Asia Pacific Education Review最新文献

Researchers, professional organizations and mathematics education standards emphasize the necessity and importance of mathematical modelling, especially from early school years. It is emphasized by various studies that elementary school students can create their own mathematical models by tackling model-eliciting activities and that students should encounter mathematical modelling and model-eliciting activities starting in the early school years and gather experience. The study aimed to examine the mathematical modelling processes of elementary school third grade students (8 years old) under the cognitive perspective and to determine the difficulties they encounter in this process. During the research process, a focus group study was conducted with four eight (8) years old elementary school third grade students. Data were collected by using task-based interviews. The mathematical thoughts developed by the third grade students in the study during the model-eliciting activities and the written solution process papers they presented were analyzed by descriptive analysis method. As a result of the research, it was determined that the students had difficulties demonstrating competence in understanding, simplifying, interpreting, and validating the problem.

Rankings dominate higher education policy making, although little is known about the experiences of those involved in perpetuating rankings. This paper explores middle-level academic leaders’ sensemaking about university rankings and related policies in East Asia. Since university rankings have affected higher education policies and strategies more intensely in East Asia than in other regions of the world, our research aims to trace the process of meaning construction and reconstruction of the middle-level academic leaders directly involved with the rankings game. Qualitative data have been drawn from in-depth interviews with key informants across elite institutions in three East Asian countries (Mainland China, South Korea and Japan). Our findings show how even in the well performing countries (Mainland China and South Korea) the “ranking fever” has been replaced by the “ranking fatigue”. There is no running from rankings, but the paradox of not believing in them but engaging with them has created an affective response that is deeper than lack of trust towards the commercial system of ranking: it is a deeply rooted feeling of fatigue. This is leading the discussion on how to find an alternative to rankings and possibly forge a new path forward for East Asian universities, reshaping the geography of higher education in the region.

This qualitative study explores Asian international students’ academic experiences in Korean graduate education, focusing on their relationships with Korean advisors. The findings identify three themes in how these international students perceive their Korean advisors, namely as (a) academically and professionally supportive, (b) responsive but not proactive, or (c) non-responsive and laissez-faire. The findings also highlight the importance of cultural differences, level of degree, and departmental and disciplinary cultures in building the relationship between international students and their Korean advisors. The study sheds light on the significance of the advisor’s role in the success of international graduate students and on cultural nuances in Korean graduate education. Implications for graduate education practices in Korea and beyond are discussed.

The integration of ICT in education in developing countries has become a significant focus in various ODA projects and educational research. With the increasing demand for teachers to incorporate ICT in their classrooms, the precise methods for effectively integrating ICT resources have not been thoroughly explored. Therefore, this research aimed to develop the most optimal instructional design principles that may systematically guide teachers in planning their lessons using ICT, specifically in the context of Bangladesh. By employing the design and development research method, this research developed an initial set of instructional design principles based on literature review and field research, then elaborated on the principles through three sets of internal validation tests and a usability test by conducting in-depth interviews to confirm the applicability of the principles in real classroom settings in Bangladesh. The final version of instructional design principles is composed of five components, ten principles, and 22 specific guidelines. Two distinct features of the principles are discussed for further research. In discussion, this research underscores the necessity of providing practical instructional design principles to guide teachers in effectively utilizing ICT, particularly within a resource-limited learning environment like Bangladesh.

The importance of improving schools, increasing teacher quality, and improving student learning has led to an increased focus on teachers’ professional learning and development (PLD). When organising PLD sessions in schools, it is crucial that they are well understood and that the needs of teachers are considered. This study aimed to examine teachers’ views vis-à-vis their professional growth in primary schools in Fiji. Specifically, it investigated the type of PLD organised in schools and the factors that need to be considered during planning. Semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document records were used as data collection instruments. Twelve participants were purposefully selected from twelve different primary schools. The data were analysed thematically in 3 phases: identifying patterns, creating codes, and arranging codes into themes. The results suggest that teacher education on PLD is vital and that all those involved in the education system understand what PLD entails and consider the teacher’s needs when planning such sessions. The study also revealed that teachers participate in various forms of PLD that include school-based training organised on a regular basis and or when a teacher returns from workshops, and that information needs to be communicated to other teachers in school. Moreover, the study also revealed the critical role of change agents in facilitating PLD initiatives. However, to gain widespread acceptance, these change agents must demonstrate competence and earn the respect of their colleagues.

