The government has imposed social restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting the education sector, including the early childhood school. Distance education offers different methods from the conventional methods, as the students are expected to gain the same skills, including critical thinking skills. Therefore, teachers must provide distance learning innovations using relevant learning media, such as multimedia-based learning. This research aims to assess the efficacy of multimedia learning in early childhood distance learning. This research is a quantitative model with a quasi-experimental pretest and posttest design. The data collection technique utilized questionnaires given to 30 samples of early childhood children. The data were statistically analyzed using SPSS software. The results confirmed that multimedia-based learning for distance learning could develop critical thinking skills in early childhood children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study offer exploration of learning strategies to improve children’s critical thinking.

This study focuses on online supervisory written feedback on PhD supervisees’ performance, given explicitly through online communication, particularly during the first wave of COVID-19. This unusual situation has brought many different effects on students’ academic lives. This scenario has influenced both students’ and teachers’ mutual communication. A directed qualitative content analysis (DQCA) approach was adapted from previous research and modified for the present context. The current study planned to bring forth the supervisee and supervisors’ perception of the communication and feedback process, considering that online feedback and communication has been a new experience for most students. According to the findings, teachers/supervisors give feedback on students’ production, whereas teacher-student communication also seemed crucial for the performance improvising of learners. The result brought forth a wide range of social, educational, and surprisingly psychological issues both supervisees and supervisors faced during online communication during COVID-19.

The article discusses the topical issue of a model of digital competencies for a future teacher. The analysis of the composition and structure of the most relevant models of digital competencies of a citizen and a modern teacher is carried out. In addition, the article reveals approaches to the formation of the content of digital competence, and provides the results of an empirical study, which consists in analyzing the results of a survey of practicing teachers and teacher-training students in order to identify the most demanded digital competencies of a future teacher. The article substantiates the authors’ content of the competence of a future teacher, a university student. The purpose of this article is to develop a theoretical model of digital competence of a future teacher, taking into account the dynamic technologisation of the modern world and the peculiarities of Russian education, based on an analysis of approaches to determining the content of its digital competencies. According to the analysis of studies, the issue of teachers’ digital competence is not sufficiently disclosed. Numerous studies on digital competencies of a person, teacher, etc. do not fully solve the problem of assessing the digital competence of future teachers.

This research aims to determine second-year university students’ understanding in interpreting and representing fractions. A set of fraction tests was given to students through two direct learning interventions. An unstructured interview was used as an instrument to obtain explanations and confirmations from the purposive participants. A total of 112 student teachers of primary teacher education program at two private universities in Indonesia were involved in this research. A qualitative method with a holistic type case study design was used in this research. The results indicate that a significant percentage of the participants could not correctly interpret and represent fractions. In terms of interpretation, it is found how language could obscure the misunderstanding of fractions. Then, the idea of a fraction as part of a whole is the most widely used in giving meaning to a fraction compared to the other four interpretations, but with limited understanding. Regarding data representation, many participants failed to provide a meaningful illustration showing the improper fraction and mix number compared to the proper fraction. Improvement of fraction teaching at universities - particularly in primary teacher education programs - is needed so that students get the opportunity to develop and improve their knowledge profoundly. We discuss implications for teaching fractions.

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 article addresses the impact of accelerated technological development on the world of work, the main characteristics of the new expected generation of workers (Generation Z), and the unique demands placed on educational systems. The educational systems must adapt to society's expectations in the 21st century to remain relevant in a world with uncertainty regarding the labor market. Throughout the article, we present findings from the research literature on the new requirements of learners in the 21st century, highlight the main characteristics of the new generation of workers (Generation Z), and outline the importance of the education system in training and acquiring necessary skills. These requirements include skills for integrating learners into society and employment due to the new demands of the labor market.

The primary goal of this study was to explore the effectiveness of Quizizz in enhancing students' motivation, interest, and achievement in physics. This study was conducted at the Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology (NEUST) – Gabaldon campus during the second semester of the academic year 2021-2022. This study used both a descriptive and a quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design. The descriptive design was used to describe the student's motivation and interest in learning waves and optics before and after the intervention of Quizizz. The quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design was used to determine the effectiveness of Quizizz in increasing students' motivation, interest, and achievement in physics. The study included 20 students pursuing a bachelor's degree in secondary education with a major in science. According to the findings, before the intervention of Quizizz, students agreed that they are motivated and interested in learning physics, and their performance was average. Following the intervention, students unanimously agreed that they are more motivated and interested in learning physics, and their scores in a specific unit increased. According to the t-test, the intervention of Quizizz significantly increases student motivation, interest, and achievement in physics. It demonstrates that using Quizizz in physics instruction improved students' motivation, interest, and achievement in physics.

