ABSTRACT This article examines the barriers to embedding anti-racist teaching and learning practices within predominantly white UK Higher Education schools. Teaching antiracism is a political project and remains difficult in universities where “objective” and “apolitical” knowledge is traditionally valued (Wagner, A. E. 2005. “Unsettling the Academy: Working through the Challenges of Anti-Racist Pedagogy.” Race, Ethnicity, and Education 8 (3): 261–275). Using a qualitative autoethnographic case study, it explores the personal and structural challenges a female academic of colour faces when attempting to advance anti-racist practices. Drawing on career reflections and a critical incident during an anti-racist pedagogy workshop in a Law department, Padilla’s (1994. “Ethnic Minority Scholars, Research, and Mentoring: Current and Future Issues.” Educational Researcher 2 (3): 24–27) theory of cultural taxation is applied to illustrate the disproportionate burdens placed on staff of colour. While widely studied in the US, cultural taxation remains underexplored in UK academic development. The study calls for trauma-informed approaches, more substantial support from white leadership, and sustained allyship. Prioritising psychological safety, racial literacy, and racial trauma awareness training for all staff, and greater institutional recognition of race equity work.

ABSTRACT This introduction discusses the mechanisms of racialization, resistance, and white supremacy in education and outlines our approach to critical anti-racist praxis as rooted in the lived experiences, knowledges, insights, and practices of racialised groups and individuals. We then present the contributions in this special issue that engage with critical and interdisciplinary perspectives to expand the conversation on critical anti-racist research and praxis in education.

We explore the potential of visualization to support musicians in instrument practice through real-time feedback and reflection on their playing. Musicians often struggle to observe patterns in their playing and interpret them with respect to their goals. Our premise is that these patterns can be made visible with interactive visualization: we can make the unhearable visible. However, understanding the design of such visualizations is challenging: the diversity of needs, including different instruments, skills, musical attributes, and genres, means that any single use case is unlikely to illustrate the broad potential and opportunities. To address this challenge, we conducted a design exploration where we created and iterated on 33 designs, each focusing on a subset of needs, for example, only one musical skill. Our designs are grounded in our own experience as musicians and the ideas and feedback of 18 musicians with various musical backgrounds and we evaluated them with 13 music learners and teachers. This paper presents the results of our exploration, focusing on a few example designs as instances of possible instrument practice visualizations. From our work, we draw design considerations that contribute to future research and products for visual instrument education.

Performance-based funding mechanisms as a tool for quality management of research in higher education in Poland

Portraying higher education students' accounts of foreign language classroom enjoyment and its effects.

Continuing education is critical for oncology nurses to enable the delivery of safe, efficient, specialist care based on current evidence-based guidelines. Accessing training opportunities can be challenging in the face of work and staffing pressures. Asynchronous online education can circumvent this barrier but despite growth in popularity, evidence of its effectiveness on practice outcomes is weak. To evaluate and synthesise evidence for the impact of asynchronous online cancer education for nurses on practice outcomes. A systematic approach was used to identify primary studies in the following databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE, APA, PsychInfo, ERIC, EMBASE, PubMed and Web of Science. Critical appraisal was guided by the Medical Education Research Quality Instrument (MERSQI) and Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) tools for quantitative studies, and the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist for qualitative studies. The Kirkpatrick Four Level Model of training evaluation and a modified effect direct plot were used to facilitate synthesis of the evidence. Thirty studies of varying research design were included in the review. Vast heterogeneity was apparent in research designs, participants, intervention design and duration, and outcome measures. Due to this heterogeneity, it was difficult to establish that one design of education was more effective than another. Patient outcomes were not measured in any of the thirty studies reviewed. Behavioural change was objectively measured in two (7%) studies, evaluating screening rates and pain assessments, and self-reported in eleven (37%) studies regarding changes such as adapting to patients' language needs, cytotoxic drug handling, and discussing reproductive health. At least one educational outcome (nurses' knowledge, skills, attitudes, beliefs, confidence or self-efficacy) was measured in all thirty papers, however, improvements in these did not necessarily translate to evidence of changing practice outcomes. The overall quality of evidence was weak, particularly with respect to research design and validity of outcome measures. The need for more rigorous research in this field continues as there were limited evidence available to evaluate the direct impact of online cancer education on practice outcomes. Practice outcome evaluation could be enhanced by using measurements that are less subject to bias.

