Background: Fair comparisons of educational systems in large-scale assessments can be made only if the differences in curricula have little impact on the outcomes. This study investigated the sensitivity of science achievement rankings to varying degrees of curriculum implementation in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study…

Lesson Study is rapidly becoming one of the most adopted models of teacher professional development worldwide. In this paper, we examine the teachers' discussions that are an integral part of the Lesson Study research cycle. In particular, we investigate the "dialogic mechanisms" that enable teachers' pedagogical intentions to be…

The PIRLS 2011 international database includes data for all questionnaires administered as part of the PIRLS 2011 assessment. This supplement contains the international version of the PIRLS 2011 background questionnaires and curriculum questionnaires in the following 5 sections: (1) Student Questionnaire; (2) Home Questionnaire (Learning to Read…

The majority of learners in southern Africa receive their education through the medium of a second language, English. Although teachers of English play a crucial role in helping learners to acquire language skills in the medium of instruction, we argue that subject content teachers' lack of attention to the teaching of the four language skills may…