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This paper explores headteachers' and teachers' perceptions of foreign languages(FL) and cultural learning in three primary schools in areas of disadvantage in England. Drawing upon a new theoretical frame for primary languages, Critical Cosmopolitanism (Delanty, 2006; Beck and Sznaider, 2006) and The Grammar of Culture (Holliday, 2018), we argue that the grand narrative of a target language inhabited by a target culture is outdated and approaches to cultural learning in primary schools could lead the way. There is substantial evidence that most learners find language lessons fun, particularly activities such as songs, stories and intercultural events (Driscoll et al., 2004, 2014; Cable et al. 2010). The discourse on conditions for inclusive practice is less commonplace and little is known about FL learning in areas of high deprivation (Nikolov & Mihaljević Djigunović, 2011). Teachers and headteachers in this study were committed to cultural learning and staff adopted creative approaches to teaching. The findings, however, also indicate that traditional notions of a mono or homogenised national culture with associated stereotypes linger in teachers' framing of FL. There exists a need for a more personalised approach to cultural learning drawing upon children's own cultural experiences. Data was analysed thematically following strict ethical guidelines and all names were anonymised to ensure confidentiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Policy discourses are one of the main means whereby policy texts influence the value, the implementation and the embedding of policies in the settings in which they operate. However, a number of discourses operate at the same time in any given context and they also influence the interpretation and implementation of them through the way in which practitioners manage policy processes as mediators. This research, sponsored by the ESRC, focuses on two such discourses in education in England, that of performativity and creativity and investigated how primary teachers managed these policies and how they were influenced by them. We found that performativity and creativity policies were mainly being developed in primary schools in parallel although we also found some examples of integration of them in what one teacher described as ‘smart teaching’. The major finding was that teachers sought to ensure pedagogic and professional success for both these fields to the best of their ability and to maintain their professional wellbeing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Widely thought to be something worth encouraging in young learners, creativity has popularly been associated more with music and art than with other areas of the curriculum. There have been many studies of creativity but few that focus explicitly on what counts as creative thinking in specific subject areas. The aim of the research reported here was to determine pre-service teachers’ conceptions of creativity within the curriculum for English. The study involved analyses of primary school trainee teachers’ responses to questionnaires and follow-up focus group discussion to identify their conceptions. A group of 48 trainees in the final year of an undergraduate degree in primary education leading to qualified teacher status in England completed the questionnaire. Of these, eight volunteered to participate in a follow-up focus group discussion to further explore ideas. Responses were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Conceptions of creativity in English were found to be limited, focused mainly on naïve views of story writing and dramatic activity. Responses indicated that they were often unable to distinguish clearly between the concept of creativity, an example of its occurrence in the classroom, and what feature of that example made it creative. Consequently, their limited constructions of creativity were confused. It is important that teachers in schools as well as those responsible for training teachers in universities are advised that trainees’ conceptions of creativity in English may be inadequate in several respects and that they may not recognise opportunities for creativity. Pre-service training programmes could well benefit from structured courses on the forms and applications of creativity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This reflective piece – written primarily to provoke discussion – raises some questions about and for the recent ‘creativity agenda’ in educational policy in England, suggesting that something fundamental is missing. The author argues that ‘creativity’ has characteristically been defined in recent policy discourse as a set of skills concerned with developing independent thinking, problem-solving and flexible working. ‘Creativity’ thus turns out to be intimately and explicitly allied to ‘employability’. The author believes that creativity, on the contrary, is stimulated by the encouragement of vivid inner lifeworlds, a sense of imaginative interiority and a sensuously-felt subjectivity – as exemplified in S.T. Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan. She argues that these are part of pedagogic responsibility as well as a sine qua non for the work of the imagination. The author is writing in her role as poet (who also leads creative writing workshops, including for teachers), rather than as a researcher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an account of a 'Mantle of the Expert' enquiry in a school in the North of England. Combining GCSE Shakespeare coursework with Speaking and Listening assessments (25% of the total GCSE grade), the English department in the school improved achievement while remaining committed to developing a creative approach to teaching and learning. The article is most concerned, however, with the 'incidental' outcomes of the process: the insights offered into the 'real life' contexts of the participants, the place of role in research, and the presentation of data in playscript form. It seeks to explore how the researcher can sit within a dramatic process and present its outcomes as authentically as possible, while recognising that narrative accounts, however they are framed, are subjectively presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article charts the progress of one cohort of student-teachers (variously known as beginning teachers and pre-service teachers) training to teach English in London secondary schools during 2008-9. The research focuses specifically on the experiences which facilitate their development as confident and creative teachers and assessors of reading at Key Stage 3 (11-14 years). Findings indicate that it is the interaction - and tensions - between their personal reading histories, engagement in theory, and practice within the social environment of the classroom which shape their burgeoning identities as teachers of literature and reading. This year-long study demonstrates that for some a growing confidence has enabled them to look beyond approaches advocated by statutory curriculum frameworks to develop their own view of innovative practice in the teaching of reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper offers analysis and evaluation of ‘Creative Science Teaching (CST) Labs III’, a unique and immersive approach to science teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD) designed and run by a London-based organisation, Performing Arts Labs (PAL), involving specialists from the arts, science and technology as integral. Articulating the key features of the experience and its perceived influences and by setting these in the wider context of the literatures in continuing professional development and creative teaching and learning, the paper seeks to demonstrate novel dimensions that this initiative has to offer CPD in creative teaching and the ensuing learning, highlighting key questions for further developing these new dimensions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents the research project of the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) English student teachers on the creative approaches in teaching English subject in Durham, England. It states that the primary objective of the study is to determine the efficacy of classroom practice in teaching English. It mentions the learning opportunities in teaching English lessons based on the National Strategy's Framework for Teaching English.

Bridge Arts Education is a centre for troubled children, part of Warwickshire Education Support Service. In this article, I explore its history and some of the strategies employed to work effectively with what can be a highly stressed group of children. At Bridge, the education department employs artists to work with children who have serious emotional and behavioural problems. I explain our use of creative themes and mention some of the practicalities of getting disillusioned children down to work. I discuss the value of this arts approach in meeting our National Curriculum and GCSE obligations. I also mention our approach to behavioural problems. We attracted the interest of West Midlands Arts and the article ends with a look at a Trainee Artist Placement which they funded at Bridge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]