Reviews of the first edition: "Janet Moyles's carefully and imaginatively edited book will be of great interest to a wide educational community... This is more than a handbook for students and their tutors - it is a manifest of the dedicated and closely focused professionalism of the University of Leicester team, and I am sure that it will still be being read in ten years time by all concerned with primary education." - Mentoring and Tutoring * How can new primary teachers not only survive but enjoy their chosen career? * What can newly qualified and student teachers do to recognize and address the many complexities of primary teaching? * What are the issues which continually challenge both new and experienced teachers? The second edition of this successful text sets out to explore some of the wider issues surrounding work with children in the 3-11 years age range and considers how these are woven into the broad framework of teaching and teachers' own learning. Cameos and examples of classroom practice help to illustrate the aspects of teaching: what it is to be an effective and competent teacher; classroom processes such as planning, observation and assessment; the variety of ways in which children learn and develop thinking skills through various curriculum areas including ICT; equal opportunities and special needs issues; 'in loco parentis' responsibilities and reflective approaches to teaching. Written in an accessible style, the aim throughout is to offer guidance and encouragement in the challenging and complex task of early years and primary teaching. Comprehensively revised and updated throughout, this second edition, produced by colleagues from Anglia Polytechnic University and University of Leicester, discusses teaching and learning in the context of recent initiatives such as the Foundation Stage, the Literacy Hour, the induction year for newly qualified teachers and the growth and development of ICT. It will be an essential text for all students and newly qualified primary teachers.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Foreword by Colin Richards Introduction Part one: Learning to teach Begin at the beginning working in the foundation stage A place for everything? the teaching and learning environment Seeing clearly observation in the primary classroom Identifying the positive within yourself action planning for competence Inside the learning mind primary children and their learning potential Part two: Teaching to learn Where do we begin? planning for learning, children and teachers! Fruit salads and wild gardens! developing investigative thinking and skills in children Mummy's face is green! developing thinking and skills in art Telling the whole story developing oral skills and imagination within the literacy hour Getting it write! supporting and responding to children's writing All the children want to do is get on with it! ICT in primary education Keeping track assessing, monitoring and recording children's progress and achievement Part three: Responsibilities, roles and relationships Putting the bananas to bed becoming a reflective primary teacher Dialogue with a difference teaching for equality in primary schools All children are special but some are more special than others! special educational needs in the primary school It takes two to tango..! working with experienced teachers I don't want to worry you but...! teachers and the law Conclusion Index.