ABSTRACT
Woods (1990: 158) provides a helpful synthesis of the strong tradition of ethnographic studies of the late 1960s and beyond. He notes that ‘pupils’ approach to schoolwork has been less commonly researched. In what few studies we have, all concerned with small groups in individual schools, “school” is not an organizing principle in their lives.’ The ethnographers, he is suggesting, have rightly focused their attention on those things to which the young people themselves attach meaning
and importance in their lives. These accounts reveal that the people the pupils meet in schools, including the teachers, are consistently important for them; and it is especially the teachers as people who relate to pupils who are important. Being ‘human’ therefore takes pride of place in these accounts as an attractive characteristic of teachers, something that includes ‘respecting’ pupils (especially if teachers wish the respect to be returned) and whether teachers are able and prepared to ‘have a laugh with you’. ‘Fairness’ and ‘not being picked on’ are also seen as important, and ‘fairness also involves consistency and predictability’ (ibid.: 17-19, 23).
