Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality

Human experience in the natural and built environment : implications for research policy and practice

22nd IAPS conference. Edited book of abstracts. 427 pp. University of Strathclyde, Sheffield and West of Scotland Publication. ISBN: 978-0-94-764988-3

New Insights in Oral Health and Diets

The world of adult education needs information on instruments that provide behavioral changes and support the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of modern individuals. Under this scope, this Special Issue incorporates articles about modern perspectives on diet and coaching approaches that lead to new dietary habits

Quality time: an exploration of subjective temporality

A jointly constructed social and personal endeavor, the notion of time offers a rich source of relatively untapped sociological insight. As the hallmark of American society's recent evolution, the context of intensified personal busyness and social acceleration asserts the relevance of temporal consideration. A primary conclusion from the review of relevant literature finds the need for research of temporality through the lens of personal, qualitative experience in supplement to commonly popular quantitative forms. Following the suggestion of a parallel shift between culturally oriented and subjectively experienced time, the equation of time to money bears particular interest as a powerful analogy underlying the notion of a quantified time, a concept providing a distilled form of the problem statement. The conceptual lens of "quality time" offers the supplemental, yet contrasting lens which provides the focus of these ideas into the development of this qualitative study. Interviews conducted with students and professors aimed to invite the personal expressions of quality time as a facet of personal reconciliation with time. Data from fifteen interviews with students and professors intended to structure a template of comparison between generations, with additional relevance for the realm of higher education. Although the outcome of the data encouraged divergent avenues of analysis, the resultant discussion seeks to explore promising angles for the subjective experience of time, as counterpart to its social construction, and as a revealing field of sociological inquiry

Esa 12th Conference: Differences, Inequalities and Sociological Imagination: Abstract Book

Esa 12th Conference: Differences, Inequalities and Sociological Imagination: Abstract Boo

No one asked, no one told me : the impact of incest on women\u27s work and career.

The impact of incest on women\u27s work performance and career development was studied in 41 female incest survivors and 15 nonabused women from a diverse population. The methodology was a content analysis of in-person qualitative, semi-structured interviews. Incest survivors participants reported having difficulties in academic and peer relations and difficulties in secondary schooling and more negative work experiences, including peer relations, difficulty in managing post-traumatic stress symptoms, remaining at a job, and advancing in a career. In addition to these difficulties incest survivors fell into different work group profiles: disabled, dabblers, drones, sprinters, balancer/achievers, and drivers. Childhood experiences of incest contributed to an overall negative self-schema, especially regarding work and career capabilities