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.
INTRODUCTIONThe purpose of this paper is to report upon a research investigation into the effectiveness of a student teaching practicum with an international flavour. Selected American students from Yankee State University (the name is, of course, a pseudonym) underwent a programme of professional education centred on a nine-week teaching practice at Durham University in northern England.A detailed analysis of the programme, which involved successive cohorts of students each term over a period of five years, was carried out with the aid of supervising tutors. We attempted to use our observations and the data from college records to explain the dilemmas, contradictions and problems associated with the complex task of teaching and learning in the English primary school. We sought explanations of student dilemmas in the historical, cultural and ideological differences in perspective between the USA and England. This required us to consider the theoretical underpinning of the professional education of teachers in the USA and the current issues in schools, such as educational objectives, curriculum planning, classroom organization, teacher/pupil relationships and the traditional versus progressive debate.The paper begins with a review of the literature regarding the concept of English progressive primary education, especially the views propagated in the 78 Journal of Education for Teaching Vol. 11 No. 1 USA, since this formed the rationale for the establishment of the liaison between the two universities. The succeeding section gives an outline of the organization of the programme and a description of the methodology employed in the research. A picture is then generated of the professional education of the students at the College of Education, Yankee State University, and the students' espoused educational principles are considered. In the following section we discuss our main findings, analysing the experiences of the visiting students in the schools where they carried out their teaching programme. This is represented in terms of curriculum content and teaching methods. The conclusion attempts to link our observations of the students with their educational background, and considers the contrasts between the practices of American elementary and English primary education.
THE AMERICAN VIEW OF ENGLISH PRIMARY PRACTICE
