In this paper, drawing on semi-structured interviews with generalist teachers of year-one children in England and Sweden, we examine comparatively the influence of the intended curriculum (teachers in both countries work within mandated national curricula) and the received curriculum (the collectively assumed efficacious practices and goals handed…

This collection explores key issues related to infant and toddler wellbeing, offering diverse international perspectives on how wellbeing is culturally understood. Scholars from Drawing from Australia, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Brazil, Greece, Norway, Portugal and the UK present local conceptualizations that contribute to a broader, global…

Many early-career educators report a lack of confidence in teaching animal science and suggest that comprehensive professional development would improve their abilities to engage diverse audiences in animal science instruction. This lack of confidence in providing quality instruction in key agricultural education areas could leave some educators…

Drawing on recent insights from collaborative learning theories, this study explores collaborative learning among primary school students in digitally inclusive classrooms. Collaborative learning, which can be facilitated by digital media, is seen as important not only for supporting learning processes in general, but also for making diversity…

Use of digital learning tools (DLTs) in classrooms has markedly increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Concerns exist that some DLTs were integrated without careful consideration of their impacts on student motivation to learn and/or academic achievement. Moreover, differences in student demographic profiles and the learning environment may…

Children's funds of knowledge (FoK) were recognised in the initial iteration of the Australian Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) in 2009, the mandated framework for educator decision-making, and their significance was further emphasised in EYLF 2.0 in 2022. However, a unified understanding of children as knowledgeable individuals and how to…

Purpose: High-quality teaching is widely recognized as a fundamental factor in student success, yet countries vary significantly in how they cultivate effective teachers. This comparative study examines how teacher effectiveness is shaped by recruitment practices, building teacher ideologies and pedagogical approaches in Finland, Japan and India,…

Chinese first-generation college students (FGCS) experience cultural challenges. We developed a framework for analyzing the content of interviews with 20 Chinese FGCS in three college stages. In the input stage, narrow family perceptions misled the FGCS college goals, manifested as unrealistic visions or negative attitudes. In the shallow college…

Applying Culture and Appreciative Education lenses, this qualitative study, eliciting detailed descriptions, examines six North American adult and higher education scholars' lived learning experiences and insights gained from their academic collaborations in and with the East. Our findings indicate that participants hold unique international…

This paper examines translation as a political-textual-epistemological battlefield of colonialism-coloniality and counter wise, which construes and constructs day-to-day communications/confrontations between people both within and across empires. It examines the Tongwen Guan 1867 debate on calling on prospective Confucian scholars to learn Western…

Risky play provides multiple benefits for children's development. This study compared teachers' perceptions of risky play in one kindergarten in Norway and one in China, including the concept of risky play, the roles of teachers, the protective strategies adopted, and the factors limiting the practice of risky play. The aim of the article is to…

In "Teaching Expertise in Three Countries," Akiko Hayashi shows how teachers from Japan, China, and the United States think about what it means to be an expert teacher. Based on interviews with teachers conducted over the span of fifteen years and videos taken in their classrooms, Hayashi gives us a valuable portrait of expert teachers…

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to explore, with former study abroad participants, their perceptions of how their experience abroad has influenced them. The results of the study provide recommendations to prospective study abroad participants and to those that develop and advise for programs. Ultimately, the recommendations…

This study examines the experiences of prominent college and university presidents recognized for leading the successful transformation of their institutions. While "change" and "transformation" are often used interchangeably, the success rate of transformation at the institutional level--of reinventing the organization based…

In this chapter, I will examine the "recontextualization" of lesson study by comparing the practice in Japan and Java against the respective countries' contextual settings. I examine recontextualization of lesson study specifically focusing on three contextual differences: (1) professional accountabilities, (2) nature of collegiality,…