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Using data from Ireland's national longitudinal study of children, this paper employs a capabilities approach to disability to understand how individual characteristics as well as home and school environmental factors at age 9 relate to academic and socio-emotional outcomes of students with special educational needs (SEN) at age 17. Results suggest that young people with SEN register both lower average scores and make less academic progress between the age of 9 and their national lower secondary examination, with the exception of young people with a physical SEN. Both home and school environmental factors at 9 years have long-term associations with the academic outcomes of young people with SEN, after controlling for individual characteristics and prior academic achievement. Home and school environmental factors had less consistent associations with the socio-emotional outcomes of young people with SEN. By using rigorous nationally representative longitudinal data, this paper offers a more holistic understanding of the development of young people with SEN. The paper also provides important evidence that a more inclusive approach for supporting students with additional needs, their parents, and their schools is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A long-established literature has found that anxiety about testing is negatively related to academic achievement. Yet there remains some debate as to whether this is simply due to less academically able pupils being more likely to develop education-related anxiety issues. This paper presents new evidence on this matter, focusing upon how test anxiety – as measured by five questions included in the PISA 2015 survey – is related to the grades 15/16-year-olds achieve in England's high-stakes GCSE examinations. I find little evidence that teenagers with low or high levels of test anxiety achieve lower GCSE grades than pupils with average levels of test anxiety. Thus, in contrast to much of the existing literature, no clear relationship between test anxiety and examination performance is found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a rich set of student background characteristics to estimate the value added of second-level schools in Ireland. We show that there is a considerable degree of reranking of schools when we move from analysing raw outcomes to value added; in many cases the best performing schools in raw terms are not the best in value-added terms. We show that, contrary to popular perception, fee-paying schools do not add higher value than other schools. A simulation exercise suggests that if parents chose the best value-added school from among the set of feasible schools, then this reallocation of students has the potential to increase academic achievement substantially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine the case for a focus on place-based drivers of inequalities in educational attainment among secondary school students in Scotland. Using desk-based sources, it provides an account of the post-2015 policy episode around improving educational attainment among children from disadvantaged areas. This started with the Scottish Government claiming that its 'defining mission' was to 'close the gap' but the place-based focus of policy was soon dissipated and the legislation that intended to be the flagship of reform was shelved. The paper shows that international evidence prompts a need for the impact of disadvantage based on place to be factored into approaches to schooling and provides a regretful account of its insecure traction in Scottish policy. It argues that a serious weakness of the case for place in Scotland is the underlying evidence base and concludes by suggesting how existing data sources could be used more effectively and by outlining some alternative policy approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the connections and disconnections between teacher education policy and research, and considers future opportunities for teacher education research by rethinking the notion of evidence as it is conceptualised in current policy debates. Historically, teacher education was positioned as a training issue, then as a learning issue, and more recently it has been framed as a policy problem requiring significant reform. By analysing the influences on current teacher education policy, this paper argues that we are now in a second stage of the 'teacher education as a policy problem' phase. Teacher education is now a politically constructed and ideological policy problem and the associated discourses of evidence are contributing to disconnections between teacher education research and policy. Drawing on findings from a large-scale longitudinal study investigating the effectiveness of teacher education that highlighted the complex and non-linear processes of learning teaching and doing teaching, I argue that singular thinking about the purpose of teacher education as only preparing teachers must be problematised. I suggest that calls for evidence, that are so prevalent in current policy, must be interrogated and reframed if compelling and convincing connections between teacher education policy and research are to be realised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the construction and practice of the purposes of teacher education in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and Taiwan. The paper begins with a brief overview of contemporary issues underlying the education system in both countries. It then investigates the underlying assumption of student achievement before moving on to reconceptualise the purposes of education, and consequently, teacher education with the aims of remedying existing social and cultural gaps in both societies, as well as laying the path for a more diverse society for all. Underpinned within a social constructivist paradigm, the qualitative study explores how teacher education can, and needs to be, more equitable and responsive to the learning outcomes of students – in terms of diversity and difference – in Aotearoa NZ and Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan's Punjab province has witnessed numerous education reforms in recent years. Many of these reforms have been aimed at improving the well-documented low levels of learning by focusing on improving teaching quality. The rhetoric suggests that government schools, particularly those in rural areas with a more disadvantaged pupil base, are especially ineffective at imparting learning. This paper seeks to investigate whether children in rural Punjab are learning literacy and numeracy over the course of a year, and if so, are some pupils progressing more than others. Using recently collected data, it finds that children in our sample are making progress. Variation in progress is found to be greater within schools rather than across them. The competence and qualifications of a teacher also makes a significant difference to a child's academic progress. The paper further finds differential progress for rich and poor students within schools, suggesting an important role for education policy to put in place targeted support towards those from disadvantaged backgrounds to ensure improvements in their learning keep pace with their peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present