In 2010, the government announced their latest drive to raise the status of vocational qualifications in secondary education. This overhaul was subsequently enacted based on recommendations made by Alison Wolf in her review of vocational education. As a result, the Department for Education (DfE) introduced four new categories of vocational…

The disproportionately low degrees awarded to Ethnic Minority students are stark, representing an enduring challenge across the entire higher education sector including distance education. This paper reports on a study conducted in a distance learning university in the UK which employed a mixed-methods approach to explore the experiences of Ethnic…

Objective: School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic left millions of pupils to continue their education at home. We investigated gender and socioeconomic inequalities in pupils' home learning, and some mechanisms underlying those inequalities. Method: We analysed online survey responses from 3,167 parents collected between May and July 2020 in…

The physical space of campus may influence student belonging. Quantitative data were collected using a bespoke questionnaire among a diverse group of students at a post-92 UK university. A total of 635 students, primarily female, undergraduate and of diverse ethnicity participated. Overall sense of belonging and agreement that campus space was…

Marlon Moncrieffe responds to Dr. Louise Taylor's article on the educational disparities of Black students in higher education. Her reflection prompts him to consider his past as a black British child learning in a dominant white British primary school space. In this article, he has two aims in his response. Firstly, to leave further consideration…

Automation and advanced technologies have increased the need for a better understanding of the skills necessary to have a globally competitive workforce. This study used data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies to compare problem-solving skills in technology-rich environments among adults in South Korea,…

Automation and advanced technologies have increased the need for a better understanding of the skills necessary to have a globally competitive workforce. This study used data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies to compare problem solving skills in technology rich environments among adults in South Korea,…

This article explores findings from two projects that explore the impacts and institutional experiences of the Athena SWAN (ASC) and Race Equality (REC) Charter Marks in UK universities. The article offers an important, timely and original insight into the ways that these two charter marks are shaping and influencing practice in universities. We…

The Learning and Work Institute has been undertaking the Adult Participation in Learning Survey on an almost annual basis for over 20 years. The survey provides a unique overview of the level of participation in learning by adults, with a detailed breakdown of who participates and who does not. The survey deliberately adopts a broad definition of…

Students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or somewhere else on the gender/sexuality spectrum (LGBTQI+) are among the diverse student groups in need of extra support and protection in order to succeed in education and reach their full potential. Because they belong to a minority that is often excluded by…

Social class mobility from grandparent to grandchild is a relatively neglected topic. Grandparents today are often healthier and more active, and have longer relationships with their grandchildren than in previous generations. We used data from the UK's Millennium Cohort Study (n = 8570) to investigate the influence of maternal and paternal…

Although the attainment gap between black and minority ethnic (BME) students and white students has persisted for decades, the potential causes of these disparities are highly debated. The emergence of learning analytics allows researchers to understand how students engage in learning activities based on their digital traces in a naturalistic…

This study is a conceptual replication of a widely cited study by Moffitt et al. (2011) which found that attention and behavior problems in childhood (a composite of impulsive hyperactive, inattentive, and impulsive-aggressive behaviors labeled "self-control") predicted adult financial status, health, and criminal activity. Using data…

The research reported here is part of a larger programme of work addressing the spatial and social mobilities of higher education students in the UK, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (award no. ES/N002121/1). In this report, the authors present new findings on the extent and nature of student mobility in the UK, examining who…

With the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework a lot of attention is focussed on measuring learning gains. A vast body of research has found that individual student characteristics influence academic progression over time. This case-study aims to explore how advanced statistical techniques in combination with Big Data can be used to…