ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with children's experiences of their daily lives as they are lived in two social settings, the home and the school. The argument of the chapter is that whilst children undoubtedly view themselves and may be viewed as actors in both settings, their ability to negotiate an acceptable daily experience is heavily dependent on the adults' understandings of childhood and of appropriate activities by and for children in the two settings. Broadly, parents and teachers present different sets of understandings of childhood and of programmes of activities for children. The lived experience for children is that life at home is more negotiable than life at school. What children learn and the value they put on their knowledge and that of adults is interrelated with the character of children's interactions with the adults.
