The global COVID-19 pandemic has changed human lives in myriad ways and one of its impacts has been the significant transition to distance learning that has occurred at all levels of education around the world. In this emerging system, teachers and parents have proved ill-equipped for the sudden changes involved, and a number of critical difficulties and issues pertaining to increased parental involvement have been exposed. Parents have been called upon to engage more effectively with the education of their children and to support them in various types and levels of distance learning. Parents have always formed a critical link between children and schools; however, alongside teachers, they have recently been required to assume new and unfamiliar roles and responsibilities, working together within an online educational environment. This study investigates the extent to which the transition to distance learning has affected the partnership between schools and families of students with disabilities. A qualitative research approach has been adopted, using semi-structured interviews with special education teachers. The findings are predominantly positive, with teachers believing that distance learning creates opportunities for developing stronger connections between schools and families, enabling more personalised communication, greater capacity and confidence within families, as well as opportunities for enhancing connections with the wider community.

This study explores the relationship between language competence and intercultural communicative competence (ICC) among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners through a mixed-methods approach. A sample of 196 Chinese EFL learners was divided into three proficiency groups (low, intermediate, and high), with data collected through Likert-scale questionnaires and semi-structured interviews involving 16 participants. Quantitative analysis revealed that higher language proficiency is linked to improved overall ICC scores and its specific dimensions. The Kruskal-Wallis H test confirmed significant differences in overall ICC, attitude, and skill across proficiency levels, with attitude showing the strongest effect. Spearman's correlation analysis demonstrated small but significant positive correlations between English proficiency and overall ICC, attitude, and skill. Qualitative findings further enriched the quantitative results, emphasizing the foundational and catalytic role of language competence in enhancing ICC and its dimensions. However, participants acknowledged that language competence alone is insufficient for fully successful intercultural interactions. This study expands Byram’s model by offering detailed insights into the intricate relationship between language competence and various ICC dimensions. The study recommends that to fully cultivate ICC, it is essential to integrate the development of language competence into instructional practices.

Formal publications in the area of educational leadership and management (EDLM) can be traced back more than a century. The 1950s saw the emergence of reviews of these EDLM works. Unfortunately, these reviews were limited because they were not systematic. Sometime after the establishment of the Campbell Collaboration as the standard for systematic reviews in the social sciences in 2000, scholars began conducting systematic reviews of the EDLM literature, including the African EDLM literature. However, little is known about the quality of this latter corpus of systematic reviews. Therefore, in this article, a systematic review of systematic reviews — a meta-systematic review — was conducted on the African EDLM literature. This meta-systematic review revealed 42 systematic reviews. The quality of these reviews was assessed using Hallinger’s analytical rubric for conducting systematic reviews, which led to the identification of strengths and weaknesses of these reviews, as well as a set of exemplary reviews. These findings offer actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners by highlighting the need for targeted training and resources to improve systematic reviews' conceptual, methodological, and reporting quality, thereby enhancing their utility for evidence-based decision-making and educational policy development.

Recent studies identified that faculty research productivity increased when they felt competent in conducting research. Faculty level of research competency varies due to academic training, context, country, discipline, and experiences; however, what is faculty research competency? The core competencies of faculty research are unclear; thus, the current study systematically reviewed the literature. Researchers used Boolean searches of four popular databases to identify 553 articles for first-level screening. These yielded 46 peer-reviewed journal articles for full-text analysis, six of which focused on faculty populations (40 on non-faculty). Six core components of faculty research proficiency were identified: finding and reviewing literature, planning a study, collecting and analyzing data, writing research, disseminating research findings, and managing research projects. Compared to non-faculty populations, faculty are uniquely more engaged in research project management. Researchers also identified 18 sub-competencies that will help to measure faculty research competency more reliably in the future. Finally, as the identified studies relied on self-reported measurements that may carry self-representation bias, an aspirational implication is to develop a competency-based diagnostic test for measuring faculty research competence.