This meta-analysis comprehensively examined the effects of English language interventions on struggling elementary school learners in South Korea learning English as a foreign language. A total of 22 studies of experimental and quasi-experimental studies were separately analyzed by the study design using a random-effects model, and the mean effect size was medium (g = 0.68, SE = 0.26, CI₉₅ = 0.18, 1.18, p < 0.01) for the experimental studies while the mean effect size was large (g = 1.39, SE = 0.67, CI₉₅ = 0.08, 2.69, p < 0.05) for the quasi-experimental studies. Due to the large homogeneity statistics, subgroup analyses were additionally conducted for possible moderator effects contributing to the mean. The subgroup analyses indicated large effects in the affective (e.g., student’s motivation) and achievement (e.g., reading comprehension) type of outcome measures and effective intervention components (e.g., shared reading). Other effective contextual characteristics including the total session numbers, intervention frequency, and classroom type are also discussed along with the study limitations and future directions for the struggling readers learning English as a foreign language.

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between foreign higher education and corruption in 14 home countries in the MENA region and 13 host countries from 2007 to 2021. Panel-estimated generalized least squares, robust least squares MM estimation, dynamic panel data estimation, and one-step difference generalized method of moments was used to overcome heterogeneity and endogeneity issues and increase robustness. The study adopted the positive grease-the-wheels theory of corruption and the greed or need (GONE) theory in which the need for corruption develops into greed for corruption, revealing a significant positive relationship between foreign higher education and corruption in the MENA countries. Meanwhile, the sand-in-the-wheel theory of corruption and anti-corruption mechanisms that encourage less greed per the GONE theory revealed a significant negative relationship between foreign higher education and corruption in origin countries after students returned to their home countries. The study findings support the idea that foreign knowledge is a blessing for MENA countries. Furthermore, there was a significant positive relationship between foreign higher education and corruption in the host countries because students adapted to the host country’s environment. The main conclusion was that governments should encourage students to study abroad in countries with less corruption, supporting the main hypothesis, which posited that ethics and values are adopted abroad and transferred to home countries. Furthermore, constitutional reform and economic development should be adopted to implement the anti-corruption system and control public spending on education.

As schools have become ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diversified, multicultural mathematics education is emerging as the paradigm of school mathematics reform. When considering that an enacted curriculum is a set of beliefs put into action by a teacher, it is important to understand teachers’ beliefs for the successful implementation of multicultural mathematics education. From this perspective, this research analyzed mathematics teachers’ narratives to describe the multicultural transformation of their beliefs about mathematics as a school subject in the context of a multicultural mathematics teacher education course. The analysis shows that through the course participation, the teachers came to see mathematics as a cultural construct and challenged the Eurocentric perspective of mathematics. This change facilitated the teachers to seek ways to make school mathematics inclusive and equitable. The analysis also revealed the teachers’ contradicting beliefs, which led them to engage in dialogues for collective reflection to nurture their narratives of multicultural mathematics education. The results of this research imply that a multicultural teacher education program should be extended into a community to support teachers’ lifelong learning within a collaborative network of sharing and nurturing their narratives by integrating theory and practice about multicultural mathematics education.

School choice policy in China aims to achieve educational equity by limiting school choice. Synchronous Admission Reform (SAR hereafter) is a recent school choice reform in China, which continues to limit parents’ autonomy and strengthen the equal distribution of school resources. This study explores Chinese middle-class parents’ (n = 21) justice claims in SAR. The findings suggest parents’ three distributive justice claims, including situational principles of distribution, institutional partiality in distribution, and entrepreneurship representative of distribution. Each claim contains contradictory interpretations of education equity. While parents admire SAR’s egalitarian promise, they recognize the present unbalanced school development and engage in a meritocratic way of hoarding opportunities. Despite their complaints over SAR’s institutional partiality, they acknowledge SAR’s political representation. Instead of participating in policy networks, parents adopt an entrepreneurial way of non-compliance. Parents’ contradictory discourse is shaped by an interplay of policy discourse, school gaps, and parents’ agency in a competitive and high-stakes education environment. Our analysis offers a micro-psychosocial lens for policymakers and practitioners to understand educational equity in everyday discourses.

Change and continuity are among the fundamental concepts of procedural knowledge. Its relevance in history and history education requires that the concepts are appropriately reflected in historical reconstruction, teaching history and curriculum documents. This study, therefore, seeks to examine how the concepts of change and continuity are reflected in selected History of Ghana ‘approved’ textbooks for primary schools. The mixed critical research design that blends qualitative and quantitative approaches was used to examine 12 selected history of Ghana ‘approved’ textbooks for primary schools. Two methods of documentary analysis—content analysis and visual semiotics—were used to analyze the data. The results show that change and continuity are reflected in the approved textbooks, albeit there are differences among the textbooks. The differences also existed in how change and continuity are reflected separately in the various textbooks. Therefore, any review of the textbooks should ensure a balance between the two concepts.