The closing decades of the 20th century have witnessed a large increase in the numbers of young people remaining in education post-16 rather than entering the labour market. Concurrently, overall educational attainment in General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualifications in England and Wales has steadily increased since their introduction in 1988. The 1990s represent a key period of change in these trends. Some sociologists argue that processes of detraditionalisation have occurred whereby previous indicators of social inequality, such as social class, are less relevant to the transitions of young people from school to work. Sociologists from other traditions argue that inequalities persist in the stratification of educational attainment by the family backgrounds of young people but that these factors have changed during this period. This thesis is an investigation of the influence of family background factors upon GCSE attainment during the 1990s. This includes extensive statistical analysis of measures of parental occupation, parental education and family structure with gender, ethnicity, school type and housing tenure type within the Youth Cohort Study of England and Wales. These analyses include over 100,000 respondents in 6 cohorts of school leavers with the harmonisation of data from cohort 6 (1992) to the Youth Cohort Time Series for England, Wales and Scotland 1984-2002 (Croxford, Ianelli and Shapira 2007). By adding the 1992 data to existing 1990s cohorts, the statistical models fitted apply to the complete set of 1990s cohorts and are therefore able to provide insight for the whole of this period. Strong differentials by parental occupation persist throughout the 1990s and do not diminish despite the overall context of rising attainment. This relationship remains net of the other factors listed, irrespective of the measure of parental occupation or the GCSE attainment outcome measure used. This builds upon and supports previous work conducted using the Youth Cohort Study and suggests that stratification in educational attainment remains a significant factor. Gender and ethnicity remain further sources of persistent stratification in GCSE attainment. Following a discussion of the weighting system and features of the Youth Cohort Study as a dataset, a thorough investigation of missing data is included, with the results of multiply imputed datasets used to examine the potential for missing data to bias estimates. This includes a critique of these approaches in the context of survey data analysis. The findings from this investigation suggest the importance of survey data collection methods, the limitations of post-survey bias correction methods and provide a thorough investigation of the data. The analysis then develops and expands previous work by investigating variation in GCSE attainment by subjects studied, through Latent Class Analysis of YCS cohort 6 (1992). Of the four groups identified in the model, a clear division is noted between those middle-attaining groups with respect to attainment in Science and Mathematics. GCSE attainment in combinations of subjects studied is stratified particularly with respect to gender and ethnicity. This research offers new insight into the role of family background factors in GCSE attainment by subject combination.

This dissertation project is a critical anthropological analysis of the impact of colorism on the educational attainment and academic trajectory of African-American school students in Washington, DC by examining teacher expectations. Through a historical and contemporary lens of public education in DC, I examine the ways in which a black-white racial binary has been used by those in decision-making positions -- namely teachers, counselors, school administrators, Parents and Teachers Association members and other adult decision-makers -- as an indicator of a student's academic ability and their future educational attainment. What prompts this question is the abundance of academic programs in DC that, through a variety of extensive selection criteria, chose high-achieving students for placement in the city's college-preparatory, academic programs, who have a larger tendency to fit a particular phenotype (unless they are exceptionalized through other socioeconomic indicators). Two questions that my research addresses are: how phenotype is weighed against their actual versus perceived academic ability; and how do we explain the relative over-investment (i.e., redundancy of enrichment programs and resources) at one school over a lack of resources and programs at many other schools. I selected Washington, DC as the site for my doctoral research for two primary reasons: (1) its historic association for being one of the most (skin) color-conscious cities in the United States (Russell et al. 1992; Golden 2006; Kerr 2006); and (2) its historic and unique position as a testing ground for reform efforts in the public school system. I volunteered at a DC-area public school for the 2011-2012 academic year and became active in the various parental/community associations (i.e. the Parent/Teacher Association (PTA) and the Local School Advisory Team (LSAT) as a means of gaining first-hand knowledge of -- and experience with -- the various ways in which adults (i.e. teachers, counselors, parents and other school-based staff) place value and justify the assignment of resources to particular students and upon what basis (such as phenotype or socioeconomic background). In gaining access to and awareness of the dynamics of parental engagement at my field site, I began to analyze the role of race in the ways that such involvement is contained or policed by school officials. This dissertation project also takes into account students' awareness of such intersectional processes and whether the students categorize themselves and/or their peers according to a hierarchical scale of valorization. / text

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to investigate patterns in educational enrollment and attainment in educational levels among women in South Africa. Some evidence from the literature suggest a slow increase in women&rsquo / s education and employment opportunities in South Africa. However, little is known about the way in which this slow pattern reflects at all levels and fields of education with special reference to the female population in South Africa. The thesis aims at examining changes of attainment in women&rsquo / s education from a sociodemographic perspective between 2004 and 2007. Factors affecting women&rsquo / s education in South Africa are also considered as they play major roles in women&rsquo / s enrollment and completion at school. The study focuses on women through different social and demographic attributes, by taking account of variables such as age, education attainment, geographic areas, population group to name but a few. All educational institutions are covered and two female groups are considered, women at school and women who left school. The study makes use of already existing data from General Household Survey conducted in 2004 and 2007 respectively, to bring some comparative perspective. The scope of the study is national in that, all the nine provinces are covered making distinction of rural and urban areas.</p>