This study investigates the pedagogical value of rock climbing in Chinese higher education through the dual lenses of constructivist learning theory and the PERMA+IT framework of positive psychology in outdoor higher education studies. Drawing on interactive observation, in-depth interviews, and case-based analysis, the research examines how simulated and outdoor climbing experiences shape students' emotional, cognitive, and relational development. Findings demonstrate that climbing cultivates positive emotions, deep engagement, interpersonal and ecological relationships, meaning through self-efficacy, and accomplishment, while also advancing independence and trust as critical sub-dimensions. The results reveal that students not only develop physical competency but also experience heightened resilience, reflective thinking, and a stronger sense of community. These outcomes highlight rock climbing as a powerful medium for experiential learning that integrates physical challenge with psychological growth and human-nature connection. The study contributes to outdoor education research by evidencing how constructivist approaches and positive psychology principles converge to promote holistic student development and curricular innovation in higher education. Rock-climbing excursion in outdoor higher education merits greater pedagogical integration: it enriches student wellbeing, deepens learning, and empowers students to navigate uncertainty with confidence, an essential capability in contemporary education.

ABSTRACT This paper examines the methodological challenges and issues that arose within a transnational research collaboration between physical education teacher education (PETE) researchers from China and Aotearoa New Zealand. The project sought to enhance school-based Physical Education through collaborative forms of practitioner research. Drawing on reflective journals, meeting transcripts, interviews, and email correspondence, we used thematic analysis to trace how methodological tensions emerged and evolved through the relational, institutional, and cultural dimensions of the research process. Four interconnected challenges were identified: negotiating equitable partnerships, navigating language and cultural differences, addressing issues of positionality, and challenging subject essentialism. These challenges revealed how transnational research collaborations demand sustained reflexivity around power relations, epistemic authority, and contextually embedded norms. Key points of tension included negotiating research design across different institutional and policy environments, managing communication across technological and cultural divides, aligning divergent ethics processes, and resisting dominant, often Eurocentric, framings of Physical Education. The central role of cultural brokers and bilingual team members emerged as crucial in enabling epistemic translation and fostering more equitable collaboration. We argue that transnational research is most productive when understood as a situated, ethical, and relational practice. Rather than proposing universal solutions, we foreground methodological humility, attentiveness to context, and dialogic engagement as essential principles for researchers working across national and cultural borders in Physical Education.

ABSTRACT Addressing the tension inherent in educational research between locally based realities and broader trends, this exploratory study draws on semi-structured interviews to identify English-medium education lecturers’ use of languages, resources and tools in the classroom, and their professional development (PD) needs. The dataset comprises ten lecturers from two universities, one each in Austria and Spain. The qualitative content analysis revealed some differences regarding the roles of English and other languages. Reflecting institutional policies, findings underline the site-specific framing of English mainly as a lingua franca in the Austrian setting vs. as a foreign language in the Spanish one. While all lecturers identify translanguaging as key to overcoming communication barriers and ensuring content accessibility, it is specific to the Austrian context that it is also seen as a resource for enhanced knowledge development. Additionally, all lecturers showed awareness of using multimodal resources to facilitate disciplinary content delivery. For the future, lecturers expressed interest in learning about the implementation of artificial intelligence, and in strategies to promote communication skills and the use of English in the classroom. This study calls for further research to identify lecturers’ discipline and context-specific needs, supporting PD initiatives that are relevant and tailored to effectively strengthen teaching practices.

This study aimed to determine the level of teachers’ awareness of the utilization of special education funds in the first-class municipality in the central Philippines. Specifically, it examined teachers’ awareness in four areas of SEF utilization: operation and maintenance of school facilities and equipment, construction and repair of school buildings, educational research, and the purchase of books and periodicals. The data needed for this descriptive study were collected from 166 respondents using a 32-item self-made data gathering instrument that had undergone stringent tests of validity and reliability. Throughout the entire research process, this study adhered to research ethics protocol. The ensuing analysis showed that teachers demonstrated a high level of awareness across all SEF utilization areas. Findings further indicated that awareness levels did not significantly differ when grouped according to the aforementioned demographic variables, thus failing to reject the null hypothesis. While teachers exhibited strong awareness of documentation and reporting processes, gaps were observed in their understanding of acquisition, disbursement, and research funding mechanisms. The study concludes that although teachers possess substantial general awareness of SEF utilization, technical awareness related to procurement and research remains limited. These findings provide a basis for proposing information, education, communication, and action plan to promote a deeper understanding and more effective utilization of SEF in public schools. Keywords: Teachers’ awareness; utilization of special education fund; Negros Occidental, Philippines.

ABSTRACT Referring to theories of knowledge or epistemological paradigms when explaining and discussing methodological and methodical choices is increasingly accentuated as important. However, epistemological paradigms are not always referred to and discussed in sufficient detail when methodologies and methods are chosen, and their relevance is evaluated. In this article, we suggest a framework for selecting and discussing methodologies and methods based on epistemological paradigms as logics of justification and frames of inquiry. We illustrate the use and strengths of the framework by systematically applying it on a case. The case is student dropout from higher education, and we investigate if newer studies on dropout using Tinto’s institutional departure model are methodologically and methodically capable of capturing three epistemological important aspects of the student dropout phenomenon: the significance of social factors, the multidimensional character of student dropout processes, and the temporality of those dropout processes.

