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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 ½¿É«µ¼º½ 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.