Drawing on the work of Vygotsky, the authors look at the social and emotional advantages children can gain from working together. They use case studies derived from the ORACLE II group work project at Leicester, and also take into account the advances made in collaborative group work in other countries. The result is a set of guidelines from which teachers can plan policies suitable for their own schools.

Professor Maurice Galton is Director of the School of Education, University of Leicester. His research, beginning with the ORACLE project, has embraced all aspects of primary education and he was one of the first university professors to return to the school classroom to acquire recent and relevant teaching experience. His publications include Inside the Primary Classroom, and Curriculum Provision in the Small Primary School. John Williamson is Head of the School of Teaching Studies at the Curtin University of Technology, Perth. Western Australia.

Preface 1 GROUPING AND GROUP WORK 2 GROUP WORK AND TASK COMPLETION: THE RESEARCH EVIDENCE 3 GROUP WORK IN THE ORACLE STUDY: THE PUPILS' PERSPECTIVE 4 A TALE OF TWO TEACHERS: INITIAL ENCOUNTERS 5 A TALE OF TWO TEACHERS: FACILITATING COLLABORATION 6 GROUP WORK: FROM PRACTICE TO THEORY 7 BEGINNING AND MAINTAINING GROUP WORK 8 CHANGING CLASSROOM PRACTICE