The "quit4u" stop smoking service (SSS) was developed by National Health Service (NHS) Tayside for smokers in deprived areas of Dundee (UK). quit4u combined behavioural support and pharmacotherapy with financial incentives for each week that participants remained quit. A quasi-experimental study was undertaken with smokers using quit4u…

Early childhood education has received attention from philosophers, educationists and psycho-analysts such as Plato, Avicenna, Locke, Pestalozzi, Whitehead, Carl Jung, Binet, Piaget, Montessori, Sigmund Freund, Howard Gardner, among others. In Africa, the backdrop of poverty, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in strife-torn countries, among…

This paper focuses on the impact of school factors on student achievement due to differences in family backgrounds. Based on the principle of diminishing effects of school investment in children's achievement, this study built a model that includes individual characteristics, family characteristics, and school characteristics. Family and school…

This article argues that contradictory forces affect teachers' work in the neo-liberal school system in England, with a diversity of governance models alongside increasingly dominant orthodoxies of what constitutes 'effective practice and leadership'. School reforms in England have focused on increasing overall attainment and on closing the…

Developing vocational education is a necessity for the economic and social development of high-poverty areas in China. But vocational education in impoverished areas lacks social recognition and faces funding shortages, along with difficulties in recruiting students. Vocational high schools themselves also have shortcomings. This article considers…

It is well-established that language skills are amongst the best predictors of educational success. Consistent with this, findings from a population-based longitudinal study of parents and children in the UK indicate that language development at the age of two years predicts children's performance on entering primary school. Moreover, children who…

Low-attaining schools have been targeted by government for closure and transformation into academies. This article argues that opposition to academies is necessary but not sufficient. It is vital to do more than simply defend the status quo. In the city of Leicester an alternative vision for high-quality education, local authority led and grounded…

This article integrates previous research findings and theory to reflect on the limitations of traditional career counselling for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. It highlights the many challenges faced by students as they adjust to the university environment, and proposes a constructivist approach as more appropriate for career…

Self-direction has been identified as a potential key to the success of professional development of teachers, especially those working in deprived environments. This paper develops a model for self-directed professional development using interview data from 55 Zimbabwean A-level Science and Mathematics teachers. It focuses on teachers' decisions…

In some primary schools, the average performance of pupils over several years is significantly below the level that could be expected of these pupils. There are several theories for this phenomenon, known as underperformance. Theory on opportunity to learn predicts that pupils in underperforming schools are not given sufficient opportunity to…

Those involved in early childhood development must recognize that many of their most cherished beliefs about what is best for children are cultural constructions. This book focuses on quality in large-scale programs for disadvantaged young children in a variety of cultural settings. Chapter 1, "Changing Childhoods," discusses issues…

Since 1969, Toronto's Metropolitan Separate School Board has been rewarding additional monies to "Special Needs" schools within its jurisdiction in the hope of raising educational opportunity in those schools to a more equitable level. The attempt to arrive at a fair system for determining which schools should receive such assistance led…

We explore the association between urban density and pupil attainment using three cohorts of pupils in schooling in England. Although--as widely recognised--attainment in dense urban places is low on average, this is not because urban environments disadvantage pupils, but because the most disadvantaged pupils with low average attainments attend…

The volume contains two studies from India and Thailand on the education of women, and rural women especially, who are deprived or disadvantaged. The Indian study, "Education of Girls and Women in Deprived Groups," presents a viewpoint on deprivation in society in general, and India specifically. The concomitant of deprivation is defined…

Reports on an economic empowerment model that focuses on the household economy and the resources required by households for the production of their livelihood. Conceives of household economies as integrating the moral economy of social relations with the exchange economy based on money transactions. (MJP)