This original study followed up ten beneficiaries of a UK charity-led programme that supported disadvantaged students in applying to elite US universities. First interviewed in 2015 during their early university days in the United States, in our 2019 follow-up all participants had graduated. Six remained in the United States and four had returned…

Much research highlights the potential of physical education and school sport (PESS) to provide personal, social and educational benefits for young people. As such, it is suggested that PESS contexts could be particularly relevant to pupils who might be considered marginalised or 'at risk'--including care-experienced young people--affording…

Rurality is known to be associated with a number of weaker educational outcomes, from lower attainment through to lower social mobility. This is why so much policy and practitioner focus has been directed at addressing the rurality gap in educational outcomes. In this paper, we use pupil-level data for Scotland to contribute to two dimensions of…

This paper sets out original findings from analyses of the English National Pupil Database of Key Stage 1 (KS1) attainment, to examine educational outcomes of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The schooling of these children has been entirely within the context of the current SEND system, defined by the 2014-2015…

The advantages and disadvantages of single-sex schooling continue to be a source of policy and public debate. Previous empirical evidence is somewhat ambiguous, with some studies finding a positive impact of single-sex schooling on education achievement and others finding no differences across school types. The relationship between single-sex…

This paper reflects on the importance of 'time spent' in understanding the international student experience. Short-term mobility programmes (involving stays of between 1 week and 2 months) attracting less privileged students, such as the relatively new Turing Scheme in the United Kingdom, have been hailed as a potential 'solution' to the fact…

Instructional quality is associated with better academic outcomes for students. This study aimed to investigate how teachers' job satisfaction was associated with clarity of instruction and cognitive activation as measures of instructional quality. In addition, we investigated whether this association between teachers' job satisfaction and…

Considering the rising tide of international student return mobility, the UK needs to pay attention to the long-term circulation and development of international student returnees. This study analyses the mobility, variations and pathways of the transnational in-between identity of Chinese student returnees from the UK, an under-researched group…

The school closures owing to the 2020 COVID-19 crisis resulted in a significant disruption of education provision, leading to fears of learning losses and of an increase in educational inequality. This article evaluates the effects of school closures based on standardised tests in the last year of primary school in the Dutch-speaking Flemish…

The numbers of UK students choosing to study abroad for a period has increased steadily over the years, with many students citing academic, professional, linguistic and cultural reasons as their key motivations. However, while there is an abundance of literature on the advantage of study abroad (SA) for linguistic learning, there is less known…

Reflecting the neglect of childhood disability in social stratification research, there is a notable dearth of research on the mechanisms underpinning disability differentials in educational outcomes. Drawing on rich longitudinal data collected at 9, 13 and 17 years as part of Ireland's 'Growing Up in Ireland' study, we look at the impact of…

This study draws on the nationally representative British Birth Cohort Study (BCS70) to examine: (1) the association between social background and early socio-emotional and cognitive competences at age 5; and (2) the relative and independent contributions of early socio-emotional and cognitive competences to educational and socio-economic…

This small-scale, qualitative study invited deaf adults to reflect on their schooling and to consider the ways in which placement decisions impacted their educational opportunities, achievement and identity. It aimed to document the experiences of deaf adults who had attended special schools for deaf children and to elicit their thoughts on the…

We use data from the Young Lives longitudinal survey to analyse the effect of socioeconomic conditions and gender on the educational performance of young children in India. In particular, we use data for standardised scores on two cognitive tests: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and a maths test. Our results show that there are…

In this article, we contribute to understanding of the mechanisms through which students' socio-economic family background can translate into academic performance by focusing on the concept of student engagement. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from disciplines across the social sciences, and a major nationally representative dataset from…