ABSTRACT The present study aimed at investigating “quality of life among teachers – (government, madarsa and private)”. A sample of 900 teachers has been taken from madrasas, government and private schools (300 from each). The World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHO-QOL)-BREF revised version is adopted for collecting data. The finding of the research indicated that a significant difference on the variable of quality of life was found among different school teachers namely, government, madarsa and private schools and a significant difference was found on the variable of quality of life between the teachers of government and madarsa and government and private school teachers and no significant difference was found between madarsa and private school teachers. The study concludes that school type significantly impacts teachers’ overall quality of life, with private school teachers experiencing better quality of life than government and madarsa teachers.

ABSTRACT This paper examines gender differences in academic performance in Pakistani higher education. Its specific focus is to unpack the reasons for female students’ outperformance and male students’ underperformance in higher education in Pakistan. We have attempted to understand this gender reversal change in education performance from the viewpoint of university teachers. The study sample consisted of 253 university teachers who were teaching in the University of Punjab (the country’s oldest and largest Public Sector University) in Pakistan. 253 regular teachers were sampled using proportionate random sampling technique. The data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire. The analysis was carried out with the help of AMOS, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study findings revealed that socio-economic and cultural factors had a significant positive impact on gender differentials in academic performance in terms of female students’ outperformance and male students’ underperformance by the mediation of educational determinants in higher education.

ABSTRACT In Latin America, an inclination towards private education as a strategy to improve academic results is noted. However, despite the debate on equity and the design of education policies, the heterogeneity of academic results has received less scientific attention. This study analyses educational progress focusing on two main variables – quality and equity. It analyses the variations in quality and equity throughout the variation coefficient in SERCE (2006; n = 367,128) and TERCE (2013; n = 293,809) in 14 Latin American countries. The results show improvement in quality and equity education. Nevertheless, these progressions were neither homogeneous in the region nor correlated with changes in equity. Private schools got better results and lower variation coefficients in both SERCE and TERCE. In conclusion, it shows how education policies in Latin America continue to reinforce private education as a reference, so strengthening evidence-based educational and social policies is essential to improve equity in the field of education.

ABSTRACT This article is based on the research focused on the Monitoring Programme, carried out by the Portuguese School Inspection System [Inspeção-Geral da Educação e Ciência – IGEC) – a public organisation under the Ministry of Education’s supervision- presented as an instrument to improve the quality of education. This article aims to determine the representations of 135 educators (teachers, principals and inspectors) regarding the fundaments of the IGEC in the development of this Program. The methodology employed comprised a case study involving five school clusters. Data collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were analysed through content analysis and descriptive statistical analysis. The findings show where the participants agree and disagree with the role of inspections, specifically regarding the importance of the monitoring activity. The tension between control and emancipation emerges in the participants’ representations, evidencing a different degree of apprehension concerning the added value of the activity.

ABSTRACT This study aims to examine the mediating role of perceived learning engagement in the relationship between field of study preference, learning readiness, and academic competence among undergraduate students in the Ethiopian higher education context. In doing so, a correlational study design was employed. Data was collected from 392 participants selected from three institutions. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data collected. The results revealed that while field of study preference and learning readiness were positively associated with learning engagement, they didn’t directly predict academic competence. Instead, learning engagement emerged as a significant mediator, suggesting that engagement plays a critical role in translating the effects of field of study preference and learning readiness into measurable academic competence. These findings underscore the importance of fostering learning engagement within higher education, as it enhances the effectiveness of students’ academic choices and learning readiness to be competent in their academics. In the end, possible conclusions were made.

ABSTRACT The primary objective of this study was to examine the extent of relationship between learning-centered leadership behaviors exhibited by school administrators and the academic achievement of students in primary schools. Employing a quantitative research approach, specifically a cross-sectional correlation design the study involved 275 teachers selected through stratified sampling techniques. Survey questions and students’ academic achievement scores were used. Correlation and regression analysis techniques were applied to analyze the acquired data. The results indicated a significant and positive prediction of school effectiveness, as measured by students’ academic achievement, by leaders who practiced learning-centered leadership. The largest portion of the variance in school effectiveness was attributed to the quality of instruction, followed by performance accountability and monitoring. These findings suggest that enhancing leaders’ competency in learning-centered leadership could serve as an effective strategy for improving school effectiveness, as measured by students’ academic achievement in the targeted primary schools in Ethiopia.

ABSTRACT Paying attention to academic lectures in a second language and taking notes poses challenges for many students. This qualitative study explores how language functions in students’ notes and the motivations behind their choices, using a translanguaging framework. Data were collected from first-year undergraduate students at a private university in Vellore, India. Despite lectures being delivered in English, students flexibly used multiple languages in their notes. Interviews revealed that this practice enhanced academic performance by improving comprehension, memory retention, and comfort. Note-taking emerged as a personalised learning strategy, where students selected languages based on individual preferences and familiarity. The study highlights how translanguaging in note-taking supports multilingual learners and underscores the value of recognising such practices in academic settings. It recommends that educators acknowledge students' language choices in classroom tasks, offering pedagogical insights for more inclusive and effective instruction in multilingual environments.

ABSTRACT Rural space has been a classical component of geography, which forms part of a number of educational innovation projects in Latin America. It is related to a social representation, and it is sometimes seen as a homogeneous space, as nature with certain idealization regarding territorial reality. The objective of this study was to explore the perception of rural areas by 600 students (from Brazil, Colombia, and Spain) via their sketch maps in order to determine their level of geographic literacy. The quantitative analysis of psychometric properties allowed us to reveal similarities and differences in the students’ perceptions. The results demonstrated that there was an idealized global awareness of rural space, which hinders geographic literacy levels from understanding social problems associated with rurality. The research proposes suggestions to incorporate geographic literacy into educational projects.

ABSTRACT There has been abundant research on achievement goals, especially on mastery and performance goals. However, scholars have proposed expanding these to more accurately represent the entire range of students’ goals, including social achievement goals and future-oriented goals. The aim of the current study was to explore what salient achievement goals students in middle school endorse, i.e., what reasons they name for engaging or wanting to achieve in school. Thirteen students with and without special educational needs attending Grades 6–9 in various school forms in Germany participated in semi-structured interviews, which were examined using deductive content analysis. Students named a wide range of reasons, with evaluation goals, compliance goals, discipline goals, and mastery-approach goals being most common. Future-oriented goals, approval goals, and work-reduction goals were also mentioned. The findings highlight new avenues for research, practical implications, as well as providing insights for theory advancement based on the authentic motivation of students.

ABSTRACT In efforts to eliminate acquiescence and agreement bias, researchers frequently include reverse-coded items in communication scales. Evidence is growing, however, that rather than reducing response bias, negative item wording may induce a different response bias. This study examined the effect of reverse-coded items on the assessment of teacher credibility (competence, trustworthiness, and caring), and then replicated this finding with five additional datasets. The good fit of the credibility model persisted across all datasets once a method factor for reverse-coded items was added to the model. However, this strategy raised the question of scale validation: How could such scores possess utility for the description or prediction of examinee characteristics? Simplifying scales by removing negatively valenced items proved these items unnecessary. It turns out the comparative advantage of Polytomous Rasch modeling in directly tagging reverse coded items as low discriminators simplified the task of correcting the scale.