Ready for school? Impacts of delayed primary school enrollment on children's educational outcomes in rural China

This paper estimates the causal impacts of delayed primary school enrollment on children's educational outcomes in rural China. Instrumental variable estimates exploiting the discontinuity in children's enrollment age around the enrollment cut-off date indicate that a one-year delay in school enrollment increases the incidence of first-grade retention by approximately 10 percentage points for boys and reduces the probabilities of middle school enrollment by 6 percentage points for both boys and girls. These results suggest that delayed enrollment, even if it may be an optimal choice made by poor parents in response to financial constraints, is likely to be harmful to children's educational development in rural China.     

Who makes it to secondary school? Determinants of transition to secondary schools in rural India

Despite considerable progress made, a significant proportion of children continue to drop out before reaching secondary school in India. This study investigates factors influencing parental decision-making with regard to children's secondary schooling in the context of a rural area of Uttar Pradesh. The study finds that cost, distance to the nearest secondary school, membership in traditionally marginalised social groups, and being a girl child have a significant effect on a child's chance of transition. It also finds that factors influencing participation at the primary level may influence the transition decision, having key implications for education policy formulation across education levels.     

Does cram schooling matter? Who goes to cram schools? Evidence from Taiwan

Attendance at cram schools is an experience that the majority of Taiwanese have while growing up. However, the incidence and impact of cram schooling are still understudied and have yet received much attention. In this paper, I first illustrate the development of cram schools in Taiwan, and demonstrate the important changes on institutional factors and legitimacy of cram schools. Then I use data collected by Taiwan Education Panel Survey to investigate the net effect of cram schooling on students’ academic performance, and to test whether the opportunity of cram school participation reflects specific patterns of stratification.Empirical results indicate that cram schooling does matter: attending cram schools has a significantly positive effect on a student's analytical ability and mathematical performance. However, cram school participation does not reflect specific patterns of social stratification: the opportunity of going to a cram school for a male student is not significantly different from that of a female; the effects of family background on students’ cram school participation are not as critical as they were in the past.     

Popular Culture goes to school in Hong Kong: a Language Arts curriculum on revolutionary road?

English teaching and learning has taken an interesting shift in Hong Kong schools with the implementation of the New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum under the ‘334’ education reform. Situating the paper within the broader considerations of the intersection of Cultural Studies and English teaching, this paper examines the challenges and prospects of teaching the new Language Arts elective called Learning English through Popular Culture module. It is argued that while the module endeavours to connect and motivate Hong Kong students to learn English through popular culture materials, the official curriculum and schemes of work, however, narrowly articulate the teaching of popular culture texts conceived as ‘text-types’. Such a formulaic approach to using popular culture in the classroom is limiting and locks students into a procedural way of ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ popular cultural texts. The paper concludes by offering some ways forward that might deliver what is otherwise a revolutionary and innovative curriculum. Beyond the specific case of Hong Kong, the curriculum challenge discussed is instructive for other education systems and curriculum scholars looking to develop new pedagogies from the intersecting disciplines of Cultural Studies and English teaching.     

School as ‘survival game’: representations of school in transition from preschool to primary school

In children's lives the start of school is a turning point: compulsory education is their first encounter with civil duties. This important step in the process of becoming individual citizens is permeated with strong emotions and ambivalent expectations. However, the representations of school are created, established and negotiated in educational experiences preceding the start of school. In this article I explore the ways in which school is constructed in a Finnish preschool context. I build on ethnographic data generated in two preschool classes. First, I focus on how school is constructed in the social practices of teaching and in the physical space of preschool. Second, I analyse how children construct themselves as future school children and citizens by taking up available discourses and cultural practices. I argue that in official preschool, an ethos of individual survival characterises representations of school. Psychological, social and physical challenges are emphasised. Although preschool teachers in interviews and informal discussions sometimes problematise the ways in which school operates, in their teaching school practices are represented as natural. However, children actively exhibit their agency by collectively reworking of discourses and cultural practices and by renegotiating their informal relationships.     

Who or What is School 'Self'-Evaluation for?

Schools' own capacity and responsibility for reflection and evaluation is now at the forefront of UK policy. This article posits an identifiable 'English model' of school self-evaluation, which can be contrasted with the model derived from a recent CIDREE project on school self-evaluation involving 7 other European countries. The 'English model' has various strengths, which can be characterised as instrumentalist, action-oriented, rationalistic and managerial; what seems to be missing from it are what the article calls 'the ethical, affective, non-rational and democratic modes of thinking'. The article argues that, since these are crucial dimensions in the process of education, they should also figure as key aspects or modes of evaluation. What might be the implications of this for current policy and practice?     

