Struggles in an educational prison: teachers’ and students’ constructions of self, others and schooling in performative times

This paper draws on the findings of a recent research project into how students and teachers construct their understandings of school to argue that school has many of the characteristics of a prison and that it is perceived as such, a house of discipline, control and correction, by student and teacher participants. The discussion draws on Foucault, Giddens, and Spivak, amongst others to conceptualise this. The study was carried out in one Secondary school in Middle England, UK, with 36 students in Year 9 (age 13-14 years), 3 of their class teachers, and some of the senior staff of the school. In addition to observation of students’ lessons, students and teachers took photographs of their environment to situate themselves in it and provide the bases for reflexive interviews with the academic researchers.