Guided by ecological systems theory, this study investigated the relationship between the perceived teacher support, perceived self-efficacy, and student engagement of Chinese local college undergraduates. Data collection was carried out by questionnaire survey, and a convenience sample of 556 Chinese local college students (Male = 260, Female =…

There is a tendency in recent curriculum reforms to put the major emphasis on the status and role of students. The OECD's Education 2030 project, for example, presents the concept of 'student agency' as a key vision for future learning frameworks. The OECD's discourse of student agency appears to serve as a catalyst for spreading the slogan that…

Research in early childhood and elementary social studies education has illuminated how teachers can use children's literature to explore issues of injustice, elevate hidden histories, and affirm students' identities. Integrating children's literature into social studies instruction not only supports literacy education aims but also promotes…

PhD students come to work in academic environments that are characterized by long working hours and work done on non-standard hours due to increasing job demands and metric evaluation systems. Yet their long working hours and work at non-standard hours are often seen as a logical consequence of their intellectual quest and academic calling and may…

From a Self-Determination Theory perspective, children are expected to grow according to innate tendencies in supportive environments, such as nature-based educational settings. The role of the practitioner is generally viewed as facilitative in these contexts. We report findings from a qualitative study with a sample of 18 UK-based outdoor…

The learning and teaching of reading continues to be a source of contention in New Zealand education. In recent years, proponents of structured literacy approaches have argued for more attention to be paid to what they term the "science of reading". They have emphasised skill development and argued against the inclusion of other…

This dissertation explores the intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing the socio-academic success of graduate students enrolled in exclusively online degree programs. The research aims to understand how a sense of belonging, fostered through interactions with peers, faculty, and the university community, contributes to socio-academic success.…

Composition courses have a contentious relationship with textbooks. On one hand, textbooks grant legitimacy to a eld that historically struggled with its image of being in service to other elds. On the other hand, in a course designed to teach students authorial agency, discursive sensitivity, audience awareness, and the dialogic nature of…

The flexibility of labor-based contract grading allowed students in the study to make strategic, intentional, autonomous choices about the types of labor and products they produced. This strategic decision-making helped them to balance the workload requirements of their other classes, employment, and personal issues and laid important groundwork…

Understanding the freedom that students have to make decisions they value enables them to remove barriers to their valued aspirations and obstacles to their freedom and helps them take actions toward their aspired futures. Using the capability approach, this study examines how economically disadvantaged youth in Ethiopia exercised their agency to…

This study aimed to research the impact Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) programs have on the development of student agency in high school students. AVID was founded in San Diego, California by teacher Mary Catherine Swanson in 1980 (AVID.org). The AVID framework is divided into two sections, "What Students Need" and…

In education, there is a risk that joy in learning is counteracted by allowing a performance culture to dominate. Research shows that emotions are of great importance for results, motivation and well-being. This study aims to add knowledge about the essential meanings of joy in learning based on students' lived experiences and thereby implications…

Childcare services are widely used by families and thereby exert an important influence on many young children. Yet, little research has examined whether childcare may impact the development of child executive functioning (EF), one of the pillars of cognitive development in early childhood. Furthermore, despite persisting hypotheses that childcare…

Kazakhstan prioritizes economic growth and competitiveness through education reforms emphasizing STEM fields. Despite efforts to attract students to STEM, women remain underrepresented. Drawing on human capital and self-determination theory and in-depth interviews with female students majoring in STEM fields, this study examines the motivations of…

Data literacy enables teachers to use information collected about students and their learning to take data-informed instructional action. This article outlines two approaches developed by teachers to provide teaching targeted to the immediate needs of specific students that moved beyond "gap-filling". The pre-teaching and "fresh…