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between active procrastination, self-regulated learning and academic achievement. Participants included 108 undergraduate students enrolled in a first-year elective course at a Canadian university. Students reported their level of active procrastination, cognitive and metacognitive strategy use, self-efficacy for learning and performance, goal quality and self-reported goal attainment over the semester. Measures included the self-report Active Procrastination Scale (APS; Choi & Moran, 2009), the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ; Pintrich Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991) and weekly reflections. Findings revealed: (a) active procrastination was significantly positively related to academic achievement, (b) the ability to meet deadlines was the component of active procrastination most related to SRL variables, and (c) self-reported goal attainment accounted for the most variance in ability to meet deadlines score. Further research is needed to explore the central role of ability to meet deadlines in active procrastination and the order in which SRL variables, active procrastination and negative influence of procrastination predict academic achievement. / Graduate

本研究利用華人家庭動態資料庫（PSFD）分別於1999、2000及2003年針對台灣家庭所執行之第一波調查資料，探討台灣地區成年人家庭背景與手足結構對其教育、起薪及多年後工作收入的影響。由於過去台灣文獻探討有關家庭背景與手足結構對個人的影響時，大部分僅探討其對子女教育成就的影響，或是藉由家庭背景對個人教育成就的影響，探討教育報酬之高低，而非探討家庭背景對個人收入的影響。與過去文獻不同的是，本文除了探討家庭背景與手足結構對個人教育成就之影響力外，我們另外加入個人起薪及多年後的工作收入為研究對象，藉由將個人生命週期時間拉長，觀察家庭背景與手足結構變數隨著時間經過，對個人的影響是否有所不同。 對個人教育成就而言，我們發現家庭資源多寡主要受家庭背景變數所決定，手足人數越多，雖然會彼此競爭資源，不利個人取得較高的教育成就，但當手足互助激勵效果大於資源競爭效果，手足的存在可能反而對其教育成就的取得存在正向幫助。對個人起薪而言，家庭資源多寡仍為重要影響因素，但家庭背景變數的影響力已逐漸減弱，手足結構變數則決定個人在家庭資源的競爭上是否存在優勢，競爭失利者將提早離開學校進入職場，起薪相對較低。由於擁有支撐家庭經濟的能力及相同性別的威脅，我們發現女性擁有年齡差距大的妹妹對其起薪存在顯著負影響；男性則基於資源競爭效果，有年齡相近的姊姊對其起薪存在正向影響，有年齡相近的弟弟則對其起薪存在負向影響。 但隨著時間經過，個人工作收入不再受家庭資源多寡影響，家庭背景變數對個人收入的影響力幾乎皆不顯著，原本因手足人數眾多，而需互相競爭家庭資源的情況也不復存在，反而是在成長過程中透過手足互動所形成的個人特質，可能是在多年後手足結構變數仍對其工作收入存在影響性之原因。擁有年齡相近弟妹的兄姊，除了手足情感及互動關係較密切外，在成長過程中由於常被父母要求作弟妹榜樣及擔任弟妹的照顧者，可能因此形成習慣照顧別人，自我要求較高的個人特質，本文發現女性擁有年齡相近的弟妹對其收入存在正向影響，男性擁有年齡相近的妹妹對其存在正向影響；另外，由於哥哥一旦進入職場工作後，自然便成為家庭資源提供者，身為弟妹者可能因此較不需為家庭經濟狀況擔心，本文發現女性擁有年齡差距大的哥哥對其工作收入存在負向影響，男性則因有年齡相近哥哥對其存在負向影響。 雖然教育年數、起薪與多年後的工作收入皆可當作個人成就衡量標的，但從模型的結果來看，可發現其成因與影響方式並不盡相同，若僅用個人教育年數來衡量其未來成就，可能因而忽略家庭背景及手足結構對個人未來更長遠的影響。 再者，擁有高學歷並不代表能在職場上有好的表現，故納入不同時期的工作收入為衡量個人成就的另一指標，應可彌補單以教育程度來衡量的不足。 / This thesis investigates impacts of family background and sibling structure on the future achievement of individuals by the first wave of the Panel Study of Family Dynamics (PSFD) survey conducted in 1999, 2000, and 2003. We find that family resources determined by parents play an important role on children’s future achievement measured by educational attainment, initial earnings, and current earnings. However, the importance of family background decreases gradually. For example, family background has relatively few effects on individual’s current earnings. On the other hand, sibling structure has persistent impacts on individuals because family resources each child gets decrease with the number of siblings and sibling structures determine how children compete for family resources. We also find that the impacts of sibling structure on current earnings may be due to the personal characteristics built by sibling interactions. Though educational attainments, initial earnings, and current earnings can be measurements of future achievements, most studies in Taiwan only investigate how educational attainments are affected by family background and sibling structures. The thesis can shed some new light on the impacts of family background and sibling structures on initial earnings and current earnings.

