Levels and drivers of adolescent life satisfaction (LS) vary across nations. School is known to be an important aspect of life affecting adolescent LS, but there are gender differences in how schools may influence LS. However, little is known about how these gender differences vary across countries. A series of statistical analyses (bivariate…

"It's only okay to call a Black person an idiot"--this statement marks the launch point for a personal essay about one family's negotiation of an act of racism that occurs in an afterschool conversation among 6-year-olds. A work of educational criticism, the essay takes on the school's passive refusal to acknowledge race and racism,…

The purpose of this study is to extend the literature on cultural reproduction theory and schools by problematizing the relationship between student background and student achievement. Using Program for International Student Assessment 2012 data, we analyze a series of random effects analyses of covariance to test the relationship between student…

This study examines Spanish secondary school teachers' views of gender differences in academic achievement and study choices. Thirty-six secondary school teachers participated in semi-structured interviews. Most teachers acknowledged that girls had better school performance, particularly in reading comprehension. Some were also acquainted with a…

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the drivers of English Language Competence (ELC) in a representative sample of European adolescents. School factors -- such as English instruction time and English onset -- are found to play an important role, especially in countries whose official languages are more distant from English. However,…

Research has shown that foreign languages can be an important driver towards better job opportunities. This is more likely to be the case if young people take foreign languages into account when developing their career and educational expectations. These expectations depend greatly on the context and the opportunities students perceive to be…

The aim of this study was to demonstrate the opinions of teacher candidates, who were born after 2000 and called Generation Z, about the concept of school autonomy. This quantitative research was conducted according to the descriptive survey model. The data obtained is based on the responses given by teacher candidates to the "School…

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…

The OECD Career Readiness project makes use of quantitative evidence to identify how teenage career-related activities and attitudes are linked with better adult employment outcomes. Review of multiple national longitudinal datasets confirms that teenage experiences of the workplace through part-time working and volunteering are routinely…

Strong basic literacy and numeracy skills are important foundations for making sound financial decisions. Curriculum design, pedagogical methods and stakeholder involvement can all be harnessed to build student financial knowledge and well-being. This "Trends Shaping Education Spotlight" touches on growing financial risks for…

After consistently bad results in every PISA test (Programme for International Student Assessment) and an accompanying prediction of lack of skills in its future workforce, Germany might be on track for losing out in international competition. Because of PISA's overwhelming marketing presence, its results are a major political influence. The OECD…

Over the past couple of decades, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has gained an increasing role in shaping educational systems and policies across the world. PISA's measurement of a limited range of cognitive abilities across cultures, however, promotes a narrow view of education, one that focuses primarily on preparing…

In this paper, student-level indicators of opportunity to learn (OTL) included in the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment are used to explore the joint relationship of OTL and socioeconomic status (SES) to student mathematics literacy. Using multiple methods, we find consistent evidence that (a) OTL has a significant relationship…

Since the publication of the Coleman report in 1966, research on the role of schools in influencing student achievement relative to the role of family background has generated considerable interest and controversy. A large volume of international and comparative research has also been devoted to studying school effects on student achievement.…

Migration flows are profoundly changing the composition of classrooms. Results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reveal that in 2015, almost one in four 15-year-old students in OECD countries reported that they were either foreign-born or had at least one foreign-born parent. Between 2003 and 2015, the share of…