Ricardo Sabates
Biographic Data
| ID | 276477 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ricardo Sabates |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ricardo |
| FAMILY NAME | Sabates |
| SIGNATURE | SABATES R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cambridge |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1433-5667 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 40 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 176 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 40 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
From evidence to impact
Background: Research–policy partnerships are widely used to support evidence-informed reform, yet how evidence actually shapes policy and practice in low-income education systems remains poorly understood. This article asks how, and under what relational and institutional conditions, evidence generated by Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Ethiopia contributed to national policy on equity, learning and accountability. Methods/data:…
Are educated individuals more likely to be civically engaged? Evidence from rural Bangladesh
Advocates for increased investment in education based on the argument that the outcomes or benefits of education progress beyond just economic outcomes to include non-economic outcomes such as civic engagement. • Emphasizes that evidence for the non-economic private and social benefits of education is central for continued and increased investment of public funding of education. • Uses nationally (rurally) representative Bangladesh Integrated Hou…
Student composition, equity, and mathematics learning outcomes during a time of educational reforms in Ethiopia
This paper assesses the extent to which the implementation of a complex educational reform in Ethiopia was associated with changes in mathematics test scores for Grade 4 pupils from 2012–13 to 2018–19. During this period, while mathematics teachers’ educational qualifications and teacher content knowledge in mathematics improved, students in 2018–19 achieved, on average, lower test scores in mathematics than those in 2012–13. However, they also s…
Disability and learning in Ethiopia
This paper expands debates on disability and education by focusing on issues of prevalence and examining loss of formal learning when schools were closed for extended periods in Ethiopia as a result of COVID-19. Using data collected during two academic years, before the pandemic in 2018–2019 and after the schools reopened in 2020–2021, results show an increased prevalence of disability among children in grades 1 and 4, as identified through the W…
Changes in perceptions of teaching quality in secondary schools in Rwanda during the Covid-19 global pandemic and the subsequent closing and reopening of schools
The stability of measures of teaching quality is essential for making generalizations of results stemming from these measures to other teaching situations. However, no research has examined the effects of unexpected situational factors on the stability of these measures. Therefore, the purpose of this two-phase quantitative research study was to examine the following aspects among secondary school teachers in Rwanda, using a score-validated, mult…
Transitioning to an unfamiliar medium of instruction
In many post-colonial African countries, teaching using international languages as the medium of instruction (MOI) places particular challenges with respect to engaging students in learning. This paper explores pedagogical strategies used by Rwandan teachers in primary schools to support their students’ learning subject content when English is the MOI. Findings from 24 interviews and four focus group discussions in four 12-year Basic Education sc…
Expanding educational opportunities or widening learning inequalities? Evidence from national reform of pre-primary education in Ethiopia
Since a nationwide reform of pre-primary education in 2010, Ethiopia has experienced a massive expansion of pre-primary enrolment that increased tenfold in six years. Our paper aims to assess the distribution of early literacy outcomes between children who attended preschool and those who did not and explore how that distribution has changed throughout the reform and by factors such as gender, location, and parental literacy. We find an overall i…
Exploring the role of evidence in the government's adoption of Ghana's Complementary Basic Education program
This article provides insights into a decade long process of evidence production and use in support of the Government of Ghana’s adoption of the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) program for out-of-school children. A review of existing evidence on the program and our semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders revealed the centrality of the government’s culture of evidence-informed policy making. Our findings also highlight the importance …
The effects of language preference and home resources on foundational literacy retention during school holiday closures in Ghana
This article assesses the extent to which children’s language preference and their home environment matter for literacy retention. Using data from the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) program in Ghana, the authors found that large numbers of disadvantaged students reverted to not even being able to read a single word following school closures over a four-month holiday period. Widening literacy gaps were found for girls who reported they did no…
Targeted and Multidimensional Approaches to Overcome Inequalities in Secondary Education for Adolescent Girls
In many low- and lower-middle-income countries, key barriers to girls’ secondary school access and learning include poverty, school inaccessibility, poor school quality, and lack of gender-sensitive practices in the classroom. The nongovernmental organization, Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED), provides a range of financial, pedagogical, and community-supported interventions aimed at removing these barriers in government secondary schools in…
Parental involvement in low-achieving children’s learning
Using educational transitions to estimate learning loss due to Covid-19 school closures
Silenced by an Unknown Language? Exploring Language Matching during Transitions from Complementary Education to Government Schools in Ghana
