ABSTRACT
The current reform agenda for schools in England and Wales has had a profound impact on teachers in primary schools. The determination of successive governments to drive up pupil achievement and make schools more accountable has resulted in wave upon wave of centrally directed initiatives being implemented in schools. This ‘top-down’ approach to change has produced some improvements in those things which can easily be measured but, arguably, has created in some schools a kind of innovation fatigue and has left many teachers feeling de-skilled, mere technicians following the instructions of those on high.
