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Explaining policy change has been one of the major concerns of educational policy studies. Guided by the multiple streams framework (MSF), this article aims to explain the specific dynamics of cost-elimination policies at the high school level in Ghana. Through the thematic analysis of interviews, documents, and other resources, we argue that an exceptional confluence of problems, policies, and politics has shaped the Ghanaian educational policy process and generated policy change. Our findings demonstrate the pivotal role of partisan electoral politics, helping explain why political parties, governments, and policymakers shifted towards the adoption of fee-free educational policies. Although the problem stream contributed to the opening of the policy window during agenda-setting and the problem and the policy streams played a non-negligible role in policy adoption, the political stream dominated both stages. Accordingly, the study argues that the electoral interests of political actors were the main driver of the adoption of fee-free educational policies in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Education plays a pivotal role in alleviating poverty, driving economic growth, and empowering individuals, thereby significantly influencing societal and personal development. However, the persistent issue of school dropout poses a significant challenge, with its effects extending beyond the individual. While previous research has employed machine learning for dropout classification, these studies often suffer from a short-term focus, relying on data collected only a few years into the study period. This study expanded the modeling horizon by utilizing a 13-year longitudinal dataset, encompassing data from kindergarten to Grade 9. Our methodology incorporated a comprehensive range of parameters, including students’ academic and cognitive skills, motivation, behavior, well-being, and officially recorded dropout data. The machine learning models developed in this study demonstrated notable classification ability, achieving a mean area under the curve (AUC) of 0.61 with data up to Grade 6 and an improved AUC of 0.65 with data up to Grade 9. Further data collection and independent correlational and causal analyses are crucial. In future iterations, such models may have the potential to proactively support educators’ processes and existing protocols for identifying at-risk students, thereby potentially aiding in the reinvention of student retention and success strategies and ultimately contributing to improved educational outcomes.

Preparatory schools occupy a special place in language education since they illuminate learners’ past experiences and project prospective ones. Given the ten-year English language education (ELE) before and one year during the preparatory school, language learners’ perceptions of ELE in preparatory schools could be a research topic worth examination. To this end, this qualitative case study explored the perceptions of Turkish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners toward ELE in upper secondary and preparatory education levels. 64 EFL learners enrolled in the preparatory school of a prominent Turkish state university were given a written survey including open-ended questions about their language experiences in high school and preparatory school. The questions about upper secondary education concerned with the most challenging skill, problems with the course, and solutions/recommendations for improvement, while those in the tertiary education were related to the motivations for learning English and expectations, skills they want to improve, preferred methods of learning, and perceptions of preparatory schools. The raw data were analyzed through NVivo 14. Findings for English education at the upper secondary level demonstrated that (i) speaking was the leading problematic skill resulting from teacher- and institution-related factors, (ii) course grades were generally inflated, and (iii) problems were categorized as teacher-, institution/curriculum, and learnerrelated. In addition, the results of the English education at preparatory school indicated that learning motivations were career, fluent speech, socialization, and the current status of English as a global language, (ii) learners wished to improve speaking skills more in technology-supported classrooms, and (iii) participants had positive attitudes toward preparatory schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Education Research (1680-6360) is the property of Angle Publishing Co., Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In contemporary academia, English-language reading assignments are prevalent, even in contexts where English is not the primary medium of instruction nor the local language. This presents a challenge for students with English as a foreign language (EFL) who seek to pursue a university education in their home country. This study investigates the presence of English literacy events in Swedish upper secondary schools outside of English classes and explores their implications for university readiness and educational equity. Using survey data from 163 EFL students and qualitative content analysis, students' written comments revealed a notable absence of English literacy events in non-English subjects, with limited exposure to written English texts and occasional use of multimodal English activities. The findings underscore disparities in students' opportunities to engage with academic English literacy practices, primarily influenced by individual factors. This paper delves into the interplay between individual dimensions, and institutional and social practices, in shaping student agency in English academic literacy practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine private supplementary tutoring within the context of Finnish general upper secondary education. Specifically, we focus on profit-driven private preparatory course providers who cater to individual students and their families, aiming to improve applicants' prospects of gaining access to higher education. We examine this during a time when a recent education policy reform has renewed seeking admission to higher education in Finland, consequently impacting the private supplementary tutoring market associated with it. We draw on Bourdieu's concepts of field, capital, and habitus as a starting point for discussing the complex dynamics between public and private actors in the field of Finnish general upper secondary education and the role of economic capital. The ethnographic data analyzed for this paper consist of field notes and interviews (n = 58) from three general upper secondary schools, produced in 2019-2020. The study aims to investigate the negotiations between the public and private spheres of education within the everyday practices of Finnish public upper secondary education during an educational policy reform. We conclude that the fields of public and private education are not separate but rather intertwined, and they can become blurred in the everyday life of schools through both temporal and spatial overlaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 2022-2023 school year, about 47% of candidates were admitted to their first-choice high school, while 1.44% were not admitted to any school. This research paper explores the dynamics of Romania's educational landscape, focusing on the National Evaluation Exams in the 2022-2023 school year. The paper investigates the path of pupils who, despite obtaining passing final admission scores, were not assigned in the first admission round to an upper-secondary educational facility. Two crucial research questions guide this study: on one hand, how many of these students competed in a different county than their residential county? On the other hand, what similarities and differences exist among them in terms of performance at the National Exam and average scores in the lower-secondary educational cycle? The findings aim to shed light on the challenges and opportunities within Romania's education system.

