School Experiences Research Articles

Cultural and artistic dimension of Bantu languages in higher education inAngola

This text addresses the Cultural and Artistic Dimension of Bantu Languages in Higher Education in Angola. The Bantu languages are the only means of expressing art in Angola. Therefore, there is no art without Angolan languages. In a country where the state imposes the deprivation of the public or private use of local languages as fundamental rights of people, one cannot speak of Angolan art, since only through these languages can the artist express the cultural, political and artistic values of the Peoples of Angola. Bantu languages occupy the last position with a deprecated language dimension. Thus, it is the purpose of this text to analyze the extent to which the Bantu languages of Angola express all the rationality of the people who speak them. This communication is therefore the result of my experiences in courts and schools in rural communities. In courts, I have attended certain trial sessions where the judge who speaks in good Portuguese is not understood by the accused and the witness who speak in any Bantu language. It was found that the large urban centers, considered civilized societies, which dominate the cultured norm and have a considerable number of police, guards in backyards, record more and more different criminal actions in relation to rural communities, where there are no police. These disparate facts are due to the ethical and moral values imbued in the languages of each community.

Socio-emotional experiences of primary school students: Relations to teachers’ underestimation, overestimation, or accurate judgment of their cognitive ability

Previous research revealed that students who are overestimated in their ability by their teachers experience school more positively than underestimated students. In the present study, we compared the socio-emotional experiences of N = 1516 students whose cognitive abilities were overestimated, accurately judged, or underestimated by their teachers. We applied propensity score matching using students’ cognitive ability, gender, language, parental education, and teacher’s acquaintance with them as covariates for building the three student groups. Matching students on these variables, reduced the original sample size to subsamples with n1 = 348, and n2 = 312 with exact matching including classroom. We compared overestimated, accurately judged, or underestimated students in both matching samples in their socio-emotional profiles (comprised of academic self-concept, joy of learning, attitude towards school, willingness to make an effort, social integration, perceived class climate, and feeling of being accepted by the teacher) by linear discriminant analyses. Groups significantly differed in their profiles. Overestimated students had the most positive socio-emotional experiences of school, followed by accurately judged students. Underestimated students experienced school most negatively. Differences in experiences were most pronounced for the learning environment (medium to large effects for academic self-concept, joy of learning, and willingness to make an effort; negligible effect for attitude towards school) and less for the social environment (medium effects for feeling of being accepted by the teacher; negligible effects for social integration and perceived class climate).

Web‐based e‐portfolios for oral health students’ competency assessment and professional development

AbstractThis study describes the 4‐year experience of a dental school in implementing web‐based e‐portfolios for competency assessment and professional development. We discuss our adaptable strategies and the lessons learned, hoping to contribute to the literature and offer guidance to other institutions considering the implementation of e‐portfolios.

Mongolian Pastoralist Parents’ Experiences in Managing Their Primary School Children’s Living Arrangements

Sending children, especially six-year-old ones, to school put pressure on pastoralist or herder households to balance their livestock herding needs and their children’s schooling needs at the same time. Due to remote campsites located in isolated rural areas far from any schools, pastoralists need to arrange a place for their children to stay during the school year. In this interpretive phenomenological study, we explored pastoralist parents’ experiences in managing different living arrangements for their primary school children during the school year. We conducted semi-structured interviews with five pastoralist parents from a remote county (an administrative division under a province) in Mongolia. Living arrangement options included staying in a boarding school dormitory, staying at a relative’s place, and staying with mothers in split households. The pastoralist parents’ own school experiences, the presence of first-grade school children, boarding school conditions, and family resources were found to be important factors for deciding the best living arrangement. We recommend that the government agencies should work on improving conditions of school dormitories and on providing better educational opportunities for pastoralists and their children.

Factors Affecting Autistic Students’ School Motivation

Factors Affecting Autistic Students’ School Motivation

Profiles of Family and School Experiences and Adjustment of Adolescents During the Transition to High School.

Although family and school experiences play an important role in adolescents' adjustment during the transition to high school, most prior studies investigated the effects of these experiences in isolation; their joint implications for both adolescents' concurrent and long-term adjustment outcomes are less clear, and the potential role of individual characteristics within such associations remains understudied. Based on 525 10th graders (Mage = 15.48, SDage = 0.71, 43.6% boys) who participated in a longitudinal study, the present research aimed to identify distinct family and school experience profiles among first-year high school students and examine their associations with adolescents' internalizing problems and externalizing problems, both concurrently and 18 months later. Latent profile analysis revealed four distinctive profiles: thriving, low resources-moderate family risk, developmental stress-high parental conflicts, and developmental stress-high peer victimization profiles. The other three profiles (vs. the thriving profile) reported significantly higher levels of concurrent internalizing problems; while these differences diminished after 18 months. However, the enduring impacts of these profiles on internalizing problems persisted among adolescents with higher levels of environmental sensitivity. Additionally, adolescents characterized by two developmental stress profiles (vs. the thriving profile) exhibited significantly higher levels of externalizing problems both currently and longitudinally. Findings underscore the importance of identifying at-risk populations among adolescents during the transition to high school by including both family and school experiences when examining environmental influence on their adjustment, as well as the necessity to take individual environmental sensitivity into account when examining these associations.

