Search Results (170)

Practical argumentation refers to a form of argumentation oriented towards action. Unlike theoretical argumentation, which primarily concerns the truth or acceptability of propositions, or mathematical argumentation, which is mainly concerned with the production, justification, and validation of mathematical claims, practical argumentation includes an action, decision, or course of conduct as a central component of the argument. Practical argumentation has attracted growing interest in fields such as political science, critical discourse analysis, argumentation theory, and education. In educational contexts, it is especially relevant for analysing how teachers justify pedagogical decisions in relation to learning objectives, classroom circumstances, available means, professional values, and anticipated consequences. Within mathematics education, analytical tools have been developed to structure and represent practical arguments made by prospective and practising teachers during episodes of teaching reflection on practice, for instance through schemes that connect argumentation models with didactical criteria for analysing mathematics teaching and learning. Practical argumentation thus provides a conceptual and analytical tool for making visible the reasons underlying teachers’ decision-making, particularly in situations characterised by tensions between mathematical, didactical, and classroom-management considerations. Full article

This longitudinal study examined how pre-service teachers’ psychological need experiences are configured and how teacher professional identity is associated with profile membership and movement across these configurations. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), data were collected from Kuwaiti pre-service teachers across three waves over one academic year. Latent transition analysis was conducted with 317 complete-case participants using autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfaction and frustration as indicators. A four-profile solution was retained: Flourishing, Moderately Thriving, Need-Frustrated, and Struggling. The label Moderately Thriving is comparative: this profile showed high need satisfaction in absolute terms but somewhat greater need frustration than Flourishing. The decoded profile assignments showed moderate descriptive stability across adjacent waves, with stability rates of 54.6% and 62.1%, though the Struggling profile showed markedly higher persistence than the others. Wave 1 teacher professional identity was associated with profile membership at both Wave 1 and Wave 3. In the dimension-level models, Teacher Self-Efficacy and Commitment to Teaching each showed adjusted associations across profiles and waves, whereas Professional Orientation was associated with profile membership only at Wave 1. Initial professional identity was not significantly associated with improvement or deterioration relative to stability. However, change in professional identity from Wave 1 to Wave 3 was associated with the direction of profile movement: increases were associated with lower odds of deterioration and higher odds of improvement. Because identity change and profile movement were assessed over the same period, the direction of this association cannot be established. These findings complicate a simple protective view of professional identity and suggest that supporting future teachers may require attention to both identity development and need-supportive programme conditions. Full article

The diffusion of generative artificial intelligence has moved educational debate beyond access to new tools, placing teacher work, pedagogical mediation, assessment, and digital competence under renewed pressure. This article examines teachers’ perceptions, declared uses, and forms of engagement with generative AI in Gymnasien (academic-track secondary schools) and Gesamtschulen (comprehensive secondary schools) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The study is based on an anonymous and voluntary online questionnaire circulated through school leaderships. The operational database comprised 204 records, while the main analysis was based on 156 completed questionnaires. Closed-item responses were examined through descriptive statistics and interpreted through DigCompEdu and its AI-related supplement. The findings indicate an asymmetrical incorporation of generative AI across teachers’ work. Its presence is stronger in preparation, organisation, professional reflection, and risk awareness than in direct classroom mediation, process-oriented assessment, and institutionally supported student use. The strongest contrasts concern perceived student overreliance on AI-generated answers, the need to adapt assessment practices, limited school-level guidance, and weak use of AI-supported process monitoring. Rather than interpreting this imbalance as a simple delay in adoption, the article argues that teacher competence in relation to generative AI is produced through the interaction between professional judgement, pedagogical purposes, and institutional conditions. It therefore cannot be reduced to an individual technical attribute. Full article

