Asia Pacific Education Review最新文献

Higher education is facing formidable challenges with the deepening of economic globalization and advances in technological informatization. Cultivating students’ creativity and entrepreneurial spirit is a key issue for this new era of higher education. In this study, 60 participants were randomly assigned to an aromatherapy classroom group and an ordinary classroom group. The EEG characteristics of individual creative cognition under multimodal emotional stimuli conditions and their effects on learning outcomes were investigated by introducing dynamic auditory and visual stimuli. The findings revealed that under multimodal stimuli involving olfactory, auditory, and visual cues, participants exhibited enhanced synchronization of α₁ waves, indicating heightened creativity. Additionally, when introducing tangible rewards as a visual stimulus, participants showed a significant increase in the density and amplitude of β waves in the 20–30 Hz spectral range compared to singular olfactory or auditory stimuli, leading to optimum learning motivation and performance levels. These findings provide neurophysiological evidence for enhancing creative learning experiences and outcomes through multimodal emotional stimuli and offer a case study for brain-targeted teaching. This is significant for educators to improve teaching strategies in the creative cultivation of college students, enabling them to design scientific and personalized learning programs.

In post-Soviet Kazakhstan, the increasing youth population, shortage of teachers, and low levels of novice teacher retention constitutes an impending national crisis. While the country attempts to resolve this issue by improving the status of the profession vis-à-vis improved pay and conditions, little empirical work has focused on evaluating the role that teacher training has on improving the supply of quality teachers. The study at hand contributes to this under-researched area by focusing on the role of the student–teacher practicum experience. Based on an online response-driven sampling approach, this study draws upon 213 student-teachers from 16 institutions in Kazakhstan. Descriptive statistics reveal that student-teachers were, on average, only slightly to moderately satisfied with their practicum experience with most of the variance in satisfaction existing within-institutions. Using structural equation modeling, we find evidence that the quality of the practicum experience is a major driver of student–teacher self-efficacy, belief in the profession, and intention to work in the profession. We conclude that teacher training institutions in the country should prioritize improving student-teachers’ general practicum experience by offering structured and authentic teaching experiences, adequate feedback, and support from experienced teachers. Future research directions are also offered.

This study investigates whether rurality characterizes a distinct school leadership domain that transcends national contexts. While previous studies have recognized ways in which school leadership practices impact student learning outcomes, few have examined ways in which rurality, leadership actions, and student learning manifest across different cultural contexts. We compare the actions of rural principals in China and the United States and their impact on student achievement using 2015 PISA data with a two-level hierarchical linear modeling approach. Results suggest that leadership actions are significantly different between countries, with more minor patterns distinguishing rural principals. Results suggests that while the rural principalship is in some ways distinct, it is highly bound within its cultural context. The insights gained from this research can be valuable for developing policies and programs that are culturally sensitive and contextually appropriate to principal needs, and further help define the nature of the rural principalship cross-culturally.

This study investigates undergraduate students’ perceptions regarding physical campuses at Japanese universities. Through semi-structured interviews with Japanese and American university undergraduate students with experience studying in both countries, this paper examines their perceptions of physical campuses and the role they play in student university experience. The interviews revealed that students find physical campus spaces, such as libraries, cafeterias and gyms, at Japanese universities to be less flexible and accessible compared to their American counterparts. In spite of varying perceptions of individual facilities, the research results revealed a common desire among interviewed students for third places on campus at Japanese universities for socialisation, relaxation and restoration that cater to both group and individual student needs. This desire stems from comparisons drawn between their experiences at American universities where such places are more readily available, and those at Japanese universities, where such places are not readily available. These findings are instructive for administrators at Japanese universities who have responsibility for student experience, student satisfaction, campus management, or internationalisation initiatives, which often have the specific aim of fostering more interaction between local and international students.

This article examines how teachers can facilitate professional identity development through digital composition. We describe how two teachers use multimodal digital storytelling to reflect on their histories and advance their professional development. The study uses qualitative case study methods and employs a new analytical framework for analyzing multimodal products like digital stories. Data include semi-structured interviews, digital stories, and classroom observations. We analyzed the digital stories using a multimodal analytical framework informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics. This framework illuminates how the teachers express themselves along four dimensions: representational, interpersonal, compositional, and sociocultural. In both cases, the teachers gave a longitudinal view of their own development from childhood and described how their facility with the symbolic systems of dance and folk art was central to their sense of self. The opportunity to share these stories facilitated emotional self-expression and professional identity development.

