The educational transition between early childhood education and primary education is a complex moment of change with repercussions throughout the academic life of the students. For this reason, it is important to seek continuity between both educational stages. A successful transition produces for the social, cognitive and emotional well-being of the student. The aim of this study is to find out how transition-related factors apply in ten European Union (EU) countries. The factors analyzed are the age of onset of transition, the teacher–student ratio, types of clustering, financing of the stage, responsibility, and both initial and in-service teacher training. The methodology followed in this study is documentary analysis and the main source of data search has been the European Commission's Eurydice portal. The results show differences in stage change within each country, especially in the explicit consideration of a transition period. The main conclusion is that there is a great difference between the northern and southern countries. The main differences between countries in the transitions from early childhood education to primary education in the EU are in the years of compulsory education, the teacher/student/unit ratio, the initial teacher training, and the decentralization of education.

The article deals with mathematical literacy in relation to mathematical knowledge and mathematical problems, and presents the Slovenian project NA-MA POTI, which aims to develop mathematical literacy at the national level, from kindergarten to secondary education. All of the topics treated represent starting points for our research, in which we were interested in how sixth-grade primary school students solve non-contextual and contextual problems involving the same mathematical content (in the contextual problems this content still needs to be recognised, whereas in the non-contextual problems it is obvious). The main guideline in the research was to discover the relationship between mathematical knowledge, which is the starting point for solving problems from mathematical literacy (contextual problems), and mathematical literacy. The empirical study was based on the descriptive, causal and non-experimental methods of pedagogical research. We used both quantitative and qualitative research based on the grounded theory method to process the data gathered from how the participants solved the problems. The results were quantitatively analysed in order to compare the success at solving problems from different perspectives. Analysis of the students’ success in solving the contextual and non-contextual tasks, as well as the strategies used, showed that the relationship between mathematical knowledge and mathematical literacy is complex: in most cases, students solve non-contextual tasks more successfully; in solving contextual tasks, students can use completely different strategies from those used in solving non-contextual tasks; and students who recognise the mathematical content in contextual tasks and apply mathematical knowledge and procedures are more successful in solving such tasks. Our research opens up new issues that need to be considered when developing mathematical literacy competencies: which contexts to choose, how to empower students to identify mathematical content in contextual problems, and how to systematically ensure – including through projects such as NA-MA POTI – that changes to the mathematics curriculum are introduced thoughtfully, with regard to which appropriate teacher training is crucial.

This ex-post facto research aims to identify the negative influence of peace of mind on students' aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior of students has become a problem that has not been alleviated to the maximum and is increasingly complex. One model of education that seeks to build students' peace of mind is the peace education model. The use of this educational model can suppress the urge of students to show aggressive behavior. The research data was collected using the peace of mind scale (PoMS) and aggressive behavior scale (ABS). The research sample was taken using cluster random technique with a total of 1263 students coming from western part of Indonesia (East Java, the Special Region of Yogyakarta, and Lampung), the central part of Indonesia (West Nusa Tenggara and Central Sulawesi), and the eastern part of Indonesia (North Maluku). Data in this study were analyzed using simple linear regression. The results of the analysis of the study concluded that negative peace of mind has an effect of 62.9% on aggressive behavior committed by students. This study is recommended for future researchers to develop peaceful thinking training programs to reduce students' aggressive behavior.

The objective of this research is to analyze the twelfth graders' mathematics critical thinking skills using a mathematics learning model to stimulate fundamental critical thinking abilities of science courses in SMA Negeri, Pacitan Regency, East Java Province, Indonesia. This quasi-experimental research design was used in this study with one group posttest only design using multiple substantive posttests. The sample of 141 students from the total population of six public schools involving the twelfth graders of the natural sciences was selected through purposive sampling technique, data were taken through tests of students' critical thinking skills and interviews. The data analysis consists of five stages, namely an analysis of one sample t-test, an analysis of students' grades, an analysis of problem-solving stages, an analysis of critical thinking abilities indicators, and an analysis of mathematics critical thinking abilities indicators. The results showed (1) The results of the one sample t-test show that the mathematics learning model is effective to stimulate critical thinking, which means that the application of the mathematics learning model is effective to stimulate critical thinking; (2) the overall grades of students that met the minimum mastery criteria; (3) the data analysis of eleven problem-solving stages proves that the criteria for critical thinking abilities are categorized as good and very good. The highest score indicator considers the principle and definition of transformation, while the lowest grade indicator is mainly concerned with the questions on right and coherent steps; (4) the critical thinking skills have seven indicators that highlight the criteria of students' critical thinking abilities categorized as good and very good. The indicators that get the highest score determine the definitions of terms, while the indicators of the lowest score determine the action; (5) the results of the analysis show indicators of mathematics critical thinking skills that have eight indicators. The criteria of students' critical thinking abilities met good and very good categories along with indicators with the highest value score by considering the definitions of terms, while the indicators of the lowest score deal with the habit of caution.