analyses of three textbooks currently used in the teaching of mathematics to year-one children in England. One is an established English-authored textbook, while the others are Singaporean-authored imports promoted by government as solutions to perceptions of systemic failure. Every task in each textbook was coded against a set of eight number-related competences known to support children's learning in both short and long terms. Such a framework, which is literature-derived and curriculum-independent, enables meaningful comparison of materials deriving from different cultural contexts. Analyses of the proportions of all tasks coded for the different competences showed that none of the three books adequately addresses all eight competences, although the English-authored comes closest. Moving averages, undertaken to show the temporal location of the opportunities presented for children to acquire the eight competences, showed them distributed throughout the school year in the English-authored textbook but only during the first half of the school year in the two Singaporean-authored textbooks. Some implications for the importation of such materials are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the development of the hensachi system in Japanese education from the 1960s when it first appeared as a de facto measure for scholastic achievement. Unlike absolute scoring systems (such as A-level grades) hensachi gave an indication of the probability of getting a place on a particular course at a particular school or university rather than telling applicants where the bar was set in order to have a chance of being offered a place. Private companies quickly saw the opportunity to collate the huge amounts of data needed to obtain accurate hensachi bell curve distributions and began operating practice exams (mogi shiken) in schools across Japan. From the mid-1970s onwards, hensachi increasingly became seen as the source of many educational ‘evils’ in Japan and there were many attempts to ban its use. It was blamed for cramming, examination hell, and a focus on educational scores rather than learning. The system was also being used by teachers and schools to short cut the real examination system. The final section of the paper explores why, despite these concerns, repeated predictions of the demise of hensachi have proved to be premature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary school enrolment in Ethiopia has more than doubled over the past two decades. In spite of this impressive achievement, and as in many low- and middle-income countries that have experienced rapid expansion, the Ethiopian education system is characterised by a 'learning crisis' in which many children are leaving school without basic numeracy and literacy skills. In this paper, we explore the relationship between low learning levels and the features of an education system characterised by a sudden increase in learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, including 'first generation learners', or students whose parents have never been to school. Using unique longitudinal school survey data, we examine whether first-generation learner status represents an additional layer of disadvantage in the Ethiopian education system; the relationship between first-generation learner status and learning outcomes; and the educational trajectories of first generational learners through primary school. Based on these findings, we consider the implications of a rising tide of access for Ethiopia as it seeks to provide equitable, quality education for all by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarises findings from several systematic research reviews about the contribution of research to effective continuing professional development and learning (CPDL) activities and their impact on pupils and teachers. It starts with a review of how teachers engage in and with research as part of CPDL, how teachers and researchers shape professional learning activities and identifies key processes linked to positive outcomes. Finally it explores how different research contributions can be developed to make a more visible contribution to CPDL.The paper highlights common characteristics of effective CPDL, including: sustained collaboration with professional colleagues, including both making use of specialist expertise and structured peer support for embedding specialist contributions; an understanding of and commitment to professional learning, including enquiry-oriented learning and learning to learn from looking; a focus on refining teaching and learning, working towards aspirations for specific pupils side by side with theory; and effective scaffolding and modelling of learning by both teachers and leaders for colleagues and for pupils. The key implications of these findings are explored in the conclusions and include the importance of conceptualising researchers’ contributions to CPDL as specialist expertise and/or researchers and Masters tutors harnessing the potential of peer support between teachers. They also explore overlaps between core research and teaching skills and the need for a shared language between teachers and researchers to enable concepts like analysis, theory and criticality to be valued as practical tools for enhancing professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Gaps in GCSE attainment have long been the concern of policy makers, academics, and social commentators, largely due to the importance of these exams for setting children on their future academic and career pathways. In the past a wide range of factors relating to the pupils, their families, and their schools have been found to account for differences in GCSE attainment. In this paper we examine the role of pupils' beliefs in their own academic ability (academic self-concept). Using Next Steps data, we examine whether pupils with higher academic self-concept do better or worse in their GCSEs than pupils with lower academic self-concept. Results show that on average, controlling for other characteristics, having high academic self-concept increases GCSE scores by four grades. When we compare academic self-concept to measured achievement we find that both high and low attainers have higher probabilities of achieving five A*–C GCSEs and higher GCSE point scores on average if they have high academic self-concept than similarly able students who have lower academic self-concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including academic performance and adaptive/socio-emotional functioning; specific interventions for literacy and numeracy and access to higher education; and education for children and young people in care.

