School violence in early childhood education poses complex challenges for educators, particularly in contexts of social vulnerability. This study presents findings from the implementation of Psychoanalytically Oriented Conversation Circles (RCOP, from the Portuguese Rodas de Conversa de Orientação Psicanalítica), a group-based continuing education method conducted through an interinstitutional partnership between the Municipal Secretariat of Education of Porto Alegre (SMED, from the Portuguese Secretaria Municipal de Educação) and the Porto Alegre Psychoanalytic Society (SPPA), in use since 2007. Adopting a naturalistic qualitative design, this study explored how a single group of early childhood educators, participating in eight weekly 90-min RCOP meetings, made sense of endemic school violence. All meetings were video-recorded with informed consent; the second through seventh meetings were transcribed verbatim and submitted to inductive thematic content analysis, following Bardin's methodological framework. Findings revealed a shift in educators' understanding of violence, from an initial, simplistic view attributing it exclusively to factors external to the classroom, toward a broader, more integrative comprehension of the phenomenon. This shift was accompanied by a progressive development of empathy toward the families, schools, and limited external resources involved, which was associated with increased self-esteem and pedagogical creativity among the educators. These findings are discussed in light of psychoanalytic and competency-based theoretical frameworks. Future research employing longitudinal designs is recommended to assess whether these narrative and empathic gains are sustained over time and translate into observable classroom practices.
Current debates increasingly portray children’s and adolescents’ media use as problematic or even addictive, often leading to a pathologization of their media practices. However, prevalence studies predominantly show that only a minority of young people meet clinical criteria for media-related disorders, while many more experience challenges. The present study investigates how adolescents and their parents perceive problematic media use, how these perceptions develop over time, and how they are negotiated within families. The study draws on data from a longitudinal study. Using a child-centered and dyadic research design, semi-structured interviews with 13 adolescents and one parent each were analysed across four survey waves between 2018 and 2023. The analysis theoretically builds on the communicative figurations approach and uses qualitative content analysis. Criteria derived from Internet Gaming and Social Media Disorder served as sensitizing concepts for identifying perceived problematic or challenging media-related experiences. The findings show that all adolescents reported various challenges related to their media use across their entire media repertoires. Longitudinal analyses reveal that perceptions of problematic media use are dynamic and develop alongside adolescents’ expanding media practices. Parents often identified problematic patterns earlier, and concepts of problematic media use were continuously negotiated within the family. The results further highlight the relevance of platform affordances in shaping experiences of prolonged engagement. The study argues for a broader understanding of problematic media use as a socially negotiated and developmental phenomenon rather than solely an individual pathology. It concludes by emphasizing the need for more qualitative, longitudinal, and repertoire-oriented educational research.
Students often struggle to develop a conceptual understanding of Newton’s Second Law while also mastering its mathematical applications. This study examined how placing computer simulations before or after teacher instruction was associated with students’ conceptual and computational approaches. Fourteen secondary students from a bilingual private school in Mount Lebanon were stratified by grade point average and gender and randomly assigned to two groups. Group A received teacher instruction before completing PhET simulation activities, whereas Group B explored the simulations before instruction. The sequence remained consistent across projectile motion and motion on an inclined plane. A qualitatively driven, randomized comparative intervention design was used, drawing on classroom observations, two open-ended tests, and semi-structured interviews. Group B generated more questions about variable relationships, physical meanings, and real-world applications, whereas Group A focused more often on equations, procedures, and calculation accuracy. Written responses showed a similar pattern: Group B used more conceptual and partially conceptual reasoning, while Group A produced more computational responses and more fully correct solutions. In immediate post-unit interviews, Group B participants recalled exploratory processes and variable relationships, whereas Group A participants emphasized formulas and solution procedures. Within this small, context-specific sample, simulation before instruction was associated with conceptual exploration, while simulation after instruction was associated with computational consolidation. Because the study involved one school, guided activities, and no delayed assessment, the findings should be interpreted as preliminary and transferable only with caution. The study also offers practical recommendations for integrating computer simulations into physics lessons.