ABSTRACTWe examine private supplementary tutoring within the context of Finnish general upper secondary education. Specifically, we focus on profit-driven private preparatory course providers who cater to individual students and their families, aiming to improve applicants’ prospects of gaining access to higher education. We examine this during a time when a recent education policy reform has renewed seeking admission to higher education in Finland, consequently impacting the private supplementary tutoring market associated with it. We draw on Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital, and habitus as a starting point for discussing the complex dynamics between public and private actors in the field of Finnish general upper secondary education and the role of economic capital. The ethnographic data analyzed for this paper consist of field notes and interviews (n = 58) from three general upper secondary schools, produced in 2019-2020. The study aims to investigate the negotiations between the public and private spheres of education within the everyday practices of Finnish public upper secondary education during an educational policy reform. We conclude that the fields of public and private education are not separate but rather intertwined, and they can become blurred in the everyday life of schools through both temporal and spatial overlaps.

The paper introduces the student‐coined term digital instinct which describes students' disposition to resorting to digital technology for solving problems and doing school assignments. Taking cues from the term digital instinct, the paper describes a student perspective on digital literacy emerging from 100 lived experience descriptions and interviews with 37 Danish upper secondary students. The findings show that students' digital practice is characterised by experience‐based, intuitive and familiar use of technologies. Most notably, students employ digital technologies as cognitive partners that help them carry on with assignments that they initially did not understand, but that they were able to complete with the help of the computer. The study examines the nature of this partnership through the words of the students and identifies how technologies expand student agency but fall short of a reflective use of digital technologies. Recognising the strengths and weaknesses of students' digital practices may inform the concept of digital literacy and encourage teachers to acknowledge the digital instinct as a steppingstone to foster students' reflective use of digital technologies. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Students have inadequate command of digital literacies as described in curricular terminology.Students have positive as well as negative perceptions of the value and usefulness of digital technologies in school.Students both over‐ and underestimate their own digital literacies.What this paper adds Students have a fundamental utilitarian conception of digital technologies that either make schoolwork easier or more difficult, and they do not articulate that their use of digital technologies provides them with digital literacies.Students' conception of a digital instinct describes an intuitive and familiar, albeit unreflected, use of technologies where students employ experience‐based and self‐taught methods for using digital technologies.The digital instinct accounts for a feeling of agency among students, manifested in a widespread confidence that they can do assignments and solve problems when they make use of their computer.Implications for practice and/or policy Curricular terminologies struggle to capture what students can and cannot do with technology, and how much they understand the underlying technology.Teachers can involve and build on students' experience‐based digital practices as a starting point for developing digital literacy among students—also as an entry to a curricular perspective.Teachers should acknowledge students' conception of a 'digital instinct' as an important disposition in its own right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study I examine the academic self-concept (ASC) of students who changed from vocational to academic tracking at the transition to upper secondary education in Germany. I ask (1) how their ASC differs to the ASC of their established peers in academic tracking, and (2) how their ASC is affected by the change in the learning environment. Using a subsample of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS; N = 4109), findings show that newcomers to academic tracking have a stronger ASC than their peers. However, social differences between the social milieu of origin and the one prevailing at school significantly reduce the ASC. These differences are interpreted as being social-habitual and tested via socioeconomic status, cultural capital, and parental solidarity expectations at the school level. Results differ according to immigrant origin; immigrant newcomers to academic tracking have higher ASC than their established peers, and context effects are more influential. I complement previous research by using a quantitative approach to test the theoretical mechanisms of a qualitative research perspective on upward mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Icelandic Review on Politics & Administration is the property of Institute of Public Administration & Politics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study examines the educational inequalities in upper secondary education in Italy, with a focus on