Meeting The Challenges of Primary Schooling

Teachers in primary schools deal with a wide range of issues every day. This book helps teachers to understand those issues, and how they fit in with recent government policies and initiatives. Each chapter looks at: * relevant statements of policy or initiative * how these statements fit into the context of specific schools * the challenges they present for those involved in schools * how schools can respond to these challenges * learning across contexts Each chapter has been written by one practitioner and one academic and between them the chapters cover the whole range of Australian primary schools.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Challenges Facing Primary School Administrators and Teachers Lloyd Logan and Judyth Sachs Theme 1: School Management Chapter 2. Leading and Managing Restructuring at the School Site: A Western Australian Case Study Clive Dimmock and Pamela Paton Chapter 3. Strategic Planning in Schools Neil Dempster and Carolyn Anderson Chapter 4. Managing School Development: A Case Study Elizabeth Hatton and Belinda Eddy Chapter 5. School Review for Improved Student Learning Neville Highett Chapter 6. The Middle Years of Schooling Larry Scott, Kathy Davis and Dianne Andrewartha Theme 2: Curriculum and Social Justice Chapter 7. National Initiatives and Primary Schooling Shirley Grundy and Stewart Bonser Chapter 8. Extending Options for Gifted and Talented Students Miraca Gross and Juanita Howard Chapter 9. Responding to the Pupil's Culture and Language: Where Language and Culture Equal English and Mainstream in Schools for the Future Georgina Tsolidis Chapter 10. The Gender Responsive Classroom Judith Gill and Jill Heylen Theme 3: Classroom Practice Chapter 11. What is Being Learned Here: Trends in Assessment and Reporting Susan Groundwater Smith and Vivienne White Chapter 12. Introducing Laptop Computers in the Junior School: Changing Cultures and Structures Richard Smith, David Adams Jones and Steve Lewis Chapter 13. Discipline in the Classroom: Policy and Practice Philip Slee, Lawrence Owens, Janice Flaherty and Andrew Labourne Chapter 14. Learning Partnerships: The Role of Teachers in a Community of Learners Peter Renshaw and Raymond Brown Chapter 15. Alternative Ways of Grouping Pupils and Learning Christine Ure and Kathy Stewart Chapter 16. Building Professional Community and Supporting Teachers as Learners: The Potential of Case Methods Lawrence Ingvarson and Merrin Marrett Chapter 17. Musing on the Future of Primary Schooling Judyth Sachs and Lloyd Logan

Review :
'This is a useful and thought-provoking view of an educational system in the throes of change and reflection' - - Education Review '...if you are looking for a different view on problems which you have faced, and do face, in primary schooling in this country, the book is well worth dipping into.' - Managing Schools Today