Compulsory School Age Research Articles

To persist or not? Examining the relations between parental education, self‐regulation, school engagement and persistence in post‐compulsory education

AbstractThere are few longitudinal studies of adolescent students’ choice to persist in post‐compulsory education. Hence, the present study introduces a longitudinal model that describes the interplay between sociological and psychological explanations of adolescents’ choice to persist in post‐compulsory education in the UK. Data on parental education, early childhood self‐regulation (age 5), sustained school engagement (ages 7, 11, 14) and persistence in education after the end of compulsory schooling (age 17) were utilised. The sample comprised 8333 (51.1% females, 89.5% white) children from the Millennium Cohort Study. Statistical analyses included state–trait modelling, longitudinal mediation and multigroup moderation. A trait–state–occasion model was run to disentangle the trait from state variance in school engagement. Afterwards, two hypotheses were formulated, namely the ‘instilment’ and the ‘differential’. The ‘instilment’ hypothesis involved a longitudinal predictive model, whereby parental education predicted early childhood self‐regulation which, in turn, predicted sustained school engagement which predicted students’ choice to persist. The ‘differential’ hypothesis examined whether higher vs. lower parental education changed the nature of the predictive relations between self‐regulation, sustained school engagement and persistence. The results were in favour of an ‘instilment’ hypothesis, whereby higher parental education was translated to higher levels of early self‐regulation which predicted higher sustained engagement, which, in turn, predicted greater probability of persisting in post‐compulsory education. The findings suggest a pathway from early childhood experiences to educational outcomes via the development of a trait of engaging with school.

THE EFFECTS OF THE LOWERED COMPULSORY SCHOOL ENTRY AGE ON THE CURRICULUM

The question at what age a child should start compulsory education raises debates both in the scientific and public interest contexts. This topic is also relevant all over the world, but a uniform answer is still not found, so the problem of the research emerges - the disclosure of the prerequisites for the change of the educational content during early primary education. The article raises questions related to the possibilities and assumptions of early school entry age for children and the structuring of educational content. 12 education experts and 6 preschool and primary education pedagogues participated in the study. Qualitative research methodology was chosen for this study: semi-structured interview and group discussion methods. During the research, 4 main topics were distinguished. They are as follows: relevance of lowering the school entry age of children; changes in the educational content when the educational age is advanced; characteristics of age change; change processes taking place in the education system. The research findings state that in order to lower the compulsory school age and achieve quality education, it is necessary to reform the educational content: educational programs must be reviewed, reasoned and changed, educational methods and tools must be selectedin a more detailed way, new educational environments created and developed, the evaluation system has to be changed, and teachers must be properly trained to work with younger children.

Student Transition to Scotland’s Senior Phase of Schooling ‐ Academic Experiences and Course Choices

This paper reports a study of Scottish secondary students perspectives concerning academic difficulties experienced in the first year of the Senior Phase which corresponds to their final year of compulsory schooling (age 15-16). Transition and trajectories throughout Senior Phase have gained further significance due to substantial changes experienced in schools with the development and implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, which in this stage emphasises pathways and support for national qualifications reformed in 2012. The findings are discussed alongside the relationship between course choices and the Scottish upper secondary curriculum, mainly concerning the curricular principles of flexibility, personalisation and choice.

School-Based Interventions to Prevent Dating and Relationship Violence and Gender-Based Violence: Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.

