Improving Schools

Although collective teacher responsibility can play a critical role in student learning and development, our understanding of it remains limited. Using data from state-representative elementary and middle schools in Indiana, this study examines the relationship between collective teacher responsibility and student achievement. Regression analyses show that schools with higher poverty rates, larger proportions of racial/ethnic minority students, and larger enrollments tend to have lower collective teacher responsibility. On average, collective teacher responsibility is not associated with math achievement, but the association is stronger for English Language Learners (ELLs), Black students, and lower-achieving students. In English Language Arts, collective teacher responsibility is positively associated with achievement, particularly for ELLs, students with individualized education programs, and lower-achieving students. These findings underscore the importance of collective teacher responsibility in supporting student learning, especially for marginalized students.

This study draws on data from 77 and 68 educational systems to conduct a meta-analysis examining the relationship between students’ cultural capital, teacher support, student–teacher relationships, and mathematics achievement. Results show that objectified and institutionalized forms of cultural capital—specifically home possessions (r = .27, p < .0001), parental occupational status (r = .17, p < .0001), and parental education (r = .02 to .03, p < .0001)—are positively associated with student performance, though the strength of these associations varies substantially across national contexts (I² = 84%–90%). While teacher support (TEACHSUP) and student–teacher relationships (RELATST) do not show significant direct associations with achievement, interaction analyses indicate small but statistically significant moderation patterns. Specifically, teacher support is associated with slight variation in the relationship between home possessions and occupational status and achievement, while student–teacher relationships show similarly modest associations with parental education and home possessions. These effects are small in magnitude (r = .01 to .04) and should be interpreted with caution. Taken together, the findings do not provide clear evidence of compensatory effects and are consistent with multiple interpretations, including slight variation in existing socioeconomic gradients. The results highlight the continued importance of structural resources as the most consistent predictors of achievement and suggest that the equity potential of relational interventions should be interpreted cautiously.

Limited research has explored how family-school relationships can buffer the negative effects of family adversity on students’ behavioral and emotional functioning in the classroom. Drawing on ecological resilience theory, this study investigates the relationship between student exposure to family adversity and adjustment difficulties in school and examines whether family engagement moderates this association. Data were collected from third-grade teachers (N = 236) across six elementary schools implementing a trauma-informed, culturally responsive family engagement program. Teachers reported on students’ adjustment difficulties, family adversity, and family engagement using the Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation (TOCA). Results indicated that family adversity was positively associated with student adjustment difficulties, whereas family engagement was negatively associated with these difficulties. Contrary to expectations, family engagement moderated the association such that higher levels of engagement were linked to a stronger relationship between adversity and adjustment difficulties. These findings highlight the complex role of family-school engagement in contexts of adversity and underscore the importance of considering teacher perspectives, contextual factors, and relationships when designing interventions to support students exposed to chronic stress at home.

In the United States, military service members and their families move often. High rates of mobility in military-connected (MC) families means frequent school changes, which can take a toll on children. There is a nascent but growing literature on the role that school supports can play in helping MC children with school transitions. To better understand the role of school supports for MC students and families who frequently change schools, we interviewed 40 MC families with elementary and middle school aged children. Analysis of these qualitative data yielded the following themes: (a) with each move, MC parents faced navigating rocky academic transitions; (b) they also observed the heavy emotional toll on their children; (c) for both parents and students, making new social connections is critical to a successful transition; (d) even small gestures of understanding and acts of support by school staff were appreciated by MC families; and (e) most MC families, though not all, emphasized the value of military-specific school supports.

Identity, as a theoretical construct, has for decades been gaining attention in educational research in various contexts. In the context of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, STEM identity enhances the possibility of students choosing and pursuing STEM-related careers. To facilitate students’ STEM identity, it is crucial that they are recognized as STEM persons by both themselves and other individuals (e.g. family members, teachers, and friends). Yet, research comparing such recognition as students perceive it from different kinds of people is scarce. This study thus examines 62 Thai eighth-grade students’ self- and social recognition in STEM before and after their engagement in design-based learning. Data were collected using a Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (i.e. the Friedman, Mann–Whitney U, and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests). The results of both measurements reveal that students’ recognition as STEM persons, regardless of the source, was less than half of the full score. Their self-recognition was highest, while social recognition from friends was lowest. There were no gender differences in such self- and social recognition. Design-based learning did not significantly improve the students’ self- and social recognition, with the exception of girls’ perceived recognition from teachers. Although this study did not directly involve family members in design-based learning, its results tend to suggest that family members’ recognition was closest to the students’ self-recognition. Thus, further research is needed to find ways to foster students’ self- and social recognition in STEM.

This paper aimed to thoroughly analyze the impact of principal leadership on teacher outcomes, drawing on a database of 153 studies published in Scopus-indexed journals over 23 years (2000–2023). Descriptive statistics were employed to highlight trends in the existing literature in terms of growth trajectory, geographic distribution, authorship trends, citation impact, article types, and methodological approaches. Then, a more thorough examination of the reviewed articles was conducted employing the content analysis method. The findings reveal a notable reluctance among scholars to explore principal leadership styles in the context of teacher-related outcomes. Transformational, distributed, and instructional leadership emerged as the predominant styles in the relevant literature. Moreover, the study identified noteworthy associations between principal leadership and teacher outcomes, such as job commitment, job satisfaction, and performance. A set of recommendations has been proposed to advance further research and to deepen our understanding of how principal leadership impacts teacher outcomes.

