This document summarizes the goals for learning to be achieved by English children by the time they enter compulsory education after their fifth birthday. The goals emphasize early literacy, numeracy, and the development of personal and social skills. Presented as six areas of learning, the goals provide a foundation for later achievement in Key…

These materials aim to help teachers make explicit links between teaching in the Literacy Hour and in the rest of the curriculum. The materials map teaching objectives from England's National Literacy Strategy's (NLS) Framework for Teaching to various text types and lists NLS resources which can be used to support teaching and learning. Text types…

England's Department for Education and Skills (DfES) plans to require schools to set targets for students at their school to attain level 5+ in each of English and mathematics in the tests in 2003 and beyond. These targets will be in addition to those already set for achievement at level 4+. There are new national targets for Key Stage 2 in…

Notes that in England, literature (poetry, narrative, plays) is taught as part of the National Literacy Strategy and a child's knowledge of how it works may be assessed if literary texts are included in the end of Key Stage 2 reading test. Explores some of the dangers which result from viewing the minimum entitlement as the maximum being aimed at…

Background: In this article we address some of the challenges posed by the development of national assessment systems and discuss the need for high quality information on trends in attainment; support for school improvement processes and ways in which learning should be enhanced through valid assessment. Purpose: Key elements are explored,…

The aim of this article is to explore, through the case of the official Israeli state curriculum, how the educational system is affected by social changes and how it responds to them, and to suggest curricular directions that go along with the new social reality that has emerged in Israel during the past decade. We offer a conceptual-theoretical…

The Swedish school system comprises: (1) Pre-primary school (Forskola), typical age 1-5; (2) Preschool class in the compulsory school (Grundskola) typical age 6 (participation voluntary); (3) Compulsory school, typical age 7-16, grades 1-9, and (4) Upper secondary school, 17 programmes (4 mainly academic, 13 vocational), typical age 16-19, grades…

Reports on a survey of primary teachers on science curriculum development. Cites a plethora of planning terminology and lack of a government-agency model for a primary science plan as obstacles to curriculum planning. Presents a curriculum planning model derived from the rationale that curriculum should be learning-outcomes-driven. (PVD)

Describes the history of the development of environmental education curricula in New Zealand's school system and the position that environmental education takes in the new National Curriculum of New Zealand. (Contains 26 references.) (MDH)

This list of year-by-year statements has been drawn together from England's National Literacy Strategy Framework for Teaching, with a particular focus on reading. The statements also take into account the stages set out in "Progression in Phonics" and the criteria for assessing reading in National Curriculum assessment at Years 2 and 6.…

The International Review of Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks in 18 countries identified trends related to participation and engagement: responsiveness, inclusion, and curricular differentiation; key skills; and creativity development and citizenship education. Common economic and social pressures are leading to some convergence among nations.…

Criticizes the attainment targets of Great Britain's National Curriculum English. Laments the division of English potentially present in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) syllabi. (MM)

Discusses implications of the Cox Report on English instruction in Great Britain. Questions the definitions of aims and responsibilities outlined in the report. Suggests that the magnitude of what teachers are called upon to teach and assess will diffuse rather than concentrate attention on what matters most in English as a distinctive subject.…

Discusses current interest in a standard national curriculum and standardized testing, including national teacher standards, flexibility on the local level, choice of textbooks, governance, and costs. Cites foreign examples and describes organizations already active in the movement. (DM)

Vietnam has experienced the influences of different social standards and values of Confucianism, Communism and several major religions, such as Buddhism and Catholicism, and has also undergone tremendous social change in recent decades. Consequently, moral education in present-day Vietnam takes various forms and definitions. Nowadays, moral…