This is a linear review of the education statutes of each state for the purpose of identifying those statutes which require the state's history to be taught in its K-12 schools, with further analysis for trends and outliers. The intent is to first serve as a benchmark as to where both each state and the nation as a whole is at this point in time.…

The recently introduced "Australian Curriculum: English" (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2012) requires students to "read" multimodal text and describe the effects of structure and organisation. We begin this article by tracing the variable understandings of what reading multimodal text might…

The formation of the Common Core State Standards can be regarded as the predecessor of a national curriculum. This research addresses how the proposed national math curriculum compares to the math curricula of a sample of peer-nations (Singapore, Netherlands, Germany, and Japan) with high student achievement rates in math, while relating the math…

This article explores some of the distinctive challenges in Chinese language education in schools and discusses how the development of the "Australian Curriculum: Chinese" has responded to these challenges. It details how the curriculum framework outlined in the "Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages" (ACARA, 2011)…

The accuracy of the results of the national tests in English, mathematics and science taken by 11-year olds in England has been a matter of much debate since their introduction in 1994, with estimates of the proportion of students incorrectly classified varying from 10 to 30%. Using live data from the 2009 and 2010 administration of the national…

This paper explores questions of relevance to Ethiopian primary education policy. It examines (i) the match/mismatch between government-prescribed pedagogy and actual student learning practices and (ii) the relationship between those practices and school, class and teacher level factors. The paper employs evidence from government documents on…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of new interactive, bi-lingual Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) resources called Tyfu i Fyny/Growing Up, suitable for students aged between five and 12 years. It also discusses the evidence used to support the development of the resources, the support provided for teachers and…

This article examines the meanings ascribed to democracy by 74 township children in primary and intermediate schools outside Cape Town. The Xhosa children's racial and historical accounts form the qualitative substance to postulate democracy as "ubuntu" (respect). Embedded in a 'struggle for recognition', democratic belonging, being, and…

Romania's education system has made impressive strides over the past two decades, with an increasing share of students mastering the basic competencies that they need for life and work. But these average improvements mask significant disparities in learning outcomes and attainment, with an increasing share of students leaving education early…

The author looks at the future of primary science, and is not encouraged. It's pretty much all over for science in primary schools. One only has to look at the poor showing on the stands at January's ASE Annual Conference to see that it is no longer a publishing priority. Eroded by falling status, undermined by national strategies, and finally put…

Uganda introduced the use of mother tongue as medium of instruction in primary schools in 2007. This was meant to promote interaction and participation in the learning process and improve children's proficiency in reading and writing. Drawing elements of interaction and participation from the socio-cultural theory, the child-centred pedagogy was…

This article considers how primary teachers can learn from the practice of artists in their own teaching of art. Fundamental to artistic practice is the notion of practising with various materials and tools. In the article I look at some children's images, as well as scrutinising some statements made by the painter Francis Bacon. The practices of…

In South Africa, the Department of Basic Education and Training (DBE) is responsible for primary and secondary education (Grades R-12). In an effort to improve educational standards in literacy, numeracy and mathematics, especially in the Foundation Phase (FP) levels of education, the DBE has developed several initiatives and campaigns. To monitor…

Teacher education can provide opportunities for contributing towards a re-envisaging of the teaching and learning of mathematics in the primary classroom. This study documents the experiences of one student teacher who, during her mathematics education courses, embraced a perception of mathematics as a social, creative and experiential discipline.…

This paper is a position paper, which argues the position that critical thinking is a crucial skill, which needs to be developed in the school curriculum and that the creative arts can do this. The paper explores the states of the Arts in the present curriculum and goes on to argue that knowing how to develop critical thinking is an important…