Children and their primary schools: Pupils’ voices

This report draws on evidence from published empirical studies which explore pupils' and, in a minority of cases, former pupils' perspectives on aspects of their primary education. The overall aim of the report is to summarise and assess the findings and explore their implications for the future of primary education in the United Kingdom (UK). The report concentrates on findings from some key UK based studies, as well as findings from a range of other UK based studies which have focused on eliciting pupils' own perspectives of their experiences at primary school. Findings from studies outside the UK are not, therefore, included in this report, nor are findings which report teachers', as opposed to pupils' perceptions of pupil experiences.
In particular, the report focuses on pupils’ perceptions of the purposes of their primary schools, and their perceptions of learning, teaching, the curriculum and assessment, as well as pupils’ views on transfer from primary to secondary school. There is little evidence from former pupils, and data relating to pupils’ perspectives on the culture and organisation of the school, and to their aspirations and preferences in respect of their own futures, are also vey limited due to the lack of literature focusing on these areas. The literature also provided very little evidence to allow comparisons to be made in pupil’s perspectives across different social and cultural groups.