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  

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.