Robin J. Alexander

Against the background of globalization and campaigns to provide basic education for all the world’s children, Culture and Pedagogy compares primary and elementary schooling in England, France, India, Russia and the United States. It explores the ways in which children’s educational experiences are shaped not just by classroom circumstances and the decisions of the teacher, but also by school values and organization, by local pressures, national policies and political control and – suffusing all these – by culture and history. Culture and Pedagogy combines comparative and historical enquiry with intensive analysis of school and classroom life to present a novel and illuminating account of pedagogy. The book also transfers into the international arena themes for which the author’s earlier work is well known: the interplay of policy, politics and practice; the quest for resilient models of teaching and learning the subtle dynamics of schools and classrooms; and the rich learning potential of talk between teachers and children; and the challenge of judging 'good' and 'effective' educational practice. Culture and Pedagogy is clearly structured around three levels of analysis: systems, school and classrooms. Extensively illustrated with figures, table s, photographs, lesson summaries and teaching extracts, the book is an essential resource for those who are committed to understanding pedagogy, exploring culture, and improving primary education.

International Comparisons in Primary Education

Culture and Pedagogy

In 'Essays on Pedagogy', Robin Alexander brings together some of his most powerful writing, drawing on his research in Britain and other countries over the past two decades.

Essays on Pedagogy

Education for All, the Quality Imperative and the Problem of Pedagogy

Cambridge Primary Review (Organization)

'Children, Their World, Their Education' is more than a ground-breaking report. It is an unrivalled educational compendium. It assesses two decades of government-led reform. It offers a vision for the future. It goes to the heart of what education in a democracy is about.

Final Report and Recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review

Children, Their World, Their Education

Detailed accounts of two influential initiatives of the 1990s, whose educational and political lessons remain highly relevant: systemic and pedagogic reform in one of Britain's largest cities, and the controversial 'three wise men' government enquiry into primary teaching to which it led. Alexander's controversial and widely-read report on primary education in Leeds has now been revised as a major study of policy initiatives in primary education and their impact on practice. The book examines an ambitious programme of local reform aimed at improving teaching and learning in the primary schools of one of Britain's largest cities. It addresses important questions about children's needs, the curriculum, classroom practice and school management. When first published, Robin Alexander's report was hailed as `seminal' and `the most important document since Plowden' but it was also quoted and misquoted in support of widely opposed political and media agendas. This new edition retains Part I from the first edition, detailing the impact of Leeds LEA's programme for educational reform. However, it also provides a totally new and greatly extended Part II, which gives an insider's account of the sequel to the Leeds report - the government's 1992 'three wise men' report. There is also a new introduction.

Robin J. Alexander

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