Pupil-initiated or teacher-guided? Learnings from pupil-centred approaches during COVID-19

This study investigates the relationship between primary school pupils’ experiences with pupil-centred learning approaches, socio-emotional experiences and self-efficacy. Our findings suggest that teacher guidance is important to support students and self-efficacy in working with pupil-centred learning approaches. We discuss the findings in relation to the increased attention that pupil-centred learning approaches are receiving worldwide as part of a tendency to move away from traditional teacher-centred approaches of transmitting and memorising information, and the ongoing discussion on how much teachers should guide pupils learning. We focus on how these learnings from COVID-19 can be used to reimagine education in the post-pandemic school.