Despite the ubiquity of professional learning communities (PLCs) among researchers, studies on PLCs have widely differed in terms of dimensions used to conceptualise them. Thus, the study aimed to validate the conceptual model consisting of PLCs practices. The study employed a quantitative method using a survey. Firstly, a pilot test was conducted in which 103 school-teachers were involved in completing a questionnaire. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) had determined six dimensions and 20 elements of PLCs practices. Then, the field study was conducted using the new questionnaire. The survey involved 386 school-teachers from 25 High Performing Schools (HPS). The result revealed that: I) Based on the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), multidimensional PLCs practice model is evidence in the Malaysian context. They are operationalised in six dimensions including visions, missions and values, professional leadership, collective and collaborative culture, sharing of best practices, conducive school climate, and strategic alliances among stakeholders and, ii) The level of PLCs implementation in HPS is high for all the dimensions. The practical implications from the study and future research recommendations were also discussed.

Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) has gained popularity worldwide to teach mathematics using real-world problems. This study investigates the effectiveness of elliptic topics taught to 10th graders in a Vietnamese high school and students' attitudes toward learning. The RME model was used to guide 45 students in an experimental class, while the conventional model was applied to instruct 42 students in the control class. Data collection methods included observation, pre-test, post-test, and a student opinion survey. The experimental results confirm the test results, and the experimental class's learning outcomes were significantly higher than that of the control class's students. Besides, student participation in learning activities and attitudes toward learning were significantly higher in the RME model class than in the control class. Students will construct their mathematical knowledge based on real-life situations. The organization of teaching according to RME is not only a new method of teaching but innovation in thinking about teaching mathematics.

Research on instructional quality has been of great interest for several decades, leading to an immense and diverse body of literature. However, due to different definitions and operationalisations, the picture of what characteristics are important for instructional quality is not entirely clear. Therefore, in this paper, a scoping review was performed to provide an overview of existing evidence of both generic and subject-didactic characteristics with regard to student performance. More precisely, this paper aims to (a) identify both generic and subject-didactic characteristics affecting student performance in mathematics in secondary school, (b) cluster these characteristics into categories to show areas for quality teaching, and (c) analyse and assess the effects of these characteristics on student performance to rate the scientific evidence in the context of the articles considered. The results reveal that teaching characteristics, and not just the instruments for recording the quality of teaching as described in previous research, can be placed on a continuum ranging from generic to subject-didactic. Moreover, on account of the inconsistent definition of subject-didactic characteristics, the category of ‘subject-didactic specifics’ needs further development to establish it as a separate category in empirical research. Finally, this study represents a further step toward understanding the effects of teaching characteristics on student performance by providing an overview of teaching characteristics and their effects and evidence.

This study aims to explore non-English speaking major student’s perceptions of Motivation and Grit and the relationship between these two factors and students’ English language performance at a public university in China. The research was conducted by quantitative research design to collect 624 non-English speaking Major students’ answers to multiple questionnaires at a public university in China. Data analysis is used by SPSS and AMOS. The study shows that Motivation and Grit all have a positive correlation with English language performance. One major conclusion of this study is Grit has the most significant effect on the English language performance of non-English speaking major students in multiple regression analysis and is also the best predictor of the relationship between these two factors and English language performance in the path analysis in Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. The finding also revealed that male students’ perception of motivation and grit is slightly stronger than that of female students. These findings highlight the need for English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher to understand students’ affective factors in learning English, and hence help them utilize different teaching methods to enhance students’ English learning and promote sustainable development of English learning in a public Chinese university.

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an inevitable shift from face-to-face to distance learning, a phenomenon known as panic-gogy. Parents are the main students’ companions while studying at home. Although various studies show the constraints in this condition, few employ phenomenology that accurately describes people’s experience regarding a situation. Therefore, this study aimed to describe parents’ experience during distance learning mathematics using a phenomenology approach. The participants comprised 71 35-50-year-old parents of junior high school students. A Google form with open-ended questions was used as the main instrument in data collection. Data were analyzed using NVivo-12-assisted thematic analysis in coding, while source triangulation was used to strengthen the data trustworthiness. The results showed that students did not learn the content well due to poor explanations by the teacher. Furthermore, they did not study well at home due to signal constraints and quota limitations. This study recommends blended learning by combining limited face-to-face and online learning.

