Aiming to protect and advance professionals’ job interests, professional organizations play influential roles in the politics of education worldwide. However, examinations of these organizations as political actors remain limited. This study addresses this research gap by exploring the policy capacity of four professional organizations in the Norwegian education sector – specifically, the skills and resources…

The article explores the academic wellbeing of upper secondary school students in Denmark. It discusses previous conceptualizations and ways of measuring academic wellbeing and finds that the field suffers from a lack of conceptual clarity. (pdf)

A shortage of qualified, stable early childhood education and care (ECEC) personnel undermines effective service delivery and increases turnover, perpetuating negative cycles of segregation. Research has shown that recruiting ECEC educators is challenging in Finland. However, the development of recruitment difficulties and their influence on daily practices has yet to be examined. (pdf)

Early numeracy skills are falling, leading to quests for new instructional approaches. Blended learning has potential to improve motivation and achievement in mathematics. We investigated the effects on pupil achievement and motivation of using Dragonbox School in 2019-2020, which aims for a holistic early numeracy approach with teacher training, books, physical concretes, and digital components. (pdf)

Slightly more than three decades have passed since major educational reforms were implemented in Sweden, radically changing the conditions for social groups to navigate the educational landscape. Following decentralization, and the introduction of independent schools and school choice in the 1990s, managing market mechanisms became crucial for parents when assessing their children’s educational opportunities. (pdf)

Owing to historical legacy, the Catholic church is the largest provider of primary education in the Republic of Ireland. Governance of primary schools, including responsibility for upholding school ethos, falls under the legal remit of the largely volunteer school Board of Management (Board of Governors/School Board). This article examines Board of Management oversight of ethos…

The challenges facing school leaders are becoming more acute and complex year on year. The pace of change and the potential for disruption, in all its forms, remain a reality unlikely to dissipate any time soon. For many school leaders, leading from the edge has become the norm, as unpredictable events and issues occur more…

Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized various aspects of people's lives, yet its misuse poses risks to society. When introducing AI into K-12 education, the concept of AI for social good (AISG) is crucial, as it orients students toward the ethical application of AI. Based partially on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study explored…

In primary education, adaptive learning technologies (ALTs) personalise tasks and provide teacher dashboards that visualise real-time student performance and progress. These dashboards can help teachers to provide targeted, real-time feedback based on the dashboard data, a practice known as dashboard-prompted feedback (DP-feedback). This study examined how teachers give different types of DP-feedback (task, process, metacognitive,…

This study explores how Grade 7 students experienced a student-directed inquiry for the first time in a Science and Technology course at girls’ school in Québec, Canada. Drawing on an exploratory case study design, we centred on students’ voices to understand their perspectives on student-directed inquiry and the competencies they felt they developed throughout the…

The present study focuses on preschool teachers’ beliefs towards school readiness of children with disabilities in Bavaria, Germany. The data were collected using qualitative guideline-based interviews with preschool teachers (n = 22). The data base consists of concept maps created by the teachers in the interviews and reflecting the characteristics of their beliefs. (pdf)

Internationally, we lack knowledge at scale about young people’s perceptions of support for their religious freedom and about their levels of commitment to religious equality. Such knowledge could inform efforts to interrupt potential antagonisms. Drawing on survey data from 3156 14–15-year-olds in England, this paper examines how youth perceive support for religious expression at school,…