In Sheffield, England, a budget crisis and the growing demands of the National Curriculum sparked a campaign for improved contact ratios and class sizes. The local education authority established an independent inquiry to determine existing resourcing patterns and create the framework for a new curriculum-led funding rationale. This paper…

Discusses the advantages of the use of large natural language corpora in promoting grammatical awareness among language teachers and students, focusing on word classes and prescriptive approaches to language as they relate to Britain's National Curriculum at the elementary level. (13 references) (MDM)

The Australian government's reform policy treats education as a mechanism for economic development. To achieve national goals, the government is stressing skills education, private-sector involvement in skills education, increased participation in education, increased school retention rates, improvement in overall education quality, and…

Analyzes some policy-practice lessons learned from Britain's Technical and Vocational Education Initiative as its influence diminishes. Considers how TVEI affected the culture of teaching, learning, and curriculum in unintentional ways. Although TVEI's social effects have been limited, the program's legacy is evident; education policy that fails…

The background of practice and ideology that led to the national curriculum and national assessment in England and Wales is traced, along with the development of national assessment policy. The breakdown, which has resulted in teachers who refuse to conduct the prescribed testing, is described. (SLD)

Stresses key areas of political conflict in the certification of a national curricular content and explores trade-offs a national-standards approval group must make. The article analyzes left-wing support for explicit opportunity-to-learn standards and right-wing objections to educational outcomes and focuses on initial approval stages, not…

Design and Technology activities, a required part of the British National Curriculum, are assessed by the students themselves with a framework of eight statements of attainment. The activities cover a range of skills, techniques, and processes involved in creating artifacts, systems, and environments. (SK)

Study investigated factors influencing students' choice of teaching subjects during Nigerian preservice primary teacher education, noting an imbalance favoring liberal arts. Final year students wrote biodatas about their choices. Choices in year three were influenced by level of performance during the first two years, employment opportunities, and…

Great Britain's National Curriculum places insufficient emphasis on handwriting instruction, and its suggestion to begin joined-up writing in Level 3 is inappropriate. A historical perspective on variations in handwriting style leads to a recommendation for a simple joined style, which would be based on the skeletal italic and taught by example.…

Provided is a perspective on the teaching of a unit on the Earth in space. The themes to be found within the unit, approaches and resources that can be used for teaching and learning the subject, and some of the typical ideas that children hold about astronomical subjects are provided. (KR)

Survey results contrast teachers' (n=159) knowledge and understanding with the understanding levels expected by England's science National Curriculum. Teacher's understanding with respect to the concepts of force, energy, and changes in materials are discussed. (Contains 29 references.) (MDH)

Argues that one of the most valuable contributions that an internationally oriented education system can provide is to inhibit the development of an overly conformist attitude. Contends that the ability to dissent is essential for healthy personal and societal functioning. Recommends that education about dissent should be made compulsory. (CFR)

Reports results of a study of curriculum continuity across the primary/secondary divide in one subject, history, in light of the British National Curriculum's supposed resolution of the problem. Includes findings indicating that teachers continue to define the divide as a problem, and that there are instructional inconsistencies across and within…

Repeats a mid-1980s project as part of the Economic and Social Research Council project, "Pupil's Approaches to Subject Option Choices," allowing comparison of approaches before and after the National Curriculum implementation. Shows across-time and between-school differences in subject preference, but little instability in perceptions…

Reports on a study of the implementation of a structuralist approach to teaching text in elementary school classrooms in Australia. Examines the pedagogic practice of one teacher, highlighting the impact of a restrictive and reductive approach to text on her teaching methodology. (Author/VWL)