The power of storytelling: transforming classroom engagement through decolonizing literacy practices

This article argues that Ghanaian students’ academic performance might improve if instructors make use of their native languages and the English language (bilingual method) to provide instruction in school setting as it promotes classroom participation, engagement in learning, and the development of listening skills that improve comprehension. While there is some evidence to support this attitude, in fact, most young children do not speak English at home, and therefore, experience hardship in their learning. As a result, they are jeered and labeled as incompetent and incapable of being students. However, this article argues that students’ academic performance might improve if instructed in a bilingual setting as they will feel comfortable and confident about their learning in school. There is evidence that children underperform in school because educators abandon the traditional native languages at the onset of formal schooling in Ghana, and sometimes, the only language that students know best is their native language. Ghana’s official language is English; it applies to curriculum and instruction in public and private educational setting. The English language is vastly spoken in homes with middle income socio-economic status. With the rise of the middle class in the country, some citizens are abandoning the daily use of spoken vernacular and are speaking English at home as a rite of passage of giving their children a head start in their academic journey. English language learning approach can be useful to improve students’ English skills; however, if combined with their native language, it could effect change in education in Ghana. The English language teaching strategies must employ on content and language integrated learning, integrated content-based instruction, a focus on academic language proficiency, sheltered instruction, comprehensible input, learner-centered instruction, integrated skills approach, cooperative learning, and teacher collaboration (Calderón et al., 2015). This article employs meta-analysis of literature knowledge to advance professional practice in repositioning Ghana schools as English Language Learner Schools. Hence, English language proficiency for all students should be tasked with effective English language learning services in order to improve English language acquisition in Ghana. Keywords: Ghana, English language learner, Content and language integrated learning, Integrated content-based instruction, Sheltered instruction, Integrated skills approach, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2703-5767

This study examines the level of learner autonomy and its relationship with academic performance among 420 EFL students across four academic years. Using quantitative methods, learner autonomy was measured through self-initiation and self-regulation scales, along with their subscales. Findings indicate moderately high levels of learner autonomy across all years, with Year Three students showing lower self-regulation ability than others. Spearman correlation analysis reveals a modest but positive correlation between learner autonomy and academic performance, suggesting that higher autonomy is associated with better academic outcomes. Notably, Year Two students exhibit the strongest correlations between learner autonomy and academic performance, indicating that the impact of autonomy varies across different stages of study. These findings highlight the need for action from key stakeholders. For teachers, the results support adopting learner-centred approaches that encourage goal setting, self-assessment, and motivation-driven activities to foster autonomy and improve academic outcomes. For policymakers, the study emphasises the importance of supporting teacher training programmes that equip educators with strategies to nurture learner autonomy

Background A disproportionate number of transgender and nonbinary people are autistic, and research suggests that trans autistic people experience significant barriers and challenges to accessing gender-affirming care. Much of the existing research in this area focuses on determining why trans people are more likely to be autistic, and less research has attended to trans autistic people’s lived experiences of accessing gender-affirming care. Methods To better understand these barriers and their impacts, I conducted qualitative interviews with 12 trans autistic people who had recently accessed gender-affirming medical care in the province of Ontario, Canada. Interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results Participants reported being frequently not believed, listened to, or taken seriously by healthcare providers, which I conceptualize as instances of epistemic injustice. I identify how medical discourses, ideologies, and clinical guidelines create conditions for gender-affirming care in which trans autistic people experience pervasive epistemic injustice. For example, participants felt pressure to conform to a transnormative and neuronormative narrative in order to be taken seriously by gender-affirming care providers. Some providers misinterpreted autistic communication styles and unfairly discredited their client’s knowledge, eroding their trust in health care. While participants used creative self-advocacy strategies to access care, some providers felt threatened by this challenge to their epistemic power and medical authority. Conversely, participants also had positive experiences of epistemic justice when providers took their knowledge and lived experience seriously. Conclusion I argue that gender-affirming care providers must practice epistemic humility by listening deeply and acknowledging the limits of their knowledge to deliver patient-centered care for trans autistic people. Systemic changes to the healthcare system and disrupting transnormativity and neuronormativity are necessary to improve trans autistic people’s experiences of gender-affirming care and enable epistemic justice.

