Mapping the Surgical Personality: A Scoping Review of Personality Traits in Surgical Education and Career Choice.

ABSTRACT Background School choice is framed in global education policy as a mechanism for enabling equitable access to schools. However, research shows that choice is often shaped by racialised, class-based and spatial inequalities. In South Africa, historical state control and its enduring apartheid legacies continue to inform how school choice is practised. Although studies have focused on parental decision-making, there is limited empirical research examining school choice as an agential process involving both parents and teachers navigating a stratified public schooling system. Purpose This article examines how racial, economic, and geographical factors continue to structure school choice in an urban town in South Africa (Stellenbosch), despite post-apartheid reforms aimed at educational equality. It positions that there are few studies in the country that prioritise parents’ and teachers’ agency in the school choice debate. It is essential to consider their perspectives in tangent to each other to understand the embedded racial, economic and spatial reasoning that guides their decision-making around school selection. Method The study made use of qualitative evidence from 11 semi-structured interviews conducted across three High Schools in the town of Stellenbosch, South Africa with parents and teachers. The schools were categorised as either fee paying or no-fee paying. The data were analysed thematically. Findings Parents’ decisions to select schools were influenced by the school’s reputation, wherein they considered safety, resources, discipline, and the symbolic power of historically privileged schools in white and coloured neighbourhoods. Teachers viewed public schooling as an enabling space to support learners to facilitate community upliftment. These divergent but connected forms of agency reflected and responded to the practice of school choice while navigating historical and contemporary inequalities. Conclusion By focusing on parents’ and teachers’ agency in understanding the process of school choice, this research offers an understanding of how educational inequalities persist and are resisted by these two stakeholder groups. School choice practice in Stellenbosch challenges traditional perceptions of schools in township and suburban areas and reframes a social justice analysis where parents and teachers are regarded as informed and engaged in shifting what school choice means in the town and broadly in the country.

This study aims to analyze the relationship between self-determination and career decision-making ability among senior high school students. The research is grounded in a global and national context showing that many adolescents, including Indonesian high school graduates, continue to experience uncertainty in choosing a career path. The study was conducted with Grade XII students of SMA Negeri 3 Banda Aceh using a quantitative, correlational design. The population comprised 346 students, and a sample of 177 was selected through simple random sampling based on the Issac and Michael table with a 5% margin of error. Instruments included the Self-Determination Scale covering autonomy, competence, and relatedness—and the Career Decision-Making Scale, which measures the stages of exploration, crystallization, choice, and clarification. Content validity was examined using the Content Validity Ratio (CVR), while reliability was assessed with Cronbach’s alpha, yielding high coefficients (α self-determination = 0.871; α career decision-making = 0.867). The analysis revealed that most students demonstrated moderate levels of both self-determination and career decision-making ability. Pearson’s product–moment correlation produced a coefficient of r = 0.533 with p = 0.000 (p < 0.05), indicating a positive and highly significant relationship between self-determination and career decision-making. In other words, the higher the students’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness, the more mature their educational and occupational choices. This research underscores that fulfilling the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness plays a crucial role in preparing students for the transition to higher education or the workforce. The findings recommend implementing school-based career guidance programs that foster intrinsic motivation, encouraging parental involvement to support adolescents’ exploratory freedom, and providing broader access to career information.

A methodology for prefabrication system choice in Egyptian schools’ construction

ABSTRACT This article introduces the concept of a Globalized Acceptance to examine how language immersion education operates through school choice. Drawing on qualitative data from an elementary Mandarin immersion program, this study analyzes how a school markets a foreign language program that attracts middle-class families. Rather than prioritizing a language that reflects the existing student population, the school promotes Mandarin Chinese as a symbol of global opportunity. Language becomes a classed commodity that signals elite cultural capital rather than a practical communication method. This study contributes to our understanding of educational markets by showing how immersion programs may translate globalization into an educational asset that is unevenly distributed.

ABSTRACT Factors of motivation in higher education, broadly classified as intrinsic or extrinsic, significantly predict skill development and workforce preparedness driving social stability and economic growth. Since the disruptive COVID-19 pandemic, the subsequently accelerated workplace restructuring and the ensuing economic crisis in Lebanon, there have been very few studies investigating students’ motivation in higher education. The present study addresses this gap by investigating the factors of motivation (intrinsic or extrinsic) that drive students to pursue a higher education, including instructor-, course-related and other external factors. Five hundred forty-three university students answered demographic questions and completed a questionnaire based on the academic motivation scale (AMS-C-28). Our findings show that extrinsic motivation seems to be the main factor driving students to seek and complete a higher education, and point to course content and delivery as the major aspects influencing students’ motivation in class.

