Comparing and learning from English and American higher education access and completion policies

England and the United States provide a very interesting pairing as countries with many similarities, but also instructive dissimilarities, with respect to their policies for higher education access and success. We focus on five key policy strands: student information provision; outreach from higher education institutions; student financial aid; affirmative action or contextualisation in higher education admissions; and programmes to improve higher education retention and completion. At the end, we draw conclusions on what England and the US can learn from each other. The US would benefit from following England in using Access and Participation Plans to govern university outreach efforts, making more use of income-contingent loans, and expanding the range of information provided to prospective higher education students. Meanwhile, England would benefit from following the US in making greater use of grant aid to students, devoting more policy attention to educational decisions students are making in early secondary school, and expanding its use of contextualised admissions. While we focus on England and the US, we think that the policy recommendations we make carry wider applicability. Many other countries with somewhat similar educational structures, experiences, and challenges could learn useful lessons from the policy experiences of these two countries

The role of positive illusions in employment relationships

Drawing from existing research and concepts in social psychology, we identify "positive illusions" as an important construct for understanding long-term, stable, and satisfying employment relationships. We argue that the cognitive processes that modify the way in which individuals view their world can aid in promoting and enhancing the quality of employment relationships. These largely non-conscious processes often aid in the construction of positively distorted beliefs, referred to as positive illusions, which act to diffuse feelings of uncertainty, and drive satisfaction and commitment in close relationships. Our theoretical analysis suggests the relevance of positive illusions in the context of employment relationships, and highlights its role specifically during negative organizational shocks. We explore theoretical connections and offer testable propositions on the role of positive illusions in understanding employment relationships. These propositions have important theoretical and practical implications for the (a) applicant stage of employment, (b) organizational entry and socialization, and (c) adapting to organizational change