This editorial introduces a Special Issue examining literacy support across eight diverse educational contexts spanning four continents. Drawing together research from Asia, North America, Oceania, and Europe, the papers showcase how teachers, educational systems and policies respond to learners who need the extra support that mainstream learners do not. These papers showcase the various challenges faced and a key idea is that of institutional trust. Trust in the teachers—to plug the persistent gap between policy intent and classroom enactment, and to transform their knowledge to adaptive expertise. This then requires systems to support their teachers in the hard/heart work of teaching.
Early childhood education (ECE) is a constantly evolving field with frequent policy changes such as the recent calls for multilingual approaches and digitalization. Digital multilingual literacy materials could help ECE teachers implement these policies and develop their practices. Shared reading is a well-established practice because it promotes language learning, and digital storytelling is engaging and supports vocabulary growth. Nevertheless, there is a shortage of suitable multilingual materials in both analogue and digital formats. Drawing on interviews and a survey, this study examines both analogue and digital storytelling activities of six preschool teachers in Luxembourg and the influence of digital materials on children’s participation. Findings show that all teachers offered multilingual literacy practices across analogue and digital modalities although the activities varied with their expertise and understanding of multilingualism. The translingual conversations, the digital recordings and the meaningful story content supported children’s participation and learning. Using multilingual digital materials was transformative for the less experienced teachers who came to understand the powerful effect of home languages on children’s participation, well-being and identity. These findings have implications for teacher education and policy-makers who prepare the ECE workforce and regulate access to multilingual approaches and digital resources in preschools.
The relationship between language and cognition is a long-standing debate that responds to a range of ideas on whether language translates into thought and to what extent. Cognitive science advances these debates along language and higher-level thinking, behavior, and development. These bring implications to bear on the practice of scaffolding as integrative concepts in language, cognition, and learning. Scaffolding in Learning Sciences refers to a structure designed and implemented to help learners advance knowledge and understanding. Using Knowledge Building (KB) scaffolds, the problematization of its conflation with epistemic agency entails taking a step back to understand the long-standing conundrum of this relationship. From the KB perspective, scaffolds are indicators of epistemic agency which students work towards knowledge creation and knowledge building. This study investigates the use of epistemic markers, a set of 6 KB scaffold support in an online discourse platform Knowledge Forum (KF). The analysis of 245 KF notes across two topics in a social studies class of 24 10-year-olds was conducted to investigate if epistemic markers facilitate the development of competencies in which students take on a fuller meaning of learning and how they understand the world. We analyzed students’ (i) proficiency of use and (ii) accuracy of use of the scaffold support in their KF notes. The results explain correlations between length of threads, accuracy and proficiency of use. We also found strong correlations between accuracy and proficiency at a higher level of complexity. We discuss the potential of this study to facilitate knowledge-telling to knowledge transformation pedagogy.
This qualitative case study examines how four award-winning teachers tailored their instruction in order to provide literacy support for their low-progress learners. Findings from the themes analysed and discussed in the study suggest that the teachers largely focussed on personalized strategies and a student-centred approach. They adapted lessons to address individual needs, employing targeted interventions and scaffolded activities to build foundational literacy skills. Focusing on student engagement and motivation, these teachers also created inclusive environments that foster confidence and encourage active participation. These findings underscore the importance of teacher expertise, creativity, and dedication in meeting the diverse needs of low-progress learners, illustrating how thoughtful and individualized instruction can enhance literacy outcomes in educational settings.
Although Canada performs well on international assessments such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), persistent literacy achievement gaps—often described as a “reading crisis”—remain, with a substantial proportion of K–12 students reading below grade level as reported by Deloitte (An economic overview of children’s literacy in Canada, 2020); OECD (PISA 2022 Results (I): The state of learning and equity in education, OECD Publishing, 2023a), OECD (PISA 2022 Results (II): Learning during – and from – disruption, OECD Publishing, 2023b). Multilingual learners (also referred to as English language learners) are disproportionately affected, highlighting the urgent need for more equitable literacy support. This mixed-methods study examines classroom practices for supporting multilingual learners’ literacy development in Canadian mainstream schools, as well as teachers’ pedagogical concerns and knowledge gaps. Survey data from 66 teachers, complemented by follow-up interviews with 16, indicate that teachers are strongly committed to supporting multilingual learners’ literacy, yet navigate structural and pedagogical challenges in daily practice. Teachers reported using scaffolded strategies to make academic literacy tasks more accessible, while technology use was limited and primarily deployed to extend access, clarify expectations, and scaffold participation. Findings also reveal substantial gaps in teachers’ preparation to support first-language development and systematically leverage students’ linguistic resources to advance second-language literacy, underscoring the need for coordinated, multi-level responses to enhance multilingual learners’ literacy outcomes.