Learner autonomy, considered an essential transversal skill, is supported by various pedagogical practices. This study aims to identify the pedagogical practices that promote learner autonomy in Moroccan primary education and examine the reasons behind their adoption. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study involved a sample of 258 primary school teachers from three Moroccan regions. Quantitative data, collected through a five-point Likert scale questionnaire, were analyzed using descriptive analysis and non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn’s post-hoc tests. Qualitative data, obtained from semi-structured interviews with a sub-sample of teachers, underwent thematic analysis. The results reveal highly uneven adoption of autonomy-supportive practices. Exploratory learning and adaptive support are relatively well-integrated, while self-directed digital learning and learner involvement in educational decisions remain marginal. Further analysis shows significant differences between these practices (p < 0.05), suggesting a preference among teachers for structured approaches over learner-centered autonomy strategies. The study also highlights several major barriers, including insufficient professional training, limited institutional support, inequalities in access to digital resources, and a school culture still largely focusing on academic performance. These factors hinder the adoption of autonomy-supportive practices, particularly digital self-learning and active student participation in educational choices. These findings underscore the need for systemic reforms to enhance the integration of autonomy-promoting teaching practices. It is recommended to strengthen continuous teacher training, with a particular emphasis on digital tools and participatory methodologies. Furthermore, reducing inequalities in access to digital resources is essential to ensure equitable learning opportunities for all students.

ABSTRACTLiteracy policy and pedagogy in Aotearoa New Zealand have a strong discursive heritage of traditional literacies, which emphasise code breaking and meaning making with linguistic codes and conventions over other possible modes of communication. In a rapidly evolving landscape where changes in communication technologies give birth to new literacies that make use of all the codes we have available for design, we argue teachers need support to augment and (re)conceptualise their literacy conceptions and pedagogy. In this paper we draw on five years of literacy research in Aotearoa New Zealand that supported 34 primary and secondary teachers to critically examine their literacy practices. Foucauldian informed discourse analysis of interview transcripts identified slight shifts in literacy practices, overshadowed by a spectre of accountability that impeded large-scale shift. This work highlights the difficulty of supporting and sustaining change given the global landscape of policy discourses accentuating accountability.

The article examines the phenomenon of a pedagogical leader as an agent of change in the context of the transformation of the educational space. The significance of the formation of leadership competence in the process of professional training of future teachers is substantiated, in particular in the context of the competency-based approach and the challenges of the digital era. The psychological, pedagogical, managerial and communicative aspects of leadership in education are analyzed. The conceptual principles of the development of leadership competence in the system of higher pedagogical education are proposed, which allow preparing a specialist capable of initiating and implementing positive changes in the professional environment. The article highlights the management of the educational process as a strategic competence that combines systemic thinking, planning and adaptation. The role of professional interaction (networking, communication, ethical partnership) in the formation of educational leaders is revealed. The complex of managerial and social skills ensures high-quality learning, sustainable development of the community and the introduction of innovations. Mentoring and teamwork are the drivers of pedagogical leadership, contributing to personal growth, professional development and the formation of managerial competencies. Interaction, reflection and support of colleagues form the ability to act in complex contexts and inspire joint educational changes, creating an ecosystem of leader development. The article considers the management of the educational process as a strategic competence that goes beyond the organizational function and requires a deep understanding of the educational environment. The author focuses on the formation of key management skills (systems thinking, goal setting, planning, decision-making, monitoring and adaptation) as the basis for ensuring the quality of the educational process. In parallel, the role of interaction in the professional community is analyzed, including networking, leadership, communicative competence and ethical partnership, as factors of educational synergy and sustainable development. The combination of managerial thinking and community interaction is considered a necessary condition for the formation of teacher leaders who are able to implement innovations and respond to the challenges of modern education.