The objective of this study is to analyze secondary school students' conceptual understanding of integer addition and subtraction. To achieve this, a test based on the multidimensional assessment approach Skills, Properties, Uses, and Representations (SPUR) was administered to 34 secondary school students selected through convenience sampling at a secondary school in Puebla, Mexico. The study employs a qualitative research methodology at a descriptive depth level. The analysis of student responses utilized basic descriptive statistics and the qualitative content analysis technique. Significant differences were found in the accuracy levels across the SPUR dimensions: skills (51.8%), properties (41.9%), uses (60.8%), and representations (20.6%). Students with a solid conceptual understanding of integer addition and subtraction demonstrated high accuracy levels in at least three dimensions. The main difficulties identified were the use of the negative sign and challenges in adding two negative integers. The SPUR approach is a viable alternative for multidimensionally analyzing and assessing conceptual understanding of integer addition and subtraction.

Dimensionalizing has been discussed in the Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM) literature primarily as a component that informs the later stages of GTM coding (Strauss) or as a property and variety of human thinking (Schatzman). In this context, dimensional analysis is understood as an approach to concept formation, focusing on identifying the properties and empirical instances of a concept. Through this process, the scope conditions of a theory are clarified and explicitly defined. However, this perspective often overlooks how dimensionalizing contributes not only to concept formation but also to theory building. Specifically, the transition from dimensional analysis to theory development is seldom articulated. This article addresses this gap by using interview data from the substantive field of disability studies — specifically, parents raising a person with a disability (PwD). We demonstrate how dimensional analysis can be effectively applied at the conclusion of open coding, rather than solely at the final stages of GTM analysis, and how it can serve as a methodological tool for connecting categories, rather than for identifying the core category.

In recent decades, the work of teachers has been carried out in classrooms characterised by a high degree of diversity, necessitating the provision of pedagogical responses that promote the inclusion of students. This article is derived from the research, development and innovation (R+D+I) project 'Intergenerational Professional Development in Education Implications for the Professional Initiation of Teachers (DePrInED) and aims to analyse how teachers at compulsory education recognise, characterise and conceptualise the diversity and needs of students. A mixed methodological approach was employed, with information collected through focus groups and interviews with a total sample of 147 teachers from different educational levels (young, senior and retired). Thematic analysis, combined with a comparative analysis, was employed to analyse the data using ATLAS.ti software. The main categories analysed dealt with students' needs and their own diversity. The study's primary findings suggest that, in comparison to their retired counterparts, both young and veteran teachers make greater reference to the diversity and needs of students, and emphasise the scarcity of resources and support to effectively address the diversity of students in the classroom. Experienced teachers are found to make more frequent references to diversity and students' needs, while retired teachers make these references less often. This finding assumes particular significance in light of the paucity of studies that adopt a generational perspective to analyse how teachers perceive diversity.

Ensuring the trustworthiness of qualitative research remains a critical challenge in educational research. However, early career researchers often lack structured guidance on enhancing the credibility of qualitative data analysis. A key issue is the limited discussion on inductive approaches that support systematic theme generation and theory development. To address this gap, this study examines how two early-career researchers employed a three-level inductive methodology during their PhD studies to strengthen the trustworthiness of their findings. Using an autoethnographic approach, the study finds that this methodology deepened their understanding of participants’ experiences, facilitated the emergence of valid themes, and reinforced credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. These findings offer concrete strategies for researchers undertaking similar approaches to ensure trustworthiness in their qualitative inquiry. This study also highlights the importance of equipping PhD researchers in education with strategies to navigate qualitative research rigorously, ultimately enhancing the quality of their studies.

The personalization of learning and teaching processes represents an advanced approach to education that adapts content, pace, and teaching methods to the individual needs and preferences of students. This approach relies on analyzing diverse student characteristics, such as their knowledge level, progress, learning style, and interests. Achieving these goals is significantly supported by the use of information and communication technology, which facilitates and enhances the implementation of personalization in technology-enhanced learning (TEL). The primary objective of personalization is to increase student engagement, motivation, and support in achieving learning outcomes through individualized learning paths, real-time progress tracking, and feedback. This systematic literature review examines existing personalization approaches in secondary and higher education, supported by technology. The study investigates their effectiveness and provides recommendations for future research. Results reveal that personalized teaching methods—primarily through recommender systems, adaptive learning platforms, and algorithm-driven models—are effective in tailoring educational experiences by leveraging diverse student data, such as demographics, prior achievements, learning styles, and digital engagement. The review shows a predominant focus on higher education, particularly in subjects related to computer science and digital technologies. Quantitative evaluations complemented by qualitative insights, consistently indicate that personalization enhances content mastery, motivation, and overall satisfaction, with no significant negative effects identified.