PART ONE: CONCEPTS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION Towards a New Perspective on Children′s Learning? - Andrew Pollard Just for Fun? - Janet Moyles The Child as Active Learner and Meaning Maker Defining Classroom Knowledge - Mary Phillips Manke The Part that Children Play Critical Pedagogy, Empowerment and Learning - Sonia Nieto PART TWO: PEDAGOGIC ISSUES Organizing the Primary Classroom Environment as a Context for Learning - Pam Pointon and Ruth Kershner Balancing Individual and the Group - Margery D Osborne A Dilemma for the Constructivist Teacher `Sally, Would You Like to Sit Down?′ - Mary Phillips Manke How Teachers use Politeness and Indirect Discourse The Literary Hour - Roger Hancock and Melian Mansfield A Case for Listening to Children Silence as a Fortress and Prison - Karen Gallas PART THREE: APPLICATION OF PRACTICE What Is Curriculum? - Alistair Ross Will the Curriculum Caterpillar Ever Learn to Fly? - Mike Davies and Gwyn Edwards Challenging Prescription in Ideology and Practice - Bob Jeffrey The Case of Sunny First School The Impact of the National Curriculum on Play in Reception Class - Elizabeth Wood Value Pluralism, Democracy and Education for Citizenship - Don Rowe ICT in Subject Teaching an Opportunity for Curriculum Renewal? - Michael Bonnet, Angela McFarlane and Jacquetta Williams Critical Literacy and the Case for It in the Early Years of School - Kathy Hall