This study explores Korean elementary school students’ and teachers’ perceptions of English spelling within an English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Drawing on survey data from 184 students (Grades 3–6) and four experienced teachers, as well as in-depth teacher interviews, the study examined the perceived importance of spelling, instructional and study practices, preferred methods, and expected teacher support. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative responses were thematically coded in NVivo. Findings revealed both shared recognition of spelling’s foundational role and notable mismatches: while students consistently valued spelling across grades, teachers reduced its emphasis in upper grades due to workload and curriculum demands. Students expressed a preference for explicit rule instruction, engaging activities, and individualized feedback, whereas teachers often integrated spelling into broader literacy tasks. The results underscore the need for sustained, developmentally responsive, and multimodal spelling instruction in EFL settings, supported by systemic measures to address structural constraints. Implications for teacher professional development, differentiated instruction, and future research directions are discussed.
Learning to write is a critical skill for students to be successful in secondary and tertiary study. The use of digital technologies to support and enhance writing is now pervasive throughout society. Access to digital resources has been argued as a feature of modern, flexible, innovative learning environments (ILEs). Such ILEs have been a noticeable aspect of new builds (and modifications of built schools) in New Zealand over the last 10–15 years; as well as other countries such as Australia, Italy, and Germany. The architectural design of ILE schools in New Zealand often incorporates large learning spaces that can accommodate anything between 50 and 180 students, with 2 to 6 teachers. Although such spaces are supposed to provide for more modern ways of teaching, concerns have been stated about the quality of teaching and learning in areas such as literacy, particularly due to the negative effect of distractions and noise levels in these ILEs. This article explores the perceptions of New Zealand school principals, middle management and teachers on implementing effective teaching of writing in traditional one-teacher classrooms versus ILEs with multiple teachers. An online questionnaire was distributed via national websites and society/group email addresses that are used by educators. Over 300 responses were made, with 295 of these answering questions related specifically to writing. The research found that there were different views between those who had been working in innovative learning environments for longer lengths of time compared to those in traditional classrooms. Strategies to facilitate improved outcomes in writing were varied across the schooling types. Implication for further research is to fill the ‘black hole’ of research that explores the teaching of writing across the two types of school building types.
In this paper, we explore how literacy support for children from marginalised communities is expressed at policy level, and how this translates to the classroom. Focusing specifically on children who have been labelled as either “EAL” (English as an Additional Language) or “SEND” (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities), we explore the impact of these labels as part of children’s positioning and identities within schools. In critically juxtapositioning policy and the extant research literature, supported by our own body of work, we identify commonalities and discrepancies in the ways in which children’s literacy support needs might be expressed and enacted within the realm of inclusive pedagogy that benefits all. As researchers, we adopt co-produced methods in our research, and in drawing together conceptual and methodological threads, we suggest that the power of the label itself will need to be considered alongside literacy support, to disrupt inequalities and produce asset-based approaches to literacy support across contexts in England and beyond.
This article examines how Taiwan’s educational system supports struggling readers through a comprehensive, three-tiered literacy support model that bridges policy and classroom practice. Over three decades, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has introduced a series of policy-driven initiatives to ensure all students achieve basic literacy competencies. Driven by a strong commitment to educational equity, these efforts have established a national policy framework and a multi-tiered support infrastructure spanning primary and lower secondary education (Grades 1–9). The national curriculum now integrates traditional literacy instruction with research-based reading strategies tailored to the unique challenges of Chinese orthography. A proactive emphasis on early identification and intervention within the three-tier support system provides an alternative to “wait-to-fail” remedial models. However, implementation challenges persist, including teacher shortages, excessive teacher workload, and limited literacy instruction training in teacher preparation, with the issue especially acute in remote regions, thereby potentially leading to a “the poor get poorer” patter, exacerbating disparities in reading outcomes. In response, educators and researchers have developed scalable solutions to strengthen service delivery—most notably through a research-informed remedial curriculum packaged with detailed lesson materials and teacher training. Quasi-experimental studies of this program, have demonstrated significant improvements in struggling students’ reading skills. By reducing teacher workload and providing ready-to-use resources, such supports enable evidence-based practices to be more easily adopted in classrooms. In sum, Taiwan’s experience provides insights into how policy, curriculum, and research can converge to address literacy challenges in complex sociocultural contexts.