Background. Schools are sites of dating and relationship violence (DRV) and of gender-based violence (GBV) victimization and perpetration. School-based interventions can reach a broad range of students, targeting both individual and group processes that may underpin DRV and GBV. Considering DRV and GBV jointly is important because of their shared etiologies. Comparing the effectiveness of interventions using network meta-analysis (NMA) can support decision-making on optimal resource use. Objectives. To evaluate the comparative effectiveness of school-based interventions for children aged 5 to 18 years on DRV and GBV victimization, perpetration, and related mediators. Search Methods. We searched 21 databases in July 2020 and June 2021, alongside extensive supplementary search methods, including gray literature searches, forward and backward citation chasing, and searches on first and last author names. Selection Criteria. We included randomized-controlled trials of interventions for children of compulsory school age implemented within the school setting, and either partially or wholly aimed at changing DRV or GBV outcomes. Data Collection and Analysis. Pairwise meta-analyses using random-effects robust variance estimation considered intervention effectiveness on DRV and GBV victimization and perpetration using odds ratios, and on mediators (e.g., knowledge and attitudes) using standardized mean differences. Effects were divided into short-term (< 12 months postbaseline) and long-term (≥ 12 months postbaseline). NMAs on victimization and perpetration outcomes compared interventions categorized by breadth of mechanism and complexity of delivery and implementation. Meta-regression tested sensitivity to percentage of girls in the trial sample and country context. Main Results. Our analysis included 68 trials. Evidence was stronger overall for effects on DRV than for GBV, with significant long-term impacts on DRV victimization (odds ratio [OR] = 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.68, 0.99) and DRV perpetration (OR = 0.78; 95% CI = 0.64, 0.94). Knowledge and attitudinal effects were predominantly short-term (e.g., for DRV-related violence acceptance, d = 0.16; 95% CI = 0.08, 0.24). NMAs did not suggest the superiority of any intervention type; however, most analyses for GBV outcomes were inconsistent. A higher proportion of girls in the sample was associated with increased effectiveness on long-term victimization outcomes. Author's Conclusions. Evidence is stronger for DRV than for GBV, despite considerable heterogeneity. Certainty of findings was low or very low overall. Public Health Implications. Violence reductions may require more than 1 school year to become apparent. More extensive interventions may not be more effective. A possible reason for stronger effectiveness for DRV is that whereas GBV is ingrained in school cultures and practices, DRV is potentially more open to change via addressing individual knowledge and attitudes. (Am J Public Health. 2023;113(3):320-330. https://doi.org/10.2105/10.2105/AJPH.2022.307153).

La habilidad lingüística en el primer ciclo de Educación Primaria en alumnado nacido prematuro extremo

Prematurity has a high incidence rate in developed countries, accounting for 75% of perinatal mortality. Although pre- and perinatal advances in recent decades have reduced its prevalence, consequently, the presence of morbidities and comorbidities in the development of these infants has become evident.The purpose of this prospective and longitudinal research is to analyze the language components (morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics) of 29 minors, born extremely premature, at the Hospital Universitario La Paz in Madrid and who are currently of compulsory school age, in order to identify the presence of possible language difficulties. All the participants were enrolled in Primary Education and the language components were assessed using the BLOC-Screening battery.The results show that there are comorbidities in the morphological component in the following elements: irregular forms of the past, irregular forms of the future, reflexive…; in the semantic component (locatives, quantifiers, modifiers of time and succession…) and in syntax (passive voice, comparative clauses, subordinate clauses of cause and condition, and in the temporal ones [after/before]…), obtaining better results in the pragmatic component, except in those actions that require expressing demands and requesting specific information.Therefore, the profile obtained in the language of extremely premature infants suggests the need for speech therapy intervention and entails the need to make proposals for educational intervention at school that improve their language skills from a communicative approach.

A szórvány magyar tanköteles gyermekek családon kívüli elhelyezése Baranyában az 1941–1942-es tanévben

