Rosemary Webb

The Implementation of the National Curriculum in Small Primary Schools.

Abstract Since the introduction of the National Curriculum following the Education Reform Act of 1988, policy makers have increasingly questioned the ability of small primary schools to provide a sufficiently broad and in‐depth curriculum, especially at Key Stage 2 (age 7‐11). Research findings based on qualitative research in a national sample of 50 schools, of which nine had less than 100 pupils, are used to address this issue. Apart from problems with curriculum planning and the writing of policy documents in small schools, policy makers’ fears are shown to be largely unwarranted for two reasons. Firstly, they fail to recognise certain positive advantages for curriculum provision in small schools. These include greater opportunities for innovative curriculum and classroom organisation patterns and the likelihood of strong and realistic curriculum planning arising from head‐teachers who teach. Secondly, they make misguided assumptions about the nature of curriculum and classroom organisation in larger s...

Being a ‘professional’ primary school teacher at the beginning of the 21st century: a comparative analysis of primary teacher professionalism in New Zealand and England

This article analyses findings from two studies conducted collaboratively across two educational settings, New Zealand and England, in 2001–2002. These studies examined the impact of national educational policy reforms on the nature of primary teachers’ work and sense of their own professionalism and compared these impacts across the two countries. Adopting a policy ethnography approach, using in‐depth interview data from samples of teachers in each country, it is argued that there have been discursive shifts in the meaning of the three key terms, autonomy, altruism and knowledge, embodied in the classical professionalism triangle. These shifts reflect policy‐makers’ moves from a ‘professional‐contextualist’ conception of teacher professionalism towards the ‘technocratic‐reductionist’ conception that accompanies neo‐liberal educational reforms in many countries. Teachers in both countries experienced increasing constraints on their autonomy as they became far more subject to ‘extrinsic’ accountability demands. Whether these demands were perceived as enhancing or diminishing teacher professionalism depended on the manner in which they were filtered through the profession’s defining quality, namely teachers’ altruistic concerns for the welfare of the children in their care.

Professional learning communities and teacher well‐being? A comparative analysis of primary schools in England and Finland

The article is a comparative analysis of the policy and practice of professional learning communities (PLCs) in primary schools in England and Finland. The concept of PLC has become a globally fashionable one and has been explicitly advocated in policy documents in both countries. Drawing from a database of qualitative semi‐structured interviews with primary teachers, four key themes affecting their work and well‐being are identified: the primary school community; collaborative working; continuing professional development and trust and accountability. The realities of PLCs as experienced by primary teachers in each country are contrasted. Similarities in teachers’ responses were found, especially in examples of education policy borrowing. However, the different cultural contexts in each country resulted in some fundamental differences that strongly influenced the nature of, and possibilities for, school PLCs. While ideal notions of PLCs may be difficult to realise, it is argued that it is an important concept worth developing for its potential contribution to teacher well‐being.

The Changing Role of the Primary School Deputy Headteacher.

ABSTRACT This paper examines the changing role of the primary school deputy headteacher following the implementation of the 1988 Education Reform Act. Based upon qualitative data from a national sample of 50 schools in England and Wales, it documents an ever‐expanding role and the ensuing tensions between class teaching and wider curriculum and managerial responsibilities. Pressures to reduce class size are leading to reductions in the numbers of non‐teaching deputies. Lack of non‐contact time creates difficulties for deputies familiarising themselves with the demands of headship. It is suggested that limited forms of job sharing between heads and deputies might be mutually beneficial.

Teacher research and special educational needs

This book provides case-study research and evaluation in special education needs, carried out by class teachers in ordinary and special schools. They discuss their experience of the problems and possibilities of teacher research and offer advice on information-gathering, analysis and writing up. This is a TES and NASEN 1993 award-winning title.

