This article contributes to the evidence base on the significance of context in enacting social justice leadership. It draws on data from the International School Leadership Development Network of 20+ countries who adopted a common qualitative approach involving interviews with principals identified as being social justice leaders. The article focuses on four case studies of Irish principals in varying primary elementary school contexts. Findings reveal local contextual features significantly impacted principals' perceptions, actions, and self-efficacy as social justice leaders. While the actions and motivation of the principals is similar, two of the principals, working in school contexts where the values and norms are not consonant with broader society, appear to lack confidence in their practice of social justice leadership. This article extends the existing evidence base by arguing for enhanced critical consciousness of all stakeholders related to the personal, institutional and community contexts in schools. It recommends a more flexible and iterative process of policy development to facilitate a more nuanced understanding of the cultural and ideological struggles in schools. Finally, it calls for governments and policy makers to take responsibility for and support disadvantaged communities as education alone cannot solve the issue of inequity.

Critical thinking skills are one of the thinking skills needed to live in the 21st century and the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. This study aims to develop a Virtual Classroom Critical Thinking (VC2T) Model, which is valid, practical, and effective to improve students' critical thinking skills. VC2T model has six steps: problem orientation, formulation, group discussion, analysis, result discussion, and reflection. This study is a Research & Development (R & D) involving 33 high school students in Surabaya, Indonesia. Before being tested, the VC2T Model was designed based on the theory of Plomp and Nieveen and then validated by 3 (three) experts in physics education. Data were analyzed using validity by experts, implementation of teaching with the VC2T Model, paired t-test, calculation of n-gain, effect size and percentage of student responses. The results showed that the VC2T Model is: (1) valid with an average validity score of 4.14 in the high validity category; (2) practical with an average score of implementations teaching of VC2T Model 4.26 in the outstanding category; and (3) effective as indicated by increasing of students' critical thinking skills scores which are statistically significant at alpha .05, the average n-gain is .38 in the medium category, the effect size of 6.93 is in a strong category and the average students' response is 87.59 % with outstanding category.

In contemporary school systems, the concept of a teacher is defined as a socially and emotionally intelligent, pedagogically, and psychologically competent school leader. This would mean that not only the teacher's subject knowledge is sufficient, but also good knowledge of general pedagogical-psychological skills, knowledge, and management of the didactic approach, etc. Social and emotional skills/intelligence (SEI) restore the value of teachers as creators of learning and connect education to the larger social world in which SEI plays the most important role. This paper highlights the importance of social and Emotional Intelligence (SEI) in teacher education, examining the current state of research and the most important role of SEI in students' personal, social, and academic achievement, as well as teacher effectiveness and personal growth. By presenting the scientific evidence of SEI in teaching and teacher education, this study assesses the SEI level of student teachers at the University of Primorska, Faculty of Education, Slovenia. SEI is examined, through its main components: Self-awareness, Self-management, Social Awareness and Social Skills. In conclusion, this paper aims to show the need to develop SEI in future teacher education in Slovenia.

Speaking skills have always been regarded as the most difficult skill out of the four skills that learners should master in language learning. The importance of learning speaking skills has also been highlighted by many researchers in recent years. With the use of technology in this modern era, learners can learn speaking skills through various resources. Therefore, there is a need to identify the learning strategies used by learners for speaking skills in the new learning environment. In this review, the most frequently used strategies in language learning for speaking skills has been examined. The articles reviewed were from 2017 until 2021 across two databases, ERIC and Google Scholar. The PRISMA 2020 methodology is used in the review. From the review, it was found that meta-cognitive and cognitive strategies were most frequently used for learning speaking skills, followed by compensation and social strategies. The least used strategies by learners were memory and affective strategies. The findings help teachers to look for the most suitable teaching method in the current learning environment. For future research, an extensive review of the use of learning strategies for other learning skills could be carried out.

