Promoting Effective Group Work in the Primary Classroom, 2nd ed. is designed to enhance teachers’ and teaching assistants’ confidence in engaging their children in effective group work, allowing for more active participation, more on-task focus and higher levels of achievement. This accessible second edition is packed full of valuable strategies for teachers and fun activities for children, offering guidance on how to create an inclusive and supportive classroom by developing the social, communicative and group working skills of all pupils. It has been thoroughly updated and includes new material on whole school approaches to group work, the risks and challenges involved, and how to involve Teaching Assistants and other support staff in undertaking inclusive and effective group work in classrooms. A tried-and-tested, step-by-step approach encourages both children and their teachers to develop supportive relationships that have been found to facilitate academic performance, positive social behaviour and motivation. Since the first edition the authors have found that this handbook can be used successfully in many different countries around the world. With ideas to help resolve problems that might arise and suggested training activities to support pupils, this text is a one-stop resource to ensure effective group work in the classroom. It is an essential guide for both trainee and practising teachers, as well as TAs and support staff, and a valuable basis for school action.

This book offers a challenge to traditional approaches to classroom teaching and pedagogy. The SPRinG (Social Pedagogic Research into Groupwork) project, part of a larger research programme on teaching and learning funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), was developed to enhance the learning potential of pupils working in classroom groups by actively involving teachers in a programme designed to raise levels of group work during typical classroom learning activities. Internationally, the SPRinG project is the largest evaluation of effective group working methods in comparison to traditional teaching, with findings that show raised levels of pupil achievement and a doubling of sustained, active engagement in learning. The opening chapters present arguments regarding the relationship of social interaction and children’s cognitive development and examine theories that explain why social interactional processes should be integrated into primary school pedagogic practices. Next, the book describes the conceptual and methodological basis for the SPRinG studies, especially its focus on the relational approach, the type of involvement of teachers and classroom planning. Further chapters present key results and describe the background and methods used to establish SPRinG-based effects on pupil progress in mathematics, literacy and science, including both macro and micro assessments; how the SPRinG approach affected pupil-pupil interactions and teacher-pupil interactions, as measured by systematic on-the-spot observations and analyses of videotapes of groups working on specially designed tasks work; and effects on pupil self-completed measures of motivation and attitudes to group work. The book also analyses reflections of teachers who have worked with SPRinG: moving from theory to practice as well as adding insights associated with implementing SPRinG principles in schools. Drawing upon developmental psychological, social psychological and classroom research, it develops a new and ambitious social pedagogic approach to classroom learning, with a stress on group work, which will be of interest to researchers, teachers and policy-makers. This book includes contributions from Andrew Tolmie and Ed Baines, who were also involved in the ScotSPRinG and SPRinG projects.

Packed with valuable strategies for teachers and fun activities for children, this book is a must for any school wishing to make group work a more effective and successful way of learning. Teachers who have become more confident with the approaches developed for this book find that their classes are better behaved, children spend more time on task and they become less dependent on the teacher. The book shows teachers how to create an inclusive and supportive classroom by developing the social, communicative and group working skills of all pupils. Tried-and-tested, step-by-step approaches encourage both children and their teachers to develop supportive relationships that have been found to facilitate academic performance, positive social behaviour and motivation. Strategies for setting up and running effective group work are a key feature of the book.

Packed with valuable strategies for teachers and fun activities for children, this book is a must for any school wishing to make group work a more effective and successful way of learning. Teachers who have become more confident with the approaches developed for this book find that their classes are better behaved, children spend more time on task and they become less dependent on the teacher. The book shows teachers how to create an inclusive and supportive classroom by developing the social, communicative and group working skills of all pupils. Tried-and-tested, step-by-step approaches encourage both children and their teachers to develop supportive relationships that have been found to facilitate academic performance, positive social behaviour and motivation. Strategies for setting up and running effective group work are a key feature of the book.

Promoting Effective Group Work in the Primary Classroom, 2nd ed. is designed to enhance teachers’ and teaching assistants’ confidence in engaging their children in effective group work, allowing for more active participation, more on-task focus and higher levels of achievement. This accessible second edition is packed full of valuable strategies for teachers and fun activities for children, offering guidance on how to create an inclusive and supportive classroom by developing the social, communicative and group working skills of all pupils. It has been thoroughly updated and includes new material on whole school approaches to group work, the risks and challenges involved, and how to involve Teaching Assistants and other support staff in undertaking inclusive and effective group work in classrooms. A tried-and-tested, step-by-step approach encourages both children and their teachers to develop supportive relationships that have been found to facilitate academic performance, positive social behaviour and motivation. Since the first edition the authors have found that this handbook can be used successfully in many different countries around the world. With ideas to help resolve problems that might arise and suggested training activities to support pupils, this text is a one-stop resource to ensure effective group work in the classroom. It is an essential guide for both trainee and practising teachers, as well as TAs and support staff, and a valuable basis for school action.

Find out how matching research-based principles of collaborative learning with practical action can make all group work productive group work, with all students engaged.

Drawing on the work of Vygotsky, the authors look at the social and emotional advantages children can gain from working together. They use case studies derived from the ORACLE II group work project at Leicester, and also take into account the advances made in collaborative group work in other countries. The result is a set of guidelines from which teachers can plan policies suitable for their own schools.