Teachers´ life-long learning and occupational well-being is significant in promoting educational goals and professional development. The aim of the study was to determine which factors contribute to teacher educators´ commitment to work and give them energy for work and self-development. The research data consisted of 24 teacher educators in Oulu University of Applied Sciences. The research method of this case study was a qualitative, thematic content analysis, the research approach phenomenography. The most important single factor seemed to be the community of teachers, students and the administrative staff which are included in dialogue and collaboration. Emotions, meaningfulness, and interaction play an important role, often via pedagogical fellowship. Committed teacher educators take responsibility for workplace culture and transformation of teaching. Positive attitudes, motivation, reflection, and dialogue seem to be connected to professional capability and the ethos of teacher educators´ work.

Teacher leadership theory has underlined the essence of teacher collaboration (TC) in helping students learn better. Also, many studies and theories have argued that TC can be an effective way to provide learning feedback. Thus, this mixed-method study aimed to experimentally examine the effect of teacher collaborative metacognitive feedback (TCMF) on educational management (EM) students’ metacognition, to see the different effects on EM students’ metacognition as affected by TCMF and by individual teaching metacognitive feedback (ITMF), and to qualitatively probe into students’ perceptions of teacher collaboration. The quantitative study conducted a quasi-experimental method by involving 44 EM students. A valid and reliable scale of metacognition adopted from a previous study was utilized as the instrument of data collection. The qualitative study conducted interviews with 8 students selected purposively, and the data were analyzed interactively to reach credible information. This study revealed that TCMF positively and significantly affected EM students’ metacognition. TCMF contributed to EM students’ metacognition better than ITMF did. The students perceived that TC developed their collaborative skills, continuously supporting their critical thinking skills, intercultural communicative competence, and problem-solving skills. Limitations, implications, and recommendations for further research are discussed.

This paper is a quasi-experimental investigation into the effectiveness of using analogy in teaching new and unfamiliar physics concepts to students enrolled in a British curriculum school in the United Arab Emirates. The students (N = 34) were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the control group (N = 17) following the traditional teaching method, and the experimental group (N = 17) using the student-centered analogical method. The students relied on previous class knowledge to construct models, which in turn helped them explore new ideas and derive new knowledge. Pre-tests and post-tests were given to the two groups, where the post-test (test 6) results confirmed that the experimental group showed a more consistent outcome of high grades, no failure, and good homogeneity of results. On the other hand, the control group kept fluctuating around the same level in the all-study’s tests (pre-test and repeated measures (tests 2,3,4 and 5). The effect size of the intervention was very large and practically important, at Cohen’s d = 2.35. As a result, analogy-based pedagogies have demonstrated impact on students' learning performance and perceptions. Consequently, the result is capable of providing significant insights for educational policy and curriculum development.

Despite receiving increasing attention from mathematics education scholars, there has not yet been any overall understanding of the current state of realistic mathematics education (RME). To address this gap, this study aims to provide a review of 288 studies on realistic mathematics education from the Scopus database between 1972 and 2019. Using descriptive and bibliometric analyses, this study addresses four research issues as follows: (i) the total volume, growth trajectory, and geographic distribution; (ii) the most influencing authors and research groups; (iii) the most influencing sources (i.e., journals, books, conferences); and (iv) the most important topics. Several implications for not only mathematics education scholars but also other stakeholders, including policymakers, school managers, mathematics teachers, may not be considered in this study.

Lesson planning is considered to be an important and efficient tool for effective teaching and learning process. Preparations of effective lesson plan requires teachers to be competent in the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This study investigated how the mathematics teachers’ PCK impact their competences on designing effective lesson plans. Twelve in-service mathematics teachers from public secondary schools in Unguja-Island (Zanzibar) of Tanzania were involved. The data were collected using the reviewing of the teachers’ mathematics lesson plan documents and teachers’ interview. The data were analyzed in both quantitative and qualitative mode based on the lesson plan framework guideline (LPFG) and the criteria for better planning of the sections jointly with PCK abilities indicators. The percentage average of occurrence of the sections in the teachers’ designed lesson plan (DLP) and the percentage of occurrence of different category within the sections of the DLP in relation to the criteria were determined. Also, the challenges faced by the teachers in their DLP were identified. The result of the analysis revealed that the PCK competences of mathematics teachers are not good enough to impact their DLP, as some of their designing lesson plan sections were occurred inconsistently. Also, the implementation of PCK competences for effective mathematics teaching found to be at developing stage, as some criteria related to it were not clearly observed in their DLP. The study recommends the demand of in-service training for mathematics teachers on the implementation of teachers’ competences particularly PCK in the lesson plan designing for effective classroom practices.

