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.

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.

School placement plays a critical and complex role in student teacher development as well as in their professional dispositions and career attitudes. It is where theory and practice meet, teaching skills are developed, professional relationships formed and future careers envisioned. This mixed methods study explores student teachers’ experiences with and perspectives about new models of extended school placements developed in Ireland following significant policy and programme reform. Data was collected through interviews and questionnaires with one of the first cohorts to experience a reconceptualised initial teacher education programme, including extended school placement periods in a variety of school settings. This paper will explore student teachers’ perspectives regarding the value of the extended placement and factors influencing their professional learning, agency and sense of belonging. Overall, our findings confirm the pedagogical benefits of the extended placement in two different school settings for student teachers’ professional learning. However, they also highlight how a number of factors, including the existence (or absence) of school support structures, school culture, peer networks, paid or unpaid additional workload and financial pressures impacted on student teachers’ capabilities to develop their skills and professional agency, their sense of belonging and, in some cases, their physical and mental health.

This study aims to analyze the characteristics of social skills, digital literacy disposition, and mathematical literacy abilities of 49 students; to analyze the theoretical model of the direct and indirect influence of digital literacy skills and social skills on mathematical literacy skills. The number of samples is 49 of the 12th-grade students at state high school #1 Southern Konawe. The research instruments consisted of a mathematical literacy ability test, a social skills questionnaire, and a digital literacy disposition questionnaire. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and structural equational models (SEM) with a Smart PLS 3.0 application. The results showed that students' mathematical literacy skills tended to be better on content and context indicators but they are weak on competency and process indicators. Students' social skills tend to be better on indicators of peer-relationship skills and self-management skills, but are also weak on indicators of academic skills and compliance skills. Mastery of the digital literacy disposition tends to be better on the internet searching, content evaluation, and information sharing indicators but is still weak on knowledge assembly. Furthermore, it was found that (a) social skills have a direct effect on digital literacy disposition but do not directly affect mathematical literacy skills; (b) the digital literacy disposition has a direct effect on mathematical literacy skills.

This study explores a socially relevant problem related to teachers' conceptions of hate speech from a gender perspective present in the discourse of teaching history and social science educational practices. The methodology was used within the paradigm with a case study design, as a generalization was not intended. The sample consisted of 80 professors of history and social sciences. A quantitative questionnaire was used to determine the conceptions of the participants. The main findings include the constraints placed by programs and curricula on the presence of hate speech, student interventions in classes, and strategies implemented by participating teachers to position counter-narratives to hate in their practice. The conclusions include the importance teachers place on analyzing the prevalence of hate speech in their practice, both by students and the media, and its impact on teaching. In addition, the results offer some educational insights and perspectives for positioning hate speech as a transformative social justice perspective.

Scientific literacy is a critical competency for people to take an essential role in science, technology, and social advancement. It is important to note that this competence is still a problem for most students worldwide. Therefore, this study analysed students' scientific literacy differences between a project-based learning flipped classroom (PjBL-FC) and a project-based learning (PjBL) class assisted by learning resources in wetlands environments. This quasi-experimental study used a non-equivalent control group design involving Class X Senior High School as the sample. The data were inferentially analysed by t-test. The results showed that the scientific literacy of students in the class that applied the PjBL-FC was better than those who applied only PjBL. Furthermore, all the indicators reach the high to very high category except the ability to propose a hypothesis, which is in the medium category. It was concluded that flipped classroom makes the PjBL take place more efficiently and effectively. Further studies can be carried out to determine how students use the learning materials, how teachers design the PjBL strategy in an online platform, their effect on scientific literacy, and how to combine PjBL with other approaches.

