Pedagogic and organisational mediation of experience in schools

Pupils’ experience of learning, relating and belonging are crucial to their participation, engagement and wellbeing in school. Yet little is known about how pedagogic and organisational features of schools mediate these experiences.

This study will investigate that mediation through an innovative approach to understanding the ways in which the culture of schools shapes and responds to the experience of difference. We will set these findings within the national policy context gaining further insights into the meditational process through comparing our findings with parallel research in Spain. While this project shares some of the assumptions of researchers adopting an inclusionist perspective of educating all, and the transformative work on pupil voice, it differs on two key aspects; the place of relationships and a sense of belonging; and the systematic testing of the utility of the data that a) reveal the effects of institutional mediation and b) support schools in managing and arranging local practices.

External project members include Professor Jill Porter, University of Reading.