Improving Learning through Consulting Pupils

by Jean Rudduck, Donald McIntyre

Overview

Pupil consultation can lead to a transformation of teacher-pupil relationships, to significant improvements in teachers' practices, and to pupils having a new sense of themselves as members of a community of learners. In England, pupil involvement is at the heart of current government education policy and is a key dimension of both citizenship education and personalised learning.

Drawing on research carried out as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme, Improving Learning through Consulting Pupils discusses the potential of consultation as a strategy for signalling a more partnership-oriented relationship in teaching and learning. It also examines the challenges of introducing and sustaining consultative practices. Topics covered include:

• the centrality of consultation about teaching and learning in relation to broader school level concerns;
• teaching approaches that pupils believe help them to learn and those that obstruct their learning;
• teachers' responses to pupil consultation - what they learn from it, the changes they can make to their practice and the difficulties they can face;
• the things that can get in the way of pupils trusting in consultation as something that can make a positive difference.

While consultation is flourishing in many primary schools, the focus here is on secondary schools where the difficulties of introducing and sustaining consultation are often more daunting but where the benefits of doing so can be substantial. This innovative book will be of interest to all those concerned with improving classroom learning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415416153
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/29/2007
Series:	Improving Learning
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jean Rudduck and Donald McIntyre were both Professors of Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK. Both of them retired in 2004, but continued to work. Sadly, Jean Rudduck died on 28 March 2007, shortly after completing this book, and Donald McIntyre died on 16 October 2007, just before it was published.

Table of Contents

Part 1: What is Consultation and Why is it Important? 1.1. The Growth of the ‘Pupil Voice Movement’ and What it Endorses 1.2. The Project’s Aims and Design 1.3. Elements of the Project 1.4. The Project’s Difficulty in Resisting the Temptation to Move Outside the Classroom and Away from Teaching and Learning Part 2: What Does the Project Tell Us? 2.1. Strategies for Consultation 2.2. What Pupils Say About Teaching and Learning 2.3. Teachers’ Responses to What Pupils Say 2.4. The Impact on Pupils, Teachers and Schools 2.5. The Impact on Teacher-Pupil Relationships 2.6. Developing the Work in Schools and Classroom 2.7. Constraints Part 3: The Implications: Towards a Theory of Learning Appendix: How the Research was Carried Out

Editorial Reviews

‘Having heard Professor Rudduck speak about the findings from the project and reviewed an article written for an academic journal, I cannot think of another book that covers the same ground with such a robust evidence base … The detail of what pupils actually tell us will change with the policy context … This is an important book. What pupils can tell us about how to improve opportunities for learning and how teachers can act constructively on what pupils say, avoiding the defensive reactions exhibited by some of the teachers in Rudduck’s study is very important. Do publish it.’ Professor Pat Mahoney, Roehampton Institute of Education, University of Surrey.

‘… I can attest to the growing interest in pupil voice and pupil participation (consultation) among educators in both academic and professional communities in many parts of the world. Amidst the rising and "bottom-line" demands to enhance pupil performance (outcome-based modes of accountability), many educators remain committed to the importance of more inclusive and authentic forms of pupil engagement (voice and participation) in classrooms and schools. The long-term program of research by Jean Rudduck and her colleagues has not only enhanced our understanding of why pupil engagement is so significant to pupils’ experience of schools but also documented how the improvement of learning is inextricably linked to increased and varied forms of pupil engagement. The proposed book by Rudduck and McIntyre respond to the need for a resource that provides both an articulate rationale for and explanation of engagement (in the form of pupil consultation) and a clear set of guidelines and examples of how this form of engagement will redefine and improve learning […] The field of study in pupil voice, pupil participation, and pupil consultation emerged in the late 1980’s and has steadily progressed with a noticeable "leap" in both research and application from 2000 onwards. The proposed book will become a seminal reference and, as such, will both remain current for the next decade and continue to be a standard reference in research on/with pupils for the foreseeable future.’ Professor Denis Thiessen, OISE, University of Toronto, Canada

'The growth of the pupil voice agenda in schools, and within research communities, means that this type of synthesis of ideas, alongside an evidence-base, was much needed.' - Learning and Teaching Update

From the Publisher