Educational Psychology from an International Perspective
A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "Education and Psychology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 46
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Educational psychology examines how cognitive, emotional, motivational, and social processes shape learning and academic achievement across diverse global contexts. This review synthesizes contemporary international research on core educational–psychological constructs—such as self-regulated learning, motivation, mindset, metacognition, and classroom climate—and their relationship to student performance in primary, secondary, and postsecondary education systems worldwide. Evidence from experimental, quasi-experimental, and longitudinal studies conducted across multiple countries demonstrates that targeted interventions—including metacognitive strategy instruction, growth-mindset messaging, teacher professional development in feedback practices, and social–emotional learning programs—yield small-to-moderate improvements in standardized test outcomes, course grades, and student persistence.
Common mechanisms identified across international settings include improved study strategies, greater task engagement, strengthened executive functioning, and reduced test anxiety. At the same time, the global evidence base faces methodological challenges, such as inconsistent operational definitions across cultural and national contexts, limited representation of low- and middle-income countries, short follow-up periods, and inconsistent reporting of implementation fidelity.
To address these gaps, we propose an international research agenda prioritizing (1) mechanism-focused, randomized controlled trials with rigorous mediation analyses across culturally diverse samples; (2) scalable implementation and cost-effectiveness studies suitable for low-resource and high-resource educational systems; (3) culturally responsive adaptation and co-design of interventions; and (4) the integration of learning analytics and neurocognitive measures to triangulate effects across languages and schooling structures.
Dr. Ruth Chu Lien Chao
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- educational psychology
- student achievement
- self-regulated learning
- metacognition
- motivation
- growth mindset
- social–emotional learning
- cross-cultural research
- intervention effectiveness
- learning analytics
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
