Degree completion is as important as participation in higher education. To date, most of the research on this subject has investigated the association between socio-economic background and academic preparation to explain lower rates or non-completion. This thesis explores the role that individual, institutional and contextual factors have on degree completion chances. The first empirical chapter uses an individual-level longitudinal dataset to study the role that attainment on entry and socio-economic background have on students’ chances of completion. The chapter finds that attainment on entry significantly affects students’ chances of degree completion. It also reveals, however, that attainment on entry does not completely explain the socio-economic differences in degree completion chances in the system. The second empirical chapter examines the role that institutions have on students’ chances of degree completion. Like the first chapter, this one draws on the individual-level longitudinal dataset. Although the analyses discover institutional effects, they show them to have a small effect on the system. The third empirical chapter examines the role that teaching has on the probability that students complete their degrees in higher education. The findings show that teaching has a small but significant effect on students’ chances of degree completion. Teaching effects take place only at the most selective institutions of the system. The final empirical chapter examines the role that unemployment has on students’ decisions to complete a university degree. Using data from the Labour Force Survey, the research finds that higher unemployment rates have a positive effect on students’ chances of degree completion. This thesis contributes to the field by showing that stratification of higher education also translates to degree completion. The results confirm that selectivity and institutional effects are strongly associated. In addition, they show that where the institutional framework is concerned, there is a gradient for class effect in educational outcomes.

The aim of this research was to undertake cross-county comparisons within the UK in relation to cross-border HE study mobility in order to inform understanding of, and raise issues in relation to, social inequalities between students, and the role and effect in this of policy and sectoral conditions associated with where they live. The research examined whether cross-border mobility for study within the UK reinforces inequalities in higher education (HE) participation, in relation to students’ social origin, educational background and ethnicity. It contributes new knowledge on this form of HE participation, to wider research on social inequalities in HE, and on issues of social citizenship in post-devolution UK. Sectoral and policy differences within the UK provided context for the study, which also drew on research evidence on student choice and participation, and theoretically on the concept of situated rationality in both rational action theory, specifically relative risk aversion, and cultural reproduction theory as applied to HE participation. Student and country/region differences in mobility to geographical and institution destinations were analysed using Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data, principally of young full-time undergraduate entrants in 2012 (N=290510; N movers=22155). Key variables were social characteristics, attainment, field of study and tariff level of the institution entered; and additionally field of study supply, average earnings and professional employment rates. Descriptive, logistic regression, marginal effects and average marginal effects analyses provided findings on student differences and inequalities in outward mobility. The findings suggest that cross-border mobility serves different purposes by country of domicile. Established paths in relation to social and geographical origin appeared important in the high outward mobility from Northern Ireland and Wales, as did HE supply within Northern Ireland, and to a lesser extent within Wales. From Scotland, there was less concentration of destinations in relation to place, with patterns of mobility explained better by institution type entered; and from England mobility was defined more strongly by place of domicile for movement to Wales and by institution type entered for movement to Scotland. Mobility was associated with entering an institution with a higher average entry tariff compared to staying in the home country. An overall relationship was found between socio-economic advantage and mobility, but there were important findings that could not be interpreted as simply reproducing wider inequalities in HE participation which sectoral and policy contextual factors helped to explain. Although social class effect on mobility from England was limited, and being ‘first generation’ was positively associated with mobility from Northern Ireland. Despite the extent of mobility from Northern Ireland and Wales of students from a range of backgrounds, social class effects were strong for students from both. Shorter compared to longer distance cross-border mobility appeared less strongly associated with socio-economic advantage and more strongly with movement to lower tariff institutions. Relative field of study under-supply within the home country was associated more with mobility to lower than higher tariff institutions. Some Black and Minority Ethnic students may be mobile to enter an HEI or location with greater ethnic mix than their home area. Inflows from the rest of the UK had the strongest impact on Welsh and Scottish institutions. Cross-border mobility can be conceptualised as reasoned action based on a cost-benefit evaluation influenced both by the students’ cultural and financial resources, and external constraints and opportunities. It reinforces social inequalities in HE participation, but there is under-recognised social diversity in this mobility, as enabling policy conditions also benefit those from less socio-economically advantaged backgrounds. Such students are least likely to have the resources to mitigate any policy changes that increase the cost of or create barriers to cross-border mobility; and would be least likely to have the resources to be mobile to overcome any reduction in the availability and accessibility of HE in the home country. These groups of students that should be the main focus of concern and attention both in further policy development and in future research.

