The Compensation Act 2006 received its Royal Assent on 25 July 2006. The Act allows the courts to have regard to the social utility of "desirable activities", including school trips, in considering negligence claims. The article reviews the law of negligence as it affects teachers of the very young and considers the possible impact of…

The focus of the study is the comparison between the musical abilities of 11-year-old children on the island of Martinique and in Slovenia, and finding out to what extent their development of musical abilities is influenced by musical and cultural family background, music school attendance, choral singing and playing orchestral instruments. Our…

This article reports on a study that was funded by the National College for School Leadership in order to explore practices, drivers and barriers to leadership talent identification, leadership development, leadership succession planning and leadership retention within a group of contextually different schools. The article offers two narratives…

This article aims to set out considerations resulting from international collaboration between educational thinkers in Norway and Wales concerning the proposed Foundation Phase in Wales and the Norwegian Framework Plan for Day Care Institutions, which cater for the same age of child. The essential feature of the Welsh proposal is the aim to place…

Although there is a debate about the importance of self-esteem in education, many primary teachers wish to help children who suffer from low self-esteem. However, in order to do this, we first have to identify such children. It is almost taken for granted that we can make quite accurate judgements based on the knowledge built up through day-to-day…

This article contrasts two major attempts at educational reform with regard to literacy. Starting with a brief background to the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy, together with an analysis of research into effective literacy teaching, it presents qualitative research carried out in the form of a comparative study of the National…

This research examined concerns that primary teachers had in challenging gifted pupils in a normal classroom setting. Research findings in England indicated that children with high ability do not always attain highly, and within the context of primary science education underachievement was often linked to lack of appropriate challenge. The…

This article addresses the question as to whether training pre-school practitioners in an approach to anti-discriminatory education can impact on the developing attitudes of young children. This article attempts to analyse the effect of training practitioners in the delivery of an anti-discriminatory curriculum on the developing attitudes of the…

The primary objective of the research was to find out whether the use of Philosophy for Children (P4C) could improve learning within Attainment Target 2 (AT2) of Religious Education. A variety of techniques were used to investigate the effects of using a P4C methodology on children's learning in AT2 and children's perceptions of RE over the course…

At Key Stages one and two, citizenship education is described in terms of non-statutory guidelines along with personal, social and health education. Whilst PSHE and citizenship are no doubt linked, they are not synonymous. Citizenship is concerned with thought and debate in the public arena, and as such has identifiable underpinning discourses.…

The article examines the approach taken in one primary school to introduce a reflective teaching approach, following an OFSTED inspection. By considering the development of reflective teaching and learning, the development of a working mode and the types of skills needed in order to teach in a reflective manner, it reports on the outcomes from the…

This article is based on the analysis of a fragment of conversation recorded in a year one classroom. It explores the ways in which young children use language to produce a meaningful world and highlights the importance of language in the presentation of social experience. It then draws upon this analysis to discuss how children learn to use…

This paper discusses current thinking and practice about the use of popular culture in the primary school to teach literacy. It attempts to question the methods that attempt to galvanise children's interest in popular texts to teach the current literacy curriculum. It argues that there is an incompatibility between the pleasures and practices of…

This article focuses on the transition that children make from the outdoor area in the Foundation Stage to the school playground in Key Stage One. With the recent emphasis on outdoor learning in the Foundation Stage it looks at the way in which one school has attempted to overcome discontinuity in learning between key stages by making learning…

This article argues that the teacher is not well served by relying on the construct of self-esteem. Although an important idea in psychological health, self-esteem is not of direct importance to the teacher. More useful constructs would be those of self-concept and self-efficacy; both of which can be related directly to academic achievement.