Challenging Perceptions in Primary Education: Exploring Issues in Practice

✍ Scribed by Margaret Sangster (editor)

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2015
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 185
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

What are the beliefs that influence your professional practice? Have you ever thought about why you make the decisions you make as a teacher? What influences your teaching style?
Beyond the technical skills and knowledge aspects of education, teachers and student teachers face questions which challenge their beliefs and approaches to their teaching and learning. This book contains a series of short articles which not only offer guidance on key topics but encourage the reader to engage in reflecting on their own practice.
Questions explored include:
- Is learning through practical work worth the effort?
- What can we learn from comparisons with education in other countries?
- Is there a smarter way to use digital imagery in your teaching?
- What’s the point of theory? Isn’t teaching just a craft?

✦ Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
List of contributors
Preface
Introduction
Creating a good learning environment
Developing an effective curriculum
Using imagery in teaching
Learning from education in other countries
Exploring wider perspectives on education
Part I Creating a Good Learning Environment
Chapter 1 Can individual teachers build a successful learning environment for children?
References and further reading
Chapter 2 Do schools need to promote SMSC to ensure children have a quality learning experience?
References and further reading
Chapter 3 ‘He’s one of yours’. Does the belief in a specialist pedagogy for children with a special educational need disempower teachers?
Note
References and further reading
Chapter 4 Why can’t children play in reception?
References and further reading
Chapter 5 Is learning through practical work worth the effort?
References and further reading
Chapter 6 What do teachers gain from organizing educational visits?
References and further reading
Chapter 7 How do classroom dynamics affect learning?
References and further reading
Chapter 8 Do teachers deceive?
References and further reading
Chapter 9 Does assessment ensure learning?
References and further reading
Part II Developing an Effective Curriculum
Chapter 10 Are the arts good for children’s health?
Singing to confidence
Continuing with communication
Dancing to health
Art and coping with pain
References and further reading
Chapter 11 Is there a ‘place’ for geography in the curriculum?
References and further reading
Chapter 12 Can break times help children’s physical activity levels?
References and further reading
Chapter 13 Why should primary mathematics teaching be set within the context of children’s shared life experiences?
References and further reading
Chapter 14 Why is it so difficult to learn a second language in English schools?
References and further reading
Chapter 15 Should children be learning about climate change?
References and further reading
Part III Using Imagery in Teaching
Chapter 16 Is there a smarter way to use digital imagery in your teaching?
References and further reading
Chapter 17 How can ‘seeing’, ‘knowing’ and ‘believing’ impact on learning in art and design?
References and further reading
Chapter 18 How might the iPad encourage risk taking in the pursuit of artistic endeavour?
References and further reading
Chapter 19 Can using children’s visual literacy help them to learn Religious Education?
References and further reading
Part IV Learning from Education in Other Countries
Chapter 20 What can teachers’ learn from visiting international settings?
References and further reading
Chapter 21 Does an international placement develop teacher identity?
References and further reading
Chapter 22 International edutourism and voluntourism – who really benefits?
References and further reading
Chapter 23 What can we learn from teaching in a rural government school in Kenya?
References and further reading
Chapter 24 Can the approaches in English teaching be transferred to Indian primary schools?
References and further reading
Chapter 25 What can we learn from comparisons with education in other countries?
References and further reading
Part V Exploring Wider Perspectives on Education
Chapter 26 What’s the point of theory? Isn’t teaching just a craft?
References and further reading
Chapter 27 Do I really have the time to engage in research?
References and further reading
Chapter 28 Why shouldn’t teachers be political?
References and further reading
Chapter 29 Should primary education be beyond party politics?
References and further reading
Chapter 30 What is the difference between a role model and a mentor?
References and further reading
Chapter 31 A few good men: Why do so few men choose a career in primary education?
References and further reading
Chapter 32 Do teachers play it safe?
References and further reading
Endnote
Index