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This study aimed to examine the effects of Cambodia's New Generation Schools (NGS), as compared to their traditional counterparts, in enhancing the seven constructs: (1) science and math achievement, (2) science and math self-efficacy, (3) science and math outcome expectations, (4) attitudes toward science, (5) interactive science and math lessons, (6) support from science and math teachers and (7) encouragement and support in science from family.

The two observations data was collected using self-rated questionnaire from 301 11th graders from five upper secondary schools located in three provinces of Cambodia. Independent sample t-test, Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and dependent sample t-test were used to analyze the repeated measures data.

The study revealed that students from the NGS exhibited statistically higher scores for most constructs, especially for attitudes toward science. However, when controlling for the differences in the first observation data, the significant effects of the three constructs have been neutralized. Moreover, though there was an increase in science activities outside school, there was a negative trajectory in the other two sub-constructs of attitudes toward science and support from science and math teachers, both in NGS and traditional schools.

These findings point some practical implications for enhancing the effectiveness of the two school types and further research.

There is heavy investment in new form of schools across the world to enhance students' learning and academic achievement in science and math in K-12 and to promote their interest in STEM in higher education. However, there is little document on the effectiveness of this new form of school, particularly in the Cambodian context.

In the 1980s, the Chinese government undertook a major structural reform in education by which upper secondary education was converted from predominantly general education to an equal mix of general education and vocational/technical education. A critical examination is provided of the rationale for and implementation strategies of the reform, framed in a broader context of the development of secondary education in the past four decades. It points out that, although the reform was justified in largely economic terms, there is actually little empirical support for the economic assumptions; the development of vocational/technical education is prompted more by a desire to reduce the social demand for higher education and to use education as a social stratification device. The reform reflects changing perspectives of the Chinese leadership on the role of education in national development; and it can be seen as the outcome of the most recent episode of continuing social and political conflicts in the Chinese state that began in the 1950s.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the type of mathematics skills developed at secondary school an effect on students’ later success in business studies. At many business schools in Norway, more students are applying than there are places available. The ranking of applications depends on the grade point average (GPA) level, irrespective of the level or type of mathematics studied at secondary school, where the students are free to choose practically orientated or theoretical mathematics.

A quantitative analysis (regression model) was applied using data for undergraduate students enrolled in business studies over a three–year period (2012–2014).

Students with a non-theoretical background in mathematics obtain systematically lower grades on many courses, especially in core business school subjects. Ranking applicants to business studies courses based on their GPA scores irrespective of their level of mathematics may lead to the admission of less able students.

There is little information available concerning why students choose different paths in mathematics at upper secondary school, but the decision students make has an influence on their grades in business courses.

By requiring more knowledge of theoretical mathematics, students’ performance at business school will improve. Changing the admission criteria could improve the quality of graduates and reduce the dropout rate.

The aim of this paper is to report how Swedish upper secondary schools involved in a European Union‐financed collaborative project intertwined aspects of subject integration and international collaboration with the use of ICT.

The methodology used is a case study in which aspects of subject integration and international collaborative ambitions are intertwined with the use of ICT. Data consist of interviews with participants, texts concerning the project, the participating school, and the Swedish upper secondary schools system.

Teachers and students have worked towards the objectives in the project and in the national curricula, and the case shows how difficult and how many barriers there are to overcome. Even though the curricula seem difficult to coordinate, students appear to have learnt more about the European perspective, as well as about themselves, through the approach. The teacher describes student motivation as high – authenticity and real people to collaborate with support the students' experience of a holistic education, which applies to real life. The teacher tried to change the role towards providing students with structure and advice, monitoring their progress, and assessing their accomplishments, but reported to be struggling with the teacher role.

The paper demonstrates originality and value by providing important insight into the use of ICT in upper secondary schools for the purpose of collaboration and at the same time working towards joint curricular themes.

This paper aims to focus on investigating information literacy (IL) capabilities and IL self-assessment of Vietnam’s upper secondary students.

The investigation was conducted in two upper secondary schools in the country using a multiple-choice questionnaire. The questionnaire was based on the IL competency-level assessment toolkit of high schools in the USA, the tool for real-time assessment of IL, to measure students’ IL in terms of developing search strategies, evaluating information sources, using information ethically and using English to engage with information effectively.

The findings reveal that students’ IL has not been well equipped. There is a real need to work toward improving the IL capability of Vietnam’s upper secondary students. The findings also reveal gender differences in IL capabilities.

