Young people no longer want to work. Or is it that they study less because they are working too much? That is also possible. Or perhaps they are simply taking better care of themselves and their work-life balance. Or perhaps not. Many clichés circulate about these themes, but what do the hard data say? I… Read More Do Generational Differences at Work Really Exist?
A recurring assumption in public debate is that young people should be progressive. When surveys suggest otherwise, concern often follows. Headlines warn that young people are becoming more conservative, less supportive of social change, and increasingly willing to question ideas that many adults take for granted. Whether those observations are accurate is a separate discussion.… Read More Do Young People Have the Right to Think the “Wrong” Things?
I, too, have received emails about articles or papers that I supposedly wrote, but which simply do not exist. It is a phenomenon that researchers increasingly encounter, as AI systems produce convincing-sounding but fabricated references. Through Inside Higher Ed, I discovered that these are now called Frankencitations. These citations appear to be compiled from existing authors,… Read More Word of the day: Frankencitations
The PISA results will be released again later this year. For the first time, in the second week of September instead of December. This is not the most fortunate timing, if you ask me. As always, most discussions will revolve around learning performance. Mathematics. Reading. Science. Rankings. Decline. Hopefully not the latter. We might well… Read More One of the reasons why I am looking forward to the PISA results in September: what was a COVID effect and what wasn’t?
Lately, some discussions on Twitter/X got me thinking again about a surprisingly old educational question: is learning fundamentally social or not? Part of the debate was triggered by discussions around AI-driven schools like Alpha School, where students spend far less time in traditional instruction and much more time in highly individualised learning environments supported by… Read More Is Learning Social? AI Schools Are Reopening an Old Debate
During a talk in Belgium last week, I was asked a question by a school leader that I seem to hear more and more often: Why are we seeing so many more diagnoses, such as ADHD, than before? Is there really an explosive increase? Have children changed? Or are we looking differently? Not coincidentally, shortly… Read More Why Are ADHD Diagnoses Rising Worldwide? A Different Perspective on a Complex Debate
Since slightly less research made the selection for my blog over the past few weeks, I am also taking a look at the studies I placed on the ‘to read someday’ pile. This one is from October 2024, but remains highly relevant. This study by Matthew Kraft and Melissa Arnold Lyon examines the state of… Read More Looking beyond the teacher shortage: 50 years of the profession
When I talk to people about demographics, after a while we quickly run into *the* question: why are we having fewer children? A popular explanation is that more education for women means marrying later, having children later, and ultimately having fewer children. That narrative is so deeply ingrained in how we think about education and demographics… Read More Doesn’t education lead to fewer children after all?
I already raised this on my blog before: when we talk about the increase in mental health problems among young people, these seem to be rising mainly among children from more advantaged backgrounds. At the same time, it remains true, as it has for decades, that young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are on average… Read More Is the mental health crisis amongst young people an elite problem? A longer read on a complex theme!
Students with hearing or visual impairments were once seen as a challenge for inclusive education. In many ways, they still sometimes can be. But over time, schools have built up expertise, support structures and experience. In many systems, this is no longer where the greatest tensions lie. The group that increasingly defines the challenge looks… Read More When youth services fail, schools become the safety net