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Background: Choice is a key part of the culture of the United States. Americans believe deeply in the personal and social usefulness of being able to make many choices. Hence, all sorts of efforts have been made to increase students' options, whether by creating many different kinds of schools and colleges, offering a great array of majors and degree programs, or allowing multiple modes of attending higher education. However, this proliferation of choices reproduces social inequality in two crucial ways. First, the provision of many options "produces" social inequality: people often make choices that do not serve their interests as well as they might wish, particularly if they are faced with many options and do not have adequate information. Second, the provision of many choices "legitimates" social inequality: the more one thinks in terms of choices in the context of a highly individualistic culture such as that of the United States, the easier it is for dominant groups to blame nondominants as creating their own troubles through feckless choices. Purpose: This paper focuses on one particularly important realm of choice--higher education--because it has come to play a central role in the transmission and legitimation of social inequality. Four higher education choices are of particular interest: whether to enter higher education, which college to attend, what major to choose, and what modality to attend college (for example, part time versus full time or in person versus online). Analyzing this choice-making process, the paper focuses on the impact of inequitable access to high-quality information. Beyond analyzing how choice proliferation and information inequity join to produce and legitimate educational inequality, the paper lays out detailed recommendations for what can be done to reduce this inegalitarian impact. Research Design: The paper draws on a wide variety of social science literatures including sociology of education, critical race theory, behavioral economics, and cognitive and social psychology. More particularly, the paper synthesizes sociology of education research inspired by Pierre Bourdieu and work drawing on critical race theory. Although there are major tensions between these two bodies of work, they can be fruitfully combined to both illuminate and overcome the ways information inequity produces and legitimates educational inequality. Recommendations: To reduce the role of information inequity in producing and legitimating educational inequality, the paper recommends four strands of change. One strand involves providing high-quality information more equitably through restructured and much more pervasive school counseling and other forms of information provision during middle school, high school, and higher education. A crucial component of this more equitable information provision is drawing on the community cultural wealth of nondominant communities. Second, it is important to design an "architecture of choice" that simplifies choice making and nudges students toward better choices by such means as simplifying the financial aid process, improving credit articulation for community college transfer students, and building guided pathways through college. A third strand involves reducing the harms of suboptimal choices by creating the means to monitor student progress and intervene when students might or actually do go off course. Finally, because suboptimal choices will still occur, it is important to enlighten student choosers and their observers about how choice making under conditions of information inequity produces and legitimates social inequality and to empower them to combat that stratified and stratifying process.

In educational research, there has been much stricture of neoliberalism as a scourge. In the higher education sector, the neoliberal turn has been observed as eroding academic freedom and deprofessionalising academics. Early career academics are often described as victims of neoliberalism. In this paper, we take a positive perspective through a deep dive into resilience that enables self-transformation and, potentially, system change. Our paper is situated in the Chinese higher education context where the "up-or-out" system has been put in place, mirroring the neoliberal university at a global range. We--a mid-career researcher and an early career academic--analyse our collective narratives generated through WeChat text and voice message. Drawing insight from Bourdieu's reflexive sociology, our narratives lead to four themes: capital accumulation and self-transformation, shaping the publication habitus, emancipation from symbolic violence, and resilience to symbolic domination. We conclude the paper with a call for sociology of resilience and recommendations for deneoliberalising higher education.

Neoliberal critiques of university-based teacher education programmes have led to policy changes such as the rise of alternative certification programmes, bringing in to question the role of the university in teacher education. Concomitantly, such changes problematise the place of knowledge and evidence in teacher education. This issue is of particular importance given extant debates about the place of propositional knowledge about children with special educational needs in inclusive education. This paper explores these debates in terms of recent international trends in policy and practice in teacher education for inclusion and argues for an explicit role for universities as custodians and curators of propositional knowledge in pre and in service teacher education.

This paper aims at highlighting and interpreting current empirical facets of the Greek educational pathogeny through a sociological approach. Especially, the paper tries to investigate the relationship between education and employment in modern Greece based on the annual statistical report of KANEP/GSEE, choosing both selected facets and sociologically interpreted issues such as public and private expenditure, trends on specialties, outcomes of initial training teacher's profile etc. According to this data, the main political challenge is based on both the decrease of public expenditure and the maintenance of significantly high levels of household expenditure. Additionally, current trends, such as «brain drain» or migration of highly educated people, prove that Greek public universities' learning outcomes remain competitive and effective through the framework of a global labour market, notwithstanding the harsh critique blaming them for «statism» and mismatching with the labour needs.

Talcott Parsons did not leave us with a global and consistent sociology of education. Instead, different aspects can be found in Parsons's oeuvre in different theoretical contexts. This paper summarises these different parts of Parsons's sociology of education -- his writings on the concepts of education and socialisation, the university, the school, the professions, and modernisation -- and discusses central criticisms and perspectives for further theoretical development. The paper goes on to argue that the value of cognitive rationality serves as a common basis of Parsons's sociology of education and that Parsons's sociology of education should be characterised as normative functionalist. Since the current sociology of education does not deal very intensely with Parsons's theoretical approach, the paper also considers references to other authors and the relevance for current questions and research in the sociology of education.

