ABSTRACT
One of the authors of a study of early childhood headed a chapter, ‘Early childhood education finds its voice: but is anyone listening?’ (Pugh, 1997). It has recently become more fashionable to assert the rights of children to be heard, but the implications of this right, in terms of responsibility, are rarely taken up. All the demonstrations of the will to include the voices of pupils in school show how limited is the effect when this happens. Listening is all very well, up to a point, but to act on what is heard remains quite another matter. The fact that we can gather crucial evidence about the reality of schools from paying careful attention to the experiences of those within them appears only to be acceptable if the views concur with those who have control. If the views challenge the very nature of schools then they are somehow put aside.
