Intergenerational educational and occupational mobility in Spain: does gender matter?

This paper explores the changes in intergenerational mobility seen in Spain during the last century. It examines educational and occupational mobility, paying particular attention to the existence of a differentiated gender effect. The magnitude of the historical changes that have taken place in Spain during the twentieth century and the scarcity of studies in this field increase the value of this paper. More specifically, the paper seeks to describe how the situation has changed with the social–economic and education policy developments in democratic Spain, especially with regards to women. The main results show that while educational mobility has improved, there has been no such significant change in occupational mobility.     

The longer the better? The impact of the 2012 apprenticeship reform in England on achievement and labour market outcomes

We analyse the effects of a 2012 reform, which increased the duration of many service sector apprenticeships, while leaving many other apprenticeships, including some in the service sector, unaffected. Using a Difference-in-Differences approach, we estimate the effect of this reform on apprenticeship starts, achievement, drop-out, employment and earnings. We find evidence for reduced apprenticeship starts, increased drop-out rates and reduced achievement of the qualification, but also significantly increased earnings, especially amongst achievers.     

Who is listening? An examination of gender effects and employment choice in sustainability education in an undergraduate business school

Whilst universities acknowledge the importance of sustainability education, numerous problems exist in relation to the nature, delivery and outcomes of sustainability instruction. Many of these problems arise due to a lack of understanding about students’ perception towards, and knowledge about business sustainability. This article examines gender-specific perceptions of business sustainability issues, sustainability education and the importance students attach to sustainability in their choice of future employer. A paper-based self-complete survey was used to collect data from a convenience sample of 224 undergraduate marketing students at an Australian University. Factor analysis, T-tests, and multiple regression were used to test the hypothesised relationships. Results show significant differences between the female and male cohorts, supporting all but one of the hypothesised relationships. In addition, gender differences were observed across the constructs predicting employment choice. Implications for teaching practice and future research are provided.     

Does the type of higher education affect labor market outcomes? Evidence from Egypt and Jordan

In Egypt and Jordan, there is a substantial mismatch between the output of the higher education system and the needs of the labor market. Both demand and supply-side factors could be driving this mismatch. This paper tests a key supply-side issue, whether differences in the institutional structures and incentives in higher education affect the labor market outcomes of graduates. Specifically, we ask if the stronger alignment of incentives in private relative to public higher education institutions produces more employable human capital and better labor market outcomes. We examine the impact of the type of higher education institution a person attends on several labor market outcomes while controlling for his or her pre-enrollment characteristics. The results demonstrate that supply-side issues and institutional incentives have little impact on labor market outcomes while family background plays by far the largest role. Proposed reforms for higher education often suggest increasing the role of the private sector in provision of higher education. Our findings indicate that this approach is unlikely to improve labor market outcomes.     

Does the gender of the teacher matter in the teaching of reading literacy? Teacher gender and pupil attainment in reading literacy in Hong Kong

A study of 148 primary school teachers and 4867 Grade 4 pupils in Hong Kong found no support for the proposal that boys learn to read better when taught by men teachers. In fact, it was found that both boys and girls learnt better when taught by women. Responses to a teacher questionnaire indicate significant differences in the preferred patterns of teaching favoured by male and female teachers. Responses from men teachers suggest they are more authoritarian, prefer to control pupils' learning, engage pupils in whole-class reading and like to read passages aloud while pupils follow the text. Responses from women teachers suggest they prefer to teach reading in groups, to group pupils according to reading ability, set tasks that suit pupils' stage of learning, allocate more time for pupils to read books and use the school library and encourage pupils to discover for themselves the meaning of new vocabulary encountered in text. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

How gender fair are German schoolbooks in the twenty-first century? An analysis of language and illustrations in schoolbooks for mathematics and German