Kosovo's education system has two different vocational education and training schools: professional schools and centres of competence. The local authorities-municipal directorates of education manage the professional schools, while the centres of competence are managed at the national level by agency for vocational education and training and adult education (AVETAE), operating under the Ministry of Education. This paper compares the collaboration between public schools, centres of competence, and private businesses. For this research, we used the mixed research methodology by interviewing coordinators of career centres from two professional schools and two centres of competence, and four managers of different firms. The research included a questionnaire filled by teachers from both institutions, prepared using the Likert scale. We analysed the data from this research to identify the differences in how those institutions develop partnerships with private businesses to secure better internship opportunities for their students. The study will provide data about the sustainability of cooperation between these two institutions in the creation of employment opportunities for their graduates. The outcomes will help professional schools and centres of competence to improve their cooperation with the labour market. It will help the career centre coordinators and business owners to create new job opportunities for development.

The delivery of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning to improve an individual’s competence and future career interests has become a critical scientific undertaking for teachers and researchers alike. A plethora of research has proposed various hands-on robotics activities built on constructivist theories, thereby facilitating the development of knowledge based on reality for scientific and non-scientific stakeholders. Robotics may become an essential focus point within technology provision, which is an essential underlying characteristic for the seminal development of computational thinking (CT). However, despite the potential benefit of CT in developing an individual’s problem-solving skills, strategies for improving this ability through hands-on robotics activities largely remain underexplored. This paper highlights the constructs drawn from hands-on robotics activities in a STEM workshop designed for pre-service teacher students. The qualitative research design involved eight participants to investigate the responses of pre-service teachers to a hands-on robotics activity intended to provide STEM material. The research findings emphasise the correlations between the CT principles and STEM learning phases and underscore the roles played by educational robotics to enhance previous literature on learning experience.

Translanguaging enables students to communicate in multiple languages in an English-dominant classroom. It has received considerable attention from scholars in content and language integrated learning (CLIL). Its implementation in primary schools in European countries has been adopted in Asian countries, including Indonesia. This study employed a narrative inquiry investigating a teacher who taught first graders both content matter and English during the COVID-19 forced-remote learning. Furthermore, data were gathered using semi-structured interviews to guide the participant in narrating CLIL science teaching experiences. Virtual observations were carried out eight times to obtain evidence of translanguaging practiced. Due to forced-remote learning, the results indicated that the teacher had to find the most convenient ways to instruct the young students without adding to their burden. Furthermore, it was reported that scaffolding by translanguaging was planned systematically by valuing the students’ L1 and alternating it with English as the target language. The findings also discussed the practical implications of this study to maintain young learners' (YLs) engagement through translanguaging strategies.

COVID-19 pandemic forces training for principals to be conducted online. This study aims to evaluate the context, input, process, response, study, behavior, and outcome to determine the effectiveness and make recommendations for training. The approach used in this study was a mixed method with a concurrent embedded design and a qualitative method as the main method. The subjects of this study were the principals, committees, and instructors. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and questionnaires and analyzed using Miles and Huberman's model, descriptive analysis, and a t-test. The results show that e-training is effective in context, input, and process. Response, learning, and attitude assessments prove that knowledge, skills, and attitude have improved. Participants will be able to implement the experience gained and impact school quality improvement. This study contributes to the combination of the two evaluation models proven to produce a complete result. The study for the e-training recommends needed assessment before the training, the activity before the training to acquire the skills in using the learning management system, and the monitoring and evaluation after the training.

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.

This study aimed to investigate the impacts of enrolling in the creative teaching module in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education from high school students’ perspectives. This study applied a case study and qualitative research approach involving 26 Grade 11 students and 31 Grade 8 students. The creative teaching-STEM (CT-STEM) module, which comprised various activities related to energy literacy in real-world situations for the community’s well-being, involved outdoor STEM education activities with the assistance of two science teachers. The CT-STEM module was developed based on the directed creative process model by applying four creative teaching strategies: (i) constructivism learning, (ii) discovery inquiry, (iii) problem-based learning, and (iv) project-based learning. The theme of these out-of-classroom activities is sustainability education, focusing on energy sustainability. The results showed that the planned approaches could positively impact and build students’ creativity and create an exciting learning experience. Furthermore, the findings from the open-ended questionnaire instrument, observations, and analysis of the worksheets have shown enhancements in five themes: the development of problem-solving skills with an emphasis on the element of sustainability education, high-level thinking skills, active learning skills, communication skills, and humanity skills. The students also showed an increased interest in STEM as they learned using the CT-STEM module.

