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The educational imperatives of our time have led to major curriculum reviews in all four nations of the UK. Common themes across these curriculum reforms include a shift in focus from knowledge to skills, restoring the humane character of education and strengthening teacher professionalism.Ìý

With this Â鶹ÒùÔº Bites collection, guest editors Juliana Mandra and Rebekah GearÌýcapture the shifts in educational thinking in primary education. The blog posts in thisÌýissue speak to a profession that is increasingly unwilling to accept a curriculum that exhausts children, overwhelms teachers and narrows the scope of education. Taken together, the articles offer a compelling vision for the future of primary education: one that is humane, relational, inclusive and grounded in the professional wisdom of teachers.

The contributions to this issue explore:Ìý

• ³§³¦³ó·É²¹²ú’s practical tradition of curriculum-making, which is grounded in the realities of classrooms and the professional judgment of teachers, as a framework for understanding the current curriculum reform in England

• the fundamental aim of education asÌýthe development of the whole person rather than the selective transmission of school subjects

• how genuine improvement requires evidence-informed, not evidence-dictated, practice and educational research that is meaningful to teaching

• the challenges of designing curricula that support equitable access to knowledge in a system shaped by segregation and social stratification

• foregrounding the best interests of the child as a guiding principle for curriculum design

• a curriculum that rekindles curiosity, creativity and emotional engagement with taught knowledge

• how boundary-crossing collaborations between teachers, artists and children can open new spaces for joy, imagination and emotional engagement

• ±è³Ü±è¾±±ô²õ’ wellbeing and howÌýthis cannot be meaningfully embedded without attending to identity, belonging and the social worlds that children inhabit

• place-based education which positions local environments and histories as powerful contexts for learning

• embedding children’s agency within curriculum design

• the expanding pastoral responsibilities within the teaching profession and the added pressures on an already excessive workload

• how teacher agency and wellbeing are essential to curriculum design, improvement of pedagogy and pupil wellbeing.