the vertical dimension of school enrolment and the horizontal dimension of track and curriculum choice. To measure the importance of family background, we use the estimation of sibling correlations, which has seldom been used in the analysis of track choice in upper secondary education. Using data from the Italian Labor Force Survey 2005–2020 (ILFS), which includes detailed information on household characteristics such as the gender composition of siblings and parental education and occupational status, we find that around half of the variation in the probability of attending upper secondary school in Italy is related to the family of origin. We also show that comparing sibling correlations on binary outcomes should be complemented by additional statistics, such as variances at the individual and family levels and proportions of enrolled sibling pairs. For upper secondary school enrolment, advantaged families have a relatively lower sibling correlation due to minor variations at both individual and family levels. However, in terms of track choice, the sibling correlation is relatively higher for enrolment in the academic track compared to the technical and vocational tracks. Additionally, with respect to the attendance of science/technical curricula within each track, the results indicate a lower sibling correlation for the academic track than for the other two tracks, which suggests that individual characteristics have a greater impact than family background when these outcomes are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore the role of open-door events as key institutional devices to position schools in local education markets. The paper draws on data from a qualitative study based on observations in 25 open-door events in secondary schools in the city of Barcelona. The findings show, on the one hand, how promotional actions are mediated by a school's position in the local hierarchy and by objectively unequal features in terms of the type of ownership, social composition and programs offered. On the other hand, the findings reveal how, from these unequal positions, schools display different logics of action aimed at providing information about their status among families and students from different social backgrounds. Overall, the paper presents a typology of schools that contributes to a better understanding of the hierarchy of the local education markets in the transition to upper secondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current digital environment, a wide variety of resources have emerged to support the teaching and learning processes. This research focuses on Open Educational Resources (OER), a technological innovation that, for its effective implementation within educational institutions, requires the active participation of teachers. The main objective of this research was to identify and solve some of the challenges faced by high school mathematics and physics teachers when incorporating OER into their teaching practice. To achieve this, an Open Educational Resources Workshop was designed and implemented. It was a qualitative research study that employs a Participatory-Action-Research methodology in which it was possible to identify repositories and platforms used by participating teachers. This process led to a change in the perception of the factor "Time to find, review, and select OER". The research involved the participation of 20 teachers with experience in teaching mathematics and physics at the high school level, in both urban and regional contexts, with at least one year of experience. This work contributes to the knowledge about the incorporation of OER into high school teaching practice in a Mexican context. In addition, it allows the identification of variations in the 5R model, which provides a framework for the implementation of OER in similar educational contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Educational Psychology is the property of International Journal of Educational Psychology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Persona development techniques are a well-established method to create relatable descriptions of representatives of target users of digital systems. In the field of education, research on learner characteristics has yielded comprehensive results that can help advance educational approaches. Nonetheless, these results often remain abstract and distant for researchers and practitioners. Personas offer a bridge to make this knowledge more accessible and to facilitate user-centred design processes. This study focuses on creating personas of mathematics school students to ease such accessibility. These personas are constructed based on an understanding of learners’ goals, needs, challenges and problems, joys, fears, feelings and emotions, and strategies. Data collection was conducted through a multifaceted approach, encompassing qualitative and quantitative data from web surveys, think-aloud protocols, and interviews. The target demographic comprised upper secondary school mathematics students in Austria. We found five distinct patterns of characteristics prevalent in this target group. The patterns of characteristics reflected by the personas complement the scientific body of knowledge obtained from traditional approaches investigating characteristics and needs of learners. In practical terms, these personas empower the development of user-centred digital systems, learning materials, and lessons, thus fostering an enriched educational experience for mathematics students.

