# Introduction

Welcome to this free course, Supporting children’s learning in primary education today.

Figure 1 Supporting learners in primary teaching today.

Each section of the course invites you to explore a different aspect of learning and teaching in primary education. You will have opportunities to engage with different types of activities that are designed to develop your understanding of learning and teaching in primary education, and importantly to reflect on and connect this material to your own experiences. These experiences may include: being a pupil; being a parent/carer of a child or children in primary school; being a volunteer/paid member or staff in a primary school.

Terminology and age range for primary education varies across the four nations of the United Kingdom (UK) and internationally. The terms ‘primary education’, ‘primary schools’ and ‘primary-aged children’ will refer to the education of children aged between three and twelve years old. You may be aware of other terms that also refer to primary school education and different stages within that, including ‘nursery’, ‘elementary school’, ‘early years’, ‘foundation stage’, ‘infant’, ‘middle and junior school’.

You’ll start by considering the following questions:

1. How might we understand primary schools today?
2. How do primary schools support young learners?
3. How can schools be inclusive and offer specialist provision?
4. What are your experiences of primary education – your own or from your work/volunteering in a primary setting?

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course E103 Learning and teaching in the primary years. The OU course offers a range of different perspectives taking into consideration differences in education systems in the UK and opportunities for learning and teaching beyond the school gates.

OpenLearn - Supporting children’s learning in primary education today
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