The increasing prominence of English language proficiency in Malaysia has prompted many parents to take an active role in supporting their preschool children’s language learning beyond the formal education system. While parental involvement in education is not new, limited research has explored how Malaysian parents facilitate English language acquisition at home during the early childhood years. This qualitative study sought to explore the motivation, teaching methods, perceived challenges and coping strategies in home-based English language teaching and learning among parents of preschool-aged children. Data were collected through in-depth interviews involving diverse groups of parents from urban and semi-urban settings in Malaysia. The thematic analysis of data collected revealed five dominant themes that discussed agency and motivation, strategies and resources, strategic use of digital tools, challenges of consistency and confidence, as well as coping strategies. The study’s findings highlight the evolving role of Malaysian parents as co-educators in early language development and underscore the need for greater institutional support and resource curation for home-based English learning. Implications suggest that early childhood education policies and programs should integrate parent-focused digital literacy initiatives and provide accessible, culturally relevant language learning tools to bridge gaps in parental knowledge and capacity.
This qualitative study explores how immigrant families experience and negotiate age–grade mismatch during school enrolment and transition, and how family cultural capital shapes their ability to engage with school placement decisions. Age grade mismatch (i.e., being below age grade level) can be considered as either a technical or guardian move, but has significant social, emotional, and educational implications. The research is based on semi-structured interviews with 12 immigrant parents and young people regarding the announcement, justification, and reaction to the placement decision-making in the daily interactions of the family and school, the results of which indicate that age–grade incompatibility is widely perceived as an institutional evaluation instead of an objective adaptation, which shapes the sense of belonging, confidence, and peer relationships in children. The ability of families to challenge or make new deals on the placement decisions differed significantly and was largely connected to access to information, language assistance, social networking, and knowledge of school systems. Some families could mobilise these resources to bring about change, but in other cases, the process appeared to be fixed and intimidating. The research points to the ability of language-based tests to blur the previous education and the support systems to propagate inequalities in situations where there are no established ways of review.
Assessment literacy remains a critical yet underdeveloped dimension of English First Additional Language (EFAL) teaching in many rural South African schools. This study explored how Grade 4 EFAL teachers in the Vhembe Cluster conceptualise and implement assessment practices within the constraints of multilingual and resource-constrained classrooms. Guided by Vygotsky’s Social Constructivist Theory, the study employed a qualitative case study design involving eight purposively selected Grade 4 EFAL teachers from four rural primary schools in Limpopo Province. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis and were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis. The findings revealed that assessment practices remain predominantly summative and compliance-driven despite policy emphasis on formative assessment. Teachers demonstrated fragmented understanding of formative assessment principles, while overcrowded classrooms, limited resources, and linguistic diversity constrained effective implementation. However, participants also displayed adaptive agency through culturally responsive practices such as storytelling, peer assessment, translanguaging, and low-tech digital feedback strategies. The study argues that meaningful assessment reform in rural South Africa requires more than policy compliance; it requires sustained professional development, contextualised mentoring, multilingual assessment approaches, and equitable digital support. The article contributes to emerging debates on decolonising assessment and strengthening teacher assessment literacy within African multilingual contexts.
This study explored how storytelling-based instruction supported the speaking development of Chinese primary school pupils in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. A qualitatively dominant mixed-methods design was used so that the study could move beyond outcome comparison and examine how pupils experienced storytelling lessons in classroom practice. The research was conducted in a public primary school in China and involved four intact Grade 5 classes (N = 160), including two experimental classes that received storytelling-based instruction and two control classes that followed regular textbook-based teaching. Qualitative data came from classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with nine purposively selected pupils, while quantitative data were drawn from pretest and posttest speaking assessments and questionnaires on motivation and anxiety. The qualitative analysis showed that storytelling-based instruction appeared to support speaking through several connected classroom processes. These included multimodal support that helped pupils understand and organise language, embodied and creative activities that encouraged expressive use, peer rehearsal that reduced the pressure of speaking, stronger engagement with lesson content, and a greater sense of ease during oral participation. Pupils also described noticeable changes in their own speaking, especially in fluency, vocabulary use, pronunciation, and confidence. The quantitative results were broadly in line with these patterns: compared with the control group, the experimental group performed better on the posttest speaking measures, reported stronger motivation, and showed lower anxiety. The findings suggest that storytelling can support young EFL learners’ speaking not simply by making lessons more enjoyable, but by changing how classroom participation is organised. In this study, storytelling created conditions in which speaking became easier to understand, more purposeful, and less intimidating for primary school pupils.
