Learning Community Research Articles

How Motivation for Undergraduate Physics Interacts With Learning Activities in a System With Built‐In Autonomy

ABSTRACTSupporting student participation and learning in STEM involves motivating students to engage in the most effective learning activities. In this article, we study how student motivation interacts with learning activities, and we pay special attention to active learning and the Scandinavian context where participation in learning activities is largely voluntary. Twenty‐one undergraduate physics students at a large, research‐intensive university in Norway participated in nine focus group interviews at the beginning and end of the spring term of 2020. With self‐determination theory as a lens, our thematic analysis resulted in three themes: First, students' autonomous motivation came from mastery experiences and perceived learning, such as the joy of solving a problem. Second, active learning activities enabled students' autonomous motivation when these activities supported competence, for example through optimal challenge or with evident learning gains. In contrast, students experienced low or controlled motivation when excessive challenge and lack of mastery threatened their sense of competence. Third, students' sense of competence was strengthened by being part of a community of learners. The community ensured that help and mastery experiences were available, and interactions with the community made evident that other students struggle too. The emphasis on mastery and competence for these students is discussed considering how physics is associated with difficulty and extraordinary cleverness. We argue that the main threat for students who do not feel competent enough in physics is the threat of not belonging in physics due to this perceived lack of competence. Implications for teaching and research are discussed.

Participatory Community Learning to Develop a Digital Market Management System for Community Enterprises and Stable Occupation Groups Nam Phrik Kaeng Krua Khanong, Song Khanong Subdistrict, Sam Phran District, Nakhon Pathom Province

Background and Aim: Digital Marketing Management is critical for successfully promoting products and services in the digital age. It allows businesses to reach a larger audience, interact with customers in real-time, and tailor strategies based on data insights to boost growth and brand awareness. This study investigates the digital marketing practices of the Song Khanong Occupation Group in Prik Kaeng Krua Khanong, Nakhon Pathom Province, aiming to enhance customer engagement, brand awareness, and sales outcomes by focusing on Generation Z and Baby Boomers. Materials and Methods: A mixed-methods approach was utilized, combining surveys of 200 community members on digital media usage, content preferences, brand perception, and customer satisfaction, along with interviews with key stakeholders about marketing strategies. Data analysis involved calculating mean scores to assess satisfaction with digital marketing elements. Results: Results showed high satisfaction among Generation Z, with Facebook as the preferred platform (mean score: 4.86). Infographics and videos received the highest scores (4.93 and 4.80, respectively), while Baby Boomers valued brand aesthetics (overall score: 4.77). Tools like Chatbots and QR Codes enhanced user experience significantly. Conclusion: The study underscores the need for effective digital marketing strategies in community enterprises to boost engagement and brand recognition. High satisfaction levels indicate that tailored content and a robust online presence are essential for customer retention. Future efforts should focus on continuous improvement and leveraging technology for better communication, enabling sustainable growth for community enterprises in Song Khanong.

Mapping Open Access Publishing Trends in Central Universities of North East India: A Scientometric Approach

ABSTRACT The study analyses open access publications across the 10 central universities of North East India, focusing on publication trends, disciplinary distribution, citation impact, collaboration patterns, and open access licensing patterns. It compiles scholarly outputs from the OpenAlex API, integrating various data sources such as Microsoft Academic Graph, ORCID, Crossref, and Unpaywall. A total of 28,832 publications from 2004–2023 were collected and analyzed using statistical methods. The findings reveal a positive trend in research output across the represented universities, with an increasing emphasis on OA publications. However, the proportion of OA publications remains relatively low compared to closed access. Citation impact varies among universities, reflecting differences in research quality and visibility. Open repositories such as SSRN, Research Square, and Zenodo are crucial in promoting OA publishing. The study also reveals common usage of licenses such as CC-BY and CC-BY-NC-ND, with variations across universities. The impact on libraries is also discussed, emphasizing the role of libraries in promoting OA, supporting researchers, and contributing to scholarly communication advancement. This study provides valuable insights for policymakers, academic administrators, and researchers seeking to promote a culture of openness, collaboration, and innovation in scholarly communication within the region, country, and at the global level.

