Pupil voice: comfortable and uncomfortable learnings for teachers

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What happened when teachers tried using their pupils’ ideas?

The researchers found the teachers’ responses to their pupils’ suggestions fell into three types.

Short-term success
Two of the teachers had learned from their pupils that they talked too much and both were keen to change their practice. The ideas that they decided to use included increasing practical work, increasing peer collaboration, allowing their pupils to use their initiative more and offering more authentic learning contexts. Both teachers successfully incorporated the pupils’ suggestions into their teaching. But the success was not sustained. Six months later neither teacher felt that they had radically altered the way they taught. Both were concerned that although the approaches had worked, constraints of normal school routines made some of them unrealistic, except perhaps when used at the end of term.

Growing enthusiasm for pupil consultation
The initial experiences of two teachers were unpromising. One found it difficult to incorporate her pupils’ suggestions of including more games and making more use of ICT in her mathematics lessons. Her lessons were unsuccessful because she overestimated her pupils’ ICT knowledge. Another teacher was unimpressed by his pupils’ suggestions because he felt they were predictable – wanting to do more practical work in science lessons etc. Nevertheless, both teachers persisted with developing their teaching in the ways their pupils’ suggested. At the end of the project, the teachers commented that the changes they had made to their teaching had helped improve their pupils’ motivation and sense of responsibility for their own learning. The teachers continued to consult their pupils after the project had finished and were considering encouraging their colleagues to make use of pupil consultation.

Encountering problems with using pupil consultation
Pupil consultation did not work for two teachers. One of these teachers seemed to expect too much of her pupils. She had decided to delegate decision-making to her pupils and tried to make group discussions a central part of the decision-making. Class representatives decided the groups’ membership and led the groups. The activity was unsuccessful – the pupils made clear their dislike of the composition of the groups and the tasks they were given by being hostile to each other. Another teacher was sceptical of her pupils’ suggestions. Although her pupils’ suggestion for more activity-based work and more discussion seemed to work, she was disappointed with her pupils’ apparent lack of effort and the noise level.

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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 happened when teachers tried using their pupils’ ideas? The researchers found the teachers’ responses to their pupils’ suggestions fell into three types. Short-term success Two of the teachers had learned from their pupils that they talked too much and both were keen to change their practice. The ideas that they decided to use included increasing practical work, increasing peer collaboration, allowing their pupils to use their initiative more and offering more authentic learning contexts. Both teachers successfully incorporated the pupils’ suggestions into their teaching. But the success was not sustained. Six months later neither teacher felt that they had radically altered the way they taught. Both were concerned that although the approaches had worked, constraints of normal school routines made some of them unrealistic, except perhaps when used at the end of term. Growing enthusiasm for pupil consultation The initial experiences of two teachers were unpromising. One found it difficult to incorporate her pupils’ suggestions of including more games and making more use of ICT in her mathematics lessons. Her lessons were unsuccessful because she overestimated her pupils’ ICT knowledge. Another teacher was unimpressed by his pupils’ suggestions because he felt they were predictable – wanting to do more practical work in science lessons etc. Nevertheless, both teachers persisted with developing their teaching in the ways their pupils’ suggested. At the end of the project, the teachers commented that the changes they had made to their teaching had helped improve their pupils’ motivation and sense of responsibility for their own learning. The teachers continued to consult their pupils after the project had finished and were considering encouraging their colleagues to make use of pupil consultation. Encountering problems with using pupil consultation Pupil consultation did not work for two teachers. One of these teachers seemed to expect too much of her pupils. She had decided to delegate decision-making to her pupils and tried to make group discussions a central part of the decision-making. Class representatives decided the groups’ membership and led the groups. The activity was unsuccessful – the pupils made clear their dislike of the composition of the groups and the tasks they were given by being hostile to each other. Another teacher was sceptical of her pupils’ suggestions. Although her pupils’ suggestion for more activity-based work and more discussion seemed to work, she was disappointed with her pupils’ apparent lack of effort and the noise level.