The attainment of ethnic minority students in their host countries has been occupying a significant part of the international literature for many years. However, results suggest that no generalisations can be made on whether an ethnic minority group underachieves in a particular country and the reasons behind their attainment levels, unless that specific group has been investigated in the country in question. Cyprus joined the EU in 2004 and since then the demographic composition in the island changed dramatically; a change reflected in schools. The literature on ethnic minority group attainment in secondary schools in Cyprus is virtually non-existent and, as such, in this PhD programme the aim was to examine the attainment of ethnic minorities compared to native students and the reasons behind the observed patterns. In order to answer the research questions a series of studies were carried out. Initially, two quantitative studies were conducted. These studies used trimester grades as a proxy of attainment and Rasch analysis to turn these ordinal student grades into a linear scale. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses were then run to check for trends and significant associations. Two qualitative studies then followed. Firstly, a focus group study was conducted utilising the help of six young female teachers, all teaching classics to create a homogeneous group. Then followed an interview study utilising semi-structured interviews on sixteen teachers. For both studies a thematic analysis was undertaken on the transcribed discussions. Another quantitative study then followed which employed an enhanced methodology to the first two studies and richer data. The final study was a mixed methods study and concentrated on school absences. Results demonstrate the reality in lower secondary schools in Cyprus for the first time. The minority group Georgians, the first time that this group is met in the literature, and a combination of other smaller groups put together in a group called ‘Others’, are shown to achieve significantly lower than natives. Ethnic background, gender, generation status, absences, the socio-economic status of the family and the character of the local educational system were shown to be related to student attainment. The widely held belief that ethnic minority students do even worse in those subjects that are more language-dependent is disproven; rather it is the content of the subject that is felt to be more influential on attainment. Also, the recently emerging consensus that unexcused absences are more strongly associated with attainment than excused absences is not upheld in this study; a more detailed classification of unexcused absences might be responsible for this. Finally, it is interesting to note the differential influence of different absence variables on different school subjects. Findings highlight the need for change and improvement in the educational practice in Cyprus and add to both the local and international literature. The specific factors identified can form the basis on which to base suggestions for improvements and further research.

No description available.

The role of improved schooling has become controversial because expansion of school investment has not guaranteed improved educational outcomes. This thesis pays attention to why government investments in education have not produced the desire effects of increased educational attainment and higher enrolment rate. We show that the results depend on the methodology. We also provide evidence that the robust association between cognitive skills and economic growth reflects a causal effect of the economic benefits of effective school policy: we find that, countries that improved their cognitive skill, through different facets of school choice, autonomy and accountability over time experienced relative increases in their growth paths. We show that quality of education significantly matter for technological progress and that it is a source of divergence in OECD economies. We also analyse in a dispassionate way, voters influence on public policy especially, that pertaining to public school resource allocation, in one country India we take India because the country’s overall success story hides striking inter- and intra-state variation in literacy rates. There is suggestion that larger districts with more elected legislators and also districts with higher voter turnout benefit from greater allocation of public school resources, which in turn are expected to boost schooling outcomes. In other words, these results highlight the power of democracy in ensuring a better allocation of public school resources in our sample.

The aim of this study is to examine the long-term cognitive effects and educational outcomes of being born small-for-gestational-age (SGA). It also assesses whether the family’s attitude towards education modifies the effect of SGA on cognitive performance. A total of 9598 children born in 1953 and living in the Stockholm metropolitan area in 1963 were included in this study. Data were obtained from the Stockholm Birth Cohort. Multiple ordinary least square regressions analyses suggest that SGA children have lower mean verbal, spatial and numerical test scores than appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) children. However, these differences are small. Other results from modification analyses indicate that the effect of SGA status on cognitive performance is modified by the family’s attitude towards education. Additional logistic regression analyses suggest that the unadjusted difference in log odds of attaining higher education is largely explained by the family’s attitude towards education. The results suggest that the detrimental influences of being born SGA on some cognitive and educational outcomes are limited and may be reduced.