The introduction of new assessment policy can reverberate throughout all levels of schooling. This paper presents an in-depth investigation into one school's response in the Junior years of secondary education to the introduction of a new Senior years' assessment system. The investigation focuses on the educational context of a high-performing school where school leaders decided to prioritise learning rather than summative assessment in the Junior school. The findings reveal the practices required to make critical changes to the assessment culture and related assessment systems for the school, within a context of national assessment accountabilities and high community expectations. These practices include the collaboration of school leaders with teachers, students and parents to drive change while maintaining high performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A much larger proportion of English 14-year-olds expect to apply to university than ultimately make an application by age 21, but the proportion expecting to apply falls from age 14 onwards. In order to assess the role of socioeconomic status in explaining changes in expectations, this paper applies duration modelling techniques to the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, analysing transitions in young people’s expectations both from being ‘likely to apply’ to being ‘unlikely to apply’ and vice versa. Young people’s socioeconomic background has a significant association with changes in expectations, even after controlling for prior academic attainment and other potentially confounding factors; in addition, young people’s backgrounds affect their responsiveness to new evidence on academic attainment at age 16. This suggests more could usefully be done to maintain the educational expectations of academically able young people from less advantaged families, especially providing guidance on how to view new academic results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing upon a programme of comparative studies in three European countries, England, France and Denmark, this paper discusses some of the particular issues and problems that can arise in comparative research. It outlines some ways in which the research has attempted to resolve these and to shed light on the complex interplay of factors—personal, social and structural—that influence young people's engagement with learning. It argues that comparative approaches which combine careful measurement with ‘up-close’, deep understanding of real-world contexts, can be a very powerful mix. The paper proceeds to discuss some innovative features of comparative research design such as the use of student quotations from the three countries as a stimulus to group interviews with students and the employment of an ‘insider-outsider’ perspective, both in the development of research instruments and in fieldwork, by collaborators from more than one country working together and writing up their observations of countries other than their own. It is argued that such an approach can give valuable insights to other comparative researchers who wish to acknowledge the importance of both structure and agency in order to illuminate the complexities of the interaction between culture, social structure and institutions and individual action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the performances and the progress made by pupils of minority ethnic origin between Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 in British secondary schools. The data used in this paper were collected as part of a PhD study by Haque (1999). The paper discusses findings from multilevel modelling analyses carried out on 12 of the 20 schools in the research study. In particular, it reveals that whilst differences exist in the performances and the progress of pupils of minority ethnic background in their Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 examinations, these differences become substantially reduced when background factors (other than ethnic origin) are taken into account. The paper concludes that in order to identify accurately and reduce the nature of disadvantages for pupils from particular minority ethnic groups, policy-makers, schools and teachers need to differentiate these groups beyond their national origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a mixed methods study carried out within the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme at the University of Oxford on the ways that the course sought to frame and address the link between poverty and poorer educational outcomes. The study was concerned with the views held by ITE students on the effects of poverty on pupils' learning, well-being, and educational achievement. The paper initially explores why these questions are important, how they are framed internationally, and how they relate to current education policy, particularly in England. Data were collected from student teacher pre- and post-PGCE course questionnaires and a focus group discussion. The findings showed a tendency for student teachers to associate low achievement more strongly with family and cultural factors than with socio-economic or school factors, although there was some evidence that the thinking of some students changed during their programme. Implications for policy and practice in ITE are discussed with a view to ensuring that the social justice commitments espoused by many such courses are actually enabled more effectively to influence the learning experiences of beginning teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There are large social class inequalities in educational achievement in the UK. This paper quantifies the contribution of one mechanism to the production of these inequalities: social class differences in school ‘effectiveness’, where ‘effectiveness’ refers to a school’s impact on pupils’ educational achievement (relative to other schools). It builds on the small number of existing studies, whilst overcoming a number of their limitations. It estimates the effectiveness of the (state) schools attended between ages 7/8 and 10/11 by a cohort of children born in the 1990s in Avon, a former county of England, and then compares the effectiveness of the schools attended by children from different social classes. It finds that ‘higher’ social class children attend more effective schools, on average, and that these social class differences in average school effectiveness between ages 7/8 and 10/11 account for 7% of social class differences in average educational achievement age 10/11. This is not a causal analysis, however. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A key predictor of young people’s future outcomes is their level of academic achievement whilst at school. In England this is most commonly measured by achievement in GCSEs. However, not all pupils will have taken the same set of GCSE examinations as, for example, they may make different subject choices. For this reason, GCSE performance is often aggregated into a simple measure such as ‘mean GCSE grade’ before being used in statistical models. This paper investigates the merits of using an alternative method, based upon the relatively new technique of Generalised Boosting Models, which does not require for GCSE results in different subjects to be aggregated together. The importance of this research is that by evaluating the predictive performance of such a method we can ascertain how much useful information is lost in the process of GCSE aggregation. The results show that traditional predictions based upon simple aggregated measures of GCSE attainment are fairly similar to those based upon the more complex approach. This provides some confidence that, for the majority of outcomes, only a small amount of predictive information will be lost through the use of aggregated measures of GCSE performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Internationally, reviews