Implementing the New Zealand science curriculum: will there be a change of state?
[Extract] The results from New Zealand's participation in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) have revealed the disturbing level of science achievement by New Zealand Form 2 and Form 3 students and associated concerns with science programme delivery in general. An evaluation of the teachers who participated in TIMSS suggests that a disturbing portion of Form 2 teachers (and primary teachers in general) expressed a lack of confidence in their ability to teach science as a consequence of limited formal science learning experiences. This final report of a three part series examines the biographical details, in the context of the teaching of science, of the 122 primary/intermediate/Kura Kaupapa Maori teachers in the Central Districts of the North Island of New Zealand who participated in a study attempting to identify the factors teachers perceived to be influencing the effective implementation of Science in the New Zealand Curriculum.
The article discusses the entry of standardised measurement into the educationalsystems of Sweden and Germany and the processes of shape-shifting associatedwith this process. In the first part of t ...