Mother tongue-based education has been central to the promotion of early literacy skills in many multilingual contexts of the Global South. However, learners in such environments may face significant linguistic challenges when changing language of instruction during schooling. In particular, the linguistic distance between mother tongue and official language may be a significant barrier to learners. This paper provides an empirical approach to th…
Trapped in low performance? Tracking the learning trajectory of disadvantaged girls and boys in the Complementary Basic Education programme in Ghana
Sustaining literacy from mother tongue instruction in complementary education into official language of instruction in government schools in Ghana
Can maternal education sustain or enhance the benefits of early life interventions? Evidence from the Young Lives Longitudinal Study
This paper provides evidence on the predicted benefits of maternal education, in terms of reduced child malnutrition at age 1 and age 5, focusing specifically on the complementarities of maternal education with early life interventions across contexts. Using data from the Young Lives Longitudinal Study for Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam, results show the expected strong association of maternal education with a reduced likelihood of malnutritio…
School enrolment and learning outcomes for children with disabilities
This paper presents findings from household data collected as part of the Annual Survey of Education conducted in rural Punjab in 2015, which included questions on disability developed by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics. Data reported here focuses on the disability status of children aged 5 to 16 years, their access to school and learning outcomes on basic reading and maths tasks. Our findings highlight that children who were identi…
The Impact of Multiple Risk Factors on Young Children's Cognitive and Behavioural Development
The paper maps out 10 risk factors measuring deficits in parent–child interaction, family–child interaction and the home environment. The prevalence of risk factor combinations is quantified using the UK Millennium Cohort Study data. In 2001, 28 per cent of families with young children were facing two or more risk factors at age 9–10 months old. Each combination of multiple risk factors accounted for a very small proportion of all MCS families. S…
On the impact of early marriage on schooling outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia
Evidence on Graduation in Practice
This article examines graduation impacts of social protection programmes in Africa, by presenting evidence from an interim evaluation of the ‘Enhancing the Productive Capacity of Extremely Poor People’ project, implemented by Concern Worldwide in Rwanda's Southern Province. The project builds on the principles of the Rwandan government's national social protection scheme, the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP). Its design is adapted from the ‘g…
The contribution of Bolsa Família to the educational achievement of economically disadvantaged children in Brazil
Peer Relations, Violence and School Attendance
This article focuses on bullying among students and explores the ways it affects the attendance of senior high school students in Ghana. It explores whether having emotional problems, in addition to being bullied, incrementally affects the relationship between bullying and school attendance and the mitigating influence of peer friendships on these relationships. The results show gender differences in which absenteeism associated with bullying was…
School drop out in Bangladesh
Who gets what? Is improved access to basic education pro-poor in Sub-Saharan Africa
Uncertain aspirations for continuing in education
Relatively little is known about adolescents who hold uncertain aspirations, that is, those who do not know what they would like to do in the future regarding their educational or occupational plans. Drawing upon the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England born in 1989-1990, the authors tested a pathway model to investigate the antecedents of uncertain aspirations for continuing in education past compulsory schooling age (i.e., 16 years) an…
Education, Equality and Social Cohesion
Promoting social cohesion through education has re-emerged as an important policy objective in many countries during the past decade. But there is little clarity in policy discussions about what social cohesion means and how education may affect it. In this article we distinguish between social capital and societal cohesion and argue that education acts in differential ways on each. Using comparative, cross-country analysis, we develop a 'distrib…
Early Occupational Aspirations and Fractured Transitions
There has been significant recent research and policy interest in issues of young people's occupational aspirations, transitions to employment and the antecedents of NEET (not in employment, education or training) status. Many have argued that changes to the youth labour market over the past 30 years have led to transitions to work becoming more individualised, complex and troublesome for many, particularly those from poorer backgrounds. However,…
On the impact of early marriage on schooling outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia
With the help of one's neighbors
The role of education in the uptake of preventative health care
Who gets what? Is improved access to basic education pro-poor in Sub-Saharan Africa
Ambition Gone Awry
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate whether misaligned or uncertain ambitions in adolescence influence the process of socioeconomic attainment. METHODS: Using 34 years of longitudinal data from the British Cohort Study (BCS70), we considered whether youth with (1) misaligned ambitions (i.e., those who either over- or underestimate the level of education required for their desired occupation), (2) both low occupational aspira…
Tackling Poverty-migration Linkages
School drop out in Bangladesh
Uncertain aspirations for continuing in education
Relatively little is known about adolescents who hold uncertain aspirations, that is, those who do not know what they would like to do in the future regarding their educational or occupational plans. Drawing upon the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England born in 1989-1990, the authors tested a pathway model to investigate the antecedents of uncertain aspirations for continuing in education past compulsory schooling age (i.e., 16 years) an…
Using educational transitions to estimate learning loss due to Covid-19 school closures
