The literature on the relationship between socioeconomic background (SES) and university education is inconsistent. Some studies conclude SES is important to university entry and course completion, others find trivial SES effects, net of students' prior performance, and a third group concludes that SES effects are important and policy relevant…

Significant variations in educational outcomes across both the spatial and socioeconomic spectra in Australia have been widely debated by policymakers in recent years. This paper examines these variations and decomposes educational outcomes into 3 major input factors: availability of school resources, socioeconomic background, and a latent factor…

This paper examines student and school influences on reaching Year 12, the final year of schooling in Victoria, Australia. It analyses data from the population of students who were in Year 9 in 2008. Male, English-speaking background, government school, and especially Indigenous students were less likely to reach Year 12 than comparison groups.…

In this paper, we analyse the gender differences between the educational performance of 15-year-old children of migrants from specific regions of origin countries living in different destination countries with the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 wave. We study whether this gender difference of migrant pupils deviates…

Home shared book reading during the preschool years is a strong predictor of students' reading achievement in primary school, and, according to Sénéchal (2012), it can benefit more children from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. This study examines the association between frequency of book reading before the start of compulsory education…

Children and youth coming from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are at risk of developing behavioural problems. This study examined the efficacy of a Yoga programme implemented in a low-socioeconomic status school, for the prevention of depression, anxiety, and aggression. After-school workshops were delivered twice a week during 12 weeks…

One of the more persuasive arguments for school sector differences in students' educational performance is the role of the senior school curriculum, which is stratified, socially selective, and has an important bearing on educational outcomes. In addition, the stratified curriculum may also contribute to socioeconomic inequalities in education by…

A sample of 815 Dutch pupils from 49 classes was followed from age 6 (Dutch Grade 3) through age 11 (Grade 7) to estimate growth trajectories for pupils with different socio-ethnic backgrounds. The results indicate that the disadvantage for spelling already present in Grade 3 increases more strongly for Dutch low-socioeconomic status (SES) pupils…

A growing shortage of technical and science graduates means that the question of determinants of differences in performance and choices in that field based, among other things, on social background characteristics (gender, socioeconomic status, ethnic origin, family composition) remains a topical one. In this study, a rational choice model is…

This paper examines the extent that material, social, and cultural resources and schools account for the relationship between socioeconomic background and student achievement among 15-year-olds in 30 countries. Generally, cultural factors play a more important role in most countries although in a small minority of countries, material resources…

In this article, we have studied the effect of student social background, classroom social context, classroom organisation, and teacher behaviours on mathematics achievement and attainment in English and Welsh primary schools. Data were collected over 2 years as part of a programme evaluation, for which we observed 138 teachers and tested and…