Explicitly linking curriculum inquiry to English education via recurring themes of representation, democracy and knowledge, this book is a call for both researchers and practitioners to engage with curriculum, explicitly and deliberatively, as both a concept and a question. The approach is broadly conceptual and constitutes an exercise in theoretical and philosophical inquiry. While deeply informed by North American debates and developments, this book offers a distinctive counterpoint and a strategically ‘ex-centric’ perspective, being equally informed by the curriculum scene in Australia, as well as the UK and elsewhere. Divided into two sections, this book first addresses matters of general curriculum inquiry, while the second turns more specifically to English teaching and to associated questions of language, literacy and literature in L1 education. Green brings the two together through a critical examination of the Australian national curriculum, especially in its implications and challenges for English teaching, and with due regard for the project of transnational curriculum inquiry.

Student engagement happens as a result of a teacher’s careful planning and execution of specific strategies. This self-study text provides in-depth understanding of how to generate high levels of student attention and engagement. Using the suggestions in this book, every teacher can create a classroom environment where engagement is the norm, not the exception.

How can we bring the curriculum to life so that all young people of compulsory school age are fully engaged in their learning and achieve to their maximum? Professor Janice Wearmouth and Dr Karen Lindley bring together contributions from practising teachers, researchers and academics to answer this question for a range of educational contexts and demonstrate the positive impact that can be achieved on student learning at all levels. This edited volume highlights challenges and opportunities within the current English education system. With reflective questions and ideas for teachers to implement in the classroom, this important book bridges the gap between theory and practice and will be invaluable reading for trainee teachers, teacher trainers, qualified teachers and others with an interest in education and the curriculum. "The intrinsic value of the book is that it seeks to illuminate the discussions surrounding the issues identified, from differing and alternative perspectives in education." Dr Barry Paraskeva Costas, Senior Lecturer in Physical Education, University of Hertfordshire, UK "A highly engaging and refreshing look at how a diverse range of learners might be immersed in their learning, this book provides an imaginative and thought-provoking consideration of creative curricula to involve and inspire learners." Julie Wharton, Senior Lecturer, University of Winchester, UK "This book does an excellent job of drawing together a wide range of contributions and contexts that collectively put the challenges and opportunities of curriculum centre stage." Dr Warren Kidd, School of Education and Communities, University of East London, UK Janice Wearmouth is Professor of Education at the University of Bedfordshire, UK. Dr Karen Lindley is Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Bedfordshire, UK. Both editors are experienced teachers and researchers with continuing close links to Education students, trainee teachers, teacher trainers and practising teachers.

This edited book provides ready-to-use engaging curriculum units for an integrated approach to teaching English language arts and U.S. history in grades 4-12. The purpose is to promote social justice and activism while building critical literacies students need in the 21st Century. Through implementing the curriculum units in this book, teachers and students can challenge inequities and promote activism. A central goal of this project is to represent and empower marginalized students. The traditional curriculum presents one view, one story as the only story, and one people as the norm. This book intentionally centers the experiences of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and other marginalized communities. In addition to expanding the curriculum to include all people, educating students about issues of injustice in the U.S. will enable them to enact change. Additionally, this book serves to educate all students by exposure to central issues in past and present society. By creating space for a multicultural perspective, this curriculum may reduce the friction that occurs when encountering those whose lived experiences and perspectives do not align with one’s own. By educating students about the privileges they have not examined, teachers can foster empathy and empower allies.

This book draws on detailed case studies from three very different countries and school systems to explore the early adolescent learner and the middle years of learning, both of which are often overlooked in the literature. An abundance of research shows the importance of the middle years in putting early adolescent learners on the path to success in further education, careers, and general wellbeing. By focusing on bringing current research to life through the sharing of practical examples and lived experiences of practitioners, this book explores how issues such as curriculum reform, inclusive philosophies, instructional design, and assessment practices are supporting the conditions in which effective middle years learning can unfold. A comparative approach, using data from Canada, Germany and Finland, is utilized to critically examine the effects of the pedagogical methods employed by teachers, and the learning environments in which formal education takes place. The book makes a compelling case for the importance of fostering student voice and choice, and developing new ways of engaging the school community as a whole, and makes a valuable contribution to the discourse concerning early adolescent learners and the middle years of schooling.