Within the context of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), a process of directing oneself to facilitate individual learning more effectively, the SRL instrument development is deemed necessary to measure students’ self-reliance in learning mathematics in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) framework. The research aims to develop and test the validity and reliability of an SRL instrument, namely a 14-item SRL questionnaire accommodating four aspects, namely planning, self-monitoring, self-controlling, and evaluation. The study involved 420 junior high school students in East Java, Central Java, and Yogyakarta Special Region. The results show that the questionnaire was developed as planned and that planning, monitoring, controlling, and evaluating aspects can reflect the SRL variable in a valid, reliable, and significant way supported by each aspect's behavior indicator. The SRL variable theoretical model corresponds (good fit) with the empirical data, and all of the items are likely valid and reliable to assess student's mathematics SRL in the STEM framework. The SRL questionnaire was also found suitable for use by teachers to measure junior high school students’ self-reliance in SRL.

The academic buoyancy scale (ABS) is one of the most widely used instruments for measuring academic buoyancy. To obtain meaningful and valid comparisons across groups using ABS, however, measurement invariance should be ascertained a priori. To that end, we examined its measurement invariance, validity evidence based on relations to other variables, and score reliability using categorical omega across culture and gender among Egyptian and Omani undergraduates. Participants were 345 college students: Egyptian sample (N=191) and Omani sample (N=154). To assess measurement invariance across culture and gender, multiple–group confirmatory factor analysis was performed with four successive invariance models: (a) configural, (b) metric, (c) scalar, and (d) residual. Results revealed that the unidimensional baseline model had adequate fit to the data in the full sample. Moreover, measurement invariance was found to hold across culture but not across gender and consequently the ABS could be used to yield valid cross-cultural comparisons between the Egyptian and Omani students. Conversely, it cannot be used to yield valid inferences related to comparing gender groups within each culture. Validity evidence based on relations to other variables was supported by the significantly moderate correlation between ABS and academic achievement (GPA; r =.435 and r = .457, P < .01) for the Egyptian and Omani samples, respectively. With regard to score reliability, categorical omega coefficients were moderate across both samples. Educational and psychological implications, limitations and suggestions for improving the scale are discussed.

Metacognition inventory supports increased awareness and self-control to improve student’s academic success, including physics. However, there are limitations to revealing the Physics Metacognition Inventory (PMI), especially in Indonesia. This study aims to explore and evaluate the psychometric properties of PMI. This survey research has involved 479 students from three high schools in Indonesia. The psychometric properties of the I-PMI were evaluated using a Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Rasch Model approach. The results show that the Indonesian Physics Metacognition Inventory (I-PMI) is collected in 6 constructs from 26 items. The validity, reliability, and compatibility tests have also been analyzed with good results. The five rating scales used have adequate functionality. This research has also presented more comprehensive information about the Physics Metacognition Inventory in the context of Indonesian culture. This study has implications for using I-PMI to assess students’ metacognition at the high school level in Indonesia and recommendations for future research.

Measuring accounting teachers’ professional identity is significant to do as an alternative to measure the professionalism of accounting teachers in Indonesia based on their professional identity. This research was conducted in two stages of exploratory factor analysis involving 150 accounting teachers as sample in each stage. The data were collected in collaboration with an accounting teacher organization, comprising the Accounting Subject Teacher Deliberation (MGMP) in Central Java through a questionnaire. Data analysis was divided into several steps including face validity and content validity, inter-item correlation matrix, and exploratory factor analysis. The results showed that 23 question items encompassed five components of accounting teacher professional identity; Cultural Knowledge (pedagogical cultural identity), Blending (accommodating students' purposes for school in the learning objectives), Identity Experiencing (by the experience of working life in the past, present, and individual expectations in the future in accounting work setting), Inter-Personal Skill, and Active in Professional Communities. The scale development requires continuous development tailing various new findings in the teacher professional identity and accountant professional identity.