Thesis (MDram)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Research has shown that children are not reading books for their enjoyment anymore. Also, children living in unfavourable socio-economic circumstances are raised without any book culture. The absence of a love for reading and low levels of literacy cause children to have problems to read in order to learn. In this small-scale empirical research project with an experimental group of eighteen Grade 3 learners from a poor socio-economic community and school in the Northern Cape, the researcher sought to determine whether drama could be used as a pedagogic aid to increase the learners' joy in reading. Thus different drama methodologies were utilised over a period of three years (from Grade 3 to Grade 5), primarily to inspire learners to enjoy books and reading. The research results have shown that in the experimental group reading levels gradually improved, library membership increased, most members of the group began to read on their own and a change to a positive self-image was reported. The control group in the same school also showed an improvement in their reading levels, but not to the same extent as was noted in the experimental group. It was apparent that the dramatisation of stories as a methodology had had a significant positive impact of the lives of the experimental group. Although this was a pilot study, there is a strong indication that the results can be utilised for further research. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Navorsing het bewys dat leerders leesweerstandig geword het. Leerders uit veral ongunstige ekonomiese omstandighede word boonop nie met boeke omring wat 'n gesonde leeskultuur kan aanwakker nie. Hierdie swak leeskultuur, tesame met lae geletterdheidsvlakke, veroorsaak dat kinders probleme ervaar met lees om te leer. In hierdie kleinskaalse empiriese studie met 'n steekproef van 'n eksperimentele groep van agtien graad 3-leerders uit 'n lae sosio-ekonomiese gemeenskap in die Noord-Kaap, het die navorser drama as 'n pedagogiese hulpmiddel gebruik om vas te stel of dit kon bydra om die leerders te motiveer om leeslief te raak. Dramatisering met behulp van verskeie tegnieke en metodes is benut om die kinders te motiveer om lees te geniet en self te lees. Die resultate van hierdie empiriese studie oor 'n tydperk van drie jaar (van graad 3 tot graad 5) het getoon dat daar 'n verbetering in die meeste leerders se leesvlakke was, biblioteeklidmaatskap het toegeneem, selflees is by die meeste bewerkstellig en die selfbeeld van die kinders is in sommige gevalle verbeter. Hierdie resultate is vergelyk met 'n kontrolegroep in dieselfde skool, wie se leesvlakke wel ook oor die tydperk verbeter het, maar nie in dieselfde mate as die eksperimentele groep nie. Dit was duidelik dat die spesifieke metodes met betrekking tot voorlesing en gedramatiseerde spel van stories vir die eksperimentele groep 'n verskil gemaak het. Alhoewel hierdie slegs 'n loodsstudie was, is daar sterk aanduiding dat die resultate vir verdere navorsing gebruik kan word.

published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Background: The Behavioural Activation System dysregulation theory of Bipolar Disorder (BD) proposes that (hypo)manic episodes represent prolonged periods of elevated approach-motivation and high-activation positive affect (PA). Excessive goal-setting behaviour and increased engagement in stimulating activities have been found amongst people with BD and may interact with elevated approach-motivation, contributing to an “upward spiral”. Hypotheses were: both i) approach-related behaviours in response to PA; and ii) high-activation PA, will be more common in individuals with BD than those without; iii) individuals with BD will be more likely to respond to high-activation PA than to low-activation PA with approach-related behaviours, compared to individuals without BD. Method: Individuals with BD and a non-clinical control group were tested. Participants completed measures of current hypomanic/depressive symptoms, trait PA, and two versions of two measures of response to PA, asking about low-activation and high-activation PA. Results: The BD group used more approach-related responses to PA, particularly within high-activation mood states, compared to controls. The groups differed in their experience of different types of PA, due to the control group experiencing more low-activation PA. Limitations: It is unclear whether the findings are specific to BD or affective disorders in general, due to a lack of a clinical control group. The groups may also differ in their expectations of PA due to medication use and previous experience of mania. Conclusions: It may be therapeutically beneficial to help individuals with BD use non-approach-related strategies in response to high-activation PA. Further research would identify which strategies are most useful.

Nearly 60 years after the Supreme Court Decision in Brown, segregation is still an ingrained facet of American public education. This study investigated the extent to which these continued patterns of segregation influenced graduation rates from high school. The study used data provided by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) on the 2011 graduating cohorts in 302 public high schools across the state. The results indicate that graduation rates for all students vary significantly as a function of the overall socioeconomic and racial composition of high schools. In addition, low-income students are significantly more likely to graduate in low-poverty high schools and minorities are significantly more likely to graduate in high schools that are not highly segregated by race. Finally, school level demographic variables explain a significant, independent share of the variance in graduation rates among high schools. These results lend weight to policies designed to integrate high schools as a way to equalize educational opportunity.

Migrants into European countries are often less educated than European natives. We analyse whether migrants' children are more or less likely than natives' children to achieve upward educational mobility across generations, and study differences in the factors, which contribute to differences in mobility for the two groups. We find that migrants' descendants are more often upwardly mobile (and less often downwardly mobile) than their native peers in the majority of countries studied, and show that the main factor contributing to these patterns is the education level of parents. Although a lower parental education means that their children are less likely to access the same amount of human, social and financial capital as children of more highly educated parents, migrants' descendants over the last two generations were able to make significant progress in reducing education gaps with natives.

Why is trait self-control associated with successful goal progress? Existing research has attempted to answer this question by focusing on individual differences in the process of goal pursuit. Herein, we propose and test a novel mechanism suggesting that self-control facilitates goal attainment not only by affecting the process of goal pursuit but also the type of goals peo- ple select in the first place. Three studies showed that high (vs. low) self- control individuals are more likely to report successful goal attainment and this association was mediated by their tendency to select the goals that reflect their true/authentic self. These results were obtained using cross-sectional and longitudinal designs and were robust against controlling for previously established mechanisms of the effect of trait self-control on goal attainment (habit strength, experiences of goal-conflicting desires). Overall, there findings contribute to the literatures on self-regulation, authenticity and goal management.