In the current digital environment, a wide variety of resources have emerged to support the teaching and learning processes. This research focuses on Open Educational Resources (OER), a technological innovation that, for its effective implementation within educational institutions, requires the active participation of teachers. The main objective of this research was to identify and solve some of the challenges faced by high school mathematics and physics teachers when incorporating OER into their teaching practice. To achieve this, an Open Educational Resources Workshop was designed and implemented. It was a qualitative research study that employs a Participatory-Action-Research methodology in which it was possible to identify repositories and platforms used by participating teachers. This process led to a change in the perception of the factor “Time to find, review, and select OER”. The research involved the participation of 20 teachers with experience in teaching mathematics and physics at the high school level, in both urban and regional contexts, with at least one year of experience. This work contributes to the knowledge about the incorporation of OER into high school teaching practice in a Mexican context. In addition, it allows the identification of variations in the 5R model, which provides a framework for the implementation of OER in similar educational contexts.

Educational aspirations play an important role in shaping students’ educational trajectories and destinations. Drawing on longitudinal data from the TREE2 study, this paper investigates the effect of tracking on the formation and adjustment of the educational aspirations of Swiss students upon leaving compulsory school. We show that educational aspirations are highly responsive to the educational track attended in upper secondary education. While students in general education tend to stick to their aspirations, their counterparts in vocational programmes exhibit less stable aspirations.

In contemporary academia, English-language reading assignments are prevalent, even in contexts where English is not the primary medium of instruction nor the local language. This presents a challenge for students with English as a foreign language (EFL) who seek to pursue a university education in their home country. This study investigates the presence of English literacy events in Swedish upper secondary schools outside of English classes and explores their implications for university readiness and educational equity. Using survey data from 163 EFL students and qualitative content analysis, students’ written comments revealed a notable absence of English literacy events in non-English subjects, with limited exposure to written English texts and occasional use of multimodal English activities. The findings underscore disparities in students’ opportunities to engage with academic English literacy practices, primarily influenced by individual factors. This paper delves into the interplay between individual dimensions, and institutional and social practices, in shaping student agency in English academic literacy practices.

ABSTRACTIn 2014 the Icelandic government implemented a reform that reduced the time of all academic programs of upper secondary education from an average of four years in duration to three, aiming to increase efficiency in the education system. Drawing on critical policy analysis, this study explores wider consequences of the reform’s enactment for higher education, with reference to the strong connection between the two school levels. Teachers at the University of Iceland were interviewed about perceived changes, if any, in students’ preparation for university studies in the wake of the reform and whether any measures were needed to adapt to such changes. The findings highlight the importance of policy makers considering the interconnectedness of different school levels and the wide-reaching effects of education reforms. They indicate that the policy reform has had consequences in higher education that vary between different academic subjects and disciplines and that there is considerable tension within the University in how to adapt to them. The findings call for further exploration into the content of the academic programs in upper secondary education which may provide valuable information on the interplay between policies that aim for decentralised curriculum-making and efficiency in education systems.

AbstractThe present study examines the educational speech that appears in the upper secondary school curriculum. Teaching and the organisation of teaching is guided by the written reality of the curriculum.The Foucaultian approach is applied to study the discursive events, i.e. expressions presented as true. The study is based on the interest in the role of education policy and working life in the construction of the general Finnish upper secondary education curriculum. As an educational policy management document, the curriculum creates an aim for the reality of teaching and learning. It maintains values related to upper secondary education, in this case for career orientation, as discourses of task, fluency, anticipation, and activation. The working life discourses emphasise efforts to accelerate transitions in working life, bring forward career-related decisions, and glorify success and activity. This article discusses the emphasis the working life in the curriculum has for the ideal of Bildung in contemporary upper secondary school education.