Recent years have witnessed a heightening of interest in the role of teachers working in EAP (English for Academic Purposes), particularly with regard to defining and debating their professional identity. However, it must be said that most authors have painted a rather dismal picture, when comparing the status and professional standing of English language teachers in Higher Education with that of academics working in other disciplines. Drawing on concepts and models developed by the educational sociologists Basil Bernstein and Pierre Bourdieu, this reflective paper proposes a theoretical framework to account for why these differences in status might be so. The paper concludes that EAP as an academic discipline currently faces some significant threats. However, the paper also argues that if EAP practitioners are to gain the professional recognition they desire, then they themselves must strive to trade more explicitly on the forms of capital valued by the academy.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 forced Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to quickly reimagine and rethink how lectures and tutorials would continue, how students would be assessed and progressed and how standards would be maintained. This paper focuses on the pedagogical lessons learned from the online pivot in 2020 and how that learning was then harnessed in the 2020-2021 academic year in the reconceptualization and redesign of a Sociology of Education module in one HEI in Ireland. The module was scaffolded by the TPACK framework (Mishra, P., and M. J. Koehler. 2006. "Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge." "Teachers College Record" 108 (6): 1017-1054), which supported dynamic teaching, learning and assessment approach delivered using both synchronous and asynchronous pedagogies. The paper explores levels and types of student engagement, student outputs across both synchronous and asynchronous elements of the module and how the overall module design impacted positively on student outcomes and student engagement. The provision of multiple points of engagement/tasks for students both synchronously and asynchronously ensured an inclusive strengths-based approach where students felt comfortable and confident enough to engage, articulate themselves and contribute to the module.

Changes in school mathematics curricula, pedagogy and assessment, and as a consequence the pressure for changes in initial teacher preparation, are consequences both of government policy initiatives and pressure from unofficial agents such as the research community, teachers and others, though with great variation across the world. In the case of England, it has resulted in strong regulation, including inspection, of initial teacher education too. In this article, I draw on sociological theory to help in mapping the relations between official and unofficial agents and in interpreting the effects on mathematics teacher educators, in particular. The article draws in the main on the changing position in England over the last decade or so, and a case study analysis is carried out of a key official document to illustrate the application of theoretical tools provided by sociologists and others for examining the relations between agents and agencies and on their consequences.

Drawing on various disciplinary and scholarly approaches to the multiple roles of higher education in society, this paper offers a new conceptualisation of the non-economic contributions of higher education. The conceptual model identifies two basic dimensions in higher education's contributions to society. The first, axiological dimension pertains to the objects of higher education: what higher education does, what is in the centre of its activities. This includes three key elements: knowledge/skills (basic and applied knowledge, generic and particular skills), norms and values (social, cultural, professional, civic) and social value (social statuses). The second, praxeological dimension pertains to the internal dynamics of higher education: what higher education does in relation to the object, the processes, practices, activities. This entails three: transmission, transformation and creation. The resulting model combines the two dimensions (axiological and praxeological), identifying nine key domains of the contributions of higher education to society. This conceptualisation both brings together the three major components of higher education's role and attends to its internal dynamics. It illuminates the intrinsic value of teaching, learning and research and the inherent transformative potentials of higher education for individuals and for societies. It embraces actual and potential contributions of higher education to society. It is applicable at both individual and collective levels. It works on the scales of group, institution, local, national and global.

Global movements to decolonise sociology have gained significant momentum in recent decades and offer far-reaching implications for the field of education. One understudied area of research, however, concerns the sociologies of education taught and experienced in teacher education outside of Anglo/European contexts. This paper uses post-/­decolonial theory to explore the teaching and learning of sociology of education for pre-service teachers at the University of Zambia. It draws on data from surveys (n = 318) and five focus groups with pre-service teachers (n = 20), a focus group with tutors (n = 3) working on the course, and reflections by course lecturers to examine Zambian pre-service teachers' experiences and perspectives of sociology. We argue that a sociology of education which includes some elements of the classical canon but is grounded more firmly in sociological perspectives related to local social issues, contexts, and epistemologies may lead to a more informed and inspired cadre of pre-service teachers, and by extension, citizens.

This paper critiques the emergence of micro-credentials in higher education. It argues that micro-credentials build on the discourse of employability skills and 21st century skills within human capital theory, and that they increase the potential of human capital theory to 'discipline' the HE curriculum to align it more closely with putative labour market requirements. The paper is situated within the social realist school in the sociology of education, and it draws primarily on the sociology of Basil Bernstein to develop this critique, while also drawing on the Continental "Didaktik" tradition. It analyses the nature of the person envisaged in curriculum, the "homo economicus" of human capital theory. This self is a market self who uses micro-credentials to invest in this or that set of skills in anticipating labour market requirements. The paper uses a range of Bernstein's concepts to analyse the links between what is to be taught, to whom is it taught, and how is it taught in micro-credentials. It focuses on the principle of recontextualization which comprises instructional and regulative discourses, to examine the ways in which notions of the person and human motivation are reshaping relations of classification and framing in HE curriculum.

Although sociology education is celebrating its 100th year anniversary in Turkish higher education, the field itself is not known quite well by the society. Familial worries in the context of emotional sociology are very important because families may have when they think of their child's future especially after graduation from university. Primary aim of this paper is to find out the essence and main sources of parental worries. In this paper it is assumed that status of sociology in society and its education are inseparable parts and there are mutual relationships among them. Using phenomenological approach data gathered from 25 parents are analysed. Findings revealed that insufficient employment opportunities as well as little information about sociology are the essence or main reasons of parental concerns.

In this paper, we consider the intensifying pressures on critical research and academic integrity in a research policy context that has come to be increasingly dominated by an instrumentalist mind-set. Using sensitising resources drawn from Geoff Whitty's critique of the 'what works' agenda, we reflect on the current conditions of academic labour and some of the key issues and dilemmas they pose for critical researchers in the sociology of education and beyond. In particular, we underline the trend for 'what works' agendas to become constitutive of academic identities and practices, including at micro-levels, such that the option of 'standing outside' them is shifting from being merely personally taxing to being institutionally disallowed. In addition to highlighting the dilemmas this creates for critical researchers and the threat this poses to expansive and democratic approaches to education, the paper emphasises the centrality of relationship-forming in understanding and underpinning academic integrity.

