Education Sciences

This study examines the effectiveness of a purposefully constructed Foreign Language Learning Environment (FLLE) in developing foreign language communicative competence within Kazakhstani higher education. Focusing on four interrelated components—pedagogical resources, physical learning space, motivational strategies, and ICT integration—the study addresses the limited opportunities for authentic English communication characteristic of EFL contexts. A quasi-experimental design involving 69 undergraduate students was employed, with participants divided into experimental and control groups. Statistical analysis using the Mann–Whitney U test revealed significantly higher post-test results in the experimental group, particularly in speaking performance. The findings demonstrate that communicative competence development can be significantly enhanced when (1) instructional materials prioritize authentic, task-based communication, (2) classroom spaces are organized to facilitate face-to-face interaction, (3) motivational support is provided through speaking activities and extracurricular activities, and (4) ICT tools, including conversational AI, are used to extend communicative interaction beyond classroom time.

Occupational safety and health appears in many higher education programs. Universities rarely state what students must be able to do in situations involving occupational risk. This study analyses how occupational safety and health is defined and assessed in research on curriculum design, competence frameworks, and educational evaluation. The analysis used competence mapping, alignment checks, and cross-level tracing to examine learning outcomes, teaching activities, and assessment formats. The results suggest that safety is treated as knowledge of hazards and rules. Assessment depends on recall and procedural compliance. Judgment, decisions under real conditions, and responsibility allocation are not evaluated. A framework is derived that defines safety through three forms of performance, risk interpretation, action selection, and decision justification, organized across non-equivalent levels of evidence. Learning outcomes, learning activities, and assessment are connected to these performance requirements. Progression can be defined and checked across program stages. Occupational safety and health become a form of transversal academic competence when it is defined through evidence from performed tasks instead of topic coverage or regulatory content.

Developing children’s number sense is an important aspect of early mathematical education and has been the focus of multiple studies targeting the kindergarten stage. We investigated the impact of reading mathematical stories on the number sense of kindergarten children. A small-scale intervention study was conducted with 46 kindergarten children aged 5–7 years. The study employed a non-equivalent quasi-experimental design involving comparison and intervention groups. The intervention involved eight mathematical stories presented in interactive reading environments during their class storytime. Therefore, both the books and the interactive reading style were considered core components of the intervention in this study. A pretest, posttest, and delayed test measured the children’s number sense, and the resulting data was analysed with ANCOVA. The results showed the intervention to have a promising effect on their number sense: the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group on both the posttest and delayed test. We consider it important that teachers be encouraged to make the maximum use of kindergarten storytelling sessions to further children’s early mathematical understanding. With acknowledgement of the limited sample size and its implications for the statistical generalisability of the findings, this study should be regarded as an exploratory investigation that can inform and encourage future large-scale research. In addition, the findings offer meaningful pedagogical implications that may support teachers and curriculum designers in early childhood education and provide valuable insights into the potential effects of reading mathematical stories interactively with children in kindergarten in authentic classroom contexts.