This book invites us into a project conducted around the start of the 1970s, with the aim of connecting young (trainee) teachers with reluctant secondary school pupils of ~15 years age, who were early leavers of education. The purpose being to get an insight into their lives and experiences, motivations and difficulties, to better understand the reasons for lack of engagement with the educational systems in place.
This was achieved by the formation of small groups of 2-3 students per teacher, who spent time together on free afternoons outside school for unstructured activity. This allowed the teachers and pupils to get to know each other in informal settings outside the classroom, build up trust, and communicate more honestly.
We read here extracts from some of the case reports, interviews with participants, journals from the students, and analysis from those conducting the project. What is most obvious is the the different class-related social and personal values and situations of the teachers and pupils. We get an insight into the home-lives of the pupils, how they behave around friends, and what they think of the world.
The idea behind this project was interesting - that by better understanding struggling or non-engaging pupils as people, teachers might be able to alter the way they teach, and improve the life chances of the disadvantaged. What we don't get to see here is how the knowledge was applied in future years, and a pessimist might say that it will always be a challenge to meaningfully teach at an individual level when class sizes are large, teacher time limited, and opportunities for better jobs not always abundant. An optimist however might say that even small positive changes are worth the effort. Some practical suggestions are made for adaptations to teacher training and classroom practice, and most importantly for teachers to be aware of the types of problems faced by some pupils in their schools, and the differences in assumptions between teacher and learner, so that the education process can be more collaborative than confrontational.
Quite a thought provoking book, and probably of interest to anyone with an interest in sociology, or the challenges of society and education. ( )