Research shows that the concept of academic futility is promising for studying the mechanisms that cause differences in educational outcomes in general and vocational programmes. The aim of this paper is to test the hypothesis that in the Czech Republic, a country with one the largest VET sectors in Europe, the worse achievement of students in vocational programmes can also be explained by academic futility, and to explore the relationship between futility and the track attended. The conceptualisation of academic futility returns to the three-dimensional concept proposed by Brookover and Schneider in 1975. The analysis was carried out on a sample of 4871 upper secondary students. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit of the model for a two-level (student and class) concept of academic futility. Two-level structural equation modelling showed a negative relationship between futility and achievement and a lower culture of futility in classes with higher socio-economic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine how adolescents’ school burnout profiles relate to perceived learning difficulties and delayed graduation in upper secondary education. Adolescents (N = 485, mean age 15.7 years) living in a mid-sized city in Finland completed questionnaires during their upper secondary education in either the academic or vocational track. A person-oriented approach was used, and the results imply that students with perceived learning difficulties are at a higher risk of school burnout than those who do not report learning difficulties. Adolescents with a higher likelihood of belonging to the ‘at risk of school burnout’ profile also had a higher risk of delayed graduation than students in other profiles, as well as those without perceived learning difficulties. In addition, students in the vocational track were more likely to belong to the ‘Not at risk of school burnout’ profile than to the other school burnout profiles. Girls had an increased risk of belonging to one of the three profiles indicating burnout than to the ‘not at risk of school burnout’ profile. These findings suggest that perceived learning difficulties affect adolescents’ lives longitudinally; thus, better identification of these difficulties and more effective support are needed.

Copyright of Opuntia Brava is the property of Universidad de Ciencias Pedagogicas de Las Tunas, Centro de Documentacion e Informacion Pedagogica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of this paper is to show those situations that teachers and students of the baccalaureate subsystems of the National Autonomous University of Mexico identified as problematic and whether this selection is related to aspects of belonging to the subsystem or to the profile of those who responded. The method used consisted of a survey applied to a sample of n=854 teachers and n=9,285 students. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, in addition to a binary logistic regression analysis. The results show that in the case of the teachers, the subsystem is not predictive in relation to the problems they identified. While in the case of the students, the subsystem and gender are predictive variables in the choice of situations as problematic. These results are valuable because they help to understand how teachers and students at this level experienced the pandemic based on their profiles, which allows us to build proposals for attention in post-pandemic times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 2022-2023 school year, about 47% of candidates were admitted to their first-choice high school, while 1.44% were not admitted to any school. This research paper explores the dynamics of Romania's educational landscape, focusing on the National Evaluation Exams in the 2022-2023 school year. The paper investigates the path of pupils who, despite obtaining passing final admission scores, were not assigned in the first admission round to an upper-secondary educational facility. Two crucial research questions guide this study: on one hand, how many of these students competed in a different county than their residential county? On the other hand, what similarities and differences exist among them in terms of performance at the National Exam and average scores in the lower-secondary educational cycle? The findings aim to shed light on the challenges and opportunities within Romania's education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study investigates how drama students in Norwegian upper secondary education understand their learning experiences in the drama space in relation to their perspectives on mental health. Design/Methodology: Based on 14 semi-structured interviews, the data stem from a research project conducted between 2020–2022. The qualitative data were analysed thematically by the research team, which consisted of two experienced drama educators. Findings: The study demonstrates that the drama space is embedded with opportunities for the students to experience and reflect on subjective mental health in useful ways for developing life skills and personal insight. The findings indicate that the students perceive the drama space as an inviting and actively co-creating companion that induces complex, entangled meaning making and transformative learning, transgressing the formal educational aims of the curriculum. Originality: According to the findings, the educational context of learning the art form of drama and theatre offers a mental health related by-product that supports the students’ sense of self and drive for wellbeing.

