Higher education students’ achievement emotions and their antecedents in e-learning amid COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-country survey

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a wide range of negative consequences for higher education students. We explored the generalizability of the control-value theory of achievement emotions for e-learning, focusing on their antecedents. We involved 17019 higher education students from 13 countries, who completed an online survey during the first wave of the pandemic. A structural equation model revealed that proximal antecedents (e-learning self-efficacy, computer self-efficacy) mediated the relation between environmental antecedents (cognitive and motivational quality of the task) and positive and negative achievement emotions, with some exceptions. The model was invariant across country, area of study, and gender. The rates of achievement emotions varied according to these same factors. Beyond their theoretical relevance, these findings could be the basis for policy recommendations to support stakeholders in coping with the challenges of e-learning and the current and future sequelae of the pandemic.     

Global crisis management and higher education: Agency and coupling in the context of wicked COVID-19 problems

Campus crisis management remains an understudied topic in the context of COVID-affected higher education. In this paper, we contrasted the ability to tame the wicked problems brought by the pandemic of COVID-19 in private and public universities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Colombia, India, Kazakhstan, Uganda, and Ukraine. The cross-country analysis and diversity of institutional types allowed us to consider a wide range of challenges faced by academic leaders and their institutions during the global pandemic. By drawing on institutional policy reviews and interviews with university administrators, we have examined tensions between the human and institutional agencies on these crisis-stricken campuses given differing institutional coupling, sizes, resources, and missions. The focus on agential co-dependencies and institutional coupling lays the ground for conceptualizing campus crisis management as a culturally specific construct in the context of higher education affected by the global pandemic.     

The experience of SENCOs in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: the amplification and exposure of pre-existing strengths and challenges and the prioritisation of mental health and wellbeing in schools

A national survey of Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) in England was conducted during the summer of 2020 in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The annually conducted survey typically collates demographic data about the SENCO workforce, but given the wider context, this particular survey also included nine questions about SENCOs' experiences during the pandemic. More than 1000 SENCOs participated in the survey and the findings demonstrate the critical contribution of SENCOs in supporting pupils with SEND and maintaining effective communication with their families during the pandemic. The study provides evidence of an amplification effect in relation to the strengths and challenges that SENCOs had been experiencing prior to the pandemic. The study also demonstrates the importance of prioritising mental health and wellbeing in schools for both pupils and staff in the wake of the pandemic, with this being the key priority identified by SENCOs across all types of setting and all phases of education.     

Opportunities and Challenges in Collaborative Reform Practice: School–Community Partnerships through Art in Korean Schools

The Korean government’s policy toward art in schools and educational autonomy has recently undergone major directional changes, with the Ministry of Education (MOE) encouraging individual schools to find their own ways to become more self‐regenerating, especially by developing community partnerships through art. This recently published policy direction has the potential to challenge traditional school practice as it demands an initiative role of schools and the active involvement of teachers in building partnerships with local communities. Concerned about the impact of the new school art policy on practice, this article attempts to clarify the opportunities and challenges involved in the expected collaborative reform practice by examining the outcomes reported by pilot schools based on their first year of implementing the new school art policy. To this end, this article first identifies the distinctive aspects of the new policy from previous studies on school–community partnerships developed in Korea over the past decade. This is followed by an identification of practical issues and needs by reviewing the outcomes of recent survey results on the perceptions of teachers who participated in conventional school–community partnership programmes. These results will be compared to the problems found in the outcomes reported by pilot schools. Findings will be discussed to assess implications and provide suggestions. This contextual analysis of practitioners’ responses to new art‐based collaborative reform practices developing in Korea may contribute to an expansion of international discussions about educational reform through art.     