This study investigated student teachers’ teaching self-efficacy level and factors that predict it (using five-factor mentoring model). Two hundred and ten third and fourth-year student teachers (N=100/N=110; 93.8% females) were involved in the study and asked to complete a self-report questionnaire. The “Mentoring for Effective Primary Teaching” instrument and “Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale” were used to collect the data. Findings indicated that higher levels of student teachers' self-efficacy are positively associated with the level of mentoring experience during the teaching practicum. The results found that fourth-year students reported significantly higher levels of teaching self-efficacy than third-year students. This study reported that there is a significant mean difference in student teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in terms of having parents in the teaching profession. A multiple regression found that mentor teachers’ personal attributes are the best predictor of student teachers' teaching self-efficacy beliefs.

The embodiment of teacher leadership has currently shifted onto the practice of teacher collaboration due to its potential to solve students’ problems such as low critical thinking skills. Accordingly, this study quantitatively aimed to examine the effect of teacher collaboration on educational management students’ critical thinking skills as well as their critical thinking retention. Subsequently, it qualitatively investigated the students’ perspectives on teacher collaboration. 60 students selected randomly took part in the experimentation, in which 30 students were taught with teacher collaboration, and other 30 students were taught with individual lecturing. 10 students taught with teacher collaboration were further selected purposively to be interviewed for the qualitative investigation. Descriptive statistics alongside paired and independent t-tests were deployed to analyze the experiment results, and an interactive model was adopted to analyze the qualitative findings. The experiment showed that teacher collaboration had a more positive and significant effect on students’ critical thinking skills than its counterpart did. The students taught with teacher collaboration enjoyed good retention of critical thinking skills as well. The students perceived that teacher collaboration improved their collaborative skills, awareness, and metacognitive skills in learning. Implication, limitation, and recommendation are discussed.

This study investigates the contribution of teachers’ willingness to their professional competence in adapting to digital learning transformation during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and its relationship to instructional leadership and self-efficacy. Data were collected by distributing online questionnaires consisting of 4 constructs, namely instructional leadership, self-efficacy, teacher’s willingness to change, and professional competence, and distributed to 221 Indonesian High School teachers. Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used for analysis using Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) version 23.0 to examine the hypotheses. The results showed that instructional leadership significantly influences teachers’ willingness to change with a positive impact on their professional competence. Furthermore, there is a significant effect on teachers’ willingness to change their professional competence, insignificant on self-efficacy with substantial impacts on their willingness to change. The analysis results through the Sobel test showed that the teachers’ willingness to change is an excellent mediating variable for self-efficacy in influencing professional competence. Conversely, it is not an excellent mediating variable for instructional leadership towards professional competence. The importance of teachers’ willingness to improve their professional competence is a new finding that significantly contributes to their professional development.

This review explores research into the effects of collaborative learning interventions on critical thinking, creative thinking, and metacognitive skill ability on biological learning. The search was conducted from 2000 to 2021. We found 36 critical thinking studies, 18 creative thinking studies, and 14 metacognitive skill studies that met the criteria. The results showed that collaborative learning influences large categories (ES=4.23) on critical thinking, influences large categories (ES= 7.84) on creative thinking, and influences large categories (ES= 8.70) on metacognitive skill. The study's findings show that collaborative learning interventions have the highest impact on metacognitive abilities. Based on these findings, we provide insights for education research and practitioners on collaborative learning interventions that seem to benefit the empowerment of high levels of thinking at various levels of education to be combined with various other interventions in the future. The type of intervention, level of education, materials used, and study quality criteria were included in the study.

