Social support from the supervisor and the researcher community has been identified as one of the determinants for successful completion of doctoral studies. Still surprisingly little is known about the function of social support for early career Post-PhD researchers. Even less is known about the individual variation in experienced social support…

Research in the area of family structure and educational outcomes has often failed to account for instability in family structure. Furthermore, prior research in this area has been dominated by North American studies with a smaller body emerging from Europe. This study draws upon 10,783 young people and their parents from the Longitudinal Study of…

Few empirical studies of adult distance learners' decisions to drop out of degree programs have used large enough sample sizes to generalize the findings or data sets drawn from multiple online programs that address various subjects. Accordingly, in this study, we used a large administrative data set drawn from multiple online degree programs to…

This study extends previous research investigating the effects of state-wide exit exams by studying the change from a class-based to a state-wide exit exam system over 5 years, using multilevel analyses and examining mediating effects of teachers' practices on students' motivational orientations. In this multi-cohort study, we analyzed in…

Identities extend standard models that explain student motivations to complete courses at technical college. A differential hypothesis was that profiles of identities (individuality, belonging and place) explain the self-concepts and task values that contribute to participation, considering demographic factors (age, gender, location, paid work).…

A collaborative project of several Quebec universities, this study investigates nontraditional student withdrawal from undergraduate accounting programmes. A nontraditional student is older than 24, or is a commuter or a part-time student, or combines some of these characteristics. Univariate and multivariate analyses of student dropout factors…

The present study aimed to examine distance learners' goal profiles and their contrasting patterns of learning and achievements at three different points during an academic year, i.e. in the beginning of the course in relation to learners' general orientations to learning, at the middle of the course in relation to learners' completion of an…

Honduras has made steady progress in expanding post-primary school coverage in recent years, but many rural communities still do not provide a middle (lower secondary) school. As a result, Honduras has implemented a number of middle school alternative programmes designed to meet the needs of at-risk populations throughout the country. This article…

Background: School bullying research on Macanese adolescents is limited. Macau is a Special Administrative Region of China with over 95 % of the population is of Chinese descent. Yet, Macanese people are under substantial Western influences. Objective: Using a two male-only school sample of 365 participants aged between 10 and 17 years, this study…

Achievement goals research has focused on the importance of mastery relative to performance goals, but the multiple goals perspective asserts that performance goals also lead to positive outcomes and that learners adopt multiple goals in adaptive ways. However, this multiple-goals perspective has not been extensively studied in Asian students. The…

Some members of ethnic minority groups respond to identity threat in ways that are detrimental to their school career, while others persist despite an unwelcoming school environment. It was hypothesized that ethnic and national identities, as combined in "separated," "assimilated," or "dual identity" strategies,…

Engineering education needs to develop the competencies required for engineering work, and attract and retain students from diverse backgrounds. This study investigated the possibility that the perceived importance of competencies is subconsciously influenced by gendered assumptions, and as a consequence, this lowers the status given to…

The goal of this study was to illustrate survival analysis with higher education data and gain insight into a limited set of factors that predict when students passed their first-year examination at a Dutch university. Study participants consisted of 565 first-year students in four departments. Data were collected on when students pass their…

Working in some capacity is almost considered de rigueur for tertiary students. The reasons for working and the impact this has on both an individual's ability to complete their studies and on their post-study labour market outcomes are only recently receiving attention. Using the 1995 and 1998 cohorts of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian…

India has witnessed a major expansion in participation in basic education in recent years, in the context of a major programme for its promotion: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Despite a significantly improved picture at the basic level, a considerable proportion of children continue to drop out before reaching the secondary level. Over half of…