In early childhood education (ECE), eye-tracking research has primarily investigated in-service teachers’ visual gaze and reflective practices in pedagogical settings. However, little is known about how pre-service ECE teachers’ visual information-processing is oriented by their pedagogical goals, particularly in authentic play-based contexts. This paper addresses this gap by examining how pre-service ECE teachers adapt their professional vision during children’s play. The study involved two pre-service ECE teachers with work experience. The data consisted of video recordings and mobile eye-tracking data collected during authentic play situations involving children aged 3–5, participants’ written pedagogical plans, and cued retrospective recall interviews with mobile eye-tracking recordings as interview stimuli. Integrating these data sources enables a process-oriented analysis of professional vision by linking observable gaze patterns with participants’ retrospective accounts of what they attended to and why. The data demonstrate that professional vision is a goal-oriented process in which pre-set goals guide pre-service teachers’ gaze allocation, shaping their interpretations of children’s play in pedagogically relevant ways. The analyses also reveal instances of unaddressed pedagogical opportunities. These instances restrict teachers’ ability to reorient their attention in response to children’s initiatives. The study conceptualizes visual information-processing in play-based contexts as a dynamic relationship between pre-set pedagogical goals and ad hoc adaptation, thereby offering insights into emerging aspects of developing adaptive expertise. Full article

Drawing on interviews with ten preschool principals who recruit, mentor, and evaluate preschool teachers, this study examines how playfulness is conceptualized as a professional competence within early childhood education and care (ECEC) practice. In Swedish ECEC, play and teaching are conceptualized as intertwined processes, and co-play is positioned as a central pedagogical approach that requires both personal dispositions and ongoing professional development. The study highlights the importance of integrating playfulness into ECEC teacher education in order to strengthen future teachers’ capacity to co-play with children and engage in play-based teaching practices on children’s terms. The findings also suggest that professional playfulness emerges as a multifaceted and context-dependent competence, shaped by institutional conditions as well as individual orientations towards play and teaching. By foregrounding leadership perspectives, the study contributes to ongoing discussions on the role of play in ECEC and emphasizes the need for deliberate efforts to support the development of professional playfulness in both practice and teacher education. Full article

This study examined pre-service elementary school teachers’ perceptions of a semester-long professional learning programme in Iran, focusing on perceived shifts in their concerns, drawing on the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) as the theoretical framework. Adopting a CBAM-informed, directed (deductive–inductive) qualitative content analysis of the written reflections of 30 pre-service teachers across two provinces, the study traced perceived shifts in participants’ concerns throughout their professional learning journey. Consistent with CBAM’s developmental stages, the analysis of participants’ reflections suggested a perceived transition from self-focused concerns to concerns about teaching effectiveness. This shift—from self-oriented concerns toward task- and effectiveness-oriented concerns—aligns with the model’s prediction that individuals move through self, task, and effectiveness concerns as they adopt new practices. The findings also suggest that this progression is associated with the development of professional identity, personal beliefs, and the capacity for lifelong learning. Although the training process placed many participants in unfamiliar contexts, it provided valuable experiences that encouraged active engagement in curriculum design. Despite facing uncertainty and challenges, participants developed the psychological readiness to continue their professional journey. Because the study is based on self-reported written reflections rather than classroom observation, teaching performance, or pupil outcomes, the findings are presented as perceived shifts in pre-service teachers’ reflections, concerns, and professional readiness, rather than as demonstrated impact on attitudes, practices, or teaching outcomes. Overall, these findings underscore the relevance of CBAM for understanding and informing the design of professional development for pre-service teachers. Full article

Interdisciplinary dialogue between religion and psychoanalysis has long been regarded as an important approach to addressing modern psychological suffering. Erich Fromm sought to integrate Zen Buddhist practice with psychoanalytic reflections on integration of the unconscious, self-awareness, and personality, proposing a framework that links spiritual cultivation with psychological growth. However, this framework’s explanatory power and limitations in the contemporary Chinese context remain insufficiently explored through empirical research. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 14 Chinese Zen practitioners in China, this study employs thematic analysis to examine their practices, psychological changes, and understandings of the relationship between Zen and mental health. Most participants regarded Zen practice as a long-term process involving cognitive reorientation, emotional regulation, and behavioral transformation, broadly resonant with Fromm’s integrative framework. However, the framework should not be treated as a directly applicable model of psychological intervention, as its practical relevance depends on sustained cultivation, community support, situated understanding, and clear professional and ethical boundaries. These qualitative findings underline potential risks when Zen cultural resources are introduced into contemporary mental health services, including decontextualization, instrumentalization, and an orientation toward immediate results. Therefore, within clearly defined ethical boundaries, a limited and responsible form of collaboration between Zen teachers and mental health professionals may be worth further exploration. Full article

