Educational Research for Policy and Practice最新文献

School leadership has been described as a key target for leveraging the quality of education in relation to sustainable development goal (SDG4) that seeks to 'ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning' as per UNESCO 2030 agenda. This study provides a policy review of school leadership in the State of Qatar, as a case study, but carries out discussions within the global thrive for meeting the demands of Agenda 2030 to achieve quality for public education. It utilized a research instrument developed by UNESCO's Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems in Paris. The study used personal interview surveying, also called face-to-face surveying, and was completed with high-level policymakers at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE). It consisted of four sections that addressed: (1) the regulatory frameworks governing school leadership; (2) the professional development opportunities offered to school leaders; (3) the degree the school leadership profession was attractive; and (4) the procedures followed to appraise school leaders. Findings underscore the critical role played by school autonomy, instructional leadership, and governance in responding to Agenda 2030. The discussion contributes to the global discourse in meeting the requirements of Agenda 2030.

This research investigated followers' expectations of their heads of departments (HoDs) and how they felt about the fulfilment of the expectations within the context of Ghanaian higher education. It further explored the nature of the challenges the HoDs faced as they tried to meet followers' expectations. The research used a phenomenological design and engaged 36 participants selected from three large Ghanaian universities to participate in individual interviews. Data were analysed using the interpretative phenomenological analytical technique. The research revealed that while the subordinate staff expected a more supportive work environment, the students wanted a more conducive learning environment. The HoDs were, however, constrained to do much because of the ethos of the Ghanaian HE sector. The study concluded with recommendations informing policy and practice, both locally and internationally.

COVID-19 lockdown has caused disruption to education of all levels with far-reaching implications and unveiled the shortfalls of the current education model. Cycles of tightening and relaxation of COVID-19 lockdown confer uncertainty to the continuity of education. This article aims to comprehensively present the impacts of COVID-19 on primary, secondary and tertiary education and propose sound educational practices in the COVID-19 era. Papers related to educational impacts and implications of COVID-19 were selected for this review through a PRISMA model. The review shows that a shift of learning remotely or online has affected educators and learners, especially in relation to learning loss among learners, limitations in instructions, assessment and experiential learning in virtual environment, technology-related constraints, connectivity, learning resources and materials, besides psychosocial well-being. These impacts are exacerbated by inequalities in the distribution of resources as well as inequities attributed to socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, learning ability and physical conditions. The recommendations for future educational practices comprise adaptability of curricula to embed independent and online learning options, concurrence of diverse learning modalities for seamless learning transitions and flexibility, flexible staffing and learning model, enhanced support, technological and curricular innovation with simplification and standardization, as well as interactive, responsive and authentic virtual environment. This review contributes significantly to enhance preparedness of education to crisis while ensuring continuity and quality of education in the era of COVID-19 uncertainty.

Teaching can be considered as an extremely demanding and stressful occupation and being a language educator brings about its own distinctive challenges. In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, teachers worldwide experienced fundamental changes in their profession and their lives as a whole. Coping with such an unprecedented situation and responses to it have created new and extra stressful factors for teachers to cope with, including the difficulties created by quick transition from direct teaching to virtual and remote teaching. This study examined EFL teachers' coping strategies during the Covid-19 virtual education and their association with work engagement and teacher apprehension. A total of 296 language instructors contributed to this study by participating in a survey in January 2021. To determine what coping strategies teachers use in virtual teaching during Covid-19, the researchers adapted the Brief-COPE scale designed and validated by Carver (Int J Behav Med 4:92-100, 1997) to make it appropriate for virtual education. The survey measured 11 coping strategies divided into two broad types, approach and avoidant. For measuring work engagement, the Work and Well-being Survey (UWES) scale designed and validated by Schaufeli and Bakker (Test manual for the Utrecht work engagement scale, vol 3. Utrecht University, The Netherlands, pp. 44-52, 2003. http://www.schaufeli.com) was utilized. To assess teachers' apprehension, the research employed the Sources of Teachers' Apprehension Scale (STAS) developed by Ghanizadeh et al. (Asia-Pac Educ Res 1-14, 2020). The result demonstrated that the adapted coping strategies scale enjoys acceptable reliability and validity indices. The results estimated via structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that EFL teachers' approach coping strategies positively and significantly predicted work engagement (β = 0.72, t = 10.56). Work engagement was negatively predicted by avoidant coping strategies (β = - 0.29, t = - 3.36). Teacher apprehension was negatively influenced by approach coping strategies (β = - 0.44, t = - 5.57) and positively by avoidant coping strategies (β = 0.43, t = 5.29). The study proposes some practical recommendations for overcoming the Covid-19 related challenges which could further deliver valuable guidance for supporting future training of teachers.

Although there is increased need for closing the gap between educational research and policy to better enable effective practice, addressing the problem remains a challenge. A review of current literature reveals a lack of systematic guidelines which clarify how collaboration between researchers and policy-makers can actually be achieved. Therefore, this study aims to articulate a framework which satisfies these needs. We used Lasswell's stages heuristic model, integrated with perspectives from Kingdon's model, as a basis for building this framework, and conducted semi-structured interviews with nine experts in educational research and policy-making to gain understanding for how to effectuate their collaboration. The study identified six main stages for achieving effective collaboration, and the resulting framework could prove useful to future applications.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the higher education sector in Singapore. Existing tertiary studies seeking to understand the intraperiod response to COVID-19 often focus on single institutions, jurisdictions or stakeholder groups. This study is the first in-depth qualitative multi-stakeholder examination of the higher education environment in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic. It explored the perceptions of the quality of digital pedagogy during COVID-19, how universities have adapted because of the pandemic, and how leaders, teaching staff and students have been affected by the management and educational changes via 13 semi-structured interviews across six Singapore higher education institutions. Through purposive sampling, we explore current stakeholder perceptions, structural education changes, and personal learning and teaching impacts of COVID-19. Applying Braun and Clarke's approach to thematic analysis, we inductively uncovered four major themes: the Singapore government's approach to COVID-19 and its effects on delivery; academic leadership approaches; education technology; and well-being. This article is critical as a key foundation to understand how Singapore is responding with unique geopolitical differences. We discuss the practical implications of our research for current university faculty and students during and beyond the pandemic, and outline opportunities for future research.