Asia Pacific Education Review最新文献

In response to the urgent need for teachers to be better equipped with strategies for responding to students who suffer the effects of complex trauma (CT), this inter-disciplinary study investigated the lived experiences of professionals (social workers, psychologists, criminal justice workers and community workers) working with school students with CT in out-of-school contexts. The aim of this study was to formulate strategic approaches from the expertise of out-of-school professionals and specialists that might be adapted for use within pre-service teacher education programs to better prepare the next generation of teachers with the skills needed for working with trauma-affected students. Using a phenomenological methodology and working through an ecological-psychosocial theoretical lens, this qualitative study found three key categories of understandings and skills used as a common approach amongst specialists working with students suffering the effects of CT: an applied understanding of child development, a capacity to read and adjust classroom environment and climate; and underpinning theoretical knowledge of the effects of trauma on young people’s behaviour.

This research applied the perspectives of volition theory and goal setting theory to analyze the effects of teachers’ volitional strategies and task value on goal commitment in remedial teaching. The samples were collected from 92 elementary schools and 460 teachers with remedial teaching experiences were invited to participate in this study. There were 296 responses, recovery rated of 64.3%. Multivariate analysis of variance and structural equation modeling were employed to analyze the data. The results revealed, first, significant differences in volitional strategies and goal commitment were observed among teachers with different degrees of teaching experiences. Those who possessed more remedial teaching experiences had better volitional strategies and goal commitment; Second, significant differences were displayed in volitional strategies between remedial teaching teachers from different professional backgrounds. Teachers with a good professional background had shown higher volitional strategies in self-efficacy enhancement dimension. Finally, teachers’ volitional strategies and task value were found with strong and moderate effects, respectively, on the goal commitment of remedial teaching. The findings provided useful information for teacher preparation programs.

Acting as a governmental tool to enhance competitiveness and integrate research and education by merging a local university and a provincial academy of sciences, this case study provides an example of a novel cross-sectoral complementary merger in higher education in China. Through a qualitative analysis of its three-stage process and the factors influencing its preliminary positive outcomes from the university leadership perspective, this study examines a unique higher education merger, emphasizing the effects of cultural issues and leadership. This study adds an interesting example to the growing literature on higher education mergers and offers suggestions for future research and practice.

Research has demonstrated the crucial role of creative metacognition and risk-taking in creativity. However, little empirical research has examined how creative metacognition and risk-taking work on creative performance in educational practice. This paper explored the moderating effects of creative metacognition on the relationships between different types of risk-taking (i.e., propensity for taking a risk, willingness to take a risk) and creative performance (i.e., general creativity, originality, usefulness) in a middle school context. The sample consisted of 350 7th- and 8th-grade students from three middle schools. They completed a survey and  a creative performance task. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that creative metacognition moderated the relationships between willingness to take a risk and both originality and usefulness. The results indicated that creative metacognition reinforces the positive effect of risk-taking on originality and mitigates the negative effect of risk-taking on usefulness. Our findings suggest a potential role for creative metacognition in enhancing curriculum-based creative performance in middle schools. In the end, practical implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Differentiated instruction (DI) is a beneficial approach to addressing students’ diverse learning needs, abilities, and interests to ensure that each student has the opportunity to make academic progress. To answer the question of how teachers utilize DI in K-12 classrooms, this systematic review was based on 61 empirical studies on DI published between 2000 and 2022. It examined the current status and trends of implementing DI in K-12 education and integrated various factors involved in the process of DI, including educational levels, subjects, student difference analysis, instructional methods, content, tools, assessment methods, and instructional effectiveness. The findings indicated that (1) DI was most commonly used in primary school mathematics and language classrooms, with the majority of studies having sample sizes exceeding 100 and lasting for more than 6 months; (2) The most frequently employed form of DI was ability grouping, often grouped based on academic achievement; (3) Information technology tools and resources can empower differentiated instruction; (4) Most studies utilized standardized tests, questionnaires, and scales as evaluation tools, with a focus on the impact of DI on students’ academic achievement and skills; and (5) The effectiveness of DI was controversial and influenced by multiple factors, such as may be associated with the instructional methods. In response to these findings, the study introduces a comprehensive DI model. This model, rooted in the perspective of instructional design, elucidates the interconnected factors of DI. It serves as a valuable reference for the future design and implementation of DI, offering a practical guide for educators aiming to create inclusive and effective learning environments.

Although citizenship education (CE) has been widely addressed in many countries’ curricula, few studies have sufficiently explored students’ learning of official CE curriculum content. Accordingly, in this study, students’ responses to the CE curriculum content are investigated in a constrained social context taking an agency perspective. Drawing on qualitative data set in two high schools in China, the study revealed that the students learned the official content of the CE curriculum with agency by critiquing textbooks, spending limited time on the subject, memorizing the textbooks’ contents without taking them seriously, and most importantly, deliberately determining what to be incorporated, reinterpreted, and resisted. The findings also showed that students’ agentic citizenship learning resulted from the interplay of four elements: students’ agentic orientations (interest and aspirations, prior political experience and knowledge, and practical evaluation); teachers’ modifications of the CE content; a high-stakes testing educational system; and China’s contested civic environment. The study extends the social constructivist understanding of citizenship learning and recommends reconstructing the Chinese CE curriculum, the educational system, and the civic environment to nurture agentic citizens.