International trends promoting school diversity and choice have reshaped education across Europe, leading towards a multiplicity in ownership structures and varied governance configurations. More recently, this can also be seen in European countries with a long history of state-owned and governed public schools, such as in the Nordic states. The…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to deflate some of the pressure-orienting teachers toward following a curricular script. Design/methodology/approach: The authors connect effective classroom teaching and learning practices to a dialogic instructional stance that values local resources and student perspectives and contributions. The authors…

Despite its proliferation in higher learning institutions, e-learning has been criticised as being nothing more than trivial online conversations, or a mere means of delivering class materials electronically. If e-learning is to address such criticisms and become an effective pedagogical platform, educators need to identify elements critical to…

Reviews needs assessment history and extant techniques and offers a model for generating needs assessments based upon five general purposes of front-end analysis and their corresponding types of items--problem finding; problem selecting; knowledge/skill proving; finding feelings; and cause finding. Thirty-three sources are appended. (EJS)

The battle for communication skills has already been won; the task ahead is to get teachers in the trenches to teach them, either in separate units or in their subject areas. Nine references are listed, and a list of resources for implementing instruction in speaking and listening is provided. (Author/DCS)

Described is a teaching methodology which includes enrichment of the students' learning experiences through an integrated approach to curriculum development, using continuity of curriculum as the major objective. The teacher's responsibility in this approach is to point out patterns and explore and talk about patterns included in the students'…

The history of the relation between achievement tests and curriculum programs is reviewed, and it is concluded that content specialists are best qualified as sources of curricular goals to specify content, kinds of attainment, and standards. The specification of instructional intents is also considered from the perspective of modern cognition…

Describes an elective, noncrisis course on death and dying which targets fifth graders. Discusses both the psychological theory behind the program and the ways that life and death values can be clarified. Program tries to allow children to grieve previous losses and helps children to develop appropriate grieving behaviors. (RJM)

Discusses the development of an Information Resources Management (IRM) curriculum by the IRM Curriculum Advisory Committee established by the Graduate School, United States Department of Agriculture. Initial activities, models proposed for the program (standards, skills, users, operational), course selection, and structural proposals considered…

This paper discusses the "Curriculum and Evaluation Standards" (produced by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) that are of particular relevance to mildly handicapped children. Concepts discussed include curriculum and instruction, need for a broad spectrum of mathematics, problem solving, vocabulary, emphasis on understanding, and…

This literature review discusses the match between tests and curricula, measurement validity and instructional utility when sampling student performance in general and advantages/disadvantages of sampling performance in the curriculum. It concludes that sampling from the curriculum is not essential and outlines three critical features ensuring the…

Interest in educational reform is a side benefit of recent school criticism. Unfortunately, where the cause of educational failure is understood to be teachers, educational reform has become teacher reform, which most often means that greater effort will be placed on controlling teacher behavior. (LC)

Analyzes high school physical educators' work from curricular and instructional perspectives, suggesting that the ecology of instructional physical education (PE) cannot be understood without examining how PE is embedded within school ecology. PE is unlikely to achieve prominent status in schools if it continues to be delivered in traditional…

Reports a study reviewing the status of social studies education within selected special education programs. Identifies factors effecting social studies programs in special education and argues the importance of social studies instruction for handicapped students. (AEM)