Regulation and Resistance: Children’s Embodiment during the Primary-Secondary School Transition

Abstract

This chapter is based on the results of fieldwork undertaken during the latter part of 1996 in two schools in northern England. Ethnographic methods were used to observe a cohort of pupils and understand their experiences as they transferred from a primary to a secondary school. The original intention was to study the experiences of children with Special Educational Needs¹ and the ways, if any, in which these differed from those of other children. As the fieldwork progressed, however, it became obvious that during the transition all children were subject to needs of one kind or another, especially with reference to the body. This chapter explores the importance of the body to all children in the power relations that are played out within schools.