Retention, attainment and progression have become key issues in post-compulsory education in the UK, as the policy agenda of increasing and widening participation has taken hold. Keeping students in the system, enabling them to gain qualifications and thereby progress to higher level courses is a key educational goal. Yet alongside increasing…

Many European governments associate improving literacy with providing development assistance to regions like Africa and Asia from which the majority of the world's 774 million illiterates come. As school attendance is compulsory in the region, it is assumed that the Education for All (EFA) goals have been achieved and literacy is therefore not…