A major problem for teachers is that students are different, they learn mathematics differently, and at different rates. Regardless of this, schools organise students into large groups or classes of 20 to 30 students all about the same age. Then there is the "Australian Curriculum: Mathematics" that states the student learning outcomes…

According to the South African curriculum, two of the aims of learning history are to learn the process of historical enquiry and to understand historical concepts such as the use of historical sources and examining evidence. This paper explores how a sample of seven social science South African textbooks uses historical sources to enable learners…

Recently, creativity has begun to be talked about as a twenty-first-century competency [UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation). 2006. "The World Conference on Arts Education: Building Creative Capacities for the 21st Century: Working Document", Lisbon, Portugal, 6-9 March 2006". Lisbon: UNESCO].…

This study examines practicing primary school teacher's perceptions of the teaching of physical education in their schools. There has been some criticism of primary school physical education but until now this criticism has been largely based on a number of small studies involving limited numbers of teachers and schools. This study involved…

New educational curricula are regularly put into practice worldwide; and the issues related to curriculum design are frequently discussed from a pedagogical perspective. However, the processes involved in preparing a statewide English as a foreign language (EFL) curriculum are rarely elaborated from an inside view. As the experiences of program…

The delicate question of teaching ethics in compulsory school regained urgency in Sweden in 2013 when national tests were introduced in religious education, of which ethics is a part. In this article, a variety of ethical competences that teachers want their students to develop are presented, based on group interviews with 46 teachers. Grounded…

This study aims to examine the primary education curricula prepared in 2017 in the context of gaining socialization, multiculturalism and democratic values. Analyses are carried out on the basis of social adaptation, social norms, individual responsibility, multicultural education, democracy culture, and rights and freedoms. The study is limited…

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) has become a driving force for change in North America and New Zealand and is gaining some recognition in Indigenous education in Australia. But as a model of learning and teaching, it cannot be imported unproblematically into Australian schools, wherein the past Indigenous students have had limited success.…

Background: In Sweden, the introduction of new national curricula for primary and secondary schools has implied, for example, that programming has become a compulsory part of mathematics education since August 2018. We study Swedish fifth and sixth graders and the distributions of their motivational values related to studying mathematics with…

This article challenges the simplistic and reductive image of Taiwanese schoolteachers, and reveals their actions of resistance during the turmoil of the recent curriculum reform controversy. Despite the fact that teachers are not usually portrayed as progressive and revolutionary agents, in the face of the disputed curriculum revision in 2014,…

Background: To help equip students with 21st century competencies, one popular strategy adopted by governments and schools worldwide is to move from less formal to more engaging school environments through School-Based Curriculum Development (SBCD). In Singapore, the governmental call to "Teach Less and Learn More" has galvanised SBCD in…

This article presents analyses of curricula in religious education (RE) for public schools in Austria, Scotland, and Sweden. A curricula is the plan that outlines the goals, content and outcomes in education. A critical discourse analysis approach (CDA) is used to explore how each national RE curricula constructs (a) the aims, status and purpose…

Pressures on primary teachers to improve writing are often to the detriment of quality talk in the classroom. This is despite decades of research emphasising that knowledge and understanding are developed through such talk. Primary teachers' experiences of incorporating the current Spoken Language national curriculum are often at odds with current…

Situated learning theory maintains that there is a relationship between learning and the social situation in which it occurs; learning is embedded in activity, context and culture. In terms of professional learning for teachers, this implies that effective learning takes place within a community where experts and novices meet and where practice is…

This article explores the correspondence between the vision of play articulated in Singapore's national kindergarten curriculum framework and the play-related pedagogies enacted by teachers on the ground, particularly during Learning Centre Time (LCT). Influenced by neo-liberal ways of thinking, the curriculum states that "purposeful…