Pupil Strategies (RLE Edu L) Explorations in the Sociology of the School

What do pupils actually do in school? There are remarkably few studies that take the pupils’ perspective and reconstruct experience from their point of view within the context of their own cultures and careers. This volume brings together a number of research studies on various aspects of how pupils cope with schools. The theoretical papers consider amongst other issues a developmental model of the growth of pupil strategies based on primary and secondary socialisation; a discussion of ‘interactionist empiricism’ which argues for co-ordinated research between micro and macro perspectives and an extended overview of the general sociological background of work on teacher and pupil strategies. The empirical articles consider a number of themes ranging from strategies employed in answering teacher questions to the power and influence of the pupil peer group in the development of attitudes and behaviour.

Acknowledgements. Introduction Peter Woods. 1. The Development of Pupil Strategies Peter Woods. 2. Conformist Pupils? Martyn Hammersley and Glenn Turner. 3. Pupil Strategies and the Open Classroom Martyn Denscombe. 4. Routes to Right Answers: On Pupils’ Strategies for Answering Teachers’ Questions Margaret MacLure and Peter French. 5. Deviant Labelling in School: The Pupils’ Perspective Cathy Bird. 6. School Girls’ Peer Groups Robert J Meyenn. 7. Initial Encounters in the Classroom and the Process of Establishment Stephen J Ball. 8. Synthesis and the Study of Strategies: A Project for the Sociological Imagination Andy Hargreaves. 9. On Interactionist Empiricism Martyn Hammersley. List of contributors. Subject Index. Author Index.

Peter Woods (Edited by)