“Brian Matthews brings intellectual rigour as well as passionate commitment to the important tasks of appreciating the role that emotional literacy can play in a refreshing education. It is a powerful combination. It is because he understands so well the need to attend to the purpose of education that he is so illuminating on the strategies that will give all young people the best possible chance to learn and to grow.” James Park, Director, Antidote "This book will be read by individuals who have an interest in bringing about change in the presentcurriculum. School Science Review This book reveals the huge potential of engaging pupils with their emotions in the classroom, and presents evidence that when pupils work in this way they become more co-operative and help each other to learn. The book explores how schools can move beyond a focus on cognitive attainment through an emphasis on affective engagement, to help pupils develop better relationships of all kinds and prepare them for adulthood in a fast-changing world. For teachers, the book tackles the important questions of: What is emotional literacy and emotional intelligence? How can teachers incorporate pupils’ emotional development into their lessons while nourishing and enhancing achievement? How is it possible to have a calm atmosphere in the classroom with pupils enjoying learning together? Engaging Education is the first book to link the issues of emotional literacy, equity and social justice, and the education of the whole child, thus providing the social and political context for emotional literacy. In connecting emotional literacy and equity with the structure of schooling, it establishes that co-educational schools can contribute to enabling boys and girls to relate to and understand each other. Based firmly on research, this innovative book gives teachers invaluable guidelines on what to concentrate on and what to avoid. It is key reading for teachers and trainee teachers as well as policymakers and all those concerned with education.

“This is a useful, interesting and valuable work. The authors ask the difficult questions and attempt answers which, although complex, are written in an accessible and open manner. It deserves to be widely read.” Educational Review Engaging Teachers makes a deliberate attempt to reclaim the education discourse captured by new right politics and connect it with a radical democratic agenda for schooling. On its agenda are education markets, policy, leadership, professionalism, and communities. Engaging with these is conceived on at least two levels. First, as an invitation to teachers to become involved in reconstructing schooling for socially just purposes and in democratic ways. From this perspective, the politics of engagement is not simply a matter of acquiescence or resistance but is informed by a commitment to generate alternatives: teachers, parents and students making things happen rather than having things done to them. Also signalled is an intent to work collectively, exploring and acting on common interests and across uncommon ground. Second, the book also celebrates teachers engaging in these reconstructive efforts in attractive and meaningful ways. The attraction is decisions about schooling made by those they affect as well as decisions that are meaningful because they engage the interests of all.

"The impressive strengths of this book are its breadth of scope, the depth of its grounding in the real life of schools, its clarity of structure and argument, and its far-reaching suggestions for reforming school-based teacher education. The book also demonstrates, in every chapter, the authors’ unwavering, though not uncritical, regard for the profession of teaching." Lesley Saunders, Professional Development Today The move to school-based initial teacher education has opened up exciting opportunities for student teachers to learn from practising teachers' expertise. However, making the most of these opportunities is not straightforward, since much of that expertise is embedded in practice and rarely articulated. The book: Brings together a wide range of research on teachers' expertise and beginning teachers' learning Reports a research project on helping student teachers to gain access to experienced teachers' expertise Considers the wider implications of that research for the development of school-based initial teacher education Explores how school-based initial teacher education can be improved if it is professionally planned in an informed and well thought-out way Shows how curricula can be developed to help student teachers learn from experienced teachers and from everyday life in schools Makes suggestions for initiatives to improve school-based initial teacher education Examines the conditions that are necessary for school-based initial teacher education to realize its full potential Learning Teaching from Teachers is a key text for all teacher educators, including school-based mentors. It is also important reading for teachers involved in Masters courses in mentoring and teacher education.