Policies increasing the amount of time allocated to reading instruction are popular initiatives to meet the demands of accountability testing. Research suggests that time on instruction and children's approaches to learning (ATL), which generally includes measures of attention, persistence, motivation, and flexibility, are positively associated…

In Finland, schools' effectiveness in fostering the development of transversal skills is evaluated through large-scale learning to learn (LTL) assessments. This article presents how LTL skills--general cognitive competences and learning-related motivational beliefs--develop during primary school and how they predict pupils' CPS skills at the end…

Background: In the context of the British Government's policy directed on improving standards in schools, this paper presents research on the effects of a programme intended to promote the cognitive development of children in the first 2 years of primary school (Y1 & 2, aged 5-7 years). The programme is based on earlier work dealing with…