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The aim of this article is to explore the attainment of Eastern European children in primary schools in England. The research draws on detailed National Pupil Database and school census data for 586,181 pupils who completed Key Stage 2 in England in 2016. Two methodological approaches were used to analyse the data. First, the performance of all pupils was analysed by ethnic and language background to illustrate patterns of attainment for each group. Second, attainment data were further analysed by social background factors to explore the main factors influencing performance in schools and the reasons for underachievement. The main findings from the study confirm that a number of Eastern European pupils have low attainment, and their performance in English schools has been masked by government statistics that fail to distinguish between 'White Other' ethnic groups. The empirical data suggest that speakers of Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Bulgarian are particularly underachieving, and that the difference between their educational performance and others is larger than for any other main groups. There is also a wide variation in performance between regions in England, with large attainment gaps between Eastern European and White British children. Some of the main reasons for underachievement identified from the study are the lack of fluency in English, economic deprivation, a disrupted or non-existent prior education and parental lack of understanding of the British education system. Overall, this research confirms that the underachievement of Eastern European children remains a cause for concern and is obviously an issue that policymakers and schools need to address. Implications for policy and practice are discussed in the final section.

Through the use of the esp@cenet patent database, the paper demonstrates that, in many cases, the use of classification systems is a condition to good quality searching. Efficient search tools relieve the user of the in-depth familiarizing with the classification system, yet they carry out the search with the appropriate classification symbols. In the esp@cenet database, classification symbols are provided automatically, in the result lists of natural language keyword searches. These symbols are then exported into the advanced search interlace with one click. Through the search examples, readers of the paper get acquainted with the tools of patent search, while they are also provided with further information on the European Patent Office's network of databases, the applied classification systems, as well as the services of the Patent Library of the Hungarian Patent Office. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure quality is a crucial determinant of trade. To assess the importance of regional infrastructure externalities, we use detailed overland transit information from an original road network database. Gravity model simulations suggest that an ambitious but feasible road upgrade could increase trade by 50% over baseline, exceeding the expected gains from tariff reductions or trade facilitation programs of comparable scope. Cross-country spillovers due to overland transit are very large: total intraregional trade could be increased by 30% by upgrading roads in just three countries--Albania, Hungary and Romania. These results bolster the case for regional coordination of infrastructure investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]