of educational outcomes of children in care reveal consistent findings highlighting the need for considerable policy attention to be paid to their education to ensure they achieve optimal economic and psychosocial life outcomes. Important to enhancing the educational achievement of children in care are support, stability of environment, teaching resources and the recognition by all stakeholders – birth parents, foster carers, social workers and statutory authorities — that education is paramount to a child's future well-being. This paper highlights the perspectives of carers, teachers and children on the fostering experience with particular focus on educational outcomes drawing on a prospective longitudinal study of children in long-term care. Using a multimethod, repeated measures multi-informant design, children were assessed by carers and teachers using the Achenbach Child Behaviour Checklist and its companion, the Teacher Report. The findings indicate demonstrated gains in terms of improved scores and adaptive functioning at subsequent assessments following two years of stable care. Discussion of the findings and implications for practice will focus on the need for a coordinated strategy to improve placement continuity and focused professional and organisational support with respect to the emotional and educational needs of children in care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the impact of the Beacon schools initiative on the social and academic characteristics of secondary schools in England. The Beacon schools programme ran from 1998 to 2004 and epitomised the (then) Labour government’s focus on school improvement through diversity, collaboration and partnership. This paper looks at variation in the academic and social characteristics of the 322 secondary Beacon schools over a nine-year period. The findings show that Beacon schools were among the most advantaged state schools in England and while they continue to outperform the general school population, the data suggest that the performance gap has decreased and there is little evidence that Beacon status conferred an advantage on schools, in terms of standard measures of academic success. The Beacon school initiative exemplifies some of the key issues with policy based education reform. First, its emphasis on collaboration provokes tensions between schools that are increasingly in competition with each other. Secondly, clearly defined and measurable medium and long term outcomes for the initiative were not prescribed, thus making it difficult to determine the efficacy of the intervention. Finally, that the initiative did not appear to have any appreciable effect on the social and academic characteristics of the Beacon schools raises issues about the usefulness of externally prescribed interventions and the potential that they have to make a real difference to educational equity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Given the disadvantaged position of working-class children in the education system, it is important to understand how parents and families might support their children to succeed academically. This paper reports on 35 case studies that were conducted as part of the Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3–16) research project. Using in-depth interviews with children and parents this study investigates parental involvement with school and learning during primary and secondary school years in working-class families with children who are academically succeeding above prediction and children who are progressing as predicted, given their background characteristics. The paper provides descriptions of emotional and practical support for academic learning in these families and discusses how parents explain their involvement or lack thereof. This paper identifies differences in socialisation practices between the two groups of working-class families: ‘accomplishment of natural growth’ in families with children progressing as predicted (Lareau, 2003) and ‘active cultivation’ in families with children succeeding above prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper asks whether private, selective, and faith schools in England and Wales in the 1980s provided an academic advantage to their pupils, both in the short and longer term. Using longitudinal data from the 1970 British Cohort Study, we examine academic outcomes in compulsory schooling and further education, and the highest qualification gained by age 42. School sector differences are substantially attenuated by controlling for prior pupil characteristics. Nevertheless, a residual effect of private, grammar, and secondary modern schooling remains, both in the short and long term, controlling for both pupil and school characteristics. In the case of faith schools, however, the apparent advantage is restricted to the short term once pupil characteristics are controlled. A unique feature of our analysis is that we control for the individual’s faith of upbringing, which is important in reducing what could otherwise be seen as a distinctive Catholic school advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Special educational needs (SEN) can be seen as a ‘construction’ that countries define within their legislation and go on to identify, assess, and make provision for in different ways. Definitions vary widely from country to country and even within a country. Many governments have policies to ensure students with SEN are included in mainstream schooling and some enact legislation to ensure provision and equality for all. This research looks at exclusion rates in the ‘Programme for International Student Assessment’ (PISA) to highlight trends over time that can relate to changes in definitions and legislation regarding SEN in participant countries and how they can possibly impact response rates and results. Given the weight of importance put upon results and world rankings in international surveys such as PISA, the research explores the potential for countries to ‘game the system’ through the use of exclusion criteria. The paper highlights divergences in approach between participant countries and explores whether international surveys should adopt a more uniform approach to how SEN is defined or whether the diversity of approach should be celebrated and accepted as fair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current scenario of expansion of neo-liberal and market-oriented policies, large-scale assessment has become an increasingly pervasive technology of power. Given their consequences, and the high stakes derived from them, assessment systems put pressure on schools to an extent where their practices and internal policies adapt to the logic of these mechanisms. The behaviours that emerge from this adaptation are seen as ‘gaming the system’ and are often portrayed as the responsibility of test users. However, the article aims at pushing the question around the consequences of metrics further, in terms of what these strategic gaming behaviours are adapting to and to what extent predominant metrics are accomplishing their assumptions of social justice. Through theoretically discussing the concept of social justice in connection with educational assessment, the paper problematises whether current metrics and their consequences, on the one hand, are