The development of reading literacy in the contemporary context, characterised by the predominance of digital technology, poses a significant pedagogical challenge. In the Slovenian higher education system, future preschool and primary school teachers are educated at the Faculty of Education, which enables developmental continuity in pedagogical approaches from kindergarten to primary school. This article reports the findings of a study involving prospective preschool and primary school teachers who participated in projects designed to cultivate digital literacy to enhance teaching efficacy through the use of digital technology. The study employed a qualitative approach. In the first phase, students reflected on their individual trajectories of reading literacy development. In the second phase, participants considered the advantages and disadvantages of developing reading literacy through digital technology, drawing on their personal experiences of learning to read and of using digital tools in pedagogical contexts.
Previous studies have shown that self-esteem can vary in different cultures. In this study, self-esteem was examined among Jordanian students in relation to their parenting style and demographics. The study involved 429 students from a faculty at a public university in Jordan. Parenting styles were measured by "Parental Authority Questionnaire" instrument while the self-esteem was measured by "Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory". The data were analyzed by using the "Statistical Package for Social Science" version 22. All the data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, multiple regression, descriptive statistics, a one-way ANOVA and Independent samples T test. Results show that authoritative parenting style is the dominant parenting style used by the parents of university students. In addition, most university students have high level of self-esteem. Besides this, it is also found that there is a significant relationship between parenting style and self-esteem among university students. The study also found that there is a positive relationship between authoritative and permissive parenting style with self-esteem. On the other hand, the study found that the authoritarian parenting style has a negative relationship with students' self-esteem. Moreover, results found that students' self- esteem has differences due to gender in favor of males, GPA in favor of students with a high GPA, family income in favor of higher incomes, skin color in favor of white and brown, and weight in favor of underweight. Whereas, parents’ education level, parents’ marital status, students’ height, student’s birth order, number of years attending university, students’ residency, and death of one or both parents had no significant difference with students’ self-esteem.
The role of culture in utilizing and adopting information technology remains a subject of debate. This study aimed to contribute to the ongoing discussion by investigating cultural dimensions’ overall and unique effect on the technology acceptance model. Two hundred and thirty-six students of one of the Arab higher education institutions participated in the study. A Multiple Regression Model was utilized to analyze the collected data. Results revealed that the overall effect of the combined dimensions of culture on the technology acceptance model and each of ease of use and usefulness separately was relatively positive, modest, and significant, explaining approximately one-fourth of the variability of technology acceptance model and about one-fifth of the variability of each of ease of use and usefulness of digital learning. The results validate the proposed hypothesis in the literature that culture significantly affects students’ acceptance of technology in Arab higher education institutions.
Despite the compelling evidence produced over the years regarding its impact on students’ academic achievement, the concept of summer learning loss remains somewhat vague, as evidenced by the variety of terms and expressions used to describe this phenomenon (e.g. “summer learning setback”, “summer slide”, etc.). This paper provides a systematic review of the literature on summer learning loss, focusing on articles published in academic, peer-reviewed journals between 2014 and 2023. More specifically, a scoping review study was conducted. Definitions of summer learning loss were examined to gain insight into how the concept is understood. Exploring how summer learning loss is conceptualised has led to consideration of the theories or theoretical frameworks utilised to establish educational interventions. The characteristics of the research design have also been considered. A total of 28 studies were collected for the final panel. The results confirm that summer learning loss is generally considered a negative phenomenon impacting students’ learning progress. However, there appears to be a lack of a clear theoretical or conceptual framework for its conceptualisation. Quantitative research, instead, is the most used research approach. This scoping review highlights the need for educational policies and interventions to mitigate the negative impact of summer holidays on students’ learning outcomes.
Academic wellbeing is critical for middle years students because they are at high risk of low wellbeing and achievement. Despite this, few studies seek student perspectives about this educationally relevant dimension of student wellbeing. This scoping review’s content analysis identifies terms, links and themes related to student wellbeing elements (i.e. definitions, dimensions, skills), in Australian school system policies. Analysis found a common priority in research and policy is listening to student voice, to help educators understand students’ school experiences. Increasingly, Australian national and state/territory jurisdictions are linking student voice with local policy emphasis on different student wellbeing elements. While the academic wellbeing dimension is identified in student wellbeing international research, it is not yet identified in Australian student wellbeing policies. Analysis also found value in policy language reflecting local priorities and intended meanings, which contextualise student wellbeing. However, policy language also needs to directly identify and define student wellbeing elements, including the academic wellbeing dimension. This will help policymakers and educators implement relevant and meaningful student wellbeing support, as intended from policy. Findings also suggest future research could expand understanding about how student wellbeing can be linked to various school experiences, including learning, feedback and assessment.
