Previous School Experiences Research Articles

Exploring the factors informing educational inequality in higher education: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT This systematic literature review explores the factors influencing educational inequality in higher education across diverse global contexts. The study reveals the systemic nature of disparities rooted in the cyclical relationship between poverty and educational inequalities, particularly in relation to access to higher education. Six key factors – socioeconomic status, parental education, ethnicity, previous schooling experiences, gender, and geographical location – constitute an intricate web of intersecting influences. These factors necessitate adaptive policy solutions to address the multifaceted challenges. The review underscores the cultural and societal impact on educational disparities in accessing further study, emphasising the need for policies that challenge ingrained prejudices and foster inclusivity. The analysis highlights the global nature of disparities while emphasising the importance of locally informed and contextual specific solutions. In conclusion, the findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the nuanced dynamics of educational inequality in accessing higher education, offering insights for researchers and policymakers alike.

The Impact of Separate and Blended Learning on the Quality of Education in Higher Education Institutions

The article deals with the question of how much the previous school or learning experience influences the quality of higher education. School education can be carried out by different teaching methods, and each of them is characterized by its own peculiarities. Separate (gender-segregated) and blended (gender-mixed) learning are two widespread methods that shape the educational process and influence the social interaction between students. Importantly, the quality of pre-university education can have a significant impact on students' willingness to study challenging subjects at university. Students with a solid knowledge base and good academic skills often find it easier to cope with more challenging academic material in higher education. Initial successes can significantly boost students' self-confidence, which in turn has a positive effect on their motivation and overall performance at university. When students enter higher education, they are exposed to a new educational environment, are exposed to new teaching methods and develop as individuals. However, it is also important to recognize that each stage of learning presents students with its own unique challenges and opportunities that require students to be flexible and adaptable to overcome successfully.

Envisioning Future Elementary School Teachers’ Practices in The Post-Pandemic Era: A Visual Narrative Inquiry

The COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionised the educational landscape massively, including the way teachers enact their roles both inside and outside the classroom context. The abrupt changes also influence pre-service teachers’ way of envisioning themselves as future teachers in the post-pandemic era. The aims of this study is to analyze the underlying influences and concerns for their choice of future projection as post-pandemic elementary school teachers. This study using the photo-narrative frame construct of visual narrative inquiry, this study explored the way three first-year pre-service elementary school teachers imagined their. The data were collected from students’ self-portraits and written narratives narrating their past, current, and future projection as post-pandemic teachers. The multimodal narrative analysis was applied to analyse both the visual and written narratives. The findings suggest that technology integration and student-centred pedagogy became the most common themes when the pre-service teachers projected their future selves. At the same time, their previous schooling experiences and future concerns about becoming a teacher had certain impacts on the way they projected themselves as future teachers. Therefore, it is recommended that future pre-service teachers should be given opportunities to reflect on their previous teaching and learning experiences and project what they wish to emulate and enhance for their future teaching practices.

Constructing Teacher Self in a Dialogue between Multiple I-Positions: A Case from Teacher Education

This study approached preservice teacher identity by drawing on Dialogical Self theory and especially the notion of I-position. The study explored how one preservice subject teacher, Aino, constructed her I-position as a becoming teacher in a dialogue between voices originating from her previous school experiences and voices stemming from her subject teacher pedagogical studies. The results of a dialogically oriented narrative analysis of the interview data showed that Aino constructed her teacher identity in a dialogical process between multiple internal and external I-positions. The pedagogical studies produced both positive and negative boundary experiences that enabled Aino to recognize tensions between internal (e.g., I as a becoming teacher and I as a pupil) and external (e.g., my past teachers) I-positions within her dialogical self. Aino constructed her preservice teacher identity in a critical dialogue and negotiation between different voices and I-positions originating from different times and places. Consequently, teacher education should help students become aware of the dynamics and tensions of the social, cultural, and institutional structures surrounding teachers’ work and to develop as agentive teachers who can transform their own thinking and practice in the complex, changing world of teachers’ work.

Creating year 7 bubbles to support primary to secondary school transition: a positive pandemic outcome?

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we explore the benefits of new forms of in-school grouping for children moving from primary to secondary school during the COVID-19 pandemic in England. Our three-phase study with over 400 students and teachers found that protective measures to limit COVID-19 though year group ‘bubbles’ generated an environment more aligned to children’s previous primary school experience. This natural experiment smoothed the process of transition by providing a better correspondence with students’ developmental needs, especially for those on the cusp of adolescence. We recommend that physical, administrative and pedagogical school structures are reimagined for this age group to this end.

