ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Primary teaching is an immensely complicated business – much more complicated than government ministers and most other politicians realise. It involves the interplay of so many elements, including interpersonal, intellectual, physical, spiritual, even aesthetic dimensions. It changes in form and substance from hour to hour, lesson to lesson, class to class and year to year. Some people see it as scientific in orientation, involving the selection of the best ways to ‘deliver’ material to young minds; others stress its artistic side and place emphasis on the ‘feel’ or style of teaching. So what is this enterprise called primary teaching? It is the purpose of this introductory unit to open this up for discussion.
