Piaget, Plowden and primary education

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Alan Coulson

Piaget's work is both difficult to understand and much parodied in educational texts. Too often the same, rather ‘tired’, stage-by-stage descriptions appear in print, with predictable effects on readers. This article deserves a better reception, since it helpfully clarifies three principal Piagetian ideas on learning which have been misunderstood by those of us in primary education and since it suggests modifications and extensions to Piaget's theory. Both authors have considerable experience in primary schools, which is partly why their exposition is more meaningful and understandable than most previous attempts.