The discovery of the implicit pupil‐teacher social contract

The study takes a critical realist grounded theory approach to explore the intersection of pupil-teacher relationships and school alienation using experiences of secondary school pupils and teachers. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with both pupils and teachers. Participants' perceptions and experiences were explored, both positive and negative, to develop an understanding of the perspectives of both actors in reciprocal relationships. The methodological framework for this grounded theory diverges from the popular constructivist design and is, instead, influenced by the classic approach. It is developed to be situated in a critical realist philosophy, emphasising the importance of the emancipatory goal of critical realism. Analysis of the data identified that alienated pupils frequently have difficult relationships with their teachers and discovered a subgroup of pupils who experienced more extreme forms of alienation. An implicit pupil-teacher social contract is presented, describing the emergence of observable actions through the causative mechanism inherent to critical realism. The social contract rests upon the concepts of mutual respect and power. When a pupil believes the contract to have been breached, through the perceived violation of one of these concepts, pupil-teacher relationships begin to deteriorate.