ASPE/BERA Special Interest Group on
Primary School Teachers' Work
Description
This Special Interest Group (SIG), which was set up in 2003, arose
from co-operation between the British Educational Research Association
(BERA) and ASPE, which is an associated society of BERA. The SIG
provides additional opportunities for the members of both associations
to liaise and to work together on shared areas of interest and research
issues. It addresses the range of roles, responsibilities and practices
that make up the work of primary school teachers. Its purpose is
to provide a forum to bring together researchers, practitioners
and policy makers interested in innovation and change in diverse
areas of primary education, such as teacher professionalism, school
management, staff relationships, teachers’ subject knowledge and
classroom practice, all of which individually and in combination
exert a fundamental impact on teachers’ work. The SIG pays particular
attention to the work and perspectives of teachers in Key Stage
2 as they appear under represented in associations and interest
groups.
Aims
- To provide members with opportunities for networking, sharing
and critical reflection;
- To examine through literature reviews, media coverage and ongoing
research whether, and in what ways, changes in educational policies
at national and local level are affecting the work of teachers
and schools;
- To heighten awareness of the impact of related policies on teachers’
work in Europe through the comparative research of members and
links with the European Educational Research Association (EERA);
- To provide a forum for members to disseminate and discuss their
research;
- To facilitate the sharing and evaluation of research methodologies
used;
- To promote the dissemination of research in alternative and
meaningful ways to practitioners and policymakers.
If you are a member of ASPE and would like to join the SIG, please email
Rosemary Webb who is its convenor giving her your address and ASPE
membership number. She is a past Chair of ASPE who is on the ASPE
Executive Committee and is also a member of BERA.
Activities/Events
When the SIG was first set up a sub-group of twenty-two members
from both associations worked on a follow-up to the ASPE/BERA collaborative
publication of a decade ago – ie. Pollard, A. (Ed.) (1994) Look
Before You Leap? Research Evidence for the Curriculum at Key Stage
2, London: Tufnell Press. Four meetings (11am – 3.30pm) were
held at the University of York initially to share the current research
findings and ideas of SIG members, then to plan the nature and content
of a publication and finally to disseminate and discuss initial
drafts. Webb, R. (Ed.) Changing Teaching and Learning in the
Primary School, London: Open University Press (2006) is the
outcome of this collaboration. This book examines research evidence
on current priorities and government initiatives. It identifies
continuities and discontinuities in policy, practice and teachers’
and pupils’ perspectives on these. The focus on Key Stage 2 of the
original publication is maintained but with an additional emphasis
given to the views of KS2 pupils themselves.
The majority of the writing sub-group presented their contributions
to the SIG publication in three linked symposia at the annual BERA
Conference in September 2005. Professor Andrew Pollard, Institute
of Education, University of London, acted as discussant for the
symposia that attracted a wide audience and generated lively debate
over some contested and controversial issues. The SIG was represented
at last year’s annual BERA Conference through a range of individual
papers and symposia reporting the research in progress and research
findings of its members. A similar varied programme will be available
at this year’s BERA Conference at the London Institute of Education,
5-8 September 2007.
Currently SIG members are involved in a series of seminars researching
key aspects of Primary teachers work.
Professor Rosemary Webb
School of Education
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PL
rosemary.webb@manchester.ac.uk
Report of
the ASPE/BERA meeting
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