Mathematics anxiety in initial teacher education is a growing issue that reflects on teacher quality and their student’s maths anxiety and abilities. Previous studies have presented a range of different perspectives to mathematics anxiety. We aimed to explore further the reasons of mathematics anxiety in preservice teachers and suggest some intervention strategies in reducing maths anxiety for initial teacher education systems. We used a mixed methodology in this research analysing both qualitative data along with some quantified data derived from qualitative data sources. The findings provide insights to causes of maths and test anxiety along with some intervention strategies that teacher educators can use in their future teaching.

In all years of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in primary mathematics education, Finland ranked in the lower places (44-61) in the dispersion index (the difference in scores between the 95th percentile and the 5th percentile), while Israel ranked in the upper places (1-3) in the same index. In the last PISA test, Israel ranked first (among the 78 participating countries) in grade differences, while Finland ranked 61st. The score for dispersion in Israel is 356 points, the highest among the countries and economic entities of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Based on these results, this comparative study between Israel and Finland was conducted to investigate the most important sociological factor in the Pisa test that influences most student achievements in mathematics in Finland and Israel, as well as the reasons for the differences in achievement between mathematics scores. The results of this study show that the differences in achievement in Israel are due to students' socio-economic status and the sector. In contrast, Finland's first sociological factor influencing student performance is socio-economic status. Nevertheless, it has a more negligible influence than in Israel. The second factor is student motivation.

In the last decades, the notion of universal design for learning (UDL) has gained prominence in the Greek educational scene (former government plan in education, projects based on UDL). This educational philosophy is essentially a necessary inclusive practice given the new conditions, the extreme heterogeneity of the student population due to socio-political and economic factors, and the exceptional circumstances due to COVID-19 pandemic. The UDL aims to ensure access and equity in learning for all learners despite differentiating characteristics. With our study, we seek to investigate whether teachers in secondary and second chance schools (SCS) are ready to implement UDL, what their expectations are, what obstacles they face, and the results of implementation through their records in reflection journals, a practice that is fully consistent with the context of UDL.

This investigation examined English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions of their self-efficacy in using instructional strategies in the context of the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. The research was designed as a descriptive research collecting quantitative and qualitative data from a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Forty-six Vietnamese EFL teachers were invited to partake in the study. The results indicated that participants were in general confident in using instructional strategies in their English classes. Specifically, the participants were highly confident in their abilities to use multimedia (M=4.41), assessment techniques (M=4.35), and classroom English (M=4.35). The study also indicated that participants were not confident in evaluating the level of task difficulty (M=3.37), dealing with unmotivated students (M=3.57), and meeting students’ particular needs for support (M=3.62). Pedagogical implications and recommendations were addressed to help manifold stakeholders at the end of this paper.

The aim of this article is to highlight the history of social work in Kosovo, regarding the major political climate from 1945 to the present. Unfavorable political developments that have existed in Kosovo for a long historical period have made it impossible to develop the social work profession compared to the countries of the region. Although the Former Yugoslav Federation claimed to be a socialist country, the social differences between states and provinces within this were large. The findings of the paper show that social work did not develop in Kosovo as a profession until specific structures, such as the emergence of the University of Pristina as a legal structure of education for Kosovo Albanians, which has been offering a degree program in social work for almost a decade now. The political orientation and organizational infrastructure are highly relevant for the execution and education of social work. Literature review is the methodological framework of this paper. Education and social work have been shown to be an extraordinary opportunity for the transformation of society.

The practicum is an essential component in the initial training of Secondary Education teachers, as it is the first approach to educational practice that future teachers have. This is a fundamental element for improving the quality of education, as it is one of the objectives of the different educational reforms. This research aims to find out the educational value of the practicum for this group, as well as its advantages and limitations. For this purpose, qualitative research was carried out, using as an instrument an interview with 13 Secondary Education teachers, 2 managers of the master’s degree in Secondary Education Teaching at the University of Granada, 144 students of this master’s degree, and 5 specialists in the subject at a national level. The data obtained were analysed by means of content analysis, using the Nvivo12 program. The most relevant results include the importance of the alternating and interdisciplinary models and development of the activities to be developed by the students during their stay in the schools. Respecting the current model, actions to create the necessary synergies and resources (tutors, supervisors, schools and planning) that promote the training model that is intended are particularly relevant.