The broad objective of this thesis is to study the patterns of objective and subjective well-being among the immigrants in Europe. The main part of the thesis consists of three single-authored empirical chapters. The first chapter analyzes the longitudinal patterns of relative poverty among the foreign-born in Sweden. The second chapter examines the mechanisms of occupational attainment, occupational mobility and long-term occupational cost of migration among Senegalese immigrants in France, Spain and Italy. The third chapter analyzes life satisfaction and income satisfaction among immigrants in Germany. At the most general level, the results in the empirical chapters suggest that the objective well-being improves with duration of stay at destination, even if very gradually for some immigrant groups, while, on the other hand, there is a ceteris paribus negative relationship between the subjective well-being and duration of stay. A number of other findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the processes associated with the well-being among immigrants. / L'objectiu general d'aquesta tesi és estudiar les pautes del benestar objectiu i subjectiu dels immigrants a Europa. La part principal de la tesi consisteix en tres capítols empírics d'autoria única. El primer capítol analitza les pautes longitudinals de pobresa relativa entre els nascuts a l’estranger a Suècia. El segon capítol examina els mecanismes d’obtenció d’ocupació, la mobilitat i cost professional a llarg termini de la migració entre els immigrants d’origen senegalès a França, Espanya i Itàlia. El tercer capítol analitza la satisfacció general amb la vida i la satisfacció amb els ingressos entre els immigrants a Alemanya. Els resultats en els capítols empirics suggereixen, a nivell general, que el benestar objectiu millora a mida que creix la durada de l’estada en el lloc de destí, tot i que de manera molt gradual per alguns grups d’immigrants, mentre que, d’altra banda, hi ha una relació ceteris paribus negativa entre el benestar subjectiu i la durada de l’estada. Diversos resultats contribueixen a una comprensió més matisada dels processos associats amb el benestar entre els immigrants.

Context: The purpose of this research was to examine if the educational approach (the Approach) adopted at Kilnbarn Residential Special School (the School) secured the developmental learning pathways for its pupils. All pupils were diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD) and many had single or multiple comorbid conditions. The research sought to understand how their parents could be substantive partners and co-creators in the design, modification, and implementation of the Approach. It was a unique feature of Kilnbarn’s Approach to fulfil the potential of parents to be co-creators and co-therapists in their child’s progress. Objective: The case study became one of the instruments in which to test the School’s effectiveness in meeting the needs of its pupils. It enabled a review of the School’s methodology, curriculum and organisational practices. The Approach was designed to provide secure developmental learning pathways for its pupils, improving their quality of life and independence. Method: The case study design, was chosen as it was considered the most appropriate research model. A Parents’ Questionnaire, distributed annually over 3 consecutive years (2004-6) was the evidential basis for this study. Interviews and collected data were used to analyse and evaluate the progress of the School through parents’ eyes. Results: The combination of parents working with professionals to maximise the culture of “technical eclecticism” seems to be, in the light of this case study, best suited to the needs of children diagnosed with autism, SLD and comorbid conditions. The child should be immersed in a consistent approach across all areas of their life. Improvements in well-being, communication and joint action routines, sleep balance, a healthy diet, physical exercise, incontinence and behaviours was observed. Conclusion The study identified that parents could be substantive partners and influencers in the design and modification of the Kilnbarn Approach. The Approach secured developmental learning pathways for its pupils and appeared to improve their quality of life. Parents as co-creators and co-therapists had regained ownership of their child’s quality of life, learning outcomes and personal development. From the experience and unique evidence of this case study schools should utilise and profit from the mass resource of their parents. It has been shown that the Kilnbarn Approach was, during the research, an effective and suitable intervention for the many children it served. It is hoped that further studies in this field will explore the concept of a “technical eclectic” approach that further validates and brings together interventions that are conceptually grounded and incorporates evidence-based focused intervention practices.

