In the last 20 years, Early School Leaving (ESL) in Portugal has registered a significant decrease. In order to understand the reasons for this trend towards improvement, this paper conducts an analysis of anti-ESL measures implemented in diverse educational institutions. The main objective is to understand how mainstream and alternative education…

In the emergence of the existing curriculum--K to 12, where the students are the primary emphasis, the perceptions of the students are important in quality monitoring systems which are crucially needed to enable monitoring and evaluation of these important outcomes, such as the student activities. This study examined the perceptions of students…

Working with groups of parents in career development services in secondary schools is rare practice and little researched. This article focuses on the pedagogy applied in one such intervention, "Parents Turn," supporting family learning and community learning. The secondary analysis of qualitative data collected from parents has been…

This qualitative phenomenological study was designed to understand the factors that contribute to college persistence and completion for Black and Latinx students in the northeastern United States. Additionally, the researcher aimed to understand how high school and college preparation structures and policies contribute to college completion rates…

Across democracies, education predicts electoral participation and political interest. Here, German students on the pre-vocational and pre-academic educational tracks are compared to show how these differences emerge, and thus indicate how they can be addressed. In a Preliminary Study, a large dataset (3747 participants) revealed that there is a…

An increasing number of autistic students attend mainstream secondary schools in both France and Quebec. The importance of considering their views on subjects that affect their daily life is now well established in education research. Still, little is known about how these students cope with specific aspects of inclusion. This article explores the…

Previous research on the implications of early-tracking education systems has not specifically focused on how studying in academic and non-academic tracks shapes the features and characteristics of shadow education (private tutoring) that students are involved in. The study compares the scale and features of private tutoring and the underlying…

This article reports from a Danish research and development project on career learning in compulsory school. The aim of the project was to broaden the perspective on education and the world of work among pupils in the final years of compulsory school through career learning activities based on experience-based learning and reflection. To that end,…

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the effect of different educational orientations at the upper-secondary level on labour market outcomes across European countries. The study separates safety net effect and the diversion effect of Vocational Education and Training (VET). Using PIAAC data, we show cross-national differences in the early…

In a context of considerable interest in apprenticeship in recent years, Cedefop and the OECD decided to explore its future from the perspective of a number of megatrends, including sociodemographic changes, the accelerated adoption of emerging technologies and new forms of work organisation. They also considered how these trends have affected,…

Given the wide range of academic content and 21st-century college and career readiness (CCR) skills that need to be targeted in secondary classrooms, teachers must be prepared to plan and implement a variety of strategies to ensure the progress and participation of each student, including those with extensive support needs. The purpose of this…

A growing body of evidence suggests that vocationally focused programs of study substantially improve high-school completion and longer-run economic success. However, the corresponding recommendations to expand vocational programs may have unintended, negative consequences for low-income, academically successful students (i.e., the "missing…

Until recently, school accountability measures in England have focused on assessment results rather than on what students do after they leave school/college. However, destination measures are increasingly being seen as key tools in assessing how schools prepare their students for a successful transition into the next stage of education or…

This paper uses a quasi-natural policy experiment in Germany, the G8 reform, to examine the impact of schooling intensity on student learning. The G8 reform compresses secondary school for academic-track students from nine to eight years, while holding fixed the overall academic content and total instruction time required for graduation, resulting…

This article explores how the horizontal differentiation of upper secondary education affects students' transitions after graduation. It builds upon the institutional perspective on education and draws on data from a nationally representative survey. The analysis shows a considerable variation in graduates' patterns of transition according to the…