Nicola Pensiero
Quantitative Education and Social Science
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
I am an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Previously I was an Associate Professor at Southampton University School of Education, and a research officer at UCL Institute of Education, where I joined in 2013 after completing my PhD at the European University Institute. I have a hunger for understanding the cognitive bases of social life and I am a proponent of the unification of social sciences.
My expertise centers on understanding the mechanisms of inequality within and caused by the education system and my research focuses on a) the cognitive processes that account for educational outcomes, and b) the role of the interaction between systemic and individual factors in generating unequal educational outcomes. I published articles in International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Oxford Review of Education, Comparative Education Review, British Educational Research Journal. I provided consultancy for DfE and Nuffield Foundation, as well as for European Commission.
Pensiero, N., & Brede, M. (2024). An agent-based model of school tracking, accountability and segregation. Journal of Simulation. 18(4), 524–538. Link.
Pensiero, N., & Barone, C. (2024). Parental schooling, educational attainment, skills and earnings: a trend analysis across 15 countries. Social Forces. 102 (4), 1288–1309. Link.
Pensiero, N., & Janmaat, G. (2024). Why do women develop lower levels of political interest? Acta Politica. Link.
Pensiero, N., Kelly, A., & Bokhove, C. (2024). Socio-economic differences in remote schoolwork during the COVID-19: a trend analysis of the 2020 and 2021 school closure periods using the UK Understanding Society data. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 15(3), 286-321. Link.
Pensiero, N. (2022). The effect of computerisation on the wage share in United Kingdom workplaces. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 33(1), 158–177. Link.
Pensiero, N., Kelly, A., & Bokhove, C. (2021). Learning inequalities during the Covid-19 pandemic: a longitudinal analysis using the UK Understanding Society 2020 and 2021 data. University of Southampton. Link.
Pensiero, N. (2020). To leave or not to leave? Understanding the support for the United Kingdom membership in the European Union: Identity, attitudes towards the political system and socio-economic status. Rationality and Society, 32(3), 255-277. Link.
Pensiero, N., Kelly, A., & Bokhove, C. (2020). Learning inequalities during the Covid-19 pandemic: how families cope with home-schooling University of Southampton. Link.
Pensiero, N. & Schoon, I. (2019). Social inequalities in educational attainment. The changing impact of parents’ social class, social status, education, and family income between 1986 and 2010 in England. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 10(1), 87-108. Link.
Pensiero, N., & Green, A. (2018). The Effects of Post-Compulsory Education and Training Systems on Literacy and Numeracy Skills: A Quasi-Cohort Comparative Analysis using PISA 2000 and the 2011 Survey of Adult Skills. European Journal of Education, 53(2), 238-253. Link.
Pensiero, N. (2017). In-house or outsourced public services? A social and economic analysis of the impact of spending policy on the private wage share in OECD countries. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 58(4), 333-351. Link.
Green, A. D., Pensiero, N., Franceschelli, M., & Henseke, G. (2017). Education and the Changing Structure of Opportunities for Young People in England. Asian Education Review, 1(1), 7-30.
Pensiero, N., & Green, F. (2016). Out-of-school-time study programmes: do they work? Oxford Review of Education, 47 (1), 127-143. Link.
Green, A. D., & Pensiero, N. (2016). The effects of upper secondary education and training systems on skills inequality: A quasi-cohort analysis using PISA 2000 and the OECD survey of adult skills. British Educational Research Journal. 42 (5), 756-769. Link.
Liu, Y., Green, A., & Pensiero, N. (2016). Expansion of Higher Education and Inequality of Opportunities: A Cross-national Analysis. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 38 (3), 242-263. Link.
Green, A., Green, F., & Pensiero, N. (2015). Cross-Country Variation in Adult Skills Inequality. Comparative Education Review, 59, 595-618. Link.
Pensiero, N. (2011). Parent-child cultivation and children's cognitive and attitudinal outcomes from a longitudinal perspective. Child Indicators Research, 4 (3), 413-437. Link.