• Exploring Sustainability in Mitigating Managerial Challenges Faced by Women Principals in Primary Schools: A Case of Rural Areas

  Mataboge Saltiel Khololo Collen (Sciendo, 2024-06-01)

  The purpose of this conceptual paper is to explore sustainability in mitigating managerial challenges faced by women principals in rural primary schools. The main research question guiding this study is: “What strategies can be employed to enhance sustainability in mitigating the managerial challenges experienced by women principals in primary schools, particularly in rural areas?” This qualitative study draws upon a comprehensive review of scholarly books and articles, serving as the foundational framework for the research. Data collection is conducted through qualitative methods aligned with the interpretive paradigm allowing for a deep exploration of the experiences and perspectives of women principals. Findings from this study highlight a multitude of challenges faced by women principals in rural primary schools including limited resources, societal expectations, and gender biases. Despite these challenges, many women principals demonstrate resilience and innovative approaches in their leadership roles. The significance of this study lies in its contribution to the understanding of gender dynamics in educational leadership within rural settings, shedding light on unique challenges faced by women in these roles. Policymakers, school leaders, and aspirant deputy principals can benefit from the insights gleaned from this study. These recommendations include the need for tailored support mechanisms for women principals in rural areas, professional development opportunities focusing on leadership skills and gender equity, and policy interventions aimed at addressing systemic barriers to women's advancement in educational leadership roles. Attempts in implementing these recommendations, stakeholders can foster more inclusive and supportive environments for women principals in rural primary schools, ultimately enhancing the quality of education and leadership within these communities.
• Impacts of Pandemic among Private University Students in Southeastern Philippines: Insights for Educational Sustainability in the Post-COVID-19 Era

  Villegas Jhonnel Pancho; Nemenzo Phoebe Salas; Salutillo Charisma Tormis; Garcia Melanie Martos (Sciendo, 2024-06-01)

  The COVID-19 pandemic influenced a paradigm shift in Philippine higher education. Educational institutions were challenged and impacted, compelling them to restrict physical interactions and transition to flexible learning modalities. This study investigates the impacts of COVID-19 on the education of private university students in the Davao Region, Southeastern Philippines. One hundred eighty-eight students participated in the survey via Google Forms, which was later analyzed using descriptive statistics. From them, a selected few were also invited to participate in qualitative inquiries to obtain an in-depth understanding of the problem under study. Although internet connectivity challenges emerge as a significant impediment, students prefer synchronous lectures and video conferences as learning modalities. Most of them are anxious, dealing with mental health and study habit issues. Interestingly, some respondents revealed that the pandemic positively impacted their lives. Students’ adaptive and creative skills helped them cope with the challenges of the new learning modalities. The administrators and faculty members may benefit from these findings in formulating online learning policies and teaching-learning strategies. These findings are helpful baseline to ensure educational sustainability during and after the health crisis.
• The Interaction of Information Technology Habits and Learning in Young Adulthood

  Zakrizevska-Belogrudova Maija; Steinberga Airisa; Hofmane Anete; Rusmani Argron (Sciendo, 2024-06-01)

  This study examines the relationship between the habits of young adults in the use of information technologies and the cognitive processes involved in learning. It was found that information technologies have become an irreplaceable part of modern education, offering vast opportunities to access information and resources, thus promoting the learning of young adults. A large research phase was held to qualitatively analyze the impact of expert interviews on information technology usage habits on young adults' cognitive processes and to investigate the changes it can create in the learning process. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews withopen-ended questions. At the end of the research stage, it was found that using information technology in the learning process has positive and negative consequences, as it has changed the way knowledge is acquired and has made information accessible; however, the use of technology creates an illusion that a person is able to multitask. Learning with the help of information technology reduces the visual perception field; moreover, under its influence, a different attitude towards time and the pace of life arises, creating a feeling of lacking time. Various cognitive, emotional, and social disorders intensify; directly affecting young adults' well-being. This study highlights the importance of the interaction of information technology usage habits and cognitive processes in the learning of young adults.
• Co-creating Transformations Towards Sustainability: Embracing Innovations, Honouring Traditions

  Heasly Berise; Iliško Dzintra; Lindner Johannes (Sciendo, 2024-06-01)
• Visioning Transformative Science Education for Sustainability

  Jeronen Eila; Keinonen Tuula; Kärkkäinen Sirpa (Sciendo, 2024-06-01)

