Paul Downes is a Professor of Psychology of Education, and the Director of the Educational Disadvantage Centre, Institute of Education, Dublin City University, Ireland. Guofang Li is a Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Transnational/Global Perspectives of Language and Literacy Education of Children and Youth in the Department of Language and Literacy Education and Co-Director of Language Sciences Research Excellence Institute, University of British Columbia, Canada. Lore Van Praag is an Assistant Professor at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Stephen Lamb is an Emeritus Professor at the Centre for International Research on Education Systems (CIRES), Victoria University, Australia.