‘Muddy Boots' and ‘Grubby Hands'

This chapter outlines the research methods or 'box of tools' which were used to study pupil disaffection and which, to some extent, is also about coming clean about author 'muddy boots' and 'grubby hands'. The subject of pupil disaffection has been massively treated and social research has frequently been criticised for its critical preoccupation with disaffected pupils. The teacher sat at the front could see the pupil but the pupil could not see the teacher or other pupils without turning round, In the sense it was a panoptic structure. From 2004-2007 he worked on a part-time contract as a Community Education Coordinator at Woodside School, a position that meant that became deeply enmeshed within the school culture. The final phase of the data collection involved 'snapshot' participant observations where each participant was tracked through a typical school day observing their behaviour in lessons.