  This article explores how global citizenship can be seen in the practices of science education in the context of international education policy and Finnish school and teacher education, with a focus on scientific literacy and sustainability education for promoting a sustainable future. Possibilities of science education to promote sustainability are discussed through teaching examples based on socio-scientific approaches. In addition, transformative science education for sustainability is regarded through competence development taking into account different knowledge dimensions. Solving problems however requires not only knowledge but also communicative and strategic and speculative activity. Thus, education must emphasize the main visions of scientific literacy and transdisciplinary perspectives proposed in the literature, supporting students to understand society and everyday socio-scientific challenges from the local to global level and to deal with differing scientific results and uncertain information. Our article presents findings and conclusions that provide opportunities for further work and provide insights into science and educational sustainability practice.
• The Importance of Internal Images for Sustained Learning in Mathematics

  Apfler Sabine (Sciendo, 2024-06-01)

  Children and young people live in a world that is constantly changing. In order to master their lives successfully, they will need many skills and competences. These include mathematical competences, which they should build up from primary school age. This article deals with the question of how mathematics lessons should be designed in order to enable sustainable learning and what action-oriented role, material-supported lessons, and the development of inner images play in this. This study investigated characteristics beneficial for the development of mathematical competences and what they meant for teaching in distance learning settings. The results indicate that the development of inner images support sustainable learning in mathematics.
• An Innovative Approach to Teaching Environmental Education Through Mind-Mapping and Creating Radio Programming

  Uyulgan Melis Arzu; Güven Nalan Akkuzu (Sciendo, 2024-06-01)

  The primary aims of environmental education and courses at universities are for students to develop an environmental mentality and to be able to apply that mindset to solving real-world issues. In this study, pre-service elementary students participated in active learning environments through creating educational radio program activities by researching scientific information on seven topics: water, air soil, global warming, population, green chemistry and artificial intelligence. Presentations of their radio programs were followed by construction of mind maps to exhibit knowledge of the environmental concepts they had learned. This approach demonstrated useful knowledge for future classroom applications for teaching about environmental issues. Mind maps were used to help university students establish patterns between concepts and thoughts, understand cause-effect relationships, and organize and systematize their complex knowledge about environmental issues. A case study design was implemented. Participants were second-year students enrolled in a public university's Elementary Teaching Program in Izmir, Turkey. Results indicated that the incorporation of educational radio activities with mind maps to consider the most prominent environmental education issues and their alternative solutions raised students' awareness of how lesser-known issues are related to the environment. Students concentrated on a cognitive and affective process; learning to look at multidimensional environmental issues from many viewpoints by adding new concepts to those they previously knew.
• Coping with Perplexities: How to Make Human Rights Education Sustainable

  Franzenburg Geert (Sciendo, 2024-06-01)

  On 23 December 1994, the UN General Assembly adopted a plan of action for the United Nations decade for human rights education (HRE). 30 years later, this challenge is still increasing. As Hannah Arendt pointed out, human rights are valuable only as political rights, not for abstract individuals but for natural communities. While HRE in schools and classrooms is in focus, the context of adult education transfers philosophical and political thoughts into an educational context, particularly concerning biographical traumatic situations such as refuge and expulsion. Therefore, this paper presents and explains adult education approaches which facilitate coping strategies with ethical perplexities by evaluating the 30 Articles of the UNO Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.
• Investigating the Barriers to Implementing Instructional Strategies by Primary School Principals - A Qualitative Inquiry

  Ismail Sameera; Sepeng Mmalefikane Sylvia (Sciendo, 2024-06-01)

  This article reports on barriers to implementing instructional strategies by primary school principals in Gauteng Province, South Africa. The research was done in schools in Tshwane South Province of Gauteng, in South Africa; and it utilizes a qualitative study approach involving an interview with fifteen experienced school principals. The research used purposive sampling in selecting 15 school principals that are highly experienced from among 131 primary schools. This study is an endeavour to explore the idea of instructional leadership performed by principals of these schools. The findings are pertinent and valuable for those who are involved in the field of education, such as policymakers, researchers, and school principals. The identified challenges highlighted in the study are limited resources, non-compliance, inflexible processes, communication problems and lack of adequate technological skills. Moreover, the personal beliefs defined by past experience, educational system changes and school management alongside insufficient program training programs refer to obstacles of strategy implementation for principals. Finally, this paper provides recommendations for policymakers and principals on addressing the various barriers to implementing instructional strategies in primary schools in Gauteng Province. The study provides a deep understanding of the complicated field of instructional leadership in primary schools that seeks to enrich policy and practice for effective education results within Gauteng province.
• A Sustainable Approach to Teacher Professional Development on Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) Implementation

