This article reports on the grouping practices used by a cohort of 10 newly qualified primary teachers for teaching mathematics in different English primary schools. It examines the factors that influence why these teachers group as they do. All the teachers grouped their pupils on the basis of achievement or perceived ability for mathematics. It…

Illustrates how concepts such as "authority,""cause and effect" and "culture" can be taught to primary children, and how pupils can be taught to think more rigorously. (Editor/RK)

Through a description of some of the activities which take place in his science classroom, the author makes a strong case for the inclusion of technology, or applied science, rather than pure science in the primary curriculum. (KC)

This article examines the implications of the Primary Strategy for primary school teachers. It focuses on the framework for learning and teaching across the curriculum (DfES, 2003, Chapter 3 "Excellent primary teaching") and questions whether the new framework is in fact a return to a "whole" curriculum approach. The key issues explored are:…

This paper considers the experiences of teachers in a "progressive" English independent school, in particular with respect to what might loosely be termed job satisfaction. The paper suggests that these teachers have ideals and aspirations in common with many of their colleagues who teach in the state sector. The writers suggest that…

This research examined concerns that primary teachers had in challenging gifted pupils in a normal classroom setting. Research findings in England indicated that children with high ability do not always attain highly, and within the context of primary science education underachievement was often linked to lack of appropriate challenge. The…

To answer the question posed in the title, the authors assess the progress of primary science in Britain since 1964, reassess policies on science at the primary stage, discuss children's scientific ideas, evaluate the professional training of primary teachers in science, and make a few recommendations. (KC)

This paper reports on a qualitative research project undertaken with Y6 children. It draws on transcriptions of children's discussions; recordings of collaborative writing sessions; and the children's responses to a series of questions relating to Beanie soft toys, their origins, their intended market audience and their creator's entrepreneurial…

Discusses the roles of the administrator and the teachers in structuring curriculum continuity from one grade to the next in the elementary school. Briefly outlines a plan for implementing an articulation program. (SJL)

Leaders in schools rely for their effectiveness on a good deal of interpersonal contact. Partly stimulated by writers on emotional intelligence (Cooper and Sawaf, 1997; Goleman, 1995), there is a renewed interest in the emotional side of schools. Fineman proposes that the idea of the rational organisation is a naive assumption by those who manage…

This article is based on a research project completed in 2000 which examined the processes involved in target-setting in primary schools and its relationship to school improvement. It seeks to identify the stages of the process and to describe a range of teaching staff involvement in its management. The findings indicate that in general schools…

Many schools experience playtime and lunchtime disputes in the playground. Some schools employ games or activities in an attempt to improve discipline. This article gives consideration to the extent that a playground ethos can be improved, and the number of less-severe disputes reduced, through the introduction of playground games.

A key issue centering on the status of college-trained entrants relative to that of post-graduate entrants to teaching has been arguments over the merits and demerits of consecutive and concurrent courses. Attempts to chart the ebb and flow of such arguments since Plowden and to relate them to the continuing debate about the professional status of…

A four-year study of nearly 4,000 English elementary children indicated that they make extensive use of racial and ethnic distinctions to make sense of the world and, since they are being initiated into an implicitly discriminating society, this early classification process is often accompanied by frank ethnic prejudice. (Author/SJL)

The author argues that the autonomy given to teachers under progressive education is excessive. He feels that educational objectives and curriculum content should be determined democratically and that teachers should be civil servants in the sense that they make their professional teaching decisions within the framework of state policy. (SJL)