Teaching Poetry is an indispensible source of guidance, confidence and ideas for all those new to the secondary English classroom. Written by experienced teachers who have worked with the many secondary pupils who 'don't get' poetry, this friendly guide will help you support pupils as they access, understand, discuss and enjoy classic and contemporary poetry. With an emphasis on active approaches and the power of poetry to enrich the lives of both teachers and students, Teaching Poetry: Provides a succinct introduction to the major ideas and theory about teaching poetry Covers the key genres and periods through tried and tested favourites and a range of less well known new and historical poetry Illustrates good practice for every approach covered, through case studies of theory and ideas in action in the classroom Includes activities, ideas and resources to support teaching at Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. Teaching Poetry tackles head on one of the aspects of English teaching that new and experienced teachers alike find most difficult. It offers both a comprehensive introduction to teaching poetry and a rich source of inspiration and support to be mined when faced with an unfamiliar text or an unresponsive class.

Religion, Education, Dialogue and Conflict analyses the European Commission-funded REDCo project, which addressed the question of how religions might contribute to dialogue or conflict in Europe. Researchers in education from eight countries ? the UK, Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, Norway and Spain ? studied how young Europeans of different religious, cultural and political backgrounds could engage in dialogue in the context of the school.

Empirical studies conducted with 14-16 year old students included them offering their own perspectives and analyses of teaching and learning in both dialogue and conflict situations. Although there were some different national patterns and trends, most students wished for peaceful coexistence across differences, andbelieved this to be possible. The majority agreed that peaceful coexistence depended on knowledge about each other's religions and worldviews, sharing common interests and doing things together. The project found that students who learn about religious diversity in school are more willing to discuss religions and beliefs with students of other backgrounds than those who do not.

The international range of expert contributors to this book evaluate the results of the REDCo project, providing examples of its qualitative and quantitative studies and reflecting on the methods and theory used in the project as a whole.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the British Journal of Religious Education.

By 1982 the ambitious claims made for newly established comprehensive schools were being put to the test. How effectively does the comprehensive meet the needs of all young people? Do urban, working-class students enjoy more success than in the secondary modern schools? Are they more engaged in their learning with higher self-esteem? This volume discusses these questions and examines issues of social mobility and cohesion, curriculum, the balance between academic and vocational education, the place of exams in the educational system and the influence of independent schools. The author asks whether a more decentralised system of self-governing schools improve the education service a timely question which along with the other issues examined is as relevant and challenging today as when the book was originally published in 1982.

Firmly based on the authors personal experience, this book tackles a wide range of issues relating to the teaching of the arts in the primary school. The authors illustrate how primary children of all ages can be educated to both know about and to practice all the major art forms, and how a school staff can effectively accommodate and practice them all, even within the constraints of the National Curriculum. This book is unique in primary school education terms, as its primary focus is specific and it embraces every major art form dance, drama, literature, music, visual arts and film.

Published long before the importance of early childhood education was formally recognised in the educational landscape this book explores the significance of play for young children. The volume includes an appendix on Montessori education.

Now in its fifth edition, Foundations of Primary Teaching will be an essential resource for any trainee or practicing primary teacher. Written in a friendly and accessible manner, this book has been updated in line with the new curriculum and provides a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of teaching within the primary school. It blends theory and practice to foster and develop effective pedagogy and, in so doing, to stimulate your thinking, expand your horizons and motivate you to relish one of the most thrilling, frustrating, exhausting, exciting and important jobs in the world.

Written specifically for student teachers on BA, BEd and PGCE courses, as well as students taking Education Studies, this text will encourage you to develop a fuller understanding and appreciation of teaching as professional practice through an emphasis on:

• Reflective thinking and action
• Relationships and motivation in the classroom
• A full range of tried and tested teaching and assessment strategies
• Creativity and transferable teaching skills
• Personalised learning.

Also incorporating new material on changes and innovations that have taken place in education; childhood; the process of, and context for, learning; and issues teachers face, as well as updated further reading lists, this wholly revised fifth edition should be on the bookshelf of all student teachers on initial teacher training courses at the primary level, newly qualified teachers and more experienced teachers wishing to enhance their practice.

This volume provides a rigorous examination of theoretical concepts such as need, interest, growth, play, experience, activity and self-expression. It also makes an important contribution towards getting a closely argued educational theory. In the first part of the book the author establishes general aims and ends with suggestions as to what the curriculum ought to be. The second part is concerned with the procedures of learning and teaching appropriate to such a curriculum.