Within the psychological literature two main approaches can be identified as influential factors in the increase of well-being, defined in this thesis as Hedonic (SWB) vs. Eudaimonic Well-Being (PWB). One of the key qualities of the human mind is its ability to think about and act upon the future. The first approach emphasises the role of psychological strengths related to the utilisation of foresight and planning in such a way as to influence the consequences of current actions. The second approach focuses on the function of basic personality traits in the setting of goals and mental functioning. To integrate these approaches, this thesis brings together two lines of research: future-orientation and personality traits. Two longitudinal studies investigate the predictive qualities of future-orientated constructs in relation to personality traits, while also focusing on their contribution to the setting and attainment of goals and the perception of well-being. In the first study two cognitive-motivational scales, Hope and Personal Growth Initiative (PGI), were administered to measure two hundred and sixty four participants’ future-orientation. The first aim of this study was to examine the distinctiveness of these two scales in predicting well-being. Results from factor analyses cast doubt on the uniqueness of Hope and PGI, while regression analyses demonstrate Hope to be the strongest, most significant predictor of PWB and SWB. A further aim of the study was to ascertain if future-orientation could account for additional variance in the prediction of well-being, after the influence of the Eysenck’s Personality traits have been controlled for. It was indicated that individuals’ Hope levels do account for residual variance in PWB and SWB. The last aim of the study was to determine if future-orientation could contribute to long-term goal attainment and well-being. The results indicate that participant’s Hope levels did not significantly contribute to long-term goal attainment, however it had a direct, significant effect on long-term PWB. The second study, utilising 117 participants, replicated prior findings that demonstrate Hope, instead of PGI, to be the strongest, most significant predictor of both PWB and SWB. The study also extents prior research by utilising the Big-Five traits in the prediction of PWB and SWB. Factor analyses results indicate Hope to share an underlying factor structure with Openness and Conscientiousness, while PGI share an underlying factor structure with Agreeableness. It was further indicated that participants’ Hope, but not PGI, accounts for residual variance in the prediction of PWB, after controlling for the Big-Five traits. Conversely, Hope and PGI did not account for any residual variance in the prediction of SWB, instead almost 60% of the variance can be attributed to the Big-Five personality traits. Extending the first study, the aim of the second study was to ascertain attainment through independent verification and not participant self-assessment. The results indicate that participants who demonstrate greater levels of Openness and PGI tend to set higher quantitative goals. Although not predictive of goal attainment, participants with greater Openness showed higher performance on the goals. Overall, the results question the distinctiveness of Hope and PGI in the prediction of well-being. It adds to our knowledge of how psychological strengths such as future-orientation can contribute variance to the prediction of well-being after basic personality traits have been controlled for. Finally the results also add to our understanding of how personality traits, as well as, Hope and PGI independently contribute to the setting of goals.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The purpose of this thesis is to investigate patterns in educational enrollment and attainment in educational levels among women in South Africa. Some evidence from the literature suggest a slow increase in women's education and employment opportunities in South Africa. However, little is known about the way in which this slow pattern reflects at all levels and fields of education with special reference to the female population in South Africa. The thesis aims at examining changes of attainment in women's education from a sociodemographic perspective between 2004 and 2007. Factors affecting women's education in South Africa are also considered as they play major roles in women's enrollment and completion at school. The study focuses on women through different social and demographic attributes, by taking account of variables such as age, education attainment, geographic areas, population group to name but a few. All educational institutions are covered and two female groups are considered, women at school and women who left school. The study makes use of already existing data from General Household Survey conducted in 2004 and 2007 respectively, to bring some comparative perspective. The scope of the study is national in that, all the nine provinces are covered making distinction of rural and urban areas. / South Africa

Attrition in Higher Education continues to present academics, researchers and professionals with an ongoing dilemma. Achieving a fair balance between the academic rigour of meritocracy and the wider access agenda of social inclusion, demands that entrance criteria incorporates measures beyond the traditional prior academic attainment. Emotional Intelligence has been presented in the literature as a valid and reliable predictor of retention and performance in industry and researchers have suggested that similar benefits may be found in education. In this dissertation, the construct of Emotional Intelligence was explored, reviewing contemporary models and their respective measurement tools. A self report tool for measuring ‘trait’ Emotional Intelligence was selected from the review and used to examine the predictive relationship between emotional intelligence and the outcomes at the end of the first year of undergraduate nurse education namely: clinical practice performance; academic performance and course attrition by nursing and midwifery students. The sample group consisted of a cohort of student nurses and midwives (N = 178) who commenced their training in 2007. A significant predictive relationship was found between emotional intelligence and clinical practice performance (r = 0.75, N = 116, p < 0.05); emotional intelligence and academic performance (r = 0.16, N = 168, p < 0.05) and emotional intelligence and attrition (r = 0.31, N = 178, p < 0.05). Age was also found to predict attrition (r = 0.25, N = 178, p < 0.05) while prior academic attainment was found to predict academic performance (r = 0.20, N = 168, p < 0.05). The dissertation proposes the inclusion of measures of emotional intelligence as an aid to recruitment and selection processes in nurse and midwifery education. It also recommends that other practice based vocational programmes, within the higher education sector, consider exploring emotional intelligence in their recruitment and selection processes.