Family background, financial constraints and higher education attendance in China

Using data from the 2004 China College Student Survey, conducted by the author, this paper finds that long-term factors such as scholastic ability and parental education are significantly correlated with higher education attendance. By contrast, short-term financial constraints are also significantly associated with higher education access, but to a lesser degree. Furthermore, in recent years China's higher education expansion has provided broader access to students from lower income families. However, the tuition fees and “net prices” of elite universities are lower than those of medium quality universities, while the tuition fees and “net prices” of medium quality universities are lower than those of relatively low quality universities and colleges. This has led to a reverse relationship between family income and attendance costs, such that lower income families now shoulder a much higher burden for their childrens’ university education than higher income families.     

Higher education demand in spain: The influence of labour market signals and family background

Like many developed countries, Spain has experienceda growth in the demand for higher education over thelast twenty years, despite diverse economic cycles. Since this demand does not slow down in the mediumterm, the objective of this study is to analyse, fromstatistical labour force sources since 1987, twopotential influences: family characteristics andlabour market signals.The theoretical framework used here is the humancapital theory, which is tested through discretechoice models where the selection process of youngpeople through the education system is considered. Thechief results may be summarised as follows: firstly,family characteristics are important elements in thedemand for higher education, especially the mother'seducation attainment, which is even more determinantthan that of the father. Secondly, the labour marketsignals in Spain have an influence on the demand forhigher education: as a signal of both the opportunitycost of finding a job if not going to university andthe employment expectations for each releVanteducation level.     

Cultural capital,family background and education: choosing university subjects in China

This article employs Bourdieu’s conceptual tools to unpack family influences on students’ subject and university choices in China. This empirical study employed mixed research approaches, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, to examine students’ choices of subjects and universities in a sample of secondary school students from the age of 16 to 18 in China. This study reveals that while there are few class differences in subject choice, students’ choices of a selected university is significantly associated with higher family income level. The data show that the probability of entering a top university for students from high-income families is greater than that of students from low-income families.     

Family background and problems at school and in society: The role of family composition, emotional atmosphere and parental education

Three studies were carried out to examine the extent to which family composition, size and atmosphere, parental control, and the level of parental education and socioeconomic status, are associated with young people’s problems at school, and later on in society. In study 1, twenty-four 13- to 14-year-old underachievers, and 24 of their matched-pair controls, and 24 overachievers and 24 of their matchedpair controls, were compared according to their family background. In study 2, sixteen low achieving pupils, 20 vocational school pupils and 21 senior high school pupils, aged between 14 and 19, were examined. In study 3, twenty unemployed young adults, 14 students with health problems, and 23 vocational school students were again compared according to their family background variables. The results showed that underachievers, low achievers and “society drop-outs” typically came from a family in which their biological father was not present, either due to single motherhood or re-marriage. They also reported a lower level of parental control, and a more negative family atmosphere than the students in the control groups. In turn, the overachievers came from intact families with a positive atmosphere. Problems at and after school were not associated with the level of parental education.     

Higher education: core skills in a learning society

This paper is based on the initial findings of the ESRC study on the acquisition and development of core skills in higher education and employment. The context for the study is provided by contested notions of a learning society apparent in the mismatch between the skills and knowledge that universities currently provide and what employers state that they want. The paper takes the form of a series of propositions and questions relating to the perspectives of those in higher education. It discusses the multiple interpretations, and lack of clarity, of the vocabulary of skills, and the difficulties for higher education in meeting the demands of a learning society. It is suggested that changes must be grounded in a more developed approach to the conceptualization of student provision and an enhanced understanding of how students learn.     

Cognitive skills among children in Senegal: Disentangling the roles of schooling and family background

We use unique data to estimate the determinants of cognitive ability among 14–17-year olds in Senegal. Unlike standard school-based samples, tests were administered to current students as well as to children no longer – or never – enrolled. Years of schooling strongly affects cognitive skills, but conditional on years of school, parental education and household wealth, as well as local public school quality, have surprisingly modest effects on test performance. Instead, family background primarily affects skills indirectly through its impacts on years of schooling. Therefore closing the schooling gaps between poor and wealthy children will also close most of the gap in cognitive skills between these groups.     

互联网+背景下高职校德育教育研究

互联网+时代的到来,促进高职德育由传统教学朝着现代化教育过渡,从而让高职德育教育具有较强的时代性和社会性,进一步优化整合高职德育教育资源,促进学生德育、情感、心智的成熟与发展,以此来对他们进行深层次的精神塑造。     

The effect of financial education on pupils’ financial knowledge and skills: Evidence from a Solomon four-group design

Abstract

The present study used a Solomon four-group quasi-experimental design to examine the short-term effect of a large-scale national financial education program on children’s knowledge and skills in responsible spending and performing transactions effectively. Our study included a representative sample of Dutch pupils in the fifth grade of primary school (N?=?2,650). Controlling for different children-specific characteristics, results showed that the program increased pupils’ knowledge and skills scores in performing transactions effectively, but not in responsible spending. The insights gained from the present study show how financial education programs that enable children to immediately apply what they learn in practice can improve children’s knowledge and skills regarding certain financial competencies.     

