Policy and Practice in Primary Education A new edition of the book described as the benchmark against which all new contributions to this debate will be measured'. Now contains the influential Leeds report together with a detailed account of its controversial sequel, the government's three wise men' enquiry on primary education, and a discussion of developments since then. Robin Alexander's report on Primary education in Leeds provoked both interest and controversy when it was first published in 1991. Hailed as seminal', it has since been quoted - and misquoted - in support of widely-opposing political and educational agendas. It was also a catalyst for the government's controversial 1992 three wise men' enquiry, in which Alexander was also involved. This, in turn, fuelled a debate about standards and teaching methods in primary education which, with another general election imminent, is even more politically-charged now that it was then. Policy and Practice in Primary Education is a study of these two policy initiatives in primary education, one local and the other national, and of the lessons we can learn from them. Part I documents the impact on schools, teachers and children of an ambitious LEA programme for educational reform, raising important questions about children's needs, the curriculum, teaching methods, staff deployment and school management. Part II provides an insider's account of the three wise men' sequel to Leeds, showing the tense and complex interplay of political, media, academic and professional interests which influenced its writing and reception, and tracing its impact into the mid-1990s. The book is both a record of events during a critical time in recent educational history, and an analysis of issues of much longer-term importance for the quality of education in this country. Also by Robin Alexander and published by Routledge: Versions of Primary Education (1995)