The contribution of Bolsa Família to the educational achievement of economically disadvantaged children in Brazil
Dietary patterns related to attainment in school
OBJECTIVES: To empirically test the impact of dietary intake at several time points in childhood on children's school attainment and to investigate whether any differences in school attainment between children who ate packed lunches or school meals was due to who these children were, their pre-school dietary patterns, or to what they ate at school. DESIGN: Using longitudinal data available in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (A…
Educational Attainment and Juvenile Crime
This paper provides an estimation of the impact of educational attainment on juvenile conviction rates using information at the Local Education Authority in England. The empirical analysis uses aggregate conviction rates over time for three cohorts of young people, born between 1981 and 1983, and their corresponding educational attainments, poverty indicators, time away from school and school resources. Results using mixed-effects models show tha…
Sustaining literacy from mother tongue instruction in complementary education into official language of instruction in government schools in Ghana
Silenced by an Unknown Language? Exploring Language Matching during Transitions from Complementary Education to Government Schools in Ghana
Mother tongue-based education has been central to the promotion of early literacy skills in many multilingual contexts of the Global South. However, learners in such environments may face significant linguistic challenges when changing language of instruction during schooling. In particular, the linguistic distance between mother tongue and official language may be a significant barrier to learners. This paper provides an empirical approach to th…
Inequality in Academic Performance and Juvenile Convictions
This paper focuses on the links between inequality in academic performance and juvenile conviction rates for violent crime, stealing from another person, burglary in a dwelling and racially motivated offences. We use area-based aggregate data to model this relationship. Our results show that, above and beyond impacts of absolute access to resources, young people who grow up in school cohorts marked by higher levels of disparity in educational ach…
Who Achieves Level 2 Qualifications During Adulthood? Evidence From the NCDS
This paper describes the characteristics of people who return to learning to achieve at least a level 2 qualification, drawing on the 1958 National Child Development Cohort Study. Results show that adults who gained level 2 were more likely than those who did not to have been engaged in a range of learning activities at earlier ages, including learning during childhood, staying in education during adolescence and undertaking courses leading and n…
Can maternal education sustain or enhance the benefits of early life interventions? Evidence from the Young Lives Longitudinal Study
This paper provides evidence on the predicted benefits of maternal education, in terms of reduced child malnutrition at age 1 and age 5, focusing specifically on the complementarities of maternal education with early life interventions across contexts. Using data from the Young Lives Longitudinal Study for Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam, results show the expected strong association of maternal education with a reduced likelihood of malnutritio…
School enrolment and learning outcomes for children with disabilities
This paper presents findings from household data collected as part of the Annual Survey of Education conducted in rural Punjab in 2015, which included questions on disability developed by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics. Data reported here focuses on the disability status of children aged 5 to 16 years, their access to school and learning outcomes on basic reading and maths tasks. Our findings highlight that children who were identi…
Economic globalisation, youth expectations and social class
Household composition and food expenditures
Household composition and food expenditures
Education, Equality and Social Cohesion
Promoting social cohesion through education has re-emerged as an important policy objective in many countries during the past decade. But there is little clarity in policy discussions about what social cohesion means and how education may affect it. In this article we distinguish between social capital and societal cohesion and argue that education acts in differential ways on each. Using comparative, cross-country analysis, we develop a 'distrib…
With the help of one's neighbors
The role of education in the uptake of preventative health care
Who Achieves Level 2 Qualifications During Adulthood? Evidence From the NCDS
This paper describes the characteristics of people who return to learning to achieve at least a level 2 qualification, drawing on the 1958 National Child Development Cohort Study. Results show that adults who gained level 2 were more likely than those who did not to have been engaged in a range of learning activities at earlier ages, including learning during childhood, staying in education during adolescence and undertaking courses leading and n…
Educational Attainment and Juvenile Crime
This paper provides an estimation of the impact of educational attainment on juvenile conviction rates using information at the Local Education Authority in England. The empirical analysis uses aggregate conviction rates over time for three cohorts of young people, born between 1981 and 1983, and their corresponding educational attainments, poverty indicators, time away from school and school resources. Results using mixed-effects models show tha…
Desarrollo y utilización de habilidades
En este artículo se presenta una investigación sobre el desarrollo y el uso de habilidades de los migrantes provenientes de la Ciudad de México que radican en León, Guanajuato. Los datos del Censo General de Población y Vivienda 2000 relativos a los habitantes de León revelan que los migrantes provenientes de los grandes centros urbanos tienen, en promedio, mayores niveles de ingreso, educativos y ocupacionales que el resto de quienes ahí residen…
Economic globalisation, youth expectations and social class
Dietary patterns related to attainment in school
OBJECTIVES: To empirically test the impact of dietary intake at several time points in childhood on children's school attainment and to investigate whether any differences in school attainment between children who ate packed lunches or school meals was due to who these children were, their pre-school dietary patterns, or to what they ate at school. DESIGN: Using longitudinal data available in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (A…