In this paper we begin to explore how knowledges being generated in bioscience might be brought into productive articulation with the Sociology of Education, considering the potential for emerging transdisciplinary, 'biosocial' approaches to enable new ways of researching and understanding pressing educational issues. In this paper, as in our current research, we take learning as our focus. Our work brings together collaborators from across fields: sociology of education; molecular biology and biochemistry; cognitive neuroscience; fMRI imaging; and EEG. Through the paper we explore the generative potential of an encounter between life sciences and sociology of education. Through consideration of the conceptual and methodological elements of our 'Synchrony in Learning' research and engagement with our pilot experimental approach, our research is suggesting that our central concept, learning, is undergoing metamorphosis, challenging us to understand learning as a phenomenon produced through the intra-action of a multiplicity of forces and processes.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) in Norway have been subjected to several reforms in recent decades. There are transformed relationships between institutions and their environment, and higher educations' third mission is emphasized. To improve our understanding of HEIs' third mission, this paper employs boundary object theory, enabling us to see how shifting projects are shaped and negotiated within these institutions. The paper concludes with a discussion of five main projects that are evident in third-mission presentations: the entrepreneurial project, the local and regional involvement project, the mode 2 project, the popular-science project, and the reputation project.

How and when does affirmative action emerge in different national contexts? This paper is the first to analyze the emergence of affirmative action in higher education across national contexts. We find that three distinct clusters of affirmative action policies developed historically: (1) early nation-building projects, (2) mechanisms to attenuate social inequality in response to identity-based social movements, and (3) twenty-first century 'indirect' affirmative action policies. These clusters differ not only in the goals of their affirmative action policies, but also in how those policies are implemented, and the circumstances under which they emerge, as we show. The findings suggest that once provisions for underrepresented groups becomes part of the repertoire of actions universities or countries can take to solve a variety of national and university problems, affirmative action develops as a means to further a variety of organizational and national goals.

Even though there is no common conceptual basis guiding teacher education in Canada, over the past two decades teacher educators both in Canada and around the world have called for teacher candidates to become agents of change. While researchers across Canada strive to demonstrate "how" to prepare pre- and in-service teachers to be agents of change, few scholars have examined in detail what teacher agency might mean in the Canadian context. This paper reviews the conceptualisation of agency from five theoretical perspectives (psychology, sociology, critical theory, historical studies, and post-structuralism) and examines "how" empirical studies in the Canadian contexts align with these perspectives. This paper makes explicit the connections between the "how" and the "what" of agency, and as such informs current approaches to preparing pre- and in-service teachers and their potential role as agents of change, and maps out how the notion of agency is taken up in a particular jurisdiction.

This paper draws on actor-network theory and on the sociology of cultural consumption to examine the phenomenon of corporate Massive Open Online Courses. Through an analysis of texts available in the public domain, the paper argues that over a short period (between 2012 and 2013) digitisation technology became associated with the emergence of a hybrid "actor": the digital video-recorder teacher. A parallel is drawn between the "interactive affordances" of digital instruction and the playback and cataloguing options that have contributed to shifts in television viewing habits. The digital video-recorder teacher is described as an artefact in the service of a postmodern project of self-improvement through cultural consumption, which recruits digitisation to meet a growing demand for "upgrades to the self". In the conclusion, the paper explores how the study of digital education could benefit from an interface between sociomaterial studies and the sociology of culture.

This paper discusses the nature of higher expertise in society and the role of higher education in constituting that expertise. It is argued that higher expertise relies on disciplined norms against which expert activity can be evaluated, and such norms are the basis not only for knowledge communities in higher education but also for other societal institutions. However, expertise in these communities and institutions is challenged by 'post-truth' developments that are fuelled by the marketisation and commodification of expertise, and by a collapse in deference and trust throughout society to which expert institutions and communities have not yet adequately responded. The consequences for higher education can be usefully explored via Durkheim's discussion of the social organisation of religion and magic. Bernstein's pedagogic rights of enhancement, inclusion and participation are subsequently examined to offer insight into how higher expertise may be sustained in such a context.

This paper draws on Bernstein's sociology of knowledge to examine the academic study of early childhood in England, involving scrutiny of how knowledge is recontextualised from contributory disciplines to take account of early childhood practice and professionalism, and of governmental influence on what counts as disciplinary and curriculum knowledge. The relatively fragmented disciplinary structure of Early Childhood Studies suggests vulnerability to attempts to control its purpose. However, this is mitigated by commitments within the academic community to traditions of early childhood practice, and a sense of advocacy and shared values. The analysis draws upon a recent investigative project undertaken at English higher education institutions.

Social inclusion in Australian higher education was high on the agenda of the recent Rudd/Gillard Australian Government. This paper offers an assessment of that agenda, particularly the extent to which it worked in favour of under-represented groups. It argues that the Government's widening and expansion policies and its equity and aspiration strategies lacked sociological imagination, projecting deficits onto individuals who refused to be taken in by its ambitions for higher education participation. The paper concludes that in the absence of a sociological imagination in government policy, the freedoms of disadvantaged groups continued to be curtailed: not just to choose futures in keeping with their goals but also the freedom to formulate choices.

The paper makes a connection between transmission modes and constructivism in sociology and education, respectively. There are parallels between Archer's criticism of upward and downward conflation in social theory, and approaches to learning in education. In her 2012 book, Archer seeks to reconceptualise socialisation as relational reflexivity. This paper seeks to connect this idea to thinking about learning in relational terms and links the analysis to Young's account of "bringing knowledge back in". The paper uses an example from field work on participation in learning to provide concrete examples that illuminate the points being made. It argues that learning theory needs to move away from transmission and the constructivists' ideas about education and to consider the relational aspects of learning.

Michael Young's recent paper in this journal is correct; there is a profound crisis in curriculum theory, and to be intellectually viable into the future the field must strive to "bring back" in empirical study of curriculum. Also by ignoring the empirical content of knowledge and access to it in mass education systems throughout the world, the field's influential neo-Marxist paradigm unproductively avoids troubling, even theoretically damning, counterfactual evidence. The historical moment to address the crisis is propitious as the "schooled society" is flourishing in unprecedented participation in formal education accompanied by a robust culture of education influencing fundamental processes that construct society worldwide. A brief review of sociological studies of historical and global change in curricular form and content illustrates the challenge before the field to end its own crisis. The results also indicate a profound challenge to the field's reigning paradigm.

