This exploratory study has used qualitative research methodologies and strategies to identify influences on pupils' progress after starting formal schooling in Taiwan. The thesis sets the study in the educational and social setting of Taiwan, and indicates the particular difficulties and constraints affecting primary teachers and pupils in reception classes. These difficulties include an unrealistic, centrally imposed and rigidly enforced curriculum, large classes, traditional teaching methods, and the use of a language of the teacher's instruction and a phonetic system of learning to read, which are both unfamiliar to many pupils entering school. Interviews with teachers, combined with observations of the way they presented the tasks to their class, enabled distinctive differences between them to be described. These differences could subsequently be used to explain, in part, differences in progress. Interviews with pupils, in conjunction with an examination of their class work to identify errors and specific forms of difficulty, enabled the pupils' class behaviour and performance to be explained in terms of the interaction of their own characteristics and home background with the ways in which the teachers had introduced the topic. Qualitative analysis does not provide firm evidence of the relative strength of these effects, but it was clear that one teacher who explained the tasks more fully was enabling even pupils of weaker ability to perform optimally and make progress. Case studies of four of these interactions were used to illustrate the effects observed and to lead into a discussion of the implications for reception class teaching in Taiwan. The conclusion is that a lack of cognitive ability and language competence were commonly observed as associated with poor progress, and indeed some of these pupils seemed to have insuperable problems in the current system. The imposition of a curriculum with the same time pressures being put on all pupils, irrespective of their ability and readiness for school, created great difficulties for teachers and pupils alike. But some teachers exacerbated this problem by failing to provide adequate explanations and rehearsals of tasks for the slower pupils or those with language problems. The tasks themselves were often boring and old fashioned, lacking interest or appeal for the pupils. Initial difficulties often created hostile attitudes to school and a downward spiral in effort and achievement. Finally, the thesis attempts to suggest realistic and practical remedies for what seems to be a wholly unsatisfactory situation.

It is said that students in Hong Kong are under great pressure to succeed in public examinations since the educational reform was launched. In order to explore ways to help students suffering with pressure and anxiety, the researcher conducted a qualitative study on a group of candidates for understanding the phenomenon. The researcher adopted a theoretical sampling strategy to select 8 candidates for this study. The researcher adopted the diary and interview method to capture data. Zimmerman and Wieder (1977) called this combined method as a 'diary-interview method' for which the diary was often used as a basis for intensive interviewing (Zimmerman & Wieder, 1977; Bell, 2006). Accordingly, the researcher used the diary method to understand the daily issues and pressure of the participants; and then used the interview method for further investigations. Data obtained in diaries provided the researcher with many clues and themes for in-depth interviews. After data collection, she used the method of thematic analysis for data management and data analysis. In this study, through the diary method, the researcher found the daily workloads of the students were great, which includes the workload from the School-based Assessments (SBA), presentations, projects and supplementary lessons for examinations. She also found some students suffered from different sickness such as stomach ache and headache. More importantly, through in-depth interviews, the researcher found the family was a great factor affecting the students to face the public examinations, and this family factor complicatedly interlocked with the Chinese culture of 'filial piety'. The family was an important motivational factor for the students, at the same time, had made them bear significant additional pressure for learning. Furthermore, the researcher found that components of examination pressure, including cognitive, emotional, behavioural and physical, interacted with some important patterns. The findings were discussed in-depth and recommendations for interventions are made in this study

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This dissertation describes the creation of new and novel electronic assessment systems and the creation of a new generic model of assessment. The electronic assessment systems can be used by more than one teacher or student at any one time. Audio, visual and data recordings (including teachers comments) are immediately stored with student records so they are instantly available anywhere as a resource for monitoring progress and assisting student learning. Research work began by selecting a leading assessment system called ESAAMS Version 2. Although it was possible for that software to be installed on many computers, each instance of the software required its own separate database. New assessment practises in schools required this information to be shared between teachers and students and so it was necessary to investigate the underlying assessment models being used. ESAAMS Version 2 was tested by the author and by teachers, and questionnaires and interviews with teachers were also conducted and used to identify areas that could be improved or expanded. From that, a first new model of assessment was created. A new prototype electronic system called Kumquat was created to implement the first model. Kumquat allowed students to assess their own work and students could also build a portfolio of work. Kumquat was tested by several schools and results were collected and analysed to identify areas of the electronic assessment system that could be further improved or expanded. A second prototype electronic assessment system called Guava was then created from an analysis of feedback from Kumquat users. Further questionnaires were used and other assessment systems were reviewed to create a prototype generic assessment model. Guided by the results from testing the two new electronic assessment systems (Kumquat and Guava), a more focussed literature review was conducted and, from that, a new and final generic model of assessment was created. A third new electronic assessment system called Kiwi was described using the results from the literature searches, the new ideas and results from the two new electronic systems (Kumquat and Guava) and the final generic model of assessment created during the research. Kiwi would allow peer-assessment and more fluid sharing of student assessment information between teachers. Future research work was suggested.

The focus of this study is to develop and standardize a screening test of reading for the pupils of classes B, C and D in Greek elementary schools. A sample of 2,518 pupils (1,282 boys and 1,236 girls) were tested, aged 6 years and 9 months to 10 years and 1 month. Of those 861 pupils were from the area of Attica (Athens) and 1,657 pupils from the rest of Greece. The results of the test were analyzed and the psychometric profile of the test was seen as acceptable. The Alpha coefficient of Cronbach and the Guttman split-half coefficients for each of the classes and also for the sample as a whole were high at around (.94) and certainly acceptable for a screening test of reading. The standard error of measurement was low at (2.4) and also acceptable for such a purpose. The validity is also claimed as satisfactory. Item analysis showed that the test as constructed is an appropriate screening device. Item difficulty indices for the whole sample as well as for each one of the three classes was satisfactory for the majority of the Items. All the Items showed substantial discrimination and for each one of the Items each distractor was effective. The present investigation argues that this test as constructed is an appropriate screening device, which can identify poor readers and can be used by Greek classroom teachers concerned with the classes B, C and D of Greek elementary school.

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This thesis is concerned with examination comparability and the assumption that achieved grades in GCSE examinations have common currency across subjects. Technical treatments commonly used to investigate examination comparability are discussed along with the assumptions upon which they are based and their limitations. A variety of technical treatments, taking into account population sampling, tiering, coursework and cognitive skill demands, are used to investigate comparability for GCSE science results from Welsh and English examining groups. Examination comparability is shown to be undermined by fluctuations in relative 'difficulty' across time, different correlations between subjects, curriculum changes, and sub-group effects.

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