Change or stability in educational inequalities? Educational mobility and school effects in the context of a major urban policy

The National Program Rotterdam South is a large-scale ambitious Dutch urban policy that aims to increase educational attainment amongst disadvantaged children in one of the poorest areas in the Netherlands. This study investigates to what extent inequality in educational attainment based on parental education has changed during the first period of this program. We further examine to what extent area and school characteristics affect educational attainment. Register data on the individual, school and area level were employed to study these issues. We find that the effect of parental education on secondary school attainment has been stable since the start of the program, indicating inequality has not decreased in the context of the program. Furthermore, several school characteristics, including socioeconomic status and retention rate, were relevant in explaining differences in educational attainment. We discuss how our findings relate to the allocation of policy means.

Links between psychological disengagement from school and different forms of self-esteem in the crucial period of early and mid-adolescence

The purpose of this study was to test the links between psychological disengagement from academics and self-esteem during two different periods of adolescence. Previous research provided mixed findings on the links between both psychological disengagement mechanisms (i.e., discounting and devaluing) and self-esteem. To clarify this relationship, global self-esteem as well as self-esteem in school attainment and social domains were assessed among 142 early-adolescents (aged 11 to 12) and 172 mid-adolescents (aged 13 to 15). According to the Psychological Disengagement Model, it was predicted that experience of personal deprivation due to perceived relative academic underachievement would be associated with discounting of academic grades. In turn, a link between discounting and devaluing from school was expected. Both psychological disengagement mechanisms were predicted to harm global self-esteem and self-esteem in the school attainment domains. However, discounting and devaluing were expected to increase self-esteem in the social domains among mid- rather than early-adolescents. Path analyses support in part prediction. Both psychological disengagement mechanisms played a different role on global and domain-specific self-esteem. Among early-adolescents, discounting reduced global self-esteem and self-esteem in school attainment domains. Findings pointed to the self-protective role of discounting on self-esteem in social domains among mid-adolescents as well as the non-protective function of devaluing on global self-esteem, school attainment and social domains of self-esteem. This study contributes by clarifying the links between psychological disengagement from academics and self-esteem at two distinct periods in adolescence and the specific domains of self-esteem.

Case III.2: Student–Public–Sociologist: On Dialogue with our First Public, and in Widening Access to Higher Education

By some measurements, I should not be in a position where I can contribute a chapter to an academic text. I entered university as a mature, working class, first generation student from a rural background, with less than impressive school attainment and a menial employment history. Here, as an early career lecturer experiencing culture shock, imposter syndrome and struggling with my mental health at time of writing, I reflect on the impact of dialogue on the Scottish widening access agenda and of students as arguably our first and most important public....

School absence and achievement in children with isolated orofacial clefts

ObjectivesTo examine school absence and academic achievement among 7-year-old children with isolated orofacial clefts in England.DesignAnalysis of educational data linked to national cleft registry and administrative hospital data.SettingEnglish state schools.Patients3523 children with isolated clefts aged 7 years between 2006 and 2014.Main outcome measuresAnnual school absence and reaching the national ‘expected level’ according to teacher-assessed academic achievement.ResultsChildren with isolated clefts had higher mean annual school absence (10.5 days) than their peers in the national population (8.9 days). Total absence was higher in children with a cleft lip and palate (CLP; 11.3 days) or with a cleft palate only (CPO; 10.5 days) than in children with a cleft lip only (CLO; 9.5 days). The percentage reaching the expected academic level decreased with increasing school absence (from 77.4% (923/1192) with annual school absence ≤5 days to 43.4% (193/445) with annual school absence >20 days). However, differences in school absence did not explain that children with CPO (65.9% reaching expected level) or CLP (66.1% reaching expected level) had poorer levels of academic achievement than children with CLO (73.5% reaching expected level). Children with a cleft were twice as often recognised as having special education needs (40.5%) than their peers (21.6%).ConclusionsSchool absence and cleft type are both independently associated with school attainment at 7 years. Children with an isolated cleft, especially when the palate is involved, and those with high levels of school absence may benefit from increased support addressing their educational needs.

Time for Education and Culture

This chapter discusses overall trends in children's time doing homework and study. It analyses differences in trends associated with parental education to explore the extent to which trends in time doing homework and study reflect socio-economic differences in educational outcomes. Despite increasing levels of school attainment, children from lower socio-economic backgrounds overall persistently obtain fewer qualifications from school than those from relatively more advantaged families. The chapter also studies trends in children's time reading and their participation in a wide range of cultural activities, such as going to galleries and museums or the cinema and sporting events. Middle-class parents typically possess relatively high levels of cultural capital, evidenced in their relatively higher qualification and participation in different cultural practices, which may in turn help sustain socio-economic differences in educational outcomes for children.

