Mired in the shadows: quiet students in secondary schools

Abstract

Six Key WordsStudent subjectivities, postmodern, Deleuze, quiet students, faciality, becoming.Quiet students are a feature of the organisation of secondary schools. Using qualitative methods and Deleuzean conceptualisations of modern subjectivity, this paper explores the ways that quiet students negotiate the terrain of their school. These negotiations often seem to produce a self that is trapped rather than a subject who seizes opportunities to be inventive, creative and experimental of their self. Understanding the faciality of quiet students provides opportunities to advance debate on how schools could encourage freer selves.

Being ‘nice’ or being ‘normal’: girls resisting discourses of ‘coolness’

“…The 'nice girls'' lack of engagement with status competition also meant, at times, that they were unable to take up opportunities made available to them, as was the case when Holly took over Lucy's 'envoy' role as discussed above. Thompson and Bell (Thompson & Bell, 2011) note that quiet students in secondary school frequently miss out on opportunities to contribute in class, and that this restricts their ability to be creative or inventive. It is likely that the 'nice girls' investment in discourses of 'niceness' and 'goodness' had a similarly restricting effect.…”

“…First, their experiences are relatively, though not exclusively (Reay, 2001;Renold, 2001) undocumented; researchers have tended to focus on the more visible and more powerful groups of children. Second, our research suggests that, while it can bring its own problems (Thompson & Bell, 2011), investing in alternative discourses to that of 'coolness' provides one way through which girls can protect themselves from the sometimes vicious power relations in peer group friendships (George, 2007;Paechter & Clark, 2010). Our findings therefore demonstrate some of the ways that girls resist involvement in these power struggles and instead find other ways of understanding themselves in relation to their peers.…”

Early years learning, play pedagogy and social class

“…The identities described above are inherently relational categories, constructed consciously and subconsciously through actions and perspectives of practitioners and children (Svahn and Evaldsson, 2011;Thompson and Bell, 2011;Sondergaard, 2012;Rogers and Lapping, 2012;Maclure, et al, 2013). These children are inducted into socially classed, self-regulating modes of behaviour, which leaves those who cannot or do not adhere being classed as 'difficult', leading to potential educational difficulties as they progress into 'formal' education.…”

‘It would help if the teacher helps you a bit more… instead of going to the brainiest who don't need a lot of help’: exploring the perspectives of dissatisfied girls on the periphery of primary classroom life

“…Quiet children are discussed within the literature (for example, Thompson & Bell, ) and, as Collins and Johnston‐Wilder () acknowledge, quiet behaviour in certain parts of the school day are expected and even rewarded; however, they also reflect on the corpus of research which would support contexts and situations where a more participatory role is required for learning (for example, von Glasersfeld, ; Floyd, ). In addition, drawing on the work of Vygotsky () and Bruner (), they argue that ‘meaningful and effective learning requires the allocation of active roles to learners’ (Collins & Johnston‐Wilder, , p. 150).…”