Family routines and practices are recognized as critical determinants of child development. Despite extensive research on the socio-emotional benefits of family routines for school readiness in various contexts, there remains limited empirical evidence directly linking these routines to academic performance. This is because a lot of existing literature has focused on younger children below 8 years. This study sought to address this gap by examining the role of family routines on academic performance among middle school students in informal settlements. The study involved 351 middle school students and their parents from informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. Family routines were assessed using a structured questionnaire adapted from the Family Routine Inventory (FRI) scale. Academic performance data were obtained from the most recent school examinations of each participating student across five subjects (English, Kiswahili, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies) as percentage scores. Results show that routines related to basic needs provision were the strongest predictors of academic performance, followed by academic monitoring routines. Emotional support routines moderately contributed to academic outcomes, while routines related to family outings and bonding had a limited impact. The study recommends further exploration of context-specific family routines using longitudinal designs to identify long-term impacts.

Vocational education plays a pivotal role in nurturing talent and supporting national development. However, challenges such as outdated talent development concepts, insufficient teacher training, and a lack of attention to soft skills cultivation from both schools and students have hindered the comprehensive development of secondary vocational students. This study aims to explore the direct effect of perceived teachers’ transformational leadership on the soft skills of 324 secondary vocational students in China and to examine the mediating role of students’ self-efficacy in this relationship. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the results show that teachers’ transformational leadership has a significant positive effect on students’ soft skills (β = 0.33, p < .01). Moreover, self-efficacy partially mediates this relationship (indirect effect β = 0.07, p < .05), accounting for 22.6% of the total effect. These findings suggest that teachers’ inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation directly foster students’ communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills, while also indirectly strengthening them by enhancing students’ confidence. Practically, the study underscores the need for teacher training in transformational leadership and for policy initiatives that integrate soft skills into vocational curricula.

This study aimed to examine the impact of self-organization and self-efficacy in predicting attitudes toward cheating in online exams among undergraduate students. Drawing on the self-regulated learning framework, a cross-sectional survey design was employed to collect data from 153 students at a Saudi university using three validated scales. The findings revealed that self-organization and self-efficacy were significant negative predictors of attitudes toward cheating, with higher levels of these attributes associated with less favorable attitudes toward cheating. Furthermore, moderation analysis showed that self-efficacy significantly moderated the relationship between self-organization and cheating attitudes, suggesting a complex interplay between the two constructs. The findings highlight the importance of fostering self-regulated learning skills to enhance academic integrity in online assessment contexts.  

A survey of literature on methodology reveals that the whole-part relationship is broken between the overarching definition of methodology and compatible sets of methodic practices and underlying assumptions. Two key general structures are missing: (a) a big picture view within which to organize definitions and parts, and (b) a framework within which to guide analysis of any particular feature of methodology without detaching from an understanding of the particular in relation to the whole. As a consequence, a basic question remains unanswered about what social scientists mean by methodology. The current manuscript explored literature relating to methodology, without emphasis on any specific paradigm, with the aim of synthesizing both the definitions (i.e., the whole) and components (i.e., the parts) of methodology. Using hermeneutic synthesis, nine definitions of methodology and four methodological decision sets were inferred. Definitions and decision sets were integrated into a range-based methodological framework. The resulting framework captures the continuum of methodological choices made by inquirers, which has implications for educators, methodologists, and researchers seeking to engage in inter- and intra-paradigm methodological analysis to understand and compare methodological decision points. 

The introduction of evolution in post-apartheid South Africa in 2008 presented significant challenges for teachers, due to both their own and their students' faith-based biases. This study investigates South African teachers' attitudes and understanding of evolution, utilizing Lemkian sociocultural theory and Vygotskian ZPD scaffolding. A mixed-methods approach was employed, including a Likert-scale questionnaire from 91 life science teachers and qualitative insights from open-ended questions. Results reveal a lack of enthusiasm for teaching evolution, influenced by personal religious beliefs and doubts about its scientific validity. Teachers often call for equal representation of evolution and creationism in classrooms. The preparation of teachers must address the stagnant discussion of evolution, while the life sciences curriculum emphasizes the Nature of Science, scientific literacy, and connections between science and society is compromised.

