Is 'first in family' a good indicator for widening university participation?

Universities use ‘first in family’ or ‘first generation’ as an indicator to increase the diversity of their student intake, but little is known about whether it is a good indicator of disadvantage. We use nationally representative, longitudinal survey data linked to administrative data from England to provide the first comprehensive analysis of this measure. We employ parametric probability (logit) and non-parametric classification (random forest) models to look at its relative predictive power of university participation and graduation. We find that being first in family is an important barrier to university participation and graduation, over and above other sources of disadvantage. This association seems to operate through the channel of early educational attainment. Our findings indicate that the first in family indicator could be key in efforts to widen participation at universities

Discovery of low mass objects in Taurus

In infrared (2.2 micron, K-band) search of small regions (25 in square) near 26 members of the Taurus star-forming association has revealed 20 dim (K = 13-16 mag) stellar objects near 13 of them. Of these 20 objects, 9 are exceptionally red. It is argued that these 9 are probably also Taurus members. From the luminosities (0.4 to 4 times 10 the -3 power luminosity) and ages (estimated at 10(exp 6) years), masses can be determined by reference to theoretical low-mass cooling curves. The masses are in the range 0.005 to 0.015 solar mass, i.e., low-mass brown dwarfs. Proper motion studies of 7 of the objects visible on the POSS plates conducted by Burton Jones establish that 4 are highly probable Taurus members while 1 is a possible member

The big-fish-little-pond effect and overclaiming

Using the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, we investigate whether students’ relative ability in mathematics (in comparison to their school peers) is linked to their tendency to overclaim. Although the estimated effect size is modest (around 0.1 standard deviations) we find empirical support that being a big fish in a small pond is linked to overclaiming, with this robust to different analytic approaches and model specifications. Thus, being one of the highest academic achievers within a school may push young people's beliefs in their own abilities too far, straying into overconfidence and making claims about their knowledge and skills that they cannot justify

Overclaiming. An international investigation using PISA data

This paper investigates the phenomena of overclaiming – the propensity for individuals to claim more knowledge about an issue or topic than they really (or could possibly) do. Using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from nine Anglophone countries and over 40,000 young people, we examine teenagers’ propensity to claim knowledge of three mathematics constructs that do not really exist. We find substantial differences in young people’s tendency to overclaim across countries, genders, and socio-economic groups. Those who are most likely to overclaim are also found to exhibit high levels of overconfidence and believe they work hard, persevere at tasks, and are popular amongst their peers. Together this provides important new insight into overclaiming, how this differs across groups, and how it relates to other psychological constructs

Moving on up: 'first in family' university graduates in England

This paper provides the first quantitative analysis on ‘first in family’ (FiF) university graduates in the UK. Using a nationally representative dataset that covers a recent cohort in England, we identify the proportion of FiF young people at age 25 as 18%, comprising nearly two-thirds of university graduates. Comparing groups with no parental higher education we find that ethnic minorities and those with higher levels of prior attainment are more likely to become a FiF, while those who are FiF are more likely to study Law, Economics and Management and less likely to study other Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities than students whose parents are graduated. We also find evidence that FiF students are less likely to graduate from elite universities and are at greater risk of dropout in general, even after prior educational attainment and socioeconomic status are taken into account

Children in jobless households across Europe: Evidence on the association with medium- and long-term outcomes

The proportion of children living in a jobless household is a key indicator of social exclusion across Europe. Yet there is little evidence on the extent to which this measure of childhood deprivation is associated with later life outcomes. We use two harmonised cross-national data sources to consider the association between children experiencing jobless households and three medium- and long- term outcomes for the first time: education, adult joblessness and adult poverty. We find evidence of large penalties across all three outcomes in some countries while in other countries there are no longer-term associations with this indicator of social exclusion

