Edited by Michael P Breen and Andrew Littlejohn
Cambridge University Press, 2000. Available now.            [Return to books list. Return to talk notes page ]
ISBN: hardback 0521661927,  paperback  0521666147

How can we involve students in classroom decisions?  Why should we do this?  Can it work? What implications does this have for teachers?  What difficulties might arise? What benefits can we expect?

   This important collection aims to address these questions by bringing together for the first time accounts from teachers who have introduced shared decision-making with students.  The book describes the rationale for negotiation and explains the origins of process syllabuses, which aim to provide a structure for negotiation.  The collection provides actual examples from primary and secondary schools, and tertiary and teacher education from a wide range of contexts - including those in Britain, Europe, the USA, South America, and Asia.  We learn about both successes and difficulties in negotiating with students.  The collection focuses on practice - what needs to happen in the classroom and how - and provides a framework for teachers to experiment with negotiation in their own classrooms.

The book will be of value to classroom teachers everywhere, course designers, curriculum planners and those involved in teacher education.   Chapter 18 is available to download.

Contents
Introduction and overview

1 The significance of negotiation Michael P. Breen and Andrew Littlejohn

Part 1 Accounts of practice in primary and secondary schools
Overview
 2 Negotiated evaluation in an ESL context.    Anne MacKay, Kaye Oates and Yvonne Haig
 3 Negotiating assessment with secondary school pupils    Kari Smith
 4 Introducing negotiation processes: an experiment with creative project work. Ramon Ribé
 5 "We do what we like": Negotiated classroom work with Hungarian children.    Marianne Nikolov
 6 Is a negotiated syllabus feasible within a national curriculum?    Pnina Linder
 7 Refining negotiated classroom work in a Spanish secondary school    Isabel Serrano-Sampedro

Part 2  Accounts of practice in tertiary institutions
Overview
 8 Negotiation in tertiary education: clashes with the dominant educational culture
     Stefaan Slembrouck
 9  Syllabus negotiation in a school of nursing     Elaine Martyn
10 Negotiating the syllabus: learning needs analysis through pictures
     Eddie Edmundson and Steve Fitzpatrick
11 Reality therapy: using negotiated work in a technical writing class    Wendy Newstetter
12 Negotiation of outcome: evaluation and revision decisions in the Writing Curriculum Margaret Sokolik
13 Learners, practitioners, teachers: diamond spotting and negotiating the role boundaries
     Lucy Norris and Susan Spencer

Part 3 Accounts of practice in teacher education
Overview
14 A Process Syllabus in a methodology course: experiences, beliefs, challenges    Suzanne Irujo
15 Discourse, process and reflection in teacher education     Mike McCarthy and Mike Makosch
16 Negotiation, process, content, and participants' experience in a process syllabus for ELT
     Professionals  Roz IvaniC
17 Negotiation as a participatory dialogue    Kate Wolfe-Quintero

18 The practicalities of negotiation    Michael P Breen and Andrew Littlejohn