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Schools exist because of the children they educate but examples of their voice influencing their education in an authentic manner can be rare. This chapter outlines the importance of pupil voice and defines the key aspects of authenticity. It uses the themes emanating from this definition as examples of establishing practices to support pupil voice in the classroom. Such practices are based upon the findings of a pupil voice study into the experiences of 14–16-year-old children in physical education (PE) lessons. This PE project was driven by the pupils and adult voice was militated in order to enhance the authenticity of the findings. The project empowered children to raise and discuss the issues they deemed important and find their own solutions without steering or influence by their teachers. The implementation of these findings in one school demonstrated the dynamism and potential of learning based upon child-centred practice.

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.

This chapter aims to further conversations around child-centred practice by considering the potential role of pupil voice within education. It explores the impacts of creating space for authentic pupil consultation in my own primary classroom upon my understanding – as teacher-researcher – of my class' experiences of teaching and learning. It outlines my use of pupil views templates (PVTs) (Wall & Higgins, 2006) to gain insight into children's thoughts, feelings and spoken interactions, and how this informed my professional practice as an educator, in order to move beyond pupil consultation as mere ‘lip-service’, and towards developing more meaningful engagement based on an acknowledgement of children's perspectives, as well as their right to express these views freely in all matters pertaining to them (UNCRC, 1989). As such, this chapter provides an exemplar of the reflections that can be gained through using PVTs to ‘listen’ to children, and the impacts this had upon the co-construction of our classroom culture, with implications for pupils' metacognition, the role of educator as a metacognitive role model and ultimately for children's agency and control over their own learning. Whilst my own use of PVTs is situated within an education context, the description of the ways in which this approach can be used has relevance for professionals in other fields who wish to gain greater insight into children's perceptions and experiences.

The overall aim of this article is to discuss the conditions and character of collective protest in schools. When do pupils as a collective gain the ability to express critical views on the policies of schools, and what is that criticism about? Using Sweden as an example, I discuss this question by studying the collective organisation of pupils from the 1920s to the 1980s.

The article discusses and compares two phases of pupils' collective organisation in Sweden: one dominated by pupil councils, one by national organisations. The article discusses how pupil councils at individual schools arose in the wake of the 1928 grammar school charter, and illustrates its influence using a case study of a grammar school in Stockholm. Furthermore, the article investigates how national organisations, first formed in 1952, expressed their concerns about national school policies.

The first phase (ca. 1928–1951) was dominated by the idea of discipline, and the main task of pupil councils was to help teachers in maintaining discipline. The second phase (ca. 1952–1989) was instead characterised by a heightened focus on protests and democracy. From then on, the main idea was that pupil councils and national pupil organisations should change the school, making it more suited to the needs of the pupils.

There is much research on university students and student uprisings. However, much of the previous research on the student voice is related to the upheavals of the long 1968. By concentrating its efforts on a limited time period when protest was more obvious, previous research has arguably not been able to discuss transformations over time.

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.