Classroom practice in 2020: adaptation and opportunity?
October 22, 2020
In this post, Rupert Knight reflects on some of the changes to Primary classroom practice emerging this school year. Taking stock at the halfway point of this very unusual term, what are the questions that might arise as the school year proceeds? Not the usual start to a school year… When children and teachers returned …
Storytelling in the classroom: the teacher’s role
September 21, 2020
In this month’s post, Mike Payton builds on our previous blogs on oracy and children’s literature by considering the power of storytelling as a fundamental skill in the primary classroom Teachers (and PGCE tutors) quickly learn that with changes of government, or education secretary, will come changes to the curriculum, from slight tinkering to radical …
Teachers’ changing professional identity
June 22, 2020
In this blog Esther Fulton looks at the processes involved in developing your own teacher identity, particularly in the current times. What does it mean to be a teacher during Covid-19? My own identity as a teacher educator has been dramatically altered during the last few months. My comfort zone has always been when I …
Staying centred: what are a teacher’s core practices?
May 22, 2020
In this post, Rupert Knight considers the idea of core practices for teachers and how they might help us understand the essence of a teacher’s role, particularly at a time of extraordinary change. What do we mean by a ‘core’ for teachers? Closely following the Early Career Framework for teachers and using much of the …
Three domains of literacy
April 22, 2020
Raising reading and literacy attainment is something that is always at the forefront of educators’ minds. With a myriad of interventions and strategies out there, what is important for raising attainment in these areas? A group of school leaders and academics came together recently at the University of Nottingham’s School of Education to listen to …
From caveman to concepts: Making history count in the primary classroom
March 17, 2020
In this blog, Victoria Crooks considers six ideas for developing primary history, along with some practical strategies. “Mum you’ll never guess what happened today!” These words we’re delivered by my 7-year-old with a frisson of excitement. That morning he had arrived at school to find his classroom in near darkness. The walls and windows had …
The Rights of the Mathematician
February 14, 2020
In this post Catherine Gripton considers what children should expect of mathematics in school and the implications for how we approach the teaching of mathematics in a way that respects the child as a an autonomous learner. Our relationship with mathematics On the 24th October 2019, the UK government launched a consultation on proposed early …
Making a play for drama in the primary classroom
January 17, 2020
In this blog, Colin Morley looks at current ITE perceptions of the arts are, before looking at what the actuality of the arts offers within schools. He considers what the barriers are to their possible use and how drama might be used as a process tool within Primary teaching. How are the arts perceived? In …
Building confidence in using music in primary schools
December 16, 2019
Music both calms and invigorates the primary classroom. It adds order, injects a sense of freedom from the rest of the curriculum and stimulates the child’s creativity. In this blog, Liam Maloy from the Department of Culture, Media and Visual Studies at the University of Nottingham, reflects on his experiences of music and primary education. …
Tuning in to expert teachers: seeing beneath the surface of classroom practice
November 13, 2019
In this post, Rupert Knight considers what we mean by teacher expertise and how we might get better at looking for this in action. Speaking in an October 2019 article in the TES about the current upsurge of interest in evidence-informed practice, Mel Ainscow advised caution in the use of evidence by teachers, arguing that: …
