Dutch secondary education is a multi-tiered system, and many students are placed in a single track in the first year (seventh grade) of secondary education. As part of the placement procedure, all sixth-grade students take an end of primary school test. Although these standardised attainment tests (SATs) are considered high-stakes tests, the…

Research consistently shows that parents' educational attainment is associated with their children's level of political interest. The life stage when this relationship is established and grows has been identified to be between the ages of 10 and 16. This paper identifies the social class-based practices that drive the influence of parental…

This paper extends the scholarship on attainment grouping by focusing on the policy initiatives of streaming and subject-based banding (SBB) in Singapore. The study is framed by the concept of pragmatic perfectionism, which refers to the continuous and ideals-oriented drive to improve a system through practical, incremental and paradoxical…

There is a longstanding imperative from both government and industry for a workforce with the skills needed to drive forward the scientific and technological advances that are considered so crucial to the economic prosperity of the nation. However, the skills of this workforce have purportedly been both in short supply and inadequate for many…

In 2018 the UK government launched a £50 million scheme to fund the expansion of existing grammar schools provided that they increase efforts to attract more pupils from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. This initiative assumed that grammar school attendance boosts the educational attainment and the higher education progression rates of…

To complement previous research investigating the educational attainment of young people in out-of-home care reporting lower educational outcomes and risk factors, a more comprehensive approach is necessary. Our objective with this article is to better understand the learning careers of young people in residential care. That includes documenting…

School absences can negatively impact a child's schooling, including the loss of teacher-led lessons, peer interactions, and, ultimately, academic achievement. However, little is known about the long-term consequences of school absences for overall educational attainment and labour market outcomes. In this paper, we used data from the 1970 British…

There are few longitudinal studies of adolescent students' choice to persist in post-compulsory education. Hence, the present study introduces a longitudinal model that describes the interplay between sociological and psychological explanations of adolescents' choice to persist in post-compulsory education in the UK. Data on parental education,…

The imperative to address the complex problem of degree awarding gaps within UK higher education institutions is multifaceted and messy. Various studies have continually highlighted this persistent undergraduate awarding gap (racial equity gap or/ethnicity gap) between White and racially minoritised students. This disparity in educational…

The percentage of care-experienced young people in England progressing to university by the age of 19 currently stands at around 12-13% with a further 10% of care-experienced adults attending university during their 20s and 30s. This figure remains lower than both the general population and other groups of disadvantaged learners. It is well…

Despite extensive research on attainment grouping, the impact of attainment grouping on pupil attainment remains poorly understood and contested. This paper presents evidence from a study conducted with 2944 12-13 year olds, from 76 schools in England, who were allocated to between-class attainment groups ('setting') in English and mathematics…

School closures impact children's attainment adversely, but understanding the effects of closures on children's attainment in lower-income countries is still limited. Addressing this deficit, this study examines how past school closures have impacted children's educational attainment in Ethiopia. The study uses individual student-level data from…

Rurality is known to be associated with a number of weaker educational outcomes, from lower attainment through to lower social mobility. This is why so much policy and practitioner focus has been directed at addressing the rurality gap in educational outcomes. In this paper, we use pupil-level data for Scotland to contribute to two dimensions of…

The term 'ideas-informed society' describes democracies in which citizens believe in the value of staying well-informed and up-to-date with current affairs. They also put these beliefs into action: critically engaging with new ideas and perspectives, delving into scientific discoveries or emerging technologies and exploring aspects of history and…

Many countries have introduced flexibility in their admissions equivalents for tertiary education, allowing students to apply with vocational rather than academic qualifications at upper secondary level. However, entrants with vocational qualifications are generally less likely to succeed at university. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are…