Change and Continuity in the Primary School: the research evidence

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Abstract
The period since the publication of the Plowden Report has seen considerable growth in the study of teaching methods in the primary school, mainly through the use of systematic observation techniques. This article reviews the findings of one of the major projects, the ORACLE project (Observational Research and Classroom Learning Evaluation) which was carried out during a five year period beginning in 1975. The evidence collected in this study, which is supported by more recent work, suggests that the kinds of practice endorsed in the Plowden Report were only partially implemented. Most of the changes which have been carried out concerned the organisational structure of the classroom and have had far less to do with the curriculum content and the teaching and learning processes. At one level, therefore, there exists uniformity and continuity while at the other, considerable discontinuity because of the ways in which different schools interpret ideas about informal approaches to teaching. Various explanations for these discontinuities are explored but rejected on the grounds that they place too much emphasis on those aspects of the teaching process which operate at the strategic level. Much more important are the tactical decisions which take place during the course of the lesson. These arise largely because of pressures and stresses within the participants (both teachers and pupils) and give rise to considerable covert bargaining as teachers try to find a balance between the imposition of authority at one extreme and pupil autonomy at the other. This suggests the need to redefine progressive practice which allows ‘open’ negotiations to take place both about pupil learning and about pupil behaviour. Various ways of bringing about these changes are suggested.

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