Patterns of growth in childhood in relation to adult schooling attainment and IQ in 6 birth cohorts in low and middle-income countries: evidence from COHORTS

SummaryBackgroundGrowth faltering has been associated with poor intellectual performance. The relative strengths of associations between growth in early and in later childhood remain underexplored. We examined the association between growth in childhood and adolescence and adult human capital in five low- or middle-income countries (LMICs).MethodsWe analyzed data from six prospective birth cohorts of five LMICs (Brazil, Guatemala, India, the Philippines, and South Africa). We assessed the associations of measures of height and relative weight at four ages (birth, at around age 2 years, mid-childhood (MC), adulthood), with two dimension of adult human capital (schooling attainment and IQ).FindingsIn site- and sex-pooled analyses, size at birth and linear growth from birth to around 2 years of age were positively associated with schooling attainment and adult IQ. Linear growth from age 2 years to MC and from MC to adulthood was not associated with higher school attainment or IQ. Change in relative weight in early childhood was not associated with either outcome. Relative weight in MC and in adulthood were inversely associated with schooling attainment but were not associated with adult IQ.InterpretationLinear growth in the first 1,000 days is a predictor of schooling attainment and IQ in adulthood in LMICs. Linear growth in later periods was not associated with either of these outcomes. Changes in relative weight had inconsistent association with schooling and IQ in adulthood.FundingBill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1164115)Research in contextEvidence before this studyEarly life growth faltering has been associated with poor cognitive and intellectual performance in childhood and poorer schooling outcomes in children and adults. There is a paucity of data about how growth in specific age intervals over the course of childhood and adolescence relates to attained schooling and adult cognitive performance.We conducted a literature search using the terms (growth [Title/Abstract]) AND ((school [Title/Abstract] OR schooling [Title/Abstract]) AND (intelligence [Title/Abstract] OR IQ [Title/Abstract]) OR (human capital [Title/Abstract]) in Pubmed. The search yielded 536 publications from 1965 to 2020. We screened titles and selected 31 publications that included linear growth and our outcomes of interest, namely school attainment and intelligence quotient (IQ). Additionally, we checked reference lists of selected articles and identified eleven papers that were not displayed in the initial electronic query. We therefore reviewed 42 abstracts and identified 24 unique studies conducted in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Fourteen of them investigated the association of birth size and/or early-life size with schooling or IQ, or with both outcomes during childhood. Three studies investigated the association between linear growth in early childhood and schooling and intelligence in adults, one studied the association between early-life undernutrition and IQ in early adulthood and another six publications investigated the association between growth and school attainment in adults. Economists have also studied the relationship between stunting or linear growth and schooling in LMICs, but to our knowledge not the relative importance of growth during specific age intervals.Added value of this studyThis is an analysis of the associations between child and adolescent growth and two dimensions of human capital (schooling attainment and IQ) in adulthood in six birth cohorts from five LMICs. The evidence of long-term associations of linear growth with adult IQ is scarce and the few published studies have analyzed data from a single country. In the present study, we found that size at birth and linear growth from birth to around 2 years of age were positively associated with both schooling and IQ in adulthood. Linear growth between early and mid-childhood (MC)was not associated with higher school attainment or IQ in adjusted models. Linear growth from MC to adulthood was not associated with IQ in men or women, and was inversely associated with schooling attainment in women only. Change in relative weight in early childhood was positively associated with schooling attainment only in minimally adjusted models. Relative weight measures in MC and adulthood were inversely associated with schooling attainment. Change in relative weight between MC and adulthood was not associated with adult IQ.Implications of all the available evidenceWe confirmed in multiple cohorts that birth size and linear growth from birth to age 2 years are predictors of schooling attainment and adult IQ. Linear growth in early life was the strongest predictor of these two human capital dimensions in adulthood among individuals in LMICs. We did not find evidence that supports the notion that linear growth in adolescence contributes to a better cognitive performance in adulthood. Thus, our results inform the more effective timing of nutritional and other interventions to improve linear growth and human capital in the long-term.

Sleep problems in adolescents with CFS: A case-control study nested within a prospective clinical cohort

Sleep problems have a negative impact on a range of outcomes and are very common in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). We aimed to (a) establish whether adolescents with CFS have more self-reported sleep problems than illness controls as well as healthy controls, (b) investigate changes in sleep problems and (c) explore the extent to which sleep problems at baseline predict fatigue and functioning at follow-up in adolescents with CFS. The Insomnia Scale was completed by 121 adolescents with CFS, 78 healthy adolescents and 27 adolescents with asthma. Eighty (66%) treatment-naïve adolescents with CFS completed questionnaires approximately 3 months later. Adolescents with CFS reported increased sleep problems compared to healthy controls and adolescents with asthma. In CFS, there was no significant change in sleep problems without treatment over a 3-month follow-up. Sleep problems at baseline predicted a significant proportion of the variance in sleep problems at follow-up. Sleep problems should be targeted in treatment. Regulating the ‘body clock’ via the regulation of sleep could influence outcomes not assessed in this study such as school attainment.