The framework for the placing of Hungarian compulsory school children outside the family was based on the 25.360/1941. Religion and Public Education Ministerial decree, which constituted new provisions from the 1941/1942 school year for the education of native Hungarian children living in non-Hungarian environment. The reason for issuing the decree was the growing demand of the nationalities for education in their native language, which the Hungarian state – after the failure of the unified education system introduced in 1935 – made available to them in 1941. This measure was supported by nationalities as well, but at the same time we must not forget that the Horthy-era represented a strong national policy, and the patriotic, national education began in elementary school. Thus, the education of Hungarian children could not be neglected while striving to fulfil the needs of nationalities. According to paragraph 1 of the 25.360/1941. Religion and Public Education Ministerial decree on the education of Hungarian children: ‘A native Hungarian compulsory school child living in Hungary, who stays in a not native Hungarian environment must be educated in a Hungarian school or class, by a traveling teacher, in a Hungarian boarding school, or in another native Hungarian environment.’ The placing of children outside the family was only necessary if there was no school with Hungarian educational language in the municipality, because in that case ‘a native Hungarian child living in the municipality (city) can only be sent by his or her tutelary to such a school, until reaching the age of compulsory schooling.’ In accordance with the decree, from the summer of 1941 the Education Inspectorate collected data on the native Hungarian compulsory school children who lived in a non-Hungarian environment to provide them enrolment elsewhere. The first version of the options listed in the decree (Hungarian school or class in municipality) is not the subject of the study, since in that case, the child remains in the family. The second version – a traveling teacher – would not cause change either, but I did not find any example of this in the archives anyway. What may be more interesting in the terms of Family law is the placing in a boarding school or with a family of a relative or acquaintance in native Hungarian environment - this is indicated by the phrase in an otherwise ‘native Hungarian environment’. I give examples of these cases – boarding school and placement in Hungarian families – from practice based on archival records.

Formative assessment and feedback for learning in higher education: A systematic review

AbstractFeedback is an integral part of education and there is a substantial body of trials exploring and confirming its effect on learning. This evidence base comes mostly from studies of compulsory school age children; there is very little evidence to support effective feedback practice at higher education, beyond the frameworks and strategies advocated by those claiming expertise in the area. This systematic review aims to address this gap. We review causal evidence from trials of feedback and formative assessment in higher education. Although the evidence base is currently limited, our results suggest that low stakes‐quizzing is a particularly powerful approach and that there are benefits for forms of peer and tutor feedback, although these depend on implementation factors. There was mixed evidence for praise, grading and technology‐based feedback. We organise our findings into several evidence‐grounded categories and discuss the next steps for the field and evidence‐informed feedback practice in universities. Context and implicationsRationale for this studyTo gain a better understanding of effective formative assessment and feedback approaches in higher education (HE). To promote a more evidence‐informed approach to teaching and learning in universities.Why the new findings matterThe findings highlight a small number of promising strategies for formative assessment and feedback in HE. They also draw attention to a lack of (quality) evidence in this area overall.Implications for policy‐makers and practitionersUniversities and their regulators/funders should be encouraging and supporting more, high‐quality research in this important area. Researchers in the field also need to look to developing more ambitious, higher‐quality studies which are likely to provide robust, causal conclusions about academic effectiveness (or other outcomes). Those involved in teaching and learning in university should use the findings to inform evidence‐informed approaches to formative assessment and feedback and to challenge approaches which do not appear to have foundations in strong evidence. Students could be made more aware of teaching and learning approaches that are likely to support their academic progress.

Young people’s right to appeal to the English First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability): learning from the first two years

ABSTRACT In England, young people past compulsory school age (the end of the academic year in which they turned 16) were given new rights under the Children and Families Act, 2014. This article focuses on their rights in relation to education, health and care (EHC) plans, particularly the right to request an assessment of their special educational needs (SEN) and to challenge decisions relating to their EHC plan by making an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability). We analyse these rights in light of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model, recognising their role in influencing young people’s development. Using data from a national study of disagreement resolution routes for SEN disputes, we present triangulated qualitative analysis of interviews with parents, young people, mediators, independent parent support workers, and Tribunal panel representatives, plus focus groups of local authority representatives. Results evidence an appetite among young people with SEN to use these rights, motivated by desire for appropriate educational opportunities. We highlight positive and negative experiences of mediation and of appeal preparation and Tribunal hearings, identify challenges and dilemmas raised for parents and professionals, and include facilitative practices showing how rights of children and young people could become embedded in everyday practices, reducing the need for appeals.

