Primary Teachers’ Beliefs About Children's Development

Abstract

The paper is a report of recent research on the beliefs about children's development held by a sample (n=28) of good teachers of primary school history. The argument centres on two questions, concerning: (1) good practice as the basis for the improvement of teachers’ practice generally; and (2) the applicability of psychological perspectives to teachers’ practice. Evidence is reported under four headings namely, teachers’ estimates of the ages at which children succeed on tasks, their ability to engage in task analysis, their view of children's error and their view of developmental accounts. The main conclusion drawn is that the answer to the two questions is negative and positive respectively. The implications of this conclusion for the implementation of the National Curriculum are discussed, leading to the claim that extra help and in‐service training for teachers is not merely desirable but strictly necessary.