A study of pupil participation in learning : factors which promote or undermine inclusion

This small-scale piece of practitioner research centres on the participation and learning experience of one group of year 7/8 pupils. My aim was to increase pupil participation in learning. I considered the pupil experience of inclusion and factors which promoted or undermined participation in learning. The investigation is in two phases. The first stage is a case study in which I investigate the school's organisational culture and how the features of school impinge on pupils' participation and inclusion. The second phase is classroom-based research, which is divided into four action cycles, each progressively focusing on an improvement in pupil participation in learning,which emerged from the previous cycle.<br></br><br></br>Findings showed that the biggest barriers to pupils' learning were the school's organisational culture (which led to pupils' low self-esteem), over reliance on teacher support and lack of autonomy. Pupils' participation improved, together with their self-esteem by being given a choice and a voice, by being supported in identifying their learning styles and by teachers having high expectations of them in completing tasks which made sense and had purpose.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

edd

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

The Open University

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Bailey, Ruth S.

Language dc:language

en