Discussion of artificial intelligence in education often moves too quickly from access to tools to claims of improved efficiency. The interview evidence in this study does not support such a direct conclusion. This article explores how teachers and administrators in Shandong, China, described their use of AI in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). It focuses on the situations in which AI appeared to reduce routine work, and the situations in which it generated additional checking, explanation, or risk. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted across secondary, higher, and adult vocational institutions. The interviews were recorded and transcribed in Chinese. English working versions were then prepared with AI assistance for analysis and reporting. During coding and manuscript preparation, the first author returned to the Chinese transcripts to verify key terms and selected quotations. The data were analysed in NVivo through iterative coding, memo writing, and comparison across teacher and administrator accounts. Findings are organised through a Constraints–Mechanisms–Enablers–Outcomes (CMEO) model. Participants did report some efficiency gains, but only in a limited sense. These gains were mainly associated with less time spent on first-draft writing, formatting, and routine screening. They also described new work. Teachers still had to verify technical accuracy, explain AI-supported feedback to students, and adapt outputs to local equipment, syllabi, and safety rules. In higher-risk settings, AI use was accepted only when teachers retained decision authority and could justify the result. For that reason, this paper treats AI-enabled teaching efficiency as a situated professional judgement rather than as a direct measure of productivity.
The aim of this study was to compare the content structures related to environmental topics in primary and middle school science textbooks in Türkiye and Iran. A total of six textbooks from Türkiye and nine from Iran were analyzed as data sources. Conducted using document analysis, a qualitative research method the study revealed significant differences in how environmental topics are addressed in the textbooks of the two countries. It was found that the richness of content regarding environmental issues varies significantly between primary and middle school levels in both Turkish and Iranian textbooks. It was determined that science textbooks for primary and middle school in Türkiye offer much richer content compared to their Iranian counterparts in terms of data usage, content depth, scientific and technological perspectives, and the development of environmental awareness. Differences emerged between the two countries’ curriculum approaches regarding the effectiveness of environmental education. It was observed that science textbooks in Türkiye support a sustainability-based approach to environmental education to a greater extent than those in Iran. Although textbooks in both countries address many environmental topics, shortcomings were identified. A common shortcoming in both countries is the insufficient integration of the cultural context into environmental education. In this context, it is clear that environmental issues in the textbooks of both countries need to be addressed more comprehensively and evaluated from a global perspective. Furthermore, taking educational levels into account, the content should be structured in a more balanced and inclusive manner that reflects current conditions.
Diligence is a value that encompasses consistent and meticulous effort toward achieving a set goal, effective time management, openness to lifelong learning, acting with a sense of responsibility, maintaining self-confidence and self-regulation, and the integration of these traits into daily life; it is influenced by achievement, biological potential, and the desire for recognition. This study aims to describe the views of primary school students regarding the value of diligence. The study employed an embedded single case study design, a qualitative research method, in which the value of diligence was examined through the analytical units of city, district, and village. Data were collected from 249 primary school students in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades through a semi-structured interview form, which included both written expressions and drawings. The data were analyzed using content analysis methods, including frequency analysis, categorical analysis, and contingency (relational) analysis. According to the research findings, the students’ descriptions of the value of diligence were evaluated under the categories of school life, achievement, determination, socialization, time management, personal development, biological potential, external influence, internal influence, health, studying, and peer bullying. It may be recommended that these categories be taken into consideration in the education of the value of diligence.
