While references to the Treaty of Waitangi and/or biculturalism are an accepted part of the New Zealand education policy landscape, there is often a lack of consensus around the meaning, and therefore the practice implications, of the term 'biculturalism'. This difficulty can be explained by viewing biculturalism as a discourse that has continued…

In 1998 the regulatory body for the National Curriculum, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, acknowledged that there was "widespread uncertainty" over the grammar requirements of the English Curriculum. In this paper I argue that the QCA still has not addressed this uncertainty. I analyse the 1999 and 2011 Primary English…

The paper first traces the history of thinking about language from the Greek writers of the fifth century BC to the development of the first Greek grammar in about 100 BC. Since the glories of Ancient Greek literature predate the development of grammar, there is every reason to doubt the received wisdom that one must have an explicit knowledge of…

Discusses language standards, standard language, and examinations in terms of the 1989 National Curriculum for state schools in England and the tensions caused by the curriculum. Also reviews the history of public education and examinations in England since 1944, focusing on English language instruction. (Contains 19 references.) (MDM)