Back to the Initial Condition: Experiences that Trigger the Need to Develop Language Skills Among University Spanish Students

The present study investigates how the L2 learning experience shapes multilinguals' motivation to improve their writing skills in Spanish, a language they study at university level. Within the Second Language Motivational Self System Theory (L2MSS), the L2 learning experience is often neglected when it comes to interpreting and discussing findings on motivation. We propose that the analysis of the L2 learning experience should acknowledge both formal and informal settings, such as the family context, in order to research why and how a person chooses to develop certain linguistic abilities like writing.
 Given that the L2 learner experience is spatially and temporally bound, the concept of sensitivity to initial conditions, i.e., the conditions or changes that may trigger the learner to move towards enhanced language learning, will be adopted to research the L2 learning experience.
 The aim of the study is twofold. First, to investigate the Spanish learning experience as a function of the initial conditions referred to by the participants. Second, to research how the Spanish ideal and ought-to selves are related to the students’ motivation to use and learn or maintain Spanish skills.
 The data consist of a questionnaire answered by multilingual university students of Spanish (n=21) and written autobiographical narratives. The participants belong to two groups: one group of Spanish heritage language learners (n=10) and one group of native-Swedish speaking L3 Spanish learners (n=11). Overall, family reasons, previous school experiences, high proficiency in Spanish, previously acquired languages, contact with the linguistic communities, language use and context are all aspects tightly connected to the students’ motivation to learn, maintain and develop Spanish language proficiency. The L2 learning experience, as a wider construct dependent on the sensitivity to initial conditions, must be considered to understand the complex nature of multilingual literacy development.

Dropping out – Hungarian experiences at vocational training

The proportion of people with low school qualifications remains significant in Hungary, which not only makes it difficult for them to enter the current labour market but may also exclude them in the long term. For the increasing number of people with a low level of education, dropping out seems to be one of the most common reasons. Prevention as a determinative measure can provide answers to this problem. The study focuses on the issue of secondary school drop-out. The study results were based on the methodology of questionnaire surveys and semi-structured conversations. Based on the information obtained from the survey, this study continuously presents the results connected to drop-out conditions and compensatory measures. The study results highlight the significant effects of school and family, including previous school experiences, influence on the place of residence, the labour market status. The conclusions drawn from the results address the topic in a practical way and provide an opportunity to develop a possible action plan to prevent drop-outs.

Migración de retorno en México y su bilingüismo. Revisión de la literatura 2006-2018

Se presenta una revisión de la literatura sobre los estudiantes migrantes de retorno en el sistema educativo en México, la cual incluyó artículos de investigación y otros textos académicos disponibles publicados en el período 2006-2018. La revisión permitió identificar los métodos investigativos y temáticas de estudio: una tipología de estos estudiantes basada en variables como edad, nacionalidad y estatus migratorio, condiciones al ingreso y las necesidades surgidas durante su estancia en el contexto educativo. También emergió un perfil educativo, con base en información sobre sus características psicológicas, experiencias lingüísticas y escolares previas, así como aspectos relacionados con la convivencia escolar e integración social. Aunque la investigación existente es útil para conocer algunas características y necesidades al retorno, aún son necesarios estudios que indaguen aspectos como la relación bilingüismo-desarrollo académico en los distintos niveles educativos.

Baśniowe przestrzenie działania z perspektywy przyszłych nauczycieli

The aim of the article is to present meanings associated with fairy tale places by teacher candidates. The research data came from interviews with 57 early childhood pedagogy students, analysed through a qualitative method. The competences of candidates for teachers in perceiving the symbolism of places, wandering, world layout, reveal not only the level of cultural and literary knowledge (because they are a “showcase” of previous school experiences of fairy-tale themed lessons), but also indicate their future strategies for designing children’s activity based on fairy tales. These strategies may turn out to be so durable and resistant to change that they might survive university literary education and remain the starting point for students’ teaching practice. The research shows that the fairy tale can remain in them as the starting point for fun or a “background” for science, mathematics and language.

Teacher beliefs and their manifestation in teaching from the perspective of pre-service teacher trainees

Abstract Teacher beliefs play an important role in addressing the issue of teacher training. Teaching philosophy has long been a question of great interest in a wide range of fields in teacher education. There is a growing body of literature that recognises the importance of what teacher trainees or teachers in general think, believe and do in teaching. Studies over the past two decades have provided important information on the possible factors that may impact the formation of teacher beliefs. The paper attempts to explore the relationship between previous school experience and the formation of teacher beliefs among teacher trainees who can provide viewpoints of a teacher and a student at the same time. Moreover, the paper examines teaching methods and techniques that the trainees apply in their teaching as a result of what they believe in as teachers. Data were obtained from semi-structured interviews conducted with pre-service teacher trainees as a part of feedback sessions during teaching practice. By employing qualitative approach, the research contributes to a deeper understanding of the formation and manifestation of teacher beliefs in teaching.