Educational researchers and policymakers around the world have a strong interest in understanding the underlying reasons for the remarkable academic achievement of Chinese students in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Although teachers have a significant impact on student achievement, empirical evidence on teaching effectiveness in the Chinese education system has been scarce. This study uses the PISA 2012 Shanghai-China data and employs both multilevel models and quantile regression models to investigate effective teaching factors and their differential effects for students at different mathematics achievement levels. The results reveal the importance of cognitive activation and disciplinary climate as consistent, significant, positive predictors of secondary-school students' mathematics achievement in Shanghai, China. In addition, the positive relationships were more pronounced for low achievers. In contrast, student orientation and formative assessment demonstrate significant negative associations with mathematics achievement. Moreover, for student orientation, the negative association was larger for lower achievers whereas for formative assessment, the negative association was consistent except for very low or very high achievers.
This study examines Taipei’s Itinerant Teacher Program (ITP) and its potential as a solution for addressing the challenges of short-term substitute teacher stability and quality. Based on six policy evaluation criteria, this study interviewed nine policy’s implementers and itinerant teachers. The findings indicated that the ITP effectively stabilizes the supply of short-term substitute teachers and ensures a certain level of teaching quality, which is particularly beneficial for disadvantaged schools. The study also highlights both the program’s effectiveness and areas for improvement. Key challenges include the administrative burden, fairness in teacher evaluations (service feedback), and legal consistency between regular and itinerant teachers. Diverging stakeholder perspectives -administrative officials focusing on resources and teachers concerned with role stability and fairness-underscore the complexity of policy execution. Recommendations include piloting the ITP on a smaller scale, streamlining processes, improving handover mechanisms, and aligning itinerant teachers’ rights with those of regular teachers to attract high-quality candidates.
A systematic literature review was conducted to analyse academic publication writing group programmes designed for researchers. Databases were searched for published articles that had been independently assessed for methodological quality by three researchers. A total of 43 articles met the inclusion criteria and are summarized in this paper. An in-depth review of methodological approaches, group characteristics, as well as their results and conclusions was conducted. Despite a clear demand for this type of programme and the universities that have implemented them reporting different types of benefits, several methodological concerns should be considered.
The COVID-19 pandemic brough many changes in education, which rapidly introduced new online teaching pedagogies to institutions of higher education including one university in Eswatini. This study reports the experiences of adult educators about online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Communities of Practice theory served as the basis for discussing the findings. The study used qualitative phenomenological research design. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, six adult educators were purposively selected to respond to a semi-structured interview guide in a focused group discussion. The data were analysed thematically. The experiences of adult educators were characterized into four themes: anxiety over online teaching, lack of technological proficiency, difficulties of online teaching, and acceptance of online teaching. The findings revealed unequal access to communication technologies, affordability and unequal access to online teaching and learning in Eswatini. It was established that to improve adult learning, blended teaching approach that incorporates digital strategies in tandem with classroom practices is required. Adult educators reported the use of WhatsApp for sharing information and providing further support to students in Eswatini. It is recommended that the university needs to review its policies to upgrade ICT infrastructure, procure more resources and include trainings for adult educators on digital skills and online teaching pedagogies to prepare for more uncertainties such as COVID-19 crisis.
The study examined the extent to which person-environment fit was related to teachers’ internal and external accountability, exploring the possibility of school location (rural versus central schools) intervening in the relationship between person-environment fit and accountability. The quantitative research was based on a questionnaire delivered to 309 Israeli teachers, 134 elementary schools, 110 women, and 187 rural schools. The results support the hypothesis that the higher the degree of compatibility between a teacher’s values and those of the school, job, and colleagues, the higher the teacher’s sense of accountability. However, the relationship between fit and accountability was significant only in rural areas.
Studies of academic risk have highlighted the importance of the multiple factors that together contribute to completion in undergraduate university courses and, conversely, to attrition. Addressing the current under-theorization of academic risk as both multifactorial, and potentially multidimensional, this study combines ecological systems and social network theories to examine the potential of social ecology networks in providing novel methodologies for identification of academic risk. Employing a single case study approach, the study uses social ecology networks to examine a large archive of behavioral data related to a diverse demographic of 4,065 undergraduate students at an Australian regional university. The study offers new conceptual insights into the potential of social ecology networks to provide a student-centered and place-based identification of factors relevant to studies of undergraduate education, circumventing issues of system generalization. The findings provide a new method of examining the duality of risk and opportunity and the relationship of this duality to engagement as well as opening a door to further investigation that may determine how social ecology networks can be used to promote engagement and mitigate the risk of attrition.