Several reforms have been introduced to help enhance Vietnamese people’s English competencies. However, research on what reforms Vietnamese teachers support or resist is limited. Also, the impact of teachers’ demographic information on their responses to reforms is underrepresented. This mixed-methods study used a questionnaire, responded by 102 English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, and six semi-structured interviews to address the gap. The results revealed that the teachers supported the reforms in their teaching context. They preferred using their self-developed or self-adapted materials to using required materials. On the other hand, using the VSTEP framework for designing tests was not supported. Teachers’ demographic information, especially educational qualification, significantly differed one’s responses to reforms from those of another. Some practical implications were discussed at the end of this paper. Also, some recommendations were presented to be considered for further studies.

This qualitative study is part of a feasibility study conducted by State University of Malang (SUM), Indonesia, to determine stakeholder needs for a study program specializing in managing bilingual education. The study participants included one SUM lecturer who held a managerial position in the division of SUM laboratory schools and twelve teachers/leaders of bilingual schools in some cities in East Java and South Sulawesi. Data were collected using an online questionnaire and in-depth interviews with two selected participants. The results indicate issues related to teachers' English competencies, materials development, and integrating an internationally-oriented curriculum into the national curriculum. Teachers' low English competencies prevented them from conducting teaching and learning bilingually and developing instructional materials in appropriate English. In addition, the combination of national and international curricula was identified as the biggest challenge for bilingual schools. The teachers/leaders were never trained to manage the bilingual program. They learned based on their experiences, and it took years to figure out how to manage bilingual programs successfully. Therefore, the establishment of a new program of study is needed.

Recent educational policy initiatives in Ireland have focused on improving outcomes in reading and mathematics among students, particularly those experiencing educational disadvantage. However, science achievement in Irish primary schools has received much less research attention, especially in the context of educational disadvantage. This article examines science achievement and its relationship to school compositional effects in primary schools at the national level, including school-average indicators of the school context, as well as examining factors associated with science achievement in three distinct categories of schools (those with high, moderate, or minor levels of educational disadvantage). The data are drawn from the Fourth grade Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 database for Ireland. Multilevel analyses were implemented in a stepwise manner. Findings suggest the relevance of school contexts with regard to science achievement. Before including school-level contextual variables, students from ‘minor disadvantaged’ schools achieved significantly higher science scores than students from schools with ‘moderate’ or ‘high’ levels of disadvantaged. However, this difference disappears after controlling for predictors at the school level. The findings highlight the importance of the home environment, including early numeracy activities and skills before children start school. Results are discussed with regard to educational policy and educational practice in Ireland.

In recent years, there is a growing number of Vietnamese students applying to study abroad at a younger age. Instead of waiting until adulthood, many Vietnamese parents decide to send their offspring to study abroad early from high school. This study was conducted to analyze the factors affecting the intention of Vietnamese parents to send their children to study abroad. The dataset includes 350 responses, in which parents of middle and high school students having the intention and willingness to send their children to study abroad are respondents. The research results show that perceived value, perceived risk, and three variables of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) model affect the intention to send their children to study abroad with the ability of explanation 53.4%. In detail, Attitude (influenced by Success, Modern self, and Traditional self) has the most significant influence (30.9%) on the dependent variable. On that basis, some suggestions are proposed for international educational organizations and study-abroad counseling centers to help them give the right orientation to Vietnamese parents about studying-abroad. Besides, proposing some recommendations for domestic educational institutions, international educational institutions, and educational management agencies in Vietnam, in order to improve the quality of education and training, creating an ideal learning environment that meets international standards for students, and simultaneously attracting international students to Vietnam.

In today's World, data-driven methods are behind the determination of potential action plans in every area of life. These data-driven methods help individuals or policymakers to figure out the strengths and weaknesses on the subject that are worked on and to make a comparison to the best practices. Thus, actions can be taken immediately on the specific factors that have a huge impact on the topic investigated. In the educational area, countries are using the same approach to measure, monitor, and improve the quality of education by attending international studies. In this study, for both Turkish and Singaporean students, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model is performed to predict the students' mathematics achievement and to identify factors that have a high impact on achievement using Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2019 with the data of 3,586 Turkish and 4,750 Singaporean students. The reason behind comparing the results of Turkey to Singapore is that Singapore is the best-performing country in terms of mathematics achievement in the TIMSS in 2019. The model results show that the top two crucial factors in both countries are the frequency of absenteeism from school, and students’ confidence in mathematics with the accuracy of 75%. In addition, relevant policy implications are given based on the importance level of significant factors.

