EDUCATION MATTERS
groups tended to express stronger support for gender equality. Their positive influence highlights the importance of school context in shaping attitudes; nevertheless, access to such school environments is not evenly distributed. In total, student-level characteristics explained 21 percent of the variance, school-level factors contributed an additional 19 percent, and national context—modelled through country fixed effects—accounted for a further 5 percent. Taken together, these findings highlight the combined impact of students’ knowledge, the educational environment, and broader societal context on shaping young people’s views on gender equity. This research highlights the crucial role schools can play in promoting inclusive values, particularly in contexts where inequality and traditional norms persist. Promoting civic
knowledge and discussion in the classroom may offer a valuable route to supporting more equitable and democratic attitudes among the next generation. Natalia López-Hornickel is a PhD candidate in Advanced Quantitative Methods at the University of Bath, funded by the South-West Doctoral Training Partnership (ESRC), and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Roehampton. With over nine years of research experience in Chile and recently in the UK, her work focuses on attitudes towards gender equity, employing advanced statistical techniques to analyze large-scale educational assessment data. She has participated in education research projects across Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East.
Bruce H. Choppin Memorial Award
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The effect of gender equality on gender differences in TIMSS data: A pseudo panel approach The thesis investigates how national-level socio- economic factors, particu- larly gender equality, relate to
the Gender Parity Index (GPI) for school enrollment. Two education expenditure indicators were excluded due to inconsistent reporting across countries and years. Results show that national gender equality (GGI) is the only socioeconomic factor significantly associated with gender differences in achievement when controlling for group fixed effects. In countries with higher gender equality, both boys and girls perform better, though girls tend to benefit more— particularly in 4th grade mathematics and science. At lower levels of gender equality, boys’ performance appears more sensitive to changes in GGI, but girls gradually close this gap. No consistent effects were found for GDP, GINI, or GPI when controlling for other factors. These findings differ from the original Austrian study, where cross-sectional methods suggested broader effects of economic and social indicators on gender differences. The study contributes to ongoing debates on how international assessments can be used to understand systemic inequalities. While it aims to support cautious causal inferences, it also acknowledges recent methodological critiques and emphasizes the importance of identifying patterns and correlations over time.
gender differences in student achievement in mathematics and science. Using data from the international large-scale assessment TIMSS (2007, 2011, 2015, 2019), the study applies a pseudo panel design to compare 4th and 8th grade students across gender and country. Inspired by methods from both comparative education and political sociology, the thesis replicates a 2023 Austrian study (Oberleiter et al., 2023) that used cross-sectional analysis to assess gender gaps in student achievement. In contrast, this study employs a pseudo panel model to better support longitudinal comparisons and cautiously explore causal relationships.
Four national indicators were included in the final analyses: GDP per capita, Gender Gap Index (GGI), GINI index, and
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