University-based curriculum development often involves adding new content. This 'just add' approach has also been applied to integrating the UN SDGs into curricula, reducing them to a checklist rather than embracing their holistic and transformative aims. This is particularly concerning for SDG 4 and SDG 4.7, which require deep, cross-cutting…

The OECD's Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) 2023 represents the largest global initiative to gather comparable data on the development of social and emotional skills among 10- and 15-year-old students. In the 2023 cycle of SSES, 16 sites implemented an assessment of students' social and emotional skills and collected contextual…

Social understanding competence develops in sensitive and co-regulating caregiver interactions. Parental reflective functioning (PRF) and parenting stress can affect children's social understanding. This study investigated if children's social understanding was associated with PRF and parenting stress. Parents of 305 Italian children aged from 24…

This paper arose from the authors' experience of facilitating collective reflection on higher education teaching using the 'intercultural teaching process recall' (iTPR) method. Facilitators' contributions to the iTPR sessions were analysed empirically. There was considerable variation between facilitators, sessions and rounds. Individual…

This study investigated the reciprocal relationship between self-perceived employability (SPE) and psychological well-being (PWB), a connection previously suggested by theory but not yet explored empirically in early career research. Drawing from the Conservation of Resources theory, we analysed the reciprocal effects between SPE and PWB. Using…

Self-directed learning (SDL) has become essential in promoting autonomy and critical thinking within mathematics education. Given the increasing emphasis on SDL, a bibliometric analysis is necessary to map the field's development, key themes, and influential contributions. This study utilizes Scopus data from 1981 to 2024, encompassing 32…

This paper presents the findings of a survey on research activities and research cultures across the CercleS network. The survey was conducted under the auspices of the CercleS Focus Group on Leadership and Management and aimed to explore the scope of research in Language Centres; the links between institutional factors such as staff contracts and…

This study explores the establishment of communities of practice within teaching and learning centres (TLC) as strategies for advancing faculty development in higher education, examining their implementation in the US and Europe, with a specific focus on Italy. Utilising organisational benchmarking, we employed an explanatory, comparative, and…

Background: People with Down syndrome (DS) are predisposed to challenges with executive functions (EF), which are crucial for adaptive outcomes and academic success. Early interventions targeting EF are therefore critical. The present study analysed Italian data on the acceptability, enjoyability and household implementation of EXPO (EXecutive…

International research has illustrated that learning support staff (LSS) play a crucial role in the instruction of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND): they support the children's classwork while teachers manage the whole-class instruction. However, fewer research studies have explored LSS's role in the children's…

Aim: This study investigates the impact of an enhanced physical education (PE) program on attentional functions in middle school students. The aim is to evaluate whether increasing physical education hours, emphasizing cognitive tasks and team-based activities, could positively influence students' executive functions. Methods: The study involved…

Executive functions (EFs) are cognitive skills that begin developing in early life and are crucial for children's overall development and daily task performance. Generally, EFs are assessed through standardized neuropsychological tests, which may not always accurately capture real-world application. To overcome this limitation, alternative methods…

The paper addresses the critical issue of teacher shortages in Europe, with a focus on Italy. It examines the declining attractiveness of the teaching profession, citing factors such as job dissatisfaction, low pay and difficult working conditions. It highlights the growing demand for teachers and the need for reforms in teacher education. The…

Raising the awareness and interest of young generations for climate change phenomena and its impacts is a topic of great importance from a social and cultural standpoint. Along these lines, education plays a crucial role to meet the goals of the EU's Green Deal both through direct interplay with students and information spillover towards families…

The pandemic-related educational emergency created the need to re-organise teaching and learning processes, as well as teacher professional development (TPD) opportunities. The forced nature of the transition to remote teaching during the pandemic somewhat shifted the micro or macro-level factors in the re-organisation of teaching and learning,…