Mailing address:

Recent advances within the sociology of childhood have drawn attention to the positioning of children relative to the dominant adult group and the implications of children’s minority status for their capacity to be taken seri-ously within the society at large (Corsaro, 1997; James et al., 1998; Mayall, 2002; Qvortrup, 1994). Questions of status link directly to citizenship and the capacity to participate fully as members of the society (Marshall, 1950). While children have traditionally been excluded from such definitions of cit-izenship, more recent analyses have pointed to the potential for their inclu-sion through a model of citizenship which emphasizes connectedness, interdependence and community (Roche, 1999; Cockburn, 1998). Such approaches challenge assumptions regarding the inability of children to be actors in their own right, and locate children’s capacity within the context of the dynamics of power and control which operate in their relations with adults. A theory of power is central then to any analysis related to children’s rights and citizenship and can be explored through consideration of chil-dren’s experiences of their relations with adults in a variety of institutional contexts. This article outlines such a theory, applying the theoretical advances of Giddens (1984) and Foucault (1979) to the structuring of adult–child relations in the primary school. Outlining children’s perspectives on the control which is exercised over their time, space and interaction, the article highlights how children are positioned as subordinate within th