Serious suicidal thoughts, suicide plans, and mental health service use among youth during the COVID-19 pandemic

Using the 2021 U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health youth sample (N = 10,702, ages 12–17), we examined the prevalence and corelates of serious suicidal thoughts (SST) and of suicide plans and mental health service use among those with SST during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of all youth, 12.8 % reported SST and 16.7 % were unsure or refused to answer the SST question. The latter youth were more similar to those with than without SST in mental health status. Of youth with SST, 43.1 % made suicide plans and 56.6 % used any mental health services. Multivariable analysis showed that clinical factors (major depressive disorder, substance use disorder, self-perceived negative mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic), female sex, and non-metropolitan residence were associated with higher likelihood of SST. Positive home and school experiences were associated with a lower likelihood of SST and suicide plans, but higher likelihood of any mental health service use among those with SST. Black and Hispanic youth and youth in small metropolitan areas were significantly less likely to have used any mental health services. Our findings have important implications for improving access to mental health services for youth with SST, especially minoritized youth and those in non-metropolitan areas.

How Whiteness Fuels Anti-Blackness: Black Leaders’ Experiences in an Urban High School

This article explores whiteness and how it manifests itself in an urban, Midwestern high school. This examination is done through counter-storytelling to unpack how Black women leaders navigate whiteness while simultaneously experiencing anti-Blackness within and outside a research-practice partnership. These counter-stories came from a larger research project on how school practitioners work towards anti-racism using an anti-racist policy decision-making protocol. Much research centers on the experiences of Black students in PK-12 education settings; however, there is an underwhelming amount of research that analyzes how anti-Black racism or anti-Blackness exists in educational leadership. Our findings reveal that Black women leaders negotiate whiteness through various strategies, encounter moments of anti-Blackness and witness it occurring among Black students within the school. Implications of this study illuminate the importance of counter-narratives in uncovering details otherwise unseen, as well as describe the ways counter-narratives moved the work within the research-practice partnerships forward.

Memories of schooling amongst trans women and sexuality diverse men in Papua New Guinea

ABSTRACT Drawing from a life history study we examine memories and experience of schooling in Papua New Guinea among 45 trans women and sexuality diverse men. While participants reported regulating their expression of gender and sexuality to ‘fit in’ and avoid physical and verbal abuse at school, others felt able and supported to express their gender and sexuality diversity more freely beyond stereotypical norms. Schools provided a varietyof experience for trans and sexuality diverse youth, unsupportive in many ways but supportive in others. The study highlights the importance of examining the impact of colonial discourses driving homophobia and transphobia in diverse settings, and understanding the socio-cultural climates of schools to identify solutions to the discrimination and violence experienced by trans women and sexuality diverse students. Further research into the current experiences of trans, gender and sexuality diverse young people in school would provide a valuable comparative perspective to our retrospective study.

Being an effective English teacher through internship: Voices from the involved parties

The Indonesian national curriculum encourages higher education stakeholders to provide an internship program to increase students’ employability. In the field of education, an internship comes in the form of a teaching practicum where all interns or prospective teachers get hands-on experience in schools to develop the characteristics of effective teachers. To identify areas for improvement in the running program, gathering insights from those involved is necessary. The current case study details how the internship program facilitates effective teaching for prospective teachers. This research also discussed recommendations from involved parties to obtain reliable references to improve the program. The data were collected by interviewing four prospective teachers, two university supervisors, and two mentor teachers. This study used transcribing, member checking, and coding to analyze the interview results. The data revealed that the four steps in the program, i.e., deployment, observation, coaching, and teaching practices, helped the prospective teachers to build a robust construct of effective teachers, including socio-affective skills, pedagogical competence, content knowledge, and personal qualities. Additionally, the findings demonstrated the participants’ suggestions related to several technical issues of the program and recommendations to the prospective teachers regarding what they should do in joining the program. Regardless rooms of improvements that the program should follow-up, all participants agree to say that the practice teaching facilitates prospective English teachers to develop competencies of being an effective teacher.

