The long-standing dichotomy between hedonic and eudaimonic traditions in well-being research has been increasingly challenged, with scholars arguing that these dimensions are not mutually exclusive but deeply interrelated. This debate is particularly relevant for emerging adults, a developmental stage characterized by significant life transitions and identity formation. This study applies a psychological network approach to examine the multidimensional structure and interplay of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being among 1,549 emerging adults in Kazakhstan. Exploratory graphical analyses revealed a well-being network composed of five distinct but interrelated dimensions (i.e., positive mental health, life satisfaction, meaning in life, positive affect, and negative affect), with cross-community links demonstrating the complementarity of hedonic and eudaimonic traditions. Centrality analysis indicated that eudaimonic dimensions, particularly meaning in life and purpose, were the most central to the well-being network of emerging adults, while hedonic life satisfaction also played an important role. In contrast, positive and negative affect were less influential within the network. Network stability analysis confirmed the robustness of these findings. Implications include recommendations for conceptualizing and measuring well-being to capture the interconnected and fluid nature of well-being beyond rigid hedonic and eudaimonic distinctions and the development of targeted interventions fostering well-being in emerging adulthood.

This quantitative study aims to explore the role of higher education institutions in promoting sustainable behaviors among university students in Kazakhstan. A total of 817 responses were collected from six universities through a trilingual (Kazakh, Russian, and English) survey assessing students' knowledge, attitudes, values, and skills related to sustainability. Sustainable behavior was operationalized as the total count of 14 binary actions, representing students' engagement across environmental, economic, and social domains. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that skills developed at university were associated with a 0.19 increase in sustainable behavior, 95% CI [.12, .27], after controlling for their background characteristics (i.e., major, gender, geographic location, and economic status), their knowledge about sustainability, and their attitudes toward sustainable development. A latent profile analysis identified four distinct profiles of university students' perceptions of sustainable development based on their knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors related to sustainability. The study suggests that while attitudes toward sustainability are generally positive among students, universities play a vital role in transforming these attitudes into behaviors through skill-building and practical engagement. Tailored strategies that account for demographic differences and distinct student profiles can further enhance the effectiveness of sustainability education in higher education institutions.

This collaborative ethnographic study explores the dynamics of conducting research with young children focusing on data collection at kindergartens, where working with vulnerable populations requires distinct ethical and methodological adaptations. It addresses the adjustments necessary to maintain research integrity while adapting to practical obstacles and cultural contexts. Drawing on insights from a study examining young children’s positive experiences and well-being in Kazakhstan, the article presents data gathered from (1) individual reflections, (2) collaborative face-to-face reflection session, (3) autoethnographic individual journal entries capturing co-author-coparticipants’ emotions and feelings related to data collection, and (4) informal WhatsApp discussions among researchers after data collection sessions. Adopting Gibbs’ (1988) reflective writing model, this study captures the research team’s evolving process, the challenges they confronted, and the lessons they learned. Our main focus is on synthesizing our experiences to offer valuable insights and practical guidance to researchers entering similar contexts where empirical research involving human participants, particularly young children, is relatively new and emerging. The study examines how the researchers describe their experiences in early childhood educational settings and emphasizes the importance of culturally sensitive approaches to enhance data collection and ethics practices. These insights contribute to early childhood research and offer broader guidance for culturally responsive research practices involving human participants in similar emerging contexts.

Research on child well-being, happiness, and flourishing has expanded significantly in recent decades, with positive psychological interventions (PPIs) emerging as key approaches to fostering these outcomes. Despite increasing interest in PPIs and their potential benefits in improving child mental health and well-being outcomes, their effectiveness remains uncertain, particularly for young children. The proposed systematic literature review outlined in this protocol aims to fill this gap by investigating the effects of PPIs on the mental health and well-being of young children aged 0–7 years. This systematic literature review protocol has been preregistered in PROSPERO (CRD42024518222) and has been developed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P). Study selection will be guided by the PICOS framework, including only English-language publications without a restriction on publication year. Searches will be conducted across Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, PubMed, ERIC, and ProQuest. Additional studies will be identified through manual reference checks of relevant review studies and AI-powered literature discovery tools. Data synthesis will use a narrative approach, structured around participants and intervention characteristics, comparison groups, outcome measures, and study design. The risk of bias will be assessed using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) tool. This study outlines a structured and reproducible review protocol, ensuring rigorous search methods and consistent criteria for selecting and coding studies. The review will aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of PPIs and inform their implementation to support the mental health and well-being outcomes in young children in educational and related contexts.