Enabling access: Reflecting on inclusive education practice

AbstractInclusive education is a multifaceted approach that celebrates diversity, acknowledges individual differences and fosters an environment where all students can thrive. This reflective piece delves into key components of inclusive education practice, including embracing diversity, implementing differentiated instruction, fostering collaborative partnerships, creating an inclusive environment and engaging in continuous reflection and professional development. Drawing from over two decades of teaching experience, I seek to highlight the importance of catering to individual needs, building collaborative relationships and nurturing a culture of inclusivity and empowerment which are factors essential in creating inclusion and equity within the classroom. Through embracing inclusive practices, teachers can create learning communities where each student, regardless of their ability or challenges, has the opportunity to succeed.

An international relations discipline for tempestuous times

ABSTRACT In the face of tremendous violence and multiple crises, we are reminded that ours should not only be a discipline that examines crises, but also one that actively contributes to their resolution. What does IR as a discipline owe—or what must we give—to the pressing concerns of our times? What do we, in IR, owe to each other as a scholarly community or professional class? This essay argues for a reinterrogation of our discipline’s relationship with ‘crisis’ as subject matter, method and motivation. It also makes a case for paying greater attention to our obligations to society and to one another as public intellectuals in need of collective methods to think across political and disciplinary divides.

Head teachers’ pedagogical leadership strategies in supporting children’s transition from pre-primary to primary school in Tanzania

This study explored strategies to support children's transition from pre-primary to primary school. It employed a case study design, and semi-structured interviews were administered to nine head teachers and nine pre-primary school teachers from nine public primary schools in Mpwapwa and Chemba District, Tanzania. The collected data were subjected to content analysis. The study’s findings revealed that the provision of teaching and learning resources, stakeholder or community engagement, teacher motivation, a supportive school culture, and learning follow-up are essential pedagogical leadership strategies employed by head teachers to support children's transition from pre-primary to primary school. The study recommends the implementation of pre-headship training programmes and in-service training on Early Childhood Education (ECE) management for head teachers, as well as the provision of increased budgetary allocations for pre-primary education. Since this study was conducted in the pre-primary educational aspect, the study also recommends conducting further research on other aspects of school readiness in an attempt to enable children to easily navigate the transition process into the education system.

“I sit here thinking I can do this”—Developing justice‐centered ambitious science teaching identities in professional learning communities

AbstractExplicitly attending to justice in science teaching and learning is long overdue. Here, we examined the professional teacher identity development of 13 science teachers as they collaborated in networked professional learning communities (PLCs) to implement and revise a culture‐setting unit focused on the science of COVID and engaging in collaborative inquiry cycles to identify and refine justice‐centered ambitious science teaching (JuST) practices in classrooms. These JuST practices are conceptualized as a synthesis of justice‐centered pedagogies and ambitious science teaching. To accomplish our research aims, we drew on qualitative methods, where we relied on transcribed video recordings of 21 PLC meetings and three transcribed end‐of‐year focus group interviews of two PLCs (i.e., 13 secondary science teachers, mostly white) across a year‐long period. As a result of our analyses, we identified how professional learning arranged through PLCs, culture‐setting units, and collaborative inquiries supported professional JuST identity development by, among other affordances, providing space for the critical and emotional work of learning to discuss race, affording teachers strategies for getting to know their students and the assets they bring to classrooms, and recognition and positioning of teachers as professionals capable of identifying or developing, refining, and contributing to knowledge about JuST science teaching and learning. Challenges identified included, among others, identifying how the culture‐setting units could be effectively integrated into existing curriculum maps and the uneven implementation support from administrators. In the end, what is revealed helps better conceptualize how engaging teachers in PLCs around tasks like curriculum implementation and refinement or collaborative inquires support professional JuST identity development and how such experiences can be more carefully negotiated.

Le travail en communauté d’apprentissage professionnelle (CAP) : une analyse réflexive

Collaborative work is becoming more and more present in teaching teams institutions across Canada. This reflective qualitative research (self-study) on professional practice presents an analysis of a teacher’s corpus who experienced a collaborative work in professional learning communities (PLC) in a school located in Alberta. A conceptual framework based on the sense of self-efficacy (SEP) towards collaborative work in PLC is guiding the study. The results show that participation in the PLC improved the teacher's SEP through the close collaboration established with her colleagues and by the implementation of new pedagogical practices. The autors suggest that this study be replicated to extend the impact to other teachers.

