School engagement is crucial for adolescents' academic performance. This study identifies that perceptions of barriers despite schooling significantly influence such engagement. When students in a class share these perceptions, a unique classroom climate emerges, impacting overall school engagement. Specifically, this study explores how…

Exploring the child factors that alleviate the negative effects of parental psychological control has important practical value. This study aimed to uncover whether perceived social mobility moderates the relationships between parental psychological control and children's learning engagement and life satisfaction. A total of 1725 Chinese children…

We conduct an impact analysis on a unique technology certificate and apprenticeship program offered by LaunchCode. We merge administrative data containing entrance exam scores with survey data for individuals that were (a) not accepted, (b) accepted but did not complete the course, (c) completed the course but not the apprenticeship, and (d)…

This paper draws on an oral history project which focuses on former coalminers' experiences of education and training. It presents the stories of five participants, all of whom undertook significant programmes of post-compulsory education during or immediately after leaving the coal industry and achieved a degree of social mobility over the course…

This article examines social mobility at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) near the U.S.-México border. It critiques the institution's strategic plan and how it falls short of helping its students achieve social mobility with intentionality. It provides a breakdown of how the social mobility index is measured and how the institution's metrics…

For much of its modern history, the notion of talent has been associated with the idea of 'careers open to talent'. Its emancipatory promise of upward social mobility has radically transformed the distribution of advantaged social positions and has had a lasting influence on the very idea of social status itself. Nevertheless, unlike concepts…

The contribution of spoken language to outcomes for education and beyond, including attainment, wellbeing and empowerment is long-established and has recently become more prominent under the title of oracy, often conceptualised as learning both to and through talk. Part of the renewed interest in oracy is due to its potential for driving social…

In recent years, social status has been re-conceptualized as a unique and dynamic social identity that shapes motivational processes, guiding pursuits of status-related goals. Therefore, social status is not a static social positioning, but instead a developing construct that informs cognitions and behaviors, particularly during status…

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997, we examine differences in educational experiences and in social and economic mobility for youths experiencing poverty relative to their more affluent peers. We also explore the extent to which different educational experiences are associated with greater mobility for students…

To offer the greatest value to society, the next government needs to deliver a single, strategic approach to research, innovation and higher education so that universities can be better in a decade than they are today. This report offers recommendations to better universities by: (1) supporting students to succeed; (2) putting universities at the…

Gypsy, Roma and Travellers (GRT) are a highly marginalised UK higher education minority with patchy targeted policy interventions. Drawing on qualitative interview data with education professionals working with GRT and with GRT young people, families and activists, the article compares attitudes, expectations, and desires around higher education.…

The effects on social mobility of stratifying pupils into different educational pathways have been debated for decades. We intervene in this debate by showing that stratification in secondary schooling is multidimensional. The extent of "differentiation" into separate tracks is distinct from "hierarchy" between tracks. To…

Although actual experiences of upward social mobility are historically low, many adolescents and adults express a "belief" in social mobility (e.g., that social status can change). Although a belief in upward mobility (e.g., that status can improve) can be helpful for economically disadvantaged adolescents and adults, a belief in upward…

In this Narrative Inquiry, we share the stories of three Chinese rural students who grew up in a southeastern county in China before moving to the county seat for high school. By inviting our participants to read their own life, we aimed to understand how Chinese rural students make sense of their experience in an exam-centered school system that…

Although a large body of literature explored the mechanisms that shape social mobility of youth, it remains unclear how youth, in general, especially from marginalized backgrounds, exercise agency in pursuing aspirations. Drawing on life history narratives of prestigious university graduates from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in Kazakhstan, this…