The time has passed when learning was identified purely as a process involving the ability to store and recall knowledge and facts, and the competence to produce them when required. These abilities still seriously concern the potential teacher and this book duly examines them, but the ‘whys’ and the ‘hows’ of learning and teaching are now considered as important as the implanting of facts for regurgitation at exam time.Some children learn more quickly than others, some can remember facts more easily, and a teacher must ask several fundamental questions in order to understand the factors at work in this learning process. Where is knowledge stored? Why do we remember some facts and forget others? When are we learning new facts and when are we remembering and adapting knowledge to see it in a new light? To help answer these and many other questions a number of learning situations, typical in most schools, are examined, the processes at work in the classrooms are examined and then they are both related to different theories of learning. The examination of a series of learning processes should not necessarily involve a choice between them, and a feature of this volume is its lack of partiality towards any particular teaching method, although the teacher and student will draw their own conclusions.

Very little is known about the quality of the learning experiences provided for pupils. This book contains the results of a major research project, conducted in a sample of English primary schools, in which particular attention was paid to the tasks children were assigned, to the degree of match between assigned tasks and pupil attainment, to the detailed observation of children at work. The teacher’s problems in assigning work appropriate to children’s attainments and the special problem of matching posed by the transfer of children from one class to another were also subjected to analysis. Lessons learned from the project were used as a basis for the design of an in-service course for teachers. The course, which was aimed at improving teachers’ matching skills was closely evaluated. The report contains data and analysis pertinent to each of the above issues. The findings reveal that despite the conscientious efforts of able teachers a number of serious issues are apparent – particularly in areas such as classroom organization and teacher diagnosis of children’s work.

The increasing impact of performance based judgments on schools and teachers in the classroom has its critics and supporters. Some oppose the trend and seek to deny the importance of quantitative measures. Others have sought to find ways of implementing educational measurement constructively and with understanding of the concerns. Classrooms are where the operational business of learning takes place and it is on the quality of life within the classroom that the broader process of learning, concerns for the wider community and others, is nurtured. The climate of the classroom has a large impact on the final outcome measure to which so much interest is directed. To help our understanding of the dynamics involved much work has been done in the development and refinement of quantitative studies to this area by studying essential information about how teachers and students perceive the environments in which the work. Research on classroom climates has reached a practical and theoretical maturity and this volume offers an account of the developments that have taken place and the potential for understanding the classroom as a vital component of the curriculum. This book will also be an essential resource tool for anyone engaged in classroom research.

Very little is known about the quality of the learning experiences provided for pupils. This book contains the results of a major research project, conducted in a sample of English primary schools, in which particular attention was paid to the tasks children were assigned, to the degree of match between assigned tasks and pupil attainment, to the detailed observation of children at work. The teacher's problems in assigning work appropriate to children's attainments and the special problem of matching posed by the transfer of children from one class to another were also subjected to analysis. Lessons learned from the project were used as a basis for the design of an in-service course for teachers. The course, which was aimed at improving teachers' matching skills was closely evaluated. The report contains data and analysis pertinent to each of the above issues. The findings reveal that despite the conscientious efforts of able teachers a number of serious issues are apparent - particularly in areas such as classroom organization and teacher diagnosis of children's work.

Intended primarily for education students this book provides an introduction to the philosophy of education that tackles educational problems and at the same time relates them to the mainstream of philosophical analysis. Among the educational topics the book discusses are the aims of education, the two cultures debate, moral education, equality as an ideal and academic elitism. It examines the limitations of a purely technological education, and suggests the shape of a balanced curriculum. It critically analyses important educational theses in the work of Rousseau, Dewey, R S Peters, P H Hirst, F R Leavis, Ronald Dworkin and G H Bantock, among many others, and considers the philosophical copics of relativism, the nature of knowledge, the basis of moral choice, the value of democracy and the status of religious claims.

This volume of topical working papers makes available to teachers and to others information intended to stimulate discussion so that all educators may bring their judgement and experience to bear on the concerns of the School Council and contribute to its work. The papers describe plans for curriculum development projects at their formative stages, when comment can be particularly helpful; report on conferences and summarize findings and opinions on debated questions about the curriculum and examination in schools.

At the time this book was first published the disciplines of philosophy of education, educational psychology, sociology of education and the history of education had developed rapidly. The papers in this volume outline the developments that took place. The first paper analyses the nature of a theory concerned with determining practice and the place of academic disciplines within that. What emerges is the crucial role of these disciplines, but also the need to develop much more adequately a domain of practical principles, assessed and critically reformulated in the light of those disciplines. The following papers are concerned with the contributions four of those disciplines are now making.