Numerous events occur in students' educational trajectories that are linked to school success. Some of these events are related to school-related factors. Moreover, these factors alter the quality of students' engagement, generating the risk of dropping out of school. The objective of this research has been to explore, compare and understand the different events that occur in the school trajectories of at-risk youths that are related to the existing dynamics in schools. In order to achieve this objective, a narrative research based on the life stories approach was developed. For the reconstruction of the stories, the technique of in-depth interviews and mixed data analysis was used, by means of different analysis techniques. The main conclusions reached after the research have been highly relevant for studies on educational trajectories of at-risk youth. The different factors associated with schools affect the trajectory and involvement of students. There are certain dynamics that have a greater presence in some stages or others, however, all of them can positively or negatively affect the quality of student engagement. Finally, it is shown that the key lies in the way in which the different dynamics of schools develop, i.e., how the dynamics associated with certain factors develop.

This study used the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to test a model that hypothesized the influence of self-efficacy, self-control, emotion, and engagement on student academic performance. The structural equation modeling model was developed to link all the study variables with a literature review to describe the interrelationship. Data collected were from 413 college students in their second year. The results show that self-efficacy, self-control, emotion, and engagement predict student academic performance. And through emotion and student engagement, both self-efficacy and self-control predict student academic performance indirectly. Practically the measures used in this study give more information about the learning environment in higher education settings than those usually come from traditional practices faculty received in the classroom, such as student rating forms and feedback. The main findings of this study have some implications for higher education, theory development, measurement, and future research.

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are important for improving student achievement and school development. According to PLC research, teachers' knowledge and practice in teaching are significantly improved by various PLC forms and favorable working environments. This qualitative research was conducted to find out what forms of PLCs were popular and what challenges were facing three primary schools in a province in Vietnam. The study utilizes a multiple-site case study design relating to PLCs in those schools with the data from interviews with the principals, group leaders and teachers, observations of PLC activities and related policy documents. The two forms of PLCs were identified in this research, including professional groups and groups of core teachers. Besides, four challenges facing PLCS implementation in those schools included the old habit of professional learning in PLCs, structural conditions of schedules and facilities, economic conditions of teachers and motivation for reforms. The study provides recommendations based on the findings for PLC research and practice within and beyond the Vietnamese context.

Ursula von der Leyen identifies diverse classrooms have different knowledges and ‘epistemologies’. A typology of epistemologies for democratising knowledge ‘A Blueprint for Character Development for Evolution’ (ABCDE) is offered to mainstream policy benefits for all by Higher Education as hubs i) credentialing educational leaders by doctoral-study and ii) propelling networks of Professional Educators and Administrators Committees for Empowerment (PEACE) across professions credentialed by Higher Education and chaired by educational leaders. PEACE builds robust evidence bases to inform redesigning curriculums and culturally responsive pedagogies as policy benefits that empower students to use ABCDE with Assessment for Personal and Social Learning (APSL) to problem solve across the quadruple-helix. Education Outcomes include students’ self-management of personal and social understanding and wellbeing for resilience within sustainable circular, entrepreneurial, green and digitised economies with products and means of production regulated by professions credentialed by Higher Education. Impacts include communities developing responsible historical social consciousness to reinvigorate democratic governance, accountability, transparency, effectiveness and trustworthiness of rule-of-law based institutions and policies to expand active and inclusive citizenship empowered by safeguarding human rights. Further research, building on the powerful European Commission funded platform ‘DocEnhance’ is recommended to inform effective and efficient investment into high quality education and training.