Highlights: - Most important for student's democratic attitudes is their personal trait of ambition. - Female students are more ambitious concerning their schoolwork than male students. - Experiences of school democracy do not differ between male and female students. - Experiences of school democracy do not directly foretell students' intention to vote. Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the link between upper secondary school students' experiences of school democracy and their future role as democratic citizens, focusing on a comparison between men and women. Design/methodology/approach: The data derives from a questionnaire conducted to all last year upper secondary school students in Kronoberg county, Sweden. A hypothesis based on the theory of participatory democracy was tested through a fourstep multilevel regression analysis. Findings: The result show no direct effects from experiences of school democracy on the intention to vote, neither for female nor for male students. Instead, the most important factor for civic virtues and behaviour seems to be the personal trait of ambition, which is more prevalent among female students. Research limitations/implications: More research on different ways to realize democracy in classroom connected to promotion of citizenship is needed, and so is research on how to encourage students' ambition which is shown to be beneficial both for the individual and for the common good in a democratic society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores school-home collaboration as a pedagogical phenomenon and contributes to a rationale for collaboration between school and parents in upper secondary education. The theory of practice architectures is used as an analytical lens. It sheds light on arrangements that enable or constrain the semantic, social, and physical spaces where students, parents, and teachers encounter each other as collaborative partners. Six upper secondary schools participated in the study; the dialogue café method was used to facilitate conversations between stakeholders to explore and verify this phenomenon. The study revealed three key aspects that require attention when developing collaborative practices: (a) clarification of the teaching profession's obligations; (b) engaging and empowering students' agency; and (c) moving beyond a fire-fighting approach. In addition, the need for further research to operationalise the safeguarding of students' and parents' rights, and support for students' agency, in the context of school-home collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the positioning of dual qualifications (DQs) in the Finnish education policy and the education system since the late 1980s. The analysis is carried out in the context of academic-vocational divide. At the end of the 1980s, Finland questioned the functionality of the strict academic-vocational divide in post-compulsory education, and a unified upper secondary education was initiated. DQ was the result of two contradictory political discourses: the aim to make education system more equal and the 1990s' market oriented education policy. In the 2000s, although segregation at the upper secondary level was strengthened, the DQ simultaneously became an established study route. However, in 2007 due to changes in political power, the DQ was repositioned on the periphery of education policy and academic-vocational divide became stronger. The main focus as regards the functions of DQs until the end of the 2010s was on efforts to enhance the use of educational resources and improve the possibilities for individual and flexible education choices. The aim of the current government, elected in 2019, is to strengthen cooperation at upper secondary level, which is also expected to include DQs. However, the actualisation might be mitigated by the educational reforms of the previous government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Absolute ability/achievement does not explain gender differences in educational trajectories, but the role of comparative advantage (i.e., being better in one subject compared to another) has received much less attention. To study this, longitudinal data collected among 1,352 individuals (age 15-16) in upper secondary education in the Netherlands are used. Multinomial path analyses showed that compared to girls, boys are on average 15% more likely to enter the most male-typical trajectory and 16% less likely to enter the most female-typical trajectory. Although having a comparative advantage affects trajectory choices, it does not explain gender differences in trajectory choices in secondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine the experiences of teachers, particularly in relation to their remote teaching competencies, in the county of Lapland, North Finland, during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they face new pedagogical challenges in remote teaching. To identify the teachers’ competency needs in remote teaching, the study uses questionnaire data (N=164) collected from primary, secondary and upper secondary school teachers. The results of the systematic representative survey study are analysed using the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) model to investigate the preconditions for and challenges in implementing remote teaching in terms of teachers’ competencies. The participants’ responses indicate that different municipalities prepared for remote teaching and learning in quite diverse ways. Some municipalities lacked the necessary tools for remote learning, and the workload increase and job satisfaction experienced by teachers were related to the digital tools provided by their employers. The development of teachers’ diverse competencies is pivotal in teacher education and in-service teacher training so that they can acquire the ability to take initiative and function well in diverse and changing educational contexts. This study outlines the dimensions of teachers’ technological pedagogical competencies that were further developed from the TPACK framework.