  Taranto Daniella (Sciendo, 2024-06-01)

  Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) is widely acknowledged as essential for educational achievement and fostering continuous learning skills (Taranto & Buchanan, 2020). As a result, there has been a marked escalation in embedding SRL criteria within academic curriculums, including primary education (De Smul et al., 2020; Heirweg et al., 2021). However, implementing SRL poses a significant challenge for educators, as it requires them to focus not just on delivering content but also on guiding students through the process of strategic learning. Teachers require specialised knowledge and expertise in effectively teaching SRL (De Smul et al.,2019). Understanding how to offer teachers support for effectively implementing SRL into classroom settings represents a vital area for future research (Dignath, 2021; Greene, 2021; Karlen et al., 2020). To this end, the current study investigated teachers’ understanding of acquiring professional expertise in implementing SRL within Grades 5 and 6 classrooms. The research was conducted in a Catholic primary school in Victoria, Australia, employing a comprehensive SRL approach to teaching and learning practices. To gather insights from the participants, unstructured interviews were conducted. The methodology of Classic Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss in 1967) was applied to identify, conceptualise, and examine the participating teachers’ perspectives. This study demonstrated the preference among teachers towards a multifaceted approach to SRL-focused professional development (PD) for enhancing critical aspects of teacher knowledge they deemed vital for SRL implementation. Furthermore, the findings emphasised the significance of teachers participating in training sessions to enhance their SRL content knowledge, team teaching opportunities centred on SRL pedagogical content knowledge and teacher coaching that emphasised teachers’ experiences with practising SRL. The research underscored professional expertise in SRL implementation as an incremental process of cultivating specific areas of professional knowledge that relied on diverse approaches to PD and required a sustained approach.
• The Influence of Ecolinguistic Discourse on Shaping the Product Relationship Management

  Roozafzai Zahra Sadat (Sciendo, 2024-06-01)

  Ecolinguistic studies deal with the socio-ecological contexts, actors and factors involved in producing, perceiving, and practicing a language. Being supported by immense scholarship about the power of language in shaping the receivers’ mind, culture, and lifestyles, including shopping, a shift toward sustainability can start by employing ecological linguistics in marketing communications to attain both profitabilities which is the end goal of marketing, and sustainability which is the ultimate condition of survival and living. Therefore, the present study addresses the question of what ecolinguistic discourse strategies can be proposed for developing marketing and product development contents in Product Relationship Management (PRM). To answer the question, a mixed method including an experiment, and a questionnaire survey was employed, to investigate the effectiveness of using a chosen rhetorical device in ads about preserving natural resources and re-commerce for selling selected products in retail businesses. Re-commerce is short for "reverse commerce," refering to the practice of selling previously owned or used products through online or physical marketplaces. In the experiment employed in the present study, an ecological ad containing the rhetorical question was given to the experimental group, and a purely commercial ad about the same customer good for the control group. The results gathered from 80 potential customers (participants) showed that using the rhetorical questions had a significant and distinctive effect on the purchase intention of the participants.
• Model of Sustainable Collaborative Network for Educating Digital Literacy: A Case Study of Schools in the Sub-districts of Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand

  Leksansern Arisara; Niramitchainont Poschanan; Longpradit Panchit; Chansaengsee Sovaritthon; Leksansern Prasert (Sciendo, 2023-12-01)

  This study aimed to investigate the need for digital literacy for teachers in schools in the sub-districts of Nakhon Pathom Province; to design a model of teacher digital literacy development and create a model of a sustainable collaborative network for educating digital literacy in schools in the sub-districts of Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand. The research was action research. The samples were teachers from schools in the sub-districts of Nakhon Pathom Province; by selecting schools from the Office of Nakhon Pathom Primary Education Service Area Office 2, 32 teachers from Phutthamonthon District, Bang Len District, Nakhon Chai Si District, and Sampran District. The findings indicated that the digital literacy needs assessment of teachers, based on the application of OCSC (2020) digital literacy framework, suggested that the highest PNImodified score was 0.492 for Using Digital Media Creation Software, whereas the lowest PNImodified score was 0.205 for Using the Internet. The model of a sustainable collaborative network for educating digital literacy in schools in the sub-districts of Nakhon Pathom Province is developed based on the system theory and education philosophy as core principles. The model consists of 4 main components such as 1) education philosophy; 2) input from external driving forces, organization factors, operation factors, and teachers’ factors; 3) processing factor in developing digital learning management skills and building a sustainable collaborative network; and 4) output of students, teachers, school administrators and schools.
• Inclusion of Newcomer Children in Preschool: The Case of Latvia