Awareness and Attitudes Towards Open Access Predatory Publications Among the Academic Staff Members of Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka

The scholarly community is now dealing with a serious issue with predatory journals. It might be difficult for authors to identify predatory publications apart from reputable ones. The purpose of this study is to investigate the academic staff members of the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka on awareness of predatory publications and open access. The research methodology used in this study to gauge participants' knowledge of "open access" and "predatory publishing" was a questionnaire survey. Data collection involved the use of a pretested questionnaire. The permanent academic staff members affiliated with the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, university of Jaffna comprised the study's population. A link to an online survey was shared with every one of the faculty's fifty-two academic staff members. The response rate of the study was 67.30 %. MS Excel was used for the data analysis to describe the data in frequencies, percentages and rank orders of responses.Socio demographic details shows that, highest number of respondents are female (57.14%), completed master/MPhil (51.42%), senior lecturer (57.14%) and interested in marketing (28.57%) as their research discipline. Respondents expressed their priority order for the factors considered to select journal to submit manuscript for publications, journal indexing is the highest priority. All the respondents have an idea about the open access publishing system. Respondents are expected to publish in open access journals because of high visibility, increasing citation number, prestigious journals and fast publication process in a frequency order. The result of the survey shows that, 97.15% of the respondents are knowledgeable about predatory publishing. Majority of the respondents are characterized, the predatory journals are, no insufficient peer review process, and Beall’s list of predatory journals used by the high number of respondents to differentiate legitimate journals from predatory journals. More than half of the respondents are satisfied with the services provided by the library to avoid publishing in predatory journals. Responses are summarized for each of the 8 statements about the impact of publishing in predatory journals. Almost all the statements are agreed by the respondents other than the statement of “Articles published in predatory journals are poor in quality”. Highest agreement found for the statement 3 which is “Predatory publications are not considered for any academic reward” in which 14out of 35 were strongly agreed and followed by the statement 2 “many researchers published articles due to lack of awareness about predatory publication” (13 out of 35). Finally respondents are suggested to organize more awareness session on open access publishing and journal selection to avoid predatory publishing.

Multiple Truths and Many Roads: Leading Graduate Study Abroad

This panel will feature presentations from faculty from three universities with programs that offer study abroad opportunities for master’s-level Library and Information Science (LIS) students. This panel is designed to open a larger discussion pertaining to study abroad and will focus on the following objectives: To provide examples of creative study abroad initiatives. To generate discussion on the value of international experiences. To discuss the importance of cultivating an experience that fosters understanding of the “other” culture(s) through engagement and learning. To provide examples of in-person extended experience for students who may be in online programs. Marie L. Radford and Lilia Pavolvsky will describe study abroad opportunities at Rutgers. Radford leads a Master of Information (MI) hybrid course “British Collections and Archives.” This is a three-credit summer session course with nine days at Wroxton College in England in addition to online modules. It includes visits to libraries and archives in London and surrounding areas, such as the British Library, The National Archives, the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, the Library and Archives of the Shakespeare Center at Stratford-upon-Avon, and Bletchley Park. The course involves lectures by noted British scholars and librarians on trends in academic and public libraries, digital preservation, and archival studies. Students learn about how libraries and archives function with different systems of government, different funding models, and different credentialing practices. Additionally, Rutgers offers study abroad for an International Children’s Literature course, that includes a visit to the annual Bologna Children’s Book Fair, in Italy. This event attracts global book publishers and member organizations of "ibby" the International Board on Books for Young People. Graduate students have the unique opportunity to explore ways of creating text, art, and design for children and teenagers while meeting experts on youth literacy from many nations. Also, we will share plans to offer international experiences to graduate students that include professional conferences and other opportunities for open discourse to discover many truths beyond the boundaries of their local professional and scholarly communities. These experiences will be designed to offer travel to environments in which students have the opportunity to engage in dialogue that is not only inclusive of perspectives of international LIS scholars, practitioners, and students, but which also enables an exchange of cross-cultural ideas to promote mutual understandings. Lisa O’Connor will discuss the origins of her study abroad course to Northern Ireland and Ireland, which she first developed at the University of Kentucky. Frustrated with her predominately white, middle-class students’ intractable view of their culture as innocuous, she hoped that a study abroad experience would help students gain the distance and objectivity they needed to see patterns of domination and repression in another culture and, as a result, better see these patterns in their own. Her course examines whose culture is preserved and whose is not, and who controls the dissemination of information (and thus the narrative) surrounding cultural conflict. Students examine the narrative on “The Troubles” as it was promulgated by mainstream, pro-British American media prior to their in-country experience. Students are able to contrast (1) the treatment of indigenous Irish culture with colonized British culture, and (2) messages disseminated about Irish resistance with those of the colonizer, in order to understand the roles information and information policy play in reproducing cultural hegemony, Data gathered from students indicate that the study abroad experience does in fact increase cultural humility and provide a transformative experience that helps them see “truth” as conditional rather than absolute and to ask, “who controls the narrative” in cultural conflict. Matthew Saxton will describe the International Exploration Seminar program and how MLIS graduate students have engaged in study abroad for over 10 years in multiple countries (Netherlands, South Korea, New Zealand, Ghana, Denmark, United Kingdom, Austria, Ethiopia, and Portugal). Themes of seminars have included urban informatics, cross-cultural adoption of information technology, polarization and inclusion in different societies, information literacy, and children’s literature and “own voices” in publishing. The presentation will focus in depth on the South Korea seminar as a case study that has run for 12 years and engaged over 180 US students and an equal number of Korean students. Students examine the interaction of culture, adoption of information technology, and use of social media, and consider such questions as: Do US and Korean students use social media in similar or different ways? How do they communicate, share, and validate information? We examine the cultural, economic, social, and political factors that shape the online information environment of both societies. Presenters will engage the audience in lively discussion and exchange of ideas. Discussion topics will center on the purpose and value of international experiences in graduate study, planning and investment on part of the institution, incentives for student recruitment, preparation of faculty, and building effective international partnerships.