Academic buoyancy enables teachers to manage academic challenges associated with professional life. Despite increasing interest, little is known about what sustains academic buoyancy among English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teachers pursuing further education. Drawing upon Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resources Theory, this qualitative multiple-case study traces how Vietnamese teachers manage their unique resources to remain academically buoyant in graduate education. Five teachers enrolled in Master’s programs in Teaching English as a Foreign Language participated in two rounds of in-depth semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. The findings indicated that academic buoyancy is sustained by four resource domains. Personal resources (future-oriented aspirations, self-regulation, and personal teaching experiences) provide a foundation for enduring academic pressures. Psychological resources (optimism, perseverance, and self-efficacy) enable participants to embrace their day-to-day challenges as opportunities for personal growth. Institutional resources (administrative flexibility and alignment between graduate coursework and teaching responsibilities) reduce workload-based strain. Socio-cultural resources (Confucian values, professional prestige, and familial support) further reinforce participants’ persistence and intrinsic motivation. The study extends the theory by shedding light on how various resource domains sustain academic buoyancy among language teachers partaking in their continuing professional learning. Pedagogical implications are offered for various stakeholders seeking to aid teachers’ development as lifelong learners.
English education in China' s ethnic minority regions faces unique hurdles under the "Sanyu Jiantong" trilingual policy, yet the micro-level dynamics of how social support systems function in these contexts remain underexplored. Integrating Bronfenbrenner' s Bioecological Model with Bourdieu' s Theory of Capital, this qualitative single-case study investigates the support network of Grade 9 students in Mabian Yi Autonomous County. Leveraging the researcher' s "emic" perspective, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with students, parents, and a teacher, alongside extensive classroom and field observations. Our analysis reveals a stark "support imbalance" rooted in socio-economic disparities. Specifically, a dual deficit in familial cultural and economic capital results in a "structural absence" of informational and instrumental support at home. This leaves students in a state of "monopolar dependency", relying almost exclusively on their English teacher for guidance. However, this overburdened teacher, trapped in a structural double bind, adopts pragmatic strategies of "academic triage", leading to a "tacit agreement" of disengagement with struggling students. We conclude that the underperformance in English education in these regions is a complex socio-ecological dysfunction, not merely a pedagogical issue. The study argues that the current model, which asks the teacher to stand as a "lone pillar", is unsustainable. Future interventions must move beyond simple fixes to rebuild the entire support ecosystem, potentially repositioning schools as digital facilitators to bridge the capital gap and empower the marginalized learner.
Career path selection among medical students represents a critical challenge in contemporary medical education, yet mechanisms linking environmental perceptions to career decisions remain theoretically underspecified. This study addresses the research question: How do value conflicts embedded in medical students' work environment quality perceptions influence their career development path selection through meaning construction processes? Adopting integrated phenomenological and symbolic interactionist theoretical frameworks, we conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 15 Chinese medical students (junior to second-year graduate levels, from three teaching hospitals across urban and rural regions) and 120-hour participant observation in clinical settings. Data were analyzed using phenomenological three-layer explication (noematic-noetic-temporal analysis) combined with thematic coding and constant comparative method, achieving theoretical saturation. Findings reveal: (1) Medical students' environmental perceptions constitute active meaning-making in their lifeworld, characterized by ideal-reality gaps, multidimensional intentional attribution, and temporal-contextual constitution; (2) Value conflicts emerge as social processes through symbolic interactions with mentors, patients, peers, and families, generating five coping strategies—compromise, persistence, integration, postponement, escape; (3) Career selection unfolds through five spiral-recursive stages—initial perception, reflective questioning, meaning negotiation, value integration, decision-action—with critical turning points catalyzing transitions; (4) Five career trajectories crystallize: clinical persistence, non-clinical shift, compromised adjustment, delayed decision, innovative integration, each following distinct meaning construction logic. This research contributes a mid-range theory explaining career choice as situated meaning synthesis, provides a methodological template for phenomenological-interactionist integration, and offers evidence-based recommendations for medical education reform prioritizing students' lifeworld experiences and symbolic interaction optimization.
