Talking about 'everyday' issues in the formal classroom setting: A framework for understanding the dynamics of interaction

This paper further develops a theoretical framework for understanding the principles that regulate the expression and reception of 'everyday' knowledge in the classroom. Drawing on the work of Goffman, Mills, Schu tz and Bernstein, it is argued that the classroom context makes different kinds of 'discursive resources' available to different categories of person in different ways. Three different school-based contexts were investigated: the formal classroom, small group interaction during lesson time ('offstage' lesson ) and group interviews (outside the classroom ) as part of an evaluation of the effects of drugs and HIV education in schools. Each context was governed by its own set of principles which regulated interaction and discourse.