able to respond to their underlying principles of equality of opportunity, which are characteristic of justice as distribution, and, on the other hand, highlights the insufficiency of these principles to respond to current developments of the concept of social justice with regard to the dimensions of recognition and participation, with considerations for their potential inclusion in future assessment systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers whether subject choice at 14–16 influences post-16 transitions, taking into account prior academic attainment and school characteristics, and if so, whether this accounts for socioeconomic, gender, and ethnic differences in access to post-16 education. We consider post-16 progression to full-time education, A-levels, and studying two or more facilitating subjects at A-level. We use ‘Next Steps’, a study of 16,000 people born in England in 1989–1990, linked to administrative education records (the National Pupil Database). We find that students pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum at 14–16 had a greater probability of progression to all post-16 educational outcomes, while the reverse was true for students taking an applied GCSE subject. Curriculum differences did not explain the social class differences in post-16 progression, but an academic curriculum was equally valuable for working-class as for middle-class pupils. Pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum particularly strongly increased the chances of girls and white young people staying in the educational pipeline, whereas applied subjects were particularly detrimental for girls. An EBacc-eligible curriculum at age 14–16 increased the chances of studying subjects preferred by Russell Group universities at A-level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It has been widely documented that accountability systems, including school inspections, bring with them unintended side effects. These unintended effects are often negative and have the potential to undo the intended positive effects. However the empirical evidence is limited. Through a European comparative study we have had the rare opportunity to collect empirical evidence and study the effects (both intended and unintended) of school inspections (a key system of accountability) in a systematic way, across seven countries. We present the findings of the unintended effects in this paper. Survey self-report responses from school principals in each country, with differing school inspection systems, are analysed to measure the prevalence of these unintended effects and to investigate the part played by pressure to do well in inspections. A key finding is that increasing pressure in school inspection systems is associated with the undesired effect of the narrowing and refocusing of the curriculum and instructional strategies. We also show that a proportion of school principals admit to misrepresenting the school in data sent to the inspectorate and show evidence for formalisation/proceduralisation (excessive focus on records) and ossification (fear of experimentation in teaching), although these factors are less related to changes in pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, I examine ethnic inequalities in educational attainment in England and Wales. I focus on the two main educational transitions in England and Wales: the transition at age 16, from compulsory to post-compulsory education, and the transition at age 18, from school to university. I take into account the distinction made by Boudon (1974) between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ effects, and ask how far overall ethnic inequalities in educational attainment can be attributed to primary or secondary effects. The paper first assesses the extent of gross ethnic inequalities in the chances of making each transition, before asking how far the picture is altered by controlling for social class background. I then determine the relative importance of primary and secondary effects in creating ethnic inequalities in educational attainment. Results show that both primary and secondary effects are operating to produce ethnic inequalities in educational attainment. In general, where ethnic groups are disadvantaged relative to the white majority, this is due to their lower average levels of performance. But conditional on their performance, ethnic minority students are much more likely to choose to make educational transitions, suggesting that if performance effects were eliminated, all ethnic minority groups would be advantaged relative to the white majority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a qualitative study of 32 UK student teachers, this paper asks what constitutes the vocational culture of teaching by exploring contradictory discourses of care and authority as they are presented to, and interpreted by, trainee teachers along their journey to becoming newly qualified teachers. Introducing the concept of ‘vocational habitus’ in relation to teaching, ‘ideal teacher narratives’ recounted by respondents are examined and mismatches between the expectations of individuals, institutions and wider policy contexts are explored. The later part of the article focuses specifically on three trainee teachers who struggled more than other research participants with their new roles as teachers. Their experiences suggest that simultaneous and gendered notions of caring and commanding respect can present considerable obstacles for the acquisition of a ‘successful’ vocational habitus. In light of proposed changes to teacher training in England, this paper argues that for government teacher education policies to be successful, they need to demonstrate an awareness and consideration of these contradictory notions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether the inter-generational benefits of parental adult education exist over and above the achievement of parental educational qualifications during schooling and whether returns to parental adult learning are greatest for children of parents with low levels of education. Using data from the UK Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, ALSPAC, results show that mothers' participation in adult education is not associated with improvements in their children's academic attainment in English and mathematics at age 14 once the previous parental academic qualifications are included. This lack of relationship was found for the overall sample, and for subgroups defined by the type of adult education (accredited, unaccredited or informal learning), the intensity of learning (duration and engagement) and by mothers' prior educational qualifications. Although our results suggest that maternal adult learning is not a key factor for improvement in children's test scores at age 14, further research is needed to investigate the role of parental adult learning at other stages of children's cognitive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faith identity is emerging as significant for Muslim students in the post 9/11 scenario, with implications for their education and wider social cohesion. This poses challenges to school leaders, raising issues not only linked to student achievement and performance, but also with regard to students' identity constructions and their