An extensive body of research exists on the background characteristics that predict learner achievement. However, in South Africa, little attention has been paid to the level of educational aspirations and the factors that shape the level of aspirations. Using a bio-ecological systems theory of development, we explored the role of gender,…

The "optimism hypothesis" claims that immigrant students do better in the Norwegian education system than their socioeconomic status would suggest, due to the strong educational aspirations that immigrant parents might have for their children. Grounded in an educational equity paradigm, this study aims to test this hypothesis by…

Sports participation and elite sporting success are fundamental to Australian culture and a prominent source of national pride. As sport is a major part of day-to-day living in Australia, it is not surprising that many young people aspire to careers as sportspersons. While such aspirations are often dismissed as fanciful and unattainable, the…

The literature in science education highlights the potentially significant role of outside-school factors such as parents, cultural contexts and role models in students' formation of science attitudes and aspirations, and their attainment in science classes. In this paper, building on and linking Bourdieu's key concepts of habitus, cultural and…

In this study, we analyse the predictive power of home and school environment-related factors for determining pupils' aggression. The multiple regression analyses are performed for fourth- and eighth-grade pupils based on the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007 (N = 8394) and TIMSS 2011 (N = 9415) databases for Slovenia. At the…