Primary CLIL teacher wellbeing remains underexplored in France and Spain. This exploratory, context-specific qualitative study examined the factors that ten primary teachers, five in France (Montpellier and Lille) and five in Andalusia, associated with their wellbeing. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, enriched with the ontosystem and the flourishing/floundering distinction, was used as an interpretive device. The interviews were analysed through reflexive thematic analysis. Participants’ accounts converged around perceived gaps in CLIL-specific training, time, coordination, and human and material resources, while differing in how they interpreted programme stability and recent policy change. The analysis tentatively developed a compensatory pedagogy of affection and a broader pattern of professional delegitimation and identity-related loss. Explicit bilingual professional shame appeared in one account. It also identified native-speaker-oriented linguistic self-demand and an emerging pattern of AI-assisted material adaptation across six accounts. We offer a provisional, context-specific tensional ecological framework to organise the relationships participants described between conditions perceived as structural pressures and personal, relational, formative, and material resources. The framework is intended as a heuristic and hypothesis-generating contribution rather than a validated causal or longitudinal model. The findings identify areas for institutional review and further research. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector. However, AEC education remains rooted within traditional disciplinary boundaries and a technology-centric training model, creating a widening mismatch between graduates’ capabilities and the cognitive, collaborative, and interdisciplinary demands of AI-enabled practice. Situated within the Chinese higher education context, this study bridges this gap through a multi-stakeholder survey (n = 352) noting perspectives from academia, industry and research. One-way ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD test were used to examine differences across stakeholder groups and disciplines, while a Bayesian Network was developed to model competency pathways, simulate intervention scenarios and identify key leverage points for curriculum reform. The analysis reveals that meaningful AI integration requires a reconstruction of competency, rather than the mere addition of standalone technical or software courses; it calls for fundamental changes in professional formation, curricula and pedagogy. Four core competencies emerged from the data: professional expertise, systems thinking, interdisciplinary collaboration and AI-enabled problem-solving. Bayesian Network simulations further indicated that curriculum expansion alone improved AI knowledge acquisition by 39.6%, but yielded only modest gains in practical skills (13.9%) and application competencies (4.5%). By contrast, integrated interventions that combined teacher development, university–industry collaboration and project-based practice produced substantial improvements in AI application competencies (37.9%), employment adaptability (29.3%) and industry satisfaction (14.1%). These divergent findings highlight the necessity of coordinated educational interventions to reconcile stakeholder expectations and foster AI-oriented competency development. Based on this evidence, the study proposes a competency-oriented framework and a phased curriculum transformation pathway, providing an empirical foundation for AI-driven curriculum reform and competency reconstruction in AEC education. Full article

Training educators to integrate sustainability into their practice is crucial for the 2030 Agenda. This article presents a mixed-method design to explore perceived changes in sustainability-oriented professional identity among pre-service primary teachers following a Service-Learning intervention. The design combines an instrumental case study with convergent mixed methods and a qualitative emphasis. Core instruments include reflective diaries structured around Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and a 10-item questionnaire on perceived competence development. Participants were 37 pre-service primary teachers in their fourth year of study. Inductive thematic analysis of the diaries revealed a shift from a teacher identity centred on content transmission towards one focused on facilitating experiential learning and acting as a community agent. Descriptive analysis showed mean scores between 3.59 and 4.51, with significant differences from the scale’s neutral point (p < 0.001). Methodological triangulation evidenced a gap between high endorsement of the community role (M = 4.30) and lower self-efficacy in collaboration strategies (M = 3.62) and in addressing complexity (M = 3.59). The article suggests that this design offers a promising framework that may be transferable to similar teacher education contexts, potentially providing a useful tool for operationalising Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 assessment in higher education. Its strengths, limitations, and transferability potential are discussed. Full article

This study explores how teachers working in social music projects in Spain understand their professional development and which elements they identify as central to their learning processes. Although teacher professional development (TPD) has been widely studied in formal music education contexts, less is known about how it unfolds in socially oriented and community-based settings. The study adopts a qualitative design based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with seven music teachers involved in social music projects across Spain. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify recurring themes and patterns in participants’ accounts. The findings show that teachers understand professional development as an ongoing and situated process closely linked to their daily practice. Experiential learning, adaptation to uncertainty, collaboration with others, and continuous reflection emerge as key elements in their development. In addition, participants highlight the importance of expanding beyond strictly musical training to include pedagogical, social, and relational competences. These results suggest that professional development in social music projects differs from more traditional models by emphasising context, experience, and community engagement. The study contributes to current discussions on music teacher development by highlighting the need for more flexible, collaborative, and context-sensitive approaches to TPD. Full article