Students’ Critical Commentaries: Unfettered Voices

Changes to educational practices have been proposed, with some being adopted globally, on a continuous basis. However, student opinions have seldom been invited into discussions. This article was written following an invitation from the Dialogic Pedagogy Journal “to write a critical response to” Eugene Matusov’s editorial “A student’s right to freedom of education”. The inclusion of student voices in educational forums is integral for a more complete understanding of the position of all participants and, whether one considers students to be representative of one of Gramsci’s subaltern classes, students as an active group have historically been denied “the basic rights of participation” (El, H., 2012), with their absence from educational discussions having become the status quo. The following article introduces the critical commentaries from seven students who were members of a university level Discussion and Debate class in Seoul, South Korea. Their views were shaped from their previous schooling experiences and their hopes for positive changes. The students’ commentaries are responded to by Eugene Matusov. It is the hope of this author that this classroom process may act as one potential model for further educators to invite student voices into academic discourse. In the spirit of Gayatri Spivak’s 1998 essay (Spivak and Riach, 2012), it is time to let the subaltern speak.

Mobilities of policy and mobile parents – creating a new dynamic in policy borrowing within state schooling

ABSTRACT In this article, we focus on the transformations imposed on schools by individual parents, arguing that schools as modern organisations change not only through top-down pressures orchestrated by an array of international organisations, for-profit companies and media as shown in previous research, but also through the agency of mobile parents, who seek to import reforms from elsewhere, based on their previous schooling experiences abroad. We focus on a specific group of middle class parents, who are continuously mobile, moving between global cities for employment. This paper brings into the discussion the role of individual parental strategies as they seek to promote education policy-borrowing. By applying the theoretical lens of stakeholder identification and salience, using a multi case study research design, we suggest that parents express high levels of power, legitimacy and a sense of urgency, thus being able to successfully advocate for change. We argue that while exploring organisational reform occurring due to the globalisation of education, we must view parents as central actors in this new space.

Learning to be silent: examining Chinese elementary students’ stories about why they do not speak in class

ABSTRACT Prior research often attributed Chinese students’ classroom silence to their previous schooling experiences, yet rarely provides evidence of exactly how these experiences shaped students into silent learners. Through surveys and in-depth interviews with Chinese 6th graders, our study examined how students ‘learned to be silent’. Guided by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) framework, our analysis showed that students’ non-participating behaviours are driven by intentions consisting of behavioural, normative and control beliefs towards classroom participation, which are generated from their previous schooling experiences. Theoretically, we suggested that: (1) Chinese elementary students’ silence should be treated as a learnt behaviour rather than attributed to culture or habit; (2) similar previous experiences may trigger significantly different intentions in students; (3) different, even contradictory intentions can lead to students’ silence; (4) some significant factors identified in earlier research did not present in our data, suggesting reasons for classroom silence may change over time. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS: FROM WORK TO SCHOOL

The focus of this project is on finding key skills that have been developed and/or transferred to the workplace from previous school experience, and how these relate back to a student’s school term. Following a phenomenological approach, this paper explores three case studies and tracks various skills from their coop term into their school term. The most transferable skills were communication, time management, organization, responsibility and problem solving. Some students also specified skills such as diligence, focus and the need for initiative as vital for a successful work placement. One consistency was that students did not find that their technical skills transferred between terms, but rather that there was far more emphasis and transferability of general skills. Therefore, general skills were the most transferable, both to and from the workplace. Finally, students mentioned the applications of skills to clubs, indicating the importance of extracurriculars in a student’s educational experience.

Diversité du sens de l’orientation des collégien(ne)s orienté(e)s vers la 3e préparatoire aux formations professionnelles (3e PFP) : le rôle de l’expérience scolaire antérieure

Professional exploration modules are offered to the secondary school students attending a Preparatory to Vocational Training (3rd PVT). They are aimed at the academically weak pupils’ remobilization through the development of a training project in vocational education. Based on the model of plural and active socialization (Malrieu, 2003), this article aims to understand the processes of inter-significance between the meaning of school experience, the relation to learning and the relation to the future which underlines the building of the meaning of orientation of middle school students to the PVT program. One hundred and ninety-nine middle school students from 14 to 16 years old who attend the PVT in vocational schools underwent a computerized questionnaire including 96 items. A hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) differentiates three typical profiles of college students. Though the orientation in the PVT program remains characterized by strong social determinisms (school history and social origin), it seems for a majority of students built on positive representations dependent on the meaning of the previous school experience more than on a projection to the future.