educational engagement. The paper draws on data collected from a small number of teachers and Muslim students from two secondary schools in England, looking at how Muslim students experience their identity in the school context and with what implications for their educational engagement. It also discusses the challenges for educational leaders/teachers in managing 'Muslimness' on educational sites. The data indicate that the increasing engagement with faith identity can be a response to experiences of discrimination, marginalisation and negative media. The paper highlights the need for communication and understanding across differences, underpinned by an equally pressing need for the recognition of religious and cultural diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects upon the nature of a target-setting and mentoring scheme in an 11-16 school in England, through a series of retrospective interviews with students who continued into further education. It considers the extent to which the initiative impacted both upon students' formal academic achievement at 16+ and upon the subsequent longer-term aspirations of these students. Interviews with students who achieved considerable 'value-added' in their GCSE examinations suggested that the impact of mentoring was strongest amongst those students who came from homes where there was less expectation of them participating in further and higher education, and that this effect was not differentiated according to gender. The paper suggests that longer-term transformation of students' aspirations, and the challenging of gendered course and career stereotypes, will only be achieved if schools adopt a more holistic and proactive approach to careers education and to widening participation for their students, and that the absence of such proactivity will limit the longer-term gains initiated by successful mentoring activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of countries, including Ireland, have experienced a recent growth in the prevalence of 'shadow education', that is, paid private tuition outside the schooling system. Previous international studies have indicated that such tuition can enhance academic performance and facilitate access to tertiary education. However, such studies have rarely taken account of important differences between those taking private tuition and other students. This paper explores the characteristics of students taking private tuition and the impact of such tuition on academic outcomes in the Republic of Ireland. Participation in private tuition is disproportionately concentrated among students from middle-class families, those with higher prior performance and those with greater engagement in the schooling process. When the selective nature of the group taking private tuition is accounted for, private tuition yields no advantages in terms of upper secondary examination performance. It is argued that, rather than representing a rational strategy for the middle classes to secure educational advantage, participation in private tuition must be seen in the context of the competitive examination system in operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief paper is a commentary on a piece of work recently published in the Oxford Review of Education (Goldstein & Noden, 2003) which purports to create a multi-level model of the social segregation between schools in England 1994-1999. Segregation, as a measure of the (un)evenness of the distribution of disadvantaged students between schools, is an important characteristic of the school system, related to social cohesion and school effects (Gorard a at, 2003). Probably the first thing to note about the `new' approach by Goldstein and Noden to measuring such segregation is that, if we accept the findings at face value, then it produces results that have already been published (e.g. Gorard, 2000). Their substantive findings are that segregation between schools in England rose slightly from 1994 to 1999, and that areas with academic selection or a high proportion of schools with control over their own admissions tend to have higher and rising levels of social segregation. As is so often the case in practice (Gorard, 2003a), the use of multi-level modelling (MLM) in this instance tells us nothing new. MLM here appears to confirm results obtained using the far simpler approach of analysing segregation at varying levels of aggregation. In fact, this appearance is deceptive because Goldstein and Noden were not measuring segregation at all.

Research on the transition from post-secondary education to the labour market refers mainly to differences between academic and vocational tracks in secondary education. In this paper we analyse Israeli data focusing on the transition from different levels of post secondary degrees and from various fields of study to the labour market. We examine three labour market outcomes: employment status, occupational prestige attainment, and job match. Data are drawn from a supplement to the 1983 Israeli Census, which includes a random sample of Israel's tertiary education degree holders (vocational and academic). Our central finding is that men who work in female-dominated occupations get better returns than women, and women who work in male-dominated occupations get better returns than men. We discuss several explanations of this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his recent paper, 'Cautions on OECD's recent educational survey (PISA)' ( Oxford Review of Education , 29, 2), S.J. Prais questioned the outcomes of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's PISA survey of the reading, mathematics and science attainments of 15-year-olds. Prais suggested that methodological flaws in PISA had resulted in an apparent improvement in the attainment of British students--particularly when compared to their Swiss and German counterparts. This paper responds to Prais's criticisms, noting that when Prais's conjectures are tested with empirical data they are not supported. Further it is noted that many of Prais's criticisms are due to an incomplete understanding and knowledge of the methodology of international studies, and of PISA in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new survey of the educational attainments of 15-year-olds was undertaken by OECD in Spring 2000 (the 'PISA survey'). Surprisingly, British pupils appeared to perform in mathematics much better than in an IEA survey carried out only one year previously. This paper examines four main differences in the objectives and methods adopted in the two surveys. (a) Questions in the previous IEA survey were directed to the mastery of the school syllabus by the relevant age-groups, whereas PISA was ostensibly directed to so-called 'everyday life' problems--which provides less guidance for policy on schooling. (b) The IEA survey was based on samples of whole classes including, for example, older pupils who had entered school late, or had repeated a class: PISA excluded the latter pupils as it was based strictly on a 12-months' period of birth; issues of variability of pupils' attainments within a class--important for a class's teachability--cannot therefore be examined in this OECD survey. (c) England's response rate for schools was particularly low (60%, compared with 95% in leading European