This study aims to develop a mathematics learning application, namely Android-based mobile learning to increase students' High Order Thinking Skills (HOTs). The result of mathematics learning media is a valid and practical mobile learning application product. "Mastering Math" is the name of a mathematics e-learning application designed as a mobile or smartphone application, with specifications for the OS Android. The procedure for the development of virtual mathematical media used the development of the 4D model of Thiagarajan: (1) define; (2) design; (3) develop, and (4) disseminate. The trials conducted included five expert judgments and a small group. The research instruments used were a validation sheet, a practical assessment sheet by the teacher, a practical assessment sheet by students, and a media effectiveness test instrument. Data analysis was performed using Cochran's Q test for similarity of expert validation and qualitative analysis. The teaching materials used are junior high school teaching materials with validity and practicality in the good category to increase students' HOTs. This research implies that the learning of mathematics is more effective and efficient, students' divergent thinking develops, and their learning motivation for mathematics increases.

The performance in biology at the secondary level has not been as good as expected. This has been a matter of concern. Thus, there has been a continuous focus on exploring newer innovative learner-centered and friendly instructional strategies to enhance understanding and retention in biology. This study, therefore, determined the effects of Concept Mapping (CM) and Cooperative Mastery Learning (CML) on fostering retention in photosynthesis among secondary schools in Nyamagabe district, Rwanda. A pre-test and post-test non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design was used. Data were obtained from 151 students taught with CM, 144 students taught with CML, and 154 students taught with Conventional Teaching Methods (CTM). The Photosynthesis Retention Test (KR-21= 0.82) was used for data collection. The data were mainly analyze d using mean and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The results showed that the CM and CML treatment groups outperformed the CTM group in retention in photosynthesis. There was a statistically significant difference in favor of the CM between the two experimental groups. The male and female students taught using CM retained equally in photosynthesis while gender difference was revealed in the mean retention scores of the students exposed to the CML, with females retained significantly higher than males. The study concluded that the CM and CML strategies were more effective than CTM. It was suggested, among other things, that teachers should be encouraged to apply CM and CML strategies when teaching biology.

The response of most universities to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was Online Distance Teaching (ODT), which was a new experience for many educators and students. The aim of the study was to investigate the response of university teachers to ODT. A questionnaire was sent to all university teachers (N = 914). We received 290 usable responses. To create a Continuance Intention Model of Forced Online Distance Teaching (CIMoFODT), Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) were used in addition to descriptive and inferential statistics. The main findings were as follows: (i) during the closure, use of the videoconferencing system MS Teams was the only item that increased significantly, owing to mandatory use; (ii) the increase in the use of other applications (e.g., Moodle, email) was minimal; (iii) after the reopening of the university, email, Moodle, and supplementary online materials will be used for ODT; MS Teams will be used for small group teaching and individual consultations; (iv) CIMoFODT can be applied to explain the intention to continue ODT. The main conclusion is that teachers will return to traditional teaching when classrooms reopen.

This study was conducted to corroborate in understanding the teachers’ beliefs about assessment practices. The prior studies related to teachers’ assessment beliefs in mathematics have been done to assess teachers’ beliefs in the general context of mathematics teaching. This study developed an instrument to assess teachers’ assessment beliefs of mathematical thinking. The research aimed to develop and validate a scale of assessment beliefs of mathematical thinking by using the confirmatory factor analysis. The first draft of the scale contained 25 items. The sample of the study consisted of 537 mathematics teachers from public schools in Oman. The instrument was a questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale. The scale was validated by asking a number of experts in mathematics educational measurement and evaluation. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was applied to test the model of assessment beliefs of mathematical thinking scale using AMOS 25.0. All constructs had acceptable reliability. The model had a good model fit for the assessment beliefs of mathematical thinking scale which obtainable from the fit indices tests. The findings revealed that all fit criteria indices were realized. The results also showed acceptable validity and construct reliability for the scale.