Continuous changes in social demand and development provide an acute and continuous pressure on universities. The question is whether higher education institutions (HEI) in Ecuador deliver graduates with the competences to provide timely economic, ecological, and sustainable solutions. Additionally, HEIs should prepare graduates to find employment in a society characterized by greater uncertainty, extensive use of information technology, speed, risk, complexity and interdisciplinary work. To face this challenge, universities need lecturers to possess a mix of aptitudes, attitudes, and professional development in teaching, research, and services. Unfortunately, knowledge is sparse about the readiness of their pupils to function effectively in a rapidly changing and increasingly globalized environment. Accordingly, this study uses an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach to explore the impact of lecturers’ aptitudes, attitudes, and professional development on teaching and student learning at the University of Cuenca. Lecturers’ perceptions about their aptitudes and their attitudes are higher than the students’ perceptions. Faculty representatives believe that untenured lecturers have a better attitude and aptitude than the tenured lecturers. A third part of lecturers have achieved one of the required criteria in research development. Students from biological sciences are more satisfied with their lecturers and the competence development that they receive than the students from social sciences or engineering. Understanding the likely implication of the variables, aptitudes, attitudes and professional development, on the quality of teaching and learning is fundamental for the design and carrying out of educational reforms.

The purpose of the study is to identify how the instructional model influences students’ reflective disposition and how the students perceived the intervention. The study addressed the research questions through the ‘Artistic Reflection Scale’ for student pre-school educators that consisted of four domains such as students’ observation skills, critical analysis skills, evaluation skills, and the occupation application of artistic reflection, and the course satisfaction questionnaire. The study found that the technology of artistic reflection and image creation was effective in fostering students’ artistic reflective thinking comprising observation skills, critical analysis, their art output evaluation skills with a focus on sharing their reflective experience with the preschoolers. The artistic reflection scale was proved to be a reliable instrument in measuring students’ reflective thinking skills. The study found a change in the artistic reflective skills of the experimental group students was substantially greater than in the students of the control group. After the intervention, there was a shift from the basic level of artistic reflection to the higher levels in the experimental group students, and the proportion of the students being at this stage reduced, while the other proportions increased.

Individuals and societies continue and end their lives within the framework of values. One of the most important of these values is the concept of homeland. Homeland refers to the land, where the individuals were born and live in, a piece of which may also be owned by such individuals. The concept of homeland is always given utmost importance in the curricula. In this context, it is important to determine the perceptions of elementary and middle school students towards the concept of homeland in order for foreseeing the love they felt for, and the importance they attach to, the geography they live in. In this study, it is aimed to reveal what students understand from the concept of homeland through metaphors. Phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research patterns, was used in this research. The study group of the research comprises 580 students. “Convenience sampling” was used in sample selection. In this study, elementary and middle school students were given a form of incomplete sentences in the following format of “Homeland is like ............... Because .................” as a data collection tool, and then they were asked to write their opinions by filling the blanks. The results of the study revealed that the participants expressed a total of 59 metaphors in relation to the concept of homeland. Based on the metaphors developed by students for the concept of "homeland", 7 categories were created. These categories are; Administration, Vitality, Concrete Object, National Value, Security, Value, Social Environment. The results of the study indicate that particular attention should be paid to the synonyms of the word “Homeland”. It would be useful to organize certain activities in order to create a sense of belonging and national awareness among the students.