This study aims to explain the success factors of e-learning. The participants were 427 students in public universities in Indonesia. To demonstrate the success of this e-learning, we developed a more comprehensive e-learning evaluation model that considers the system's characteristics, students, and instructors. The results show that higher student performance is associated with higher student satisfaction. However, the increase in performance is not due to the use of e-learning. Social and cultural factors influence the use of e-learning. Culture and social environment influence students' use of e-learning. The instructor's ability to implement e-learning has been shown to influence student satisfaction. The difference in the implementation of e-learning compared to classroom learning requires different teaching methods that affect student performance. In addition, e-learning is used in all courses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic case has shifted away from face-to-face teaching to online blended learning. This phenomenon certainly causes various problems in the world of education. The online blended learning is good when applied with good internet connections and complete facilities. However, it differs from Indonesian coastal students who do not have supporting facilities. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the experience and readiness of Indonesian coastal students. It determines the facilities of the process using qualitative research with a phenomenological approach. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from 25 students living in coastal areas in Aceh, Indonesia. Furthermore, in-depth interviews were used to obtain instruments and techniques for data collection, observations, field notes, and audio-visuals. Data analysis was carried out qualitatively by reducing, displaying, drawing conclusions, and verifying data. The data processing was conducted using NVivo 12 plus software. The kappa coefficient is used to check the accuracy of the data since there was no bias during coding. The analysis results show that Indonesian coastal students are not ready to conduct the online blended learning process. Furthermore, it is recommended that future research focus on coastal students’ development. A Hypothetical Learning Trajectory design should be created to assist in independent learning and lessen their readiness.

Academic failure and school dropout, or early school leaving, are two of the situations that most concern countries and educational institutions worldwide, because of their prevalence and also their economic and social implications. Despite this prominent role that academic failure and school dropout have in societies, there seems to be no consensus on the literature on their conceptualization, definition, and relationship. Moreover, it is frequent to observe how both concepts are confused or overlap in the scientific literature and how many authors avoid defining these constructs, using them indistinctly. Therefore, this work analyses whether educational research considers them as two different concepts or if they are used indistinctly. For this purpose, 2,051 keywords from 450 articles were subjected to a systematic review and classified into the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) thesaurus´ descriptors. The results reveal statistically significant differences in the descriptors according to the type of paper to which they correspond (academic failure or dropout). Thus, academic failure is associated with sociocultural, personal, and academic factors, while dropout is linked to employment and educational trajectories. These differences evidence that, although academic failure and school dropout refer to closely related educational problems, there are remarkable differences between them and between the treatment given to each of them in the scientific literature. Therefore, they should be considered as two different concepts. For all this, keyword analysis has proved to be a relevant element for the study of the structure of knowledge, allowing to clearly establish the differences between the two closely related concepts.

COVID-19 and the expansion of distance learning pose new challenges to the educational system. Soft skills are imperative in this context, for children's effective and adaptive learning. The following study aims to discover teachers' representations by identifying their common conceptual framework of soft skills in primary school. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers. The teachers' comments helped identify and define a framework of soft skills that would help children learn effectively. The results illustrate that the lack of practice of soft skills activities depends on the teachers' perceptions of the importance of their role in transmitting disciplinary knowledge. The study concluded that the lack of a clear and shared vision of soft skills influences the representations and practice of teachers.

The longitudinal changes of the average grades in four study semesters before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and distance learning are presented in the current study. 11th grade students’ (n=586; age M=17.38, SD=0.53) average grades were assessed, as well as their verbal and non-verbal reasoning abilities, and self-evaluations of problem-solving and self-management skills. The main findings of the study are: 1) There is a general pattern for the grades to increase during the four semesters from the autumn 2019 to the spring 2021; 2) The general tendency of changes in the grades is similar to various students’ groups based on their level of skills; 3) Higher level of students’ skills and cognitive abilities determined that students’ grades were higher and were more likely to increase during the “second wave of the pandemic”, compared to the middle and low-level skill groups. Results of the current study show a tendency for the average grades to increase during the pandemic and distance learning, however, there are group differences in the findings, relating the grade level to the individual level of students’ skills and abilities.

Teacher agency is a set of actions that a teacher takes beyond what is generally expected of them. The concept merits examination, as agency can bolster teachers’ ability to set and achieve professional development goals. To better understand how to study, and use, this relatively new concept in the academic literature, a systematic review of 164 publications written by researchers from 41 countries was conducted in order to document the research approaches used to study teacher agency, the participants whose agency was documented in a school setting, the methodology used and the type of analysis performed. The study found that teacher agency has been documented qualitatively in the form of case studies comprising interviews of a small number of individuals, with no consensus in terms of interview protocol. In most cases, the results are analyzed using emergent coding. The way that agency is documented varies but is most often underpinned by an ecological approach.

Successful teaching requires teachers' reflections and metacognitive awareness. However, few studies have investigated the impacts of reflections on teachers' metacognitive awareness in teaching. This study aimed to examine whether or not reflections can empower Indonesian pre-service English teachers' metacognitive awareness in teaching. Mixed-methods research was conducted to collect quantitative and qualitative data from 36 pre-service English teachers (PSETs) in two micro-teaching classes at the Undergraduate Program, Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Quantitative data from the pre-semester and post-semester were analyzed descriptively and statistically. Qualitative data from reflections and focus group discussions (FGD) focused on determining key issues related to PSETs' metacognitive awareness in teaching. Data analyses revealed that Indonesian PSETs' perceived metacognitive awareness in teaching increased post-semester. They also admitted the positive contributions of reflections in enhancing their metacognitive awareness in teaching. The increase was primarily attributable to the implementation of explicit reflections of the elements of metacognitive awareness in teaching. This research provides recommendations for teachers, lecturers, and future researchers.