Adopting empowerment as a theoretical lens, this paper examines how a combination of structural (particularly class background) and individual factors (particularly empowering agents and a strong personal will to achieve) have contributed to school success and ethnic identity formation of minority students in China. Our longitudinal study on a…

The United Kingdom's Coalition government has introduced an education policy that is focused on increasing the opportunities to promote and advance social mobility for all children within state education. Raising young people's aspirations through school-based initiatives is a prominent theme within recent policy texts, which are focused on…

This article examines the precarious learning-to-work transitions experienced by aboriginal youth in the Canadian oil sands mining industry. Drawing from an empirical case study of a mine-sponsored, pre-apprenticeship training programme, challenges experienced by programme participants, as well as their socialisation into the world of work are…

This paper, based on some findings of a wider three-year study, sets forth the issue of languages used and taught in education as a dimension of inequality and highlights its implications for widening participation and access in the multilingual context of Pakistan. The paper takes secondary education in private and government schools in Pakistan…

Pressing Forward: Increasing and Expanding Rigor and Relevance in America's High Schools is organized to place secondary education, specifically the goals of preparing young adults to be college and career ready, in contemporary perspective, emphasizing the changing global economy and trends in policy and practice. High school students must be…

The focus of this paper is on the relationships between social origin, participation in tertiary education (enrolment, drop-out, enrolment at second level and post-tertiary education) and occupational instability among university graduates in a recent period of university and labour market reforms (the differentiation of higher education due to…

There is overwhelming evidence of the benefits of out-of-school learning. It is likely to be particularly important for disadvantaged students who have fewer material and cultural resources in the home to supplement their classroom work. However, despite the research evidence and political moves to promote out-of-school learning, it would appear…

This document reports phase 1--the data gathering process--of a research project to study vocational preparation and adjustment of handicapped persons in rural areas of the state of Florida. Following a discussion of phase objectives (chapter 1), chapter 2 provides a review of current educational programs offering vocational/occupational training…

This publication is aimed at middle managers in schools, colleges and other settings who have been given the responsibility for leading the transition from key skills to functional skills over the coming years. It provides an update on some of the developments with functional skills, explains some of the theory about leading from the middle, and…

Presented are case studies of youth unemployment/employment in Ireland and Portugal. A common feature of the analyses is the role of training in realizing the national potential and eliminating the mismatch between young people and available jobs. Includes possible/desirable measures to improve employment situation in these two countries. (JN)

This study of a Distributive Education Program in a predominantly black southern urban high school notes that the graduates of the vocational program enter jobs which ultimately may not be able to provide them with stable employment and job security and that these students would not pose much of a threat to their white classmates in competition…

Describes the activities of nine English teachers who spent one school year observing and analyzing what went on in their classrooms. Defines the concept of teacher research. Provides comments on teacher research by those actively participating in it. Affirms the value and results of teacher research. (HB)

Explores how the "transitional question" of young disabled people leaving school is constructed. Describes and evaluates D. L. Kirp's classification system of social problems as applied to the "transition question." Reports case studies from Ontario (Canada) and Scotland. Concludes that Kirp's classification system is not…

During a major field study of desegregation in an urban polyethnic high school in New York City, it was observed that the dissemination and implementation of a specific Federal policy had sufficient impact at the local level to attract attention at the school, as well as at various levels between the school and the Federal government. The…

This analysis is based on Gendel's 1968 data concerning the central Russian city of Syzran. Information is presented on the placements of graduating eighth- and tenth-grade students: general secondary, technicum, vocational school, and work. Student's educational aspirations are correlated with parent's education, parent's occupational status, and…