This article explores the intersecting desires and anxieties of Chinese middle-class families and students in their pursuit of studying abroad in the United States. Through the qualitative analysis of narratives from students and interview data, the findings reveal that the decision for studying in the U.S. is deeply intertwines with anxieties…

This paper looks at the phenomenon of upward mobility through education from a comparative and historical perspective. Pierre Bourdieu referred to upwardly mobile individuals in France as the miraculous ("les miraculés"), oblates ("oblats"), or, less often, defectors ("transfuges"). A difficulty with applying a theory…

Background: Differences in competence gains between academic and non-academic track schools are often attributed to selection effects based on students' primary school performance and socioeconomic status (SES). However, how the competencies of comparable students (in terms of school performance and social background) at different tracks develop…

This article examines the relationship between the upward educational and social mobility processes of young men and women of Moroccan descent in Catalonia, Spain. Through data obtained from two ethnographic research projects and life stories, we analyse and compare the experiences of twenty-four young men and women of Moroccan descent who are…

Using data from the 2015 "Dane County Youth Assessment" (n = 12,886 students, 22 high schools), we identified disparities between students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP) and without IEPs across multiple post-high school aspirations. We identified significant IEP status × grades earned interactions in predicting students'…

The main focus of the study was to explore the experiences of inequalities and the expectations of a good life of girls at the age of 14 to 16 years old from a Turkish background living in Germany. Essentially, the research focused on identifying the gaps and analyzing inequality through girls' interpretation of a good life in Germany.…

Purpose: It has been suggested that social impacts on young people are stronger in collectivistic societies than in individualistic societies due to stronger social norms. Therefore, the satisfaction of psychological needs might be more challenging for students in collectivistic societies. As Azerbaijani society is collectivistic, the purpose of…

Women's leadership across the globe is often underscored by the dominance of male leadership across time. However, women leaders have made great strides in national leadership and public policy, including access and equity to higher education by underserved, underrepresented, and under-resourced populations within their respective countries. This…

Migrant workers in China and their children too frequently are treated as outsiders in the city. This paper explores and compares the opportunities for female Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students in western rural areas of China. Learning from migrant girls how they perceive and evaluate benefits in and from their schooling…

This dissertation consists of three essays focused on policies that hold the potential to reduce gender and socioeconomic gaps in the developing world. The first two chapters focus on higher education while the last chapter focuses on STEM gender gaps during primary school. Chapter 1 looks at the impacts of new transportation infrastructure on…

The impact of family background on academic achievement, educational trajectories and life chances more generally has been a point of interest among academics for many years. The issue has been researched both quantitatively and qualitatively, with the two traditions generating quite different pictures of family-level 'variables' and processes…

Growing up and social self-determination of Russian youth (teenagers from 16 to 20 years old) takes place in a difficult time of the cultural and social changes. Modern Russian society is very heterogeneous: the level of social stratification is very high, there are significant territorial and ethno-cultural differences, and there are dynamic…

Among a sample of 472 Indigenous high school students, juxtaposed with 15,884 non-Indigenous students from the same 54 schools, we investigated variation in motivation and engagement from school to school, and the role of motivation and engagement in predicting various academic outcomes (aspirations, buoyancy, homework completion, and…

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the governments of most countries ordered the closure of schools, potentially exacerbating existing learning gaps. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of an intervention implemented in Italian middle schools that provides free individual tutoring online to disadvantaged students during lock-down. Tutors are…

Middle school (G5-8) students' cognitive engagement, motivation, and future aspirations in science were quantified within informal contexts (week-long summer camps) with self-reported measures of cognitive strategies, self-regulation, value, self-efficacy, and future aspirations over the course of two phases (N = 152, N =140). The participating…