Entrance to university is marked by significant changes and challenges that can impact mental health and well-being. This study investigated the determinants of psychological distress, coping strategies used, and the availability of support systems among university students in a non-Western country through the lenses of self-determination theory. The thematic analysis of 16 in-depth interviews revealed several academic, socio-demographic, and situational factors crucial in facilitating or impeding university students' sense of self-determination and, consequently, their psychological distress. The study uncovered students' relative preference for avoidance coping mechanisms, the limited presence of perceived formal support systems in higher education institutions, and a clear reliance of students on informal sources of support to buffer the effects of distress. Moreover, it was evident that students perceived their higher education settings as leaning toward being controlling rather than autonomy-supportive. Implications for promoting well-being among university students are discussed.

ObjectiveThis study examines the attributes and citation history of classic publications in educational psychology using bibliometric indicators.MethodsBibliographic data were collected from the 60 journals in the Web of Science (WoS) category of educational psychology from 1900 to 2023. Classic articles were defined as having >= 1,000 citations from their publication date to 2023 in the WoS Core Collection.ResultsOne hundred forty-one classic documents in the WoS category of educational psychology were identified. The 1990s and 2000s were the most prolific decades in terms of classic articles in the discipline, although the highest cumulative citation count occurred in the 1930s. All classic articles were published in 17 different journals. The United States leads the production of classic publications, although they also emerge in European, Asian, and Oceanian countries. Many classic publications demonstrate steady and continuous citation growths over time, but five alternative citation life cycles emerged. Ten recurrent themes addressed in classic publications were identified: psychometrics, memory, socio-emotional development, motivation, rigour in qualitative research, (ethnic) identity, reading comprehension, cognitive load, parenting styles, and child development.ConclusionIdentifying classic articles can provide useful insights into trends in the development of educational psychology research.

The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has transformed international research and policy debates on the assessment of adult skills. Although research using PIAAC data is accumulating, little is known about how these data are used and what they contribute to developing the various disciplines interested in adult skills. In this study, a data-driven approach was used to examine PIAAC-based international research to date. Drawing on a comprehensive analysis of 880 publications, the review found that the field of PIAAC research is young and geographically diverse, with dominant contributions from the United States and Germany. While PIAAC research relies on a broad pool of researchers with high collaboration rates, only a quarter of publications involve international collaboration. The analyses also revealed that the development of the field is based on four interrelated disciplines (education, sociology, psychology and economics) and three differentiated historical paths: theoretical and methodological approaches to the measurement of adult skills, cognitive skills and problem solving in technology-rich environments at the workplace, and the role of adult literacy skills for societal and economic development. Moreover, the PIAAC literature addresses a broad range of topics, including cognitive, non-cognitive and basic skills (e.g. literacy and numeracy), human capital, occupational mismatch, migration, “returns to skills”, informal learning and large-scale assessment methodologies. Implications for further development of PIAAC research for users of PIAAC data, data-providing institutions and policymakers are discussed.

This quantitative study, conducted in a rapidly developing post-Soviet country with a strong emphasis on the education of gifted students and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, adds to the body of knowledge on gifted students’ adjustment to postsecondary education and research on the development of giftedness in STEM tertiary education. Using Baker Siryk’s multidimensional model of students’ adjustment as a guiding framework, the study surveyed students who graduated from top-tier STEM-focused schools for academically gifted students and are now in their first year of university to determine their adjustment levels and profiles. The results revealed that participants reported a positive transition to university life overall. Latent profile analysis identified three distinct adjustment profiles: (1) integrated, with average to high adjustment scores in all dimensions; (2) social, with high institutional and social adjustment but low academic adjustment; and (3) disengaged, with low institutional and social adjustment. Multinomial regression revealed that students with higher parental education, residing off campus, higher International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scores at entry, and lower university GPA were more likely to belong to profiles with lower adjustment to university. These findings are discussed, and implications for supportive institutional characteristics that catalyze gifted students’ success in the context of STEM tertiary education are provided.

A substantial body of research has focused on the outbound flow of international students to European, American, and Australasian countries. While the internationalisation of higher education in Asia has received significant attention, research on international students' experiences in Central Asia remains limited. This mixed-methods study investigated Indian medical students' motivations for pursuing degrees in Kazakhstan and their associated language practices. A convergent design was employed, collecting data from 158 survey respondents and 10 semi-structured interview participants. The findings indicate that students are primarily motivated by career development, financial accessibility, and the opportunity for cultural exploration, with a particular emphasis on the safety offered by Kazakhstan. These motivations strongly influence their language practices, as students show a greater interest in learning Russian, which is more commonly used in academic and social settings, compared to Kazakh. While English remains the primary medium of instruction, students demonstrate adaptability to the local linguistic environment. The study contributes to the understanding of student mobility to Central Asia, highlighting the role of both push and pull factors in shaping international students' decisions, as well as the significant impact of these motivations on their language practices in the host country.