The existing literature is inconclusive on how technology in education influences student outcomes and whether it will lead to an improvement in tertiary education access. This paper aims to determine whether the implementation of technology in higher education will lead to an improvement in the access to higher education through online education as well as improving student outcomes. In addition, the paper aims to show that implementing technology in higher education could increase existing inequalities amongst students from different backgrounds. The paper will do this by demonstrating the qualitative and quantitative factors which are the underlying reasons for some students doing better in an online setting compared to others. Furthermore, the paper will show that students from advantaged backgrounds with respect to race and income, benefit more from online and blended learning than students from more disadvantaged backgrounds. Therefore, tertiary institutions need to provide caution when establishing blended learning and online education programmes as it could lead to increasing educational inequalities.

5 Abstract Lifelong learning is an important condition for a successful and fulfilling life in today's globalized world. Although the declared efforts of international organizations (UNESCO, WB, OECD, WTO, EU, etc.) to provide education for all, not everyone have equal chances in its acquisition. This work focuses on the initiative of UNESCO, OECD and the EU in this area. UNESCO focuses mainly on developing countries (providing functional literacy among the poorest) while the OECD and the EU to those developed (the target is people's employability and competitiveness, the acquisition of key skills). International organizations formulate these objectives in statements, strategies, action plans and proposals for action to eliminate unequal access to education. However, even these documents can render various difficulties and problems in their application in practice. Key words Adult education, inequalities in education, political documents (UNESCO, OECD, EU)

Der Autor versucht mit dieser kurzen Einführung eine Übersicht über den Stand der Forschung zu einem Thema zu geben, das in der Forschung bisher noch nicht ausreichend berücksichtigt wurde: der außerschulischen, privatwirtschaftlich organisierten Zusatzbildung, der sogenannten Shadow Education. Der Fokus der Arbeit richtet sich dabei auf die Länder Japan, welches bereits seit den 1970er Jahren ein System außerschulischer Bildungsinstitutionen besitzt, dessen Einfluss auf den Bildungserwerb junger Menschen so stark ist wie in kaum einem anderen Land, und Deutschland, dessen Schattenbildungs- oder Nachhilfesystem noch keinen derartig starken Einfluss ausübt, jedoch in den vergangenen Jahren steten Zuwachs verzeichnen konnte. Interessierten soll dieser Einblick durch die umfangreiche Bibliographie eine Hilfe bei der Recherche zu diesem Thema bieten. / With this short introduction the author tries to provide an overview about the status of research about a theme that has not been sufficiently taken into consideration by researchers yet: the out-of-school, privately organized remedial education or private tutoring, the so called shadow education. Hereby this work focuses on the countries Japan and Germany. While in Japan a system of shadow education exists for decades, which shall lead the Japanese youth to superior results compared to compulsory school education, a comparable influence of institutionalized private tutoring can’t be found in Germany so far. This work shall provide a help to those who want to research about this theme, especially through its comprehensive bibliography.

A presente dissertação está inserida no campo da História da Educação, abordando a história da educação da população negra no município de Alcântara, no Estado do Maranhão. Através de uma abordagem histórica, são apresentadas, inicialmente, as teorias raciais de cunho biológico, antropológico e sociológico, com o propósito de mostrar como estas colaboraram decisivamente para as desigualdades educacionais entre brancos e negros (pretos mais pardos) no Brasil e, em particular, em Alcântara. A parte seguinte versa sobre a história de Alcântara, evidenciando formas de resistência e luta dos quilombolas, inclusive pelo acesso à instrução pública nesse município. Para realizar esse trabalho dissertativo, foram pesquisadas fontes documentais, impressas e manuscritas, tais como ofícios, códices e leis provinciais localizadas no Arquivo público do Maranhão - APEM. Recorreu-se também aos documentos estatísticos dos censos demográficos, desde o primeiro, de 1872, até o de 2010, todos eles disponibilizados no site do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – IBGE. O trabalho aponta que, mesmo sendo vetado o acesso da população negra às escolas públicas, há fortes indícios de que alunos negros frequentaram aulas de primeiras letras em Alcântara já nas últimas décadas do século XIX. Ainda antes da abolição da escravatura, no Recenseamento de 1872, no Império, a população escrava foi toda classificada como analfabeta; contudo, a análise de um conjunto de fontes documentais pesquisadas sinaliza que esta população não ficou totalmente alheia às diferentes formas de apropriação de leitura e escrita. O estudo destaca ainda o estado educacional atual (censos 2000 e 2010), na perspectiva das relações raciais, sinalizando para um grande quantitativo de pessoas ainda analfabetas em Alcântara, particularmente de pessoas de cor preta ou parda (negras), desagregação esta, por cor ou raça, inexistente, em nível municipal, nos censos anteriores. / The present dissertation is inserted in the field of Education, addressing the history of the black population education in the municipality of Alcântara, Maranhão state. Through an historic approach, are presented, initially, the racial theories of biological content, anthropological and sociological, with a propose of showing how they collaborated decisively to the for the educational inequalities between white and black (grayer blacks) in Brazil and, particularly, in Alcântara. The next part treats about the history of Alcântara, showing up the forms of resistance and struggle of quilombolas, including the access to the public education in this city. To carry out this work, there were investigated documentary sources, printed and handwritten, such as trades, codices and provincial laws located in the public Archive of the Maranhão - APEM. It was resorted also the statistical documents of the demographic censuses, from the first one, from 1872, to the one of 2010, all available they in the site of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistic – IBGE. The work showed that, even when interposed the access of the black population to the public schools, are strong signs of that black students frequented classrooms of first letters in Alcântara already in the last decades of the century XIX. Before the abolition of the slavery, in the Census of 1872, in the Empire, the slave population was all of classified like illiterate; nevertheless, the analysis of a set of documentary investigated fountains signals that this population was not totally foreign to the different forms of appropriation of reading and writing. The study still detaches the current educational state (censuses 2000 and 2010), in the perspective of the racial relations, signaling for a great quantitative of persons still illiterate in Alcântara, particularly of persons (black women) of black or gray color, this separation, for color or race, non-existent, in municipal level, in the previous censuses.

