Skip navigation

All for one, and one for all: If texts hold power, to what extent does current Primary and Early Years documentation empower teachers?

All for one, and one for all: If texts hold power, to what extent does current Primary and Early Years documentation empower teachers?

Betteney, Mark (2010) All for one, and one for all: If texts hold power, to what extent does current Primary and Early Years documentation empower teachers? Literacy, 44 (2). pp. 91-97. ISSN 1741-4369 (online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-4369.2010.00551.x)

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

This article considers the extent to which the needs and aspirations of teachers are taken into account in three examples of current Primary and Early Years documentation – the National Curriculum, the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Primary Framework. This analysis is done through three methods: a critical discourse analysis of the aims and purposes of each; an analysis of models of power; and an analysis of models of pedagogy. The article reveals that teachers and teaching are not well represented within the aims and purposes of two of the documents, but that equally there are pedagogic behaviours within the teaching profession that do not aspire to autonomy. Recent documentation has tended to be accompanied by prescribed systematic pedagogy, which has created perceived tensions within the profession, yet the data show that many teachers seek to be professionally passive in terms of the planning demands of documentation. This article suggests that where there are identifiable tensions, these are not found simply between teachers (collectively) and imposed documentation, but between some teachers and some aspects of documentation.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: power, documentation, teachers and teaching, pedagogy, policy-as-text
Subjects: L Education > L Education (General)
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1501 Primary Education
Pre-2014 Departments: School of Education
School of Education > Department of Primary Education
Related URLs:
Last Modified: 14 Oct 2016 09:19
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/7679

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item