The agency of international students has long been neglected and undertheorised, though recent literature indicates that this has started to change. This paper systematically reviews 51 studies that address student agency in international higher education. Focusing on research published in the last two decades (2000–2020), the review draws on studies that foreground student voices, or international students' perspectives, rather than the perspectives of teachers, administrators or policymakers. A detailed discussion of how international student agency is positioned in the literature found that agency appears as either: a research object, as part of a theoretical or conceptual framework, or an emergent finding. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that the term "agency" is often used as a buzzword rather than as a fleshed-out concept. Thus, drawing on this initial analysis, the review synthesises varying but overlapping conceptualisations of international student agency in the literature into an integrative framework. Implications for future research are drawn, based on our findings about the understudied populations and methodological limitations in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employer complaints of engineering graduate inability to "apply knowledge" suggests a need to interrogate the complex theory-practice relationship in twenty-first century real world contexts. Focussing specifically on the application of mathematics, physics and logic-based disciplinary knowledge, the research examines engineering problem-solving processes as enacted by recent graduates in a range of industrial settings. Theoretically situated in the sociology of education, the Bernsteinian concept of knowledge structures and Legitimation Code Theory "epistemic relations" are utilised to surface the disciplinary basis of problem solving in different sociotechnical contexts. It is argued that the relationship between the "what" and the "how" of the problem gives rise to significantly different practice "codes" between which successful engineering problem-solvers are required to shift. This paper presents two contrasting case studies which demonstrate the impact of the environment on code-shifting practices. Findings suggest that engineering curricula need to facilitate a more conceptual grasp of contextual complexities.

In 2014 I attended a symposium concerning Early Career Academics (ECAs) in the field of physical education and sport pedagogy. I was struck by the dominance of a particular theme at that symposium--that is, how to obtain a position and survive in academia. The aim of this paper is to use an inciting moment that occurred at this symposium as a means to confront some of the broader issues that I thought were at stake. Specifically I seek to interrogate the possible consequences of thinking about ECAs and academia in neoliberal terms, for the future of the field--a field that has a strong critical tradition. To this end I utilise autoethnographic techniques to connect the personal to the cultural and attempt to describe and analyse my story of becoming and being a critical scholar of sport, in a neoliberal context.

The promise of higher education remains elusive for many Indigenous students in Australia. To date, institutional efforts to improve the persistence and retention of Indigenous students have been largely piecemeal, poorly integrated and designed to remediate skill deficits. Yet, market-led expansion of Australian higher education is driving curricular reform and demands for accountability and quality. Despite this, very little is known about how teaching and pedagogy can be used to support the learning and persistence of Indigenous students. In this context, the paper provides a reconceptualization of current debates and positions that are currently bound up within the limitations of questionable binary divides and oppositions, for example, educational psychology/sociology, transmission/critical or decolonial pedagogies and Indigenous/Western Knowledge. Nakata's concept of the Cultural Interface is mobilized to acknowledge some of the nuances and complexities that emerge when Indigenous and Western knowledge systems come into convergence within the higher education classroom.

Higher apprenticeships are celebrated in current policy discourses as an alternative to traditional higher education, with the claim that they will prepare higher apprentices for their future careers and enhance industrial productivity through higher skill levels. This paper aims to scrutinise these claims using notions developed by Bernstein and related work in the sociology of educational knowledge, identifying how the formulation of higher vocational knowledge will affect how apprentices work, learn and access knowledge. It is suggested that the socio-epistemic processes through which "regions" of professional and vocational knowledge are constituted, and the manner in which knowledge is recontextualised, give rise to specific knowledge articulations and curriculum decisions. Drawing on an analysis of the structure of apprenticeship frameworks and their associated qualifications, as well as interviews with professional bodies, the research will demonstrate how certain types of knowledge are foregrounded as a result of sectoral and professional dynamics and the imperatives of knowledge structure. In some sectors and professions, key concepts associated with disciplinary knowledge may be downplayed or obscured, reducing what Wheelahan and others have described as "epistemic access", with a potential impact on progression opportunities for apprentices and the ability to provide valuable input in the workplace. In others, higher apprenticeships may continue longstanding traditions of higher vocational formation, involving educational institutions, employers and practitioners in constituting productive vocational knowledge and practice, albeit within a macro-context that may not promote practitioner influence over the circumstances of formation.

The paper explores the implementation of selected Bologna action lines in Lithuanian higher education institutions (HEIs). The study is carried out from an organizational perspective on national re-contextualization, drawing upon sociological institutionalism. The Bologna process is likely to be normatively accepted by institutions in the context of high uncertainty and change, but due to the local legal framework and organizational decoupling national re-contextualization takes place. We observe that the type of HEIs and the competitive horizons of disciplines found in these institutions may be strong mediating factors for the implementation of the Bologna action lines by HEIs.