New to School and New to Print: Everyday Peer Interaction Among Adolescent High School Newcomers

ABSTRACTThis article examines everyday classroom peer interaction among emergent multilingual high school students who are new to the United States, new to school, new to English, and new to alphabetic print literacy. Data were collected through observation and video recording within a daily 90-minute, English language and literacy block class over the course of one academic year in a public high school. All students were older adolescents (16–22 years of age) who had recently arrived from East Africa and had extremely limited or no previous formal schooling experiences. Our close analysis of classroom discourse within typical daily routines reveals how students provided feedback, recasts, and support during activities that are often considered to be noninteractive and teacher-led. Concomitantly, we demonstrate how students in some cases did not take up opportunities that were intended to generate peer interaction and to provide opportunities for negotiation of meaning and form. These findings point to the importance of critically examining peer interaction in everyday contexts and suggest the need to expand conceptions of productive activities and the characteristics of peer interaction among students who are new to basic print literacy skills and new to classroom language learning routines.

Nyanlända elevers litteracitetspraktiker i skolan

During the last decade, the number of recently arrived immigrant pupils has increased in Swedish schools. This has entailed great challenges for the educational system, not least concerning how these pupils can acquire written language skills in a second language. Against this backdrop, we have investigated the literacy practices of two recently arrived pupils. The two pupils, seven and eight years old, speak Dari as their first language, have no previous school experience and are now learning to read and write in Swedish. The pupils were observed during ten weeks in a mainstream Swedish-speaking educational context. Luke and Freebody’s (1990) four resources’ model was used in order to identify different literacy practices. The model emphasises four different practices that are all necessary, but not in themselves sufficient for a person to develop into a skilled reader: decoding words; understanding of semantic content; pragmatic use and a critical approach to texts. The article describes the challenges of literacy acquisition for the two children in relation to all four practices, but also pinpoints potential resources that can be used to support the pupils’ learning in relation to these difficulties. Finally, pedagogical implications for the teaching of recently arrived pupils of primary school age are discussed in relation to the results.

Trayectos escolares previos y vida universitaria

The main purpose of this paper is to share research results. These are about the reconstruction that students do on their previous school experiences and how they contrast them with the changes in their university life. The central problem was linked to the need to know the characteristics of young people who are in fact living at the stage of university. We have as a goal to show some of their psychosocial references in order to identify issues related to the experiences in this new step and their ways of action on the construction of their institutional place. The research was conducted in 2014. It is a mixed methodological approach, because we gave a questionnaire with closed and open questions, but also, we took individual and group interviews. The population consisted of students who were enrolled in their second year of Chemical and Veterinary Sciences at the Catholic University of Cordoba.

El papel de las experiencias escolares preuniversitarias en la conformación de un proyecto de vida ligado a la educación superior en estudiantes con discapacidad

This article aims to approach the school experiences of 13 students with disabilities. It corresponds to a cross, synchronous and non experimental study, whose scope is mainly descriptive. The data collection was carried out through a semi-structured interview and transcribed from audio recordings to make a category analysis. The main results showed that in the case of students who were born with disabilities, the fact that an institution was inclusive turned out essential for them to have adequate transit through the educational system and thus become apt for higher education. The combination disability-inclusion-right to education-higher education is what this paper aimed to weave, trying to follow as thread or anchor, the previous school experiences of students with disabilities. We recognize that an adequate, inclusive, positive experience besides a subjective construction of the body and disability by family members, become important conditions to access schooling. Education is a right, therefore it can not be seen as an act of charity; it should be required as a quality practice.

Investigating the probabilistic reasoning in verbal–numerical and graphical–pictorial formats in relation to cognitive and non-cognitive dimensions: The proposal of a model

The purpose of this study was to understand the role played by several individual and contextual variables in accounting for the subjects' performance in probabilistic reasoning problems, presented in verbal–numerical and graphical–pictorial formats, respectively. Structural equation models linking these variables were proposed. Three samples of psychology undergraduate students in Spain (n=127) and Italy (n=549, of whom n=173 were working under time pressure) who had no statistical expertise were requested to solve problems and to complete a set of questionnaires investigating abilities, statistical anxiety, attitudes towards statistics and confidence in the correctness of responses. Distinct models for the two formats were evaluated in each sample. The outcomes showed specificities in the relationships of variables. The dissimilarities between performances in the two formats were highlighted; moreover, similarities and differences were observed in the two countries and among Italians working with and without time pressure. These findings indicate that previous school experiences played a central role in accounting for the performances of students lacking knowledge about statistics, especially in the absence of time pressure. However, confidence showed a strong influence on performance in both formats in the presence of time pressure. The results are discussed in relation to their theoretical meanings and applications.