This study aims to address students' low mathematical problem-solving skills and self-regulated learning by developing website-based mathematics learning media using the problem-based learning model. Learning that integrates website-based media allows for more independent learning activities in solving mathematical problems. This study uses the ADDIE model to test the validity, practicality, and effectiveness of the product. Website-based media met the validity criteria based on expert assessments with an average score of 137 from subject matter experts and 78.5 from media experts, and the research instruments were declared valid with an Aiken index ranging from 0.9 to 0.99. Website-based media meet the criteria for practicality based on an average teacher assessment of 90.5, an average student assessment of 50.1, and a learning implementation rate of 93%. Website-based media are proven to be effective through four indicators: (1) students who pass exceed the threshold of 80%. (2) One sample t-test results p-value <.05 and t-value >1.69, so that H_0 is rejected. This proves that website-based mathematics learning media are effective in improving students' mathematical problem-solving skills and self-regulated learning. (3) The results of the paired sample t-test show p-value <.05 and t-value >1.69, so that H_0 is rejected. This proves that there is a significant improvement in students' mathematical problem-solving and self-regulated learning abilities after using website-based mathematical learning media. This study is able to facilitate students' problem-solving and self-regulated learning abilities simultaneously in mathematics education.

Team-based learning (TBL) is a popular form of collaborative learning designed to increase student engagement and motivate students to learn. A growing body of research, particularly in the health sciences, has demonstrated that TBL has positive impacts on student performance and classroom dynamics. However, much less is known about the student outcomes associated with TBL courses in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, fields in which active learning is especially important for student success and retention. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic review of the student outcomes associated with TBL in undergraduate STEM education. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method, we identified 55 empirical and qualitative research articles published between 2005 and 2024 that reported on TBL implementation practices and student outcomes. Importantly, we found that most studies described increased student performance and improved measures of classroom dynamics when TBL was compared to lecture-based teaching approaches. These findings provide further evidence that TBL is an effective instructional method and suggest that TBL can be implemented successfully across a wide range of student populations and undergraduate STEM disciplines.

This study investigates how learning-oriented school cultures, conceptualized through the Schools as Learning Organizations (SLO) framework, relate to teacher self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and work effectiveness in primary schools within a centralized education system. While these constructs have received considerable attention in the literature, they have rarely been examined together within a unified organizational learning perspective, particularly in contexts marked by limited school autonomy. Using a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 94 teachers in nine public primary schools, alongside aggregated student ratings of instructional effectiveness from 364 pupils. The findings showed that learning-oriented school cultures were positively associated with teacher self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and work effectiveness. Teacher self-efficacy also partially mediated the relationship between SLO conditions and both job satisfaction and work effectiveness. These findings indicate that learning-oriented school cultures may strengthen teacher outcomes directly and indirectly by reinforcing teachers’ sense of efficacy. Thus, the role of school leadership in cultivating collaborative and inquiry-oriented professional environments is particularly important  

Teacher-targeted victimization remains an under-integrated dimension of school violence research. This systematic review follows PRISMA 2020 guidelines and synthesizes 56 empirical studies (2015–2026) examining how teacher-targeted victimization is conceptualized and analyzed. The review maps patterns in geographic distribution, methodology, behavioral aggression forms, perpetrator framing, and the integration of institutional variables. Findings reveal the predominance of quantitative cross-sectional designs (75.9%). Physical (n = 28) and verbal aggression (n = 26) are the most frequently examined forms, with over half of the studies conceptualizing aggression as exclusively student-perpetrated. Institutional and governance variables remain limited: 84.8% of studies include no institutional variables beyond exposure or rely solely on general school climate indicators, while governance-level constructs appear in only one study. Drawing on Organizational Justice Theory and Institutional Theory, the review advances a Multilevel Institutional Accountability Model that conceptualizes teacher-directed aggression across behavioral exposure, institutional processing, and governance architecture. The findings highlight the need for greater integration of institutional and governance variables in future research.  

University teaching staff are increasingly engaged in innovative sustainability-related initiatives aimed at improving teaching-learning processes while fostering their own academic development. However, the literature has only tentatively explored the impact of this participation on academic development. This work, therefore, aims to analyse the dimensions of the sustainability-oriented learning environment known as Ocean i3 that influence the academic development of university teaching staff. It is based on a case study approach that enables an in-depth and contextualised analysis of this complex phenomenon in a real-world setting. Interviews and a focus group were used as data-collection instruments while inductive content analysis guided the interpretation and discussion of the findings. The results suggest that the complexity of the educational choreography—including project design, institutional context, the teaching team, and the active involvement of staff and students— plays a key role in the academic development of university teaching staff. The study concludes that these dimensions should be strengthened in innovative sustainability-oriented learning environments in order to promote teachers’ academic development. 