Mental health and academic performance: a study on selection and causation effects from childhood to early adulthood

PurposeAn inverse relationship between mental health and academic achievement is a well-known phenomenon in the scientific literature. However, how and when this association develops is not fully understood and there is a lack of longitudinal, population-based studies on young children. Early intervention is important if associations are to be found already during childhood. The aim of the present study was to investigate the development of the association between mental health and academic performance during different developmental periods of childhood and adolescence.MethodsData from a longitudinal birth cohort study of 1700 children were used. Child mental health was assessed through mother’s reports at age 3, and self-reports at age 12 and 20. Academic performance was assessed through teacher reports on educational results at age 12 and final grades from compulsory school (age 15–16) and upper secondary school (age 18–19). The association between mental health and academic performance was assessed through regression models.ResultsThe results indicate that social selection mechanisms are present in all three periods studied. Behavioral and emotional problems at age 3 were associated with performing below grade at age 12. Similarly, mental health problems at age 12 were associated with lack of complete final grades from compulsory school and non-eligibility to higher education. Academic performance at ages 15 and 19 did not increase the risk for mental health problems at age 20.ConclusionMental health problems in early childhood and adolescence increase the risk for poor academic performance, indicating the need for awareness and treatment to provide fair opportunities to education.

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Instating settings of emergency education in Vienna: temporary schooling of pupils with forced migration backgrounds

ABSTRACT In the year 2015, Austria was one of the main European destinations of displaced persons. According to education authoritiesaround 15,000 children with a forced migration background of school age who arrived in Austria over the course of a few months from late2015 to the beginning of 2016 called for immediate and partly temporary solutions. Due to Austrian legislation and unlike other countries,every child living in Austria between the ages of six to fifteen (or for nine years of schooling) is entitled to receive compulsory education. Though the school administration of Vienna generally promotes an inclusive approach to education in regular schools, schools inneighbourhoods with a large refugee population were reportedly unable to provide appropriate and adequate education for all children. Inresponse, the local school authority in Vienna decided to establish temporary classrooms in refugee accommodations. This article describesand analyses the emergence of new educational structures from the point of view of university students and lecturers who took part in theone and a half years of its implementation. The article thereby aims to document specific perspectives on educational emergency measuresat a certain point of time. In both the primary and secondary sectors, the emergence of a new temporary field of specialised and exceptional education were observed and recorded in a thick description of dynamic processes of trans-institutional, trans-organisational, transprofessional, communal, and individual development. Thus, the article presents a multifaceted picture of problems in refugee education under exceptional circumstances. The findings illustrate how insufficient educational opportunities for those falling outside the age of compulsory schooling – in particular, preschool children as well as youth older than fifteen – diminish possibilities for the inclusion of these children within and beyond education.

Does education decrease Euroscepticism? A regression discontinuity design using compulsory schooling reforms in four European countries

Previous research shows a strong and consistent relationship between educational attainment and Euroscepticism. As a result, education is considered to be a powerful predictor of attitudes towards European integration. However, these findings are predominantly found using cross-sectional research designs, therefore leaving open the possibility of strong selection effects due to pre-adult experiences and dispositions which both explain educational attainment and political attitudes. To test whether schooling causally reduces Euroscepticism, this article combines data on the compulsory schooling age with seven rounds of pooled European Social Survey data (2002–2014). Using compulsory schooling reforms within a ‘fuzzy’ regression discontinuity design, the results indicate no conclusive effect of education on Euroscepticism, questioning the impact of additional schooling. Consequently, this study provides a novel insight into the much-debated divide in support for European integration between lower and higher educated.

Everyone in school: The effects of compulsory schooling age on drop‐out and completion rates

AbstractThis article analyses the effect of the Berlinguer reform that was introduced in Italy in 1999 and increased compulsory schooling from eight to nine years. Hence, students had to attend school until the age of 15 instead of 14 that was required at the time and therefore to attend at least one year of upper secondary school (for pupils with a regular career). Using data from the Labour Force Surveys (1993–2010) and applying counterfactual time series and segmented regressions, we evaluate the effect of the reform on attendance and graduation rates. The results show that prolonging compulsory education encouraged a larger share of 16‐year‐olds to stay in school, especially those who were judged more at risk with less educated parents and with parents with a low occupational status. However, at age 17, part of the effect had already vanished and no effect was found on graduation rates. The compulsory schooling policy may have been more effective in adjusting the legislation to already existing student behaviour than in producing relevant changes in educational decisions.

