Noting that research in New Zealand and internationally indicates the importance of the early years for children's well-being, learning, and social participation in the present and for the future, this long-term strategic plan offers a comprehensive and cohesive policy framework, goals, and strategies for early childhood education in New Zealand…

Examines school and university curricula in Europe and the extent of their influence on xenophobia. Considers the pluralistic nature of the European population. Discusses the role of curriculum selection and language policy in state efforts to promote nationalism. Assesses the role of curricular systems in the actual encouragement of warfare,…

Presents conflicting views of New Zealand's schooling from teachers' perspectives and examines some of the reforms and reflections of New Zealand's educators. Discusses some of the implications for U.S. schooling. (BB)

This paper notes conflicts among England's education laws and discusses philosophical and practical weaknesses of the National Curriculum for serving students with special needs. European practices are described, and it is concluded that establishing central control can actually discourage curriculum differentiation and encourage the exclusion…

Britain's 1988 Education Reform Act mandates increased centralization (through a national curriculum and testing program) and greater managerial decentralization and competition between schools. This article discusses the role of the central government Department of Education and Science in requiring local education authorities to implement local…

Surveyed 876 Japanese high school English teachers to determine their levels of approval of communicative, audiolingual, and traditional (yakudoku) activities and the strengths of various influences on their instructional practices in the context of Japan's new policies for the teaching of English. Data reveal the complexities of imposing broad…

Discusses the growing influence of the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) over initial and continuing teacher education in the United Kingdom since its inception in 1994, focusing on the TTA's 1996 agenda, the new National Curriculum for Teacher Training, continuing professional development, and educational research. Criticizes the agency's increasing…

Development of voluntary, national standards as the basis for educational reform has generated considerable debate about such standards' desirability and the enlarged federal role in education. Examines arguments for and against national standards; assumptions and misconceptions underlying this approach; political considerations; and issues of…

The national socialization of children through public schooling involves "dumbing children down" so they are unable to use democratic machinery and traditions to defend themselves against a managed society. This practice also eliminates local control of educational goals and practices, allowing families to be replaced by the hired voices…

Examines Scotland's increasingly standardized national curriculum and testing reforms. Discusses centrally determined innovations, relationships between curriculum and assessment, reforms' effects on classroom, and teachers' role. Compares elements of encroaching "market model" reforms in England, Wales, and United States, suggesting…

Examined attitudes of 186 early childhood educators regarding the "Desirable Outcomes for Children's Learning on Entering Compulsory Education" survey in the United Kingdom. Found that, although there is some consensus among preschool workers in different settings concerning early-years curriculum priorities, those within an education…

Argues that quality issues in Norwegian day care are related to the shortage of qualified public day care directors and the expansion of questionable private centers. Notes that the current view on improving quality is to stimulate innovation in day care activities by rewarding local initiative and to institute quality control measures. (DSK)

For newly independent Central Asian republics a debate has arisen about how much of the aims, content and pedagogy of old Soviet-era curricula to retain, how much to revise or replace, and with what. There is a need to replace and revise textbooks, which are wearing out and outdated. Financial crisis has made the financial support of external…

The recently released New Zealand Curriculum Draft for Consultation (Ministry of Education 2006a) sets out the Government's expectations of what school students should be able to achieve by the time they leave school. The writers explore the vision and intentions of the New Zealand Curriculum Draft, to prepare students for the future, within the…

Data from a larger study reveals how policy-directed change is perceived and experienced by teachers and pupils in early years of primary school in England between 1990 and 1993. Data from PACE: Primary Assessment, Curriculum and Experience, a study of educational change under reform of the National Curriculum, included interviews with 94 teachers…