Institutional Mechanisms for Enhancing Production of Doctoral Research Outputs at Makerere University

In the contemporary knowledge society, research production is being re-purposed in terms of not just its academic value, but also its wider societal value. As such, doctoral research ought to be produced in the context of application. Therefore, universities have a responsibility to enhance the uptake and use of doctoral research outputs. This necessitates institutional mechanisms for enhancing the production of doctoral research outputs for uptake and use beyond the academia. We examined the institutional mechanisms for enhancing production of doctoral research outputs at Makerere University using the research knowledge infrastructure (RKI) framework as the analytical lens. This was in light of the dismal uptake and use of research produced at Makerere University by students and staff. We used qualitative single case study research design. We collected data through interviewing and review of documents. We interviewed 10 doctoral program coordinators, three managers of research and graduate training and 13 PhD students we selected purposively. We reviewed seven institutional documents pertaining graduate training at Makerere University: two plans, three policies, one framework and one guideline. We used thematic data analysis to make sense of the data. The findings revealed that due to policy-practice gaps and funding constraints, mechanisms to enhance doctoral research production to facilitate uptake and use of doctoral research outputs beyond the academia were not adequately integrated into doctoral research training. This was shown by the lack of mechanisms to enhance doctoral research commissioning and execution, and gaps in priority setting. Opportunities for productive interactions between doctoral researchers and potential users were missed. As such, doctoral research outputs largely remained within the scholarly community. We recommend that the university should establish interface structures and co-creation spaces to leverage doctoral research commissioning, execution and priority setting to facilitate the uptake and use of doctoral research outputs beyond the scientific community

Is it really all about the money? The future of European standardization after PublicResourceOrg

Abstract On 5 March 2024 the European Court of Justice (CJEU) issued a landmark decision on access to harmonised standards that grant presumption of conformity with legal requirements. The CJEU ruled that such standards should be made available free of charge because, once incorporated in EU legislation, they form part of EU law. While the decision was positively received in the scholarly community, it is expected to carry profound consequences for European standards organisations, who hold copyrights over harmonised standards and rely on their sales to finance their standardisation activities. The judgment may also affect the European Commission, whom the Advocate General and the CJEU placed at the centre of European standardisation due to its role in transforming harmonised standards into EU law. This case note engages with the ruling and aims to shed light onto its possible implications for the European standardisation system.

Middle Leadership in Educational Teams: Practices and Effects on the Development of Learning Communities

In a new context of management and teaching action, framed by the organisation of the school into educational teams, middle leaders can play a key role in promoting learning communities, teacher development and improving teaching. Therefore, it seems relevant to understand the practices of these leaders that make their leadership effective. To this end, we adopted a qualitative research paradigm, operationalised through a case study, combining a quantitative and qualitative approach. Thus, we articulated data analysis processes based on descriptive statistics, which we subjected to structural and semantic analysis and interpretation, with a qualitative approach, essentially based on content analysis, to delve into some unique contexts and the perspective of individual actors. After analysing the data, we conclude that educational team coordinators play a fundamental role in facilitating the interpersonal characteristics of learning communities, involving teachers in a more collaborative and collegial working environment. However, their role in facilitating teacher learning is weaker, which hinders their contribution to deepening teacher learning and changing classroom practices.

