This study aimed to investigate teachers' perspectives on the practical implementation of the standards agenda and its impact on their professional identities. Q-methodology was used alongside semi-structured interviews with UK primary school teachers. The study explored the views of 25 teachers in six schools, selected through purposive sampling…

This research project promoted a collaborative model of professional development between lead teachers from three schools, supported by a project coordinator and a researcher from a local university. Each lead teacher worked with their head teacher to design, lead, and evaluate an innovative, personalised, and school-based mathematics continuing…

The present article introduces diversity (educational, social and multicultural) of children as a resource in language teaching. Two English teachers with a total of 105 children of their language classes participated in the teaching experiment that was part of a nationwide research and development project in Finland. The aim was to develop…

Studies of inquiry- and context-based science education (IC-BaSE) have shown that teachers find these approaches problematic. In this study, 12 primary school teachers' reflections on challenges related to IC-BaSE are explored. The aim of the study was to investigate which challenges primary teachers experience when working with IC-BaSE and how…

This research examines the perceptions of education practitioners to the proposed changes to the school sport partnership (SSP) programme in England and in particular its implications for primary school physical education. It aims to explore insights into the dismantling of this partnership programme. The SSP system developed club links, increased…

This study provides an evaluation of history subject leader's perceptions of a project called "Shaping the Future", together with their attitudes towards Black History and diversity. It found that primary subject leaders were less likely to attach importance to these dimensions than their counterparts in secondary schools, whilst only a…

This study investigated the effectiveness of integrating collaborative learning in Turkish elementary (primary) classrooms where English is acquired as a foreign language. Specifically, it aimed at shedding light on how the participating students and teachers perceive such language classes, what are the effects of integrating this particular…

"It was the funnest week in the whole history of funnest weeks": our case study, the second phase in a three-phase research project, evaluates the successes and limitations of creative teaching and learning during the "The Creative and Effective Curriculum" module for PGCE primary student teachers which includes a one-week…

This research describes and evaluates the application of a child-led approach to scientific enquiry (the Community of Scientific Enquiry, CoSE) to children aged 8-11 (Key Stage 2) in Northern Ireland. Primary teachers were introduced to CoSE at a workshop and asked to evaluate its implementation with their class. Results from children (n = 364)…

This paper describes how two primary head teachers, nationally recognised as role models for the development of an education for sustainable development (ESD) in their schools, manage the implementation of this area. In doing so, it shows how they adopt two very different approaches to ESD and to their job generally, and suggests that whilst there…

This paper set out to explore teachers' narratives in order to understand some of the facilitators and constraints which promote or inhibit good formative assessment practices in schools. A "responsive interview" approach was used to probe a small sample of lower and middle school teachers' perceptions of formative assessment.…

Subject knowledge is an important component of primary teachers' repertoire, though it has not been studied widely beyond their understandings of aspects of science and mathematics. Evaluations of the quality of teachers' geographical knowledge for teaching primary geography indicate a disparity between high quality teachers and less strong…

This article aims to explore what changes two Cypriot primary school teachers brought in their teaching in order to help students with learning difficulties improve in their classes. The study was qualitative and used non-participant observation in two primary classrooms in different primary schools and semi-structured interviews with the main…

Complex Instruction (CI) is a cooperative learning approach, which aims at improving the equal status interaction among students working in groups who may be at different academic and social levels. Based on an ethnographic research, the article examines how a group of Italian primary school teachers understand the status problem and how the…

Cooperative learning (CL), in spite of extensive research and documented benefits, is not widely used in England. A review of the literature shows that it requires a staged and sustained approach to implementation, which has led to a gap between its potential and actual use. The case study cited here provides one example of bridging that gap…