DROPOUTS FROM SCHOOL - PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

Dropping out of school is a complex phenomenon and problem of education systems not only in Bulgaria but also in Europe and worldwide. He is social and governance issues at both state level and at the regional, local and institutional levels. Unfinished school and dropout rates leads to adverse consequences for learners themselves and for society as a whole.The report provides a brief overview of the reasons for distancing from school as a community and dropping out of school. Analyzed are data on school leavers students. Comments are personal, social and economic consequences of dropping out of the school system. Discussed policies for prevention of dropping out of school and ways to tackle the problem.The report presented practices in Bulgaria, which are applied to prevent students from dropping out of school and solve the problem. It considered developed by the government mechanism for collaborating institutions, coverage and retention in the education of children and students in compulsory preschool and school age. It applies to students who are compulsory training, but not enrolled in school students at risk of dropping out of the education system or who have already left school. The statement analyzing the joint efforts of experts and institutions in the field of educational and social activities and other bodies concerned with the issue. Submitted and the measures that apply in Bulgaria to complete the stages of primary education for drop-education students in previous periods.Place the focus on the role of team cooperation to prevent students from dropping out of school, and for the return of students to school and allow them to finish classes and educational stages of school education system.The report makes conclusions and recommendations for future measures to prevent the phenomenon of dropping out of school, paying attention to the interaction between school and family, and motivation of students to visit the school.

How the different policies and school systems affect the inclusion of Syrian refugee children in Sweden, Germany, Greece, Lebanon and Turkey

Since the war in Syria started in 2011, many children left their war-torn country, alone or together with their families, and fled to neighboring countries in the Middle East, to Turkey or to Europe. This article will compare how Syrian refugee children are included – or not - in school systems both in Europe (Sweden, Germany and Greece) and outside Europe (Turkey and Lebanon). These five countries represent very different ways of receiving children in their educational system. We will compare national institutional arrangements like access to compulsory school, access after compulsory school age, welcome or immersion classes, second language education and tracking mechanisms. Including children as soon as possible in regular classes seems to provide the best chances for school success, whereas educating refugee children in a segregated parallel school system for extended periods often results in early school leaving or not attending school at all.

Report. Indagine su atteggiamenti e credenze verso l'uso di sostanze stupefacenti

The survey is inspired by the observation of repeated clich&amp;eacute;s, beliefs, preconceptions, emerged in interviews with consumers or drug addicts and during class discussions with students during the implementation of prevention projects. The young people involved are students aged between 14 and 16, still in the compulsory school age range. The contents that emerged prompted the investigation to verify misinformation or false information, as well as attitudes and disposition for use in an age group where "hearsay" can be the main source of information for the construction of attitudes and beliefs, despite the media opportunities to obtain scientific information on the issues in question. It has often been observed that the computerized medium is used to seek confirmation of street convictions using unscientific sites; that subjects who use so-called "light" substances tend to normalize the phenomenon with phrases like: "Everyone uses them, even the big ones". The research topics concern the perception of danger towards occasional-non-employee consumption; the confusion between therapeutic use and abuse; the cerebral implications of use; the incorrect interpretation of the messages on legalization (generally interpreted as a license to indiscriminate use); the idea that individual freedom authorizes the use of substances; the conviction of their intentions to abstention; the hope of remaining free from use and living in protected environments; the arrangement for use. The answers obtained concerned a sample of 564 students.Emerging data show that about 8 out of 10 students have a general knowledge of the damage and theawareness that the consumption of substances is a risky behavior, while in the remaining two out of 10 the openness to use can be seen. A portion between 15% and 25% proves to have knowledge based on the "heard".Between the ages of 14 and 16 4 out of 5 youngsters hope for a substance-free future. The openness to use is around 15%; a datum compatible with the surveys on the use of cannabis in the 15-year-olds offered by the Annual Report to Parliament.