ABSTRACT At similar performance levels, socioeconomically advantaged students typically choose more demanding and prestigious educational paths than their less advantaged peers. Such secondary effects are often studied in school continuation decisions or track choice but may also manifest in school choice, offering an alternative avenue for parental influence in education. This study examines secondary effects in school choice and the role of social capital—resources embedded in peer and parental networks in primary school—in these patterns within the context of the Netherlands. I rely on linked sociometric and full-population register data for Dutch students who have recently transitioned to secondary school. Hypotheses are tested using fixed effects regression models to account for (self-)selection into primary school. Results indicate that secondary school choice is socially stratified: Students from higher socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds tend to avoid pre-vocational schools, prefer pre-university schools, and opt for heterogeneous classes at intermediate performance levels. There is limited evidence for the relation between social capital and the type of school chosen. A notable exception is that lower-SES students are less likely to enroll in pre-vocational schools if their parents are integrated into resource-rich networks in primary school, suggesting that such networks may play a compensatory role by discouraging decisions that hinder upward-track mobility.

Pathways to nursing: A qualitative exploration of the education and training decision-making of nursing students.

Inclusive education and parental choice: How student characteristics affect school efficiency

Rural Schools of Choice: Virtual Charter Schools

There has been growing interest internationally in the extent to which school and neighborhood contexts make a difference to academic achievement. However, there can be difficulties in disentangling school and neighborhood effects in systems where schools operate on the basis of neighborhood catchment areas and/or where between-school tracking exists. In Ireland, in contrast, the degree of school choice at secondary school level in an untracked system makes it possible to provide precise estimates of the relative importance of neighborhood and school composition. A further contribution of the article is its examination of the effects of cumulative disadvantage across primary and secondary education. Drawing on data from Cohort ’98 of the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal study, both school and neighborhood disadvantage are found to contribute to lower grades at upper secondary level. Between-school differences are larger than neighborhood differences. Young people attending schools with a concentration of socioeconomically disadvantaged students achieve lower grades than those in socially mixed or middle-class schools, even when a range of social background factors and prior performance are taken into account. Similarly, neighborhood disadvantage is associated with lower grades, even controlling for prior achievement and school composition. The analyses indicate the value of adopting a multidimensional and multilevel approach to unpack the different drivers of educational inequality.

ABSTRACT This study examines how emotions and affective intensities – such as fear, anxiety, and defensive attitudes – influence school choice practices in the inner-city district of Berlin-Kreuzberg. Through interviews and ethnographic neighbourhood walks with parents – particularly mothers – the research gathered meaningful insights into their daily lives with their children. Parents perceived certain places, streets, and playgrounds as highly unsafe and consequently avoided them. While parents sought to protect their children by distancing themselves downwards, their expressions of racism and classism necessitated critical reflexivity on the part of the researcher. Employing affect-theoretical and power-critical frameworks, this study highlights how differing positionalities shape emotional experiences, resulting in a range of perspectives and attitudes among both researchers and participants.

Abstract In contexts like Germany where no information on the quality of schools is publicly available, school reputations are particularly important for school choice. Reputations can be understood as discursively generated ‘rumours’ conveying personal opinions and experiences often revolving around school composition. Taking up previous research, the article uses a mixed‐methods design to investigate how the reputations of primary schools are established in discourses in a German neighbourhood in North Rhine‐Westphalia and what role they play in school choice. It becomes clear that, in contrast to previous studies, the reputations of the local schools generally reflect their composition. Even if this does not mean that reliable conclusions about a school’s quality can actually be drawn from it, reputation is a very important school selection criterion across all social groups. Nevertheless, perceptions of individual primary schools vary in line with parents’ educational qualifications, contributing to school segregation.

ABSTRACT This article examines the implementation of a counter-cultural education policy in Chile, which significantly altered the school choice process. In this context, this paper analyses the role of information in using Chile’s School Admission System (SAE), an online platform for school choice. This research aimed to study how the communication process associated with the SAE impacts the construction of parents’ attitudes toward this policy. Methodologically, a mixed design was employed, consisting of administering a survey to parents and conducting focus groups. Among the results, it stands out that parents express a sense of depersonalization in the school-choosing process, as it is now mediated by technology. In addition, those who have experienced more significant difficulties through the online platform are more likely to have a negative attitude toward the SAE, indicating that the system does not allow freedom of choice and does not promote school inclusion, which is one of its objectives as an educational policy. These results demonstrate that effective communication is crucial for implementing an educational policy, particularly when it involves cultural change.

