Teaching Children 3-11

A Student′s Guide

Anne D Cockburn, Graham Handscomb, Anne D Cockburn, Graham Handscomb

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781446290002
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Elementary Education

Focusing on the major topics underpinning professional studies strands in primary and early years teacher education, Teaching Children Three-Eleven provides indispensable coverage of vital practical and conceptual issues that support good teaching practice.

This Third Edition of the popular textbook has been carefully revised, following detailed lecturer feedback, to meet the evolving needs of students training to teach across the three to eleven age range.

Featuring four new chapters on curriculum development, cross-curricular teaching, diversity and inclusion, and communication in the classroom, and engaging with the growing need for Master?s-level study in teacher education, the new edition offers a balanced contemporary overview of modern teaching practice in an engaging and accessible manner.

This is essential reading for all students on primary and early years initial teacher education courses including undergraduate (BEd, BA with QTS), postgraduate (PGCE, SCITT), and employment-based routes into teaching. It will also be invaluable for those starting out on their professional careers.

Anne Cockburn is Professor of Early Years Education at the University of East Anglia

Graham Handscomb is Senior Manager in Strategic Development, for School Improvement and Early Years at Essex County Council

Section 1

THE LEARNING TEACHER

In this first section we introduce our overarching theme of the learning teacher.

The opening chapter sets out how we regard you the reader as a fellow traveller on the learning and development journey explored in this book. To be an effective teacher means becoming an equally effective learner, not just as you prepare for your first post but also throughout a career of professional development. We explain how this outlook has guided the style adopted of addressing you directly as a fellow professional in the second person. Other chapters explore the importance of collaboration with your colleagues within and beyond the school, and how you consider learning and teaching from a range of perspectives. We give guidance on how to develop as an enquiring teacher, always aiming to reflect and improve upon your classroom practice. Above all we emphasise the pivotal nature of the relationship you will forge with children and how to foster pupil voice as a key feature of the collaborative, learning culture of your school.

CHAPTER 1

SETTING OUT

Graham Handscomb and Anne Cockburn

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Chapter overview

Teaching is a great paradox. On the one hand it can be one of the most rewarding and even life-enhancing experiences. On the other, teaching can be extremely demanding and challenging. In ‘Setting out’ Graham Handscomb and Anne Cockburn explain how reading this book will provide an overview of what a career in teaching might have to offer you. They stress, however, that it is essential to obtain practical primary classroom experience before embarking on any form of teacher training.

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Introduction

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Teaching can be unremittingly dull, repetitive and stressful. We know: we have been there. It can also be one of the most stimulating, enjoyable and rewarding jobs in the world. We know: we have been there too. This book is about how to make the difference. It does not claim to have all the answers but it will certainly present enough material and thought-provoking ideas for you to see the tremendous possibilities which lie ahead. You may think that this is slightly over the top but, as you may already have discovered, very few people feel neutral about teachers and teaching! In this chapter we will very briefly describe the intended readership, authors, origins and uses of this book. We will then outline some of the most important issues you would be wise to consider before embarking on a course, let alone a career, in teaching.

So who are you?

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We, the authors, envisage you, the reader, as:

• someone who might be contemplating primary teaching as a career
• someone who is about to embark on a 3–11 training course or one of the variations
• someone who has been accepted on a training programme (for example, 3–8, 7–11) and is about to embark on it
• a trainee already part-way through a teacher education qualification
• a tutor receiving books with a view to recommending them – or not as the case may be – to any of the above audience.

We also see you as someone who, although generally enthusiastic about the idea of teaching, sometimes becomes anxious and demoralised by the struggle. There is no doubt about it – learning to teach is hard work. It is not easy being an experienced learner one minute and a relatively inexperienced teacher the next. You are, however, undoubtedly intelligent and our intention is to demonstrate how, by making the most of your experiences, skills and intellectual capacity, you can gain the most from your training and chosen career. Even so, you will, inevitably, sometimes feel like packing the whole lot in. Obviously, if this feeling becomes all-consuming you should look for a career elsewhere: teaching – just like dentistry, social work and plumbing – is not for everyone and there is no reason to suppose that it should be. If, however, you just occasionally feel dispirited, overworked and under-appreciated, hang in there: it will be worth it!

