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Universities across Canada and elsewhere have a longstanding focus on improving students' writing skills, including for the purpose of fostering better learning. In this paper, we present findings from two sources of data--a discursive analysis and student survey--exploring the impact of writing instruction and support in the context of a required social science research methods course. The course is situated in an institutional context whereby specific courses are targeted for writing support through the provision of additional funds. The results indicate that the structure of the course-- featuring components like tutorials and scaffolded assignment design--facilitates gains in student writing. The discursive analysis shows improvements across the three assignments submitted throughout the term and a positive impact of tutorial attendance. The survey indicates that students have an overall positive impression of the supports designed specifically with the learning of writing and research skills in mind.

In many parts of the world, the rewards attached to a university degree vary significantly according to the name of the institution one attends, particularly in countries with highly stratified postsecondary systems. Because the Canadian higher education system is relatively homogenous and non-hierarchical, it has been generally accepted that Canadian graduates enter the labour market on equal footing regardless of where they matriculate. We test this assumption through an experimental audit study that compares employers' responses to fictitious matched job applications from equally qualified bachelor's degree recipients from three Ontario universities: Brock, Queen's, and Waterloo. Not all employers make a distinction between the paired applications; but when they do, Waterloo is favoured. In these cases, even though applicants had the same field of study, academic achievement and work experience, employers singled out Waterloo applicants for a response 84% more often than those from Brock. These findings indicate that institutional affiliation matters in Canada, and suggests that graduates from some institutions fare significantly better in the labour market than their equally accomplished peers from other institutions. We conclude that even in relatively non-hierarchical systems with comparatively minimal structural or resource variation, status hierarchies emerge that privilege some graduates over others. Dans de nombreuses regions du monde, les recompenses lides k un diplome universitaire varient considerablement selon le nom de l'etablissement frequente, en particulier dans les pays ou les systemes postsecondaires sont trfes stratifies. Le systeme d'enseignement superieur canadien etant relativement homogene et non hidrarchisd, il est generalement admis que les diplomes canadiens entrent sur le marche du travail sur un pied d'egalite, quel que soit leur etablissement d'enseignement. Nous testons cette hypothese par le biais d'une etude de verification experimental qui compare les reponses des employeurs a des demandes d'emploi fictives apparides provenant de titulaires de baccalaurdats dgalement qualifies de trois universites ontariennes : Brock, Queen's et Waterloo. Tous les employeurs ne font pas la distinction entre les candidatures jumeiees, mais lorsqu'ils le font, c'est Waterloo qui est favorisde. Dans ces cas, meme si les candidats avaient le meme domaine d'etudes, les memes resultats scolaires et la meme experience professionnelle, les employeurs ont repondu 84% plus souvent aux candidats de Waterloo qu'a ceux de Brock. Ces resultats indiquent que l'affiliation institutionnelle a de l'importance au Canada, et suggerent que les diplomes de certains etablissements rdussissent beaucoup mieux sur le marche du travail que leurs pairs tout aussi accomplis d'autres etablissements. Nous concluons que, meme dans des systemes relativement non hierarchiques presentant des variations structurelles ou de ressources relativement minimes, des hierarchies de statut emergent et privilegient certains diplomes par rapport a d'autres., INTRODUCTION Postsecondary educational attainment is the single most powerful predictor of labour market outcomes in modern societies. In Canada, those with bachelor's degrees are more likely to be employed, make [...]

Scholars have long emphasized the importance of teacher training in higher education, including in sociology. Such calls have led to modest improvements in opportunities for graduate students to develop teaching-related skills and experience. However, many of these opportunities are not specific to sociology and may lack a teaching component. In this paper, we outline a teaching fellowship model for graduate student teacher training that integrates group training sessions, peer collaboration, and a teaching practicum component under the guidance of a faculty mentor. In the fellowship, graduate student teaching fellows receive a stipend for sharing the development and teaching of an undergraduate course, with supports and feedback throughout. We include data from post-fellowship questionnaires and follow-up data from fellows who went on to teach their own courses to highlight the strengths of the program. The data indicate that the fellowship is an overwhelmingly positive experience for graduate students.

While women now earn more bachelor's degrees than men in many parts of the world, large gender gaps persist in fields of study, and women remain underrepresented in the most prestigious institutions. This study updates and extends the literature on gender disparities in higher education by comparing the selectivity of the institutions where men and women earn their degrees and then examining the gender segregation of fields of study across different types of universities in the United States. Findings show that men continue to earn degrees at somewhat more selective institutions than women, a pattern that has shifted little over the past 27 years. Further, patterns of gender segregation by field of study continue unabated and are constant across types of institutions. Women's increased participation in higher education has not resulted in full parity.

Although we know a great deal about college choice in nations such as the United States, we know considerably less about how college choice operates in settings lacking well-defined hierarchies between higher education institutions. In the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, students from high socio-economic status backgrounds are over-represented in the Ivy League, Oxbridge, and grandes écoles, respectively. In nations without these hierarchies, how do privileged families distinguish between very similar institutions? Using the example of Canada, notable for its relative institutional flatness, I show that privileged families construct their own hierarchies and tap into established hierarchies in other nations. The data come from an ethnographic study of two elite private high schools in Toronto, Canada.