Journal article

The topic of 'corporal punishment' and 'discipline' is difficult to deal with as it is always highly coloured by the emotional extreme from which a participant in a discussion considers it. I do not believe in corporal punishment nor have I found it necessary to resort to its use. I do, however, firmly believe in 'discipline' as it pertains to the learning process by which a student is guided in the development of self-control and in the recognition of his responsibilities to himself and to his group.

The Bullock Committee of Inquiry was set up by Mrs Margaret Thatcher, then Secretary of State for Education, in 1972. The establishment of the committee followed closely on the publication of the report of the National Foundation for Educational Research entitled The Trend of Reading Standards. This report implied that reading standards were declining and said that there was wide concern about methods being used to teach English in primary schools.

Teaching standards are higher when teachers work in teams instead of staying in individual classrooms, according to a recent report from the National Foundation for Educational Research.

A recent Society for Research into Higher Education report reveals striking variations in the way students react to and prepare for examinations, the authors of this report, Miller and Parlett, coining the term cue-consciousness to distinguish different types of student responses.

David Greene and Mark Lepper are psychologists whose research on motivation has led to a concern that, by using external rewards more often than necessary, teachers may lessen the intrinsic motivation that drives children to do something purely for the fun of it.

Many students have difficulty mastering the vocabulary of a foreign language. This report describes the keyword method, which appears to facilitate the learning of new words quite dramatically.

A recent American survey conducted by Ann Terry and published by the National Council of Teachers of English was designed to:
1. Determine what kinds of poetry were most enjoyed by children aged 9 to 11 years.
2. Analyse this poetry, and other less popular kinds, in terms of the (i) form, (ii) content, (iii) poetic elements and (iv) year of composition.
3. Determine any relationships between the children's choices and factors like age and sex.

What was it like to be in kindergarten in the early days? Over many years NZCER has been interested in recording the atmosphere and style of our educational institutions in former times. For this reason we are delighted to publish the reminiscences of Miss Edna (Ted) Scott, a much loved kindergarten teacher in Wellington for over thirty years. We hope it will encourage others who have made contributions to education in this country to share their memories with us.

Emphasis on the spoken word in our English programmes has strengthened considerably over the last decade. The National English Syllabus Committee reflects the change by recommending that more attention be given to the teaching and evaluation of speaking skills. Although much research has been undertaken to clarify problems of reliability in assessing written English, little is known about the technical aspects of assessing spoken English. Some work has been undertaken by Hitchman and Wilkinson in England, and by Pountney in New Zealand, but many problems remain unsolved.