This article presents findings from a small-scale qualitative study of student perceptions of a High Achievers' Recognition Scheme in a faculty within a UK university. This scheme is unusual in UK higher education in that it provides tailored support and development for students who have been identified as high-achievers. The findings suggest…

This review aims to explore the effects of placing children with special needs in inclusive educational settings, compared with segregated placement on measures of academic achievement and psychosocial adjustment. A secondary aim is to explore how different child or setting characteristics (gender, age, type and severity of special need, part- or…

This paper presents some initial ideas on how the theoretical concepts of the "insider" and the "outsider" might be re-examined in an era where advances in comparative, qualitative research methodologies seek to be more inclusive, collaborative, participatory, reflexive and nuanced. Earlier essentialist definitions of the…

Objectives: To examine evidence from studies exploring the relationship between childhood obesity and educational attainment. Design: A systematic review of secondary analyses and observational studies published in English after 1997 examining attainment as measured by grade point average or other validated measure, in children aged 6 to 16 years,…

This article reviews the extent to which effectiveness strategies have compensated for social disadvantage, explores the reasons offered over time for the association between disadvantage and less good student outcomes, and argues that contemporary optimism and pessimism about change and progress relate to a neo-liberal paradigm that has little to…

During the last few decades, the South Wales Valleys (UK) have undergone a considerable economic, social, cultural and political transformation, altering youth transitions from school to work. Drawing on a two and a half year ethnographic study, in the paper I concentrate on a group of academically successful young white working-class men aged…

Despite all intentions in the course of the Bologna Process and decades of investment into improving the social dimension, results in many national and international studies show that inequity remains stubbornly persistent, and that inequity based on socio-economic status, parental education, gender, country-of-origin, rural background and more…

Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) covers a wide range of self-perceived skills and personality dispositions such as motivation, confidence, optimism, peer relations and coping with stress. In the last few years, there has been a growing awareness that social and emotional factors play an important part in students' academic success and it…

Existing research rarely examines the social consequences of poor childhood health from a longitudinal perspective. Using data from the British National Child Development Study, I follow a cohort from before birth through middle age to examine whether children's health limitations before and during the educational process predict occupational…

As Barker notes, the link between disadvantage and poor educational attainments is an enduring one. Educational policy over the last 40 years or so has tended to respond to educational inequality in predominately one of two ways--attempts to raise standards across the system as a whole and attempts to redistribute resources to families, schools…

In recent years educational policy on gender and achievement has concentrated on boys' underachievement, frequently comparing it with the academic success of girls. This has encouraged a perception of girls as the "winners" of the educational stakes and assumes that they no longer experience the kinds of gender inequalities identified in…

Higher institutions in the United Kingdom (UK) have responded enthusiastically to two prime ministers' "Initiatives for International Education" to promote Britain as a destination for overseas students and international fees from Chinese students now play an important role in the funding of the UK university sector. Yet it is not clear…

This paper challenges some of the assumptions about our understanding of and approaches to literacy. Crucially, it provides evidence hitherto missing from the body of research knowledge: children's own perspectives on literacy opportunities accessed by children themselves. Reading proficiency is pivotal in education, providing a platform on which…

The Centre for the Economics of Education was asked to bring together a wide range of academic evidence (primarily England-based) to investigate the extent to which academic and non-academic childhood outcomes are complementary to each other, or are in some way traded-off against each other. The report also investigates the drivers of both…

Demonstrates the extent to which school-level performance in the British General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) program is underpinned by variations in the socioeconomic backgrounds of students. Concludes that uncontextualized performance statistics are flawed, and that policies for school improvement must address underlying constraints…