Teachers, Pupils, and Primary Schooling Continuity and Change

The Primary Assessment, Curriculum and Experience (PACE) project is a unique study of the implementation of the National Curriculum at primary school level in England. The combination of extensive interviews with teachers, headteachers and pupils and detailed observation in classrooms provides the most thorough account available of this major educational innovation. The editor and contributors to this text are all members of the PACE team. Teachers, Pupils and Primary Schooling extends the account in Changing English Primary Schools? (Cassell, 1994) to focus on the National Curriculum as children move from Key Stage 1 (ages 5-7) to Key Stage 2 (ages 7-9). The study looks at aspects of continuity in the curriculum, teacher professionalism and pupil perceptions, which have emerged in the analysis of data from the project. Additionally, it incorporates the modification of the National Curriculum following a review by Sir Ron Dearing in 1994 and is informed by a context of uncertainty, critique and constant policy change. All those interested in the impact of the educational changes of the late 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, whether they be academics, teachers, student teachers, school governors or policy-makers, will find this book vital reading.