Primary school children's understanding of the school

This paper reports a study which examined children's understanding of the primary school as a microscopic society, investigating their acquisition of system concepts such as rules, community, self/system interaction and power, and their comprehension of the interrelationships. A sample of 144 children, aged 5-11 years old, from four schools, responded to a questionnaire which probed their understanding in three main areas: (1) the function of school rules; (2) the organisation and power structure of the school: and (3) their own role in school life. The results revealed developmental trends in the children's comprehension of aspects of school life such as rules, roles and power/authority. In addition, the children's responses displayed a developing knowledge of the system of the school, demonstrating an increasing grasp, with age, of the interconnections between the different parts. Overall, the results suggest a possible model for the children's acquisition of an understanding of the school as a system, beginning with an acknowledgment of the highest point of power and subsequently extending downwards through lower levels in the power hierarchy The children's path to system-knowledge therefore proceeds from a recognition of the role of the headteacher through to an understanding of the intermediate power layers of the teachers, until they finally come to comprehend and value their own part in the school.