What lessons can we learn from the relationship between policy-makers and schools over the life of the 'New' Labour and its predecessor Conservative government? What happened to 'Education, Education, Education' as it travelled from political vision to classroom practice? What are the lasting legacies of 13 years of a reforming Labour government? And what are the key messages for a coalition government?

These are the questions addressed to the architects of educational reform, their critics and the prophets of better things to come. The 37 interviewees include ministers past and...

Providing a framework for understanding the individual needs of pupils, this book describes how you can tailor your teaching methods to maximise learning. You will learn how to take account of your pupils' knowledge, skills and attitudes when selecting and applying principles of instruction, in order to make learning in your classroom as successful as possible.

Packed with informative case studies and classroom examples, this book explores how learning is conceptualised, direct instruction, interactive teaching, teaching as scaffolding, and how to overcome obstacles to...

Maurice Galton and his team have collected examples from various schools of what works in re-energising demotivated pupils.

What is it really like to be a teacher in today's demanding classrooms?

The authors of this book spoke to teachers, parents and students in the UK, Asia, America and Australia and had some shocking responses to their questions. By looking at highly topical issues within teaching, such as teacher stress and teacher workload, they uncover an often bleak picture where individuals are frequently stretched to breaking point as they endeavour to 'make a difference'.

Issues examined include:

"the frustrations facing those trying to make inclusive...

Originally published in 1989, this book reviews teaching methods and curriculum practice against the reality of classroom practice and educational objective and policies. In some ways a re-appraisal of progressive individual and group teaching and learning methods, together with practical guidelines for teachers.

First published in 1983, Moving from the Primary Classroom is concerned with what happens to pupils when they change teachers in the primary school and when they move to the secondary or middle school. Although most children are well prepared for the organizational changes, they will face after transfer, the researchers found that major difficulties were encountered when pupils adjusted to the new teaching styles associated with specialist subjects. As pupils move up the primary school, and after transfer, there appears to be a decrease in individualization of the learning process in favour...

First published in 1980, Progress and Performance in the Primary Classroom assesses the performance of primary schoolchildren in a range of study skills as well as on the more conventional tests of mathematics, language use and reading. The findings indicate that the more successful styles are used by the more experienced teachers, who manage to increase the amount of contact with the pupils by a variety of organizational strategies. While pupils who receive the greatest amount of class teaching do best on mathematics, there is no evidence to suggest that the characteristics of teaching...