This study adopts an educational phenomenological perspective. It explores the emotional intelligence experiences of 12 secondary school teachers in conflict management through semi-structured in-depth interviews. The research examines how these experiences interact with management styles. The findings reveal five core dimensions of teacher emotional intelligence experiences. First, bodily awareness forms the embodied foundation of emotional intelligence. Teachers identify emotions through physiological signals such as "tightness in the chest" and "trembling hands." These signals activate regulation mechanisms. Second, the relational self is dynamically constructed during conflicts. Teachers negotiate among multiple identities including "authority figure-caregiver" and "evaluator-supporter." This positioning directly influences the choice of management styles. Third, situational sensitivity serves as the core of practical wisdom. Teachers integrate five-dimensional cues from interpersonal dynamics, events, culture, time, and space. They make "here-and-now" judgments based on these cues. Fourth, emotional regulation ability develops through four stages: suppression, disguise, integration, and naturalization. Reflective practice drives stage transitions and reduces emotional exhaustion. Fifth, the meaning-making framework evolves from "conflict as threat" to "conflict as opportunity." This evolution marks a qualitative transformation in professional maturity. The study reveals that the interaction between emotional intelligence experiences and conflict management styles is not a linear causal relationship. Instead, it forms a cyclical interactive process. This process operates through mediating mechanisms such as identity negotiation, situational judgment, and meaning construction. The research provides theoretical insights grounded in lived experiences for teacher education. It calls for moving beyond the instrumental rationality of skills training. The study emphasizes the central role of reflective practice and professional identity reconstruction in teacher emotional intelligence development.
The present study addressed the efficacy of a translanguaging pedagogy with regard to the English language learners' proficiency and perception in four domains, namely, reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Test-retest difference scores indicated statistically significant improvements in each area, and mean scores changed from 11.69–12.18 to 14.67–15.31 with high t-statistics (20.38–30.9). Qualitative analysis showed four main themes (Cognitive-lists of 50 codes, Interactive-lists of 48 codes, Constructive-lists of 45 codes, Affective-lists of 42 codes), which means that students used L1 strategically to facilitate comprehension, actively took part in cooperative activities, constructed meaning across languages, and felt more confident. These results were supported by the data collected in the surveys: learners gave high ratings to multilingual group work on all the restored variables (understanding M = 4.6, confidence M = 4.4, enjoyment of multilingual group work M = 4.7), and their willingness to recommend the method was 4.5 on average. The consistent positive development in quantitative and qualitative measures would suggest that translanguaging promotes linguistic development, cognitive engagement, social interaction, and affective well-being. Results confirm that using students' first languages in classroom instruction is effective as an equity practice in multilingual classrooms. The research provides empirical data for the translanguaging pedagogical approach as part of skill acquisition and learner agency, with implications for the curriculum design and teacher education in different educational contexts.
Understanding the attitudes of healthcare professionals and students is crucial for enhancing the quality and accessibility of services provided to individuals with special needs (IWSN). Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) professionals play a central role in the multidisciplinary support of these individuals, making it essential to explore the perspectives of future practitioners. This study investigates the attitudes of graduate SLT students toward IWSN, with the goal of informing educational practices and contributing to professional development. A qualitative research design was adopted, involving semi-structured interviews with 8 graduate-level SLT students enrolled in master’s and doctoral programs. Thematic analysis was conducted using MAXQDA software to identify patterns and insights within the data. The findings revealed that participants generally held positive attitudes toward IWSN, regardless of their level of study. Four overarching themes emerged from the analysis: (a) family relations, (b) academic, social, and public issues, (c) emotional responses of graduate students, and (d) perceived professional needs. Although some students initially expressed hesitation, they reported a shift in attitudes over time, attributing this change largely to experiential learning opportunities. The study highlights the importance of integrating real-life experiences into SLT training programs and promoting broader awareness among students, families, and the wider community to enhance support for IWSN.
This small-scale research explores the most challenging aspects of the Academic English Writing course experienced by undergraduate students of the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) program within an English-Medium Instruction (EMI) university in Kazakhstan. The study aims to identify the students' difficulties in academic writing and describe key factors contributing to them as well as to develop evidence-based recommendations for improving course design and delivery. Data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire, which combined multiple-choice and open-ended items addressing students' perceived challenges and underlying causes related to writing structure, coherence, argumentation, and source integration. In addition, the academic writing instructors were interviewed to elicit information on the strategies they used to develop the students' academic literacy. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS, version 20, while qualitative responses were examined thematically to capture teachers' perspectives and suggestions for course enhancement. The findings reveal recurrent challenges in critical thinking, academic vocabulary use, and adherence to academic conventions—issues that are often intensified by the EMI context and limited prior exposure to academic discourse in English. Teachers similarly emphasize the need for earlier and extended writing instruction, integration of practical assignments, and adaptive pedagogical approaches to meet EMI students' academic and professional needs. Based on the results, practical recommendations are proposed for writing instructors, curriculum developers, and program coordinators to strengthen academic writing support within EMI-based teacher education programs.