Tackling Poverty-migration Linkages
The benefits of higher education study for part‐time students
This article presents findings from a study of mature part‐time students and their reported benefits of study. It is based on data from a questionnaire survey of graduates from two major – but very different – providers of part‐time higher education: Birkbeck, University of London and the Open University. Response items were grouped within a ‘three capitals’ framework: human, identity and social capital. The first part of the analysis presents th…
Uncertainty in Early Occupational Aspirations
Many youth in the United States lack clear occupational aspirations. This uncertainty in achievement ambitions may benefit socioeconomic attainment if it signifies "role exploration," characterized by career development, continued education, and enduring partnerships. By contrast, uncertainty may diminish attainment if it instead leads to "aimlessness," involving prolonged education without the acquisition of a degree, residential dependence, and…
Ambition Gone Awry
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate whether misaligned or uncertain ambitions in adolescence influence the process of socioeconomic attainment. METHODS: Using 34 years of longitudinal data from the British Cohort Study (BCS70), we considered whether youth with (1) misaligned ambitions (i.e., those who either over- or underestimate the level of education required for their desired occupation), (2) both low occupational aspira…
Inequality in Academic Performance and Juvenile Convictions
This paper focuses on the links between inequality in academic performance and juvenile conviction rates for violent crime, stealing from another person, burglary in a dwelling and racially motivated offences. We use area-based aggregate data to model this relationship. Our results show that, above and beyond impacts of absolute access to resources, young people who grow up in school cohorts marked by higher levels of disparity in educational ach…
Early Occupational Aspirations and Fractured Transitions
There has been significant recent research and policy interest in issues of young people's occupational aspirations, transitions to employment and the antecedents of NEET (not in employment, education or training) status. Many have argued that changes to the youth labour market over the past 30 years have led to transitions to work becoming more individualised, complex and troublesome for many, particularly those from poorer backgrounds. However,…
School drop out in Bangladesh
Who gets what? Is improved access to basic education pro-poor in Sub-Saharan Africa
Uncertain aspirations for continuing in education
Relatively little is known about adolescents who hold uncertain aspirations, that is, those who do not know what they would like to do in the future regarding their educational or occupational plans. Drawing upon the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England born in 1989-1990, the authors tested a pathway model to investigate the antecedents of uncertain aspirations for continuing in education past compulsory schooling age (i.e., 16 years) an…
Peer Relations, Violence and School Attendance
This article focuses on bullying among students and explores the ways it affects the attendance of senior high school students in Ghana. It explores whether having emotional problems, in addition to being bullied, incrementally affects the relationship between bullying and school attendance and the mitigating influence of peer friendships on these relationships. The results show gender differences in which absenteeism associated with bullying was…
The contribution of Bolsa Família to the educational achievement of economically disadvantaged children in Brazil
The Impact of Multiple Risk Factors on Young Children's Cognitive and Behavioural Development
The paper maps out 10 risk factors measuring deficits in parent–child interaction, family–child interaction and the home environment. The prevalence of risk factor combinations is quantified using the UK Millennium Cohort Study data. In 2001, 28 per cent of families with young children were facing two or more risk factors at age 9–10 months old. Each combination of multiple risk factors accounted for a very small proportion of all MCS families. S…
On the impact of early marriage on schooling outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia
Evidence on Graduation in Practice
This article examines graduation impacts of social protection programmes in Africa, by presenting evidence from an interim evaluation of the ‘Enhancing the Productive Capacity of Extremely Poor People’ project, implemented by Concern Worldwide in Rwanda's Southern Province. The project builds on the principles of the Rwandan government's national social protection scheme, the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP). Its design is adapted from the ‘g…
School enrolment and learning outcomes for children with disabilities
This paper presents findings from household data collected as part of the Annual Survey of Education conducted in rural Punjab in 2015, which included questions on disability developed by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics. Data reported here focuses on the disability status of children aged 5 to 16 years, their access to school and learning outcomes on basic reading and maths tasks. Our findings highlight that children who were identi…
Can maternal education sustain or enhance the benefits of early life interventions? Evidence from the Young Lives Longitudinal Study
This paper provides evidence on the predicted benefits of maternal education, in terms of reduced child malnutrition at age 1 and age 5, focusing specifically on the complementarities of maternal education with early life interventions across contexts. Using data from the Young Lives Longitudinal Study for Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam, results show the expected strong association of maternal education with a reduced likelihood of malnutritio…
Psychology (27 works) · Economics (26 works) · Economic growth (20 works) · Political science (20 works) · Medicine (19 works) · Sociology (19 works) · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare (17 works) · Demographic economics (16 works) · Demography (13 works) · Developmental psychology (9 works)