After eight years of piloting, China's National Assessment of Education Quality (NAEQ) was administered for the first time in 2015. The NAEQ was introduced during the country's transition from exam-oriented to quality-oriented education. The public, in particular parents and students, were required to subscribe to this reorientation. To ensure…

Grade retention and inequalities that derive from grade retention can influence student school trajectories and careers. Grade retention can discourage students from education, and increase school failure and dropout. This study explored the relationship between grade retention and student intentions to enrol in higher education. We also studied…

In Ireland, the high-stakes Leaving Certificate Examination at the end of upper secondary education was abruptly cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, "calculated grades" were introduced, necessitating for the first time the involvement of secondary school teachers in the assessment of their own students for…

The qualitative study on which this article reports explored how senior leaders, mathematics and Spanish language teachers (N = 72) in four high-performing, high-poverty, public secondary schools in Chile enact performance-based accountability policies related to standardised assessments. These four public schools were selected because prior to…

This article considers the challenges of using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to assist high-stakes standardised assessment. It focuses on the detrimental effect that even state-of-the-art AI and ML systems could have on the validity of national exams of secondary education, and how lower validity would negatively affect…

Language experiences and linguistic knowledge of teenage migrants can be valuable resources for their continued language learning. Yet, home languages and existing plurilingual skills are often framed as obstacles to learning that tag young migrants as at risk of school failure in the context of monolingual education systems. This article draws on…

This study explores a pathway from social origin at adolescence to numeracy acquisition in young adulthood. A variation associated with vocational track attendance and numeracy acquisition between two different traditions of education systems is identified; namely, between education systems of German (Austria and Germany) and English (UK and US)…

Student performance in general subjects such as language and mathematical skills is poor in secondary vocational education. A professional culture of teaching--including recruitment of well qualified teachers, effective teacher collaboration and effective teaching practice--could be the key to success. To what extent is there a professional…

This article reports a study that investigated secondary school students' higher education aspirations (towards university studies, ISCED 6 and above) and how these differ between student groups as well as how these are impacted by values of education. Panel data of more than 300 secondary school students in two countries, Luxembourg and…

This article investigates the situation of Swedish upper secondary school students who have been subject to distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. We understand the transition from onsite education to distance education as a recontextualization of pedagogical practice, our framing follows loosely concepts from Bernstein. Given…

This article addresses Early School Leaving (ESL) as a phenomenon that is identified in the EU and European countries such as Portugal as being the result of school disaffection that can be associated with social and educational problems. The relevance of this problem at the European level is highlighted by the large number of European guidelines…

This article analyses the contribution of post-compulsory education and training systems to the development of literacy and numeracy skills across OECD countries. While there is extensive cross-country comparative research on the effects of primary and lower secondary education systems on aggregate skills levels, there has been little comparative…

Truancy is known to: Hamper academic achievement, predict a range of school-related problems and cause early school leaving. Hence, the development and implementation of measures to tackle truancy are considered as important strategies to prevent early school leaving in Europe. Despite this, there is almost no comparative research which studies…

This article provides insights into the design thinking method, a teaching strategy for developing creativity, innovative thinking, and an entrepreneurial mindset in young people as a universally applicable skill. It presents results from a study of 146 seventh- and eighth-grade students, aged 12-14 and 20 teachers across 10 Slovene schools.…

Peer bullying increases in times of school transition, influenced by changing peer and friendship groups, new schooling environments and greater stress. Covert forms of bullying, including cyberbullying, become more common in secondary school and cause considerable distress and long-term harm. The period of transition to secondary school is…