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The content and assessment of the curriculum is under discussion in many educational systems. Because the curriculum is a product of authority relationships, the role and position of several actors executing the authority relationships in the education system are under question as well. Traditionally, inspectorates, as part of the authority structure and examination systems, have the function of guaranteeing the quality of education in general and the curriculum in particular. This paper examines how inspectorates in Germany and Russia contribute to the development of new checks and balances regarding the curriculum. It examines roles and functions of the inspectorate, trends in educational reform, the curricular content and provisions, and the educational tradition in both countries. In Germany, regulation of evaluation (quality) does not appear to be a focus of concern for reform. Centralized regulation of the curriculum guarantees a certain quality, and the inspectorates do not play an explicit role in testing and examinations. In Russia, there are many more reform activities that concern the content and quality of curriculum. Functional decentralization to nongovernmental agencies can be found in Russia, and territorial decentralization can be found in both Germany and Russia. The redistribution of power implies a reduction of the political influences in the former socialist education systems. It appears that Russian inspectorates will fill a monitoring role, with elements of control and administration. (LMI)

The Central European countries are currently in transition in all sectors. In education, the greatest challenge is providing sufficient English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction to meet the expanding demand, particularly after many years in which English was not taught widely in Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. High pedagogical standards are being challenged by serious shortages of well-trained ESL teachers and materials. In some cases, teachers weak in English language skills or lacking language teacher training are being hired to fill the gaps. Native English-speaking English language training professionals can make a substantial contribution during this time of expansion, but collaboration with local experts will be important to ensure that the methodologies and materials that are developed are appropriate to local cultures and expectations. There are many challenges and difficulties to overcome. Response to these needs in the next few years will lay the groundwork for the future of English language development in the region. (MSE)

The structures of primary and secondary general education in a number of industrialized countries are compared to show that there are all possible combinations of educational "systems" that are, in most cases, the outcome of a remote historical legacy. This legacy, regardless of its merits, should not be considered as inviolate, but rather should be subjected to new thinking time and time again, to allow for new factors (political, social, economic, cultural, scientific, and so forth) conducive to its evolution. The countries under consideration are the six member countries of the European Economic Community and the United States, Great Britain, and the U.S.S.R. The organizational structures of vocational and technical "secondary" education are not considered. The problems of reforming the structures of secondary education are not abstract: the difficulty does not lie in conceiving a system considered as ideal, but in conceiving transitional systems, concrete ways of changing over from the present parallel stream system to the reformed system, and in accepting the difficulties arising from this transition. (Author/IRT)

This document contains 21 papers from an international workshop designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas concerning the use of information technology in teacher education among experts from Central, Eastern, and Western Europe. The papers include: (1) "Communication and Information Technologies as Change Agents" (Jef Moonen); (2) "In-service Training and Information Technology from a Curriculum Innovation Perspective" (Tjeerd Plomp and Jan van den Akker); (3) "What Do Instructional and Information Technology Contribute to Problems in Teacher Education? Results and the Future" (Sanne Dijkstra and Hein Krammer); (4) "Supporting Teachers and Learners to Design Powerful Learning Environments" (Jules Pieters); (5) "New Possibilities for Teacher Education Through Computer-Based Environments" (Betty Collis); (6) "Perspectives on Teacher Training Related to Information Technology in Central and Eastern European Countries" (Ivan Stanchev and others); (7) "Computer Networks in Teacher Education: Realizations in the Framework of the Pluto Project" (Arno Libotton); (8) "Teacher Education and Communication and Information Technologies: Implications for Faculties of Education" (Bernard Cornu); and (9) "Teacher Education and Communication and Information Technologies: A Reflection on Emerging Possibilities for Collaborative Projects" (Stephen Heppell); (10) "The 'Yale Key' to Progress in Using Communication and Information Technologies: A Case Study About Introducing CIT in a Municipal School System" (Erling Schmidt); (11) "UK Case Study: Communications and Information Technology in UK Teacher Education" (Niki Davis); (12) "TELETEACHING '93: Norwegian Contributions" (Jan Wibe); (13) "Case Study: A European Multimedia Training Network for International Distance Leaning" (Leopold Reif and Stefanie Fisher); (14) "German Experiences with Communication and Information Technology for Updating Teachers in Germany (North-Rhine Westfalia)" (Rudolph Hambusch); (15) "Teacher Training and Information Technologies in Spain: Data, Experiences and Comparisons" (Carlos San Jose); (16) "The Implementation of Communication and Information Technologies in Teacher Education in the Netherlands" (Vim Veen and others); (17) "Not All Birds Are Turtles: Developing Teaching/Learning Environments in Initial Teacher Training at Comenius University" (Ivan Kalas and Andrej Blaho); (18) "Communication and Information Technologies in Teacher Education: The Experience of International Research and Training Center UNESCO/IIP at Glushkov Institute for Cybernetics" (Vladimir Gritsenko and others); (19) "CIT in Teacher Training at the Charles University in Prague: Examples from the Czech Republic" (Miroslava Cernocova and others); (20) "Hungarian Teacher Training" (Kristina Foghtuy and Beno Csapo); and (21) "The Computer: The Medium Stimulating the Development of a Teacher Education Workshop (illustrated by Geography)" (Krzystof Wozniak). (Individual papers contain references.) (JLS)