This paper highlights the active role played by various pedagogic agents in contesting the state educational reforms for madrasahs in Singapore. Drawing upon Basil Bernstein's pedagogic device, the paper identifies tensions and challenges that arise from the attempts by the state to implement curriculum reforms. The paper contends that the stakes…

Describes the public education system in Norway. Discusses steering and decentralization, political and professional responsibility, and proposals for governing by goals. Identifies the EMIL plan, which calls for establishing goals and evaluating results from the view of the government and teachers. Lists political and professional…

Discusses the current state of student evaluation in Scotland. Describes elementary school evaluations as consisting of external tests and teacher assessments to be thought of in linear terms. Examines the more formal assessment structure of secondary schools for academic and vocational education. Concludes that evaluation has had little impact on…

Describes assessment in the German school system as regular, systematic, and officially controlled through legislation. Emphasizes that even strict grading levels combine criterion and norm referencing because teacher determination must include a subjective element. Concludes that other systems may best learn negative lessons from the German…

Examines the uniformity of the nationally defined syllabuses and examinations in the French educational system. Describes the dynamism of the system within the secondary sector. Discusses the various schools types within the system. Addresses problems with the testing system such as overcomprehensiveness, waste of resources, and heavy preparatory…

Describes assessment for vocational education within the European Community. Discusses the problems of increasing participation in postcompulsory education, decreasing demand for unskilled labor, and the need to specialize. Includes assessment as a vehicle of change in the attempt to form a unified European Community. Concludes that achieving…

Reviews the role of history in the U.S. social studies curriculum. Explains that differing interpretations of history and the purposes of history have had a significant impact on the structure of the K-12 social studies curriculum. Argues that the time is ripe for historians and social studies educators to renew cooperative efforts. (CFR)

Reviews educational history and curriculum development in Norway from the eighteenth century to the present. Describes the development and implementation of centralized curriculum administration. Discusses and analyzes recent trends toward decentralized control and local efforts in curriculum development. (CFR)

Contends that there is an almost universal demand for the reform of the postsecondary curriculum in England and Wales. Explores the relationships among postmodernism, self-actualization, and empowerment. Presents a holistic empowerment model and relates it to current issues regarding curriculum reform. (CFR)

Suggests that a major reappraisal of school science education in England and Wales is urgent and relevant to other nations' science education programs as well. Suggests that science instruction should be centered in technologies that will directly affect students' lives. Argues that science imparts values in spite of a reputation for neutrality.…

Attempts to update chronology of events in noncompulsory upper secondary education in Australia since 1987. Identifies key differences among trajectories for Australia's conservative, progressive, and "common culture" states and territories as they deal with increased demand for higher level of schooling. Highlights some underlying issues…

Discusses a study tour sponsored by Stanford University (California) for which teachers were trained in curriculum development. Questions whether encouraging teachers to become curriculum developers represents empowerment or a distraction from teaching. Argues that teaching is unlike curriculum development. Presents challenges that teachers…

Critiques an elementary social studies program by analyzing commercially available curriculum materials. Discusses goals, content selection, organization and sequencing, and explication in the text. Suggests that publishers should (1) shift from content coverage objectives to more general social education purposes; (2) connect information in…

Emphasizes the importance of developing an Aboriginal form of education by Aboriginal teachers. Expresses concern that the western bureaucratic educational system will not permit a suitable Aboriginal system to develop. Describes the Deakin-Batchelor Teacher Education Program as an example of action research in Aboriginal teacher education.…

Discusses recent, Swedish, educational, restructuring trends that shift away from a view of education as a public good to view as a private good. Concludes that education should be a criterion of citizenship rights and necessary to shape the public good. (CFR)