Originally published in 1991, First Episodes: Pupil Careers in the Early Years of School is based on a four-year longitudinal study of pupils from two different catchment areas from the first days of their entry to primary school. Using qualitative methodologies of depth interviewing and ‘naturalistic’ observation, it attempts to examine the social construction of pupil careers in the dynamics of classroom life. Particular attention has been given to the longitudinal and continuing process in the formation of pupils over the first four years of schooling, especially in looking at the moment-by-moment processes of formulation as episode follows episode in the rapid flow of classroom life. It is suggested that teachers operate fundamental distinctions between ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ pupils and, in the ongoing processes of classroom life, a distinction between the episodic and the trans-episodic in their constructions of reality. Central to the analysis has been the notions of ‘relativity’ in the placement of boundaries in interpersonal relations. It is suggested that the casting of pupils within the framework of role (i.e. Other-role) is a central process at both episodic and trans-episodic levels.

The book recommends a move away from the more usual notion of rule-transgression and its related ‘societal reactions’ so prominent in the literature on deviance. It is suggested that it is the role rather than the rule which is critical to the perception of deviation and the formulation of pupils in early schooling. In looking for temporal processes of ‘emergence’ it is suggested that there is continuing tension between the episodic and the trans-episodic in teachers’ formulation of children. It seems the construction of present reality as having continuity or discontinuity with previous ‘realities’ is critical.