This Statistics Report is the first in a new series produced by the Research Division at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, using publicly available school performance data from the Department for Education (DfE). This report is focused on the uptake of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) (and IGCSE/International GCSE)…

This Statistics Report is the second in a new series produced by the Research Division at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, using publicly available school performance data from the Department for Education (DfE). This report is focused on the uptake of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) subjects in England in 2019. The…

Gendered barriers in education and attrition along the academic and professional pipeline are key determinants of the current STEM skills shortage. While enrolment in STEM undergraduate courses has been increasing in the recent decades, STEM degree choices still suffer from considerable gender imbalance, whereby women are underrepresented in…

Private schools have long played a crucial role in male elite formation but their importance to women's trajectories is less clear. In this paper, we explore the relationship between girls' private schools and elite recruitment in Britain over the past 120 years -- drawing on the historical database of "Who's Who," a unique catalogue of…

This study aimed to examine bullying, achievement motivation, and resilience levels of both Syrian refugee students and Turkish students at an Islamic religion-based high school for boys. The sample included 289 students. One hundred and forty-three (49.50%) of the participants were Syrian and 146 (50.50%) were Turkish students. The mean age of…

This article describes a 'research project' at a girls school where teachers wanted to improve their students' engagement and interest in mathematics. Conversations with the students indicated they thought mathematics was difficult but also repetitive and boring, with lessons that had little variety of tasks. While some students like to learn…

The purpose of this study was to determine if attending a single-sex, STEM-focused school was related to science and mathematics achievement among a sample of African American and Latina eighth-grade girls in one school district. A nonequivalent group, post-test only design was utilized in the study to mitigate the effects of selection bias. We…

Structural inequalities and stereotypes are held out as explanations for gender differences in reported levels of confidence. However, while it is reported that in the absence of stereotypes women and men should possess identical levels of self-confidence, no study to date has tested this hypothesis. Single sex schools were identified as an…

This article seeks to contribute to the growing scholarship on elite schooling through an ethnographic study into the distinct micro-practices of the formation and reproduction of privilege taking place within an elite boys' school in England. The article focuses on the significance of the teacher-student hierarchy as a prism through which to view…

As educational opportunities for women and girls expanded in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, science and domestic subjects were increasingly linked. This article draws upon research from the history of education and women's history to examine how schools contributed to contemporary constructions of housework. It takes two case studies: the…

This report looks at the provision of GCSE subjects in England in 2021. Provision in a GCSE subject is defined as the number or percentage of schools with at least one student taking the subject. This may not cover all of the actual 'provision' since schools might offer to provide a subject, but none of their students wants to study it. This…

This report is focused on the uptake of A level subjects in England in 2022. Uptake in an A level subject is defined as the number or percentage of students at the end of Key Stage 5 (who have entered for at least one AS or A level) taking the subject. This report was produced using publicly available data from the Department for Education's (DfE)…

This report looks at the provision of A level subjects in England in 2022. Provision in a subject is defined as the number or percentage of schools with at least one student taking the subject. This report was produced using publicly available data from the Department for Education's (DfE) "Find and compare schools in England" service.…

This report looks at the provision of GCSE subjects in England in 2022. This report was produced using publicly available data from the Department for Education's (DfE) "Find and compare schools in England" service. The dataset consisted of Key Stage 4 (KS4) results in all subjects provided by each school in England. Other school…

An introduction to the noble gases and chemical bonding via Lewis theory and the octet rule are common inclusions in secondary school curricula. However, the usual approach may lead to misconceptions and difficulties when valence bond (VB) theory and valence shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory are taught at a later pre-university stage.…