How listening to student voice can enable teachers to reflect on and adjust their use of physical space

Abstract

The carpet as a learning space has become the received way of delivering literacy and numeracy in English primary schools, yet remains little examined either academically or professionally. Different understandings of teaching and learning have different implications for carpet-time. As carpet time is so widespread it seems important to find out how and why it is used, and how children and teachers respond to this use of space.This research comprised a mixed-method study of carpet use in an English primary school. Government policy has stated through the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda that the child should be at the centre of teaching and learning (DfES, 2004). This study, therefore, asked both children and adults for their ideas about carpet-based teaching and learning. Results show a mismatch between what children think, what teachers think and what actually happens. They also demonstrate the potential to overcome these contradictions: obtaining children’s views on teaching and learning can enable teachers to reflect on (and improve) their use of physical space.