Who Upgrades to Higher Level Qualifications in Midlife?

This paper investigates why people return to study in their 30s and beyond and upgrade to a higher level qualifications. Some previous research has argued that attitudes formed in childhood, via family background and schooling, continue to shape a person’s engagement in learning throughout the adult lifecourse. Psychologists distinguish extrinsic motivation, determination to progress in a career, from intrinsic motivation, love of learning and suggest that both may be relevant to participation in adult education. A well-established education literature focuses on barriers to adult learning, such as lack of time or lack of funds.

The research focuses on people who did not enter higher education at the conventional ages of late teens or early twenties but who did subsequently obtain degree-level or equivalent qualifications in midlife, defined here as from their early 30s through to age 50. The research uses data from the 1958 British birth cohort, a large-scale longitudinal survey. In the paper, a comparison group methodology and binary logistic regression models are used to isolate the key factors which explain why cgertain individuals progress to higher level qualifications in midlife while others do not.     

But Who Is it for? The History of School Science in England

Science & Education -     

School Mapping Restructure in China: What role for the small rural school?

Despite significant progress over the past fifteen years associated with School Mapping Restructure (SMR) in Chinese rural schools, many small schools have been closed or have merged with larger primary schools. This has resulted, among other things, in difficulties for many students in rural areas who now have to travel longer distances to a central (primary) school and whose families generally have to bear greater expenses for schooling. This paper examines the role of small rural schools in the Chinese education system, looks at the context and impacts of SMR on these schools in terms of quality, cost and access indicators, and highlights some of the key difficulties faced by these schools in the restructured education system. We argue that small rural schools have a significant role to play in delivering education services in rural China and should therefore be retained, supported and equipped with the right levels of facilities and quality services for them to fulfill their role. The policy implications of these findings for education officials are discussed in the context of continuing SMR.     

School Climate — monitoring staff opinion in a primary school

A paper instrument has been developed, and tested, which a headteacher of a primary school can use to identify management issues meriting attention. We judge it to be appropriate for sounding out staff opinion in schools where there is an ethos of collegiality. It could be followed up by the investigative and reflective processes of action research.     

Who are qualified to teach in second-level Irish-medium schools?

This paper examines and discusses the profiles of applicants and entrants to the DGO (Dioplóma Gairmiúil san Oideachas) initial teacher education programme between 2000 and 2011. The DGO is the only initial teacher education programme in Ireland that is specifically designated to prepare student teachers for the second-level Irish-medium (SLIM) school sector. It is delivered entirely through the Irish language. This study examines data collected from all DGO applicants (N = 1002) between 2000 and 2011. Results show that demand for this programme has increased over the past decade. The academic quality of applicants has risen dramatically in recent years and 75% of successful applicants are female. The data show that a significant proportion of DGO applicants are native Irish speakers from Gaeltacht (areas in Ireland where the Irish language Gaeilge is the vernacular). There has been a severe shortage of applicants with qualifications in certain subject areas, in particular in Sciences, Mathematics and European languages. Drawing on findings from this study as well as on national statistics and educational policy documents, this paper discusses how changes to the DGO selection process may contribute to better meeting the staffing demands in SLIM schools in Ireland.     

Who Should Go to University? Justice in University Admissions

Current debates regarding justice in university admissions most often approach the question of access to university from a technical, policy‐focussed perspective. Despite the attention that access to university receives in the press and policy literature, ethical discussion tends to focus on technical matters such as who should pay for university or which schemes of selection are allowable, not the question of who should go to university in the first place. We address the question of university admissions—the question of who should go to university—from an ethical perspective. We find that most discussions draw on a generic conception of what the university is good for that is too thin to provide deliberative guidance and hold that a full account of the ethics of admissions needs to take into account the distinctive good that the university provides—knowledge and understanding. This view, we hold, does not imply that measures should not be taken to widen access to university; however, the basis for such measures should be grounded in that distinctive good in the first instance.     

Who Wants to Drink What?

MrandMrsLinmeetMrandMrsYanginarestaurant（饭馆）．Theyareallthirsty（口渴的）．Awaitercomestotheirtable．Heasksthemwhattheywouldliketodrink．Onemansays，“Ionlydrinkorangejuice．”Onewomanaskstheotherwoman，“Doyoulikemilk？”MrsLinsays，“MyhusbandandIdo