Spina Bifida is a congenital abnormality in which the arches of one or more of the spinal vertebrae have failed to fuse together so that the spine is 'bifid' or split in two. The severity of the handicap varies with the site, extent and type of spinal defect, but may ...

Listening improvement programmes appear to be rare in New Zealand schools, possibly because listening is something we tend to take for granted. A case of familiarity breeds neglect perhaps? Teachers will say: 'Oh yes, listening is terribly important as a means of learning,' but if you ask what they do ...

School leadership in New Zealand, both at primary and secondary levels, is dominated by men, despite the fact that women constitute half the combined teaching force.

Large numbers of children, sometimes very young children, are admitted to our hospitals each year. Many stay for only short periods and while they may show disturbed behaviour upon returning home particularly if they are under 5 years - it appears to be widely accepted that if the length of ...

One of the most persistent and frustrating challenges facing those concerned with specific learning disability is to formulate a definition that will serve the needs of teachers, parents and the children who may be handicapped in that way. Even in the United States, where most of the research goes on ...

Studies of spelling are not particularly numerous in New Zealand, the 2 standard bibliographies listing no more than 20 completed during the last 50 years. All but two of these studies appeared before 1970, and only five are more recent than 1960. The majority are diploma of education investigations, interred ...

Why do students think teachers include poetry in the English curriculum? What aspects of poetry do they say teachers stress? Do the opinions of students and teachers on these matters coincide?
During 1978 an attempt was made to answer these questions, as a small part of a larger investigation into ...

Last August, 1600 delegates from 35 countries assembled in Adelaide for the 23rd World Congress of the International Society for Education through Art (lNSEAl. It was a memorable event for Australia, and for this part of the world, and one in which more than 60 New Zealanders were able to ...

Going to school is an important milestone in a child's life and it is a major event for the parents too. How should you prepare your child for school? How can you prepare yourself? We asked some teachers and parents for their views, and based this guide on that information ...

Vertical grouping in secondary schools usually involves a 'house' system, where the school population is divided into roughly equal cross-sections, and within each house are an equal number of smaller class-sized groups also composed of vertical cross-sections. These groups, called 'house groups' or 'tutor groups' are an alternative to, and ...