IOE's Part in Primary Review
22 October 2009
It may hail from Cambridge, but the biggest review of primary education for 40 years is underpinned by contributions from a large group of academics from the Institute of Education, London (IOE)
The Cambridge Primary Review final report, published after a three-year enquiry, finds England's primary schools under intense pressure but in good heart and in general doing a good job. While the government's childhood agenda is applauded, its standards agenda is viewed less favourably – not from opposition to standards and accountability but because of the educational damage the apparatus of targets, testing, performance tables, national strategies and inspection is perceived to have caused for questionable returns. The issue is not whether schools should be accountable or children should be assessed (they should) but how, it says.
Edited by Professor Robin Alexander of Cambridge University, the review's director, both volumes of the final report include contributions from IOE academics. In Volume 1, Children, their World, their Education, which contains the final report and recommendations, Berry Mayall. Professor of Childhood Studies, has written about childhood and Visiting Professor Dame Gillian Pugh, who is also chair of the review's advisory committee, wrote a chapter on early education.
The 12 IOE academics whose work features in Volume 2, comprised of more than 30 research surveys commissioned to inform the review are: Peter Blatchford, Andrea Creech, Julie Dockrell, Michael Fielding, Susan Hallam, Judith Ireson, Mary James (now at Cambridge), Berry Mayall, Nick Peacey, Andrew Pollard, Karl Wall and John White.
Among its 75 recommendations, the Review says that children should not start formal schooling until age six, and that they should enjoy a play-based curriculum before that age. It proposes an aims-based curriculum and says teacher training should encourage teachers to explore the big questions of educational purpose and value as well as develop their skills.
At the final report's launch at the RSA Dame Gillian said it was important to see primary education within the context of families and communities. The review "reminds us what a high priority it must remain to reduce child poverty," she said.
More information from www.primaryreview.org.uk