Research has consistently revealed that adolescents with a migration background are more likely to drop out from vocational education and training (VET) at the upper-secondary level than their native peers. While recent research has provided rich empirical evidence of mechanisms leading to dropouts from VET, little is known about such mechanisms…

This study examined pre-service teachers' attitudes towards inclusion, posing research questions regarding the (1) relationship between attitudes and personality and (2) between attitudes and the uptake of learning opportunities, and (3) moderating effects of the uptake of learning opportunities on the relationship between attitudes and…

Because housing instability can make it difficult for students to attend school, students experiencing homelessness (SEH) may become chronically absent. For this reason, SEH have lower graduation rates than their housed counterpants. Germany's second-chance schools give students an opportunity to catch up on their learning so they can take final…

This study investigates occupational changes in the German vocational education and training system among "stopouts," i.e., individuals who terminate their training prematurely and switch to another occupation. We examine whether occupational changes are related to the fulfillment of career aspirations and changes in key occupational…

Do children with better reading competence read more, or do avid readers increase their reading competence? This highly relevant question has been discussed for many years, yet conclusive results are rare. Previous studies suffer from small sample sizes or omitted variable bias, rendering their findings questionable. We provide new insight using…

This study examined the effect of antecedents of artificial intelligence (AI) on the productivity of academics in higher education. The study was guided by the pragmatic epistemic perspective predicated on the concurrent integrated mixed-method design used with the support of a Google softcopy version of the semi-structured questionnaire (closed…

Prior research has shown that students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are less likely to graduate. We examine if this can be explained by background-specific pathways into higher education. Many students in Germany enter higher education with a vocational qualification and prior vocational qualifications occur more often among students from…

Based on an opportunity-use model of instructional quality, this study investigates the extent to which subject-specific instructional quality rated by experts is reflected in students' assessments of their own learning and understanding, and how students' perceptions predict their achievement. The analyses used data from a German-Swiss sample of…

Inquiry-based out-of-school STEM learning environments, such as offerings from science centers, museums, and out-of-school laboratories, serve as an enrichment to classroom education in many countries. As there is an increasing number of such STEM learning environments in Germany and some other countries and a growing body of research worldwide,…

Utilizing the Survey of Adult Skills from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and the OECD database, this study investigates the role of gender inequality and public social spending in the gender gap in Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET) risk across various age cohorts. The research identifies a…

The article discusses processes of digital transformation in adult education centres (AEC) in Baden-Wuerttemberg. It focuses on (a) environmental changes as perceived by specific actors, (b) topics and content related to the public education mandate, and (c) development and expansion of the organisation's digital media repertoire. The data come…

Purpose: Innovations in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are essential for increasing resource efficiency and sustainability in the agri-food system. An innovation support service (ISS) can benefit SMEs but the provision and access to it can be restricted across national borders thereby hindering cross-border regions' economic potential.…

There is growing interest in the underlying mechanisms affecting female leaders in Higher Education (HE). This article compares four countries -- Germany, Norway, Poland and Sweden to identify key structural conditions (enablers and barriers) for female representation in academia by studying the regulative framework of government policy. Two…

Online technologies have entered almost all spheres of life, introducing new challenges to how literacies are theorised, defined and taken up in adult literacy education settings. This process has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and on a global scale, as more services, resources and information move online. An important, if under-studied…

Based on a case study, this article discusses connections between educational inequality in Brazil, transnational migration and educational upward mobility. It analyses a young woman's migration from a "favela" in Brazil to Germany with a focus on the educational aspirations that motivated it, that is, as a case of "educational…