Despite the significance of the conception of a problem in bringing about solutions, and the relationship between the quality of the problem and the quality of the solutions found for it, very little is known about the process of problem formulation. The present study focused on the development of an empirical measure of subjects' ability to create new problems and the relationship between this ability and their skill in solving similar types of problems. These issues were examined using items from the Raven Progressive Matrices Test. Among the results it was found that a reliable and valid quality score could be assigned to newly created matrix-type problems and that only a very low correlation existed between the ability to solve existing problems and the ability to invent new ones. Problem creation was found to be a more difficult task than problem solving, thereby supporting the theoretical notions regarding its significance in characterizing human giftedness and creativity.Albert Einstein said, the formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a function of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old questions from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science. (Einstein & Infeld, 1938, p. 92) This notion has been generalized by Wertheimer (1945), who stated that the function of thinking is not just solving an actual problem but discovering, envisaging, going into deeper questions. Often in great discoveries the most important thing is that a certain question is found. Envisaging, putting the productive question is often a more important, often a greater achievement than the solution of a set question, (p. 123) 377

In order to examine the nature of feelings of work satisfaction and reports of job-related stress, teachers were asked to rate themselves regarding various aspects of their work functioning. Data regarding these teachers were also collected from principals, other teachers, parents and pupils. Teachers' general satisfaction and stress at work were found to relate mostly to their reported feelings about what happened within the class rather than to administrative or policy questions. Satisfaction as a teacher was related to internal factors (satisfaction in life in general and feelings of self efficacy) while reported stress was related to external factors (principal and pupil ratings.) The " better " teachers, according to external ratings, were willing to report more stress in their work situation. The British PsychologicalSoCiety 'British Journal of Developmental psycho lo^ Ediror: Peter Bryant, Watts Professor of Psychology, University of Oxford This quarterly journal, launched in spring 1983, publishes full length conceptual, empirical, review and discussion papers as well as brief reports on work in progress, in Development during childhood and adolescence; Early infant perceptual, cognitive and motor development; Abnormal developmentthe problems of handicaps, learning difficulties and childhood autism; Educational implications of child development; Parent-child interaction; Acquisition of language; Social and moral development; Ageing Selected content8 of Volume 2 (1984) Development of concrete operational thought and information coding in schooled and unschooled children The control of training and transfer effects in the Minnesota Spatial Relations and other tasks -Young children's coordination of motive and outcome in judgements of satisfaction and morality -N. Yill Cognitive style and moral judgement in mentally handicapped and non-handicapped children of equal The role of media in road safety education for young children -T. RothengafferReasons for the attribution of intent in seven-and nine-year-old children -S. Millur

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Summary. Despite the function of problems in initiating thought towards solutions and the effect of the quality of problems on the quality of solutions, little is known about how problems are envisaged and formulated. The present study investigated the content of school problems as posed by secondary pupils, the quality with which the problems are formulated, and the relation of the content and quality to the intellectual characteristics of the pupils. Among the results were: (1) although the content of the problems included peer relations and institutional restrictions, the salient content involved the affectivity of teachers; (2) the quality with which the problems were formulated was predominantly ‘egocentric’ rather than ‘socially‐sensitive’; (3) the content and quality of the problems were related to specific intellectual characteristics of the pupils.