So who are we?

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This is not a profound philosophical question but rather a practical one about the nature of the contributors to this book. We feel it would be helpful for you to know something of the ‘voices’ that will be speaking to you through its pages.

When writing the first edition we were the nine members of the Primary PGCE Team at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Between us we had about 120 years’ experience as school teachers and over 100 years in teacher education which, coupled with very high grades in HMI inspections, suggest that we had at least an idea of what we were talking about! The second edition saw the start of our fruitful collaboration with colleagues from Essex local authority. In particular, Graham Handscomb, Senior Manager in Essex School Improvement and Early Years Services, joined Anne Cockburn to become joint editor. Graham has a national reputation for his work on continuous professional development and brings a great deal of experience from how local authorities support training and development, including the wide-ranging initial teacher training group of programmes which have been judged as outstanding by Ofsted. These have incorporated the Graduate Training and School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) schemes. For this third edition we have an even greater collaborative mix between the UEA team and Essex colleagues. We are delighted to welcome new contributors Fiona Dorey, Melanie Foster, Jo Lang, Lorraine Laudrum, Elizabeth Cornish and Abigail Williams who have been involved in primary innovation and the new Schools of the Future development in Essex. Stephen Chynoweth, who contributed to the second edition, has moved from his headship in Essex to a headship in Dubai but we are pleased that he is still contributing to this issue, drawing on his varied experience. A number of the UEA contributors have retired since the second edition but their places have been very ably taken over by Ralph Manning, Eleanor Cockerton, Paul Parslow-Williams, Michele Otway, Helena Gillespie and Michael Pond who, between them, have stacked up over 100 years of recent and relevant classroom experience. So, in all, we represent a range of skills and understanding, combining considerable insight and expertise in teacher education, as well as continuing engagement with the classroom practicalities of teaching and learning. We might not always agree. It would be odd – and, indeed, rather disturbing – if we did. It is always healthy to have a good debate! Nevertheless, we all share the same underlying philosophy that reflection is a crucial aspect of professional development. Throughout the book therefore – and particularly at the end of every chapter – we will invite you to reflect on various issues in order to extend your own learning. We believe this to be an important feature of the book. The business of teaching is learning. Obviously, this particularly means promoting the learning of the children we teach. However, if we are to be effective teachers, and remain so throughout our careers, we also need to be accomplished learners who continue to reflect upon practice. So this book is designed to encourage you to connect with a range of issues and guidance within the body of each chapter, and then to actively reflect upon what this might mean for you in the context of your own particular outlook and experience.

Why did we write the book?

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A simple serious answer would be because Marianne Lagrange of Sage Publications asked Anne to compile the first edition and Sage invited us to produce a second and then a third one! Flattered though we were, even that alone would have been insufficient to get our pencils and word processors going. Rather we wrote this book because – at the risk of sounding corny – we want to share our belief that education should be an enjoyable, challenging and valuable experience for teachers and learners alike. What also unites us is a conviction that you are the future of the teaching profession and our strong desire to make some contribution that you will find helpful at this early stage in your career. Given the media, some of your experiences and some of today’s teaching materials, you might be forgiven for thinking that teaching is all about finding something to teach, teaching it and then testing your pupils to ensure that they have mastered the topic to a sufficiently high standard. Teaching can be about that but education cannot. Education is about engaging the mind and helping learners realise their full potential. It is also about a sense of worthwhileness, where those involved – teachers, pupils and others – share a belief in the fundamental value of the enterprise:

Education is for individuality. We all think, feel and learn in distinctive ways. Good education works with the unique grain of our personal capacities to help each of us become a better version of ourselves – and with luck and determination, to make a living at it too. (Robinson, 2005, p. 6)

The best educators are those who inspire their pupils and enable them to continue learning long after they have left the confines of the classroom.

It would be ridiculous – not to say arrogant – to claim that this book covered everything you needed to know to become a successful primary school teacher. We recognise, however, that you are likely to be short of reading time. We have therefore endeavoured to focus on the issues we consider to be particularly important in the hope that we will complement your course and prompt you into continuing your own professional development. Should you find yourself becoming particularly intrigued by specific topics, we have listed and commented on books for further reading at the end of each chapter.

