The Power to Learn: Stories of Success in the Education of Asian and Other Bilingual Pupils

Abstract

The ten inner city schools in this study show how teachers can, with empathy and imagination, enable bilingual pupils to achieve all-round success. All the primary schools have, in different ways, rejected the official version of the literacy strategy to provide instead deeper links with children's spoken language and experience with exciting results. The stories in this book are about an inclusive and antiracist curriculum that gives the arts a high profile, about the negotiation of identities and cultures, through English, Religious Education, the media and about critical literacy and collaborative learning. They are about empowering patterns of relationships within the school and in the community. Consequently, they are about leadership, teamwork , a reflective professionalism among teachers and a close understanding of the local community.