Search Results (36)

A sense of school belonging predicts NEET outcomes for adolescents. However, young people from marginalized groups often have a lower sense of school belonging than their majority peers. Emerging understandings of belonging as a complex, agentic process shaped by multiple relational, contextual, cultural and structural factors have posed problems for real-world applications of belonging. NEET young people tend to be viewed through a lens of risk factors, with a lack of research accounting for their experiences and feelings. While recent research recognizes the intersectional effects of disadvantage, or ‘compound disadvantage’, on NEET outcomes for young people from certain social groups, there is a lack of viable alternatives for educators and policymakers to account for these differential experiences of belonging in order to be able to respond to them. Connected Belonging is a relational and identity-building approach to enhancing young people’s wellbeing through supporting their connectedness and sense of self across the eight social domains of their lives. This paper outlines the development and validation of a young people’s survey, which enables education professionals to attend to and respond to the differing belonging experiences of diverse groups, operationalizing an intersectional lens on school belonging. After introducing the views of young people about systemic priorities to better support their engagement in education, training or work (EET), gathered through a youth voice event as part of a parallel research project, the paper outlines the process of developing, piloting and validating the tool. We argue that this survey tool has the potential to support improved attention to the views and experiences of diverse young people in a systematic, regular fashion. Furthermore, it offers potential for the evaluation of supportive actions grounded in youth voice. Full article

This study presents an innovative and interdisciplinary didactic approach for teaching biodiversity to high school students, aiming to enhance basic learning skills and promoting deeper understanding of biological concepts. The designed educational proposal aims to support policy-driven collaboration between schools and botanical gardens within the framework of coordinated and long-term educational policies. The intervention was designed to cultivate both cognitive and metacognitive skills within three (3) didactic hours, offering a holistic learning experience through the study of Tulipa members used as an alluring model. A total of 168 Greek first- and second-grade high school students (on average 16 years old) participated in the study. Biodiversity was examined in a multidisciplinary fashion, focusing on species’ diversity (phenotypic), genetic-karyological diversity, and habitat diversity. The core components of the approach included: (a) the completion of a corresponding worksheet module, which effectively engaged students in the learning process using the 5E didactic model, and (b) a karyotype lab experiment using living Tulipa specimens. The learning process was evaluated through two questionnaires assessing the acquisition of scientific knowledge and behavioral outcomes. The results showed a positive impact on students’ understanding regarding the genetic material and biodiversity, with the karyotype experiment playing a key role in achieving high performance in both cognitive and affective learning objectives. Knowledge scores were higher in the second-grade students (53–73%) than in the first-grade students (44–69%) of high school, especially regarding concepts such as karyotype applications and biodiversity-ecosystem balance. The karyotype experiment positively correlated with both the evaluation of the intervention and the shifts in biodiversity beliefs (Pearson’s r = 0.649, 0.515; p < 0.05, respectively). The modeled inquiry-based approach with living tulips and karyotype experiments can help schools and botanic gardens counteract plant blindness by enhancing cognitive and affective learning outcomes within a limited instructional timeframe. Full article

Climate change education requires innovative, action-oriented methodologies to foster student engagement and reflection on sustainable behaviors. This study explores an integrated educational program implemented within the Pathways for Transversal Skills and Orientation (PCTO) framework in three Italian upper secondary schools. The program combined immersive virtual reality experiences, GIS-based image analysis, traditional instruction, and two behavior-oriented web applications. A total of 181 students completed a post-activity questionnaire assessing satisfaction, perceived learning, prior knowledge, and self-reported intentions toward behavioral change. Results show that technology-enhanced and interactive modules were associated with higher levels of perceived engagement and perceived learning (with over 80% of students reporting at least moderate learning in immersive, GIS-based, and carbon footprint activities) compared to theory-only sessions. Modules explicitly linked to everyday behaviors, such as carbon footprint estimation and fast fashion consumption, were more frequently associated with self-reported intentions to adopt more sustainable practices (approximately 70% of positive responses). Given the post-only, perception-based design, findings should be interpreted as exploratory evidence of students’ perceived educational value rather than objective measures of learning outcomes. Overall, the study highlights the potential of experiential and digitally enhanced approaches in climate change education, while underscoring the need for future research incorporating objective and longitudinal assessments. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the fashion, textile, and clothing industries by enabling automated assessment of garment quality, condition, and recyclability, addressing key challenges in sustainability. This systematic review explores the applications of AI in evaluating clothing quality and condition within the framework of a circular economy, with a focus on supporting second-hand clothing resale, charitable donations by NGOs, and sustainable recycling practices. A total of 135 research resources were identified through searching academic databases including Google Scholar, Springer, ScienceDirect, IEEE, Taylor and Francis, and Sage journals. These publications were subsequently refined down to 49 based on selected inclusion criteria. The selection of these sources from diverse databases was undertaken to mitigate any potential bias in the selection process. By analyzing the effectiveness and challenges of related peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, and technical reports, this study highlights state-of-the-art methodologies such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), hybrid models, and other machine vision systems. A critical aspect of this review is the examination and analysis of datasets used for model development, categorized and detailed in a comprehensive table to guide future research. Whilst the findings emphasize the potential of AI to enhance quality assurance in second-hand clothing markets, streamline textile sorting for donations and recycling, and reduce waste in the fashion industry, they also highlight gaps in the available datasets, often due to limited size and scope. The types of textiles captured were most commonly swatches of fabric, with 20 studies examining these, whereas whole garments were less frequently studied, with only 7 instances. This review concludes with insights into future research directions and the promising use of AI within fashion and textiles to facilitate a transition to a circular economy. This project was supported through RMIT University’s School of Fashion and Textiles internal seed funding (2024). Full article

