In this article, I reinterpret the stories of two students who dropped out of a vocational school for care work, which turned them into a category of ongoing policy concern: early school leavers. The stories were recorded over a three-year period, as part of an ethnographic study of motivation and aspiration of 150 young people at the Amsterdam…

This paper considers what early years practitioners need to know about bilingual acquisition. It argues that bilingualism is not only an asset in the classroom and the community, but also an individual and family achievement that requires commitment and determination. The different contexts of bilingual acquisition are considered, along with the…

The world is increasingly characterised by profound income, health and social inequalities (Appadurai, 2000). In recent decades development initiatives aimed at reducing these inequalities have been situated in a context of increasing globalisation with a dominant neo-liberal economic orthodoxy. This paper argues that neo-liberal globalisation…

This paper begins with a description of my work in a Canadian school of education, where I now realize that I was well insulated from the US context, where many are highly critical of teacher education. My recent move to Stanford University immediately immersed me in the highly controversial practices being imposed on schools and schools of…

The "drop-out" of working-class students from universities has been identified as one of the most pressing issues for the higher education (HE) sector in the United Kingdom. This article draws on the initial findings of a major research project that explores the meanings and implications of such withdrawal from HE amongst young…

The authors' approach to using pattern-centered analyses and longitudinal data addresses how configurations of personal and contextual factors forecast the educational achievement and attainments of different youth across adolescence. Here, they discuss various types of pattern-centered analyses and provide an empirical illustration of how these…

Within education policy in England the principle of inclusion has been established as a goal and a factor on which improvements in overall standards are seen to depend. Prominent within the drive to raise standards has been a demonstrable need to improve the National Curriculum attainment of members of certain minority ethnic groups, some of which…

This study attempts to evaluate the impacts of macro-structural factors on political freedom in developing countries (DCs). Political freedom is conceptualized as civil liberty and political rights the general population of a society can enjoy in influencing public policy. The Freedom House indexes are used as measures of freedom. In explaining…

How do teachers conceptualize and deal with context of mathematics word problems in their teaching? This question is discussed based on a study of 14 experienced teachers at the elementary, junior high and senior high school levels. Bruner's notions of paradigmatic and narrative modes of knowing formed the basis of analysis of data from sources…

This study examined whether the impact of contextual-level socioeconomic disadvantage on adolescent mental health is contingent upon individual-level perceptions of social support. Data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a panel survey of a nationally representative United States sample (analytic N =…

This exploratory study investigates whether associations between social network measures and substance use differ according to type of substance and social context. The analyses use data obtained from 13 and 15 year olds (N=3146) in a school-based survey and focus on three social network measures: sociometric position (e.g. group, dyad, isolate);…

Numerous studies have demonstrated a decrease in the expression of internality in French sixth graders as compared to fifth graders. The present study examines normative clearsightedness in addition to internality across four French school grades (fourth to seventh). The results confirmed the sixth-grade drop in internality and showed that the…

This report examines access to higher education in underserved regions of Michigan. This study focuses on specific concerns about postsecondary education access in three geographically diverse areas of the state: suburban Macomb County; the city of Saginaw; and six rural counties in the northeastern Lower Peninsula. The report provides a summary…

This book looks at parent-professional-child relations very differently than other books in this area. Author Dana McDermott focuses on parents and teachers as adult learners who should be growing and learning along with the children in their care. Accessibly written, the book synthesizes the latest theories and research on parent-and adult-child…

Categorization based on sex is the most basic social divide. It is the organizational basis of most major institutions, including the division of labor in the home, the workforce, politics, and religion. Globally, women's gendered roles are regarded as subordinate to men's. The gender divide enforces women's roles in reproduction and support…