The increasing impact of performance based judgments on schools and teachers in the classroom has its critics and supporters. Some oppose the trend and seek to deny the importance of quantitative measures. Others have sought to find ways of implementing educational measurement constructively and with understanding of the concerns. Classrooms are where the operational business of learning takes place and it is on the quality of life within the classroom that the broader process of learning, concerns for the wider community and others, is nurtured. The climate of the classroom has a large impact on the final outcome measure to which so much interest is directed. To help our understanding of the dynamics involved much work has been done in the development and refinement of quantitative studies to this area by studying essential information about how teachers and students perceive the environments in which the work. Research on classroom climates has reached a practical and theoretical maturity and this volume offers an account of the developments that have taken place and the potential for understanding the classroom as a vital component of the curriculum. This book will also be an essential resource tool for anyone engaged in classroom research.

Why is primary education so high on the political agenda, and so contentious?

Why is the performance of primary schools so often in the media spotlight?

Why should primary teachers trouble themselves with the politics of their work?

Politics and the Primary Teacher is an accessible introduction to some of the thorniest aspects of a primary teacher 's role. It aims to support your understanding of the constant changes in education policy, give you confidence to engage critically with current political debates, and consider how you might shape your response accordingly.

Including questions for reflection, and selected further reading and resources, it examines the complex interface between the work of a teacher and the world beyond the classroom walls. Key issues explored include:

• assessment, testing, league tables and national accountability measures
• the media 's impact in shaping both local and national views about education
• political implications of new policies such as academies and free schools
• conditions of work in the classroom and workforce remodelling
• the curriculum, its purposes and structure
• pedagogy and teaching methods
• education for citizenship, health and well-being.

Politics and the Primary Teacher is essential reading for all education professionals who want to think more deeply about primary education, what it offers, and how children, families and communities are served by the primary school.

Very little is known about the quality of the learning experiences provided for pupils. This book contains the results of a major research project, conducted in a sample of English primary schools, in which particular attention was paid to the tasks children were assigned, to the degree of match between assigned tasks and pupil attainment, to the detailed observation of children at work. The teacher's problems in assigning work appropriate to children's attainments and the special problem of matching posed by the transfer of children from one class to another were also subjected to analysis. Lessons learned from the project were used as a basis for the design of an in-service course for teachers. The course, which was aimed at improving teachers' matching skills was closely evaluated. The report contains data and analysis pertinent to each of the above issues. The findings reveal that despite the conscientious efforts of able teachers a number of serious issues are apparent - particularly in areas such as classroom organization and teacher diagnosis of children's work.

Beginning with descriptions of the ways in which children make sense of their experience and the world, such as fantasy, stories and games, Egan constructs his argument that constituting this foundational layer are sets of cultural sense-making capacities, reflected in oral cultures throughout the world. Egan sees education as the acquisition of these sets of sense-making capacities, available in our culture, and his goal is to conceptualize primary education in a way that over comes the dichotomy between progressivisim and traditionalism, attending both the needs of the individual child and the accumulation of knowledge.

This book does not cover the whole field of Infants' Teaching but is concerned mainly with general principles and matters which are open to the non-specialist. Some technical subjects such as Physical Education have been omitted but nonetheless the volume provides a thorough (if somewhat dated) introduction to early years education in the first half of the twentieth century.

Within a single educational system that of England and Wales the nature of schooling available to a child can be dramatically different. Even between residential areas the differences in educational climate can be striking. Apart from differences in the organization of schools and the availability of buildings, teachers and resources, there are also significant ideological variations between local education authorities. This book considers the evidence of such differences, some of the environmental factors (political, social and economic) that may account for their distribution, and the consequences that appear to spring from them.

The acquisition and use of language are just as vital to children's learning when the newer classroom methods are being employed as ever they were when the more traditional approaches were being used. Child centred learning has increasingly influenced language use and language work in the classroom - mainly in the primary sector, but also in the teaching of English, and indirectly in the teaching of other subject areas including the sciences. Interest in school learning and the special language it requires, compared with the language demands of everyday life, have recently developed in answer to the concern about allocation of the time available within the school timetable for each subject-based learning experience. In this volume the author focuses mainly on the language of subject learning in the secondary schools. She looks critically at some current notions concerned with language and learning and examines their translation into classroom practice. She then develops a picture of the language demands made by other subject areas using collected language material and finally, in the light of this evidence, she attempts to identify the range of language in everyday use in schools, goes on to draw conclusions and then makes recommendations.

This book, by closely recording and reflecting upon the work and play of a group of 9 to 11 year-old children in a primary classroom, develops an approach to teaching and learning which is based upon the ways in which children are able to exercise a controlling influence over their own learning activity. It also suggests the sharing and analysis of classroom experience should be part of a teacher 's day-to-day life. The material for the book was gathered during a year of classroom enquiry in which the author combined the roles of teacher and researcher, working alongside the normal class teacher in a primary school. Samples of the children 's work are carefully described and analysed in an attempt to get behind the overt behaviour of the children and reveal the purposes, concerns and thinking that underlies their activity.