With the growing significance of the circular economy (CE) agenda in the fashion industry and, consequently, in fashion design education, this work introduces the initial phase of a case study that aims to ascertain whether CE principles and sustainability are part of the curriculum and pedagogical approaches employed by educators in the Fashion Design Technician course (FDTC) (level 4, National Qualifications Framework—QNQ, and European Qualifications Framework—EQF). Additionally, it seeks to identify the methodologies, strategies, and educational activities used to address these themes. This research outlines the review of documentary sources that facilitated the definition of the study’s object and sample and describes the implementation of a questionnaire survey to forty educators teaching this course across various disciplines encompassing the three training components (sociocultural, scientific, and technological) in fifteen out of the sixteen Portuguese vocational schools, during the academic year 2023/24. This phase of the case study has led to the conclusion that while the technical course curriculum may not extensively cover CE and sustainability, these topics are integral components of most pedagogical practices among the surveyed teachers. The methodologies, strategies, and activities employed display a strong commitment to fostering sustainable practices, predominantly nurturing environmental awareness among students. Full article

Entry into the profession of archaeology generally requires the completion of an archaeological field school, which teaches proper field, laboratory, and curation methodologies. Archaeology as a discipline has been making strides towards integrating cross-disciplinary methods to increase the depth and breadth of the subject and enhancing inclusivity. These efforts have been mirrored in the approaches of some archaeological field schools, but not necessarily in a systematic fashion. This paper presents a cohesive framework for an archaeological field school that integrates cross-disciplinary training and inclusivity by model of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), specifically SDGs 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, 13: Climate Action, 4: Quality Education, and 11: Reduced Inequalities. Both how the framework could be implemented across a variety of archaeology field schools and how it has been implemented in the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) field school held in Jupiter, Florida, are discussed. Furthermore, we present preliminary survey data from field school participants to demonstrate how this field school supports SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities. Full article

Digital competencies are critical to success in higher education, and yet these skills are often not explicitly taught to students. We have previously designed and evaluated a university-wide digital skills programme using quantitative methods. In the current study, we aim to better understand the student experience of this programme by conducting semi-structured interviews with those completing the programme. Twelve students were interviewed, and data were thematically analysed to reveal five themes. Firstly, students defined digital competencies in line with tridimensional models but also noted that these competencies were deployed in a goal-directed fashion. Secondly, prior learning was explored, with some students noting they had received training as part of specific qualifications at school but many relying on self and peer-teaching. This fed into the third theme, which related to motivations for training in which students noted the appeal of a comprehensive programme with certification on completion but also a need to address their lack of skills or confidence and maximise their university experience. The fourth theme revealed that the student learning journey through the programme varied considerably. Online learning was perceived as having strengths and weaknesses and whilst the diversity of resources was welcomed, pacing was mixed. Finally, the data demonstrated training was impactful, both in terms of teaching and learning and the wider student experience, allowing students to be more digitally aware and proficient in all areas of digital competency. The findings of the current study indicate that there is value in offering university-wide digital skills training. Full article

After the attempt at collaboration between the Frankfurt School and the Vienna Circle failed in the late 1930s, Adorno stood at the forefront of critical theory’s polemics against ‘positivism’. Given these later polemical exchanges, some of the tendencies common to both movements have remained overlooked. Among these is their opposition to the phenomenological tradition. This paper focusses on certain features common to Schlick’s and Adorno’s critical responses to Husserl. The Machians, including Adorno’s supervisor Hans Cornelius, were targeted by Husserl’s onslaught against psychologism in 1900. The young Schlick’s Machian background had motivated his contribution to the Psychologismusstreit, in the context of which he launched a series of objections against Husserl’s ‘independence theory of truth’. Adorno’s later doctoral dissertation under Cornelius was also motivated by the effort to defend his master against Husserl’s objections. Schlick’s criticisms intensified in later works, where Husserl’s epistemology of intuition is seen as yet another instance of the widespread confusion between knowledge and acquaintance. Schlick’s warnings against Husserl’s turn towards the irrationalist fashions of his day find their echo in Adorno’s ‘Metakritik’. Apart from their broad agreement in how they understand Husserl’s positioning within his context, Schlick and Adorno also develop a similar criticism of Husserl’s account of intuition as failing in its aspiration to discover unmediated givenness, which it confuses with mediated conceptual knowledge. Unfortunately, while Adorno explicitly acknowledges Schlick’s critique of Husserl, he also misconstrues it as a scientistic rejection of metaphysical nonsense, thus failing to acknowledge the proximity to his approach. Full article