Learner identities in vocational education and training – from school to apprenticeship

ABSTRACTThe aim of this paper is to describe changing learner identities and trajectories of identification that take place among vocational education and training (VET) apprentices in Norway. This paper describes 23 young, male VET students’ learner identities in compulsory school (age 7–15) in comparison to their learner identities in VET apprenticeships (age 18–21), based on analyses of a set of biographical interviews about their schooling experiences. More specifically, the analysis describes changes in interviewees’ learner identities in their transition from school to apprenticeship. The analysis reveals that their narratives of being a student in school involved wounding educational experiences, such as negative student-teacher relationships, and feelings of failure and disengagement. At school, the participants’ learner identities were positional identities created in the shadow of the figured world of school, leading the students to individualised withdrawal. The narratives of their apprenticeship was characterised by a sense of belonging, feelings of equality to peers, independence and adulthood. The ‘adult working man’ identity is a disguised learning identity, in that it breaks with the wounded learner identity of the ‘failing student’ and thereby creates opportunities for active learning for apprentices, both as individuals and members of communities of practice.

Edad relativa y resultados escolares en educación primaria en la Comunidad Autónoma de Cantabria

Este trabajo analiza como el mes de nacimiento afecta a los resultados escolares en Lengua y Matemáticas del alumnado de la Comunidad Autónoma de Cantabria en los cursos de 2º, 4º y 6º de Educación Primaria en el periodo 2009-2014. Los resultados muestran que los estudiantes nacidos en los últimos meses del año obtuvieron notas más bajas que sus compañeros de clase. En conjunto, los resultados muestran que los nacidos a final de año tienen una mayor probabilidad de obtener calificaciones más bajas y una probabilidad aumentada de obtener peores notas, tras controlar el efecto del género, ser repetidor y la nota media de los centros docentes. La discusión valora la importancia de modificar los agrupamientos por edad en la enseñanza obligatoria así como la aplicación de políticas de flexibilización (criterial y temporal) de los procedimientos de evaluación del rendimiento de los estudiantes, con el objetivo de garantizar que las notas de los más jóvenes no se vean afectadas por las diferencias en edad relativa.

The effect of the oil and gas boom on schooling decisions in the U.S

The development of cost-effective technologies, along with high crude oil and natural gas prices, accelerated shale oil and gas extraction in the United States in the early 2000s. We explore the schooling response to this boom, taking advantage of timing and spatial variation in well-drilling activities. We show that intensive drilling activities decreased grade 11 and 12 enrollment over the 14-year study period—41,760 fewer students enrolled per year across the 15 states considered in this analysis (95% C.I.: 12,685–71,567). We investigate heterogeneous effects and show that the effect was larger in states with a younger compulsory schooling age (16 years of age instead of 17 or 18), in states with a lower effective tax rate on oil and gas production, and in non-metro counties with traditional mining or persistent poverty.

Understanding the ideology of the Swedish tax-paid school meal

Background: Children are provided with food at school in various ways. In Sweden, free school lunches are provided to all children of compulsory school age. Internationally, Sweden is fairly unique in this sense, which makes the country an important example to study and reflect upon. Objective: This article aims to describe the welfare ideology that underpins the provision of school meals in Sweden. Setting: Schools in Sweden. Method: The ideological underpinnings of the free school lunches provided in Sweden are described using the Seven Elements of Public Meals framework, which comprises the elements of welfare, health, sustainability, learning, social environment, physical environment and food. Results: Our findings suggest that school meal provision in Sweden is seen as a universal welfare service and a part of public health work. Meals are to be sustainable and are regarded as a learning occasion. The importance of the social and physical environment is accentuated, and when it comes to the quality of the food served, the school meal has improved over the years. Conclusion: The choice of food in schools is increasingly expected to be guided by personal choice. However, the privilege of being served a shared free school meal comes at the cost of less individual choice.