社会公平视野下美国联邦政府教师教育改革政策的社会学分析

面对教育改革面临的诸多社会挑战,包括新冠疫情对美国教师队伍的冲击以及美国中小学教师队伍离职率高、缺乏多样性等问题,美国联邦政府将教师教育改革纳入其“重建更好”一揽子改革计划的重要组成部分。“公平”价值转向、从“缺陷”到“优势”的政策话语转变和弗雷泽三维社会公正理论构成了美国联邦政府教师改革政策的重要理论基础。美国联邦政府采取的教师教育改革措施主要包括:修改大学和高等教育的教师教育援助计划;实施“培植你自己”教师教育项目;完善一年制教师驻校培养模式;加大对少数族裔学校的资助力度;提高教师工资与专业发展水平。美国联邦政府的教师教育改革凸显了社会公平与多元种族和谐相处的政策价值导向,其政策机制体现了联邦政府协调角色的不断增强和市场化教师教育改革方式的适度消退。     

Balancing pressures for SENCos as managers,leaders and advocates in the emerging context of the Covid-19 pandemic

This article considers the role of the SENCo during Covid-19 pandemic conditions of school lockdown with partial reopening for children classified as ‘vulnerable’. It is argued that the existing pressures and tensions already experienced by SENCos – for example, related to time, workload, status, and their prescribed managerial and strategic role – have been highlighted by pandemic conditions. Pressures resulting specifically from the pandemic are reflected by considering how SENCos will adjust to enact their role during this time. It is concluded that an advocacy role for pupils with special educational needs and disability, who are at risk of becoming increasingly marginalised within school and wider communities during this pandemic, should now be considered a central element of the SENCo’s remit.     

Exploring the Role of Trust in Scientists to Explain Health-Related Behaviors in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The devastating COVID-19 pandemic has cast a light on the question of why trust in scientists is important. This mixed-method study aimed to explore the study participants’ trust in scientists about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. It also aimed to reveal which key sources of information participants followed about the pandemic. Participants’ health-related behaviors and justifications for their behaviors as a response to the pandemic were also explored to understand how trust in scientists and sources of information played a role in the fight against COVID-19. The responses of 1233 participants across Turkey were analyzed. The findings indicated that trust in scientists and compliance with the scientists’ suggested behaviors among the participants were quite high. It was also revealed that, for both trust and non-trust groups, participants questioned the reliability of information and the sources. Participants justified their behaviors mainly by referring to policies, e.g., masks, distance, and hygiene, developed and implemented with the collaboration of government, scientists, and the World Health Organization. Moreover, trust issues regarding scientists, government authorities, or other citizens were mentioned in participants’ justifications. The current study also shed light on the importance of building trust through an open and healthy dialogue among scientists, government authorities, and the public to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. The study highlighted the need for scientifically informed citizens to deal with the problems, i.e., misinformation and disinformation, in the post-truth era such as not jeopardizing effective solutions to eliminate the pandemic, e.g., taking the vaccine.

     

Walking the leadership tightrope: building community cohesiveness and social capital in schools in highly disadvantaged urban communities

School leaders in highly disadvantaged urban communities across the globe walk a tightrope, caught between the needs of communities and the requirements of national policies. This article aims to enrich our understanding of the potential of school–community relationships. It examines the policy discourse on urban schools and the practice of community leadership. The policy context is one of UK and international concerns about divisions in society and the rise of political extremism: concerns which, in the UK, have led to a policy focus on community cohesion. The article offers a conceptual framework—a theory of action—as a possible road map for school leaders to manage through this complex and evolving arena of policy and practice. The template— developed through earlier work on urban schools—is underpinned by a focus on trust (as the lubricant to link communities together) and social capital (as a way of harnessing the ‘social energy’ of communities for positive good). The template is tested against the leadership of two school principals in challenging contexts in London and Greater Manchester. The author concludes that there is potential for schools to create space for the voices of the marginalised and disenfranchised to be heard. This analysis will resonate with school leaders serving disadvantaged communities in many international contexts and signals a new departure for leadership.     

Potential effects of COVID-19 school closures on foundational skills and Country responses for mitigating learning loss

This article investigates to what extent disrupted schooling and dropout affects children’s acquisition of foundational skills prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using household survey data from thirteen low- and lower-middle-income countries, we find that missing or dropping out of school is associated with lower reading and numeracy outcomes. Drawing on global surveys conducted during the pandemic, we find that countries’ remote learning responses are often inadequate to keep all children learning, avoid dropout, and mitigate the learning losses our findings predict, particularly for marginalized children and those at the pre-primary level.     

