Sloyd pedagogy was introduced towards the close of the 18th century to Icelandic educators. Subsequently craft was established as a specific subject aimed at general education. In the beginning craft was called "school industry," to distinguish it from "home industry" whose aim was to help homes to be self-sufficient for…

Whilst the past 35 years have seen numerous attempts at national curriculum collaboration in Australia, these have invariably failed largely due to the constitutional reality that the States have responsibility for curriculum. Federal government involvement in curriculum can only be achieved, therefore, with the consent of the States. To achieve…

The voice is a basic tool in human communication and an important factor in a positive self-understanding and identity, both for the teacher's sense of profession and for the pupils' ability to express themselves orally; two perspectives of great importance in the Norwegian National Curriculum. Voice disorders are common among teachers world-wide…

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent, to which factors in the process of decision making involved in curriculum development in Australia, have determined the quality of curriculum documents. Searches on web sites of education organisations and electronic databases of educational literature were conducted to identify source documents…

Since the introduction of the action research into China in the 1980s, especially since the start of the twenty-first century, Chinese education researchers have been trying to localize it in relation to the backdrop of the national curriculum reform in basic education. This article presents three cases in which educators aimed for a conscious…

The mass communication process via (mass) media has a great potential of reaching people all around the world. This may foster cosmopolitanism and democracy, but it also holds the danger of an increasing manipulation because of the fact that media can never be neutral and value-free. While some studies do not see a harmful impact of media, most…

This paper reports on a national evaluation project that investigated characteristics of environmental education (EE) practice in New Zealand schools in 2002-2003. The research included a review of New Zealand and international environmental education literature, a survey of nearly 200 New Zealand schools and case studies of environmental…

There is a resurgence of interest in the powerful concept of emotion in current educational policy and practice. This article calls for the recognition and conceptualisation of a triadic schema for theorising the location of emotion within a creative educational experience. The schema represents emotion within three domains within current…

The purpose of this study was to review national and state level initiatives in curriculum reform to identify whether the move towards greater national consistency in curriculum outcomes confirms the dominance of outcomes-based education or reflects a shift from outcomes-based to standards-based education. Policy documents were examined, and the…

During the 1990s, the educational systems of the Baltic countries, newly independent of the Soviet Union, underwent rapid and far-reaching change. National educational traditions were re-established and the countries achieved an internationally recognized quality of education. In the second half of the past decade, however, it came to be…

A National Curriculum for postgraduate science teacher training courses in England and Wales was first introduced in September 1999. Reviews the new curriculum and associated assessment procedures and raises points for discussion. Particular attention is paid to the implications for prospective high school physics teachers. (Author/MM)

Explores the impact of the nonstatutory Scottish Curriculum and Assessment Programme 5-14 and the extent to which it represents a national curriculum. Considers the increasing demand for significant representation of Scottish culture in the curriculum, the tension between national identity and multiculturalism, and difficulties in selecting…

Discusses the notion of identity in relation to the options of cultural affiliation available to minority group members. In particular, the article addresses commentary made in relation to the implementation of national curriculum guidelines in indigenous literacy education settings. (Author/JL)

This paper reviews a decade of development of technology education at the secondary school level in Australia. It traces the influences, both national and international, which have pressed the nation's education systems to introduce technology studies into the school curriculum. The increasing globalization, the movement of capital and labor, the…

Considers Goswami's (1999) review of available evidence for and against the role of phonological rime awareness and analogy theory, concluding much of the evidence fits an alternative (non-rime) interpretation. Explores implications from this evidence for teaching and the role of rime analogy should play in the British National Curriculum. (SG)