ABSTRACT
Barton and Meighan’s (1979) view that the pupil’s perspective was one of the most under-researched areas in education is as true today as it was at that time. During the 1980s and 1990s, apart from a small number of notable exceptions (see, for example, Wade and Moore 1993), there has continued to be little interest shown by researchers in what children themselves have to say about their educational experiences. The fragmentation of political and social life under the guise of a radical neoliberalism, together with financial cutbacks and recession, have shifted attention far away from those radical critiques of schooling which started from a desire to understand the learner’s experience (Hargreaves 1967; Lacey 1970; Willis 1977; Woods 1979). Their place has now largely been taken by the instrumental concerns of a struggling economy (Giroux 1983).