While studies on refugee-background students in school contexts have been prolific, research of this population in higher education or post-tertiary education is still emergent. The paper attends to this gap by drawing on the narratives of five refugee-background young adults who are undertaking Australian higher education or have completed university studies. An interpretive analysis of their life-story interviews is drawn from Appadurai's concept of 'voice' as a tool to understand the intergenerational nature of 'aspiration'. We illustrate the heterogeneous ways their resourcefulness is activated in pursuit of their aspirations, and the enabling role parental aspirations play in realising their pathways. It offers new insights on the enabling role refugee parents play to support their children's pathway into higher education. It also highlights the significance of individual refugee youth agency in navigating on-going challenges to attain their personal aspirations through education. We argue that the concept of inclusive education should contain a strength-based view of refugee students that positions them as aspirational individuals who are actively engaging in complex forms of negotiation, adaptability and resistance. Further research into inclusive education for increased social inclusion, incorporating the intergenerational aspirations of both refugee youth and their parents is clearly warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discourses of global education, citizenship and competence have been characterising the higher education literature in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic has both heightened the relevance of global citizenship education and presented new challenges as educators and students continue to grapple with the lasting impact and implications. This paper presents the findings of a research study which looked at the perceived learning outcomes of a 'virtual exchange' project which addressed issues relevant to global citizenship, involving students in European and Southern Mediterranean countries in online dialogue programmes. The study used quantitative and qualitative approaches to the analysis of responses to open survey questions using the quantitative tool IRAMUTEQ (Sbalchiero & Tuzzi, 2016) and focus groups. Participants perceived that their learning was happening above all through their encounters and discussions with people from different backgrounds. They reported learning to listen actively and carefully, to accept and/or respect different opinions and experiences. The findings open up possibilities for how higher education institutions might engage students in online transnational and global learning experiences—which can contribute to thinking about renewing education and societies in a post-pandemic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper aims to discuss the outreach strategies of higher education institutions (HEIs) to promote the inclusion of refugees, focusing on two case studies of programs in southern Brazil. Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyzes two outreach programs of Brazilian universities: the Welcome Program for Immigrants (Programa Acolhida ao Imigrante) of the University of South Santa Catarina, a private higher education institution and the Support Center for Immigrants and Refugees (Núcleo de Apoio ao Imigrantes e Refugiados), sponsored by the Federal University of Santa Catarina, a public university. The activities of the two institutions were compared with the targets of the sustainable development goals to discuss the outreach strategies of HEIs aimed at promoting the inclusion of refugees, through descriptive research, with a qualitative approach based on documentary and bibliographic research. Findings: The results show that academic participation in research and outreach programs provides refugees with an education but also represents a social contribution far beyond qualifications and technical training, by mitigating local and global problems. The practice of inclusive education allows a reduction in historically existing inequalities. The findings of this study indicate that the results are much more effective when universities, government and society work together to reduce inequalities. Originality/value: This study addressed how universities can and should ensure life quality (SDG 3), including an equitable education and fostering lifelong learning opportunities for everybody (SDG 4) and gender equality (SDG 5), to reduce unemployment (SDG 8) and inequalities among people (SDG 10), through outreach projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper addresses various impediments and obstacles that refugee girls must surpass to obtain an education at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. It analyzes a variety of examples from across the world in order to portray the difficulties girls in these situations face on their quest to obtain higher education, and the responding initiatives certain programs and countries have implemented in order to better assist these women. This paper will further showcase how, worldwide, refugee girls and women are significantly disadvantaged in terms of access to education as shown by lower enrollment rates, and the statistical evidence indicating higher likelihoods to drop out. Nevertheless, this paper will address why, when presented with such statistics and probabilities, the women who overcome such adversity will become stronger-willed and resilient individuals whose capabilities and strengths can lead them to higher levels of success in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the evolution of a tailored university induction program over time to establish the change in the nature and content of the program. Design/methodology/approach – The induction program is pitched against the conceptual backdrop of academic norms and conventions, language, integration and the role of mentoring. As an exploratory study of a unique and complex induction program it reports on the basis of discourse analysis over time (from 2009 to 2012). Findings – The paper establishes that consideration of feedback by students, university staff (academic and professional) and external stakeholders has allowed the program to morph to a balanced content of academic; social; and socio-academic integration activities. Research limitations/implications – The paper confirms the framework proposed by Zepke and Leach (2005) and renders a further level of validity to the model when applied in a cross-cultural higher education context. Practical implications – Practical implications include the value of involving stakeholders as source of knowledge for considering continuous improvements and the notion that a remedial approach to integration of international students proves to be ineffective. Originality/value – Articulation pathways for Chinese university students into Australian universities create a unique set of expectations and challenges to both the students and the Australian universities. A tailor made induction program is a crucial step in addressing these and requires continuous improvement to retain relevance and optimize impact and resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a sociologically informed analysis of the historically changing relation between education and society. Using a set of socio-geographical methods and longitudinal data from population censuses, we explore changes in the forms of educational inclusion and exclusion in the period 1961 to 2011. We analyse, more particularly, changes in the geographical segregation and clustering of both high- and low-schooled individuals, while geographical proximity determines the kind of social contacts people normally have. Our findings show, firstly, that the segregation of university-trained human capital within Belgium and its regions has remained high, in spite of the expansion of university education and the creation of "regional" universities. Highly educated individuals now increasingly attract one another; they increasingly search for an environment in which they are able to meet people with a similar educational background. Our findings show, secondly, different evolutions for early school leavers. While the overall decrease in the share of early school leavers has gone hand in hand with decreasing heterogeneity within Belgium, our analyses point to increasing divergences between Flanders, on the one hand, and Wallonia and Brussels, on the other. In