Changing classroom practice at Key Stage 2: the impact of New Labour’s national strategies

The article examines the impact of New Labour policies—particularly the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies and the subsequent Primary National Strategy—on classroom practice at Key Stage 2 in England. Evidence is drawn from fieldwork conducted in 2003–2005 from a sample of 50 schools, replicating a study conducted a decade previously in the same schools. The data base consists mainly of 188 transcribed in‐depth teacher interviews and fieldnotes from observation of 51 lessons. By comparison with other research studies on primary classroom practice from the 1970s through to the mid‐1990s, our study suggests that there have been more changes in the last five years in teaching styles and in classroom organisation throughout the whole curriculum at KS2 than in the previous two decades. Such changes include a dramatic increase in whole‐class teaching, the use of learning objectives shared with pupils and changes in pupil seating arrangements. Through compliance with centrally imposed changes in pedagogy, teachers’ experiences have led them to change some of their professional values concerning desirable pedagogy. The article concludes by considering some of the implications of our evidence for theories of educational change and of teacher professionalism.

Progressive Education and the National Curriculum: findings from a global education research project

Research into INSET on global education, based on in‐depth interviews with primary and secondary teachers, is used to explore the effects of the implementation of the National Curriculum on the aims and practices of progressive education. The findings challenge some of the most pessimistic predictions of progressive educationalists. It is argued that the original Conservative party policy intentions have been mediated and transformed by an amalgam of influences at all levels of decision‐making. Moreover, the ways in which teachers translate new initiatives into practice are dependent upon their prior beliefs and practices. This is illustrated by the different ways in which primary and secondary teachers in the sample reacted both to global education and to the introduction of the National Curriculum. Findings from the study are compared and contrasted with those from other research which reports the practical classroom implications of the National Curriculum, and are also considered in the light of recent...

Teacher Research and Educational Change: an empirical study

Abstract This article reports the findings of a research study, using a combination of questionnaires and in‐depth interviews, designed to investigate in what ways teacher research enquiries, conducted in the context of an award‐bearing course, contribute to the processes of professional development and change within schools. The relationships between case‐study research and evaluation and action research and changes in school and classroom practice are discussed. Factors are identified which facilitate and constrain the change process. The findings are discussed in relation to the wider literature on the effects of inservice education and training (INSET), the professional development of teachers and the nature of educational change.

Supporting disaffected pupils: perspectives from the pupils, their parents and their teachers

This paper is based on an evaluation of a three-year Home Office funded project that involved placing social work trained home–school support workers in secondary schools, which were experiencing relatively high rates of pupil disaffection and exclusions. It focuses on process, rather than outcome, data and, in particular, on key issues arising from an analysis of teachers’, parents’/carers’ and pupils’ perspectives derived mainly from semi-structured interviews. Three themes are addressed: the school-based casework conducted by the support workers; working with families; and home–school liaison. Support workers were uniformly valued for their independence, accessibility and availability; skill in developing trusting relationships; and sympathetic constructive advice on problems. They were responsible for facilitating, often for the first time, joint parent–teacher interaction in the discussion of pupil problems. Senior management and pastoral staff found that support workers saved them much time undertaking tasks – especially pupil counselling and home–school liaison – that they would otherwise have had to do themselves. Key factors responsible for the success of the support workers included their social work, rather than education, background and their location in schools as part of the school staff. The findings are related to national policy in England on the potential role of a variety of support staff, key workers and personal mentors in schools to combat social and educational exclusion.

Globalization and leadership and management: a comparative analysis of primary schools in England and Finland

This article analyses the impact of processes of globalization on both policy and practice in relation to primary school leadership and management in England and Finland. Data are drawn from case study research carried out from 1994–1996 in six schools in Finland and six schools in England and a follow‐up study on teacher professionalism (2001–2002) that involved 37 of the original participants being re‐interviewed. The article contributes to the ongoing debate concerning the extent to which global trends lead to homogeneity in educational systems or a ‘glocalized’ response. Such a glocalized response is derived not only from different cultural mediations at the national policy level but also from the various innovation biographies of different schools and the values of particular head teachers/principals. It is argued that, on the one hand, as a result of globalization there is growing uniformity, particularly in relation to the consequences of marketization and managerialism. Owing to the latter, principals in Finland like their English counterparts were found to be experiencing work intensification and role diversification that negatively impacted on their educative leadership. On the other hand, there is evidence also of processes of glocalization in terms of differential national educational policy changes (as, for example, in relation to testing and inspection). Global recommendations for the management of educational reform through collegial working relationships, distributed leadership and schools as learning organizations were promoted in both countries. However, the processes involved in these recommendations illustrate the manner in which national cultural influences and school factors lead both to some similarities and striking differences in their implementation.