In recent years, teaching has shifted from focusing only on academic skills to also paying attention to students’ emotions. This approach, known as emotion-aware teaching, aims to improve students’ engagement, confidence, and communication by understanding and responding to their feelings in class. Although many studies have investigated this topic, there are still gaps. These include inconsistent ways of measuring emotions, mixed opinions on how technology affects student motivation, and limited comparisons across different classroom settings. This review examines how emotion recognition supports language learning and how other factors such as multimodal data, perception-based assessments, and personalised feedback can influence students’ engagement. The findings come from various experiments and studies that explore how students feel during lessons. A key contribution of this review is the idea of integrating emotion-aware frameworks into the classroom. This means connecting students’ thinking abilities with their emotional needs so they can become both academically strong and emotionally intelligent. The research uses methods such as experiments, surveys, language data analysis, and cross-case comparisons. The review shows that emotion-based teaching methods can boost student motivation, lower anxiety, and support independent learning. While the findings show clear improvements in student engagement and teacher adaptability, they are limited by short-term studies and new evaluation tools. Future research should look at long-term effects, cultural differences, and practical classroom challenges. In conclusion, emotion-aware teaching helps create a healthier and more supportive environment for language learning by valuing students as emotional individuals, not just learners.
This paper investigates the events of 1742–1743 between the British warship HMS Centurion and the maritime communities and governments of Xiangshan (Zhuhai Macau) based on a qualitative case study. The study incorporates the analysis of various primary archival materials such as British naval logs, Qing administrative records and Portuguese/Spanish correspondence, as the main data collection method as the primary data collection method. The purposive maximum variation sampling was used to select documents that represent different attitudes or perspectives, such as the naval, local government, and commercial perspectives, with the aim of not only covering all the aspects of the encounter but also having a broad spectrum of views. The analysis of grounded theory involves the use of open coding initially to determine the initial themes, and then the use of axial coding to determine the relationship between the initial themes. The results show how the interactions were molded through cultural misunderstandings, jurisdictional tensions, and communication barriers. Such categories of themes as the importance of local knowledge systems (fishermen and pilots), the influence of power asymmetries, and the importance of procedural and bureaucratic practices are noted. The paper brings out the pedagogical nature of archival records, showing how the records can be used to provide insights into intercultural learning and historical explanation. This work is relevant to our comprehension of the contact zones of the world and provides a pedagogical solution to the teaching of critical thinking, the ability to take perspectives, and historical literacy at the school level.
This qualitative study explores how mentor incentive mechanisms shape educational experiences and learning outcomes within residency training programs, adopting an interpretive paradigm to understand participants' lived experiences. Through in-depth interviews with 42 participants—24 clinical mentors and 18 residents—across provincial and municipal tertiary hospitals in nine provinces spanning eastern, central, and western China, we employed thematic analysis to uncover rich narratives about teaching practices and educational resource dynamics from dual perspectives.Five key themes emerged. First, incentive structures were dominated by material rewards, while recognition of teaching excellence and pedagogical development opportunities remained undervalued, with notable disparities favoring eastern regions. Second, educational resource accessibility emerged as a crucial bridge connecting incentive experiences to teaching effectiveness, suggesting mentors' motivation translates into quality instruction primarily through enhanced resource utilization rather than direct pathways. Third, different incentive forms fostered distinct educational processes: compensation stability enabled sustained mentor-learner relationships, professional development opportunities enriched teaching methodologies, while collegial recognition cultivated collaborative learning environments. Fourth, training outcomes revealed multidimensional learning trajectories, with technical competencies developing strongly while higher-order clinical reasoning and professional identity formation required deeper mentorship attention. Fifth, enhancing residency education demands constructing layered recognition systems responsive to diverse mentor needs, strengthening pedagogical resource infrastructure, and establishing continuous dialogue mechanisms between educators and learners. These findings illuminate how institutional recognition practices shape teaching commitment and learner development in professional education settings.