Literacy ability is an individual's ability to reason, formulate, solve, and interpret mathematically to solve problems related to daily life. Executive function is a cognitive aspect that has a relation with mathematical literacy. One of some aspects that affects the low mathematical literacy ability is the aspect of executive function. This study aims to investigate the characteristics of mathematical literacy based on the executive function aspects of 15 years old students. A qualitative method with a descriptive approach is employed in this study. The present research applies interview guidelines, questionnaires, and students' mathematical literacy tests as the instruments. Research subjects are junior high school students in grade VIII from two different schools. The result shows that the students' executive function influences mathematical literacy ability. Students' mathematical literacy ability is not fully achieved by fulfilling all the indicators involved. Another aspect found in the research is the low critical thinking ability impacts the achievement of mathematical literacy ability indicators.

This paper investigates the quantitative literacy and reasoning (QLR) of freshmen students pursuing a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)–related degree but do not necessarily have a Senior High School (SHS) STEM background. QLR is described as a multi-faceted skill focused on the application of Mathematics and Statistics rather than just a mere mastery of the content domains of these fields. This article compares the QLR performance between STEM and non-STEM SHS graduates. Further, this quantitative-correlational study involves 255 freshman students, of which 115 have non-STEM academic background from the SHS. Results reveal that students with a SHS STEM background had significantly higher QLR performance. Nevertheless, this difference does not cloud the fact that their overall QLR performance marks the lowest when compared to results of similar studies. This paper also shows whether achievement in SHS courses such as General Mathematics, and Statistics and Probability are significant predictors of QLR. Multivariate regression analysis discloses that achievement in the latter significantly relates to QLR. However, the low coefficient of determination (10.30%) suggests that achievement in these courses alone does not account to the students’ QLR. As supported by a deeper investigation of the students’ answers, it is concluded that QLR indeed involves complex processes and is more than just being proficient in Mathematics and Statistics.

Online learning during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has awakened and affirmed the necessity of learning based on digital technology. The article was aimed to analyze the effectiveness of online learning at bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees of Islamic Religious Education as a reference to develop a learning pattern post-COVID-19 pandemic. The research employed a mixed-method design with a concurrent triangulation model. The samples were taken using stratified random and purposive sampling. Meanwhile, the data were collected through questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and forum group discussion. A descriptive analysis and one-way analysis of variance were used to analyze the quantitative data, while interpretative descriptive for the qualitative data. The research showed that online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees of Islamic Religious Education have been effective. In detail, online learning at the doctoral degree was the most effective among all. On the other hand, face-to-face learning is still necessary. Therefore, the learning pattern developed post-COVID-19 pandemic combines face-to-face and online learning (hybrid learning). The formulation is adjusted to the characteristics, educational purpose and orientation, level of ability, readiness, and learning autonomy of the students at each educational level.

Traditionally secondary studies on achievement on Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) tests point to the significant impact of socioeconomic status and cultural backgrounds of families as well as the role of parental involvement, which in some cases has had a negative impact on achievement. For this article, a model of structural regression was tested, with structural modelling software. This model included the following factors: domestic and educational assets, parental support for students, parents’ perceptions about science, and science competencies among 214 high performing Mexican students on PISA tests in 2015. This resulted in a structural regression model with a goodness of fit, where science competencies were a positive significant variable, impacted by domestic and educational assets and parental involvement. An additional restricted model with four variables manifested as mediators, revealed that science competencies were predicted positively and significantly by domestic and educational assets, and by the manifest parental emotional support variable. Variables related to ownership of educational and cultural assets and resources, as well as parental support, particularly emotional parental support, have positive and significant impact on science competencies.