It is widely believed that stress can affect teachers’ intention to change the workplace. This study investigates the implementation of educational policies and reforms as one of the key determinants of teachers’ intention to leave schools in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan presents a unique case since the country endorsed several educational policies in recent years which directly impacted teaching and administrative practices within schools. Using the Teaching and Learning International Survey 2018 (TALIS) data with the country-specific questionnaire from a complex sample of 6566 teachers nested within 331 schools, this study constructs a statistical measure of external stress caused by the implementation of educational policies and test its impact on teachers’ intention to leave through a Bayesian multilevel logistic regression model. In addition, the analysis controls for sociodemographic, professional, and students related covariates, while considering the intrinsic dimension of stress stemming from workload, student behavior and expectation. Overall, the results suggest that stress caused by educational policies has a statistically significant positive effect on teachers’ intentions to transfer between schools, beyond and above teacher and student variables and intrinsic sources of stress. The results are discussed, and implications for researchers and policy makers to develop evidence-based policy interventions aimed at increasing teacher retention in contexts with intensive educational reforms are presented.

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) environments play a crucial role in fostering young children’s well-being, yet limited research has explored well-being from children’s perspectives, especially in countries outside of WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) contexts. This study aims to fill this gap by capturing the experiences of 316 children (ages 4–7 years) from public and private kindergartens in Kazakhstan using the Draw, Write, and Tell (DWT) technique. Thematic analysis, guided by the PERMA-H framework, identified key dimensions shaping children’s well-being, including Positive Emotions (e.g., nature, play, toys), Engagement (e.g., imaginative play, artistic activities, learning), and Relationships (e.g., peers, teachers, family). While Meaning, Accomplishment, and Health were mentioned less frequently, they provided insight into how children derive well-being from celebrations, achievements, and physical activities. The findings suggest that the PERMA-H model usefully translates the broad concept of well-being into tangible and educationally meaningful dimensions. However, it does not fully align with young children’s lived realities that favour the “here-and-now” as well as the joyful, engaging, and socially supportive experiences as central to their well-being. The study contributes to the global discourse on early childhood well-being by amplifying young children’s voices from a non-WEIRD context. We present contextually grounded insights for educators and policymakers to enhance children’s positive experiences and holistic development in early learning settings.

Introduction: The study of emotional intelligence (EI) has garnered significant attention due to its relevance to diverse age- and population-groups, and persons of various social and academic backgrounds. The capacity for an individual to effectively understand and manage one's own emotions and understand and manage the emotions of others has been identified as important life skill and antecedent to personal, social, and professional success. While the dimensionality of EI has been explored extensively in Western contexts, there is a relative dearth of research in post- Soviet and Central Asian contexts. Methodology: Building upon the EI instrumentation developed in Russia by Lyusin and a large sample of adolescents (N = 658) from 12 schools, we find very little differences in average levels of EI in the schools sampled. Thereafter, using first-order confirmatory factor analysis, this study finds evidence for a Four-Factor Model of EI inclusive of Understanding and Managing One's Own Emotions, and Understanding and Managing Others' Emotions. Results: The model exhibits adequate model fit, discriminant validity, inter-factor correlations similar to those in other studies, and is strongly invariant for gender (though partially invariant for language). We also find evidence for female adolescents exhibiting slightly higher levels of Understanding Other's Emotions, and lower levels of Managing Own Emotions. Conclusions: The four-factor model may be a useful tool for gauging the EI of adolescents, though further research as to its utility in other post-Soviet, Central Asian, and other contexts is required.

The quality of early childhood education and care is paramount in shaping the foundation for children's lifelong learning and development. Quality assessment tools, such as the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS), are crucial in evaluating and enhancing quality in early childhood environments. Despite their widespread use, a comprehensive review of ECERS applications and validations is lacking. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines, this review investigates 154 studies on the application and validation of the ECERS and its versions over the past two decades. Research Findings: The results suggest that the ECERS has been primarily used in five different ways, including as a measure of young children's academic and non-academic outcomes, a quality assessment tool in ECEC settings, an intervention assessment tool, a complementary tool alongside other methods (e.g. self-report), and to study cultural nuances of early childhood settings. The review emphasizes the need for a more holistic exploration of the psychological well-being aspect of early childhood environments and advocates for culturally sensitive adaptations and contextual considerations in ECERS applications. Practice or Policy: The findings highlight the importance of combining multiple assessment tools for a comprehensive evaluation of early childhood settings and call for standardized approaches in ECERS validation studies to enhance comparability and reliability.

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In this comprehensive review, we analyzed nearly 10,000 publications indexed in the Scopus database over the past seven decades using bibliometric analysis and science mapping visualization techniques to delineate the scholarly discourse on International Student Mobilities (ISM) in higher education and uncover significant trends. The findings reveal that the field has a long history with remarkable growth since 2005. English-speaking nations dominate knowledge production, but European and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries have also made noteworthy contributions. Co-citation analyses highlight the interdisciplinary nature of ISM research, drawing from diverse disciplines across psychology, social sciences, and the humanities. Eight prominent thematic strands underpin the foundations of ISM research, with a strong emphasis on exploring international students' social, emotional, and cultural adaptation within university settings. Implications drawn from these trends provide a nuanced perspective for navigating the terrain of ISM in higher education, offering guidance for future research and policy considerations.