countries), raising serious doubts as to the inclusion of low-attaining schools. (d) The response rate of pupils (within participating schools in the PISA survey) was lower in England than in any other country, and lower than in the previous IEA survey, suggesting a greater upward bias in reported average scores. The paper concludes that it is difficult to draw valid conclusions for Britain from this survey and planned repeats should be postponed until the underlying methodological problems have been resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings from a large-scale international investigation of a number of factors that are considered to impact upon educational motivation and achievement. Following on from an earlier investigation of adolescent attitudes, the present study involved a detailed survey of nearly 3,000 children, aged 9-10 from districts in England, Russia and the USA, together with teacher reports and the employment of a test of basic mathematical computation. The Russian sample scored significantly more highly on the computation test and showed no large tail of underachievers, as was the case with the other groups. Findings from the survey indicate that many of the differences found in the earlier adolescent study are equally true for younger children. The Russian children were less likely to express satisfaction with their abilities or workrates, were more positive towards school, more likely to see education as intrinsically valuable and tended to spend significantly more time on homework tasks. Data obtained also suggest that the Russian sample experienced classrooms with far less disruption and stronger prosocial peer influences than did the English and American children. Teacher understandings of what is considered to be acceptable behaviour appeared to differ, however. The paper notes that the Western samples overestimated their teachers' views of their ability while the Russian children provided underestimates. Possible reasons for, and implications of, these differential teacher messages are discussed. The paper concludes by examining the implications of the findings from the study for increasing motivation and achievement in countries with very different sociocultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the trajectories of initially higher- and lower-achieving children from lower and higher socio-economic status families from primary school through to university in England for the first time. We also explore what explains these trajectories. This enables us to provide new insights into when and why the performance of children with similar initial achievement diverges on the basis of their socio-economic background. Our results indicate that pupils from poor backgrounds who are higher achievers in primary school fall behind their better-off but lower-achieving peers during secondary school. This suggests that secondary school may be a critical period to intervene to prevent poor children from falling behind their richer peers. Our analysis suggests that there is less divergence in performance between pupils from different socio-economic backgrounds who attend the same schools. This result is particularly strong for children with low initial achievement. While we remain cautious about the implications of these findings, they provide suggestive evidence that schools (or the sorting of pupils into schools) play an important role in explaining why the test scores of richer and poorer children diverge over time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills are very valuable for economic growth. However, the number of young people pursuing STEM learning trajectories in the United Kingdom was lower than the predicted demand during the last decade. Several STEM enrichment and enhancement activities were thus funded by the government, private, and charitable organisations to improve understanding of and raise pupil interest in these subjects. One possible way of measuring the impact of these activities in supporting pupil understanding of maths was to track the proportion of young people obtaining a ‘good’ grade in standardised national tests such as the GCSEs. Attainment is of course only one possible outcome of education but certainly a very important one because students are more likely to continue studying subjects in which they score higher. This makes maths attainment even more important as it is a pre-requisite for admission to STEM degree courses. This longitudinal study makes use of the National Pupil Database to assess the impact of these schemes on maths attainment of participating schools. Following up 300 intervention schools for five years the study shows the intervention group did not do any better than the comparator. The paper suggests further directions for research and offers recommendations for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A small group of high-performing East Asian economies dominate the top of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. This has caught the attention of Western policymakers, who want to know why East Asian children obtain such high PISA scores, and what can be done to replicate their success. In this paper I investigate whether children of East Asian descent, who were born and raised in a Western country (Australia), also score highly on the PISA test. I then explore whether their superior performance (relative to children of Australian heritage) can be explained by reasons often given for East Asian students’ extraordinary educational achievements. My results suggest that second-generation East Asian immigrants outperform their native Australian peers by approximately 100 test points. Moreover, the magnitude of this achievement gap has increased substantially over the last ten years. Yet there is no ‘silver bullet’ that can explain why East Asian children obtain such high levels of academic achievement. Rather a combination of factors, each making their own independent contribution, seem to be at play. Consequently, I warn Western policymakers that it may only be possible to catch the leading East Asian economies in the PISA rankings with widespread cultural change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Schools’ socioeconomic status (SES) has been claimed as an important influence on student performance and there are calls for a policy response. However, there is an extensive literature which for various reasons casts doubt on the veracity of school-SES effects. This paper investigates school-SES effects with population data from a longitudinal cohort of school students which includes achievement measures in Years 3, 5 and 7. Estimates for school-SES are unstable under differing model and measurement specifications. School-SES effects are trivial controlling for student- and school-level prior ability. Inconsistent with theoretical explanations, school-SES effects were stronger with weaker SES measures. Furthermore, school-SES effects differ somewhat by achievement domain. Also contrary to expectations, there were school-SES effects on Year 7 achievement in secondary school for the primary schools students attended in Year 5. In each of five domains of achievement, fixed effect models show a small negative effect for school-SES and a small positive effect for school-level prior ability. The large