large parts of Wallonia and Brussels, the labour markets suffer from comparatively high shares of early school leavers. We conclude that the coupling between education and society has changed in the period under consideration. We question, however, that education has become a dominant social system. We rather argue that historical analyses of geographical inequalities in educational participation shed light on the complexity and heterogeneity of society. Cet article présente une analyse sociologique de l'histoire de la relation entre l'éducation et la société. Par le biais d'un ensemble de méthodes sociogéographiques et de données longitudinales issues de recensements de la population, cette étude analyse les changements historiques dans les formes d'inclusion et d'exclusion scolaire dans la période 1961 à 2011 en Belgique. Nous analysons plus particulièrement les changements historiques de la ségrégation géographique et le clustering des individus hautement et peu scolarisées, sachant que la proximité géographique détermine le type de liens sociaux que tissent normalement les individus. Nos constats montrent, tout d'abord, que, en Belgique et dans ses régions, la ségrégation du capital humain formé à l'université est demeurée élevée malgré l'expansion de l'enseignement universitaire et la création des universités 'régionales'. Les individus hautement scolarisés de plus en plus s'attirent mutuellement les uns les autres; ils recherchent ainsi un environnement dans lequel ils peuvent rencontrer des personnes ayant un niveau de formation similaire. Nos résultats montrent, d'autre part, des évolutions différentes pour les abandons scolaires. Si en Belgique la diminution globale chez les 'abandons' va de pair avec une hétérogénéité scolaire décroissante, nos analyses indiquent des divergences croissantes entre la Flandre, d'une part, et la Wallonie et Bruxelles, d'autre part. Dans une grande partie de la Wallonie et de Bruxelles, le marché du travail souffre d'une proportion relativement élevée de jeunes qui quittent précocement l'école. Nous concluons que l'accouplement entre l'éducation et la société a changé au cours de la période analysée. Nous remettons cependant en question l'hypothése que l'éducation soit devenue un systéme social dominant. Nous soutenons plutôt que les analyses historiques des inégalités géographiques dans la participation à l'éducation mettent en lumiére la complexité et l'hétérogénéité de la société contemporaine. Dieser Aufsatz präsentiert eine soziologisch informierte Analyse des historisch veränderten Verhältnisses zwischen Erziehung und Gesellschaft. Anhand einer Reihe von sozio-geografischen Methoden und Längsschnittdaten aus Volkszählungen untersuchen wir Veränderungen in den Formen der Inklusion und Exklusion von Schulerziehung im Zeitraum 1961-2011. Wir analysieren insbesondere Veränderungen in der geografischen Segregation und Clustering von Personen mit hohem und niedrigem Schulabschluss, weil die geografische Nähe die Art der sozialen Kontakte bestimmt, die Individuen normalerweise haben. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen zum einen, dass die Trennung des von Universitäten ausgebildeten Humankapitals in Belgien und seinen Regionen trotz des Ausbaus der Hochschulen und der Schaffung "regionaler" Universitäten hoch geblieben ist. Hochgebildete Individuen ziehen sich zunehmend an; sie suchen vermehrt nach einem Umfeld, in dem sie Individuen mit einem ähnlichen Bildungshintergrund treffen können. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen zweitens unterschiedliche Entwicklungen für frühzeitige Schulabbrecher. Während der allgemeine Rückgang des Anteils der Schulabbrecher mit einer abnehmenden Heterogenität in Belgien einherging, deuten unsere Analysen auf wachsende Unterschiede zwischen Flandern einerseits und Wallonien und Brüssel andererseits hin. In weiten Teilen Walloniens und Brüssels leiden die Arbeitsmärkte unter einem vergleichsweise hohen Anteil von Schulabbrechern. Wir schließen daraus, dass sich die Kopplung zwischen Schulerziehung und Gesellschaft im betrachteten Zeitraum geändert hat. Wir stellen jedoch in Frage, dass Erziehung zu einem dominanten gesellschaftlichen Funktionssystem geworden ist. Wir argumentieren vielmehr, dass historische Analysen geografischer Ungleichheiten im Falle von Schulerziehung gerade die Komplexität und Heterogenität der heutigen Gesellschaft beleuchten. Este artículo presenta un análisis sociológico de la relación cambiante entre educación y sociedad a lo largo de la historia. Utilizando un conjunto de métodos socio-geográficos y datos longitudinales de los censos de población, analizamos los cambios en las formas de inclusión y exclusión educativa en el pertíodo de 1961 a 2011. Analizamos, más espectíficamente, los cambios en la segregación geográfica y la agregación tanto de individuos de alto nivel de escolaridad como de bajo nivel de escolar, considerando que la proximidad geográfica determina el tipo de vínculos sociales que normalmente desarrollan las personas. Nuestros hallazgos muestran, en primer lugar, que la segregación del capital humano con formación universitaria en Bélgica como al interior de sus regiones, se ha mantenido alta a pesar de la expansión de la educación universitaria y la creación de universidades 'regionales'. Las personas con un alto nivel educativo se atraen cada vez más entre sí y buscan cada vez más un entorno en el que puedan conocer a otras con una formación académica de simila [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a critical self-reflective piece located in the context of South African Higher education post the student protests of 2015 - 2017. The paper is motivated by the insight that 'epistemic decolonisation' involves exposing 'the hidden complicity between the rhetoric of modernity and the logic of coloniality' (Mignolo 2010: 313). My argument is located in the contradiction between modernity and coloniality which I suggest structurally conditions the experience of black students in Education Development Programmes (EDPs) in historically white universities. The key argument is that when the theoretical concepts 'epistemological access' to 'powerful knowledge' are taken up from the social realist school in the metropoles and applied to the context of Education Development (ED) in post-colonial universities, their ontological assumptions and the normative effects exacerbate the modernity/coloniality contradiction. I go on to speculate on what a decolonial critique of the application of these two concepts to ED might entail. I conclude by thinking through some of the implications of this reflection for the challenging task of reconceptualising an undergraduate curriculum for HE in SA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-step immigration is now a well-established policy strategy in countries such as Australia, Canada, and the U.S. to retain so-called 'highly skilled,' or higherwage, immigrants. However, as this paper argues, the specific recruitment and retention of post-secondary international students in some contexts has become a distinct three-step form of immigration, shifting the role of higher education in society. The term edugration -- an amalgamation of 'education' and 'immigration' -- is proposed to describe this system. This paper also contends that edugration presents an ethically wicked problem (Rittel & Webber, 1973), requiring not only increased attention from higher education, international education, and (im)migration scholars, but also a shift in our analytic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim/Purpose: This paper focuses on understanding undergraduate computing student-learning behaviour through reviewing their online activity in a university online learning management system (LMS), along with their grade outcome, across three subjects. A specific focus is on the activity of students who failed the computing subjects. Background: Between 2008 and 2020 there has been a multiplicative growth and adoption of Learning Analytics (LA) by education institutions across many countries. Insights gained through LA can result in actionable implementations at higher institutions for the benefit of students, including refinement of curriculum and assessment regimes, teacher reflection, and more targeted course offerings. Methodology: To understand student activity, this study utilised a quantitative approach to analyse LMS activity and grade outcome data drawn from three undergraduate computing