Schoolbooks convey not only school-relevant knowledge; they also influence the development of stereotypes about different social groups. Particularly during the 1970s and 1980s, many studies analysed schoolbooks and criticised the overall predominance of male persons and of traditional role allocations. Since that time, women’s and men’s occupations and social functions have changed considerably. The present research investigated gender portrayals in schoolbooks for German and mathematics that were recently published in Germany. We examined the proportions of female and male persons in pictures and texts and categorized their activities, occupational and parental roles. Going beyond previous studies, we added two criteria: the use of gender-fair language and the spatial arrangements of persons in pictures. Our results show that schoolbooks for German contained almost balanced depictions of girls and boys, whereas women were less frequently shown than men. In mathematics books, males outnumbered females in general. Across both types of books, female and male persons were engaged in many different activities, not only gender-typed ones; however, male persons were more often described via their profession than females. Use of gender-fair language has found its way into schoolbooks but is not used consistently. Books for German were more gender fair in terms of linguistic forms than books for mathematics. For spatial arrangements, we found no indication for gender biases. The results are discussed with a focus on how schoolbooks can be optimized to contribute to gender equality.     

The end of the credential society? An analysis of the relationship between education and the labour market using big data

ABSTRACT

A major focus of sociological research is on the role of the credential as a ‘currency of opportunity’, mediating the relationship between education and occupational destinations. However, the labour market has largely remained a ‘black box’ in sociological and education policy studies. This article draws on ‘big data’ from over 21,000,000 job adverts to explore how employers in the UK describe job requirements, with particular reference to the role of credentials. It challenges existing theories premised upon the notion that higher levels of formal education determine individual (dis)advantage in the competition for jobs. Although they have different views of the relationship between credentials, opportunity and efficiency, these theories assume that credentials largely determine occupational hiring. Our analysis suggests that formal academic credentials play a relatively minor differentiating role in the UK labour market, as the majority of employer’s place greater emphasis on ‘job readiness’. This raises a number of issues for sociological and policy analysis, including the future role of credentials in the (re)production of educational and labour market inequalities. Methodologically, the article highlights how the use of big data can contribute to the analysis of education, skills and the labour market.     

Disentangling the effects of flipped classroom instruction in EFL secondary education: When is it effective and for whom?

Flipped classroom refers to an instructional approach in which students study educational videos at home and do homework assignments in class. The present study aims to compare flipped classroom with other forms of video-based instruction and determine which types of students benefit most from video-based instruction. Thirty-eight EFL school classes with 848 ninth-grade students took part in a quasi-experimental pre-post-test intervention study over four weeks. Two independent variables were completely crossed resulting in four experimental conditions: video (at home vs. in class) and instructional method (student-centred vs. teacher-centred). Multilevel analysis reveals that all four experimental conditions were equally effective in promoting students’ learning gains. At-risk, average and excellent students profited least from the learning conditions. The study constitutes a first step towards a comprehensive evaluation of flipped classroom by using a better-controlled research design and may contribute to a more objective discussion about the positive effects of flipped classroom.     

How does social inequality continue to influence young people’s trajectories through the apprenticeship pathway system in South Africa? An analytical approach

The paper contributes by proposing an analytical approach that allows for the identification of patterns of participation in education and training and the labour market, through empirical measurement of the number of transitions and distinct trajectories traversed by groups of individuals. To illustrate the value of the approach, we focus on an original survey data set of a 2009/2010 cohort of participants in the apprenticeship system in South Africa. The paper demonstrates that despite a clear shift in access, transition into the apprenticeship system remains strongly determined by race and gender. Race, class and gender likewise determine those who experience more complex transitions to the labour market. The methodological and analytical approach thus allows a clear identification of the location and the nature of potential structural inequalities in a pathway system. This ability is critical in many country contexts where social inequalities continue to hamper growth and development, but the ways in which these manifest structurally in skilling systems are often poorly identified and understood, and consequently, blockages are poorly addressed.     