Expectation effects-particularly the Pygmalion, Galatea and Golem effects-are well recognized in educational psychology but have been insufficiently explored within surgical training. This narrative review examines how supervisor expectations and reputational labeling influence learning opportunities, entrustment, performance, and well-being among surgical trainees. Evidence from education and organizational psychology shows that expectations influence learners through four mechanisms: socio-emotional climate, instructional input, opportunities to demonstrate ability, and the nature of feedback. Emerging research in surgical education demonstrates similar patterns. Qualitative studies describe residents engaging in extensive impression management to meet perceived expectations, often suppressing help-seeking behaviors to avoid negative labels. Experimental work demonstrates that prior learner handover can significantly bias assessments; identical trainee performances are rated more favorably when preceded by a positive reputation. Informal faculty word-of-mouth remains a dominant source of trainee labeling, with implications for entrustment decisions and progression. Negative expectations can erode self-efficacy, heighten anxiety, contribute to burnout, complicate remediation, and may increase attrition. Conversely, high yet supportive expectations, combined with explicit performance goals and formative feedback, are associated with enhanced skill acquisition, motivation, and resilience. Expectation effects represent a powerful but modifiable influence within surgical education. Training programs should cultivate growth-oriented expectations for all learners, minimize prejudicial labeling in assessment and handover processes, and design remediation pathways that support rather than stigmatize struggling trainees. Creating a culture that emphasizes coaching, transparency, and psychological safety is likely to improve trainee development, well-being, and patient care.

ABSTRACT Decades after Brown V. Board of Education, Black undergraduates remain at the margins of campus life at historically white institutions (HWIs). While higher education research has consistently documented de facto segregation, few studies, if any, have interrogated the role of antiblackness — the paradigmatic position of blackness as slave — in reproducing racial division in modernity. This intrinsic case study centers the lived experiences of 8 Black undergraduates to examine Black/white relations at a Midwestern HWI. More specifically, I employ the Afterlife of School Segregation as an analytical lens to elaborate how equal participation in mainstream campus life is foreclosed to Black students, reifying the structural antagonism between blackness and humanity. The findings are articulated through the following themes: (1) blackness as abjection, (2) blackness as isolate, and (3) blackness as refugee. This study offers meaningful implications for select higher education stakeholders invested in supporting Black students in the Afterlife of School Segregation.

ABSTRACT Contemporary educational research has increasingly recognized the importance of emotions in teacher's professional development trajectories. However, limited research has explored how specific emotional/cognitive dissonance faced by novice university teachers can be transformed into growth points, particularly in the Chinese context. Drawing on an autoethnographic approach and Vygotsky's concept of perezhivanie, this study traces the first author's understanding and internalization of the psychological conflicts inherent in his professional roles during his first year of teaching. The findings reveal both positive and negative perezhivaniya in his daily work, in which moments of emotional/cognitive dissonance often serve as critical growth points in teacher's professional development. The study highlights a novice LOTE teacher's complex emotional experiences in relation to contradictions with (1) mediating tools of online teaching technologies, (2) community of students and foreign co‑teacher, and (3) rules of academic publication. Across these dimensions, perezhivanie functions as a dynamic, transformative process that links emotion, cognition, and context, turning dissonant experiences into opportunities for conceptual and identity development. In so doing, the study extends understandings of teacher emotional/cognitive dissonance in higher education and offers implications for supporting novice teachers’ wellbeing and growth within China's evolving academic culture.

ABSTRACT In response to the growing importance of educating student teachers with research competencies, political decisions have been made in Flanders as well to integrate research in academic teacher education programmes. From now on, teacher education students in Flanders who are attending a university-based academic teacher education programme are required to write an educational research-based master’s thesis. However, little is known about how student teachers perceive the added value of an educational research-based thesis as one specific research component within their teacher education, and how this contributes to student teachers’ learning, professional development, research competencies, and satisfaction with educational research. Based on Astin’s (1993) Input-Environment-Output-model, this paper identifies important individual and contextual variables that may influence students’ development of their research competencies, as well as their experiences and satisfaction with conducting educational research and writing the educational research-based thesis. Using survey data from 198 Flemish student teachers enrolled in the Master of Teaching programme, the hierarchical linear regression analysis highlights the key role of an appropriate infrastructure, intellectually motivating teacher education programmes, good supervision, and a balanced workload in the development of research competencies when writing an educational research-based thesis. Implications for further research, practice, and policy are discussed.

