child’s voice is necessary for tackling bullying and co-creating an inclusive environment.

An alliance of schools and researchers formed a collaborative community of practice in order to understand and improve the sensory school environment for pupils on the autistic spectrum, and incorporate the findings into school improvement planning. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Representatives of special and mainstream schools in South London and a team of researchers formed the project team, including an autistic researcher. The researchers and a named staff member from each of the schools met regularly over the course of 18 months in order to work on an iterative process to improve the sensory experience pupils had of the school environment. Each school completed sensory audits and observations, and was visited by members of the research team. Parents were involved via meetings with the research team and two conferences were organised to share findings.

Useful outcomes included: developing and sharing of good practice between schools; opportunities for parents of autistic pupils to discuss their concerns, particularly with someone with insider perspective; and exploration of creative ways to achieve pupil involvement and the idea that good autism practice has the potential to benefit all pupils. A resource pack was produced for the schools to access. Plans are in place to revisit the initiative in 12 months’ time in order to ascertain whether there have been long-term benefits.

Projects building communities of practice involving autistic people as core team members are rare, yet feedback from those involved in the project showed this to be a key aspect of shared learning.

The study was based around the following three research questions: What factors affect teacher well-being and mental health? How does teacher well-being and mental health impact on the progress of students? What resilience strategies are used by highly effective teachers with poor mental health to ensure that their students thrive? The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The research study was qualitative in nature and involved ten primary schools in England. Teachers and head teachers were interviewed. Each school visit also included a pupil discussion group with children from Years 3. In total, the research team interviewed 35 education professionals and 64 pupils.

Teachers reported a number of work-related stress triggers including busy times of the year, such as assessment periods, the pressure of extra curricula activities, the unexpected, keeping up with the pace of change and changes in school leadership. Children were attuned to their teacher’s mood and could usually pick up when they were feeling stressed, even if teachers tried to hide it.

No studies have used pupil voice to explore pupil perspectives of the impact of teacher mental health on their learning and progress. This is the first study of its kind.

Pupil autonomy, empowerment and clarity of school rules are factors underpied that the schools subscribed to different philosophies regarding pupil management. One school was largely authoritarian in its approach and the other was overly lenient. This paper emphasises the importance of furthering democratic principles of pupil participation within the context of clear rules and boundaries.

This chapter explores issues around children's voice, physical education and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) in England. Research has previously highlighted the physical, social, effective and cognitive benefits of participation in physical education (PE) (Bailey, 2006). Furthermore, practical, physical and expressive creative experiences in education have been cited as being an important constituent when educating children with SEBD (Cole & Visser, 1998). However, research has yet to address the experiences of the child with SEBD alongside the ideological benefits of their participation in PE. After a period of sensitisation to the field, in a number of pilot schools, a total of 24 weeks were spent immersed in the cultures of two mainstream schools in the West of England. After six weeks of local familiarisation, during which field notes and research diaries were kept, weekly interviews with each of six case study participants commenced. This process resulted in an intensely interactive and personal process of engagement (Sparkes, 1994) which was at times magnified when working in a PE environment. In this research, a PE environment afforded opportunities to spend time and build trust through co-participation in the negotiation of socially constructed roles in the subject. The six case study participants whose experiences have been studied make reference to, amongst others, their affinity towards the physical nature of PE, the perception of it being a subject allowing for freedoms not found elsewhere in the curriculum and one which cemented both the positive and negative social systems in relation to their relationships with peers. Inductive processes of analysis utilising constant comparison methods between data sources have generated data which shows signs of both the idiosyncratic nature of multiple truths and some common ground in their experiences.

The purpose of this paper is to consider recent developments in student engagement practices within higher education institutions (HEIs) and to reflect upon the practical reality and challenges faced by HEIs as they develop such practices.

Consideration is given to theoretical understandings around institutional and social power relations and to the influence such relationships can have on the development of student engagement practices within HEIs. The work of Giroux, Freire and Foucault is drawn upon to help develop and deepen understanding of the power relationships at play within HEI student engagement practices.

It is argued that the power imbalance ingrained within student‐tutor relationships serves to constrain how students act and respond in the presence of tutors, and this can have significant implications in terms of the extent to which student engagement practices genuinely capture the perspectives, interests and visions of students.

Thought needs to be given to how HEIs will balance student engagement with academic work. The historical hierarchical staff‐student relationship will need to be challenged and re‐defined as some staff and students move outside of their comfort zones in order to work as partners and develop mutual understandings around, for example, practices of assessment, curriculum and teaching, and seek to improve the quality of student's HEI experiences.

The paper develops and deepens our understanding of the power relationships at play within HEI student engagement practices and opens up debates about the potential of student engagement practices in HEIs and the related dilemmas which surround the development of such practices.