This book is concerned with the relationships and tensions in education between children s needs and societies demands questions which primary teachers everywhere face on a daily basis such as: * how does society s view of children and childhood affect teaching and learning? * how do the dictates of the education system including a national curriculum shape teaching practice? * how do the conventions of classroom practice fit with teachers own beliefs and values? The first part of the book offers a basic framework for thinking about primary curricula from the perspectives raised by these questions whilst the second part presents a range of international views on the primary curriculum from Australia New Zealand South-East Asia Europe and the USA