Poor literacy and numeracy levels in schools have raised questions in South Africa, as they have internationally, on the quality and appropriateness of initial teacher education for preparing teachers for the complexities faced in schools generally and for the mediation of literacy and numeracy in the early years in particular. This paper profiles…

Curriculum has traditionally been regarded as a rather technical matter best left to disciplinary specialists, educationalists, textbook writers and designers of assessment tests and examinations. More recently, however, the debate on curriculum has gradually moved beyond the technical realm to become also a subject of policy discussion on what…

Reviews focus groups as a way of determining community opinions and explains how to use them. Designing a focus group series, conducting the group, and reporting the results are described, and examples are given of focus groups in educational change. (SLD)

Examines programs to encourage girls and minority boys in mathematics, focusing on the need to address multiple equity areas. Mathematics education should involve students as active learners with plenty of hands-on activities, correct academic deficiencies, involve teachers with similar expectations for students independent of sex and race, and be…

Examines 10 years of reform documents regarding inclusion and equity in mathematics education. The papers reflected reform aimed at general education and mathematics curriculum, teaching, and education research. Equity issues were acknowledged but seldom articulated. Equity was often submerged in global concerns for excellence. The paper…

Describes three different types of curriculum organization (activity curriculum, general education, and core curriculum) and identifies curriculum development principles that emerged from these past practices that are important to issues-centered education today. Discusses ways to apply the curriculum development principles to contemporary efforts…

Common sense proposals for school restructuring suggest promising directions, but issues of the content needed to give educational direction and show how to link the factors that influence this content must be addressed. An agenda of content for teacher commitment and competence is proposed. Problems of linkage are addressed. (SLD)

Delineates two traditional assumptions of educational research: (1) social progress is tied to an evolutionary conception of change and (2) inquiry must identify actors as causal agents who create or suppress change. Argues that both assumptions are grounded in the effects of power and modernity and are complicit in social regulation. (MJP)

Issues and trends currently affecting the enterprise of education are identified, particularly as they relate to continuing education. To date, the national education reform agenda has featured the major components of national standards, a national curriculum, national tests, improved teacher training, and teacher empowerment combined with…

The National Forum on Effective Urban and Metropolitan Schooling met to discuss building communities and curriculum as part of a larger effort to support an agenda of achievement, competency, and success for urban education. This report of that 1989 meeting is divided into two parts. The first part lists and defines the following 10 themes for the…