A presente dissertação está inserida no campo da História da Educação, abordando a história da educação da população negra no município de Alcântara, no Estado do Maranhão. Através de uma abordagem histórica, são apresentadas, inicialmente, as teorias raciais de cunho biológico, antropológico e sociológico, com o propósito de mostrar como estas colaboraram decisivamente para as desigualdades educacionais entre brancos e negros (pretos mais pardos) no Brasil e, em particular, em Alcântara. A parte seguinte versa sobre a história de Alcântara, evidenciando formas de resistência e luta dos quilombolas, inclusive pelo acesso à instrução pública nesse município. Para realizar esse trabalho dissertativo, foram pesquisadas fontes documentais, impressas e manuscritas, tais como ofícios, códices e leis provinciais localizadas no Arquivo público do Maranhão - APEM. Recorreu-se também aos documentos estatísticos dos censos demográficos, desde o primeiro, de 1872, até o de 2010, todos eles disponibilizados no site do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – IBGE. O trabalho aponta que, mesmo sendo vetado o acesso da população negra às escolas públicas, há fortes indícios de que alunos negros frequentaram aulas de primeiras letras em Alcântara já nas últimas décadas do século XIX. Ainda antes da abolição da escravatura, no Recenseamento de 1872, no Império, a população escrava foi toda classificada como analfabeta; contudo, a análise de um conjunto de fontes documentais pesquisadas sinaliza que esta população não ficou totalmente alheia às diferentes formas de apropriação de leitura e escrita. O estudo destaca ainda o estado educacional atual (censos 2000 e 2010), na perspectiva das relações raciais, sinalizando para um grande quantitativo de pessoas ainda analfabetas em Alcântara, particularmente de pessoas de cor preta ou parda (negras), desagregação esta, por cor ou raça, inexistente, em nível municipal, nos censos anteriores. / The present dissertation is inserted in the field of Education, addressing the history of the black population education in the municipality of Alcântara, Maranhão state. Through an historic approach, are presented, initially, the racial theories of biological content, anthropological and sociological, with a propose of showing how they collaborated decisively to the for the educational inequalities between white and black (grayer blacks) in Brazil and, particularly, in Alcântara. The next part treats about the history of Alcântara, showing up the forms of resistance and struggle of quilombolas, including the access to the public education in this city. To carry out this work, there were investigated documentary sources, printed and handwritten, such as trades, codices and provincial laws located in the public Archive of the Maranhão - APEM. It was resorted also the statistical documents of the demographic censuses, from the first one, from 1872, to the one of 2010, all available they in the site of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistic – IBGE. The work showed that, even when interposed the access of the black population to the public schools, are strong signs of that black students frequented classrooms of first letters in Alcântara already in the last decades of the century XIX. Before the abolition of the slavery, in the Census of 1872, in the Empire, the slave population was all of classified like illiterate; nevertheless, the analysis of a set of documentary investigated fountains signals that this population was not totally foreign to the different forms of appropriation of reading and writing. The study still detaches the current educational state (censuses 2000 and 2010), in the perspective of the racial relations, signaling for a great quantitative of persons still illiterate in Alcântara, particularly of persons (black women) of black or gray color, this separation, for color or race, non-existent, in municipal level, in the previous censuses.