Abstract Gold has traditionally been a cornerstone of investment culture in India, symbolizing wealth, stability, and social status. However, in recent years, modern financial instruments such as digital gold, Gold Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs), and gold- oriented mutual funds have gained prominence as alternative avenues for gold investment. These avenues promise advantages such as liquidity, convenience, and potentially higher returns without the challenges of physical storage and security. This study explores the awareness levels, preferences, and behavioural trends of investors in Amravati City with respect to these modern gold investment options. Using a combination of primary surveys and secondary literature, the research examines how demographic factors such as age, education, and income influence investment choices, and contrasts traditional beliefs with contemporary trends. The findings suggest increasing adoption of digital and paper gold formats, particularly among younger and tech-savvy investors, while traditional physical gold remains significant due to cultural attachments and perceived security. The paper highlights implications for financial education, platform design, and regulatory clarity to enhance informed investment decisions.

Review of “Kindergarten Panic: Parental Anxiety and School Choice Inequality”

In the post pandemic era, the global study abroad market has undergone significant changes, and the uncertainty of traditional overseas study has increased. Mainland and Hong Kong universities, with their unique advantages, have become the core choice for students' further education. In this context, the direction of educational resource flow, policy adjustments, and changes in the employment market all have an impact on the choice of further education. This article identifies five core influencing factors: policy support and enrollment mechanisms, educational resources and training models, economic costs and cost-effectiveness, employment prospects and regional integration, and social environment and adaptability. Research has found that the internationalization policies of Hong Kong universities, the advantages of local resources in mainland universities, and the trend of integrated development in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area are key factors influencing the choice of further education. Different families and students exhibit differentiated preferences due to differences in economic conditions, academic planning, and career aspirations. This article clarifies the impact logic of various factors by reviewing authoritative policy documents, enrollment data, and employment reports, providing reference for students and parents' decisions on further education, as well as ideas for optimizing the allocation of higher education resources in both regions.

This paper studies the interaction between the private and the public sector in determining the supply and segmentation of education in modern economies. We develop a theoretical model in which the private and the public sector offer education as a relatively homogeneous good. In our model, the distribution of preferences for the private and public choices determines the stratification of the choice of education. Our analysis shows that increases in income taxation reduce the demand for private and public education but increases tax revenue and the supply of the public sector, showing a tradeoff between access to education and welfare changes associated to the net incidence of taxation and the supply of a public good. In our model, the private sector helps to improve the efficiency in the supply of education while the government intervention improves access leading to a more equitable allocation of resources in education. In our analysis income tax rates are associated to the proportion of households choosing both education in the private and public sector, which might help to evaluate the efficacy of government intervention in education.

School choice policy is often touted as offering more choices to families whose school options are limited by traditional zoning. However, too many options or too much information may create a “paradox of choice,” resulting in anxiety and dissatisfaction. Through a mixed-methods study, including a survey experiment and interviews, we test whether reducing the number of school options or simplifying the information about them reduces parent stress and increases satisfaction. We find that reducing options and simplifying information does not result in better psychological outcomes and that the actual school choice process is not particularly stressful. More advantaged parents tend to experience greater stress than less advantaged parents. Through qualitative analysis, we uncover possible explanations for these counterintuitive findings.

ABSTRACT The relationship between school choice and segregation remains a contentious issue in both academic and policy spheres. In recent years, the redesign of school choice policies has gained traction as a strategy to mitigate their negative impacts on school segregation. In this context, Barcelona (Spain) implemented desegregation policies in 2019, primarily based on redesigning specific school choice policy instruments to reduce the uneven distribution of socially disadvantaged students among schools. This study examines the impact of these policies on school segregation and explores how their effectiveness varies according to the characteristics of different areas within the city. The findings indicate that desegregation policies have reduced the uneven distribution of socially disadvantaged students and their isolation in specific schools. However, our results also show that, in each area, impacts are mediated by factors such as residential segregation, the enrolment in subsidized private schools, the share of students schooling outside their educational area, and the prevalence of siblings already attending a school, which confers priority access in admissions. We argue that the relative success of Barcelona’s school choice reform in addressing school segregation lies in its shift from a coordinated to a controlled choice model.