Search Results (11)

Mental illness relapse among teachers presents a growing public health concern, particularly in under-resourced settings, where social and structural factors often go unaddressed. This study aimed to explore challenges outside the workplace that contribute to mental illness relapse among public school teachers in Limpopo Province and how they cope with them. Guided by the Stress-Vulnerability Model, a qualitative explorative phenomenological design was employed. Fourteen participants with a documented history of existing mental illness and mental illness relapse were purposively selected across four different hospitals. The data were collected through in-depth, face-to-face semi-structured interviews until data saturation was reached. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using Tesch’s open coding method. The findings revealed unstable home environments, community-level stigma, inadequate institutional support, and systemic barriers to mental healthcare access. Moreover, the participants rely on family members for support and on spiritual practices to cope, highlighting gaps in formal support systems. Addressing these overlooked challenges is critical to reducing relapse resulting from social and systematic challenges, promoting mental health equity, and sustaining teacher resilience in underserved communities. This study calls for collaborative efforts from policymakers, educational institutions, healthcare providers, and community leaders, including faith-based organisations, to develop integrated mental health strategies. Such strategies can promote mental health equity, reduce stigma, and support sustainable teacher well-being in vulnerable communities. Full article

(1) Background: Turning the lens away from national schooling, which has long been proven problematic for refugee populations, this comparative case study explores the educational opportunities that faith-based, tuition-free schools provide refugee youth living in protracted exile in low and middle-income neighboring countries. (2) Methods: Leveraging Shirazi and Jaffe-Walter’s concept of countertopography and Bartlett and Vavrus’s comparative case study, this article draws on ethnographic engagement (2017–2019) at “Cairo Christian Academy”, a Sudanese refugee school in Egypt, and qualitative interviews with teachers, administrators, and staff at “Beirut Covenant School” (2020–2021) in Lebanon to answer the following question: What is possible within private, faith-based, tuition-free schools—particularly schools that teach secular curricula and are open to children from all faith backgrounds, as these mirror some of the more egalitarian aspects of public education—which have absorbed refugee students as a part of their mission to care for others? (3) Results and conclusions: Our findings suggest that the funding structures, hiring practices, and moral underpinnings of these schools facilitate caring, loving environments for refugee youth while also providing educational opportunities unavailable to them otherwise in these host countries. Furthermore, our methodological approach explores ways to conduct research in contexts mired in multiple, overlapping crises. Full article

This article explores Islamic Teacher Education through an autoethnographic account of the author’s experience with the Graduate Certificate of Education (Islamic Pedagogy) at the University of South Australia. It addresses the lack of research on how Islamic Pedagogy is taught, contributing to the growing scholarship on faith-based teacher education. Autoethnography is a qualitative research method that combines autobiography and ethnography, emphasising personal experiences to explore cultural communities. It is especially useful in studying emerging concepts like Islamic Pedagogy and faithful praxis. This approach challenges Western positivism, promoting epistemic reflexivity, and offering critical insights into marginalised perspectives and educational practices. This paper employs autoethnography to present the author’s faithful praxis journey as a transformative pedagogical shift, shaped by their experiences with Western and Islamic epistemologies, aiming to empower Muslim voices in education and challenge marginalisation, with the Graduate Certificate fostering epistemic reflexivity and providing a platform to reconcile Islamic and Western knowledge in the classroom. This paper also clarifies the distinction between Islamic Pedagogy and Islamic integration through autoethnography by highlighting their complementary nature as opposed to the author’s initial assumptions around their interchangeability. Whilst this article contributes to the growing Islamic Teacher Education scholarship through an autoethnographic perspective, further research to assess broader program efficacy is still needed. Full article