Bilingual effects on cognitive and linguistic development: role of language, cultural background, and education

A total of 104 six-year-old children belonging to 4 groups (English monolinguals, Chinese-English bilinguals, French-English bilinguals, Spanish-English bilinguals) were compared on 3 verbal tasks and 1 nonverbal executive control task to examine the generality of the bilingual effects on development. Bilingual groups differed in degree of similarity between languages, cultural background, and language of schooling. On the executive control task, all bilingual groups performed similarly and exceeded monolinguals; on the language tasks the best performance was achieved by bilingual children whose language of instruction was the same as the language of testing and whose languages had more overlap. Thus, executive control outcomes for bilingual children are general but performance on verbal tasks is specific to factors in the bilingual experience.     

论终身教育背景下的家庭教育目标定位

终身教育是21世纪教育的主题。在终身教育的横向结构中，学校教育、家庭教育和社会教育是相辅相成的。家庭教育不是学校教育的简单延伸和翻版，而应根据社会发展的需求、子女的身心发展规律以及家庭本身的特点进行理性的目标定位。     

Higher education finance in China: Current constraints and strategies for the 1990s

The problems facing Chinese higher education are analysed and it is argued that these are caused by underfunding, high inflation and low internal efficiency. Possible strategies for addressing these problems are discussed: these include: (i) improving internal efficiency; (ii) developing systems of cost-sharing and cost-recovery; (iii) income generation by individual universities; and (iv) increasing national expenditure on higher education as soon as the state of the economy allows.     

高等教育研究与高等教育期刊的作用

本文旨在阐明高等教育期刊在传播高等教育研究成果中所起的作用。首先 ,简要介绍了高等教育研究的现状 ,主要是欧美国家有关高等教育研究的定义、性质的各种观点 ,以及欧美高等教育研究的差异。其次 ,重点介绍了欧洲主要的高等教育期刊以及其他高等教育研究出版物的情况及各自的特点。最后 ,从作者、编者、读者三个不同的角度剖析了高等教育期刊对于传播高等教育研究成果所发挥的作用     

从金融危机看我国台湾地区高等教育的改革与发展

与过去历次相比,2008年爆发的世界金融危机对我国台湾地区社会经济体系尤其是高等教育的影响显得更加明显与直接,台湾高等教育发展过程中已显现及潜藏的矛盾与问题被进一步激发出来。对此,台湾当局、教育主管部门、高校及社会各界全面启动应急机制,并建立起推进高等教育新一轮改革与发展的长效机制,力图化危机为转机,以促进台湾高等教育健康、平稳地向前发展。     

Predicting kindergarten academic skills: Interactions among child care,maternal education,and family literacy environments

This investigation used structural equation modeling to examine sources of children's reading, vocabulary, general information, mathematics, and letter recognition skills upon entrance to kindergarten. Potential predictors included ethnicity, gender, child IQ, family literacy environment, maternal education, and months in child care centers. Family literacy environment had positive causal links with four of five academic measures. Greater number of months in child care centers was associated with higher mathematics scores among children from less educated mothers who scored low on a measure of family literacy environment. In contrast, no effects of child care were found for children from mothers with more education. Implications include the need for strong parental involvement in children's development and subsidized child care for children in need.     

Entry to the Skilled Trades in Australia: the role of family background and school achievement

This paper reports an analysis of factors associated with entry to skilled trades through the Australian apprenticeship system. It is based on data collected from a sample of nearly 2500 17‐year‐old males in 1978. The results suggest that:

(a) young males whose fathers were tradesmen were more likely to participate in apprenticeship training than other young males;

(b) apprentices had relatively higher achievement on numerical tests than on verbal tests;

(c) the sons of migrants from non‐English speaking countries were less involved in apprenticeship than other 17‐year‐old males; and

(d) young males who had attended private secondary schools were less likely to be involved in apprenticeship training than those who had attended public schools.

It was found that whether a person's father was a tradesman was a better predictor of participation in apprenticeship than the social prestige of the father's occupation.     

终身教育背景下成人高等教育发展面临的问题及对策

成人高等教育是是继续教育的重要组成部分,是终身教育的重要环节。随着改革发展的深入推进,成人高等教育发展正面临关所未有的严峻挑战。成人高等教育只有强化终身教育理念,加强自身的改革与创新,才能找到快速发展的途径,开创新局面。