A central objective of schooling processes at the international level is reading skills development. Unfortunately, many students in the European Union underperform at this, and these low performances can be more pronounced in countries with lower Human Development Index (HDI) values. This study analysed the contextual effect of school…

The purpose of the scientific article is aimed at studying the features of students' competence formation at tertiary educational institutions by practical training aids. To reveal the purpose of a scientific article, methods of theoretical analysis and synthesis have been used (to study the theoretical framework of students' competence formation…

Previous research has shown that parental involvement at home seems to be socio-economically stratified. To study this stratification, recent research has drawn a distinction between early and late parental literacy activities at home. Early parental literacy activities at home happen before primary school, whereas late parental literacy…

In this paper, we have employed data from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA, 2012 edition) on the EU-15 countries in order to investigate the effect of using ICT at home on achievement. By employing Propensity Score Matching, we provide robust evidence that in most countries there is a negative association between…

In the wake of COVID-19, university students have experienced fundamental changes of their learning and their lives as a whole. The present research identifies psychological characteristics associated with students' well-being in this situation. We investigated relations of basic psychological need satisfaction (experienced competence, autonomy,…

It is well-documented that academic achievement is associated with students' self-perceptions of their academic abilities, that is, their academic self-concepts. However, low-achieving students may apply self-protective strategies to maintain a favorable academic self-concept when evaluating their academic abilities. Consequently, the relation…

In 2005, the Austrian government committed all schools to develop school policies supporting the learning of their students. One purpose of the paper is to seek evidence for the effectiveness of this governmental action. A second purpose is to suggest a special kind of multilevel model which can be applied to longitudinal data at the school level…

Introduction: Examining the connection between vocational training and the world of work, nowadays it is essential to mention the "gap", which keeps on growing, between training and the economy due to the quick technological changes. Purpose: The purpose of the research is scientific investigation of the demand process of competency…

This article examines the extent to which parental socioeconomic status (SES) affects the likelihood of a child becoming a top-performing student, offering an international perspective by reporting this relationship in 31 developed countries. The impact of 3 important educational system characteristics (differentiation in terms of early tracking,…

Background: Large-scale cross-national studies designed to measure student achievement use different social, cultural, economic and other background variables to explain observed differences in that achievement. Prior to their inclusion into a prediction model, these variables are commonly scaled into latent background indices. To allow…

Summer vacations interrupt the rhythm of learning and may result in a loss of knowledge and skills. This study investigates summer learning losses in an Austrian sample with nine-week summer vacations. The results show losses as well as gains for students in lower secondary education (182 students between 10 and 12 years old). Students experienced…

In 19 (sub)samples from seven countries (United States, Austria, Germany, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Vietnam, Brazil), we analyzed the impact of parental education compared with wealth on the cognitive ability of children (aged 4-22 years, total N = 15,297). The background of their families ranged from poor indigenous remote villagers to academic…

This article presents a critical review of the literature surrounding the potential impact of undiagnosed and untreated vision impairment on reading development in the early years of primary school. Despite pre-school screening programmes, it is still possible for children to enter school with undiagnosed, uncorrected vision impairments. This can…

Using data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the size of the literacy achievement gap between 15-year-old students from two-parent and those from single-mother households were compared across 18 industrialized nations. This study found that cross-national differences exist in the association between single motherhood…

This report examines how immigrant students performed, mainly in mathematics and reading, but also in science and problem-solving skills in the PISA 2003 assessment, both in comparison with native students in their adopted country and relative to other students across all countries covered in the report (the "case countries"). In…