Teachers in Islamic schools are often required to navigate complex identities. They balance personal and/or school-based religious obligations with contemporary secular-based commitments to meet organisational demands for institutional compliance. Behaviourally, the motivations and attitudes of teachers play a vital role in shaping a learning environment that fosters a sense of community and caters to the needs of students. However, recent studies on Islamic education suggest a real struggle in managing such complexities. Consequently, scholars have called for specialized programs to counter such issues, focusing on the need for schools to renew their commitment to promoting educational values, principles and practices that are rooted in the Islamic tradition. Several higher education institutions have responded to this call by establishing programs in Islamic studies and Islamic education. Nevertheless, there is limited knowledge of the organisational and behavioural significance of such programs on the professional identity of teachers. Using semi-structured interviews, this article presents findings from four teachers who had completed a postgraduate qualification in Islamic education at an Australian university. The six-phase thematic data analysis, informed by Muslim identity and an Islamic worldview, revealed that secular teacher education provided participants with ‘a license to teach’ but lacked in ‘nurturing a purpose for teaching’. The findings also revealed a distinct connection between Islamic teacher education, professional learning and professional identity, whereby Islamic-based pedagogies ‘enlightened and empowered’ teachers toward becoming ‘faith-centred’ in their professional practice. While the study was limited to four teachers, it contributes knowledge to the Islamic education, organizational and behavioural fields of inquiry in two ways, by underlining that (i) the professional identities of Muslim teachers are shaped by a knowledge-seeking mindset, and (ii) Islamic teacher education and professional learning create pathways towards the renewal of teachers’ professional identities in Islamic schools. Full article

There has been a rise in Islamic schools in Australia, a trend similarly seen in other Western countries, and yet limited opportunities for teacher preparation on what it means to impart an Islamically grounded education. This study utilises qualitative research methods, specifically portraiture to shed light on the experiences of in-service Islamic school educators, with varied backgrounds and religious affiliations in a cohort of the Graduate Certificate in Education (Islamic Education) program in Australia. This faith-based teacher education program aims to foster “faithful praxis”, and recenter the Divine in teaching and learning. The research focused on analysing transformative affective shifts as reflected in the program’s final portfolios. Portraits of four participants reflect a reconceptualisation of education as a holistic process that aims to nurture the whole student: mind, body, and soul. The portraits also highlight awakening experiences that signify the role of reflexivity and self-reflection of the educator so that educational renewal is of the whole collective in the school community. Implications of this study signify the role of spirituality in teaching and learning and the importance of moving beyond conventional and secular models of teacher education programs. Full article

Gratitude, defined by many as being thankful and appreciative of things that make life and relationships meaningful and purposeful, catalyzes holistic well-being. It is considered a manifestation of both inner and outer spirituality and develops spiritual growth. In this article, twenty-three students from a large public university in the U.S. representing various faith traditions explore the practice of gratitude as spirituality and its impact on well-being. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how gratitude, also conceptualized and articulated by college students as spirituality, influences students’ well-being. By exploring common and unique themes based on students’ individual reflections and synthesis on their weekly journal entries on the topic of gratitude as spirituality toward well-being, students assert that first, practicing gratitude enables them to experience something of the essence of spirituality, which is about interconnectedness and bringing into focus the things in life that they must be contented with and happy about. Second, expressing gratitude helps shift students’ perspectives by looking at conflict more as an opportunity for growth and constructive change than anything else. It redirects their mindset to transforming conflict’s negative and destructive energies into something beneficial, although the process might seem difficult. Third, practicing gratitude improves students’ overall mental, physical, spiritual, and social well-being. It helps them develop a sense of empathy and understanding toward others and aids them with better communication, deeper connections, and awareness of the self and their surroundings. This article concludes that there is, indeed, a dynamic interplay between gratitude and spirituality regarding students’ well-being. The article recommends that academic institutions and teachers of higher education provide students with classroom and public spaces to integrate conversations around gratitude, spirituality, and well-being into their academic studies as this helps enrich students’ overall learning experiences. Full article

This paper describes a set of educational initiatives in Religious Education (RE). The paper addresses RE as an academic learning area and reserved for Kindergarten to Year 10 classrooms in Catholic schools. The initiatives described in the paper are evidence-based; they are guided by research and student achievement data addressing contemporary assessment reforms within the Australian educational context and considering the implications that the reforms have on the quality of student learning in RE. The reforms include quality assurance measures such as large-scale, standardised assessments (LSAs) and social moderation tools. The purpose of the measures is to establish standards that support the alignment of teaching and assessment practices. Such an alignment in the RE learning area has the potential to strengthen and improve student, as well as teacher, knowledge and understanding of the Catholic Faith Tradition. The paper draws from the Catholic RE school curriculum in Western Australia (WA), assessment principles outlined for schools in WA, an Australian Research Council Linkage project and local research about teacher perceptions of an LSA in RE. The paper supports local and national policy expectations recommending a review of the quality of RE as a learning area. Furthermore, given the prominence of the Catholic Church’s mission of evangelisation and the nature and role of RE in Catholic schools as part of that mission, the paper endorses the Church’s current stance on thoughtful dialogue and renewed efforts to bring a better understanding about Catholic culture and education to the world. Full article

