ABSTRACT
Chapter 8, ‘Unconventional Relationships and Trust’, uses ethnographic data such as interviews, observations and photos to look at the changing relationships between different groups of young people in school and their teachers. It will show that unconventional relationships developed between staff and the pupils in a vocational group enabled the young people to have a more positive experience of school and therefore greater engagement. It also discusses the significance to disadvantaged school children of teaching staff that come from the same socio-economic background as them. Further to this, the lack of trust between students and the majority of staff and its impact on the behaviour of young people is discussed. Recognition, in the sense that Axel Honneth uses the term, is found to be central to meaningful relationships between school staff and their pupils.
