Creative Teachers in Primary Schools

Is creative teaching still possible in English schools? Can teachers maintain and promote their own interests and beliefs as well as deliver a prescribed National Curriculum? Originally published in 1995, this book explores creative teachers’ attempts to pursue their brand of teaching despite the changes. Peter Woods has discovered a range of strategies and adaptations to this end among such teachers, including resisting change which runs counter to their own values; appropriating the National Curriculum within their own ethos; enhancing their role through the use of others; and enriching their work through the National Curriculum to provide quality learning experiences. If all else fails, such teachers remove themselves from the system and take their creativity elsewhere. A strong theme of self-determination runs through these experiences. While acknowledging hard realities, the book is ultimately optimistic, and a tribute to the dedication and inspiration of primary teachers. The book makes an important contribution to educational theory, showing a range of responses to intensification as well as providing many detailed examples of collaborative research methods.

Acknowledgements. Preface. 1. Introduction: Adapting to Intensification 2. Resisting through Collaboration: A Whole-School Perspective on the National Curriculum 3. The Creative Use and Defence of Space: Appropriation through the Environment 4. The Charisma of the Critical Other: Enhancing the Role of the Teacher 5. Teaching, and Researching the Teaching of, a History Topic: An Experiment in Collaboration 6. Managing Marginality: Aspects of the Career of a Primary School Head 7. Self-Determination Among Primary School Teachers. References. Name Index. Subject Index.