Measuring the ability to teach is central to government policies to raise standards in schools. 'Successful teaching' is now measured through basic technical and personal skills in the context of the National Curriculum. Teachers are labelled successes or failures based on graded OFSTED inspections. This thought-provoking book explains how different levels or qualities of teaching can be identified and achieved. It outlines the criteria for competent, successful and excellent educational p...

Primary education is one of the most important phases of learning but there remains a scarcity of in-depth research on this vital topic. However, as the focus on improving outcomes increases there is a growing interest internationally in research that helps us to understand the best ways to help young children engage with the curriculum in order that they may have the best possible life chances. This text helps to address these issues and consists of seminal articles derived from the forty...

Many useful things that progressivism has to offer (child-centred approaches, flexibility of response, negotiated and democratic classroom organisation) have been swept aside in the march of traditionalist policy. Taking robust theories of developmental psychology derived from the work of Swiss psychologist Piaget and Russian developmentalist Vygotsky, Silcock reasserts the need to explore the positive potential of new progressivism, and looks at how progressivist approaches can help teach...