Teaching about biodiversity and its conservation could be an effective way to teach the importance of different species and human dependence on ecological support systems. This study compares the effectiveness of a digital and a paper-based dichotomous identification key for teaching pre-service teachers about plant species diversity. Twenty-four Slovenian teachers in pre-service training used a digital version of the key on tablet computers and twenty-nine used a paper-based version to identify woody species in the garden near their university faculty. Both keys contained the same species, identical photographs and the same sequence of steps to identify the species. The accuracy and time taken to identify the five species were measured. The participants also completed a questionnaire about the usability of the identification key. Overall, both versions of the key were equally good for determining species names. The digital version of the key was found to be more time-effective than the paper version only when multiple identification steps were required to identify species. The results confirm that those who scored better on the identification tasks have a better general opinion about the usability of the key; especially students using digital version of the key. Implications for teachers using or creating identification keys are discussed in the conclusion.

This study aims at exploring the professional identities of six ELT students through the lens of critical incidents. For the sake of this aim, six ELT students took part in this research at an Anatolian High School in 2018-2019 spring semester. The teaching practicum process was conducted from April to mid of May 2019, once a week over six-week practicum. The main data collection of this study was the Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ). Additionally, two questions were asked to the participants to evaluate their actual and designated professional identities. The first question was answered before the practicum and the second one was answered at the end of the practicum process. The results showed that some internal and external factors influenced their professional identity. Additionally, it was found that critical incidents could be used to spot the changes in the participants’ professional identity formation processes. Results of the study indicated that not only negative but also some positive critical incidents contributed to the participants’ professional identity formation. As a result of the encountered incidents that influenced their formation of identities, it was observed that the actual identities of four students changed from positive to negative at the end of the process. Correspondingly, the findings of this study put forward that how the participants explored their identity formation process through the critical incidents.

Central to the creativity development in elementary schools are competent teachers. Enhancement of teachers’ competence could be done through the provision of guidance handbooks for the teachers. As based on the problem statements, this research was aimed at developing handbooks of guidance and counseling that could improve teachers’ competence in providing quality guidance and counseling services; the handbooks were expected to help teachers in cultivating the creativity of elementary school students. In this research and development study, the designed handbooks consisted of book 1 Guidance and Counseling Implementation Plan, Book 2 Service Materials, Book 3 Teachers’ Guideline, and Book 4 Evaluation Guideline. The effectiveness of the handbooks was examined using a quasi-experimental method with one group pre-test and posttest. According to the results of experimental data analysis, the tcount and ttable arrived at 7.665 (significance level of 0.05 (14)) and 1.76, respectively, meaning that tcount > ttable. This result signified that the handbooks were practical to build teachers’ competence in providing quality guidance and counseling services, which was helpful in assisting the teachers in instilling the creativity of elementary school students. In brief, the handbooks are recommended to be used by teachers in promoting the creativity of elementary school students.

The research investigated whether there is a correlation between participation in a course entitled "Diversity and multiculturalism in the global era" as perceived by Jewish and Arab students in Israel and a change in the students' attitudes and behaviors and their performance of activities in a multicultural context in the education field. The course was part of a master's degree program in Policy and Administration in Education in an academic college in central Israel. Pre-course and post-course questionnaires were administered to the course participants. Participants were 528 students; 177 responded to the pre-course questionnaire and 351 responded to the post-course questionnaire. The research findings indicated a direct association between participation in the course and activities conducted in the education field. In addition, students’ acquisition of knowledge on multiculturalism mediated the association between participation in the course and performance of multicultural activities in the education field. Differences were found between Jewish and Arab students' reports: Jews reported a multicultural academic atmosphere significantly more than Arabs. Contrastingly, Arab students gave significantly higher grades than Jewish students to reciprocal relations between the groups in the college and reported a more positive change in their attitudes towards the other group and towards multiculturalism and were more convinced that the course contributed to their multicultural thinking. These findings have theoretical and practical implications that can inform policymakers planning education for multiculturalism as a permanent component in academic programs, while responding to different sectors' cultural uniqueness to promote equality between them.

