This study critically examines if digital divides, comprising access to and use of information technology (IT) in two spheres (schools and at home), affect student achievement in Confucian heritage cultures (CHCs). The sample comprised 38,158 students from 1030 schools in seven CHCs who participated in Program for International Student Assessment…

In many countries, out-of-school tutoring in academic subjects has become a widespread phenomenon that affects high proportions of students. Scholarly literature has considered various determinants of participation in such tutoring, but school quality has as yet been rather neglected. The aim of the study is to explore the relationship between the…

Employing Connelly and Xu's (this issue) conceptualisation of reciprocal learning, the article explores the potential for reciprocal learning about pedagogy provided by a body of PISA-inspired literature on high-performing education systems. I argue that the opportunities for reciprocal learning provided by that body of literature is rather…

International surveys of student achievement are becoming increasingly popular with governments around the world, as they try to measure the performance of their country's education system. The main reason for this trend is the shared opinion that countries will need to be able to compete in the "knowledge economy" to assure the economic…

The literature is replete with studies about the importance of context in relation to teaching and learning. Major international studies such as PISA, among others, attempt to develop an understanding of achievement in science learning in a variety of educational contexts. Here we explore the influence of educational context itself on science…