Narrative understandings of a school policy: intersecting student,teacher, parent and administrator perspectives

In this article, we examine one school’s experience with policy, as a means of shedding light on the intersection of factors contributing to challenges of implementing policies to support the academic achievement and social adaptation of immigrant and minority students in their school context. We begin with the presentation of a ‘big fight’ between two students of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, and consider multiple perspectives of how the disagreement was addressed by teachers and administrators, to offer insight into how issues of race and policy might have been understood by members of the school community. We use a narrative inquiry approach to examine ways in which a policy designed to enhance student participation was interpreted by various members of this school community. This study reveals nuances of the intersection between culture and (hidden) curriculum as it relates to the implementation of policies aimed at creating and maintaining safe school communities.     

Graduating in uncertain times: The impact of COVID-19 on recent graduate career prospects,trajectories and outcomes

This article examines the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on recent UK graduates' initial employment outcomes and how they experience the transition into a challenging labour market context. We draw on longitudinal survey and interview data, collected from recent graduates who had mainly graduated during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in summer 2020 that examines graduate perception of the labour market, impacts on labour market entry impacts and early career progression and effects of periods of unemployment or under-employment. The article shows some of the main impacts of the recent pandemic-affected labour market, including: widespread concerns about job opportunities and employer support, the perceived employment impacts of the pandemic and early signs of scarring and labour market disorientation amongst those who were struggling to find employment of their choice. Such experiences are clearly intensified during the specific COVID-19 context, but the policy implications they raise have wider relevance for supporting graduates during future periods of labour market volatility.     

Intersecting barriers to adolescents’ educational access during COVID-19: Exploring the role of gender,disability and poverty

This article explores the social determinants of adolescents’ access to education during the COVID-19 pandemic in three diverse urban contexts in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Jordan. It provides novel empirical data from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence longitudinal study, drawing on phone surveys (4441), qualitative interviews with adolescents aged 12–19 years (500), and key informant interviews conducted between April and October 2020. Findings highlight that the pandemic is compounding pre-existing vulnerabilities to educational disadvantage, and that gender, poverty and disability are intersecting to deepen social inequalities. The paper concludes by reflecting on policy implications for inclusive distance education in emergencies.     

Turnaround as Reform: Opportunity for Meaningful Change or Neoliberal Posturing?

This study explores the neoliberal agenda of turnaround school reform efforts in America by examining the application and transformation of a Midwest State Turnaround Schools Project for the public school system. Perceptions of administrators and state-level policy actors are considered. Data were collected from 13 participants during the implementation of the statewide turnaround program and the analysis focused on the neoliberal ideology during the implementation of the State Turnaround Schools Project. Corporate infiltration and funding leverage reflect the sticky web of policymakers and private corporations and their influence. District communication, support, and shared accountability underscore important lessons in leadership for turnaround school programs. Successful schools transformed the turnaround policy implementation by involving communities and restructuring their school district. However, the neoliberal agenda revealed the impact of government labeling, restructuring, and reallocating resources for under-performing schools and unveiling the infiltration of private corporations behind turnaround policy and student achievement. This alarming finding points to how turnaround school policy implementation weakens control of democratically elected authorities and stagnates critical thinking that challenges the interests behind turnaround school policy.     

‘What was required above all else was collaboration’: keeping the momentum for SEND partnership working in the wake of Covid-19

This article considers implications for partnership working across the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system in England, at a time when a long-overdue SEND Review is imminent and the SEND Code of Practice 2015 is awaiting a significant overhaul. It highlights the role local policy actors occupy within this system, as the progression of the Covid-19 pandemic moves SEND partnerships towards a ‘new normal’ and there is heightened concern about missed opportunities for reform and renewal. Previously published findings from an online questionnaire (n = 100) undertaken by the Special Educational Needs Policy Research Forum provided insight into how school staff had been supported in the teaching of pupils with SEND during periods of school closures and what lessons had been learned. The present article offers a thematic analysis of the narrative responses provided in addition to the closed survey questions. The analysis generated six statements that can be understood as lessons learned from the pandemic for partnership working, drawing on the experiences of parents, school staff, and advising professionals working in local authorities.     

How Do Schools Bridge the Gap Between External Demands for Accountability and the Need for Internal Trust?