Professional teaching competence is significantly influenced by beliefs about teaching and learning. Prospective teachers start their teacher training with quite persistent beliefs about learning processes. These beliefs are mainly influenced by the way they experienced their own lessons as a student at school. Previous biology lessons at school might be linked to the imagined biology lessons of prospective teachers. We interpret these future lessons as a representation of their beliefs about teaching and learning. The present study investigated how prospective teachers remembered their previous biology lessons as well as how they imagine the lessons they will conduct in the future. The drawings of 181 prospective biology teachers in Germany (Mage = 22.1; SD = 3.6; 64.1 % female) were analyzed using the Draw-a-Science-Teacher-Test Checklist (DASTT-C). Results of the study indicate that the lessons they experienced were mainly teacher-centered, whereas the lessons they imagined were mainly student-centered. Results of a chi-square-test indicate that there is no connection between these two drawings of biology lessons. This suggests that experiences from one’s own schooling may have no connection with the way prospective teachers would like to teach in the future. The results of this study might be used as a basis for further studies examining the development of prospective biology teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning.

The purpose of the research was to identify whether the English language e-classes that are automated and delivered through the Smart Sender platform influence the students’ attendance and procrastination rates, their motivation, time management skills, cognitive processing speed, and satisfaction. The study used qualitative and quantitative methods to monitor students’ attendance and procrastination rates, motivation and engagement, time management skills, thinking speed, and satisfaction. The questionnaire on learning motivation, engagement, and competence, the time management skills test, the mental speed test, and the course satisfaction questionnaire were used to collect data. The focus group discussion questionnaire was used to obtain verbal feedback for the participants. The Smart Sender platform proved effective as an instructional tool for teaching the English Language to students majoring in Philology, International Business, and Law. The automated delivery of the English language e-classes was effective in addressing the issues of dropouts and procrastination in distance learning through automation of the lesson delivery based on the ‘push’ factor. It increased students’ motivation, improves time management skills, and satisfaction. The quantitative findings showed that the students experienced a positive change in attendance, motivation and learning engagement, time management skills, and thinking speed due to the intervention. The students perceived the automated delivery-based approach to language teaching positively. They reported that the delivery approach content met the participants’ expectations and needs. Focus group discussion revealed that the intervention changed their learning behaviour and strategies which were considered the improvements of the quality learning outcomes.

The current study aimed to identify the level of self-regulation and social intelligence among students of the College of Education at Prince Sattam University in Wadi Al-Dawasir, and to reveal the relationship between self-regulation and social intelligence, as well as the possibility of predicting social intelligence through self-regulation. A sample consisting of (204) female students at the College of Education, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University in Wadi Ad-Dawasir participated in this study. The measurement instruments included two researcher-made scales of self-regulation and social intelligence, and the SPSS program was used for statistical treatments. Results revealed that female students of the College of Education in Wadi Ad-Dawasir, Prince Sattam University, have a high level of self-regulation as well as social intelligence, and that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between the scores of self-regulation and social intelligence among the study sample. In addition, it was found that social intelligence can be predicted through self-regulation. It is possible to benefit from the results of this study in directing university planning officials to the importance of transforming the self-regulation and social intelligence of students into a culture and systematic practice through courses, symposiums and workshops, or integrating them into academic courses.

The purpose of the study was to identify how debates effected the analytical thinking abilities of tertiary students and how the debates as an instructional approach were perceived by the students. The study used quantitative data collection methods such as tests and observation checklists and qualitative data collection methods such as a focus group discussion. The data was yielded from the measurements of students’ analytical thinking, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and decision-making skills. The pretest and posttest measurements were administered using the test of analytical skills, the quiz entitled “Get Ready to Test Your Analytical Skills!”, and the problem-solving test. The study found that the debates improve the students’ analytical thinking abilities and are perceived positively by them. The pretest and posttest measurements results, observation reports, and a focus group discussion showed that the debate-driven instructional model brought positive change to students’ analytical thinking, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and decision-making skills which are supported by the statistically significant Mean differences in all the variables. The findings from observations implied that the lessons were organised in a way that could sufficiently challenge the students, engage them in the search of information, and presenting their findings based on the facts and statistics. The results obtained from the students’ responses in the outline focus group discussion found that the students appreciated participation in the debates as they associated the experience with job benefits, the practical value of the debates, learning engagement, and research.

