Discussions of text and the literate practices of the young have always taken place against larger backdrops painted in particular historical, cultural and ideological patterns. In the contemporary era, the emergence of weblogs (blogs) and their rapid uptake by young people all over the world provides an interesting insight into the tensions that…

Equity is a concept that is often measured in terms of test scores, with educators looking for equal test scores among students of different cultural groups, social classes or sexes. In this article the term "relational equity" is proposed to describe equitable relations in classrooms; relations that include students treating each other with…

Using 3 waves of the TIMSS data, this study investigates the relationship between 8th-graders' mathematics and science achievement and their self-perceptions on these 2 subjects. For within-country data, there is generally a positive relationship between students' achievement and the following 3 measures of their self-perception: how much they…

This paper highlights the dynamics that led to the narrowing of the achievement gap between students in the Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking schools in Israel. Instead of looking at one point of time (Zuzovsky, 2005), this paper examines changes between 1999 to 2003 in certain school/class-level variables and relates them to the uneven increase…

South Africa's education system is still deep in the throes of reform under its third Minister of Education since 1994. Poor communities, in particular those of rural Africans, bear the brunt of the past inequalities. The challenge was to explore the extent of the "gap" in students' scores by comparing the advantaged and disadvantaged communities…

The aim of the present contribution is to investigate similarities and differences of strengths in science competences between countries, based on TIMSS 2003 data. Analyses are based on systematic investigation of patterns of p values for individual science items. Hierarchical cluster analysis was applied to establish meaningful groups of…

This study examines the effects of public preschool expenditures on the math and science scores of 4th graders, holding constant child, family, and school characteristics, other relevant social expenditures, and country and year effects, in 7 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries--Australia, Japan, the…

Algebra knowledge is a critical part of middle-school mathematics achievement, and success in algebra is necessary for taking higher level mathematics courses and leads to higher scores on standardized tests. The purpose of this study was to simultaneously examine relationships between mathematics beliefs, classroom instructional strategies, and…

There has been considerable debate as to whether course evaluations are valid measures of teaching quality, or whether students instead reward tutors who give them high grades and assign low levels of work. To assess the factors that influence course evaluations, we measured university students' achievement goals and expectations at the beginning…

This article investigates the effects of trainee teachers on secondary school student outcomes. The additional resources which schools receive from being involved in teacher training offer them an opportunity to raise standards, but this has to be set against the possible losses due to school students being taught by inexperienced beginning…

There is widespread interest in the impact of unauthorised absence on pupil attainment, links with disaffection, exclusion from school and criminality. However, little is heard about what those who take unauthorised absence from school think that the effect has been on them; nor do we hear the voices of other pupils and their teachers. This…

This study aims to provide some clarity about how learning to teach is understood by university teacher educators, mentors and students. Initial teacher education (ITE) in England is subject to central government legislation but without prescription for local implementation. Semi-structured interview data was collected from key partners in a local…

The primary aim of this study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, was to identify the nature and influence of school-based factors in the choices of young people about their post-16 education, training and career pathways. The study also contributes to the wider understanding of "choice", and identifies implications for the…

This article compares the results obtained from using two different methodological approaches to elicit teachers' views on their professional role, the key challenges and their aspirations for the future. One approach used a postal/online questionnaire, while the other used telephone interviews, posing a selection of the same questions. The…

In research on learning, one of the fundamental questions concerns issues of language and thought. A number of empirical studies have revealed the interplay between understanding of subject matter and meanings of language expressions to be more dynamic and ambiguous than is commonly acknowledged. The aim of this article is to outline an…