This exploratory study analyses the level of the development of the eight key competencies in sustainability of 237 students in the 7th–10th grades, when confronted with a real conflict situation associated with the production and consumption of ‘fast fashion’. Their responses were categorised into four levels, representing the degree of development of each competence. The results reflect a low level of competence development, with no significant differences among academic year groups. The competence where the highest level of development was reached was the inter-personal competence, as students recognised that the consumption of fast fashion contributes to the labour exploitation of others. However, this did not prompt students to question the prevailing consumerist values in our society (values-thinking competence), their own practises (implementation competence), or their own contribution to the problem (intra-personal competence). Therefore, it seems necessary to address different socio-environmental issues, critically analyse our daily actions, and thus promote these competencies in sustainability in schools. These will enable students to actively participate in environmental conservation from the perspective of environmental and social justice. Full article

Stakeholder-based brand is increasingly recognized as a measure for corporate sustainability, although the knowledge in this area is relatively unknown. Through a systematic review approach, the present study explores the global knowledge base on sustainability and brand. The most influential authors and documents are identified, followed by a discovery of the intellectual structure of the sustainability and brand knowledge base with five schools of thought. First, the Customer Attitudes and Behavior school refers to behavioral studies (one of the common approaches in sustainability studies). Second, the Tourism Marketing school represents the popular context of sustainability studies that mainly relates to hospitality, destination marketing, and fashion brand management. Third, the Brand Strategy school refers to corporate strategy concerning brand that is widely used to measure corporate sustainability performance such as brand equity. Fourth, the Societal Marketing school provides insights into the marketing strategy that leads a firm to achieve competitive advantages under concerns about finite resources and rising environmental and social costs. Finally, the Advanced Quantitative Analysis school reveals an approach that is mainly used when conducting sustainable marketing studies. A model on sustainability brand is then derived, adopting the grounded theory approach. Future research opportunities are also identified and discussed to continuously advance the scholarship in this specific area. Full article

Today’s society has been paying increasing attention to the important impact of family parenting practices on the development of adolescents. Adolescents with poor parenting practices may have poor academic performance in school, have low self-evaluation, and are more likely to be captured by video games and short videos. The present research explored the mediating role of fashion values and self-esteem in the relationship between a negative parenting style and adolescent learning ability. We aimed to deepen our understanding of the relationship between family parenting and adolescent value identity, as well as between individual self-esteem and school adaptation. We based our research on a total of 997 students in Shanghai from grades 6, 8 and 10. Furthermore, we made use of parenting behaviour, Chinese adolescent values, and of the revised Chinese version of the class drama questionnaires and of the Children’s self-awareness scale. The chain mediation model was used to analyse the mediating effect of fashion values and self-esteem on parental rejection and peer evaluation learning ability. The results showed that fashion values played a partial mediating role between parental rejection and adolescent learning ability, and that parental rejection positively predicted fashion values, and fashion values negatively predicted learning ability. Self-esteem played a partial mediating role between parental rejection and adolescent learning ability, while parental rejection negatively predicted self-esteem and self-esteem positively predicted learning ability. Fashion values and self-esteem played a chain mediating role between parental rejection and adolescent learning ability, as parental rejection negatively predicted fashion values, fashion values positively predicted self-esteem, and self-esteem positively predicted learning ability. In conclusion, a negative parenting style influenced the development of adolescent value recognition and self-esteem, and affected the development of adolescent learning ability. That said, we should encourage families to adopt a positive parenting style and adolescent quality education to positively impact adolescent development. Full article