This article will discuss how schools in countries like Denmark cope with the external demands for accountability made on them by many different stakeholders and at the same time strive to build and sustain trust in and trust from staff. The school context in relation to these challenges is seen in light of the increasing complexity of societies. On the one hand, there are pressures to transform the governing of schools towards a more ‘rigorous’ form of New Public Management (NPM). On the other hand, there is a growing consciousness of the need to sustain trust and loyalty in the school as a community. In the middle of this squeeze are the actors: the teachers and school leaders. The school leader is pivotal to the relations with external authorities and communities and to internal agents like staff. The struggle between accountability and trust is seen from the perspective of school leaders, drawing on data and analysis from the Danish part of an international comparative study on the Life History of School Leaders. The data and analyses in this project make it possible to take an historical perspective when trying to understand the thinking of Danish school leaders.     

‘They call me headmaster’: Malawian and Australian women leaders

This article explores commonalities in the lives and work of women head teachers in Malawian secondary schools and women principals in Australian Lutheran schools. In both Australia and Malawi women are under-represented in school leadership and often appointed to complex schools and communities. We commence with a brief discussion of Malawi and Australia’s political and educational histories which have much in common, before outlining current selection policies for school leadership. The second part of the article explores women leaders’ initial and ongoing challenges in relation to their school systems, daily work and domestic lives. The final section focuses on their perspectives of current strategies to address women’s under-representation as leaders in their respective school systems. Notwithstanding the stark contrast in socio-economic contexts, we highlight enduring transnational inequalities in women leaders’ lives and work in Malawian secondary and Australian Lutheran schools.     

The International Education Index: A global approach to education policy analysis,performance and sustainable development

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world struggled to address growing educational inequalities and fulfil the commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 4, which seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The pandemic has exacerbated these inequalities and changed how education functions, moving to online and hybrid methods. The challenges in global education highlighted and worsened by the pandemic make it necessary to re-evaluate education systems and the policies in place to support access, quality and equal opportunity. This article focuses on analysing education policies at a national level. It tests a pilot policy analysis tool, the International Education Index (IEI), developed as a starting point to begin this reconsideration and create an accessible and comprehensive way to evaluate national education systems to inform decision-making and policies in the new context. This research uses Ireland and Northern Ireland to test the IEI pilot tool. The IEI consists of 54 questions across nine indicators, including institutional frameworks, education strategies, digital skills and infrastructure, twenty-first century skills, access to basic social services, adherence to international standards, legal frameworks, data gathering and availability and international partnerships. Countries can score 108 points to be categorised as having developed, emerging or nascent national education systems. Ireland scored 94 and Northern Ireland 81, indicating that they have developed national education systems.     

The ebbs and flows of policy enactments on school-related gender-based violence: Insights from Ethiopia,Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo

While school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) is increasingly on the agenda of international development agencies and national governments, there is little evidence on the policy processes that can more effectively address violence. Drawing on data from studies conducted during an innovative three year action research project with UNICEF and governments in Ethiopia, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia, this paper explores the struggles of actors and organisations engaged in developing and implementing policies linked to SRGBV at national, mid and local levels. We examine interlinked political, conceptual and resource challenges that frequently hinder the multi-dimensional work needed to respond to and prevent the many forms of everyday violence in girls’ and boys’ lives. Finally, we explore the potential for strengthening government structures, and networks across sectors and state and non-state organisations, that are able to support the creative work of school communities to recontextualise policies, in order to generate more effective multi-dimensional policy enactments.     

Using educational transitions to estimate learning loss due to COVID-19 school closures: The case of Complementary Basic Education in Ghana

Learning loss is expected for millions of children who have been out of school as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, it is uncertain how much learning will be lost and how wide the gaps may be for disadvantaged children. This paper uses a unique longitudinal dataset to estimate learning loss during a three-month transition from Complementary Basic Education to government schools in Ghana. Our results show an average learning loss of 66 % of previous learning gains in foundational numeracy during this transition period. More importantly, we estimate widening gaps in learning loss according to lack of home learning support, as well as lack of home learning resources. Our results have implications for the provision of learning activities and support at home, not just during current school closures due to COVID-19, but also during transitions between academic years.