ABSTRACT
In this extract, Jennifer Nias draws upon descriptions of their practice by six primary teachers. As she suggests, primary teachers rarely see one another in action and discuss their classroom methods and the assumptions underlying them even less frequently. Yet there is a surprising degree of similarity in their responses, which appear strongly committed to a liberal view of education. At the heart of their descriptions are two related beliefs, cornerstones of the liberal romantic view. Firstly, that knowledge is actively constructed by the learner rather than being passively received. By implication it is individual, both personally and uniquely. Secondly, the role of the teacher is seen as that of enabler and facilitator, the creator of the optimal conditions within which learning is to take place.
