Advocates of progressive teaching methods claim that these foster the social and emotional development of children without in any way hindering their academic progress. Critics of the 'new' education on the other hand, equate 'progressive' with 'permissive', insist that levels of achievement are falling, and lay the blame for this ...

Three short articles:

"In the real world you can't say cereal when you mean shampoo" by Virginia Makins

"Reading through the little screen" by Andree Brooks

"Can't read? Maybe they can't see" by Virginia Makins

Many young children watch television too long, indiscriminately, and too late into the evening. Their viewing may have an adverse effect on play and on creative and outdoor activities. At the same time, television watching often results in increased general knowledge. It may have a positive effect on language development ...

A concern for language learning, and the place of languages in the overall educational experience have not been the issues of great moment in New Zealand that they have been overseas, except amongst those actually involved in the teaching of foreign languages. In 1974 a small research committee was set ...

Behaviour modification is something that many teachers and parents regard with great suspicion. The cause for this distrust is not hard to find. The jargon of the process has a mind-bending ring to it: 'operant conditioning', 'contingency management', 'reinforcement learning', 'maladaptive functioning' and so on, and hints strongly at a ...

Why are there so many behaviour problems in children these days? Do they reflect falling values and standards in society and a breakdown in authority and discipline at home and in school? Are they the hallmarks of increasing deprivation and maladjustment, the outward signs of unfulfilled emotional needs, of conflict ...

In simple terms diagnostic testing consists of asking the learner to attempt certain tasks, so that the teacher can gain insights into his difficulties by observing his performance on them. Teachers will differ in the procedures they use to obtain this information. Some will use an oral reading setting as ...

During the past fifteen to twenty years mathematicians and mathematics teachers have placed heavy emphasis on discovery modes of learning and on mathematical recreations, partly because such activities are thought to develop a positive attitude to mathematics and to give a better understanding of mathematics than older teaching techniques did ...

What do New Zealand secondary school students think of History?
Starting from an analysis of the entry statistics for School Certificate, University Entrance and Scholarship examinations from 1969 to 1975 to compare trends in History with those in other subjects, my study went on with a survey of pupil perceptions ...

Research shows sex differences in the development of children and adolescents. This review examines how these influence behaviour and attainment.