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…

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…

Since the United States has National Goals for Education, National Assessment of Educational Progress, a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, a "National Initiative" in reading and the language arts, a National Commission on Excellence in Education, why not have a National Curriculum? Two questions arise: (1) does the…

This paper documents the background of a curriculum framework, the Foundation Areas of Learning, for children from birth to age 3 in South Australia. The paper examines some of the dilemmas in creating such a framework and some of the rewards as the system coped with the challenge of including its youngest learners in a clearly articulated…

The speech by the Assistant Secretary of the Special Education Division of the Department of Education and Science explains the options for flexibility possible in meeting the needs of handicapped students under the new British National Curriculum. (DB)

This paper examines, within a framework of the world-system analysis, the process of the nationalization of education in Burma. As a significant part of the nationalist-socialist revolution launched to undermine foreign influences on the Burmese society in 1962, all schools in the country were nationalized and the curriculum…

'Scientific Investigation' was the first of the four Attainment Targets which prescribed the science component of the national curriculum in England and Wales in 1991. Following a brief historical account of the origins of scientific investigation as a curriculum objective, this paper comments upon the attempt by the central government to define a…

The first paper, "Pupils--Panaceas and Pragmatism," provides background on computer-assisted instruction and national programs in Great Britain for introducing computers into the schools. The second paper (untitled) looks at the status of computers in education in Great Britain, the effects of the national curriculum on computer use, and…

In 1984 Australia's federal government decided to reactivate the Curriculum Development Centre, an agency abandoned in the early 1980's for political and economic reasons. This paper examines the context in which the center currently acts and the operations that it conducts. The paper first considers background issues related to national…

Secondary-level technology programs in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan (also known as the "Four Little Dragons") were compared by using a methodology incorporating four stages: description, interpretation, juxtaposition, and comparison. It was discovered that, in all four countries, technology education is required for all…

This paper examines the issue of national curriculum standards within the context of social studies education. The paper explores both the recent "conservative-liberal" consensus in favor of (at least) the idea(l) of national curriculum standards and the nascent opposition movements to national curriculum standards growing within both…

A movement of educational change in Portugal aimed at giving schools larger autonomy in curricular decisions is described. In reconceptualizing curriculum, the concepts of competence and innovation played a central role. An analysis of the curriculum development process is included and some suggestions are offered for future research and debate.…

The National Curriculum, introduced under the Education Reform Act of 1988, has influenced the cultural politics of secondary schools in England and Wales. The National Curriculum began a new phase in the role of teachers developing school curriculum that is characterized by centralized control and external accountability. To many it suggests a…

In this discussion on the feasibility of establishing a "National" curriculum for physical education, it is pointed out that it would first be necessary to reach an agreement on the overall goals or objectives of physical education. Consensus would have to be obtained on the primary focus of such a curriculum and a realistic set of desired…

A case study explored the issue of writing at transition, by describing the types of writing tasks a group of four pupils did at the end of Year 6, and at the beginning of Year 7. The range of writing activities has not changed much in the last 20 years, in spite of the introduction of the National Curriculum. The data indicate a mismatch of…