Instilling civic-mindedness in youth is crucial for the functioning of a democratic society. Inclusive education, which involves placing students with special needs into general education classrooms, is considered a method for fostering civic-mindedness in young people. Building on existing literature, this study investigates the impact of classmates with special needs on the civic-mindedness of elementary school students. The study utilizes the quasi-random assignment of students across classrooms in South Korea to establish causal relationships. The results indicate that a higher ratio of students with special needs within a classroom negatively affects the civic-mindedness of individual students, with these effects being more pronounced in the dimension of valuing mutual assistance. Finally, we empirically infer that negative impacts on friendship and the classroom environment may contribute to these results. Based on the results, we discuss the policy implications.

This study investigates how the interplay between teachers and Korean kindergarten culture shapes a teacher learning community. Data were collected through group interviews, in-depth individual interviews, and participant observations, allowing for a rich exploration of both collective and individual perspectives. The data were analyzed iteratively, with a focus on the cultural and relational dynamics embedded within the teaching learning community. The findings underscore the critical role of emotional support, constructive dialogue, and balanced relationships within a community operating in a predominantly female, traditionally hierarchical culture. The study also highlights the essential leadership roles of lead teachers, demonstrating how humility and a balance between collectivism and individualism foster trust, align shared goals, and support collaborative growth. Furthermore, the study explores the dual aspects of Korean collectivist culture, emphasizing its role in promoting equitable education for children and addressing parental pressure, while paradoxically limiting teachers’ autonomy in decision-making. This dynamic is particularly evident in curriculum alignment, where teachers of the same age group collaborate to ensure cohesive educational practices. This analysis provides valuable insights into the processes that foster effective communication, collegial relationships, and a balanced sense of autonomy among teachers. These findings also offer practical implications for enhancing professional growth, leadership development, and collaboration within TLCs in culturally similar contexts.

Private tutoring is a fact of life in many education systems, including Vietnam. However, limited scholarly attention has been paid to this phenomenon in Vietnam from the perspective of teachers who provide private tutoring, whilst public discourse mainly criticises them for being ‘corrupted’ and greedy. Our study responds to this research gap using a conceptual lens that focuses on teacher motivations, professionalism, and teacher identities as mediated by the neoliberalisation of education. A qualitative case study methodology was employed to examine the motivations of Vietnamese teachers who offer private tutoring and how those motivations reflect and/or challenge their broader sense of teacher identities. The findings shed light on how teacher motivations in private tutoring are largely driven by teacher–student bonds and demands for high academic performance. Also, fully acknowledging the clash between imperatives of educational equality/equity and the potential of unethical issues, teachers have their own ways to reconcile their ethics with private tutoring. Even in private tutoring lessons, they are still supposed to fulfil their duties, which shows a Vietnamese dimension of the ‘struggle for the teacher’s soul’ currently waged around the world under the pressure of neoliberalism in education.

The Self-Determination Theory posits that an autonomy-supportive motivating style can benefit students in numerous educationally important ways. The paradox and educational concern is that although teachers are cognizant that students can reap numerous benefits when they support their students’ autonomy, many of them are nevertheless unable to do so. This can be explained by the implicit and explicit forces imposed on them from their external and internal environments. This paper investigated the school-related factors that affect teachers’ adoption and employment of autonomy-supportive motivating style. To achieve the objective, we interviewed 59 mathematics and/or science teachers (M_{years of teaching} = 10.8, 62.71% female) from 17 secondary schools in Singapore. We identified several school-related factors that could affect the teachers’ motivating styles, namely, “time pressures”, “support from school leaders”, “support from colleagues” and the “time of the year (timing)”. Because autonomy-support is important for students’ motivation and learning, a better understanding of the school-related factors that affect the teachers’ motivating style would be helpful in creating a context that allows the teachers to be more supportive of their students’ autonomy.