American students teach in English primary schools: a conflict of educational ideologies?

Abstract

The high reputation of English primary schools in the USA justified the decision by one large American university to give its students experience of the English system. This report incorporates a case study of those American students who took part in a programme of professional training in primary schools in north‐east England. Through participant observation, interview and documentation it was possible to build up a picture of the experiences of these students and the problems they faced. There emerged for these students a dichotomy between the concept of child‐centred education and the wish to control children through behaviour‐modification techniques.