Reducing the socio-economic achievement gap is a key goal of education policy internationally. Since 2017, the stated intention in Ireland is to use the Pobal HP Deprivation Index to identify schools serving high proportions of disadvantaged students. In spite of this, little published research has compared the performance of the HP index to…

The most recent OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey enables educators, policy makers and the wider community to compare Australian students with each other, as well as with their counterparts across the world. PISA measures the extent to which 15-year-old students near the end of compulsory education have acquired the…

This paper offers a conceptual framework that combines Sen's concept of capability and Bourdieu's forms of capital to understand the generative mechanisms of educational advantage or disadvantage. The paper illustrates some ways that the Sen-Bourdieu framework can be applied to understand the Programme for International Student Assessment 2015…

A student's performance in school is influenced by personal characteristics, but also, amongst other influences, by those of his or her schoolmates. Schoolmates can motivate and help each other overcome learning difficulties; but they can also disrupt instruction, require disproportionate attention from teachers, and be a source of anxiety. The…

Evidence from unexpected temporary school closures and reduced instruction time suggests school closures will reduce educational achievement, both in the short and long term. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are likely to be affected more than others by school closures, with fewer family resources and less access to online learning…

Teachers' work is multifaceted and dynamic. They frequently encounter students with different needs, such as different ability levels and learning styles, and frequently need to give students feedback or interpersonal support. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed new challenges, as teachers have had to communicate with their students, facilitate…

This volume of PISA examines the readiness of students to engage with learning strategies, to be motivated to learn and to be confident in their abilities and in their capacity to improve their skills and knowledge. Countries like Korea have reduced mathematics anxiety, Portugal excels in critical thinking, and more low-performing students in…

Why do certain students thrive when facing adversity while others languish? In the mindset theory, growth mindset is opposed to fixed mindset, and could explain why some people fulfil their potential and others do not. With the COVID pandemic dragging on, having a growth mindset may be even more critical. For students who are able to set their own…

It is well known that children who read more tend to achieve higher scores in academic reading tests. Much less is known, however, about the link between reading different types of text and young people's reading performance. We investigate this issue using the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 database, exploring the…

In almost all school systems, students are assigned to public schools based, at least partly, on their home address. Through this policy, students are typically assigned to the school closest to their home. The main objective may be to avoid long and costly commutes to and from school. However, over the past few decades, many countries have…

Most students have the beliefs and dispositions to help them cope and learn in challenging situations. The current pandemic has been ongoing since early 2020. This has affected ways in which teaching and learning are organised. Schools have had to provide education in different ways from the past. A special survey conducted as a collaborative…

Many education systems seek to create an open, diverse and tolerant society, as education can play a significant role in countering racial, ethnic and national prejudice among children and adolescents. Education for living in an interconnected and diverse world could also contribute to forming generations of citizens who care about global and…

PISA 2015 data show that, on average across OECD countries, as many as three out of four students from the lowest quarter of socio-economic status reach, at best, only the baseline level of proficiency (Level 2) in reading, mathematics or science. While in Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong (China), Ireland, Japan, Korea, the…

In the growing world of digital technology everything is about speed: computer processors have doubled their performance every two years for decades; the future 5G mobile phone generation is predicted to be about 100 times faster than the current 4G and 20 000 times faster than the "ancient" 3G; and, according to the International…

With most students around the world having experienced remote learning over the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of teachers and schools has become all the more evident. Temporary school closures underline how richly students benefit from being in school with their teachers and classmates. "Positive, High-achieving…