The Foundation Phase is a Welsh Government flagship policy of early years education (for 3-7 year-old children) in Wales. Marking a radical departure from the more formal, competency-based approach associated with the previous Key Stage 1 National Curriculum, it advocates a developmental, experiential, play-based approach to teaching and learning.…

Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland outlines a policy vision of a more progressive, integrated and holistic form of education; a commitment which contains an obligation for health and well-being (HWB) to be a responsibility of all teachers. A critical policy analysis approach was utilized in order to review school-level progress in different…

A new national curriculum has recently been implemented across Australia. This paper reports on a case study of a regional Western Australia government school as they re-wrote and taught the phase one learning areas: maths, English, science and HASS. Results showed what it is like to work in an environment where continual change is not only…

This year is designated as Thailand's "English Speaking Year" with the aim of improving the communicative competence of Thais for the upcoming integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2015. The consistent low-level proficiency of the Thais in the English language has led to numerous curriculum revisions and…

Back in 1992, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded grants to five curriculum development teams and charged them with the task of starting over. Five years later, each of the development teams had produced an innovative and "integrated" curriculum. All represented notable departures from the commonly encountered, calculus-driven high…

The National Literacy and the National Numeracy Strategies (NLNS) are part of the British government's major education reform initiative, an attempt to significantly raise standards of achievement in schools. This report is a summary of the first annual report from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto…

The article considers the distinction between first- and second-generation science curriculum projects, and describes the first national curriculum developed in Australia, the Australian Science Education Project (ASEP). (MK)

Between 1991 and 1995, the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department funded a national evaluation of the implementation of the 5-14 Development Programme based on information gathered from both primary and secondary schools. This interchange is concerned with the primary school perspective alone. Data were gathered from a questionnaire of…

Between 1991 and 1995, the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department funded a national evaluation of the implementation of the 5-14 Development Programme based on information gathered from both primary and secondary schools. This Interchange is concerned with secondary school perspective alone. Data were gathered from a nationwide…

The 5-14 Development Programme is a major reform encompassing curriculum, assessment, national testing, and reporting for pupils 5- to 14-years-old in Scotland. Implementation of the program was first monitored between March 1991 and March 1995; this study continued the program evaluation in primary schools from March 1995 to March 1997. Data were…

The 5-14 Development Programme was a major reform encompassing the whole of the curriculum, assessment, national testing and reporting for students aged 5 to 14 years in Scotland. Between 1989 and 1993 national guidelines were developed for five curricular areas--English language, mathematics, environmental studies, expressive arts, and…

The National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies (NLS and NNS) represent a major government initiative to improve classroom practice and pupil learning in literacy and mathematics in primary schools across England. National targets were intended to increase the percentage of 11-year-olds reaching Level 4 in annual assessments for English and…

The 5-14 Development Programme is a major reform encompassing the whole of the curriculum, assessment, national testing and reporting for pupils 5- to 14 years of age in Scotland. To monitor the early years of implementation of the program, the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department (SOEID) commissioned a national evaluation with a…

In 1994, Norway implemented large-scale educational reforms that altered the face of education in that country. An overview of these changes in upper-secondary education is presented in this paper. The report describes how international competition created a sense of urgency, prompting the government to rush in with wholescale education changes.…

The University of Liverpool's Evaluation and Assessment Unit (LEAU) organized a national conference on the growth, development, and potential of the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum consists of 10 subjects, each defined by attainment targets, programs of study, and attainment levels. These subjects are to be drawn up by working groups…