The relationship between the breadth of the curriculum which university students followed at secondary school and their degree attainment or their entry to employment is studied using a series of surveys of graduates from Scottish universities between 1960 and 2002. The relationship of the school curriculum to the later experience of students who…

This paper reports a study of Scottish secondary students perspectives concerning academic difficulties experienced in the first year of the Senior Phase which corresponds to their final year of compulsory schooling (age 15-16). Transition and trajectories throughout Senior Phase have gained further significance due to substantial changes…

Scientific and mathematical education has expanded in most education systems in the twentieth century, especially in the second half when there emerged the perception among policy-makers that science and technology were essential to a flourishing economy and to individual opportunity. Scotland provides a useful case study of the expansion, for two…

This paper offers an analysis of Modern Studies, a school subject unique to Scotland. First taught in the 1960s, Modern Studies was originally conceived as an option for students discontinuing their studies in history and geography. Since then, though, Modern Studies has carved a distinctive curricular niche and has become one of the most popular…

Secondary school level quantum physics (QP) courses have recently been implemented in the national curricula of many countries. QP gives opportunities to acquaint students with more recent physics and its applications and to discuss aspects of the nature of science. Research has shown that QP is a challenging area for students. Because the…

The conclusion of recent research on the relationship between students' school curriculum and their opportunities to enter higher education has generally been that curricular differentiation is a further dimension of social stratification, and that it has become a mechanism of effectively maintained inequality, in the sense defined by Lucas. The…

Two large changes link the 1872 and 1918 Education (Scotland) Acts. One is the development of secondary education, which happened gradually between the two dates, with searching debates about the meaning, purpose, and demographic reach of advanced education of this kind. The main purpose of the 1918 Act was to make secondary provision more…

Debates over which historical content should be compulsory for study in the school curriculum are a common feature of education systems across the globe. These debates invariably weigh the perceived benefits to social cohesion of a 'common core' of knowledge against the perceived risks to democracy of government-sanctioned 'official knowledge'.…

This paper explores school level determinants of curriculum narrowing in the senior phase of secondary education, under the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). It presents findings from an analysis of longitudinal administrative education data (2011-2017), and Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) data on subject enrolments for Scottish…

This paper analyses the role that different components of the academic strength of the secondary-school curriculum (i.e. "number," "subjects" and "grades" of advanced academic courses) play in explaining social origin differences in access to prestigious universities (but also to other higher education institutions)…

In England, alternative education (AE) is offered to young people formally excluded from school, close to formal exclusion or who have been informally pushed to the educational edges of their local school. Their behaviour is seen as needing to change. In this paper, we examine the behavioural regimes at work in 11 AE programmes. Contrary to…

This article is concerned with assessment issues in Religious and Moral Education (RME) offered in Scottish non-denominational schools. The analysis of the findings in this article is weighed against the framework of the new "3-18" Scottish curriculum called "Curriculum for Excellence" (CfE). CfE was introduced in primary…

This paper presents a pilot comparative research project on pre-vocational education in lower secondary schools (ISCED level 2) within regions in three European countries. The primary aim of the study was to better understand how the pre-vocational education curriculum is constructed and taught within schools. A case study methodology was selected…

This study considers two discourses of current relevance to national and international educators--early professional learning (EPL) and curriculum change. Induction arrangements for early career teachers (ECTs), EPL and informal learning have received considerable attention in the past few years. Changes to induction inevitably have knock-on…

Studies of primary education within the UK have shown that small groups can feature within classrooms; however, equivalent research within secondary education remains scarce. Research has established effective group work approaches, yet secondary teachers may encounter difficulties employing approaches tied to parameters embedded within primary…