This study analyses the professional development provision in artificial intelligence (AI) offered to non-university teachers in Andalusia during the 2023–2024 academic year. The research follows a descriptive documentary design based on the systematic review of training activities provided by the Teacher Training Centres (CEPs) in the eight Andalusian provinces. The initial corpus comprised 1832 training activities. After screening course titles and, when available, objectives, descriptions, metadata and content lists, 26 AI-related activities were identified; after excluding repeated editions and activities whose information was not accessible, the final analysable corpus consisted of 15 distinct and visible courses. The analysis combined quantitative description of distribution by province with qualitative content analysis supported by Atlas.ti. The results show that AI-related training represented only 1.42% of the overall offer and that the final analysable corpus represented 0.82% of all training activities. The provision was also unevenly distributed across provinces and tended to privilege specific tools, generative AI applications and productivity-oriented uses, with comparatively limited attention to ethical, pedagogical, assessment-related and interdisciplinary dimensions. The findings suggest the need for a more coherent regional strategy based on common minimum AI literacy modules, differentiated pathways by educational stage, blended and mentored formats, classroom-based projects and systematic evaluation of training impact. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being introduced into educational practice, raising questions about how teachers perceive its pedagogical role and the extent to which they are willing to integrate it into teaching. This study examined primary and secondary school teachers’ preferred pedagogical approaches to AI use and the contribution of professional awareness and conceptual beliefs to explaining these preferences. A total of 322 teachers from primary and secondary schools in Croatia completed an online questionnaire measuring professional awareness of AI, conceptual beliefs about its role in education, and preferred pedagogical approaches. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression were used to analyse the data. The results showed a clear preference for an integrative approach, in which AI is used to support teaching while teachers retain professional control over pedagogical decisions. The traditional approach was less pronounced, whereas the technological approach was almost entirely absent. Viewing AI as a didactically useful teaching tool was a significant positive predictor of preference for the integrative approach, whereas inactive awareness and critical beliefs about AI risks were significant negative predictors. These findings suggest that teachers accept AI primarily as a supportive tool within a pedagogical model that preserves their autonomy and responsibility for teaching. Full article

In China’s latest mathematics curriculum, project-based learning (PBL) foregrounds mathematical problem solving (MPS) as student-led inquiry in authentic contexts. This study examines teachers’ beliefs about MPS within PBL, and how such beliefs are enacted in planning and teaching. Using a constant comparative approach, we drew on interviews, lesson plans, and reflective accounts from 14 mathematics teachers. Most teachers emphasised application and creativity, positioning themselves as guides/supporters who facilitate students’ exploration. Consistent with these beliefs, lesson plans commonly drew on personally and socially grounded contexts and featured challenging, open-ended tasks attending to cognitive breadth and depth. While espoused beliefs largely aligned with described implementation, a minority endorsed procedure-focused instruction, revealing tensions between exploration- and content-oriented approaches. Examining teachers’ beliefs can inform understanding of progress in curriculum reform. Sustained, long-term professional learning—supported by institutional resources and professional autonomy—is needed to help teachers navigate these tensions. Full article

Academic motivation and achievement are central to student success in applied STEM, engineering, and technical and vocational education and training (TVET); however, despite extensive research, the evidence remains fragmented across theoretical traditions, educational levels, and disciplinary settings. This structured narrative review synthesizes research on the factors shaping academic motivation, achievement, and career readiness in these contexts. A literature search was conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and PsycINFO for studies published between 2010 and 2025. A total of 58 studies met the inclusion criteria from an initial pool of 2184 records. Guided by self-determination theory, achievement goal theory, social cognitive career theory, and expectancy–value theory, this review identifies self-efficacy, perceived competence, task value, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, goal orientation, metacognitive skills, teacher and peer support, curriculum relevance, and industry-aligned learning opportunities as key factors associated with student engagement, achievement, and career-related development. The synthesis shows that these factors operate through an integrated motivational core linking motivational regulation, self-belief, task value, and goal orientation. The findings suggest that student success is shaped by the interaction between individual beliefs, social support, instructional conditions, and perceived links between learning and future professional pathways. Practical implications are discussed for designing student-centered, career-relevant, and motivation-supportive learning environments in engineering and TVET. Full article