Children’s Experiences of Classrooms: Talking About Being Pupils in the Classroom

Abstract

If children are to succeed and progress at school, schools and teachers need to understand how children experience the classroom. What do they think? How does school make them feel? This book brings together the author’s work on children’s classroom experiences in a variety of contexts. The author uses student voice to show what children think of classrooms, tasks, tests and exams, and how this impacts their experience of schooling. Can the classroom experience be transformative for children’s life chances, or is it a trap? Schools and teachers need to take account of student perspectives in the primary school to make it the best experience possible.