This study explores the impact of adolescent part-time work experience on problem behaviors in the South Korean context. To achieve this, propensity score matching (PSM) analyses were employed based on data from the Korean Education Employment Panel (KEEP). Results indicate that adolescents' part-time employment during their secondary school years had significantly undesirable effects on drinking and smoking, even after preexisting differences between the two groups (i.e., those adolescents who participated in part-time work and those who did not) were controlled by PSM. However, an insignificant difference was detected in the likelihood of running away from home. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of changes in the meanings of adolescence and of participating in part-time work in South Korea.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Rurality is an identified point of disadvantage in measures such as the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) and school resourcing models. However, socioeconomic disadvantage is commonly used as an explanation for lower average student achievement in rural locations. Thus, policies are often directed towards reducing disadvantage associated with socioeconomic status, and rurality is overlooked. This research tests the validity of these assumptions using a matched study approach. We examine data on New South Wales (NSW) students, schools and courses to investigate how the English and Mathematics achievement levels of students in their final year of secondary school are associated with family and school characteristics across locations. The findings show that socioeconomic variation does not fully account for differences in achievement in rural locations. Instead, rurality appears to mediate other effects on student achievement in a complex interplay of factors contributing to lower average results. This highlights the need to consider the specificities of rurality in schooling, particularly the role of rural knowledges and perspectives in schooling and student achievement.

No abstract

One of the main aims of schooling both in Australia and internationally is to provide equitable access to education for all children regardless of their social background or the schools they attend. A key part of this aim should be reflected in access to the curriculum, particularly in government schools, which in Australia enrol the majority of students and are affected by policies of marketisation and school choice. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of a range of factors on access to the senior secondary curriculum and mean school achievement. The study addresses whether the number and level of academic subjects offered, and mean school achievement levels, are associated with socioeconomic advantage, location, school size, school selectivity and resourcing. We conduct regression analyses using administrative data on all government schools from Australia’s largest state of New South Wales, to show that schools in outer regional, remote and very remote areas, as well as those of lower socioeconomic advantage, and of smaller size, offer fewer and less advanced subjects compared to other government schools. This variability also has an association with mean school achievement levels.

No abstract