subjects. Data analysis focused on presenting counts and averages to show an understanding of student activity. Contribution: This paper contributes a practical approach towards LA use in higher education, demonstrating how a review of student activity can impact the learning design of the computing subjects. In addition, this study has provided a focus on poor performing students so that future offerings of the computing subjects can support students who are at risk of failure. Findings: The study found that: • Collecting data relating to student activity and analysing the activity is an important indicator of engagement, with cross referencing the data to grade outcome providing information to support modification to the learning design of the computing subjects. • The computing subjects in this study all had the majority of the assessment marks awarded at the later part of the study period. • Students that fail subjects are active within the LMS for the period of the subject even when they submit no assessments • Assessment weight and the time of delivery could influence the outcomes. Recommendations for Practitioners: The collection and analysis of student activity in the LMS can enable learning designers and practitioners to better reflect the subject design and delivery to provide more informed ways of delivering the learning material. Recommendations for Researchers: Collecting LA requires a thought-out process, designed well in advance of the teaching period. This study provides useful insight that can impact other researchers in the collection of assessment related analytics. Impact on Society: The cost of education is expensive to those that undertake it. Failing, although expected, potentially can be reduced by examining how education is designed, delivered, and assessed. The study has shown how information on how students are engaging has the potential to impact their outcomes. Future Research: Further work is needed to investigate whether intervention may assist the poor performing students to improve their grade outcomes relative to activity levels, subsequently impacting their retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, language policy (LP) at the University of Salzburg (Austria), a mid-size seemingly monolingual university, serves as an example to analyse (potential) language conflicts at the institutional level considering the roles played by German, English and 'immigrant' languages at the university. Language management, beliefs, and (reported) language use by different stakeholders in higher education (administrators, academic and administrative staff and students) are contrasted, also taking into consideration different linguistic backgrounds (German as L1, German as L2 and German as a foreign language). This offers an overall perspective on institutional LP that is still group sensitive, one that reveals two different hidden language conflicts: the non-addressed conflict between the two most important and visible languages at the university by far, German and English, as well as the neglected and negated conflict between German and the hidden "immigrant" languages. A consistent 'internationalisation at home' strategy would address these hidden conflicts and show backwash effects on ideas of language use in education as well as in society in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the role of independent research in helping an education and training system ‘know itself’, illustrating this through the experience of the Centre for Educational Sociology (CES) of which David Raffe was a member and director. It highlights the tensions in the research-policy relationship arising from the different ‘normative worlds’ of researchers and policy makers, and their priorities at each stage of the policy cycle. It shows how such tensions have been evident in the research-policy relationship in Scotland pre- and post-devolution and points out the importance of the plural provision of research support and funding. The paper argues the need for system-wide, longitudinal data to enable a country to 𠼘know’ its education and training system and analyse the impact of government policies and wider societal change. It points out that Scotland no longer collects such data and so cannot interrogate and understand its education and training system. The failure of policy makers to learn from the experience of their own country’s past is noted; the paper concludes by reaffirming the need for research to challenge policy and policy-makers, especially in a system such as Scotland with a tendency to complacency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue is the outcome of an international research symposium with the same title, "Other ways of knowing and doing": Globalizing social science knowledge in higher education", organized by the Centre for Comparative and Global Education at the International Institute for Higher Education Research and Capacity Building, O.P. Jindal Global University, India, during December 2017, in collaboration with the Oceania Comparative and International Education Society, Indian Ocean Comparative Education Society, World Council of Comparative Education Societies and the UNESCO-Chairs in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim/Purpose: The aim of this study is to adopt more systematically the collaborative learning dimension in the technical translation teaching at Master Degree level. In order to do so, a computer-supported skills lab approach is targeted. This approach is aimed at enhancing traditional courses on Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) so that student competences and soft skills are enhanced. Background: In traditional CAT courses, laboratory sessions complement theoretical lessons, thus providing students mainly with tool-oriented operational knowledge, while nowadays more intertwined competences are required by the labor market. Moreover, this sector lacks skills labs which engage students in collaborative activities mimicking professional workflows, thus not exploiting team-based learning potential effectiveness. Methodology: In this paper, therefore, a design Methodology to deploy and operate an enhanced skills lab as a remote Computer-Supported Collaborative Simulated Translation Bureau (CS2TB) is proposed and validated. The proposed Methodology is based on a set of intertwined methodological frameworks that address: 1) student competences and educational requirements, 2) collaborative aspects, 3) regulatory policies as well as functional and interactional guidelines for the simulated fieldwork. The overall effectiveness of the proposed Methodology has been assessed by using pre-post questionnaires to ascertain student feedback. The improvement in technology skills has been evaluated by collecting and examining student help requests as well as system error logs. Contribution: The CS2TB provides a technology-enhanced simulation-based learning environment whose aim is twofold: first, enriching traditional approaches with a Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) experience and, second, incorporating widely adopted approaches for the translation-teaching domain as the required grounding knowledge. Findings: Results demonstrate the effectiveness of CS2TB in improving students' competences (specifically in the IT area but also in the technical translation area), students' willingness to operate in a fieldwork-like context and cooperative learning efficacy. Recommendations for Practitioners: The educational implications of the proposed approach concern the development of a full range of competences and soft skills for students in the technical translation teaching at the higher education level, ranging from language and translation proficiency to the usage of IT platforms as well as personal and interpersonal interactional soft skills. Recommendations for Researchers: This study offers a wide overview of all the aspects entailed by the design, implementation, management, and evaluation of a skills lab for technical translation teaching. Researchers may benefit from the rigorous modelling approach as well as from the adopted assessment techniques. Moreover, the study stresses the pivotal role of a tight collaboration between language/translation teaching and computer engineering. Impact on Society: Higher education institutions that already have courses on computer-assisted translation may benefit from the proposed CS2TB approach, which allows them to design new thematic activities