This article takes stock of the current trends in research, policy and practice regarding the role of language in the dialogic classroom. The article uses the policies of two different educational jurisdictions as counterpoints to highlight the different ways that oral language can be positioned within primary curricula. It reflects on current and…

Whilst within universities, research on rather than with children/pupils is a well-established methodology, this paper reports on teachers' responses to a schools and university-based partnership project, 'Pupils as Research Partners in Primary (PARPP), which works to co-create pupil-led research opportunities for pupils in research projects…

The article reports on, and analyses, qualitative research involving children's therapy in two primary school contexts in England. It aims to explore the potentials of how agency as a concept can contribute to a challenge to existing theory, research and ways of working concerning therapy in primary school contexts. The article addresses how this…

Forest School, a distinctive form of outdoor learning, was suggested to have a beneficial impact on the involved children. The purpose of this paper is to systematically locate and select existing articles published from January 2000 to December 2019 to identify what research had suggested in terms of the Forest School impact on the involved…

There has been little research into 'language play', the manipulation of language for enjoyment, in children's narrative writing. The unprompted language play of 36 children was investigated in their writing of an imaginative story. The sample comprised three attainment sub-groups from a larger repeat-design quantitative study of writing…

This study investigated grade 4 learners' understandings about the Nature of Scientific Inquiry (NOSI) in primary schools within the South African context. A qualitative methodology was employed using a framework of five knowledge aspects about the NOSI in assessing learners' understandings about the ways scientists investigate the natural world.…

This paper proposes combining theories about, and practices of, using archetypes and adaptation in education for the purposes of multimodal literacy learning. Within such contexts, children of primary school age act as readers, performers and researchers, exploring and analysing existing adaptations of archetypal stories and images across time,…

This article reports on how an action research strategy was used to increase children's uptake of feedback during peer assessment in primary school writing. Several different strategies were used in the study that had been successful in increasing students' uptake of peer feedback in contexts such as higher education. In order to evaluate how…

This paper focuses on the role of control, power and people in utilising school grounds for play. Despite children's right to play in statute and evidence that play has positive outcomes for children, evidence suggests that school grounds are under-utilised. An action research methodology was adopted with three primary schools in Wales (UK),…

Philosophy for children (P4C), rooted in the Socratic Method and constructivist and pragmatic assumptions, is a dialogic and democratic pedagogy which teaches pupils to philosophise; to develop multi-dimensional modes of thinking through discussion of questions which connect with all human experience. Despite a wide range of research, both…

Dewey's philosophy of experience has aesthetic experience at its core as he melds artificial dualities between thinking and experiencing [Dewey, J. 1934. "Art as Experience." In "John Dewey the Later Works," 1925-1953, Vol. 10. 1988, edited by J. Boydston, 1-352. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press]. This deeply…

Research studies investigating the occupational socialization of primary teachers delivering physical education has been conspicuous by its absence (O'Leary, N. 2019. "Teacher socialization in physical education: new perspectives." "Sport, Education and Society" 24 (6): 668-671). Using Lawson's, H. (1986. "Occupational…

Over the last decade, a plethora of research has been undertaken into learning outside the classroom and its resultant benefits on pupils [Dillon, J., M. Rickinson, K. Teamey, M. Morris, M. Y. Choi, D. Sanders, and P. Benefield. 2006. "The Value of Outdoor Learning: Evidence from Research in the UK and Elsewhere." "School Science…

The purpose of the article is to demonstrate how the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Rights Respecting Schools Award makes positive contributions to children's lives and experiences at school. Within the overall context of education as a right, the Award supports children to learn about their rights and the rights…

Peer assessment is where students assess the quality of a peer's work. Studies have demonstrated its positive impact on learning yet most of these are in higher education. This study used training to improve the quality of written feedback in a year six primary school classroom. Action Research was selected as a research strategy given the need to…