Trends in Higher Education

Learners’ diversity poses a complex challenge for learning outcomes and for the teaching process. Teachers often find it difficult to navigate such challenges while also sustaining the tenets of inclusive education. To ensure the continued sustenance of inclusive education, pre-service teachers are expected to be ready, knowledgeable, and competent in inclusive classroom pedagogy. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to assess the level of pre-service teachers’ readiness, knowledge, and competencies in promoting inclusive classroom teaching and learning during teaching practicum. Underpinned by the inclusive pedagogy framework, the study utilised the survey research design, with a sample consisting of 260 third- and fourth-year pre-service teachers at the Faculty of Education in a sampled public university. The Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceived Readiness, Knowledge, and Competencies for Inclusive Classroom Teaching Questionnaire (PTPRKCITQ) (α = 0.86) was designed as a data collection tool. Data obtained for the study were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics via SPSS V 26. The results reveal that pre-service teachers’ readiness for inclusive classroom teaching is high; they have adequate knowledge of inclusive education and a high level of competencies in creating and managing inclusive learning environments; gender does not significantly influence pre-service teachers’ readiness, knowledge, or competence for inclusive education practices; and the factors militating against pre-service teachers’ implementation of inclusive education were identified. Recommendations for policy, theory, and practice are made.

Inclusive education is a pedagogical approach based on three principles: presence, participation, and learning for all students in diverse educational contexts, with particular attention to those in vulnerable situations. It is currently a key priority within educational systems, and teachers play a central role in its effective implementation. However, studies examining the factors that predict the level of inclusive education among university teachers remain scarce. This study aimed to examine the relation between teaching staff’s social and emotional competencies and their level of inclusive education, considering various socio-professional characteristics. The participants were 1252 academic staff members from 49 Spanish universities, surveyed in the second semester of the 2016–2017 academic year. This ex post facto cross-sectional study was conducted using self-report surveys. Bivariate Pearson correlations and linear regression analyses were performed. The results showed that being female, older age, participating in diversity-related research, receiving training in inclusive education, and higher levels of social and emotional competencies were associated with a higher overall level of inclusive education. Unexpectedly, experience with minority groups was not significantly associated with overall inclusive education and was negatively associated with school organization for inclusive education, while training in inclusive education was negatively associated with attitudes towards inclusive education. Given the strong relation between social and emotional competencies and inclusive education, programs aimed at fostering these competencies among teaching staff are recommended. Implications for faculty development and the improvement of educational practices are discussed.

Students use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools for academic writing, but there is still little understanding of how students can prompt ChatGPT to write literature reviews, how structured prompting frameworks affect their outputs and what the implications are of such use of GenAI in teaching practices. Prompts and literature reviews written by seven students were collected before and after the introduction of three prompting frameworks (COSTAR, POSE, and Sandwich) and analysed. Following the intervention, students’ prompting became more focused and efficient, although they did not use all the elements of the frameworks, except for Sandwich. While literature review scores improved, approaching near-full marks, they lacked critical thinking and originality. Therefore, more training and understanding of prompting frameworks and fundamental knowledge about literature reviews are still needed. Plagiarism checks demonstrate a reasonable degree of similarity, although recurrent citation mistakes were found. These findings highlight pedagogical and ethical risks associated with GenAI use, which may be mitigated by alternative approaches to evaluating literature reviews that place greater emphasis on paper selection and topic choice. Although the small sample precludes generalisation, this study provides an initial exploration of how prompting frameworks influence GenAI-assisted literature reviews and what the ethical and pedagogical implications are.