Changing times – lasting principles

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Since the last edition of this book there have been many changes. Among these have been a number of attempts to review and redefine the primary curriculum, changing views about how schools should be established and organised, and a change of government. All these things, of course, affect the context in which we all work in school and there is often heated exchange about, for instance, the styles of teaching and how best to increase standards in our schools. A good example is the renewed debate about teachers focusing on helping pupils to acquire learning skills. Some are passionately clear about the importance of this: ‘I can hardly think of anything more worthwhile than learning to learn. It’s like money in the bank at compound interest’ (Perkins, 2009, quoted in Watkins, 2010, p. 7). By contrast a new Schools Minister, Nick Gibb (2010, p. 4), challenges that children should be taught how to learn, saying instead: ‘I believe very strongly that education is about the transfer of knowledge from one generation to another.’

Well, in the course of your teaching career, you will live through many changes in the educational landscape and shifts in thinking about educational practice. Part of your professionalism will include the need to be aware of this and indeed to actively engage in such dialogue and thinking yourself. The contributors of this book also have their clear views on education and, although these may vary among the different contributors, when you read this book we think you will find that there are certain principles that they all share, and which we believe transcend changes in particular public attitudes to education, which tend to come and go. Such principles include the vital importance of the teacher–learner relationship, keeping the focus on classroom practice and creating a positive learning ethos. As Watkins (2010, p. 6) reflects: ‘Classrooms are the influential site in creating achievement at school. They have their impact not through particular practices but through the learning climate they create. When classrooms create a thoughtful and learner-centred climate, achievement is high.’ One of the key messages we hope to convey in this book is that as a fellow professional you, the reader, should develop and clarify your own principles that underpin your approach to teaching.

How might you use this book?

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This book does not need to be read in any particular order. Indeed, you may find that there are some chapters you wish to refer to immediately, others you will want to consult later and still others you would prefer to just dip into. We hope you find the chapter titles give a clear indication of their content but will briefly comment here on some of the key features that you will discover.

Each chapter begins with a small boxed ‘banner’ statement designed to give you a flavour of what follows. We hope you find that the content of each chapter is written in helpful accessible language, divided into useful sections indicated by subheadings. To help you engage and reflect on the content of this book we provide towards the end of each chapter a summary box and a general Issues for Reflection box. In this edition we also introduce within the body of each chapter Critical Issues inserts. These aim to prompt your engagement and thinking at a higher level by delving deeper into the subject of the chapter, exploring the issues more critically, and examining different and perhaps controversial perspectives. We hope you find this helpful.

You will find each of the chapters distinctive, reflecting the variety of contributors. However, what they all have in common is their approach to you, the reader. All the authors address the reader as a fellow professional, albeit a less experienced one. In a sense they adopt the stance of sitting alongside the reader, taking them through the issues and the learning journey of the book. Often this will mean addressing you in the first person, exploring and debating issues rather than just conveying information. This reflects the fundamental outlook of this book which is to see the teacher as a learner who is constantly honing and improving his/her craft and in this context to regard the reader as a professional enquirer and questioner.

This philosophy is very much reflected in the way we have reorganised the chapters in this third edition under five sections. The first, The Learning Teacher, sets the tone of the book, with its emphasis on you being a fellow professional with whom the authors are engaging. Section 2, Skills in Teaching and Learning, takes the reader straight to the business of developing the skills needed within the classroom. In Section 3, Managing the Curriculum, we look at the range of issues related to managing a curriculum that is dynamic and constantly changing to meet the needs of the child and of society. Section 4, The Child and the Community, looks at the important relationship between the school and the community and how we can ensure this contributes to the child’s development. Finally the last section, Developing the Teacher You Want to Be, is focused on helping you to take stock of how yo...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures and tables
• List of abbreviations
• Notes on the editors and contributors
• Preface to the third edition
• Section 1: The learning teacher
• Section 2: Skills in teaching and learning
• Section 3: Managing the curriculum
• Section 4: The child and the community
• Section 5: Developing the teacher you want to be
• References
• Index