Youth Services: Culture, Community, & Learning

The ALISE Youth Services Special Interest Group (SIG) presents a panel exploring the ways in which youth services in libraries empower youth and families and how youth programs address learning and incorporate culturally-relevant approaches. The session will begin with presentations of papers (15 minutes each) plus a themed question and answer portion to conclude. Attendees will be able to share their own experiences and work in progress on these topics in the discussion. Cahill, Joo, Minniear, LeFebvre, & Garcia will present “Math Talk in Public Library Virtual Storytime Programs.” This work presents an analysis of mathematics content integrated in public library virtual storytime programs. Cahill et al. characterize the mathematics environment of public library virtual storytime programs, discuss whether there are differences in the virtual storytime mathematics environment based on the population density of the community the library serves (i.e. urban, suburban, town, rural) and on library size. Preliminary findings suggest substantial differences in the amount of mathematics-related talk across virtual storytime programming for children. Kim, Choi, & Kang will present “Family Makers: A Culturally Relevant Online Engineering Programming for Youth Through Research-Practice Partnership with Public Library Professionals.” This work details research-practice partnership with seven rural libraries across the U.S using co-design and culturally-relevant pedagogy to develop the Family Makers program and strengthen library staff to deliver engineering learning opportunities. Kim et al. will discuss the importance of leveraging families’ cultural practices of making and forms of everyday sensemaking to design for family learning in engineering and highlight that rural library staff can support family learning in engineering by drawing on their personal experiences, relational knowledge, and non-engineering expertise as resources. Zalot will present “The kids are alright:” Understanding Youth Agency in Book Banning Discourse.” This presentation will discuss some of the factors influencing the absence of young people in book banning discourse and how social media operates as a means of access for young people in both book banning and political discourses. Youth services can nurture youth, community, and support learning and family connection. This presentation and the subsequent attendee discussion will explore the ways that the LIS field can work to address these and other community needs through excellent youth services.

Redesigning for Open Educational Practices: A Faculty-Librarian Collaboration

Open educational practices (OEP) are rarely explored in LIS education, despite its alignment with many of the core values in library science. Recent scholarship on LIS pedagogy does speak to the merits of OEP, which can include open and equitable access, real-world learning experiences, and principles of social justice. However, there is little discussion about what this looks like in practice and within the LIS curriculum. This thought piece examines the practical aspect of using OEP in the LIS graduate classroom and describes the collaborative reflections of an LIS faculty member, librarian, and university librarian to prepare to implement OEP at a regional comprehensive university. This collaboration found that OEP is a good fit for the library science curriculum, but that there are important support considerations which need to be secured before implementation, such as access to participatory technology, training on intellectual property and staffing. In addition, the dynamic nature of OEP addresses some of the challenges associated with the current landscape of online learning in higher education, including delivering more engaging pedagogy, increasing student digital literacy and student involvement in the scholarly communication process.

Research Ethics, Fieldwork, and African Studies

In recent years, there has been a noticeable uptick in efforts to address the ethical, methodological, and security challenges of conducting field research. In fact, an entire scholarly community has emerged from different pockets of area and conflict studies to develop and share a body of literature and foster interactive forums to advance this important area of study.1 Much of this work builds on the influential accounts of individual researchers (Wood 2006), which has developed into more systematic categories for the myriad issues of fieldwork (Sriram et al. 2009), as well as frameworks to understand researcher-related, subject-related, and result-related problems (Baele et al. 2018). Some have noted that the challenges associated with ethics, security, and methods are “amplified in conflict zones” (Cramer, Hammond, and Pottier 2011). Others have observed the African context in particular may require its own approach (Thomson, Ansoms, and Murison 2013), prompting the journal African Affairs to dedicate space to a series of research notes that tackle fieldwork in particular (Cheeseman, Death, and Whitfield 2017).

