'Doesn't matter what we think we are doing, it's how it is perceived': Exploring the usefulness of the Ideal Teacher Drawing technique with students and teachers in a Pupil Referral Unit

Permanent school exclusions have seen an increase in numbers for several years. Driving factors for this type of exclusion are plenty, with poor teacher-pupil relationships one of the main identified factors. A review of the literature revealed that although papers have been written about school exclusions, relatively little research has explored teacher-pupil relationships. The current study was based in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) aiming to explore pupils' constructs of an ideal and non-ideal teacher through the application of the Personal Construct Psychology based Ideal Teaching Drawing (ITD) technique. The study aimed to understand how the collated information from the pupils is understood and used by school staff. In line with national and international policies and guidelines on pupil's voice, the ultimate aim of the study was to introduce the ITD technique as an approach to exploring and supporting pupil's voice to understand if it can inform or guide child-centred strategies. Through a two-phased qualitative design, pupil's constructs of teacher-pupil relationships were sought using semi-structured interviews and drawings. Information about the usefulness of this information was also collected from school staff, using semi-structured interviews. The child participants data were analysed using an inductive thematic analysis approach; eliciting a total of nine superordinate themes and 28 subordinate themes. The second inductive thematic analysis of the adult participants interviews identified four superordinate and nine subordinate themes. The findings of the study show that pupils are able to identify a range of positive and negative attributes about teacher-pupil relationships when using the ITD, with these views considered as valuable and useful by teaching professionals. The implication of the study indicates the ITD to be a useful technique for exploring contrasting poles of children's teacher-pupil relationships