When will a child be believed? The impact of the victim's age and juror's gender on children's credibility and verdict in a sexual-abuse case

OBJECTIVE: To provide insight into the central dimensions jurors may use when deciding a child victim's credibility and verdict. METHOD: Participants (N = 573) read a simulated trial (robbery or a sexual-assault case in which the defendant was either a stranger or an acquaintance) in which the alleged victim was either a 6- or 13-year-old girl. The trials were constructed to be as similar as possible with only minimal differences in the child's testimony. The supporting evidence was held constant across cases to allow for experimental assessment of the hypotheses. RESULTS: The defendant was more likely to be found guilty in the sexual-assault cases than in the robbery case. The child was perceived to be more credible, honest, and to have a better memory in the sexual-assault cases compared to the robbery case. Perceptions of memory and honesty predicted verdict and punishment. The child's age did not impact credibility or verdict. Finally, women, compared to men, perceived the child as more credible. CONCLUSIONS: Type of case was a potent factor in jurors' determination of guilt and the child's credibility. Contrary to expectations, neither the victim's age nor the interaction between this and type of case impacted verdict or credibility measures.     

Direction of regard and the still-face effect in the first year: does intention matter?

In the first study, 3-, 6-, and 9- month-olds' behavior was assessed as a stranger broke contact to stare at the infant, to look at a wall, or to look at another person. Regardless of age and the reason contact was broken, the still-face reaction did not depend on the experimenter's intention. In the second study, 3-, 6-, and 9-month-olds interacted with their mother who broke contact to look away for no apparent reason or in the direction of a sound. Infants at all ages responded to the still-face episode, but not as a function of the underlying reason contact was broken. The findings suggest a primacy of interpersonal communication in the first year.     

Examining high-school students’ overconfidence bias in biology exam: a focus on the effects of country and gender

Accurate, rational, and scientific decision making is now considered to be the most important skill in science education. Many studies have found that overconfidence bias is one of the cognitive biases hindering people from achieving such decision making. Gender and country play crucial roles in overconfidence bias. For instance, some particular cultures and genders tend to be more overconfident than others. However, whether or not the two variables interact to influence overconfidence bias also indirectly influences decision making, especially in the context of science education. The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of country and gender on performance, confidence, and overconfidence bias in the samples of Indonesian and Korean high-school students while doing on a biology exam. The twenty-one American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) questions on the topics of genetics and evolution were administered to 297 Indonesian and 235 Korean high-school students, in their first and second years. Every question was featured with a question asking students how confident they are in answering the question correctly. The two-way Analysis of Variances (2-way ANOVA) test was used to answer the research questions. Based on the analyses, we found no significance interactional effects of gender and country in test scores. In contrast, we found a significant interactional effects in both confidence in genetics and evolution. Regarding overconfidence bias, for which that we merged both concepts, we found that country had a higher influence on students’ overconfidence bias than did gender. Additionally, we found the hard-easy effect phenomenon followed overconfidence bias phenomenon. The relationships between country, gender, science education, cognitive bias, and overconfidence bias are discussed. Suggestions for reducing overconfidence bias are also provided.     

How does early childhood care and education affect cognitive development? An international review of the effects of early interventions for children from different social backgrounds

A number of authors have investigated the impact of early childhood education and care programs on the development of children. Often they have focused on the effects on children from socio-economically disadvantaged families. To assess the effects of various preschool programs on cognitive development, recent key studies were reviewed. In addition, the extent to which these programs could establish equal educational opportunities for children from different social backgrounds was evaluated. Program start, intensity, and duration were considered. The findings indicate that the vast majority of recent early education and care programs had considerable positive short-term effects and somewhat smaller long-term effects on cognitive development and that in relative terms children from socio-economically disadvantaged families made as much or slightly more progress than their more advantaged peers. Despite this, early childhood education and care cannot compensate completely for developmental deficits due to unfavorable learning conditions in disadvantaged milieus. Implications for research and policy are discussed.     

When does a nation-level analysis make sense? ESD and educational governance in Brazil,South Africa,and the USA

International policy analysis tends to simplify the nation state, portraying countries as coherent units that can be described by one statistic or placed into one category. As scholars from Brazil, South Africa, and the USA, we find the nation-centric research perspective particularly challenging. In each of our home countries, the effective influence of the national government on education is quite limited, particularly in fringe and emerging areas of education such as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Climate Change Education (CCE). This essay explores how nation-level comparisons are and are not useful for international research on ESD and CCE. We consider several layers of decentralized governance, but ultimately come to the conclusion that ESD governance in our respective countries is polycentric rather than decentralized. We discuss the implications of this idea for cross-national policy research on ESD and CCE.     

