Mari Boyle – författare

Drawing on wide ranging research this book, originally published in 1997, explores how the policy changes of previous years were affecting primary teachers and their work at the time. Within the context of worldwide restructuring, the thoughts, feelings and activities of teachers in their daily work are examined. The core argument is that what used to be a complex but fulfilling job distinguished by professional dilemmas, which are amenable to professional skill, had become increasingly marked by tension and constraint, which frustrates teacher creativity. While some teachers found new opportunities in the ‘new’ primary school, many used strategical and micro-political activity in order to cope, while others fell victim to stress and burnout. The authors argue that teachers’ own active involvement in policy change is required if their creative potential is to be realized. The book will still be of interest to teachers in primary schools, researchers and policy makers.

Drawing on wide ranging research this book, originally published in 1997, explores how the policy changes of previous years were affecting primary teachers and their work at the time. Within the context of worldwide restructuring, the thoughts, feelings and activities of teachers in their daily work are examined. The core argument is that what used to be a complex but fulfilling job distinguished by professional dilemmas, which are amenable to professional skill, had become increasingly marked by tension and constraint, which frustrates teacher creativity. While some teachers found new opportunities in the ‘new’ primary school, many used strategical and micro-political activity in order to cope, while others fell victim to stress and burnout. The authors argue that teachers’ own active involvement in policy change is required if their creative potential is to be realized. The book will still be of interest to teachers in primary schools, researchers and policy makers.

How do multicultural children and their parents experience the very beginning of their school careers?

How do teachers mediate the demands of the educational system, and how do the children adapt?

What kind of access to the National Curriculum is offered to multicultural children?

Originally published in 1999, the authors answer these questions by drawing on two years’ intensive research in three multi-ethnic institutions. They explore teachers’ values and beliefs and how they attempt to put them into practice. They describe how, at times, teachers were constrained to get things done because of pressures operating on them, but at other times, taught creatively in a way particularly relevant to the children’s concerns and cultures.

The authors studied the children’s experiences on their transition into school, and argue that they were inducted into not only a general pupil role, but also one based on an anglicised model of pupil. Opportunities for learning which children found most meaningful came notably from free play, but these became gradually more limited as they engaged with the National Curriculum. These young children were forming complex identities as they sought to respond to the varying influences operating them. Their parents saw a cultural divide opening up between home and school. Many suggestions for practice and policy are made in the course of the book and are still relevant today.