ABSTRACT

This sourcebook offers a unique summary into all that was important in primary education during the 1990s. It provides almost fifty key readings on the field which are grouped around six major topics:

* learners
* teachers
* classrooms
* curriculum
* assessment
* school and education policy.

Over half of the readings focus on real life cases - such as pupils, teachers, classrooms or schools - as a means of conveying some of the interpersonal subtleties of teaching and learning in primary schools. At the same time, these cases highlight important current topics and debates in primary education and often provide insights into practical ways of meeting the challenges which are posed. Other articles are more explicitly analytical and provide conceptual frameworks, overviews or critiques of their fields.

This is an excellent resource and guide for primary school teachers, and students studying on PGCE courses.

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

Teaching and learning in the 1990s

part |2 pages

Part I Learners

chapter 1|5 pages

How children learn…and fail

chapter 3|4 pages

Wally’s story

chapter 4|10 pages

Bilingual by rights

chapter 5|11 pages

Sex roles in the formative years

part |2 pages

Part II Teachers

chapter 8|7 pages

Teacher expertise

chapter 10|5 pages

Those who understand

Knowledge growth in teaching

chapter 11|6 pages

A first try

Starting the day

chapter 12|4 pages

Akemi

part |2 pages

Part III Classrooms

chapter 14|6 pages

Life in classrooms

chapter 15|4 pages

Characteristics of good practice

chapter 16|9 pages

The rise and fall of primary education

chapter 18|15 pages

Teaching strategies

chapter 19|8 pages

An approach to personal and social education in the primary school

Or how one city schoolteacher tried to make sense of her job

part |2 pages

Part IV Curriculum

chapter 20|5 pages

The core curriculum

An international perspective

chapter 21|12 pages

The national curriculum

Origins, context, and implementation

chapter 22|4 pages

Coherence and manageability

Reflections on the national curriculum and cross-curricular provision

chapter 23|6 pages

The evolution of the topic

chapter 24|12 pages

Preserving integration within the national curriculum in primary schools

Approaching a school development plan

chapter 25|1 pages

Successful topic work

chapter 27|6 pages

Teachers’ subject knowledge

part |2 pages

Part V Schools

chapter 37|12 pages

Involving parents