The quality of equity? Reframing gender,development and education in the post-2020 landscape

The year 2015 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, with a goal to contribute to gender equality globally. As scholars continue in their quest to ‘take stock’ of the ways in which gender and education work in tandem to achieve greater gender equality, we observe a revival in interest regarding conversations on gender and education. These conversations cover a gamut of related issues, including teaching and achievement as well as a number of intersecting issues such as gender-based violence. Within the conversation has been a continued focus on the role of equity primarily defined as access and opportunity. This paper explores the context of quality as it relates to equity in education and addresses the problems that are still left on the margins. Our goal is to take stock and assess the strength of evidence and to provide directions for future research.     

Who do you want me to be? An exploration of female and male perceptions of ‘imposed’ gender roles in the early years

This paper provides an exploratory discussion surrounding the views and experiences of women and men who work/train in the early years (0–8 years) by bringing together select findings from two independent doctoral research projects. In an effort to weave together the voices of females and males working/training in the early years sector, this paper focuses its attention on the different ways in which their working roles are constructed and the possible ways in which this leads to the imposition of gender roles upon professionals in the 0–8 workforce in England.     

Does choice matter for school choice? An instrumental variables analysis of the effect of choice on parental satisfaction in charter schools

I employ ordered probit regression and a new instrumental variable to compare the Fall 2015 parental satisfaction survey results of open-enrollment charters to district-conversion charters. Choice status in Arkansas charter schools is largely beneficial to parental satisfaction. Specifically, parents with children in open-enrollment charters had between a 17-percentage point and 32-percentage point higher likelihood of grading their current school as an A or responding as Highly Satisfied in six of nine quality categories. I find no evidence that parents rate the quality of schools similar to the analysts at the Arkansas Department of Education or that satisfaction differs in oversubscribed schools.     

Who are the young children for whom best practices in reading are ineffective? An experimental and longitudinal study

The primary purpose of this study was to identify student characteristics that reliably predict responsiveness and nonresponsiveness to generally effective early literacy interventions. Participants were 104 children, including 7 with special needs and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), who were tested in kindergarten and first grade. Responsiveness/nonresponsiveness status was determined after 2 years during which children participated in best practice instruction (a) in kindergarten and first grade, (b) in kindergarten only, (c) in first grade only, or (d) in neither year. This facilitated the study of three groups. Always responsive students met responsiveness criteria in both years. Sometimes responsive students met the criteria in only one year. Nonresponsive students did not meet the criteria in either year. Multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant function analysis indicated that the three groups were reliably different from one another on measures of problem behavior, verbal memory, sentence imitation, syntactic awareness, vocabulary, naming speed, and segmentation. A combination of naming speed, vocabulary, sentence imitation, problem behavior, and amount of intervention correctly predicted 82.1% of nonresponsive students, 30.0% of sometimes responsive students, and 84.1% of always responsive students. Fifty students from kindergarten and first grade were tested again at the end of what should have been their third-grade year. All but 1 of the nonresponsive students who received intervention had been identified as requiring special education and had an IEP with reading goals.     

Exploring women faculty's experiences and perceptions in higher education: the effects of feminism?

This study analyses women faculty's discourse about feminism, themselves, and their professional experiences as scholars in the North American university context. This case study pushes at the boundaries of what we believe we know about ‘the gender question' in the academy, opening a discursive space for scholars to examine university policies and practices. Poststructuralist emphasis on the complexity and changing nature of power relations offer a framework that makes sense of the ways in which women are simultaneously affected by power relations and engage in power relations. I use feminist poststructuralist discourse analysis to analyse women's talk about their experiences in order to carve a path for moving beyond the deconstruction of discourse in order to unpack how it marginalises and silences women, even within and to themselves.