How often have you heard yourself, your friends or your siblings utter the immortal words of youth: ‘It’s not fair’? But are incidents such as the one quoted above really unfair? If so, are they too trivial to be concerned about or are they too important to be ignored? Indeed, to what extent is the whole school experience a fair one? These are some of the questions that we set out to answer in our recent research study.
Although it is important that schools teach young people well and give them the knowledge and skills they need in order to achieve well in examinations, schools are also there to help pupils prepare for their future role as active, socially and morally responsible citizens. This is part of the hidden curriculum. Indeed a young person’s experience of school is probably the most important influence in helping develop their idea of what it means to be a good citizen. In our research we are interested in examining this influence that school (and society generally) has in helping young people form their opinions of what it means to be fair and how they might apply this to their wider experiences.
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