The author picked up a lovely greetings card the other day. The front carried a picture of an overloaded ark. The caption read "And Noah saith "Stuff the dodos"--and behold, it was so". This is an attractive but rather simplistic explanation of extinction. The author is writing in the wake of some extraordinary events, as Professor Michael Reiss,…

The current version of the draft National Curriculum (1.0.1) remains a document which dis-integrates the subject through its three strands and fails to conceptualise a relationship between these strands. Drawing on curriculum history, I argue that this stands in strong contrast to a curriculum such as the 1971 NSW Syllabus for Years 7-10, which…

In all the elementary schools in the county, benchmark assessments were given six times a year in math and three times in reading; they were modeled after the questions anticipated on the Maryland School Assessment (MSA). Although results were sent to the school board, there were no cosmic consequences for the hourlong tests; they were supposed to…

This essay explores the interplay between educational and architectural methodologies for analysing the school environment. It historicises the affinity between architectural and educational practices and modes of knowledge pertaining to the child's body during the period of postwar reconstruction in England to argue that educational spaces were…

When institutional testing is done well, there are many potential benefits; however, it is not without its negatives. The Texas Youth Evaluation Project (TYEP) is an example of large scale institutional testing that yielded more than a few benefits. However, results reported some problems as well. Much has been learned from the TYEP, including…

When Barack Obama announced his run for the presidency, he seemed an unlikely candidate. Against all odds, he was able to defeat an apparently overwhelming opposition by relating to the electorate in a more horizontal, collaborative manner. What Obama did differently was to empower the new, digitally active, younger political class by involving…

As we contemplate on teacher identity research, there is a need to place a teacher's narratives or story-lines at the center of that work. In this forum, in response to the insightful commentary from Stephen Ritchie and Maria Inez Mafra Goulart and Eduardo Soares, I place a greater emphasis on understanding Daisy's narratives from an existing…

Play therapists are increasingly being employed in schools, yet there is confusion among many health, education and social care practitioners about the role of play therapists. This paper explains how play therapists position themselves and what they do through an examination of the therapeutic relationship between the therapist and child. It…

Big things come in small packages. This saying came to the mind of the author after he created a simple math review activity for his fourth grade students. Though simple, it has proven to be extremely advantageous in reinforcing math concepts. He uses this activity, which he calls "Show What You Know," often. This activity provides the perfect…

This paper interrogates the relationship between the social distance men have from children, fear, and the social expectation that men will be capable of managing student (mis)behaviours. Briefly, the central argument is that the social distance men, as a group, have from children, and child protection concerns of men working with children can…

There is always a new supply of books coming into the school library, and students make great reviewers for these new titles. This article shows how library media specialists can create a student book review group as part of a program to develop school-wide incentive for reading.

Emphasis has been on in-service training of primary school teachers in Nigeria with low laid down practises of continued professional development of teachers. This paper submits that there is need for school based professional development programmes for primary school teachers in Nigeria if they are to remain effective.

Teachers in complementary schools are often assumed to be using outmoded teaching strategies and an authoritarian approach to discipline. However, it is rare for mainstream teachers to have visited these community-run after-school or weekend classes, which remain on the margins of educational provision. This paper argues that complementary…

This article reports on a teacher-talk training course for Japanese primary school teachers, who are preparing to teach "communicative English" for the first time. The article argues that teacher-talk training is important for communicative classes with young students because most of the input and interaction is by default teacher…

American science teachers in elementary and middle school face a dilemma as they prepare students for high school physics and advanced placement classes. The dilemma lies in ensuring that these students are equipped with the high-level science content they need to thrive in such classes. Aside from life sciences and chemistry sciences, how are our…