ABSTRACT
The place of research undertaken by teachers in the classroom to inform and improve practice is also being stressed in most strategies emanating from the government. There is more support and opportunity for teachers to influence the direction of education than ever before. Claire Formby shows how young children can describe their values with amazing clarity, and how her own values influence what she does as she deals with the realities of being an English classroom teacher. It is important for adults to engage in creative and philosophical thinking as it is for children. Often the very qualities that make teachers want to work with children, such as their energy and enthusiasm and the quality of the educational relationships they develop with them seem to be excluded from the process and accounts. This might be one of the reasons there is reluctance by teachers to research their practice.