Balancing the communitarian, civic, and liberal aims of faith-based education presents a significant challenge to most religious education teachers. The communitarian approach to religious education is the most common, as it socializes children to become members of a given faith community. It recognizes students’ rights to collective identity and belonging. The civic approach to religious education asks, “what is the preferred meaning of respect in a religiously pluralist society, and how can it be promoted in the context of a deep belief in the primacy of one religion?” This approach also concerns itself with managing religious identities in a multifaith and democratic society. Liberal religious education involves asking the question, “how can one’s own religious doctrine be taught so as to allow the widest possible scope for critical reflection within [and about] a faith tradition?”. The current review essay addresses these questions by exploring the meanings, significance, and limitations of each approach and their possible implications for Islamic education in Israeli-Arab and Muslim-majority schools. Full article

STEM has become a pervasive part of global education reform. The STEM discourse positions the purpose of scientific education as being to prepare young people for work in a hyper-competitive 21st century knowledge economy, pushing aside alternative approaches focussed on interrogating social, moral and political issues in context. This narrative does not always sit comfortably with the holistic ambitions of many state and faith-based education systems. In this paper we will argue that these tensions emerge from deeper conflicts in the cultural-discursive arrangements around education in the advanced democratic states through an exploration of the response to a STEM curriculum project in a Catholic education system. The exploration is based on a phenomenographic analysis of reflective interviews conducted with participating teachers. We conclude that while the teachers are aware of the tensions, they may benefit from access to a language for discussing the various pressures on learning design and meaning making. Full article

Background and Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a global impact at the social, economic, cultural, and political levels. Education is one of the areas that experienced a sudden change during the COVID-19 pandemic that affected both students and teachers worldwide. Thus, the aim of our research was to analyze the educational, emotional, and social impact of the period of the emergency state (16 March 2020–15 May 2020) imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on Romanian university students. Materials and Methods: We conducted a questionnaire-based survey among Romanian university students at the national level. Results: Our study showed that students accepted online education only as a form of compromise in relation to the epidemiological situation. However, they were affected by the diminished contact with the university and their colleagues and the lack of a regular routine. Emotionally, the participants experienced feelings of loneliness, panic, fear, aggressiveness, and intolerance due to the lack of cultural activities, the struggle with the usual routine, and the restriction of communication and movement. Socially, the relationships with friends and university colleagues were affected; many students returned home to their parents, who supported them during the lockdown. As a general finding, our study describes a social category that felt the full effects of isolation during the emergency state but still managed to cope with the situation by mobilizing a number of specific resources: family, intellectual and cultural concerns, and faith. Conclusions: The emergency state imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic has been a special experience in the lives of Romanian students. Its dramatism was tempered well by an effective support mechanism provided by social ties, intellectual formation, and a certain religiosity. This has produced good resilience among students, but also in the communities they belong to. Full article

There are several studies looking into the differences between state-run and church-run schools in the recruitment and retention of their teachers. In Hungary, where teachers of church-run schools do not have to meet any special official requirements, church-run education has seen a rapid expansion since 2011. The denominational schools in Hungary are faith-based government-dependent private schools. The number of both Catholic and Protestant schools has increased twofold, and the expansion is still continuing. The vast majority of the newest denominational schools used to be run by the state and were taken over extremely rapidly, along with all their teachers and students, by the church. In our present study, based on our analysis of the survey “Teachers in church-run educational institutions” (2015–2017, N = 1134), we compare Catholic and Protestant teachers from church-run schools. Our results show that there are only slight differences in teachers’ values in the different denominational schools, which implies that the value systems of those schools are highly similar. The detected differences do not depend on the denominations that operate the schools but rather on the individual teachers’ religious affiliation. The most marked differences, however, have been detected between the value systems of religious and non-religious teachers. Full article