leveraging team-based learning, collaborative learning, and fieldwork-situated simulation. Moreover, the presented broad range of assessment approaches can be used to measure the impact of CS2TB on learning outcomes of the involved students. Future Research: Future research activities will be dedicated to examining the impact of a different set of enabling IT platforms on the collaborative learning perspective, to evaluate alternative scaffolding approaches (e.g., chatbots or augmented reality), and to increase simulation fidelity further, so that even more student competences can be fostered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role that social characteristics play in determining the academic success of students who begin university with roughly similar entry grades. The data used were drawn from the administrative records of over 38,000 UK-domiciled undergraduate students from one British university between 1998 and 2009. Results show that the characteristics of entrants have varied only slightly over this period and intake is still largely in favour of ‘traditional’ entrants: namely those from professional occupational backgrounds, the privately educated and those of traditional age. The relationship between background characteristics and eventual academic success also reflects patterns seen at earlier education stages. However, when prior attainment was taken into account, the link between degree outcome and many social characteristics does diminish – notably for students who were privately educated and who came from professional occupational groups. This suggests that once students have overcome barriers to admission, it is entry grades rather than social characteristics that may most strongly influence eventual academic success. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Blended learning is a set of pedagogical strategies and practices that are closely related to the emergence of new technologies in society and in higher education. They are characterized by a combination of face-to-face and online learning that integrates a variety of materials in the teaching and learning process. The aim of our research was to analyze scientific production on this topic using two prestigious international databases: Scopus and Web of Science (WOS). A bibliometric study was conducted on 508 papers, and content analysis was performed on 119 openly accessible publications. Results show that blended learning is being applied in all scientific and professional spheres. This learning model is praised for its positive impact on motivation and learning effectiveness, as well as for promoting student autonomy. With respect to content, it is worth noting that many authors observe that methodological success is related to cultural context and access to devices and materials. Furthermore, it is suggested that greater methodological diversity is preferable to a single hegemonic approach. In short, the present paper contributes to the educational community by shedding light on how blended learning is being implemented and its impact on higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses Bourdieu’s concept of ‘field’ as a tool to examine higher education participation in England in the context of diversified and differentiated provision. Admissions practices for courses in two institutions offering tertiary and higher education demonstrate how the official rules of the game shape the experience of students moving into and through HE on vocational and alternative routes. These examples suggest that rules created for the ‘selective’ part of the HE field can have perverse effects on other parts of the field, creating barriers rather than bridges for students seeking to participate in HE via alternative routes. The paper concludes by considering the strengths and limitations of using Bourdieu’s tools for understanding diversification in HE. Does using Bourdieu lead to the inevitable conclusion that diversity is a form of diversion, directing a proportion of the population through an easily accessible, but ultimately less rewarding path, or can Bourdieu’s tools suggest possibilities for transformation and change? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is about ‘making’ in education. Often associated with software programming (as in ‘digital making’), making can also involve creating or modifying physical technological artefacts. In this paper, making is examined as a phenomenon that occurs at the intersection of culture, the economy, technology and education. The focus is not on the effects on cognitive gains or motivations, but on locating making in a social, historical and economic context. Making is also described as a form of ‘material connotation’, where connotation refers to the process through which the technical structure of artefacts is altered by culture and society. In the second part of the paper, the theoretical discussion is complemented by a case study in which making is described as a networked phenomenon where technology companies, consultants, volunteers, schools, and students were all implicated in turning a nebulous set of practices and discourses into an educational reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Higher education institutions are regarded as forerunners and pioneers of sustainability. However, it is to question whether they actually fulfill their role model function. This paper aims to reveal whether selected universities in Australia and Austria meet the reporting expectations about their activities on sustainability in very heterogeneous environments.Design/methodology/approach Annual reports of selected universities in Australia and Austria are screened by the qualitative text analysis suggested by Mayring to identify their information policy on sustainability. Following the standard definitions, sustainability comprises economic, environmental and social aspects as main categories, which are supplemented further by specifically adapted eight subcategories.Findings The results reveal that the universities concentrate on economic information, preferably on accounting, whereas social aspects are of second importance. Environmental activities that essentially shape the image of sustainability for the majority of the stakeholders are mostly unattended.Research limitations/implications For further research, the authors suggest analyzing the reports of additional countries to get a bigger picture on the role of sustainability information in university reporting. Possible limitations are because of language use and time requirements, as each report must be encoded manually.Practical implications The results reveal the gaps that standard setters should fill by enforcing sustainability content in universities’ reports.Originality/value This paper is the first to analyze the annual reports of international universities in respect to sustainability. Hereby, we further fill a gap by applying a qualitative text analysis on the basis of individually derived categories to reveal the sustainability aspects more precisely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper takes up an existing discussion around critical perspectives on adult education, in particular how empowerment and emancipation have been understood. Previously in this journal, concern has been raised with traditional understandings of critical adult education. The problem is that these tend to assume that learners require assistance from experts, be they teachers or researchers, in order to gain understanding of how they are oppressed. The purpose of this paper is to present a deeper engagement with this concern through an examination of how both empowering and emancipatory adult education have been understood and practised. The demarcation is examined in the context of the historical development of critical understandings and practices associated with adult literacies learning, as a significant field of adult education where the idea of empowerment and emancipation has been theorised. The ideas and practices associated with empowering literacies are defended as ways for learners to gain positions from which to speak and be heard, as well as support participation in work, community and family life. Informed by the ideas of Jacques Rancière, there is also acknowledgement that societal inequalities are increasing, necessitating a need to consider how adult education might encourage political transformation and emancipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]