  Tarune Iluta; Usca Svetlana; Dzerviniks Janis (Sciendo, 2023-12-01)

  The ethnic and cultural diversity of today’s society calls for sustainable intercultural education in an inclusive environment. The inclusion of newcomer children in the Latvian education system has become a topical issue with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The preschool period is the time when the foundation for future achievements is laid; in an inclusive environment, children’s knowledge and skills are fostered to find solutions in the sustainable society of the future. The readiness of preschool teachers for working with newcomer children is determined by the set of competences teachers have in place for the successful inclusion of newcomers in preschool education. A preschool teacher’s competence to work with newcomers is a complex construct which includes many sub-competences. In their research, the authors identify knowledge, skills and attitudes that characterize a teacher’s work with newcomer children in an inclusive environment. The results show that Latvia’s preschool teachers lack the knowledge and skills for working with newcomer children, and their attitude towards these children is not always positive.
• Discourse on Unequal Power Relations in Knowledge Sharing Transactions at Selected Township Schools in Nkangala Education District

  Nkambule Bongani Innocent (Sciendo, 2023-12-01)

  Sustainable Development Goal No 4 (SDG4) resonates with all education systems of the world. It has resulted in education policies being created and promulgated with sustainability and development in mind. In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), sustainability speaks to the need for schooling systems to operate as a knowledge society and to maximally exploit the abundance of knowledge assets that exist in their ecologies. This implies that they must adopt knowledge management (KM) to take advantage of the 4IR era aligned technological innovations, instructional practices and administrative standards. In light of the view that, of all KM processes, knowledge sharing reigns supreme and gives rise to the generation of new organisational knowledge as well as the innovation of existing organisational knowledge; the study adopted a qualitative approach embedded in an interpretivist paradigm to explore the perceptions of teaching and support staff- specifically six teachers and four administrative clerks (altogether ten participants) - of factors contributing to unequal power relations in knowledge sharing practices at two selected schools in Nkangala Education District, Mpumalanga Province (South Africa). The study found that poor leadership practices contributed to unhealthy professional interactions, knowledge hoarding, contravention of contextual ethics (of Ubuntu), trust deficit, top-down communication and workplace bullying.
• High School Teachers’ Work Motivation: A Mixed Research Method

  Özcan Mehmet (Sciendo, 2023-12-01)

  This study aims to reveal the work motivation of high school teachers and was carried out with an explanatory sequential design, which is one of the mixed research methods. There were 284 participants in the quantitative stage and 15 participants in the qualitative stage of the study. At the quantitative stage, a work motivation scale was used, while in the qualitative part, an interview form consisting of 4 questions was used. As independent variables, gender, branch, professional experience and education level were used. As a result of the analysis, high school teachers’ work motivation levels do not significantly differ in terms of educational level and professional experience but significantly differ in terms of gender and branch. The mean score of high school teachers’ team cohesion, job integration, commitment to the institution and personal development level are found high. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value of the work motivation scale used in the quantitative part of the study was found as .892 and the Bartlett Test as 1490.185. As a result of analysis teachers’ work motivations rise with peace, efficiency, academic success, balanced relationships, love of the job, communication, organizational belonging, organizational management, organizational culture, in-service training, self-confidence, research and experience.
• The Self-Efficacy Perception for Environmental Education and Ecological Footprint Awareness of the Child Development Programme Students

  Pullu Emine Kübra; GÖmleksiz Mehmet Nuri (Sciendo, 2023-12-01)

  The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between the self-efficacy perception for environmental education and ecological footprint awareness of the child development programme students. Sample group of the study which was carried out according to the correlational survey model was specified according to convenience sampling. The sample group consisted of students studying in child development departments in four universities in Turkey. In the study, “Self-Efficacy Scale for Environmental Education” and “Ecological Footprint Awareness Scale” were used as data collection tools. For the data analysis, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov, t, variance tests and The Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used. In the research results, it was revealed that the environmental education self-efficacy perception and ecological footprint awareness levels of the students of the child development programme positively affect each other at a moderate level.
• Universalization, Sustainability and “Justiceness” of Primary Education: Perspectives and Lessons from Uganda

