Culture and Pedagogy
International Comparisons in Primary Education

Culture and Pedagogy compares primary and secondary elementary schooling in England, France, India, Russia, and the United States, addressing important questions about primary education in the 21st century.

It reveals how teaching, learning, and pedagogic discourse are shaped not just by the decisions of the teacher but also by school values and organization, by local pressures, national policy, and the balance of political control, by the tensions and ambiguities of the democratic ideal, and by culture and history.

Winner of the American Educational Research Association Outstanding Book Award and the Society for Educational Studies Best Book Award.

Liset of Plates.

List of Figures.

List of Tables.

Acknowledgements.

Note.

Introduction.

Part I: Settings:.

1. The Comparative Context.

Part II: Systems, Policies and Histories:.

2. Primary Education in France.

3. Primary Education in Russia.

4. Primary Education in India.

5. Primary Education in the United States of America.

6. Primary Education in England.

7. Primary Education and the State.

Part III: Schools:.

8. Buildings and People.

9. The Idea of a School.

10. Beyond the Gates.

Part IV: Classrooms:.

11. Comparing Teaching.

12. Lesson Structure and Form.

13. Organisation, Task and Activity.

14. Judgement, Routine, Rule and Ritual.

15. Interaction, Time and Pace.

16. Learning Discourse.

Part V: Reflections:.

17. Culture and Pedagogy.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.

Robin Alexander is Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Education and Fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick. He is one of the UK's leading researchers and commentators on primary education and pedagogy, and has advised governments both in the UK and internationally. In 2002 his book Culture and Pedagogy (Blackwell) won the Outstanding Book Award of the American Educational Research Association.