Upper secondary education is the educational level with the highest dropout rate in Mexico. This situation had shown a steady decrease until before the 2020-2021 school year, when the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic began to manifest themselves. This article presents an exploratory analysis of school dropout at this level in Mexico, considering the effects of the pandemic and interventions through public policies that attempt to discourage it. A large part of the text is devoted to characterizing this phenomenon in terms of the multicausality identified in the literature, mediating effects, and the main ways of addressing the problem through public policy instruments that serve as a framework for analysis. Regarding methodological design, with data obtained from various sources, including the Survey for the Measurement of the COVID-19 Impact on Education 2020, descriptive statistics are presented that allow us to elaborate the interpretation of the findings on pre- and post-pandemic discontinuity in schooling. Among the main results, we find that economic issues have been the main cause for not continuing in upper secondary education, in addition to the fact that there were no strategies at this particular educational level to discourage COVID-related school dropout.

This study examined students’ experiences of assessment and feedback engagement in digital contexts in upper secondary school through an explanatory sequential mixed-methods case study. The data material consisted of 435 survey responses and 16 individual interviews. The results indicated that the use of digital feedback was crucial for students’ experiences of digital feedback engagement. The final model of the path analyses suggested that students’ experiences with digital feedback engagement were dependent on several predictive and mediating variables. Multiple regression analyses suggested gender differences regarding variables predicting digital feedback engagement. Whereas a deep approach and learning from examinations were important for male students, clear goals and standards were more important for female students’ digital feedback engagement. Thematic analyses of the interview data identified three themes: Grades and digital feedback; dialogic feedback interactions; and a performance-oriented assessment culture. Grades tended to reduce the relevance of digital feedback when provided at the same time and in separate learning management systems (LMSs). Opportunity for dialogic feedback interactions was considered essential to students’ feedback engagement and criteria orientation, but rarely offered in digital contexts. A performance-oriented assessment culture risked outweighing focus on learning in digital contexts for some students.

In 2008, Iceland launched policy reform in upper secondary education. This paper elucidates how upper secondary school leaders acted when leading reform and confronting teacher responses. The study is based on interviews with 21 leaders from nine upper secondary schools. The data were analysed usingfive response categories to macro-level demands for change,institutional and organisational leadership, and theories on subject hierarchies. The findings show how the school leaders from the nine participating schools experienced differently the policy enactment in their schools. Seven of the nine schools matched three out of Coburn's five response categories. Adding the category of pioneering would enable appropriate categorisation of new schools. Polarisation appeared in the data both between and within the evaluated schools. Within some of the schools, many self-contained subunits were seen to be operating. The school leaders usually responded either as institutional or organisational leaders or they gave examples of hybrid interactions between both types, particularly when polarisation was operating within the schools. The most explicit resistance to change was reported to arise from faculty members of traditional academic subjects. The apparent isomorphism among education systems worldwide suggests that lessons from Iceland may be valuable for the global education community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advocates for education reforms frequently call for policies to increase school efficiency performance. The Greek educational system has undergone several reforms while the recent financial crisis alters significantly. Using a unique dataset this study attempts to shed light on 643 Greek secondary education schools’ efficiency performance, over the period 2000–2017, and to perform an investigation of the efficiency determinants in a multilevel framework. Results reveal that there is substantial room for improvements especially for specific Greek NUTS2 regions while the adopted reforms seem to have a very low effect. Our findings also denote a favourable effect for physics, science laboratories, and class size and a significant negative effect for the variable of student per class. In addition, at a second level the gross domestic product per capita of the NUTS2 region that each school belongs positively affects its efficiency performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Professional & Vocational Education (JPVE) / Ammattikasvatuksen Aikakauskirja is the property of Finnish Vocational Education Research Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article discusses access to and use of the Internet through personal computers and smartphones by sixteen students in two high schools located in dissimilar Mexico City settings. Information gathered by means of interviews was enriched with data obtained from classroom observation, with the aim of examining students' performance on exercises set by their teachers. The results show a marked contrast between a style of classroom participation that helped to reinforce a typical pattern of school performance centered on the prompt completion of tasks, and another, where students were exposed to working styles focused more on favoring the development of their online capabilities. This contrast underscores the role students play in validating teaching guidelines that tend to structure teaching and learning of access to and use of digital technologies in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]