This study is based on the hypothesis that group cohesion and efficacy have significant effects on the academic performance of individuals in online (virtual) education environments no less than in-person education environments. To that end, this study explores the effectiveness of group activities in a virtual classroom environment using VC…

Early adolescence is a critical time for promoting emerging adolescents' positive social skill development and mental well-being. This investigation addresses unique characteristics of these relations by holistically examining how school-based social cohesion and school stress combine to impact peer aggression and prosocial behavior. Using a…

We begin this essay by sharing a bit about our entry points into Black, Indigenous, and Afro-Indigenous feminist solidarities before entering into conversation with Mikki Kendall whose work Hood Feminisms: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot inspired the title for this essay and offers important insights for Black and Indigenous feminist…

School principals must play a vital role in facilitating homeplace and Black joy by promoting, modeling, and holding educators responsible for their roles in contributing to homeplace. We argue that principals can enact homeplace by embodying the tenets of culturally responsive school leadership (CSRL). The purpose of this paper is to make meaning…

University spaces can be experienced as unfamiliar and anxiety-inducing by working-class students. Early difficulties adjusting to university can lead to attrition. This article draws from a larger study examining the experiences of first-in-family (FIF) girls in one Australian city as they transition from secondary school into their first year of…

Purpose: This study aims to understand how a facilitator's pedagogy changed over time in the process of supporting a community of learners to teach using an activist sport approach. Methods: Self-study framed this four-semester research project. Participants included the lead author, two critical friends, 10 preservice teachers, and 110 youth.…

Schools are chief among the social institutions impacted by migrant flows as key sites of integration and support for migrant children. This article focuses on micro- and meso-level interactions and their importance to experiences of belonging and socio-educational integration for migrant children. It explores outcomes from qualitative research in…

What are modern-day educational experiences like for Native American students who are moving through a system rooted in racism and the extermination of their culture? One would hope that they now have safe, inclusive spaces where all students feel welcome and respected; where they can navigate their educational journeys successfully. Rather than…

A sense of belonging is at the root of educational success for students, staff and faculty, and institutions alike. The authors must consider these layers (student, faculty/staff, institution) in coordination with each other, taking a systems view, to support long-term, sustainable success. The authors provide a framework for thinking about…

Social cohesion in schools refers to positive interpersonal relations between students, a sense of belonging of all students and group solidarity. Social cohesion is a multidimensional construct, and educators policymakers and researchers may focus on specific domains within this concept, guided by their personal conception of social cohesion.…

The present paper analyses 70 retrospective narratives from young adults about their school life. It looks for answers to the questions of what people and situations young adults recall as sources of positive or negative feelings and how they (re)construct the impacts of school experiences on their lives as young adults. The analysis found that on…

This study examines negotiations on Muslims' inclusive citizenship in Finnish and Swedish comprehensive schools. The data include interviews with Muslim parents and Muslim teachers (n = 8 in both countries), who serve as cultural brokers in public schools and mediate negotiations on the terms of inclusion. The study utilizes the notion of…

This paper builds on my previous work in this journal (Hafiz, 2017) on the potentialities of prosociality as a remedy and response to widespread precarity. The aim is to ground prosociality in co-operative social and educational practices rooted in the conscientisation of social and solidarity economy. Pedagogical practices based on principles of…

Student ratings, a critical component in policy efforts to assess and improve teaching, are often collected using questionnaires, and inferences about teachers are then based on aggregated student survey responses. While considerable attention has been paid to the reliability and validity of these aggregates, much less attention has been paid to…

Recent research finds that grade span affects academic achievement but only speculates about the mechanisms. In this study, we examine one commonly cited mechanism, the top dog/bottom dog phenomenon, which states that students at the top of a grade span ("top dogs") have better experiences than those at the bottom ("bottom…