Background. Edentulism is considered a chronic disability since tooth loss, and the required prosthodontic rehabilitation with removable prostheses might irreversibly affect function and aesthetics and significantly impact patients’ psychological well-being and social interactions. The present study aimed to translate, validate, and adapt in the native population the recently developed nine-item self-reporting psychological disturbance associated with tooth loss questionnaire (PDATL). The well-established Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) questionnaire was also employed to identify potential emotional states of depression, anxiety, and stress caused by tooth loss and denture-wearing. Methods. For the present analysis, nationwide baseline data from two samples were used. The participants were using clinically acceptable complete or partial dentures for at least 1-year and were interviewed from May 2021 to October 2021. The dentures were fabricated in two different Dental School settings, the National Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH). Data from both clinical studies were analyzed similarly, in a parallel fashion, to enhance the generalizability of the results. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient measured internal consistency reliability, whereas Principal Component analysis using a Varimax with Kaiser Normalization rotation was subsequently performed to test the questionnaire’s internal structure regarding its pattern and structure matrix. All analyses were performed at α = 0.05 level of significance with statistical software (SPSS Statistics for Windows, v20.0; SPSS Inc. (Chicago, IL, USA)). Results. In both data sets, all items except for “discomfort/pain” and “difficult to relax” contributed significantly to the scale structure. The two items that presented weaker contributions indicated that they were redundant. DASS-21 statements revealed no severe negative emotional symptoms in both data settings. However, tooth loss was acknowledged by the participants as a critical factor of distress in their life. Conclusion. The PDATL questionnaire has several advantages since it allows for summary score calculation, and due to its shortened content, it can be easily distributed during a telephone interview. This is important in older tooth loss sufferers where digital technology has an additional advantage as it allows for remote denture fabrication through digital workflow. Full article

The present paper focuses on digital storytelling in education, emphasizing the teachers’ needs for familiarization with the new technological conditions. A transmedia integration approach is deployed to make productive, blended learning values while utilizing the availability of tools and reusable media assets in a component-based software engineering kind of framework. The topic is inspired by social studies and humanities, which seem to be marginalized, usually failing to make effective technological facilities, benefits, and contemporary findings. It is, therefore, necessary to modernize the approach to literary things and integrate digital means into the educational process, even in cases where a sole educator on humanities and social studies lacks multidisciplinary support in multimedia authoring and software engineering. This modernization can be made possible by introducing user-friendly tools into the process, representing not just a fashion of the time but mostly a renewal trend, aiming at revitalizing the course to attract and engage learners. Undoubtedly, today’s pupils have grown up with technological means, becoming familiar with their use so their implication causes undiminished interest in most daily activities, including schooling. In this high-tech generation, it is absurd to address the transmission of knowledge and values in outdated ways. Apart from adapting to the timely students’ needs, lesson plans on transmedia storytelling practices can also satisfy tutors, triggering their inspiration and co-creation potentials. Overall, the project aims to attract the trainees’ interest with the help of digital tools, which will be embodied in the educational processes by teachers without technical know-how, while continuously adapting to the audience’s needs. Research hypothesis and questions are formed as part of the deployed human-centered interactive design, aiming at modeling best practices for teaching classical topics, such as the “Odyssey”. Full article

Working in factories fashioning bricks by hand seems the epitome of hazardous child labor. Yet, efforts to remove children from this work have shown little success; impoverished families balance the value of their children’s contribution against the risks they see. Unfortunately, psychosocial impacts are often not visible, and are rarely taken into consideration when designing interventions. A comprehensive occupational health study of children working in brick factories included a module on psychosocial risks and impacts. This analysis reports on the Pakistan and Afghanistan portion of the study which was administered to 450 child brick workers and 486 controls, aged 11–17. Factorial ANOVAs confirmed that working in brick factories was the strongest predictor of respondent’s psychosocial health. However, they also identified subgroups of children that escape this prediction. Older girls, for example, actually felt better when working, compared with staying at home. Schooling had positive associations, especially in younger boys and adolescent girls. In fact, the results of this study showed that those who are at greatest psychosocial risk were girls who do not go to school. These findings underscore the importance of assessing psychosocial impacts and tailoring policy and interventions to specific gender and age categories of young workers. Full article

The desire to escape from pressures/anxiety represents an important motivation for problematic engagement with short-term rewarding behaviors that could contribute to the development of recognized and candidate behavioral addictions, including problematic shopping, a prevalent condition among youth in the U.S.A. characterized by excessive shopping cognitions/behaviors that lead to distress/impairment. However, to date, the specific correlates of shopping to relieve anxiety or tension have yet to be evaluated. We aimed at addressing this gap by analyzing data (N = 2556) from a high-school survey from Connecticut in an exploratory fashion. Adolescents who acknowledged experiencing a growing tension or anxiety that could only be relieved by shopping were classified as having negative-reinforcement shopping and compared to the remaining students. Data were analyzed in chi-square and logistic regression models to examine negative-reinforcement shopping in relation to socio-demographics, health correlates, gambling-related perceptions/attitudes, and problem-gambling severity/gambling behaviors. Negative-reinforcement shopping was more frequent in female and Hispanic students, was linked to more permissive gambling attitudes and at-risk/problematic gambling, and was associated with the use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other drugs, dysphoria/depression, and weapon-carrying and physical fighting. Taken together, these findings highlight adverse measures of health and functioning linked to negative-reinforcement shopping that may be particularly relevant to girls and Hispanic youth. Additional efforts to prevent negative outcomes are warranted. Full article