This study is an endeavour to explicate the dissonance of the linguistic quality outcome of study abroad (SA) experiences by exploring the second language (L2) motivation of six academic sojourners in Manchester. A person-in-context approach revealed that developing intimate relationships with ‘native-speakers’, providing L2-mediated interaction opportunities with international students, and social approval were key determinants of the extent to which SA students were invested in social practices. Such social engagements were found to stem from second language motivation that is part of identity construction process. In addition, the thematic analysis of the narrative inquiries suggests that the global status of the English language defies the traditional conceptualisations of L2 motivation as most participants’ motivations were formed despite their negative or neutral attitudes towards the English community. The findings also endorse the role of the other as a robust motivational source by which learners can replenish their motivation stream, leading to social identity investment to construct their ideological selves. The paper concludes with a recommendation to re-interpret the conceptualisation of the Ideal L2 Self system because ‘native-speakers’ are rarely the closest parallels to L2 learners, and it should incorporate explicit intrinsic orientations. Furthermore, language institutions in SA contexts should direct their focus on establishing conversation clubs and hosting social events for SA students to provide a safe space for their identities to be developed, enacted and reconstructed.

Higher education plays an important role in providing students with knowledge and skills to enter the labor market. The quality of higher education, the satisfaction of the quality of higher education has been concerned by many individuals and organizations. The study aims to explore the factors affecting student satisfaction with the quality of higher education services in Vietnam. Research data was collected from survey results by questionnaires from 396 students of An Giang University, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. SPSS 20, AMOS 24 software is used for analysis and evaluation of scales through Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient; exploratory factor analysis EFA; CFA confirmatory factor; SEM linear regression analysis to test the hypotheses. The results of the SEM model study show that there are six factors affecting student satisfaction with the quality of higher education services in Vietnam, including teaching staff; facilities and teaching facilities; ability to serve; educational activities; student support activities; education programs. From the research results, discussions on educational administration are proposed to improve student satisfaction with the quality of higher education services in Vietnam.

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has shaken the world, forcing countries to implement a state of emergency, including the education system. Students have been forced to remain in hostels or houses since they cannot get to university campuses. As a result of this predicament, university authorities have no option but to implement an online learning environment. Specifically, Saudi universities have faced numerous difficulties in bringing the online learning systems to continue the educational process. On the other hand, students faced difficulties to cope with such circumstances (complete online learning) without any preparation or backup plan. According to the findings of the literature research, students experienced difficulties that were difficult to overcome. The aim of this study was to determine the challenges that first-year students of the University faced. The present research got a total of 234 valid responses from the participants. The findings indicate that respondents were not fully prepared in this situation in terms of physical, environmental, and psychological readiness, with some variances in viewpoints depending on their gender and age. Respondents expressed concern about the effect of lockdown on their ability to perform well academically. In this study, the researchers found that switching suddenly to an all-online alternative cause significant obstacles for students. It was determined that the present blended learning model, which utilizes online learning to support face-to-face instruction, has encountered a critical challenge when it comes towards replacing it, particularly with underprepared learners.

This study aimed to explore the perceived factors that influenced the success and challenges experienced when taking licensure examination among Bachelor of Science in Criminology graduates of a state university in the Philippines who failed in the Criminologist Licensure Examinations (CLE). Descriptive-correlational research design was utilized to analyze quantitative data, and Colaizzi’s descriptive phenomenology was used for the thematic analysis of qualitative data. The quantitative findings revealed that home and family factor has a high influence on the success in CLE, while student factor, school factor, review center factor, and personal factor have average influence. Further, ten clusters of themes emerged as factors that influence the success in CLE. Among them were interest and focus on the program, and availability of qualified and dedicated faculty. Among the themes that emerged as challenges were lack of preparedness for the exam because of one’s work, and personal and social pressures. There is a significant difference on the respondents’ perception towards the factors that influence the success in CLE when they are grouped according to sex. Regarding the challenges associated with preparing for and taking the CLE, a significant difference is only observed when respondents are grouped according to their civil status. Generally, married respondents have higher weighted means than the single ones. This implies that the identified challenges affected married respondents more than the single ones. These results can be used to make policies and initiate programs that would enhance graduates’ success in the exam by providing appropriate interventions and early remediations.