An overview of positive and negative potential effects of the setting of compulsory exit-level standards in literacy and numeracy for students completing their final years of schooling is presented. The overview rests on studies completed primarily outside Australia, reflecting the reality of such practices not having been implemented widely in…

In this article we address several tensions and dilemmas that are impacting on Australian principals and other school leaders. The first section explores areas associated with improving teaching and learning and includes discussion of education trends, the construction of new learning environments and the implication of these for more…

A recent curriculum development from the Nuffield Foundation rose to the challenge of producing a set of resources to establish STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) as a curriculum focus. The result is two STEM cross-curricular projects: "Games," inspired by the London Olympics, and "Futures," a novel…

While the introduction of NAPLAN in 2008 has always been a source of contention for many teachers, and is regarded by some as an expression of bureaucratic control and therefore a challenge to professional autonomy, the development of the My School Website provided a more serious threat. This publication of school performances is viewed by many…

The national common educational standards and the role of citizenship education is an important issue for all social studies educators--preK through college. This article presents websites that examine the Common Core Standards Initiative's work and plans for the future and some that focus more specifically on the social studies/citizenship…

Australia has decided to include history with English, mathematics and science as a core subject in a new national curriculum. Straight comparisons between Australia and New Zealand are not helpful because of differences in curriculum structure, national and federal organisation and in the histories of respective Indigenous peoples. Australia has…

In Sweden, early childhood education is unique in its combination of learning and play, care and fostering fundamental values. The aim of this article is to discuss and problematise current Swedish research from the early childhood education field with a focus on play and learning in relation to three fundamental values affirmed in the Swedish…

Inferences from recent international comparative data on mathematical attainment, frequently quoted as justification for curriculum change, are critically examined, and the implications are contrasted with expressed curricular aims. Using characterisations by Ball (1990) and Ernest (1991), positions of key actors are analysed in relation to…

The increasing number of children with profound and multiple learning difficulties means that many schools for children with severe learning difficulties are having to review the curriculum that they offer. In addition, these schools are continuing to question whether a subject-based approach, in line with the National Curriculum, is the most…

Trigonometry is an integral part of the draft for the Senior Secondary Australian National Curriculum for Mathematics, as it is a topic in Unit 2 of both Specialist Mathematics and Mathematics Methods, and a reviewing topic in Unit 1, Topic 3: Measurement and Geometry of General Mathematics. However, learning trigonometric ideas is difficult for…

In the 1998 Taiwanese national curriculum revision, environmental education was one of six new "Important Issues". To some early observers, the generic "framework" sections of this 1998 curriculum (Aims, Goals, Core Competences) resonated well with the integrative and transdisciplinary nature of environmental education. This…

Science and design and technology (D&T) are often linked, either formally in the curriculum or by making connections in and between lessons. There has been much debate about how this linking serves the needs of the two subjects and what, in practice, the actual relationship is, as the current English National Curriculum (DfEE, 1999) identifies…

The New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) primary and intermediate schools national survey was carried out in July-August 2013. NZCER questioned principals, teachers and trustees at a representative sample of schools, and sought the views of a random sample of 1 in 4 parents in 36 of these schools. In all, the survey gathered data…

There are many advantages to having a national approach to teaching and learning mathematics. In England the approach brought with it a number of elements; a national curriculum, national tests and later a framework for teaching mathematics. There have been many great things emerge from these developments... an enhanced understanding of…

School history looks set to return to the political agenda with the recent announcement of a curriculum review and ministerial speeches on the need for change. This article seeks to identify key issues on which the battle for school history will be fought. It situates the debate in the context of developments in theories of how people learn and in…