It is widely acknowledged that understanding of science is key to becoming global citizens and to embrace technological advancements. Although research suggests that girl's performance in science has improved over the years, there are still concerns about the under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)…

According to the World Economic Forum, the occupational gender gap with men dominating well-remunerated STEM careers is a key factor in the gender pay gap. However, the problem of underrepresentation of women in STEM fields is mitigated or reversed in some Eastern European and Islamic countries. This disparity suggests that cultural factors are at…

This study investigated gender disparities in students' science motivational beliefs, conceptualized as self-concept and intrinsic value, from Grades 4 to 8 in 22 countries. The gender-specific relation between science motivational beliefs and achievement was also scrutinized. Data from the 2011 and 2015 national cohorts of the Trends in…

Purpose: Given the unclear relationship between cognition and affect, this article reports on a study exploring how the conative variable of values may provide some explanation for students with excellent performance despite a negative attitude toward mathematics. Design/Approach/Methods: The study reported in this article represents Korea's…

Understanding why women are consistently underrepresented in STEM fields has been a constant puzzle, with a consistent feature of the puzzle being performance in math. This study uses data from TIMSS exams to investigate cross-national gender differences in math-related affect, more precisely liking mathematics, confidence in mathematics, and…

Saudi Arabia has expanded access to secondary schooling over the past generation, while also pushing to lift quality. This includes decentralising authority out to principals, equipping them to set higher performance expectations and deploy incentives to attract and retain strong teachers. We find wide variability in the extent to which principals…

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of principal's leadership style on school outcome. This study focused on the indirect relationship between the leadership style and the school environment. An additional objective was to investigate the impact of culture on leadership style as related to school environment and outcome.…

This dissertation explores how country-level cultural values are associated with gender differences in the enrollment in and completion of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), national achievement in mathematics and science, and students' science achievement. Study 1 explored how gender-equal…

Using Hofstede's culture dimensions and World Values Survey (WVS) dimensions, the study uses a series of multiple regressions to explore the relationship among national culture, creativity as measured by patents, economic productivity as measured by gross domestic product per capita, and student achievement as measured by Trends in International…

The goals of this dissertation were as follows: (1) application of quantitative methods to large-scale databases, (2) investigation of relationships between student mathematics achievement and student motivational attitudes for learning mathematics at the macro level (i.e., national level) and at the micro level (i.e., student level), (3)…

The third study by the "Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality" (SACMEQ) revealed that achievement in mathematics among Grade 6 children in Mozambique is declining, and gender differences favouring boys persist. This study examined the contribution of parents, economic resources and cultural factors on…

In the last four years McKinsey and Company have produced two highly influential reports on how to improve school systems. The first McKinsey report "How the world's best-performing school systems come out on top" has since its publication in 2007 been used to justify change in educational policy and practice in England and many other…

Cross-cultural changes were accompanied by the sovereignty transition of Hong Kong during the TIMSS data collection, which triggered migration of intellectual families between Hong Kong and other places. To enhance comparability of the urban setting, this investigation focuses on Singapore and Hong Kong for having similar Chinese majority and…

Cross-cultural changes were accompanied by the sovereignty transition of Hong Kong during the TIMSS data collection, which triggered migration of intellectual families between Hong Kong and other places. To enhance comparability of the urban setting, this investigation focuses on Singapore and Hong Kong for having similar Chinese majority and…

It's a challenge for schools in every country: How to provide the right kind of discipline and create a climate that nurtures learning. This challenge may look different in different countries. A school's disciplinary climate not only is the product of educators' beliefs and actions, students' beliefs and actions, and the interaction of these, but…