This study aimed to develop and test a student self-assessment instrument based on the programmatic assessment (PA) components. We applied a series of psychometric research methods by (a) conducting a literature study to find PA constructs, (b) developing the students' self-questionnaires, (c) ensuring content validity, (d) testing face validity, and (e) conducting reliability tests that involve medical students, medical teachers, medical educationalist, and an international PA expert. Face validity (readability test) was conducted with 30 medical students from an Indonesian university who were in their last year of pre-clinical education and had average scores above or equal to their classmates. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to report the instruments’ validity and reliability. The final instrument was tested on 121 medical students with excellent GPAs from another medical school with a middle-level accreditation. The PA consists of five components: ‘learning activities’, ‘assessment activities’, 'supporting activities’, 'intermediate evaluations’, and ‘final evaluations'. These components are conveyed through 41 relevant statements with a four-point Likert scale and three yes/no statements. According to the respondents, there was a lack of 'supporting activities' and 'intermediate evaluation' components in the PA in their universities. This study has developed and tested a five-component evaluation instrument based on medical students' perceptions regarding PA implementation.

Recently, Thailand's educational policy focused on developing learners’ potential according to multiple intelligences. The research objectives were to develop the multiple intelligences (MI) promotion model and an MI screening test for Thai learners and propose policies to encourage MI so that learners can reach their full potential. The sequential mixed method was applied. First, the model and the MI screening test were developed. The participants were two groups of key informants, comprising 93 and 185 participants, respectively. The sample group consisted of 460 primary and secondary school students selected through multistage random sampling. The MI screening test consisted of characteristics of 45 behavioral observations. The result showed that the developing model was the “A2D model or AAD.” This model consisted of three components: nine areas of intelligence, eight continuity mechanisms, and two success conditions. The MI screening result revealed that most learners had outstanding bodily–kinesthetic intelligence, accounting for 40.4%. The least prominent aspect was musical intelligence, representing 16.2%. The proposal policies comprised (a) The aspect of foundation for learning management with access to the A2D model, consisting of four sub-policy proposals, and (b) The aspect of encouraging learners to develop their full potential, consisting of six sub-policy proposals.

Education in public speaking often relies largely on qualitative feedback. In this study, we explored how a numerical feedback form based on a validated scale could be used in an educational public speaking program. Data were collected at three clubs of Toastmasters International. Speech content was labeled to enable statistical analysis of correlations between speech content and audience ratings. 216 speeches by 59 speakers were evaluated by audience members, providing 1416 individual evaluations. All rating categories correlated strongly with each other. Speeches mentioning relationships, personal stories and positive emotions were rated more favorably. Speeches given in-person were rated more highly in several dimensions compared to speeches given through online video. There were some sex differences in choice of content and emotional expressiveness, but not in audience ratings of speech quality. Overall, the study found that the method was useful for both providing individual feedback and aggregated data for research purposes.

School quality has become a guiding concept that increasingly shapes educational planning and school development. For many decades, it has been a topic of significant interest, resulting in a wide-ranging and diverse research field. However, it is far from clear how school quality should be defined, what it should encompass, and how it influences student performance. The goal of this scoping review is to examine the existing evidence of the relationship between characteristics of school quality and student cognitive output/ student performance in secondary school. More precisely, it aims to (a) identify, (b) categorize, and (c) examine and evaluate the effects of characteristics of school quality affecting student performance and teaching characteristics in secondary school. In order to achieve these aims, we selected, clustered, and analyses 37 articles. The process was conducted by the research group through regular meetings, discussions, and consensus decisions. Our findings contribute to the comprehensive body of literature by identifying the following dimensions: aims and strategies for quality development, leadership and management, professionalism, school culture, and resources. Furthermore, the review revealed that although the field of school quality has been extensively researched, it lacks consistency, with many different operationalisations and definitions, making comparisons and syntheses challenging or even impossible. We believe that clear operationalisations and definitions are crucial to achieving comparability. Additionally, to achieve a standardized understanding of school quality and establish the categories internationally, uniform, theoretically sound, and content-related definitions of each category are necessary.