Multicultural Education in Xavier Learning Community, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand

The purpose of multicultural education is not only to preserve cultural traditions among multiethnic students but also to foster critical thinking and reflection on their newly acquired knowledge and on the events occurring around them. While many countries have already focused on the different needs of their student population integrating multicultural education, Thailand’s implementation has been limited, particularly at the preschool and secondary levels in some public schools. This research addresses this gap by focusing on a higher education institution in northern Thailand, Xavier Learning Community (XLC), which caters to students from various religions and ethnic backgrounds. The study aims to understand how XLC implements multicultural education to foster an inclusive learning environment. Employing qualitative research methods, such as participant and non-participant observation, interviews with 25 participants (including Jesuit priests, teachers, lecturers, and students), and document analysis, the research examines the curriculum and activities at XLC that promote multicultural education, critical thinking, and reflection. The research findings indicate that XLC embodies the principles of multicultural education by providing equal educational opportunities, preparing students for a diverse society, and promoting awareness of social justice. XLC’s approach effectively integrates students’ cultural backgrounds into the curriculum, creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment. Notably, critical thinking and reflection courses empower students to address social issues in Thailand. This study provides insights into the effective implementation of multicultural education in higher education settings, emphasizing its potential to establish inclusive and equitable learning environments.

Democratising the Music Curriculum: Integrating Ubuntugogy for the Africanisation of South African Higher Education

In recent years, there has been an ongoing debate about the need for redress in South African higher education which is largely informed by Western perspectives, and the music curriculum is no exception. Even though there is growing progress, music education continues to be dominated by the Western classical canon. Therefore, the purpose of this article was to provide a comprehensive investigation of how ubuntugogy can be successfully and effectively merged into the South African higher education music curriculum. The researcher used ubuntugogy as a theoretical framework to advocate for the integration of ubuntugogy—a teaching philosophy rooted in African values and communal learning—to democratise and Africanise the music curriculum in South African higher education. This article used a qualitative content analysis grounded in examining existing literature on a similar subject under the guidance of the research questions developed earlier. The findings of this study show that ubuntugogy provides an approach that can Africanise the curriculum and pedagogy by incorporating indigenous musical practices, oral traditions, and cultural values into the teaching and learning process. The results of this article revealed that applying ubuntugogy as a method of teaching and learning can help in preparing music education students to engage with the world from a culturally informed and empowered perspective. This article concludes by affirming that ubuntugogy as a method of teaching and learning provides a transformative framework for Africanising music education in South African higher education.

‘학교 안 전문적 학습공동체’ 특성 분석 및 활성화 방안 모색: 광주광역시 초등학교 중심

Objectives In this study, we analyzed effective cases of teacher professional learning communities in Gwangju's elementary schools to identify common characteristics and explore activation strategies. Methods This study used a systematic approach to explore the characteristics and enhancement strategies of PLCs in schools. It involved analyzing cases and teacher reflections through open coding, and conducting in-depth interviews with experienced PLC teachers. The findings led to strategies for improving and activating PLCs in the school setting. Results Key traits of school-based PLCs include voluntary participation, teamwork, communication, shared learning, and practical application. To activate PLCs, enhance teacher enthusiasm and awareness, and promote peer sharing. Schools should foster shared values, improve leadership support, and encourage innovation. Conclusions School-based PLCs foster a positive cycle where collaborative research and practice drive teaching changes and boost teacher engagement. For this cycle to thrive, individual teacher efforts must be supported by school-level systems and practical policies from the education office.

A Study on the Influence of Social Support and Work Engagement on Secondary Teachers’ Occupational Well-being in Sulaymaniyah-Iraq

The educational system in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, faces significant challenges due to political instability, economic hardships, and conflict. These factors contribute to the stress and burnout experienced by secondary school teachers, affecting their occupational well-being. This research aims to investigate the relationship between social support and work engagement on teachers' occupational well-being, with the objectives of understanding how these factors interact and proposing strategies to enhance teachers' occupational well-being. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study utilized the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, the NIOSH Questionnaire, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale to collect quantitative data from 120 secondary school teachers in Sulaymaniyah. Qualitative data were gathered through semi- structured interviews with a subset of 15 participants. The data were analyzed using SPSS 25 software for quantitative analysis and thematic analysis for qualitative insights. The results revealed a positive correlation between social support and work engagement with teachers' occupational well-being. Work engagement was found to mediate the relationship between social support and occupational well-being. Teachers expressed that a supportive work environment, opportunities for professional growth, and recognition contribute significantly to their job satisfaction and overall well-being. To promote teachers' occupational well-being, it is recommended that schools and policymakers focus on creating a supportive work culture, providing opportunities for professional development, and recognizing teachers' efforts. Implementing mentorship programs, facilitating collaborative learning communities, and offering incentives can further enhance teachers' work engagement and occupational well-being.