Aims and objectives: This article concerns the interdisciplinary scholarship on language, migration, and gender in a trading community in Yiwu, China. Approach: I adopt a poststructuralist approach and draw on stories of two Arab women – Nadeen and Yiyi – to consider L2 investment as a way to negotiate different identities, of gender and of being a migrant, in a new country away from home. Data and analysis: The ethnographic data, including observation, fieldnotes, casual chats, in-depth interviews, and artefacts, were analysed thematically. Findings/conclusion: The results show that Chinese was imagined as a means to pursue personal fulfilments and resist feminised roles imposed by the mainstream society, as both participants agentively invested in Chinese language learning. Importantly, the findings reveal gendered access to L2 resources beyond the home, which led women’s limited opportunities to practice Chinese and the reproduction of unequal gender relations within family. Originality: This study brings a nuanced understanding of gender into gender-blindness Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) education research. Significance: The significance and contribution of this article centre on extending our understanding of the relationship between gender, migration and L2 learning in an under-research context. It also throws light on how language can empower migrant women to resist the domination that stems from unequal gender and social relations in South-South migration.

This conceptual understanding article is part of a series where we analyze the recognition and conversion of representations of the electric field concept; in this article, we present the case of algebraic notation. We conducted a study with introductory and upper-division physics students taking electricity and magnetism courses in a large private Mexican university to learn how students recognize the electric field’s main characteristics in the algebraic notation of the field and how they convert to and from different representations. We refer to the theory of registers of semiotic representations as a theoretical framework and use a phenomenographic approach to analyze data. We explored students’ recognition and conversion abilities through interpretation and construction tasks for the electric field’s algebraic notation. We found that the main difficulties of interpreting and constructing the algebraic notation are related to separating the mathematical expression from the situation’s physical meaning. Sometimes, students referred only to the physical meaning without using algebraic notation. In other cases, they construct algebraic notation without explicitly describing the physical meaning. Another source of difficulty is the treatment process because some students make mistakes or misinterpretations that they carry throughout. We recommend that introductory and upper-division electricity and magnetism instructors and physics education researchers in higher education be aware of the difficulties that some interpretation and construction tasks may present to students learning the electric field concept.

Introduction This study examines how 21st-century skills are conceptualized and applied in vocal pedagogy in response to increasing demands for reflective, technology-mediated, and culturally responsive approaches in music education. Methods A scoping review was conducted following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology. Literature published between 2014 and 2025 was systematically mapped from Scopus and EBSCOhost databases. Using PRISMA-based screening, nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Data were charted and thematically analyzed to identify conceptual definitions, pedagogical approaches, and implementation challenges. Results Findings reveal a shift from tradition-bound, repertoire-driven instruction toward more reflective, student-centered, and digitally supported learning environments. Integration of 21st-century competencies—such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, and cultural literacy—occurs through strategies including AI-assisted feedback, microlearning, and cross-cultural pedagogical practices. However, challenges remain, including curriculum rigidity, insufficient teacher preparation, and limited professional development. Discussion The study proposes a conceptual framework positioning cognitive, creative, technological, emotional–social, and cultural dimensions as interdependent foundations of contemporary vocal education. This model underscores the need to cultivate reflective and adaptive learners capable of navigating complex artistic, digital, and intercultural contexts, with implications for curriculum innovation, teacher education, and future research.

ABSTRACT This paper compares conceptualizations of knowledge by critical and social realism on the one hand and the social realist school in the sociology of education on the other. Although both schools appeal to ontological realism and judgmental rationality to address a common concern – epistemic relativism – their understandings of these concepts are not well-aligned. Our concern in this paper is that this issue has been misunderstood in problematic ways in research in the field of higher education. First, we provide some evidence to illustrate this concern. Second, we outline how key scholars in both schools have conceptualized knowledge. Third, we highlight their differences around the usage of ontological realism and judgmental rationality. Fourth, we discuss what is at stake for educational research and practice. Finally, we urge caution by researchers when claiming that the social realist school’s approach is philosophically supported by Bhaskar’s critical realism and Archer’s social realism.

ABSTRACT Interrogating the role of technology in practice can be challenging because of the ubiquitous, yet often private, use of technology, rendering large parts of practice invisible. This article proposes screen recording as a promising method for studying digital environments in education, presenting three cases of integrating screen recordings into a qualitative design: social media use in the classroom, school leadership practice, and writing practices in multilingual classrooms. We consider collection and analysis of screen recording data in connection to conversation analysis and sociomaterial frameworks. By doing so, we use the co-constitution of theory and methodology as a framing device to discuss elements of practice which the screen recording method makes visible: private activities, distributed space and time, and materiality. While digital education research calls for methodologies that involve direct researcher engagement with technology, we argue that screen recording ensures a concurrent engagement with technology and with participants and their practices.