This is an activity-based teacher's guide to fostering positive group interaction through imagined experience and discussion at Key Stages 2 and 3. In a series of interactive workshops, each one providing a context, a scenario and a list of characters; pupils are invited to engage in discussion, debate and negotiation to solve problems and meet…

This document is designed for use by teaching assistants running intervention sessions associated with the Early Literacy Support (ELS) Programme of the National Literacy Strategy. It is the essential guide to running the sessions each day, and includes details of resources and preparation for each session as well as a full script. The document…

This group of three leaflets summarizes the grammatical content of England's National Literacy Strategy course "Grammar for Writing." The leaflets are entitled: (1) "From Word to Text"; (2) "From Sentence to Text"; and (3) "From Grammar to Writing." The first leaflet notes that today teaching grammar is…

This book contains materials to support the introduction of Early Literacy Support (ELS) in Year 1 schools in England. The 60 sessions outlined in the book are designed to revisit key objectives from the National Literacy Strategy Framework. The ELS program involves comprehension training for Year 1 teachers and teaching assistants. The training…

This article explores how England's National Curriculum history might be taught to pupils with severe learning difficulties (SLD). The article suggests one possible conceptual framework for the teaching of history, examines some tensions inherent in attempting to teach history to SLD pupils, and describes two examples of good practice in this…

Discusses the United Kingdom's plans for increasing student participation in post-16 vocational education and training. Explores the proposed General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) and Ordinary and Advanced Diplomas. Identifies the place of economics in the National Curriculum. Draws a number of parameters from the government plan and…

As readers of this journal will know, 2010 will see all KS2 (ages 7-11) pupils in England entitled to learn a modern foreign language in normal curriculum time. This development of the commitment to primary language learning should provide an excellent opportunity and experience for pupils, while at the same time requiring some radical changes for…

This framework for teaching sets out teaching objectives for Reception to Year 6 to enable pupils to become fully literate. It also gives guidance on the Literacy Hour in which this teaching will take place. The document is a reference point for day-to-day teaching, and help for headteachers and governors of schools in England as they plan and…

In this unit of work, the children will continue to learn about the features of playscripts, through reading and analyzing a play and writing a play based on a narrative. In the course of learning how to interpret and write stage directions, the children will apply their knowledge of adverbs. In the discrete work on vocabulary and spelling, the…

Effective drama teaching improves the following student skills: speaking and listening, reading and writing through developing thinking, communication skills, and critical analysis. Drama is part of young people's core curriculum entitlement in the United Kingdom. It is included in the English Curriculum Orders and in the Key Stage 3 Framework for…

Suggests that the formation and implementation of the National Curriculum for England and Wales has been a dialectical process involving legislators, administrators, and teachers. Using case studies, discusses some problems with the curriculum and schools' responses that may work against a truly national curriculum. Criticizes reduced local…

Outlines ways that the core skills recommended by the British Secretary of State can be integrated into the economics A/AS level syllabi. Identifies and discusses these skills in the context of curriculum development. Discusses the implications for the first national examination in 1996. (NL)

In this article, the author describes the educational potential of a garden project. When the opportunity to visit a school in Amsterdam arose as part of her primary science PGCE course, the author jumped at the chance to experience science learning in another country. The majority of teaching that took place was topic-based, and science was…

The author shares her personal view about when it is useful for children to record their work in science, what helps their learning, and what switches them off, describing some fairly common scenarios. In her role as an Ofsted inspector, the author is privileged to observe, talk to, and learn from dedicated, inspirational, and gifted teachers who…

Standards in literacy and mathematics have risen substantially in primary schools in England in recent years. In 2002, 75% of pupils achieved the expected standard for their age in English and 73% did so in mathematics. This booklet is intended to stimulate discussion about the next steps needed to sustain those improvements and to raise standards…