Pupil voice: comfortable and uncomfortable learnings for teachers

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What can be learned about pupil consultation from the teachers’ experiences?

The researchers felt that teachers could learn a great deal about pupil consultation from this study. They suggested that, in general, teachers should not feel concerned about giving pupils opportunities to comment on their teaching because the teachers involved in this study noted how:

their pupils’ suggestions were thoughtful and constructive;
there was considerable agreement between pupils about what helped them to learn;
the pupils’ suggestions tended to be derived from the teacher practices they valued – they frequently asked their teachers to extend their existing or past practices;
they generally agreed with their pupils’ suggestions;
incorporating pupils’ suggestions into their teaching was not that difficult.

The researchers indicated that teachers may find dealing with the following issues more demanding:

pupils who were more successful in learning at school tended to elaborate more about what helped them to learn than the less successful pupils – which suggests that the pupils teachers most need to hear from, are the most difficult to consult;
making sustained and significant responses to pupils’ suggestions about what might happen in classrooms involved a change in the balance of classroom power – which suggests pupils need to be given opportunities to learn how to undertake any new responsibilities;
the teachers felt torn between wanting to comply with the requirements of the National Curriculum and other national initiatives and responding to their pupils – some saved making changes to their teaching for ‘less serious’ times, such as the end of term. The researchers commented that teachers could incorporate their pupils’ ideas into everyday teaching if they believed that pupils’ perspectives were important and had the skill to make the changes happen.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction What did pupils suggest helped them to learn? How did the teachers select which ideas to use? What happened when teachers tried using their pupils’ ideas? What can be learned about pupil consultation from the teachers’ experiences? How was the study designed? What are the implications for practitioners? Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To find out more about collated digests click here Get Word Reader Pupil voice: comfortable and uncomfortable learnings for teachers This digest found in Pupil Voice Send to a friend Word doc 60KB Printer friendly Collate for later What can be learned about pupil consultation from the teachers’ experiences? The researchers felt that teachers could learn a great deal about pupil consultation from this study. They suggested that, in general, teachers should not feel concerned about giving pupils opportunities to comment on their teaching because the teachers involved in this study noted how: their pupils’ suggestions were thoughtful and constructive; there was considerable agreement between pupils about what helped them to learn; the pupils’ suggestions tended to be derived from the teacher practices they valued – they frequently asked their teachers to extend their existing or past practices; they generally agreed with their pupils’ suggestions; incorporating pupils’ suggestions into their teaching was not that difficult. The researchers indicated that teachers may find dealing with the following issues more demanding: pupils who were more successful in learning at school tended to elaborate more about what helped them to learn than the less successful pupils – which suggests that the pupils teachers most need to hear from, are the most difficult to consult; making sustained and significant responses to pupils’ suggestions about what might happen in classrooms involved a change in the balance of classroom power – which suggests pupils need to be given opportunities to learn how to undertake any new responsibilities; the teachers felt torn between wanting to comply with the requirements of the National Curriculum and other national initiatives and responding to their pupils – some saved making changes to their teaching for ‘less serious’ times, such as the end of term. The researchers commented that teachers could incorporate their pupils’ ideas into everyday teaching if they believed that pupils’ perspectives were important and had the skill to make the changes happen.