This qualitative study examines how leadership and organizational dynamics cultivate lecturers’ readiness for change in higher education. Drawing on transformational leadership theory, it explores the interconnected influence of leadership style, organizational culture, and perceived organizational support on 20 English-language lecturers in an Israeli college that has recently faced multiple overlapping changes: the national transition to CEFR-aligned instruction, the shift to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the institutional and emotional disruptions caused by wartime conditions. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a thematic content-analysis approach. Findings reveal that lecturers’ openness to reform was strengthened by leadership characterized by competence, emotional intelligence, and accessibility; by a communicative and developmental organizational culture; and by perceived institutional care and support. Together, these dimensions fostered a sense of secure attachment to the organization-an underexplored relational mechanism linking leadership and readiness for change. The study contributes to leadership theory by proposing that Attachment Theory offers a valuable interpretive lens for understanding how relational trust and emotional security may support adaptive capacity in educational institutions. Implications are discussed for leaders seeking to sustain reform during crisis and instability through relational, emotionally attuned leadership practices.  

Entrepreneurship education in higher education requires strategies that connect theory with practice. Although Project-Based Learning (PBL) is widely used, less is known about the educational value of interactive guides that support students throughout business-plan development. This study examined a Genially-based instructional guide, supplemented with YouTube multimedia, within a PBL intervention in the Business Innovation and Creativity course at Universidad Veracruzana. A quantitatively driven embedded mixed-methods, one-group pre–post design was used with 28 undergraduate students. Data came from course assessment records and pre- and post-intervention questionnaires. Quantitative analysis compared group-level response patterns across 23 conceptually aligned dichotomous items on self-reported entrepreneurship and business-planning knowledge, while open-ended responses explored students’ perceptions of the learning experience. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were conducted, and both strands were integrated during interpretation. Post-intervention affirmative-response percentages were higher for several conceptually aligned topics, although the response patterns varied across items and the anonymous responses could not be matched at the individual level. Students also rated the guide as highly useful (M = 9.81/10) and described it as providing organization, clarity, and step-by-step support. These findings suggest that the guide had potential educational value as a pedagogical scaffold in this course. However, because the study used a small, one-group design without linked responses or a comparison group, the results should be interpreted as context-specific descriptive evidence rather than as proof of causal effects on entrepreneurial competencies.

Purpose: This study examined the influence of metacognitive awareness, epistemological beliefs, and mathematical resilience on university students’ perceived mathematical problem-solving ability and explored the cognitive and affective processes students employ when solving mathematical problems. Design/methodology/approach: An explanatory mixed-methods design was employed. Quantitative data were collected from 350 undergraduate Mathematics Education students at a public university in Ghana using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. Qualitative data were obtained from 10 purposively selected students and analysed thematically to provide further insight into students’ problem-solving processes. Findings: Metacognitive awareness (β = .247, p < .001) and epistemological beliefs (β = .273, p < .001) significantly predicted perceived mathematical problem-solving ability, whereas mathematical resilience did not significantly predict perceived mathematical problem-solving ability (β = .105, p = .163). The qualitative findings indicated that students engaged in problem interpretation and strategy planning, monitoring and evaluation, persistence and strategy adjustment, and experienced varied emotional responses during problem solving. Practical implications: Mathematics instruction should incorporate activities that strengthen students’ metacognitive regulation and productive epistemological beliefs while developing resilience alongside mathematical knowledge and problem-solving strategies. Originality/value: The study combines structural evidence on cognitive and epistemological predictors of mathematical problem-solving with qualitative accounts of students’ cognitive and affective experiences, providing a more comprehensive account of problem-solving among university mathematics education students.

Binary classifications of teaching as transmission or constructivism obscure how participation, authority, knowledge practices, and conceptual work can vary within one lesson. This article introduces the social, procedural, epistemic, and conceptual (SPEC) framework for episode-level lesson analysis. SPEC was developed through a structured purposive theory synthesis rather than an exhaustive systematic review. A documented corpus of foundational traditions, observation systems, and targeted verification sources was compared using explicit inclusion, boundary, and disposition rules. Candidate constructs were assigned by observable target; three indicators per dimension were retained as a parsimonious authorial proposal; and qualitative descriptors were generated from theoretically warranted adjacent distinctions checked against cross-dimensional counterexamples. The dimensions are analytically distinguishable but potentially related. Their descriptor codes form non-additive, non-normative profiles rather than composite scores or judgments of teaching quality. An instructional episode is the primary unit; a hypothetical transcript illustrates indicator coding, opportunity/evidence flags, and rejection of nearby alternatives. SPEC is an initial conceptual proposal requiring operationalization, reliability examination, and validity testing. Ordering, thresholds, and cross-domain use require study before evaluative application.