In order to be successful in higher education, a balanced cooperation between teachers and students is crucial; Involving students in evaluating and making decisions about their learning is important to foster their autonomy. The present study seeks to examine learner autonomy from teachers´ perspectives with the aim of helping the latter reflect on their practices and find out ways to help enhance students´ academic performance and accompany them on their journey towards autonomy. It builds on previous research into learner autonomy from students’ perspectives, which revealed a great awareness of the importance of learner autonomy among Moroccan university students. The article yielded evidence of very promising ground upon which can be built a culture of autonomy in Moroccan higher education. A mixed method approach was adopted to gather data. First, a questionnaire was conducted among 74 university teachers so as to discover 1) how–and if–teachers fostered autonomous learning behaviour in classes; and 2) what their attitudes toward learner autonomy were. Later, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 teachers to consider ways to give learners control over their own learning. The findings have confirmed that teachers play important roles in developing learner autonomy. They need to be facilitators of the learning process so that they can support their students emotionally and prepare them to become responsible for their own learning..Therefore, teachers have to reconsider the multiple roles they might play in order to foster their learners´autonomy.

:Team-based learning (TBL) has been increasingly applied in engineering and science education over the past decade. This study explores a particular TBL approach used in a mechanical engineering module for second-year undergraduates in Taiwan. The results of a survey on these students’ learner autonomy (LA), perceptions of TBL, engagement with TBL, self-reported contributions and concerns about TBL activities were analyzed along with their academic performance. The results suggested that LA played a crucial role in TBL, especially contribution to group work, and that classroom implementations should therefore make it a priority to boost LA. In addition, positive reciprocity was found to be operating during group work. Group differences were found in issues the students expressed concern about. Students who cared about fairness had higher LA and were more likely to contribute to team tasks whilst some students could have been less engaged in group activities due to poororganizational structure. Several challenges were also observed in this study. They included passive learners, classroom-management problems, free-riding, and limited resources. Based on our findings, we recommend that engineering instructors encourage student-teacher communication by using bonus-point incentives, student experts, peer evaluation and group competitions. Keywords : Learner autonomy, mechanical engineering education, Taiwan, Team-based learning.

BackgroundResearch into the effectiveness of antenatal education classes is crucial for Indigenous Peoples from Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States who experience poorer maternal and infant health outcomes compared to non-Indigenous populations. Our systematic review questions were intended to determine the extent of Indigenous Peoples prioritisation and involvement in antenatal education classes, and to understand the experience of Indigenous Peoples from these countries in antenatal education classes.MethodsUsing a standardised protocol, we systematically searched five electronic databases for primary research papers on antenatal education classes within the four countries noted and identified 17 papers that met the criteria. We undertook a qualitative meta-synthesis using a socio-critical lens.ResultsSystematic review of the academic literature demonstrates that Indigenous Peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States are not prioritised in antenatal education classes with only two of 17 studies identifying Indigenous participants. Within these two studies, Indigenous Peoples were underrepresented. As a result of poor engagement and low participation numbers of Indigenous Peoples in these antenatal education classes, it was not possible to understand the experiences of Indigenous Peoples.ConclusionGiven that Indigenous Peoples were absent from the majority of studies examined in this review, it is clear little consideration is afforded to the antenatal health needs and aspirations of Indigenous Peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States. To address the stark antenatal health inequities of Indigenous Peoples, targeted Indigenous interventions that consider culture, language, and wider aspects of holistic health must be privileged.Trial registrationPROSPERO Registration ID: CRD4202017658

Covid-19 pandemic becomes global issue that gives global impact in all sectors especially in educational one. The Minister of Education and Culture of Indonesia make a policy in which all education sectors are shifted from face-to-face learning into online learning. This policy is well-responded by one of private universities in Lampung. The researcher conducted a research to response this policy. The objective of this study is identify the impact of online learning toward students’ academic performance on Business Correspondence course. Participants of this study are 40 students (14 male and 26 female) who enrolled Business Correspondence course at English Education study program of Universitas Teknokrat Indonesia. The design of this research is descriptive qualitative. Data were collected through questionnaire that consists of 22 statements and open-ended interview. The result showed that online learning has positive impact on students’ academic performance in term of learning motivation, learning achievement and learning engagement. Participants also showed that conducting online learning is relevant during pandemic. Furthermore, flexibility, accessibility, learning autonomy, and boosting students’ achievement become the strengths of conducting online learning. However, financial issue and bad internet access become problems that hamper online learning.