This book sets out a clear and logical framework for the teaching of reading throughout different age groups, whereby systematic progression can be developed within a structured framework. A detailed set of recommendations are offered and are both illustrated and justified, for the teacher to examine and use. Much has been written about the importance of skilled and efficient reading and language usage in the early years of education, but all too few teachers are aware of the need for the development of reading skills in an ordered sequence with older children as well. Problems such as the motivation of the learner, the place of reading in a mass media age, the extent and classification of reading failure and the diagnosis of reading problems are examined, and the complexities of the linguistic background and of linguistic deprivation are covered thoroughly.

This is a study of the nature of the process whereby children go about the business of learning to read. The author relates her own practical teaching experience closely to studies in developmental psychology, and also considers the special needs of individual children. In all, the book provides an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the processes involved in learning to read, and it should be of interest not only to teachers, but also to parents of young children.

This book investigates children's use of language and considers its implications for children's learning at home and at school. The author compares the language used by children from different social environments at the ages of three, five and seven and considers the different approaches that children take towards their school experiences. The book discusses the problems of studying children's use and development of language and in doing so looks at the implications of a number of theories. It uses theory in order to establish a useful framework which will help teachers to become aware of the skills that children have established in using language when they come to school.

The first part of the book discusses aims, who should determine them and how they might be determined. The second part discusses some more specific topics of learning and teaching, such as learning how to learn, the integrated day and the use of competition. The author distinguishes three broad levels of thought in looking at schools: the details of choice and decision; the general principles which are, or ought to be, guiding that detailed practice; and the theoretical commentaries on the guiding principles available from the various disciplines which constitute the study of education.

The articles which make up this book, originally published in the journal The Schoolmaster were originally published at the time of The Education Act 1944 which changed the education system for secondary schools in England and Wales. This Act made secondary education free for all pupils and introduced the tripartite system of education, of which secondary modern schools were one part. This volume examines issues of low self-esteem among pupils at secondary modern schools, academic versus practical curricula, assessment and challenges for teachers issues which are still pertinent today.

The Education Act of 1944 launched an unprecedented experiment in the history of education in the UK. This book is a brief survey of the routes by which compulsory free secondary education was arrived at, as well as an examination of the position in 1949 and suggestions for the future.

This book examines what progress the Secondary Modern Schools had made in the mid 1950s, based on first hand observation and conversations with teachers, parents, school governors and education officers. As well as looking at their achievements, the author highlights the challenges that the Secondary Modern Schools had to deal with during the years surveyed.

British secondary education has changed in major ways since 1945. This book examines some consequences and implications of both change and stability, drawing on a unique series of national surveys of school leavers in Scotland. The authors provide an empirical and theoretical account of central problems of contemporary schooling. Their analysis covers: certification, curriculum and selection; the effects of educational expansion; trends in educational inequality; the impact of comprehensive reorganisation; truancy and alienation from schooling; the explanation of differences in performance between schools and the implications for the public accountability of schools. From these analyses the authors develop a critique of the theory of the education system that underpinned expansion. They examine this theory 's logical and empirical status as myth and elaborate how the political system and social science might jointly overcome some of the methodological difficulties that beset social and educational research.

Focusing on pupils moving from primary to middle or secondary school, it describes and evaluates the schools programmes to ease transfer, and includes material provided by the pupils themselves. The main body of the book is a rich and detailed account of the first months of life in new secondary schools, where the pleasures and perils of new friends, new teachers and new subjects, and a new approach to teaching are encountered. The book conveys vividly how pupils experience a new environment, and meet its dangers, rules and regulations, timetable, complex groupings and ideology.

Inside the Secondary Classroom was the first comparative ethnography of school life in Britain, carried out in six schools. It reveals surprising similarities and differences between them.The cases studied range from highly successful pupils with nine O levels to others with severe social and personal problems.

Why is assessment so important in the teaching-learning process? How should we assess pupils in the primary classroom? Assessing Learning in the Primary Classroom is an accessible introduction to the concepts critical to a professional understanding of this vital aspect of a teacher's role. It comprehensively considers the principles underpinning effective assessment, the different forms it can take and the different purposes it serves, both within and beyond the classroom.Linking the latest research and theory with examples of assessment in the classroom, it considers key issues such as: Why we assess How we assess How we ensure quality in assessment: validity and reliability Assessment internal and external to the school Statutory assessment throughout the primary school Local, national and international assessment Using assessment results in pupil, teacher, school and system evaluation Assessing Learning in the Primary Classroom is for all students undertaking their PGCE, those working at masters level, and experienced teachers who wish to broaden their understanding of both the value and pitfalls of educational assessment.