  Kyambadde James; Khumalo Shuti Steph (Sciendo, 2023-12-01)

  It is through education that communities and governments can tackle political, economic, social and geographic inequalities and ills in the continent of Africa. It is for this reason that policies like the Universal Primary Education were adopted. Children have the right to basic quality education as espoused in several agreements such as the Convention of Childrens Rights of 1989 and the Sustainable Development goals. Access to quality education for success is a social justice trajectory and promotes social justice principles. This article was intended to examine the impediments in the effective implementation of Universal Primary Education policy in Uganda. The authors view the identified impediments as social injustice practices. In exploring the phenomenon, this study deployed a qualitative research approach within a constructivist paradigm. The authors located their thesis within Rawl’s perspective of social justice. This theoretical lens is fundamental and apposite in education in that social justice theorists believe that schools as social systems should create opportunities for inclusive and enabling schooling environments, and in addition provide quality education for students. This study is of great significance in that it contributes to the epistemology in the discipline of the management of universal primary education. The study yielded critical findings which can be summarized as follows: limited capitation grants, demotivated teachers, challenges related to stakeholder collaboration and coordination, communication, cooperation, engagement and consultation.
• Determining the Size of the Carbon Footprints of Secondary School Students

  Demir Fatıma Betül; Kaya Emirhan; Derman Nedim (Sciendo, 2023-12-01)

  A large part of the environmental problem, which is defined as the ecological footprint, is the carbon footprint. As a matter of fact, the consumption activities of the individual have many destructive and permanent effects on nature. In this research, it is aimed to determine the size of the carbon footprint, which is an important component of the ecological footprint of secondary school students, and to evaluate their views on the carbon footprint. The research is carried out with mixed method in accordance with its purpose and content. The quantitative sample group of the research consists of 750 students in total, studying at secondary schools in the Western Black Sea Region in the 2022-2023 academic year, with the maximum diversity sampling. The qualitative study group consists of 20 secondary school students randomly selected from the students participating in the quantitative part. In the research, “Carbon footprint calculation questionnaire” developed by Ertekin (2012) and “Semi-structured interview form” developed by researchers were used as data collection tools. As a result of the research, it is seen that the carbon footprints of the students are moderate. In addition, it was determined that the class level and family income status were effective on the carbon footprint size of the students. It is seen that the results obtained from the qualitative data support the quantitative results.
• Educational Simulation Play as a Transcultural Approach to Resilience and Reconciliation

  Franzenburg Geert (Sciendo, 2023-12-01)

  Educational simulation plays facilitate real experiences in a safe environment and, therefore, are appropriate for gaining a better sense of the dynamic relationships at work in complex environments, for exploring good fits and practical solutions, and for understanding how mistakes occur, mainly when plays, built upon an explicit or implicit model of reality, engage multiple participants and reproduce some of the political, coordination, communication, and coalition-building challenges that often accompany peace and stabilization operations that exist in the real world. Thus, they become an exercise in social science theorizing and a research tool to examine the implications of hypothesized relationships and conflict dynamics in a variety of forms (abstract plays or role-playing activities). By emphasizing needs, interpretations, stereotypes and resources of all participants, simulation plays facilitate strategies for resilience and reconciliation.
• School Leadership under Covid-19 Pandemic: A Critique of the South African School Context

  Sepeng Sylvia; Kgwete Ephraim (Sciendo, 2023-12-01)

  The advent of COVID-19 exposed the lack of readiness for school leaders to cope with demands of leading during a pandemic. Globally, school leaders were not trained to deal with a crisis of COVID-19 proportions. Leaders in the twenty-first century need to have the required skills like the twenty-first century leadership skills and Fourth Industrial Revolution skills. This study investigated how school leaders are handling the challenges of school leadership under the COVID-19 pandemic in the 4IR era. This study adopted a qualitative research approach. An analysis of local and international literature was done to identify gaps. The study revealed that school leaders and teachers have inadequate information and communication technology skills. Leadership preparation programmes are lagging behind in preparing school leaders to lead in a crisis. Furthermore, the study revealed that school leaders and teachers do not establish communities of learning to learn leadership skills from each other. The study has concluded that there is no alignment between the level of readiness for school leaders and leadership skills of the twenty-first century.

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