As a part of learning process, project-based assessment (PBA) is determined to be a potential approach in higher education evaluation that focuses on developing the important objectives related to critical thinking, team working and problems solving skills. The aim of the paper is to find out students’ reflection and teachers’ beliefs towards using this project-based assessment method in teaching Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC). To collect the data, a project-based assessment design was applied for 124 English major students at B University in the 9 weeks ICC course. This project was implemented from the beginning of the course, and at the end of the course, learners’ products were performed with specific activities regarding culture knowledge competition, online cultural community activities, talent performance, situational judgment ability, and eloquence skills. In addition, a set of questionnaires were delivered to the participants, plus the interviews with 36 teachers who have taught culture-related subjects from the universities in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. The findings revealed that although there were certain challenges, using project-based assessment in teaching culture had satisfactory effects on students’ intercultural competence, problem- solving skills, critical thinking, and learning motivation.

More and more student trajectories involve an academic stay abroad. To achieve the intercultural, personal or linguistic objectives associated with such placements, social inclusion with peers and faculty in the place of study is needed. This paper applies Bourdieu’s theory of capital as a conceptual framework to examine the experiences of students who have competed a placement abroad, in particular students from educationally disadvantaged families, students with disabilities, and migrant students. Longitudinal data were taken from the German National Education Panel Study (NEPS) with N=8.469 students. The findings show the interrelatedness of social inclusion and a placement abroad: students who experience high social inclusion with peers and faculty at the beginning of their studies are more likely to study abroad. Social capital with faculty increases after such a placement, in particular for at-risk student groups, while no difference in the increase in social inclusion is observed between student groups. The findings imply a need for early interventions as some of the effects already take place in the first semester.

This research seeks to evaluate the degree of inclusion of the gender perspective and the promotion of education in and for equality in the historical narratives of students in Chilean Secondary Education (n = 105). The study focuses on the analysis of the discursive-narrative mechanisms employed by the students and, in particular, of their representations of gender relations. To this end, the place given to men and women in past and present societies is analysed in the narratives generated by the students (n = 780). A mixed methodology is applied, combining quantitative (descriptive and inferential) and qualitative analyses of the manifest content. The results obtained report the persistence of stereotypical, exclusionary and androcentric perspectives, evidenced in hegemonic gender attributions and in the maintenance of the sex/gender system. These data confirm the need to implement specific teacher training programmes aimed at the acquisition of critical competences and the effective inclusion of the gender perspective in history education.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which affected the whole world and caused millions to be locked at their homes, brought many difficulties in domestic life. Especially, women are the leading group that has been affected the most negatively due to the workload during the days staying at home and experiencing the constraints of traditional roles. In this study, in which descriptive phenomenology analysis was used, the aim was to reveal how mothers working as psychological counselors in schools experienced motherhood during the days staying at home during the epidemic, and how their professional skills reflected on their role as mothers. In this study, in which the criterion sampling was used, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 mothers who are school psychological counselors and could not continue their work since schools shut down during the pandemic. The data were analyzed by Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological method. Analysis results revealed six main themes that define the experiences of the participants: adaptation to the new order, parenting codes, introspection during the pandemic, distribution of parenting roles, professional reflections in motherhood, and complex motherhood experiences. It is believed that the results obtained from this study conducted with psychological counselor mothers will contribute to parenting practices and to the content of in service trainings for school psychological counselors.

The mastery of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is very important for teachers in order to achieve qualified learning. Analyzing the mastery of TPACK by teachers in Indonesia seems to be imperative to provide baseline data to Indonesian government. This study aimed to examine the mastery of TPACK, in particular among biology teachers in terms of their teacher certification status, educational level, and academic background. This research involved 68 biology teachers obtained through proportional random sampling in five districts of Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. The data collection was conducted through a multiple-choice test consisting of 33 items. The results showed that although the teacher’s mastery of TPACK was categorized as fair (60.13), it does not meet the work performance standards as a good teacher in Indonesia which has a minimum score of 76.00. Using Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis Tests (p< 0.05), the evidence revealed that the mastery of TPACK among biology teachers is likely influenced by the academic background, educational level, and teacher certification status.