school-SES effects prominent in some research and policy literatures are statistical artefacts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To what extent and why do social origins matter for access to higher education, including access to elite universities? What is the role of private and selective schooling? This paper uses the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) to analyse the trajectories of a generation currently in early middle age. We find that the influence of social origins, especially parental education, remains when both a wide range of cognitive measures and school attainment are controlled. Attending a private school is powerfully predictive of gaining a university degree, and especially a degree from an elite institution, while grammar schooling does not appear to confer any advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the relationship between stream placement and the academic progress made by children in England in Year 2 of primary school, drawing on data from the longitudinal Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). The MCS is a sample of 19,000 children born across the UK around the turn of the century and their families. Academic progress was compared between children in England in the ‘top’, ‘middle’ or ‘bottom’ streams, and among the majority of non-streamed children. Multiple regressions took into account child, family and school characteristics and showed that stream placement significantly impacted on the academic progress made by children. Children in the ‘top’ stream achieved more and made significantly more academic progress than children attending schools that did not stream, while children in the ‘middle’ or ‘bottom’ streams achieved less and made significantly less academic progress. The reasons for this and the educational implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates degree classification outcomes for students with SQA Higher qualifications at an elite Scottish university. Students are characterised according to a new indicator based on their secondary school’s academic performance relative to the national (Scottish) average. The results show that our school context indicator provides valuable information for interpreting school qualifications with respect to a student’s potential to benefit from their university studies. If school context is ignored, raw school grades alone may be an incomplete measure of academic ability and the probability of success at university. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There are long-standing achievement gaps in England associated with socio-economic status (SES), ethnicity and gender, but relatively little research has evaluated interactions between these variables or explored school effects on such gaps. This paper analyses the national test results at age 7 and age 11 of 2,836 pupils attending 68 mainstream primary schools in an ethnically diverse inner London borough. The groups with the lowest educational achievement and poorest progress were both Black Caribbean and White British low SES pupils. White British middle and high SES pupils made substantially more progress than White British low SES pupils, significantly increasing the SES gap over time. However low and high SES Black pupils made equally poor progress age 7–11. School effects on pupil progress were large, but there was no evidence of differential school effectiveness in relation to SES, ethnicity or gender. Low SES pupils in the more effective schools performed significantly better than high SES pupils in the less effective schools, but all pupils (both low and high SES) benefit from attending the more effective schools and so these schools do not eliminate the SES gap. The limits to change that may be achieved by schools alone are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of three different approaches to establishing School Self Evaluation (SSE) mechanisms upon student achievement. Using group randomisation, four groups of schools were created. Different types of support were provided to the first three groups of schools in order to help them establish SSE mechanisms, whereas no SSE mechanism was established in any of the schools of the fourth group. In the first group, school stakeholders were offered the opportunity to develop their own SSE mechanisms and design their own improvement strategies. The second group followed the same process in designing SSE mechanisms as the first, but before introducing this approach support was offered to the stakeholders in order to address and reduce their concerns about SSE. The third group was asked to develop SSE mechanisms and take decisions for their improvement strategies which were in line with the knowledge base of educational effectiveness research. All three experimental groups had better results than the control group, but the impact of the third approach on student achievement was higher than the impact of the other two approaches to SSE. Implications for research on SSE are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral testimonies generated in a research project involving a group of women graduates of Western Australia's state teachers' college indicate that contradictions existed between competing discourses of femininity and teaching in the State in the early decades of the twentieth century, and that these opened up new possibilities for women teachers. The research was feminist in that it foregrounded the hitherto 'lost' history of women teachers. The danger of assuming a totally deterministic patriarchy was also considered. These matters are dealt with in the first part of this paper. The second part is an analysis of the recollections of the participants regarding the first formal phase in their learning to be teachers, namely, the monitoring period. What is revealed is that they were educated, were encouraged to enter the teaching profession, and were rewarded for their intellectual achievements. They learned to invest themselves in developing their rational and critical capacities. Nevertheless, there were still strong social expectations that they would remain 'properly feminine', not challenge masculine authority, and eventually leave teaching in order to become wives and mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing a coherent 14-19 phase of education and training has been a major feature of the last ten years of the Labour government. This has been the case, too, of the Welsh Assembly Government since its establishment in 1999 with its separate education policy and arrangement. The English 'project' might be characterised by (i) a more holistic approach to the total welfare of the young person, reflected in the attempt to join up the various services which affect welfare in general and educational achievement in particular; (ii) the 'personalisation' of learning; (iii) collaboration or partnership between the different providers of education and training; (iv) a reform of the whole system of qualifications; (v) a revamp of the training and apprenticeship system; and (vi) increased central 'management' of the system to ensure targets are reached. The Welsh 'project' has been different in many respects—an interesting contrast as the two systems increasingly diverge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]