Pupil involvement in classroom (re)design: Participatory ergonomics in policy and practice

Over the last decade, UK policy interventions relating to children, young people and education have made pupil participation in the (re)design of school environments a key imperative. Indeed, pupil participation is an explicit, core ideal of major, ongoing school (re)construction and (re)design programmes. Pupil involvement in decision-making is - ostensibly - central to this commitment. This paper will present preliminary findings from a project exploring the possibilities for - and the present state of - pupil involvement in classroom (re)design and ergonomic decision-making. Through in-depth qualitative data drawn from pupils, school staff, Local Authority officers and other stakeholders we explore the relationships, and tensions, between the ideals of participatory ergonomics as expressed in national policy statements and the way such participation occurs in practice. These data suggest that the ideal of pupil participation may, in practice, be foreclosed by contingencies, budgets, issues, debates, personalities and events at grassroots level.