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Theories from occupational wellbeing posit that more satisfied workers perform better in their jobs. We tested this hypothesis by applying regression analyses to TALIS video study data (17,554 pupils; 670 teachers), exploring the association between teacher job satisfaction and lesson quality as judged from multiple perspectives. While more satisfied teachers tend to rate the quality of their lessons more highly, the relationship is much weaker when using pupil reports and those of expert observers. There is no evidence that teacher job satisfaction is related to pupil outcomes. Policymakers should focus instead on the importance of job satisfaction for teacher retention. • We investigated the association between teacher job satisfaction and lesson quality. • Teachers with higher levels of job satisfaction tended to rate the quality of their lessons more highly. • However, the relationship between job satisfaction and independent raters of lesson quality was much weaker. • No evidence emerged of teacher job satisfaction being directly linked to pupil outcomes, including test scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Inquiry-based science teaching involves supporting pupils to acquire scientific knowledge indirectly by conducting their own scientific experiments, rather than receiving scientific knowledge directly from teachers. This approach to instruction is widely used among science educators in many countries. However, researchers and policymakers have recently called the effectiveness of inquiry approaches into doubt. Using nationally-representative, linked survey and administrative data, we find little evidence that the frequency of inquiry-based instruction is positively associated with teenagers' performance in science examinations. This finding is robust to the use of different measures of inquiry, different examinations/measures of attainment, across classrooms with varying levels of disciplinary standards and across gender and prior attainment subgroups. Highlights • Enquiry teaching methods are a popular approach to science instruction. • The link between enquiry instruction and science achievement has previously been investigated using PISA. • These studies have been limited by PISA's cross-sectional design. • We present new evidence using longitudinal PISA data from in England. • We find frequent use of inquiry instruction is not associated with higher achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper investigates whether students' ability relative to their school peers is linked to overclaiming. • Being higher achieving than one's school peers is found to be linked to overclaiming. • Effect sizes are relatively modest at around 0.1 standard deviations. 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International large-scale assessments such as PISA are increasingly being used to benchmark the academic performance of young people across the world. Yet many of the technicalities underpinning these datasets are misunderstood by applied researchers, who sometimes fail to take their complex sample and test designs into account. The aim of this paper is to generate a better understanding among economists about how such databases are created, and what this implies for the empirical methodologies one should (or should not) apply. We explain how some of the modeling strategies preferred by economists seem to be at odds with the complex test design, and provide clear advice on the types of robustness tests that are therefore needed when analyzing these datasets. In doing so, we hope to generate a better understanding of international large-scale education databases, and promote better practice in their use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A small group of high-performing East Asian economies dominate the top of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. Although there are many possible explanations for this, East Asian teaching methods and curriculum design are two factors to have particularly caught policymakers’ attention. Yet there is currently little evidence as to whether any particular East Asian teaching method actually represents an improvement over the status quo in England, and whether such methods can be successfully introduced into Western education systems. This paper provides new evidence on this issue by presenting results from two clustered Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT's), where a Singaporean inspired ‘mastery’ approach to teaching mathematics was introduced into a selection of England's primary and secondary schools. We find evidence of a modest, positive treatment effect that comes at a relatively low per-pupil cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the relationship between family background, academic achievement in high school and access to high-status postsecondary institutions in three developed countries (Australia, England and the United States). We begin by estimating the unconditional association between family background and access to a high status university, before examining how this relationship changes once academic achievement in high school is controlled. Our results suggest that high achieving disadvantaged children are much less likely to enter a high-status college than their more advantaged peers, and that the magnitude of this socio-economic gradient is broadly similar across these three countries. However, we also find that socio-economic inequality in access to high-status private US colleges is much more pronounced than access to their public sector counterparts (both within the US and when compared overseas). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inquiry-based science teaching involves supporting pupils to acquire scientific knowledge indirectly by conducting their own scientific experiments, rather than receiving scientific knowledge directly from teachers. This approach to instruction is widely used among science educators in many countries. However, researchers and policymakers have recently called the effectiveness of inquiry approaches into doubt. Using nationally-representative linked survey and administrative data we find little evidence that the frequency of inquiry-based instruction is positively associated with teenagers' performance in science examinations. This finding is robust to the use of different measures of inquiry, different measures of attainment, across classrooms with varying levels of disciplinary standards and across gender and prior attainment subgroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors and journal regret that the printed version of the above article contained a number of errors, in which statements which had been blinded for review were not revealed for the publication. These were references to the authors' own prior work. The correct and final version, with complete references, follows. The authors and journal would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides new evidence on the link between primary and secondary teacher workload and wellbeing for five predominately English-speaking education systems (England, Australia, Alberta-Canada, New Zealand, United States). It illustrates how, by ignoring potential non-linearities and measurement error, previous research may have missed key aspects of the workload-wellbeing relationship. We also demonstrate how the time that teachers spend marking is the key driver of workload stress and poor levels of workplace wellbeing across English-speaking countries. • Longer working hours are associated with higher levels of workload stress. • Much of the previous literature on this issue may have underestimated the strength of this relationship due to measurement error. • The link between working hours and workload stress may be non-linear, with teachers' quality of life declining once they work more than 55 h per week. • The time that teachers spend upon marking is found to be particularly detrimental to their wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the Information Distortion Model (IDM), we hypothesized higher academic interest among low socioeconomic (SES) Australian children compared to equally able high SES Australian children. We extend the IDM in two ways. First, the IDM is a model of school selection and thus empirical evidence of its effect needs to come from a model that controls for achievement prior to school selection. Second, the mechanism of the IDM is presumed to be the big-fish-little-pond-effect (BFLPE), which has not been tested. We used a longitudinal representative sample of first-year high-school students (age ~12, N = 2507). We linked student high-school survey data to the whole of school and individual student administrative records of achievement from high-stakes national standardized tests in elementary and high-school. Our results were consistent with IDM for math interest but more mixed for reading interest, suggesting that additional processes may be in operation. • This study tested the Information Distortion Model (IDM). • We considered the Big-fish-little-pond effect as the main IDM mechanism. • Low SES children had higher numeracy interest than equally able high SES children. • Results were more mixed for reading interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]