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Interactive whole class teaching in the National Literacy and Numercy Strategies
Author(s) -
Smith Fay,
Hardman Frank,
Wall Kate,
Mroz Maria
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
british educational research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1469-3518
pISSN - 0141-1926
DOI - 10.1080/01411920410001689706
Subject(s) - numeracy , class (philosophy) , mathematics education , literacy , pedagogy , set (abstract data type) , psychology , perception , teaching method , quality (philosophy) , computer science , artificial intelligence , philosophy , epistemology , neuroscience , programming language
The study set out to investigate the impact of the official endorsement of ‘interactive whole class teaching’ on the interaction and discourse styles of primary teachers while teaching the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies. In both strategies, interactive whole class teaching is seen as an ‘active teaching’ model promoting high quality dialogue and discussion between teachers and pupils. Pupils are expected to play an active part in discussion by asking questions, contributing ideas and explaining and demonstrating their thinking to the class. Using computerized systematic classroom observation, discourse analysis of transcripts and a questionnaire, the project looked specifically at the discourse strategies currently used by a national sample of primary teachers when teaching the literacy and numeracy strategies and their perceptions of current practices. The findings suggest that traditional patterns of whole class interaction have not been dramatically transformed by the strategies. The implications of the findings for classroom pedagogy, teachers' professional development and future research priorities are considered.