This article presents a critical review of complexity theory in relation to educational research. The "analytical reductionist" approach is one in which the educational researcher seeks to reduce complex wholes to particular factors and to identify correlations between them and desirable outcomes. Complexity theory shows how this approach in…

Pupil observation and educator?pupil discourse have recognised relevance within early years practitioners' repertoires, with long traditions of practice in England and elsewhere. Observation is now enshrined within the Foundation Stage Curriculum for 3?5 year-olds (England) (soon to become part of the Early Years Foundation Stage for Birth?5) and…

Internet access has recently been introduced into over 30,000 schools in the UK. While web provision has been heralded by some as an educational panacea, it is also recognised that there are dangers inherent in school Internet use. Adopting the cultural risk perspective, drawing upon a social-cultural analysis of Internet regulation and utilising…

It is a cherished belief within physical education and sport communities that participation in sport/physical activity has the potential to offer young people a range of physical, psychological and social benefits. More recently in the UK, this belief has become prominent in government policies that, among other things, are seeking to re-engage…

This article describes a longitudinal analysis of a nationally representative cohort of over 80,000 pupils in England who completed both national end of Key Stage 2 (KS2) tests and the Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) at age 11 in 1997, national end of Key Stage 3 (KS3) tests at age 14 in summer 2000 and General Certificate of Secondary Education…

The authors investigate the effect of schooling on the aspirations of young people designated as having mild learning difficulties (MLD) or emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) in the first large-scale study of its kind in England. Data were collected from parents and their 15/16 year-old children in the final year of their compulsory…

Defining and therefore evaluating the effectiveness of school sex education is problematic because of its location at the site of struggle between competing discourses. Those discourses--summarised here as "moralistic," "harm reductionist" and "empowering"--each emphasise a different conceptualisation of sex education's intended outcomes. The…

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…

Although the participation rates of females in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (or STEM) education is poor in most Western countries, considerable differences across countries exist as well. This may be due to differences in the so-called gender achievement gaps, that is, delays of one sex with respect to the other. The variation…

Results from the 2000 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Assessment (PISA) indicated that inequalities in performance associated with students' family background were relatively large in Switzerland compared to other participating countries. The study upon which this article is based examines…

We consider the question whether pupils from the lower social strata perform better in private government-dependent schools than in public or private-independent schools, using the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000 data on European high schools. In the 1980s, Coleman and Hoffer (1987) found in the USA that the performance…

College student employment has been increasing steadily for at least four decades. At present, approximately 80% of all college students are employed while completing their undergraduate education. Even among students under the age of 24 at 4-year colleges, more than 50% are employed during the school year. Although some general trends are…

This literature review summarizes research on online teaching and learning. It is organized into four topics: course environment, learners' outcomes, learners' characteristics, and institutional and administrative factors. The authors found little consistency of terminology, discovered some conclusive guidelines, and identified developing lines of…

In this analysis of 58 empirical studies of high school block scheduling, the authors report findings in and across five groupings. Within groups, data were inconsistent regarding whether teachers' practices changed, but teachers believed that staff development was necessary to teach in a block schedule. Block scheduling appeared to increase…

The achievement of adolescent literacy learners has become a significant topic of research and policy. This review of literature links current literacy learning theories, research that addresses the individualized nature of adolescent readers, and the literature delineating adolescent literacy policy. Researchers using naturalistic inquiry have…