While researchers broadly agree on what enables and constrains teacher professional learning, reconfigured large teaching spaces potentially create new processes and content for this learning. In this paper we draw on six years of study of teacher adaptation to these settings in 10 schools in regional Australia to identify the nature of, and key…

Informed by social cognitive theory, this study explores teacher perceptions regarding open plan learning contexts, with foci on academic outcomes, social interaction, the accommodation of students with additional learning needs, and how to manage administrative tasks, within this non-traditional context. This quantitative study was facilitated by…

This research explored the experiences of primary school principals in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) regarding the implementation of positive discipline in their schools. The primary focus of the study was to understand how principals experienced the process of implementing positive discipline. Data were collected from interviews with a…

Central to this phenomenological inquiry is the question of how students' fundamental needs of belonging, trust and connection are enacted in arts classrooms. Through qualitative semi-structured interviews, this research explores the teaching practices of 23 expert arts teachers in Western Australian schools, revealing strategies to sustain…

Given the substantial loss of teaching and learning time during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, the key pressure point for the South African education system and many other schooling systems across the world was to re-open schooling. Drawing on data from key education stakeholders in South Africa, this article uses qualitative research methods to…

The reading literacy skills of Australian adolescents, as measured in successive PISA waves, have declined since 2000. Literacy achievement is not low by international standards, but it is lower in Australia than it is in Anglophone countries with which we compare ourselves, e.g. Canada. Using PISA 2018 and PIRLS 2021 data, we investigated both…

The construction of new schools has undergone much debate as children and teachers spend a significant proportion of their lives in physical learning environments in schools. The school soundscape is central but often underestimated. In this study, we investigated teachers' experiences of soundscapes in two modern Finnish comprehensive schools by…

Studies show that despite many programs with intentions to create a positive and inclusive learning environment, bullying and exclusion is still a challenge. This article investigates the following: (a) What challenges are there in the psychosocial learning environment in primary school, from a student perspective, and (b) what strategies can…

Student retention in education courses is a political imperative. This research examined the wicked problem of attrition in a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Studies) course, drawing on the experiences of three different groups of students studying early childhood. The participants from each study represented different student groups within…