Detection of sulphur in the galactic center

A strong detection at the (SIII) 18.71 micron line is reported for the Galactic Center region, Sgr A West. A line flux of 1.7 + or - 0.2x10 to the -17th power W cm(-2) is found for a 20-arc second beam-size measurement centered on IRS 1. A preliminary analysis indicates that the SIII abundance relative to hydrogen is consistent with the cosmic abundance of sulfur, 1.6x10 to the -5th power, if a filling factor of unity within the known clumps is assumed. However, the sulfur abundance in the Galactic Center may be as much as a factor of 3 overabundant if a filling factor of 0.03 is adopted, a value found to hold for some galactic HII regions

Physical activity in adolescence: cross-national comparisons of levels, distributions and disparities across 52 countries

Introduction: Despite global concerns regarding physical inactivity, limited cross-national evidence exists to compare adolescents’ physical activity participation. We analysed 52 high- and low-middle income countries, with activity undertaken inside and outside of school in 2015. We investigated gender- and socioeconomic-disparities, and additionally examined correlations with country-level indices of physical education (PE) curriculum time allocation, wealth, and income inequality. / Methods: We used the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of 15-year-olds (N=347,935). Students reported average attendance (days/week) in PE classes, and the days/week engaged in moderate activity (MPA) and vigorous activity (VPA) outside of school. Both the mean and distributions of outcomes were evaluated, as were gender- and socioeconomic-disparities. Pearson’s correlations (r) between the physical activity outcomes and PE curriculum time allocation, wealth (indexed by GDP) and income inequality (indexed by the Gini coefficient) were calculated. / Results: Activity levels inside and outside of school were higher in Eastern Europe than Western Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East/North Africa. Comparisons of average levels masked potentially important differences in distributions. For example, activity levels inside school showed a bimodal distribution in the US (mean PE class attendance 2.4 days/week; 41.3%, 6.3% and 33.1% of students attended PE classes on 0, 2 and 5 days/week respectively). In contrast, most other countries exhibited more centrally shaped distributions. Pro-male and pro-high socioeconomic disparities were modest for participation inside school, but higher for MPA and VPA outside of school. The magnitude of these also differed markedly by country. Activity in school was weakly positively correlated with PE curriculum time allocation (r=0.33); activity outside of school was strongly negatively correlated with income inequality (e.g. r=-0.69 for MPA). / Conclusion: Our findings reveal extensive cross-country differences in adolescents’ physical activity; in turn, these highlight policy areas that could ultimately improve global adolescent health, such as the incorporation of minimum country-level PE classes, and the targeting of gender- and socioeconomic- disparities in activity conducted outside of school. Our findings also highlight the utility of educational databases such as PISA for use in global population health research

Evaluation Protocol: Speech Bubbles

The Speech Bubbles intervention aims to improve children’s communication and social skills by providing them with weekly creative drama sessions. The benefit to pupils’ communication skills is also thought to have an effect on pupils’ reading skills. This is an intervention targeted at pupils with below expected communication and social skills. During the sessions trained practitioners encourage children to tell, act out and reflect on their own stories by creating a safe and playful environment, promoting children’s communication, confidence and wellbeing. This is based on the Helicopter Stories pedagogical approach.1 Speech Bubbles is part of a broader programme of work entitled ‘Learning about Culture’, which aims to improve the evidence base around arts-based education programmes. This is coordinated by the Education Endowment Foundation and the Royal Society for the Arts.2 It consists of five programmes: two in Key Stage 1 (Reception and Year 1) and three in Key Stage 2 (Year 5). Despite the unique aspects of these intervention models, there are many similarities in how they are delivered and what they hope to achieve.

Evaluation Protocol: First Thing Music

The First Thing Music programme aims to improve children’s reading and social skills by providing them with daily music sessions. The sessions are part of a structured music education programme based on the Kodály approach. Students will learn the basics of music through daily singing and musical games with teachers who will be trained by music practitioners. Music education has been linked to improvements in academic attainment in areas such as literacy and language.1 First Thing Music is part of a broader programme of work entitled ‘Learning About Culture’, which aims to improve the evidence base around arts-based education programmes. This is coordinated by the Education Endowment Foundation and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.2 It consists of five programmes: two in Key Stage 1 and three in Key Stage 2