A presente dissertação está inserida no campo da História da Educação, abordando a história da educação da população negra no município de Alcântara, no Estado do Maranhão. Através de uma abordagem histórica, são apresentadas, inicialmente, as teorias raciais de cunho biológico, antropológico e sociológico, com o propósito de mostrar como estas colaboraram decisivamente para as desigualdades educacionais entre brancos e negros (pretos mais pardos) no Brasil e, em particular, em Alcântara. A parte seguinte versa sobre a história de Alcântara, evidenciando formas de resistência e luta dos quilombolas, inclusive pelo acesso à instrução pública nesse município. Para realizar esse trabalho dissertativo, foram pesquisadas fontes documentais, impressas e manuscritas, tais como ofícios, códices e leis provinciais localizadas no Arquivo público do Maranhão - APEM. Recorreu-se também aos documentos estatísticos dos censos demográficos, desde o primeiro, de 1872, até o de 2010, todos eles disponibilizados no site do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – IBGE. O trabalho aponta que, mesmo sendo vetado o acesso da população negra às escolas públicas, há fortes indícios de que alunos negros frequentaram aulas de primeiras letras em Alcântara já nas últimas décadas do século XIX. Ainda antes da abolição da escravatura, no Recenseamento de 1872, no Império, a população escrava foi toda classificada como analfabeta; contudo, a análise de um conjunto de fontes documentais pesquisadas sinaliza que esta população não ficou totalmente alheia às diferentes formas de apropriação de leitura e escrita. O estudo destaca ainda o estado educacional atual (censos 2000 e 2010), na perspectiva das relações raciais, sinalizando para um grande quantitativo de pessoas ainda analfabetas em Alcântara, particularmente de pessoas de cor preta ou parda (negras), desagregação esta, por cor ou raça, inexistente, em nível municipal, nos censos anteriores. / The present dissertation is inserted in the field of Education, addressing the history of the black population education in the municipality of Alcântara, Maranhão state. Through an historic approach, are presented, initially, the racial theories of biological content, anthropological and sociological, with a propose of showing how they collaborated decisively to the for the educational inequalities between white and black (grayer blacks) in Brazil and, particularly, in Alcântara. The next part treats about the history of Alcântara, showing up the forms of resistance and struggle of quilombolas, including the access to the public education in this city. To carry out this work, there were investigated documentary sources, printed and handwritten, such as trades, codices and provincial laws located in the public Archive of the Maranhão - APEM. It was resorted also the statistical documents of the demographic censuses, from the first one, from 1872, to the one of 2010, all available they in the site of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistic – IBGE. The work showed that, even when interposed the access of the black population to the public schools, are strong signs of that black students frequented classrooms of first letters in Alcântara already in the last decades of the century XIX. Before the abolition of the slavery, in the Census of 1872, in the Empire, the slave population was all of classified like illiterate; nevertheless, the analysis of a set of documentary investigated fountains signals that this population was not totally foreign to the different forms of appropriation of reading and writing. The study still detaches the current educational state (censuses 2000 and 2010), in the perspective of the racial relations, signaling for a great quantitative of persons still illiterate in Alcântara, particularly of persons (black women) of black or gray color, this separation, for color or race, non-existent, in municipal level, in the previous censuses.

6 Abstract Lifelong education and learning is an important condition for a successful and fulfilling life in today's globalized world. To provide education for all is declared effort of international organizations (UNESCO, WB, OECD, WTO, EU, etc.). This work focuses on the initiative of UNESCO, OECD and the EU in this area. UNESCO focuses mainly on developing countries (providing functional literacy among the poorest) while the OECD and the EU to those developed (the target is people's employability and competitiveness, the acquisition of key skills). International organizations formulate their objectives in statements, strategies, action plans and proposals for action to eliminate unequal access to education and learning. However, even these documents can render various difficulties and problems in their application in practice. Key words Adult education and learning, lifelong education and learning, inequalities in education, political documents, UNESCO, OECD, EU

The diploma thesis deals with the approaches of Roma parents living in socially excluded localities in Chomutov to the education of their children. The thesis deals with the issue of social exclusion in the Czech Republic and also in the locality of Chomutov. The thesis also informs about the so-called Strategic Plan for Social Inclusion for the years 2017-2020, which was prepared for the city of Chomutov, in cooperation with the city management and the Agency for Social Inclusion and describes in detail the Local Inclusion Plan, which forms an important part of the Strategic Plan for Social Inclusion . It also deals with the issue of education and education for Roma children, segregation of Roma children in schools, inclusive education. The work also deals with Roma parents, Roma children and their pupil role, their social environment with respect to the fulfillment of the given goal. Furthermore, it informs about the personality of a teacher who works with Roma children at school and his / her competences. As a method of data collection, the method of individual interviews with Roma parents was used to achieve the chosen goal. At the end of this work there is a summary of the results of the analysis and recommendations for improving the access of Roma parents in the area of their children. These...