How do we know what works in primary schools? How do we make sure that we are always learning from fellow teachers, always learning from the children we teach and always moving forward? The answer lies in research. In understanding, conducting, disseminating and learning from research. But what do we mean by research, and how do we ′do′ it? This book is your guide to research in primary education. It takes you through both important established theory and recent developments in research and explores what these mean right now for primary education and classroom settings. It helps you to conceive, conduct, write up and share your research with others. It looks at how you can access research findings to improve your classroom practice and deepen your understanding. It examines how you can use research in your classroom everyday to continually enhance teaching, and how you can shape and frame the questions you ask to help you get to the answers you need. If you are a trainee teacher doing a research project as part of your course, or a qualified teacher doing further study, this text includes all the guidance you need. If you are a teacher wanting to find out what works best for your class, in your school, right now, this text will show you how to harness the power of small or large scale research to help you find the answer.

Learning and Teaching Around the World is a wide-ranging introduction to diverse experiences, practices and developments in global primary education. It explores different contexts for children’s learning, and methods and purposes of primary education, in settings across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and Australasia, and addresses wider issues such as the rise of refugee learners and large multi-grade classes. With an explicit focus on comparative and international studies and improving the knowledge, understanding and practice of effective pedagogies for children’s learning, this book reflects on key issues such as: Standards for learner-centred education Patterns of inclusion and exclusion Defining ‘teacher professionalism’ The impact of global education agendas Language policy for schooling and assessment Learning and Teaching Around the World is an essential text for those wishing to develop a critical understanding of the experiences of primary teachers and children around the world. Aimed at both undergraduate and postgraduate education studies students, the scope of this book will support all students in developing knowledge of primary education and of the diverse needs of learners in an era of global movement of children and families.

This textbook gives you a broad overview of everything you will need to know to prepare for your initial teacher training and future career in the classroom. Covering practical issues including planning and assessment, and thought-provoking topics such as reflecting on your practice and developing critical thinking skills, this textbook provides you with an insightful exploration of the realities of teaching in primary schools. This fourth edition has been comprehensively revised and includes five new chapters on: · Teacher wellbeing · The Early Career Framework (ECF) · Digital literacy and primary schools after the pandemic · Growth mindset, dialogue and P4C · Learning outside the classroom This is essential reading for all students on primary initial teacher education courses including university-based (PGCE, BEd, BA with QTS), and schools-based (School Direct, SCITT, Teach First) routes into teaching. Hilary Cooper is Professor Emeritus of History and Pedagogy at the University of Cumbria. Sally Elton-Chalcraft is Professor of Social Justice in Education and also the Director of the Learning Education and Development Research centre in the Institute of Education at the University of Cumbria.

Getting to the heart of primary education: six contrasting studies of teachers, teaching, learning and classroom discourse, all set in a historical frame. Contains extended lesson transcripts for re-analysis. The five studies in this book span the tumultuous period from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s. This was a time when the dominant educational ideas and practices of the previous two decades were being questioned and primary teachers were being catapulted from the Plowden era into the very different ethos of the National Curriculum. The first four studies portray the ideas, practices and dilemmas of primary teaching at different points during this period. They also exemplify different approaches to classroom research, though all of them stay close to the interactions between teacher and child which are central to learning. They thus raise educational questions which are perennial and fundamental, rather than tied to policy or fashion. The final study uses a broader brush to provide a historical framework for understanding the particular blend of change and continuity which characterises English primary education as a whole.

Detailed accounts of two influential initiatives of the 1990s, whose educational and political lessons remain highly relevant: systemic and pedagogic reform in one of Britain’s largest cities, and the controversial ‘three wise men’ government enquiry into primary teaching to which it led. Alexander's controversial and widely-read report on primary education in Leeds has now been revised as a major study of policy initiatives in primary education and their impact on practice. The book examines an ambitious programme of local reform aimed at improving teaching and learning in the primary schools of one of Britain's largest cities. It addresses important questions about children's needs, the curriculum, classroom practice and school management. When first published, Robin Alexander's report was hailed as `seminal' and `the most important document since Plowden' but it was also quoted and misquoted in support of widely opposed political and media agendas. This new edition retains Part I from the first edition, detailing the impact of Leeds LEA's programme for educational reform. However, it also provides a totally new and greatly extended Part II, which gives an insider's account of the sequel to the Leeds report - the government's 1992 'three wise men' report. There is also a new introduction.

These books were compiled to help the professional development of primary school teachers, and represent wholly enlarged, updated and revised editions of the three primary source books published by Falmer Press in 1985.

This book makes a case for the mother tongue as the medium of education for the first 12 years of the child's life. It describes Nigeria's 6-Year Primary Project, which taught experimental groups of students in their native Yoruba in varying degrees for their first 6 school years, beginning in 1970. The book shows how the mother-tongue education program was planned, organized, and implemented. Chapter 1 traces the historical background of mother-tongue education, describing educational policy and the primary school system under British rule, and the changes made thereafter. Chapter 2 describes plans for the project including initial goals and funding. Chapters 3 and 4 discuss curriculum development and production, describing how panels developed materials for mathematics, science, social studies, Yoruba, and English instruction. Chapter 5 describes teacher preparation, including workshops and on-the-job training. Chapter 6 describes instructional programs and objectives for each subject. Chapter 7 examines problems encountered during the project. Chapter 8 offers a comprehensive evaluation of the project, including methodology and longitudinal achievement test results (from the five sample groups) that compare several variables, including urban and rural settings. Chapter 9 offers observations and recommendations for other countries, noting literacy-rate improvement and enhancement of the instructional language itself. (TES)

This book includes full coverage of the content of professional studies modules and goes beyond to support trainees on placements and in their learning on the course.

These books were compiled to help the professional development of primary school teachers, and represent wholly enlarged, updated and revised editions of the three primary source books published by Falmer Press in 1985.

Guidance and insights into the knowledge, values and commitments necessary to succeed in the primary classroom, supported by links to theory and research literature and realistic scenarios you may encounter as a new teacher.