set 1981 : no. 2

Have we made advances in eliminating sex role stereotyping in the materials we use in our pre-schools and junior schools? Do we now show young children that women are active exciting people found often in occupational roles as well as domestic roles?
Those of you who believe not, are right. A 1980 study repeated one done in 1975: both looked at the way males and females are represented to young children in early childhood institutions. The second one found little change. Forty-two… Read more

For some years now the Finke River Mission has been concerned about the educational programme at Hermannsburg. There was very low correlation between the amount of effort and resources provided and the results, particularly academic progress. Associated with this was always the problem of non-Aboriginal teacher morale, with a resultant high staff turnover. Over the past years we have managed to maintain a qualified staff who have, generally, been committed to their work and have been also… Read more

During the last decade, we have heard a good deal about the need for curriculum change in the secondary schools. The Educational Development Conference reports, the Johnson Report, and the McCombs Report have made probably the most significant contributions. Their arguments frequently focus on the 'hidden curriculum', aspects of school organization, teacher-pupil relationships, and the general ethos of' school climate'. The established curriculum, with its various subjects… Read more

Homework is one of those things about which most people can speak from personal experience. This is either because they have done it as children, have set it as teachers, or have supervised it as parents. Advocates of homework believe that it encourages initiative, develops independent learning skills and allows time for practice and application of what has been learned in school. Others question its value and argue for its discontinuation. Often one hears comments such as
'… Read more

Curriculum developers have in the past almost invariably structured and developed curricula from the perspective of the teacher. Our contention is that no matter what curriculum framework is employed, nor what principles teachers use in
organizing the subject matter, learners are going to structure that subject matter in their own way. Up till now teachers have found it difficult to pay more than lip-service to the idea of 'starting where the learner is', because they have… Read more

Children say they can write but that they can not read. They can hold a crayon, marker, pencil or some other kind of writing instrument and they can produce some form of written expression. When this school year began I wanted to find out what my first graders attending the Atkinson Academy, the public school in Atkinson, New Hampshire, could do as writers. On the first day of school I gave five of them an A4 exercise book containing forty sheets of unlined paper. I told them that these… Read more

All classroom teachers make quantitative assessments of how well their students are performing and frequently must combine marks from several different essays, tests, exercises or subjects to obtain an overall measure of achievement. At the simplest level, a teacher may combine the several marks for the essays or extended answers that make up a formal examination. At a second level, a single score may be required to summarise a pupil's performance over a year's study in one subject. For… Read more

Learning to read is a remarkable human achievement: a possibility realized by the invention of written language. Each new member of our culture is expected to make use of this invention. How do children learn the skills which enable them to do this?

Project PATH is investigating issues and developing material for Parents As Teachers of the Handicapped. It was set up at the University of Waikato in February 1978 and will end in September 1981. The philosophy behind it comes from three powerful ideas which have emerged in the last decade, ideas which are particularly relevant to parents, who are, after all, the main teachers of the handicapped. They are: (i) structured, data-based teaching, (ii) early intervention, and (iii) parent… Read more

We in Australia and New Zealand are proud of the way we broke free of the British class system when we set up our own nations. In the new lands Jack and Jill became as good as the Master and Mistress. However, as the world becomes economically, if not culturally, interdependent, the problems of industrial countries, such as Britain, keep cropping up here. We do not have the exact equivalent of British nursery schools and day nurseries, nor are au pair girls common. But we do have… Read more