set 1981 : no. 1

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 1981 as the International Year of Disabled Persons. The theme is the full participation of disabled people in all aspects of community life. There is a need for greater public awareness of the effects of disablement, and for an appreciation of the disabling effects of our environment which is, on the whole, constructed for average people.

One does not win brownie points anymore for saying that New Zealand is undergoing profound change. New technology could bring about a global village culture, or a return to rural living, or a new approach in schooling, or a centrally controlled society.

Teachers have always needed valid tests to assess students' proficiency so that the most appropriate classroom instruction can be used. This is particularly true in the current educational climate with its growing emphasis on accountability, since teachers need good testing techniques to show that their work is worthwhile.

Youth unemployment is not a new problem but its extent, and the way it will not go away, are new. Economic downturns affect young people disproportionately: they are unemployed, or the last hired and the first laid off, and when working they are given the least rewarding jobs, financially and meaningfully. In addition, advanced technology, plus union preference for retraining older workers, has made the youngest workers the most expendable.
While there are many economic and… Read more

Concern about disruptive behaviour has increased dramatically in the last decade. Three reasons are often put forward for this.
(i) Disruptive behaviour in schools is the inevitable manifestation of increased violence or at least of increased reporting of violence, in the world as a whole.
(ii) At a time when teachers feel that their achievements are being questioned and their autonomy threatened, it is understandable that they in turn should publicise the problems which… Read more

For some years now we have been studying the behaviour of preschool children in nurseries and playgroups. From our early observations a feature which most caught our attention was the difference in what went on in different preschools. In part, we felt the immediate physical and social environment of the preschool was having a strong effect on the children's behaviour - for example the size of the class, the amount of floor space and play equipment, the role of the preschool staff and… Read more

Moral education is important for developing good mental health. Ours is a pluralistic society in that different groups seek different goals and operate from different values. Therefore, we have to learn to reconcile conflicting pressures from such groups as the family, peer group, Church, trade union, employers, political parties, and so on. Sometimes we are faced with a barrage of issues and a conflicting array of values. People who have developed their own value system and a rational… Read more

Most teachers are probably just as curious about what goes on in other classrooms as they are about what goes on in their own. But generally we do not get much opportunity to observe our colleagues at work teaching lessons. Do other teachers have similar teaching approaches and problems and do they have ideas that might be picked up and learnt from? Take class discussions for example: discussions involving teacher and pupils form a very important part of the teaching- learning process.… Read more

As every teacher knows, in any normal classroom and whatever subject is being taught, there will be a wide range of individual differences in students' learning. Some will learn more quickly than others; some will retain more. Whether learning is measured by results on achievement tests, by the number of units completed, by time taken to progress through a set programme, or by the amount of material recalled at a later date, these differences will occur. Often it is the same students… Read more

Most of the findings of research into teaching and learning seem fairly self-evident. Good teachers know about them almost intuitively and may be disappointed that educational researchers have not discovered new and exciting strategies for them to use. However, at a time when the role of the teacher in the educational process is undergoing substantial change, it is useful to pause once again and ask: what makes good teaching?