Although higher education is positioned as a site of opportunity for young women in the UK, not all female applicants experience straightforward pathways into this arena. This paper focuses on a group of 16 high-achieving girls from working-class backgrounds who are striving for academic success, in the form of top grades and places at high-tariff…

This article focuses on narrative interviews with mature students at one partner university that was part of the UK higher education (HE) Changing Mindsets project and research (2017-19). Changing Mindsets comprised workshops and training aimed at supporting students and staff in five participating universities to develop a growth mindset and…

This study presents findings from testing an innovative student-centred drama-based teaching methodology for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines for secondary school students. The method, based on performances, was tested in two case studies, Spain and the UK, on a sample of 2089 students. These performances have…

Students from Black Minority Ethnic (BME) groups continue to experience disadvantages compared to White students in UK Higher Education (Pilkington, A. 2013. "The Interacting Dynamics of Institutional Racism in Higher Education." "Race Ethnicity and Education" 16 (2): 225-245.). Evidence highlights that an attainment gap exists…

Making learning relevant and encouraging an interest in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math] subjects, as well as introducing and engaging initial thoughts and a wider understanding about future careers, could be pivotal in the endeavour to address the STEM skills gap in the UK [United Kingdom]. On the current trajectory, many females…

Most of the current literature on the experiences of Chinese international students tends to adopt a deficit-based approach, focusing on the weaknesses, problems, and challenges Chinese students face while studying overseas. In other words, they tend to focus on struggling Chinese students, "problem" Chinese students, and Chinese…

This research project aims to evaluate the impact that a British Council Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning project had on the children and parents' stereotypical views and images of the Middle East. This study focuses on a largely monocultural school in rural Lincolnshire and a large, diverse school in the centre of Beirut, Lebanon. It…

In UK universities, there is a long-standing gap in degree award outcomes for undergraduate students with white British students more likely to graduate with a 'good degree' (first or upper second class) than British students from minority ethnic backgrounds. Given its complex, systemic nature, researchers have highlighted the importance of…

This paper attends to the educational narratives of South Asian Muslim women who grew up in an inner city area. Using walking interviews, each individual took me around the neighbourhood where they grew up, identifying places of educational encounter on the way. There was a pertinent sense of a past that was in many ways, still present. Their…

Prior to the pandemic, the number of international secondary students in anglophone countries had grown rapidly. Yet these minor transnational learners, most of whom unaccompanied, remain largely understudied and neglected in the educational research and policy discourses. This hermeneutic literature review addresses the literature gap by (a)…

Upon encountering unfamiliar words or observing local practices in study abroad contexts, second language learners may discuss aspects of the target language and culture with their peers -- 'non-native' friends from the same cultural background or 'natives' of the target culture. Such mediations are instrumental in elaborating understandings, but…

Background: Geographical and cultural differences have been shown to affect public attitudes towards stuttering. However, increasingly for many individuals in the world one's birthplace culture (or home culture) and culture in their local geographical environment (or host culture) are not the same. Aims: The effects of home culture and host…

Most western countries face either existing or looming teacher shortages. No doubt there are many and varied reasons for this and no simple remedy. Contemporaneously, film and television can have profound, often unintended attitudinal and behavioural consequences. As reflectors and creators of societal values, axiomatically, they provide insight…

This article explores the affordances provided by altering the way in which a traditional structured classroom is perceived. The article, through an exploration of reconfiguring a classroom space in a drama intervention, outlines the affordances provided to young vulnerable people and the adults that they work with. Such reconfigurations are…

Children look to school to provide stability, role models and wider skills. As part of the school's ongoing STEM journey, it is really important to ensure opportunities are provided to develop students' social and science capital. Engineering education goes hand in hand with good self-esteem, a growth mind set and an evolving confidence to be able…