In settler colonial states like Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, water for the environment and the water rights of Indigenous Peoples often share the common experience of being too little and too late. Water pathways have been constrained and defined by settler colonialism, and as a result, settler state water law has both a legitimacy problem, in failing to acknowledge or implement the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and a sustainability problem, as the health of water systems continues to decline. In both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, the focus of water law has historically been to facilitate use of the water resource to support economic development, excluding the rights of Indigenous Peoples and poorly protecting water ecosystems. However, in the early 21st century, both countries made significant advances in recognizing the needs of the environment and the rights of Indigenous Peoples. In Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) provides an important bicultural and bijural framework that is beginning to influence water management. In 2017, as part of a Treaty dispute settlement, Aotearoa New Zealand passed legislation to recognize Te Awa Tupua (the Whanganui River) as a legal person and created a new collaborative governance regime for the river, embedding the interests and values of Māori at the heart of river management. In Australia, water recovery processes to increase environmental flows have been under way since the 1990s, using a combination of water buybacks and water savings through increased efficiency. There has been growing awareness of Indigenous water rights in Australia, although progress to formally return water rights to Indigenous Peoples remains glacially slow. Like Aotearoa New Zealand, in 2017, Australia also passed its first legislation that recognized a river (the Birrarung/Yarra River) as a living entity and, in doing so, formally recognized the responsibilities of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people as Traditional Owners of the river. This trend toward more holistic river management under a relational paradigm, in which the relationships between peoples and places are centered and celebrated, creates a genuine opportunity for water governance in settler states that begins to address both the legitimacy and sustainability flaws in settler state water law. However, these symbolic shifts must be underpinned by relationships of genuine trust between Indigenous Peoples and the state, and they require significant investment from the state in their implementation.

Political struggles are important to the identities of many indigenous peoples. This article examines identity as a predictor of crucial political outcomes—voter turnout, support for protest, and political party support—for Māori, the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa (New Zealand). We analyzed data from a national probability sample of Māori ( N = 663) that included a scale of subjective identification with various aspects of Māori identity: the Multidimensional Model of Māori Identity and Cultural Engagement. Use of the scale allowed us to examine the facets of ethnic identity that predict political mobilization for indigenous peoples. As expected, the identity domain relating to political struggle, Socio-Political Consciousness, was positively associated with support for left-wing parties and Māori rights protest but negatively associated with support for the right-wing party. However, Socio-Political Consciousness did not relate to voter turnout. These results demonstrate the importance of ethnic identity as a key predictor of political behaviors for indigenous peoples.

Theories of Change.- Better Schools Through Better Knowledge? New Understanding, New Uncertainty.- Innovation and Diffusion as a Theory of Change.- The Psychodynamics of Educational Change.- Moving Change: Evolutionary Perspectives on Educational Change.- A Temporary, Intermediary Organization at the Helm of Regional Education Reform: Lessons from the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative.- Change from Without: Lessons from Other Countries, Systems, and Sectors.- Positive Pressure.- Education for an Interdependent World: Developing Systems Citizens.- Social Movement Organizing and Equity-Focused Educational Change: Shifting the Zone of Mediation.- Community Organizing and Educational Change.- Recent Developments in the Field of Educational Leadership: The Challenge of Complexity.- Large-Scale Reform in the Era of Accountability: The System Role in Supporting Data-Driven Decision Making.- Teacher Emotions in the Context of Educational Reforms.- The Micropolitics of Educational Change and Reform: Cracking Open the Black Box.- Systemic Change.- How Government, Professions and Citizens Combine to Drive Successful Educational Change.- Educational Change and Demographic Change: Immigration and the Role of Educational Leadership.- Probing the Limits of Systemic Reform: The English Case.- How to Change 5,000 Schools.- Educational Change in Finland.- China as a Case Study of Systemic Educational Reform.- Educational Leadership in Racially Divided Communities.- Educational Change in Chile: Reform or Improvements? (1990-2007).- A Market for Knowledge?.- Marketization and Post-Marketization in Education.- Large-Scale Assessment for Accountability Purposes.- Digital Technologies and Educational Change.- Toward a Theory of Teacher Education for Social Justice.- Connecting Learning Communities: Capacity Building for Systemic Change.- International Comparisons of Student Learning Outcomes.- Teaching and Educational Transformation.- Levels of Change.- The Legacy of the School Effectiveness Research Tradition.- Professional Learning Communities at the Crossroads: How Systems Hinder or Engender Change.- New Teacher Induction and Mentoring for Educational Change.- Smart School Improvement: Towards Schools Learning from Their Best.- How Successful Leadership Influences Student Learning: The Second Installment of a Longer Story.- The Moral Character of Academic Learning: Challenging the Exclusivity of the Reigning Paradigm of School Learning.- Teacher Leadership: Developing the Conditions for Learning, Support, and Sustainability.- On Personalizing Learning and Reculturing Teaching in Large High School Conversions to Small Schools.- Improving Schools in Challenging Contexts.- Knowledge-Based Organizational Learning for Instructional Improvement.- Federations and System Leadership.- Every School a Great School - Realising the Potential of System Leadership.- School-Based Networking for Educational Change.- Travel of District-Wide Approaches to Instructional Improvement: How Can Districts Learn from One Another?.- Teaching, Learning and Change.- Involving Children and Young People in Educational Change: Possibilities and Challenges.- Adaptive People and Adaptive Systems: Issues of Learning and Design.- Changing Classroom Learning.- Making Sure that Every Child Matters: Enhancing Equity Within Education Systems.- Making Formative Assessment the Way the School Does Business: The Impact and Implications of Formative Assessment for Teachers, Students and School Leaders.- Self-Evaluation for School Improvement.- The Emerging Politics of Curriculum Reform: Technology, Knowledge, and Power in Homeschooling.- Supporting the Education and Care of Young Children: Putting into Practice What We Know.- Reforming Upper Secondary Education in England: A Necessary but Difficult Change.- Gender and Educational Change.- Class, Race, and Educational Achievement.- Blindness to Change Within Processes of Spectacular Change? What Do Educational Researchers Learn from Classroom Studies?.- School-Based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Programming: Current Perspectives.- To Seek, to Strive, to Find, and Not to Yield: A Look at Current Conceptions of Vision in Education.

Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing are based on embodied sovereignty, relationality and countless generations of knowledge sharing. We call for epistemic justice in which Indigenous knowledge systems are recognised and valued in research-related contexts. We draw attention to how colonial knowledge systems silence, delegitimise and devalue specific knowers and ways of knowing, being and doing – through truth telling. This includes (1) the extent to which educational systems, research, practices, decisions, and reported outcomes are whitewashed – a process of structural and systemic discrimination, racism, and exclusion that actively alters or omits Indigenous and non-Euro-Western contributions and perspectives to fit Euro-Western norms and (2) whitewashed and racialised logic in scientific research that claims to be open, collaborative and transparent. Whitewashing not only obscures the history and contributions of Indigenous peoples and communities but also actively reinforces systemic biases and inequities. We assert the need for epistemic justice in public health research. Epistemic justice calls for Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination to be made visible. It may involve on how colonial policies, protocols, and regulations are connected to everyday lived inequities of Indigenous communities, families and individuals. Ultimately, epistemic justice is inherent to Indigenous peoples’ health and wellness, self-determination and sovereignty.

<span>The flipped classroom approach has emerged as an innovative pedagogical model in language education, transforming traditional teaching methods by reversing the conventional sequence of instruction and homework. The objectives of this systematic literature review are to examine the impact of various technological enhancements on the effectiveness and student engagement in flipped classrooms. Secondly, to explore the perceptions and attitudes of students and teachers towards flipped classroom methodologies across different educational contexts. Thirdly, to assess the effects of flipped classroom approaches on students’ academic performance and critical thinking skills across various disciplines. This study conducted an extensive search of scholarly articles from reputable databases such as Scopus and Web of Science, focusing on studies published from 2021 until 2024. The flow of the study is based on the PRISMA framework. The database search identified 35 final primary studies that were analyzed. The findings were divided into three themes: i) technological enhancements in flipped classrooms, which were found to significantly improve student engagement and learning outcomes; ii) student and teacher perceptions of flipped classrooms, which were generally positive, with many highlighting increased interaction and autonomy in learning; and iii) outcomes and effectiveness of flipped classroom approaches, showing a positive impact on students’ academic performance and critical thinking skills. In conclusion, the flipped classroom approach holds considerable promise for language education, offering a more effective and engaging alternative to traditional instruction. This review provides valuable insights for educators and policymakers seeking to adopt innovative teaching strategies in language education.</span>