ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the perspectives of children in their final year at an 8— 12 middle school. The school was situated in a predominantly working-class area on the perimeter of a Northern textile town. Data was collected at ‘Moorside Middle School’ over a period of two years using ethnographic methods. The good girls generally preferred quieter activities. The Netball Group of girls was very comparable to the other main ‘joker’ group, the Football Group of boys. In the playground Netball Group members almost always played netball when a court was available. A few of the girls would also usually be involved doing telephone duty, ‘helping teachers’ or ‘doing a job. The parameters of children’s actions are thus determined to a significant extent by the actions of their teacher. Children will hope to experience a sense of positive reward from interactions so that they are supportive of self.
