Ninety-one percent of 227 surveyed teachers of children up to seven years of age (including 101 teachers who monitored educational television series for the Project), in 17 local education authorities in England and Wales, claimed to use educational television broadcasts to assist them with children's language development. However, apart from the nursery teachers, they appeared to put emphasis on language skill acquisition rather than language development, reinforcing the language policy of the schools. Two thirds of the teachers stated that they were catering for children individually when using educational television, although class viewing was the normal practice. The usual method was to watch a programme continuously from beginning to end (even when a video recorder was used) and then to discuss it with the children and to give written work on letter formation, sentence formation, initial sounds, etc., often by filling in worksheets. The teachers were encouraged in this practice by the television series, as these promoted the learning of language and reading skills rather than language development. There was no evidence to suggest that general interest series were used to any extent to enhance language development, in spite of overwhelming agreement by the teachers that television stories, songs and poems were valuable in this respect. A change of attitude by teachers towards language and educational television is desirable, involving the examination of current practices, the analysis of the material presented by broadcasters and the relating of developmental factors to the medium.

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The impacts of globalization on science education and curricula are of considerable interest internationally, not least in terms of preparing a nation's students for employment in a rapidly changing world. This study was not a measure of the total science curriculum for each country considered, but a measure of the similarity of their intended science curriculum to the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) framework; further research into the effects on the science curricula of countries that have not participated in TIMSS or using data from other relevant large-scale assessments would add an additional dimension to understanding the globalization of science curricula. Research exploring the processes by which countries embark on science curriculum reform would be an important avenue for further work in order to gain a better understanding of why countries decide to make the changes they do.

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In this exploration of the globalization of science curricula, a coding exercise, cluster analysis and discriminant analysis of twenty years of TIMSS data were used to answer three research questions: (1) Have there been changes in intended science curricula over the last 20 years? (2) If changes do exist, do they support the hypothesis that science curricula are becoming increasingly similar across countries? (3) Are there groups of countries where curricula are increasingly similar; can the basis of an international core curriculum be identified? The analysis provides strong evidence to suggest that there have been changes to countries' intended science curricula. The coding exercise found that all countries in the analysis had made changes to their intended curricula, although the extent of curricular changes varied considerably between countries. Cluster and discriminant analyses showed that over time there was a tendency for countries to cluster into one particular grouping based on responses to the TIMSS curriculum questionnaire. The number of TIMSS science topics that could be considered core to the curricula of the majority of participating countries increased over time, particularly at Grade 4, suggesting that science curricula are becoming increasingly similar across countries. Among the two groups of countries identified by the cluster and discriminant analyses, there was a clear tendency for one group to include a wider science curriculum encompassing a greater range of science topics than the other group. At Grade 8 the results strongly suggest that there has been convergence in science curricula over time. In terms of whether an international core curriculum can be identified, there are some TIMSS science topics which could be considered core to the curricula of most countries. Assessment is likely to play an important role, as high-stakes assessment is likely to influence science curricula and what is taught in schools. Keywords Core science curriculum Á Curriculum change Á Curriculum convergence Á Curriculum development Á Globalization Á Science curriculum Science education Á Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)