Exploring Adolescents’ School Experience in Malta

Adolescents who experience school as a nurturing and supportive environment have better educational outcomes, health and wellbeing (Currie et al., 2004; Rathmann et al., 2018; Coelho & Dell’Aglio, 2019; WHO, 2020). Hence, schools must consider their impact on adolescent wellbeing and development (Cefai et al., 2021). This paper delves into the school experience of secondary school students in Malta, specifically in Years 7, 9 and 11. It analyses some of the data collected as part of the 2022 Health Behaviour in School Children study (HBSC): school satisfaction and school-related pressure and stress, perceived academic performance, support from teachers and classmates; how these interrelate and whether they are underpinned by demographic factors (school year and biological sex). Keywords Adolescents, school satisfaction, school-related stress, schoolwork pressure, teacher support, classmate support, perceived academic performance

Layering identities as artist, advocate, and theatre educator: reflecting beyond experiences

ABSTRACT This study examines the negotiation of identities by teacher candidates and early-career theatre educators. Focusing on reflections written by teachers (n = 14) in a foundational course on theatre education, we considered how they develop a perspective beyond their own personal experiences in theatre and theatre classes. Participants focused on theatre class as a place where students can feel safe to be human, feel a sense of belonging, and develop creative and practical skills. They also identified the ways that theatre classes enrich students’ other school experiences. We found evidence of an important shift in which teachers take on the identity of both artist and educator, and noted that this shift allows them to take on a new layer as arts advocate.

Survey of Teachers’ Perception of Future School Learning Space

The cultivation of students’ core competencies is a worldwide issue. Transforming the learning environment to promote innovative pedagogy has become a trend. As a critical role in students’ cultivation, teachers’ perception of learning space has the direct effect on learning outcomes. This study aims to investigate the teachers’ perception of the new learning space. A teacher’s perception of future school learning space scale is developed to collect the data, which includes 8 subscales and 35 items, 355 teachers participated in the study. Result of Descriptive statistics and Independent-samples t-tests indicated that: (a) Future School Learning Space Scale is reliable and effective; (b) teachers’ perception of Comfortability of learning space, Constructive Learning, Differentiation Learning are relative higher, Cloud Technology and Connectivity are both lower; (c) Teachers in different group, such as gender, teaching experience and type of school have significant difference in their perception of future learning space. Implications for Chinese future learning space design and construction have discussed.

A New School, a Fresh Start? Change and Stability in Peer Relationships and Academic Performance in the Transition from Primary to Secondary School

Previous studies on peer relationships in school transitions neglected individual differences, or did not examine the relation with academic performance in secondary school. This study followed 649 students from their last year of primary school to their first year in secondary school (Mage at T1 = 11.6 (SD = 0.6); 53.6% girls). Results revealed that students became more attached to peers, less lonely, and were stable in victimization across the transition. Particularly students with more negative peer experiences in primary school enjoyed a “fresh start” in terms of peer experiences in secondary school. Students who had more co-transitioning peers experienced greater reductions in loneliness. Changes in peer experiences over the transition did not relate to academic performance in secondary school.

Nomadic knowledge in emerging pedagogical contexts: ethnographic experience in two secondary schools in Málaga, Spain

ABSTRACT This paper presents a research experience in secondary schools that develop educational projects of a participatory and transformative nature. This contribution arises from the new educational needs emanating from augmented society and multiple literacies that transform communication and the circulation of knowledge, challenging conventional educational methods. An ethnography was carried out in two secondary schools, one in a rural environment and the other in a metropolitan area. The results are organised around the notion of community; the management processes and shared leadership; and the transformative pedagogical processes that are being developed. We conclude that the Spanish secondary school context is still based on practices centred on content and masterly methodologies; this leads us to understand that the mentioned schools, as disruptive experiences, promote a change towards a curriculum centred on the participation and interests of the students; horizontal and cooperative management practices; a strong sense of community; among others.

Disentangling Support for Violent and Non-violent Radicalization among Adolescents: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Although support for violent and non-violent radicalization can co-occur, only a few adolescents who support non-violent radicalization also support or engage in violent acts. Yet, little is known about what factors are associated with adolescents' paths towards or away from violent and/or non-violent radicalization. Within a socio-ecological and positive youth development framework, this study investigates profiles of support for violent and non-violent radicalization among adolescents attending high schools in Quebec (Canada) and whether such profiles are differently associated with experiences of social adversity, school-, family- and peer-related factors and psychological distress. Adolescents (N = 1911; Mage = 15.7; SDage = 0.98; 48.7% girls) completed an online survey during school hours. A Latent Profile Analysis on scores of support for violent and non-violent radicalization was conducted. A multinomial logistic regression was used to explore the associations between profiles and variables of interest. We identified six profiles of adolescents. The heterogeneity of profiles suggested multiple and complex combinations of support for violent and non-violent radicalization as well as their co-existence in some but not all profiles. Adolescents who reported less discrimination, more positive school experiences and more family support were less likely to belong to profiles that supported violence. Primary prevention efforts in the field of support for violent radicalization must adopt a socio-ecological and social justice approach and consider the diversity of adolescents' profiles, attitudes and experiences.

