This study comparatively examined mothers’ observations of children aged 4–6 years with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability (ID), and typical development (TD) during everyday instruction-following and routine-completion tasks considered to involve working-memory demands, together with the support strategies mothers used in these situations. A basic qualitative research design was employed. Participants were 90 mothers recruited through criterion sampling in Gaziantep, Türkiye, with 30 mothers in each developmental group. Data were collected using a Personal Information Form and a seven-question semi-structured interview form and analyzed through hybrid deductive–inductive content analysis. Frequencies and percentages were used only as descriptive indicators of code prominence within the sample. Five themes were identified: remembering and completing instructions, support strategies used by mothers during tasks involving working-memory demands, mothers’ forms of intervention in cases of forgetting, factors affecting independence and remembering in daily life, and difficulties experienced by mothers and their effects on social life. In mothers’ accounts, task segmentation, repetition, and concretization were more prominent in the ID group; visual supports, explicit language, routines, transitions, and environmental arrangements were more prominent in the ASD group; and wait time, reminder questions, and self-monitoring support were more prominent in the TD group. These patterns were descriptive rather than diagnostic-group effects. The findings suggest that family education and early childhood educational practices may benefit from individualized scaffolding that reduces task demands while considering children’s communication, attention, sensory, adaptive, and learning characteristics.
Senior High School (SHS) education is central to human capital development and national competitiveness in developing contexts such as Ghana. The introduction of the Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy in 2017 significantly expanded access and equity in secondary education by removing financial barriers to participation. However, persistent concerns regarding implementation capacity, educational quality, financing adequacy, and long-term sustainability reveal critical policy gaps. This study adopts a qualitative conceptual approach, drawing on an integrative literature review and thematic analysis of scholarly and policy literature to examine the sustainability challenges of the FSHS policy. The analysis is informed by Kingdon's Multiple Streams Framework, Human Capital Theory, and the Education for Sustainable Development perspective. Five interrelated themes emerged: expansion of access and equity; policy formulation, political commitment, and institutional preparedness; tensions between policy intentions and implementation realities; structural and operational constraints undermining quality; and policy evaluation gaps and sustainability concerns. The study proposes a Sustainable Cost-Sharing Model (SCSM) based on differentiated contributions aligned with ability to pay. The model reframes secondary education financing as a shared responsibility among the state, households, and institutions, offering a conceptual pathway for sustaining access, strengthening educational quality, improving system resilience, and enhancing long-term policy sustainability.
To explore why women remain underrepresented in the technological sector despite longitudinal initiatives toward gender equality, this qualitative study examines perspectives from 15 female faculty members across eight countries. Participants are women who have navigated this landscape twice: first as technology students, and now as faculty who observe, teach, and influence the next generation. Through grounded theory analysis, the study captured both changes in attitudes towards technology careers across different life stages and the role of faculty in promoting inclusive change. The dual perspective and cross-cultural analysis from Finland, Jordan, Malaysia, India, Kenya, Spain, Namibia, and the Netherlands revealed unique insights contributing to existing gender-inclusivity discussions. The findings align with Social Cognitive Career Theory but extend it: career decision-making is seen as a continuous, experience-based process throughout life, not just a threshold event in adolescence. To ensure that female experiences foster positive attitudes toward technology, universities need to take systemic actions to create a comfortable learning environment. These actions should start with providing faculty training on inclusivity, as interviews revealed low faculty awareness of classroom-level practices. The multicultural perspective also showed that while gender perceptions varied across regions, they differed from field to field. This led to the conclusion that it is not industries that are gendered, but rather the image of them, which suggests promoting technology from a new, inclusive angle, especially in countries with high structural equality, where interviewees appeared less tolerant of potentially hostile environments and tended to avoid them.
Undergraduate technical education is expected to develop skilled professionals, yet the guidance through which students learn technical standards remains underexamined. This interview-based qualitative case study examines how six teachers and six high-achieving students in one Chinese undergraduate technical institution describe and interpret technical mentorship. Symbolic interactionism informed the analysis, but Mead's "I" and "me" were used only as sensitizing concepts, not as labels for teachers and students. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed through constructivist coding procedures with inductive, abductive, and theory-informed steps. The study reports patterns in participants' narratives; it does not claim to document interaction sequences. Teachers described making written standards concrete, adjusting guidance to learners' difficulties, and using practice to test understanding. Students described interpreting abstract requirements, assessing what counted as acceptable work, planning their development, and revising their understanding when practice did not match expectations. Three interpretive processes recurred in the accounts: constructing a personal understanding, negotiating standards with autonomy, and connecting external requirements to personal goals. These processes were not uniform. Anxiety about misunderstanding, a preference for direct instruction, and mismatches between classroom preparation and equipment use complicated the more orderly accounts. The analysis offers a context-specific interpretation of how technical mentorship was narrated in one institution and identifies theoretical propositions for future research. It does not establish causal mechanisms, long-term career effects, or transferability to other settings.
This study addresses the persistent challenge faced by university students in maintaining motivation and achieving proficiency in complex Workplace English, a context where traditional instruction often falls short. We examined whether incorporating interactive video lessons could offer a more engaging learning experience. A mixed-methods research design was implemented over one academic semester with a cohort of junior students enrolled in a compulsory English course. The intervention utilized the iSLCollective platform to customize video content by embedding interactive questions and tasks into existing lessons from an established English language teaching resource. Data were gathered through pre- and post-intervention English proficiency assessments, complemented by motivational surveys measuring goal orientation, task value, control beliefs, and self-efficacy. Quantitative analyses revealed notable positive trends and statistically significant gains in both student motivation and academic achievement. Participants reported increased drive to learn, alongside greater confidence in mastering the material. Qualitative feedback further highlighted that interactive questions, immediate feedback, and gamified elements were favorably received by students. These findings suggest that interactive multimedia tools can serve as a promising auxiliary approach to enhance learner engagement and support second language acquisition. Future research incorporating control groups should explore the long-term impact of this approach across broader educational settings.