The research used a closed-response questionnaire, which is considered appropriate to engage with Vietnamese high-school students, to explore students’ lower-level IL skills and their self-assessment rather than higher-level thinking competencies.

This research may help Vietnam’s educators understand high-school students’ IL competency and raise their awareness of the importance of IL to encourage the implementation of an IL programme.

This study contributes to the existing knowledge by adding substantially to current understanding of IL level of Vietnamese upper secondary students – a context which has not been explored to date. It also indicates gender inequality in IL capabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change and the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context.

The paper mainly uses quantitative methods to explore the relationships between different constructs. The author asks: to what extent can transformational school leadership practices in the urban upper secondary schools of a particular Chinese city explain the variation in teachers’ commitment to change during curriculum reform? What are the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on teachers’ perceptions of transformational school leadership?

The results of multiple regression analysis showed that the effect of transformational school leadership was moderate when transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change were treated as single variables. Four dimensions of transformational leadership practice together explained the moderate effects on four dimensions of teachers’ commitment to change, among which the effect of managing the instructional program was the most prominent. The results of multiple regression analysis also revealed that variables like culture, strategy, environment, and teachers’ age had significant relationships with teachers’ perceptions of transformational school leadership. Culture, environment, strategy, structure, and teachers’ factors such as age and grade taught had moderate effects on different dimensions of teachers’ perceptions of transformational school leadership.

This study is one of the first to explore the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context. The findings contribute to educational management in China and similar contexts, and this study advances knowledge and furthers the understandings of the transferability of theories to different contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a self‐assessment project, the steps taken and the tools used, and above all, focus on the evaluation made after the decision to discontinue, learning and acquiring knowledge about self‐assessment as a methodology in educational organizations.

In order to investigate the experiences of the project, interviews were conducted with the Upper Secondary Education Officer and with ten School Principals and a questionnaire was administered to gather opinions among the other staff members. The analysis mainly consisted of searching for potential patterns among the respondents' answers studying their own words by use of three different criteria.

It is important how an organization enters a self‐assessment project, or even any quality project. Many people do not seem to have thought very much about what is considered to be quality in the environment in which they operate, and even less have a shared view within the organization. Too often organizations tend to start working with self‐assessment without sufficiently thinking of “why” and “how” to accomplish the project. The work is performed without preparing all those who are to participate in the project and without discussing the core values that constitute the work. If the organization has not reached the necessary maturity level it is probably a waste of resources to start a comprehensive self‐assessment project.

As a synthesis form the analysis, a model for how an organization should start self‐assessment is presented, as well as a number of guiding points. Also, the new tool “Lärostegen” is described.

Economists have long been aware of the importance of human resource development. It is probably at least one aspect of the so called ‘dismal’ science they can agree about. Adam Smith, the founding father, in his famous book, The Wealth of Nations, first published in 1776 and still being issued, stressed the significance of education to the nation several times. Since then a wide range of literature is available dealing purely with the economics of education. Some of it links education with economic growth.

The purpose of this article is to investigate whether family background and the choice of vocational field explain the observed gap in dropout rates from vocational upper secondary education between natives and children of immigrants in Denmark and to investigate ethnic and gender differences in educational choices.

A parsimonious version of Cameron and Heckman's (2001) dynamic statistical model of educational progression is estimated. By parceling educational attainment out into a series of transitions by grade, the model is able to identify barriers to educational progression and to determine the effects of explanatory variables at different stages of the educational career. In addition, the model is able to accommodate the institutional structure of an educational system with parallel branches of study at the upper secondary level and to control for educational selection and unobserved heterogeneity.

The main findings are: that family background variables do not explain the gap in dropout rates between natives and children of immigrants; that the dropout rates from different vocational fields are significantly different but affect natives and children of immigrants equally; that girls do better than boys in immigrant families; and that intergenerational mobility is greater among children of immigrants than natives.

The statistical model used is not available in any standard statistical package. For the purpose of this paper it was coded in GAUSS. Furthermore, the model demands fairly large data sets to be useful in empirical research.

The analysis provides more detailed information about differences in educational attainment between population groups than most previous studies.

A brief update on new developments in all spheres of education in Finland is provided. The qualitative and quantitative development has transformed the pre‐school kindergarten system, created a new comprehensive system and upgraded teacher training to university degree level. Vocational education and modular syllabuses are all aspects of the reformed nature of public education.