Scottish Performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment, 2006–2022: Falling Attainment and Rising Inequality

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), run by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), is the largest regular investigation of school students’ attainment globally. It has been conducted usually every three years since 2006, measuring attainment of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science. It also records wide-ranging information about students’ social characteristics and about their experience of school. The most recent round, in 2022, showed Scottish attainment to have fallen in all three domains. Although the decline since 2018 was partly due to the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic, this was not the whole explanation because Scottish scores have been falling since 2006. At the same time, social inequality has been widening. The paper summarises the evidence on this, and, by comparing the Scottish results with those in England, considers whether part of the explanation might be the different policies on the school curriculum in the two systems.

Impact of sleep and mental health in adolescence: an overview.

Sleep deprivation is known to affect multiple aspects of mental health, physical health, and daily functioning. With increasing reports of sleep disturbances and increasing mental health needs in adolescents, it is imperative that healthcare providers have a strong understanding of the relationship between sleep and mental health, the impact of poor sleep on the school experience, and an understanding of behavioral interventions targeting sleep practices. Recent studies have shown that the relationship between sleep and mental health is complex and multifaceted. While mental health diagnoses and symptoms can negatively influence sleep quality and quantity, so too does poor sleep increase the risk of mental health diagnoses, symptom severity, and suicide risk. Sleep likewise affects the school experience, both positively and negatively. Targeted interventions and prevention programs may be effective in treatment of sleep disturbances for adolescents. Clinicians must be aware of the above associations and their clinical implications. Patients with either mental health or sleep concerns should be screened for potential co-morbid conditions. Improving sleep hygiene practices can improve the sleep experience in adolescents, however, there remains a gap in understanding the best method to improve sleep hygiene practices in this population.

The Use of Metaverse in Providing Interactive Learning Experiences in Schools

The development of digital technology has played an increasingly important role in education, and the concept of the metaverse offers the potential to enhance the quality of learning. The implementation of metaverse in education is gradually taking place, but understanding and utilization are still limited, especially at the primary and secondary school levels. This is further reinforced by the fact that Indonesia still adheres to mass education or education 2.0. This statement reflects the limitations in understanding and utilizing the concept of metaverse in school-based learning. This research aims to explore the utilization of metaverse as an interactive learning tool in the school environment. The research method used is a survey method, with educators at the primary and secondary school levels as respondents. Quantitative descriptive analysis is employed to determine the values of the related variables. The results of this research show that 40.4% of the respondents state that integrating social media with the metaverse can enhance the engagement and relevance of learning, creating interesting and interactive learning experiences. The metaverse also supports virtual social interactions, collaborative learning, and strengthens relationships with learners from diverse backgrounds. However, 47.4% of the respondents state that the integration of metaverse in learning practices is still limited, and learners' understanding of the metaverse needs to be improved. Further efforts are needed to integrate the metaverse into learning practices at schools, develop effective learning materials, and address existing challenges. In conclusion, the use of metaverse in learning has the potential to enhance learner engagement, creativity, collaboration, and motivation, but it requires more intensive efforts to fully integrate it into learning practices at schools.

Thai School Directors’ Lived Experiences and Attitudes Towards Global Englishes: Do They Impact Hiring Foreign National Teachers?

Research on language attitudes towards Global Englishes in many contexts has focused on teachers and learners. However, limited research has paid attention to school directors even though they are in a vital position to make changes at the school. This study explored the school director’s lived experiences, attitudes toward Global Englishes, and how their attitudes impact hiring foreign national teachers. Utilizing a narrative inquiry design, three school directors from different school sizes, levels, and types were interviewed multiple times per person to ensure data saturation. The findings showed that all school directors demonstrated standard language and native speakerism ideologies formed earlier in their schooling experiences, especially in English classes. Regardless of positive or negative English learning experiences, they developed an entrenched belief that English should be taught by ‘native speakers.’ Yet, the decision to hire foreign national teachers was not simply influenced by their lived experiences and attitudes toward Global Englishes. Instead, it was affected by the school budget, the level of students, and parents’ expectations. Above all, one troubled concern materialized – hiring someone who looked ‘native.’ Implications were discussed moving forward when considering implementing the Global Englishes paradigm.