In recent years, early childhood education and care have gained increasing public attention. This has led to an expansion of education and care programmes. Yet, little is known about how parents use different options of education and care. Take, for example, kin care, paid caregivers and out-of-kindergarten activities. Drawing on social…

In the new millennium model of low definition curriculum, teachers have professional latitude to deliver prescribed disciplinary content through a range of pedagogical and assessment orientations. The rhetoric is that with carefully crafted practice, the goal of high quality/high equity learning outcomes can be achieved for all students. This…

This paper presents some of the findings that emerged out of a national survey carried out in the school year 2005-2006 in various parts of Greece. The main aim of the study was to explore the effects of various "family" factors on the "student performance" in the (national) higher education entrance examinations. From the analysis of data it…

The objective of this work is to reflect on unequal schooling opportunities in Brazil, focusing on certain characteristics that mark, nowadays, the schooling trajectories of young people from middle- and high-income families. Our previous researches showed that an important part of these families are increasingly investing in international…

Motivated by very different goals, various interest groups argue that the British government should address problems with citizens' emotional well-being. Concerns about emotional vulnerability and poor emotional well-being amongst growing numbers of children, young people and adults produce ideas and approaches from different branches of…

Racism in Europe is an ongoing reality that shapes many people's everyday lives. Diversity is often perceived as a barrier to social cohesion or educational success. These discourses are very often translated into measures that tend to assimilate or segregate those with a migrant or minority background. In this article, drawing from the results of…

This study examines the effects of family socio-economic disadvantage and differences in school resources on student achievement in the city of Cartagena, Colombia. Using data from the ICFES and C-600 national databases, we conduct a multilevel analysis to determine the unique contribution of school-level factors above and beyond family…

Research on welfare state regimes and research on educational policy share a common concern for the reduction of social inequality. On one hand, welfare state research is typically designed within a comparative approach where scholars investigate similarities and differences in social institutions across selected countries. On the other hand, the…

In the process of discussing the significant contributions that Len Barton has made to the sociology of education and to disability studies, I argue that a good deal of critical analyses of power and inequality in education are impoverished by some of their essentialist and reductive tendencies. I use an example taken from disability rights to…

This article provides an overview of global higher education focusing particularly on issues of diversity and gender. The main evidence is drawn from seven unique projects on Widening Participation in Higher Education funded by the British Government's Higher Education Funding Council for England and administered through the Economic and Social…

Low teacher morale, coupled with extremely poor schooling outcomes for students as measured on standardized tests have increasingly been reported in the media in South Africa. As elsewhere, there is growing demand for the reorganisation of teachers' work in order to enhance school performance. The paper investigates the ways in which current…

The challenges for education systems of student disaffection in working-class schools are well known, but the implications of high levels of student optimism in the absence of the resources needed to support academic success have been less often considered. Through examination of the school experiences post-compulsory learners in Australia, this…

Participation in the national exams is a very difficult task for Greek lyceum students as their access to higher education is highly dependent on their performance in them. This paper focuses on the students' preparation for the national exams and especially their resort to out-of-school supportive lessons in relation to their socio-economic…

The successful inclusion of minority ethnic pupils with sickle cell disorders (SCD) raises a number of challenges for educational systems. In England, local education authorities were important drivers for innovative responses to complex needs and the former Inner London Education Authority produced guidance in 1989 on SCD in schools. Local…

Given the ecumenical pleas and legislative imperatives for more inclusive educational policy and practice, Cyprus has been steadfastly heading towards the realignment of its educational legislation towards a more inclusive discourse. This has been especially true after the implacable criticisms that the UNESCO report cast on the Cyprus educational…