The author argues that the decisions primary teachers make about the curriculum need to be informed by well-developed expertise in the subjects they are planning and teaching. This expertise is necessary when teachers are exercising professional autonomy in areas such as curriculum design, securing breadth and balance, and managing curriculum…

September 2007 saw the introduction of the new "Q" standards for the award of Qualified Teacher Status. Drawing on a meeting of 140 primary and secondary school ITT tutors, this article sets out to record and discuss the teachers' initial reactions to these new standards a few weeks before their introduction. The article shows classroom teachers…

This article, which forms part of the policy booklet "Lessons from the Front" written by participants and Ambassadors of the Teach First scheme, argues that educational outcomes are often adversely affected by the size and structure of many urban complex schools. Rather than multiplying the efforts of teachers, too often the organisational model…

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the contemporary debate by supporting school subjects. The article explores the technicist manner in which teachers' work is now configured and highlights ways in which competitive, output-led models and tick-list approaches have reified schools as qualification factories. Arguing for a deeper…

This article describes progress made in organizing US high schools into small learning communities, a practice spurred by the recognition that many of America's large comprehensive high schools had become impersonal and alienating. Small learning community reforms show a pattern of sustained growth over the last four decades but also frequently…

This article revisits the concept of teachers as learners within the context of radical changes that have taken place within the education system in England over the past 25 years. The concept of "professional courage" is discussed and examined in relation to questions and issues raised by Paulo Freire in a series of letters to teachers (1997).…

Far too much curriculum time in primary schools is overly regulated and assessment driven, with the result that many children attending them are either bored or made to feel anxious. The antidote to this tendency is for teachers to rediscover the value of deregulated ("wasted") curriculum time via a renewed commitment to the value of play,…