Research is critical in tackling the sustainable development goals (SDGs) particularly in the knowledge economy context, offering evidence-based solutions, monitoring advancements, and pinpointing hurdles. While scholars globally have extensively studied the SDGs, there is a notable gap in understanding SDG-related research in non-Global North contexts. This paper addresses this gap by examining the trajectory and current landscape of scholarly research addressing the SDGs in Kazakhstan. A total of 7092 Scopus-indexed Kazakhstani publications relevant to the SDGs from 2015 to 2023 were identified using a machine learning–based automated detection method to investigate the evolving trajectory of SDG-related publications over time and the predominant SDGs garnering the most research interest, to analyze the characteristics of knowledge production related to sustainable development, and the interconnectedness between SDGs in published works. While Kazakhstan’s engagement with SDGs reflects its commitment to the knowledge economy, especially in sustainable development research, the results show that the relative growth of SDG-related publications in Kazakhstan has declined by 10

This chapter gives an overview of the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion in the context of Kazakhstan. It gives an exposition of developments regarding the process of implementing inclusive education in Kazakhstan. A historical policy context is mapped out. The chapter uses Ainscow’s lever of change approach to highlight how inclusion has evolved in aspects of conceptualisation, curriculum, policy development, teacher practices, beliefs and attitudes, schools, leadership, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and communities. One of the lessons drawn from the review is that despite efforts and plans to make the system more equitable and inclusive, the conditions for inclusive education have not been met. There is a need to revise policies regarding student placement and practices in teaching and learning. While curriculum reforms were implemented, less effort seems to have been invested in preparation of pre-service teachers. The fact students with disabilities and special needs are integrated into the mainstream means more training for school leaders on managing inclusive schools is needed.

This study explores teachers' perceptions, strategies, and experiences integrating adaptive learning (AL) in gifted education. The results revealed that teachers regard AL as a valuable technology-driven approach to enhance quality teaching and student outcomes for all students, not just gifted learners. Teachers employ multiple strategies to implement AL and cite multiple benefits, including personalization of instruction, promoting independent learning, tailored feedback, creating stimulating learning opportunities, and streamlining evaluative procedures, especially when combined with more traditional pedagogical approaches. However, teachers also face challenges derived from insufficient training, limited access to technology, uncertainty in selecting materials, and maintaining students engaged over extended periods. Additionally, teachers are aware of potential risks to student health, relationships, and academic integrity. Findings are discussed, and implications for the effective implementation of AL in gifted education are presented.

A educação de indivíduos com altas habilidades/superdotação (AH/SD) e o desenvolvimento de talentos são considerados atualmente como elementos-chave para o desenvolvimento do capital humano e para o aumento da competitividade na educação e na economia. Nesse contexto, um número crescente de países começou a investir uma quantidade considerável de recursos para descobrir e desenvolver seus alunos mais capazes. À medida que as fronteiras e as diferenças entre culturas se tornam menos pronunciadas em um mundo global, os modelos educativos para orientar a educação de pessoas com altas habilidades/superdotação (AH/SD) e o desenvolvimento de talentos estão também tornando-se cada vez mais aplicáveis. Nesse contexto, o Modelo de Enriquecimento para toda a Escola (SEM) apresenta-se como um modelo flexível que permite às escolas de diferentes regiões do mundo proporcionar aos indivíduos oportunidades para identificar suas potencialidades e ajudá-los a atingir os seus níveis mais elevados de competência. Este artigo fornece uma visão geral do SEM e da extensa gama de regiões em que o modelo é atualmente implementado, bem como uma análise das razões para a sua ampla aceitação entre os educadores de todo o mundo. Além disso, este trabalho inclui uma entrevista com o Dr. Joseph Renzulli, inventor do SEM, na qual são discutidas várias questões relacionadas com a adaptação cultural do SEM. Por fim, o documento apresenta uma introdução à Rede Internacional SEM, um projeto recém-desenvolvido criado para conectar os utilizadores do SEM em todo o mundo e facilitar a partilha e o acesso a ideias e recursos para o desenvolvimento de talentos.

This study used a person-centered approach to explore mental health status and profiles among a sample of 2262 university students and how these profiles differ in sociodemographic, academic, and lifestyle traits. Results revealed that around half of participants reported high well-being and life satisfaction, while over a third exhibited positive screening for anxiety, depression, and psychological distress. A latent profile analysis identified four distinct mental health profiles aligned with a dual-factor model of mental health: (1) complete mental health (28.5