Research indicates that teachers’ academic optimism significantly enhances student performance, independent of students’ socioeconomic status and migration background. This study extends the knowledge base on academic optimism by empirically examining the impact of school-related antecedents on individual teachers’ academic optimism, with a particular focus on leadership and school culture as perceived by secondary school teachers in Antwerp, Belgium. Utilising a path model, the study explores whether various forms of school leadership directly influence academic optimism or whether this influence is mediated by school culture. Findings reveal that the rational goal perspective and open system perspective positively affect teachers’ academic optimism, while the internal process perspective and human relations perspective exert a negative impact. Additionally, the study demonstrates that instructional leadership, shared leadership, authentic leadership, and performance management are both direct and indirect predictors of teachers’ academic optimism. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamics between leadership, school culture, and academic optimism, providing valuable implications for educational policy and practice.

To improve their practices, teachers need to regularly develop and practice teaching innovations. Hence, this study examines such practices via the relations between entrepreneurial teachers and their entrepreneurial ecosystem, including schools’ formal structures and informal collegiality. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the survey responses of 734 teachers from 30 Hong Kong primary and secondary schools examined the structure of their entrepreneurial attributes and competencies. The results revealed hierarchical structures for entrepreneurial attributes (Mitigating Risk and Contriving Humility) and competencies (Advocating Innovation and Seeking Resources). The entrepreneurial ecosystem has a two-factor structure, comprising formal structure and community. Structural equation modeling showed that entrepreneurial teachers’ attributes were linked to entrepreneurial teachers’ competencies, which in turn were linked to the entrepreneurial ecosystem’s formal structures and informal community. Further, teachers with more than 3 years of teaching experience had more teacher entrepreneurial competencies than less experienced teachers. This study offers insights into (a) how teachers foster innovative and entrepreneurial teams within EEs, (b) strategies to integrate entrepreneurial thinking and innovative practices, (c) promoting innovation, and (d) forming entrepreneurial teams.

In today’s dynamic and increasingly uncertain educational environments, teachers are expected to constantly acquire new knowledge and demonstrate creativity to ensure quality teaching, that is, the integration of good and successful teaching. Job boredom, as an emotion, is regarded as a key driver of individuals’ knowledge-seeking behavior and creativity. Dyadic leader-member exchange relationships (LMX) have been identified as a critical factor in the emotion regulation of teachers. Using data from 1,406 Nigerian teachers, this study investigates the impact of job boredom on teacher creativity and teaching practices, with a particular focus on the mediating and moderating roles of LMX and pedagogical knowledge absorptive capacity (ACAP) in this relationship. The findings indicate a correlation between teacher job boredom and increased activities aimed at recognizing, assimilating, transforming, and exploiting new pedagogical knowledge, as well as a greater variation in teaching practices. ACAP, in turn, emerged as the key driver of teacher creativity and quality teaching. Crucially, the study introduces a novel curvilinear understanding of LMX in educational contexts, demonstrating that high-quality leader-member exchange weakens the positive influence of boredom on these outcomes. While this suggests that high LMX can provide a stabilizing environment for good teaching, it also implies that too much relational support may dampen the creative potential of boredom. Consequently, school leaders should balance support with constructive challenges to ensure that boredom translates into productive pedagogical innovation rather than complacency, while policy frameworks should prioritize training that enhances teachers’ absorptive capacity.

With the growing interest in using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) for work tasks, empirical research is needed to understand the conditions facilitating and hindering such use. Drawing on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study examines the moderating effect of innovation culture in schools on the relationship between school leaders’ openness to experience and the integration of GenAI in school leadership tasks. This research used a cross-sectional survey design, collecting data from 302 Israeli school leaders in primary and secondary schools. Regression analysis was used to explore the relationships between the variables. Correlations indicated that school leaders with higher openness to experience are more likely to integrate GenAI into their school leadership tasks. The moderation analysis showed that only the presence of a strong innovation culture significantly strengthens this relationship. The moderation analysis also pointed out that, by contrast, in schools with a low innovation culture, school leaders’ openness to experience is not related to integrating GenAI into school leadership work. The study contributes empirically to the emerging discourse on AI in educational leadership by clarifying the role that school leaders’ personality traits and institutional culture play in this change and the relevance of the interaction between the factors.

Interest in teachers’ assessment literacy (AL) is growing in China. However, research into AL of senior high school teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) is generally lacking. The present exploratory research attempts to probe the issue. 257 teacher participants from secondary schools across China responded to a survey of AL predicated on the Standards. Rasch analysis revealed that the teachers met with great challenges in completing the survey. They performed relatively better at items and standards that were closely related to their daily work, for example administering and scoring tests, but worse at the items that were involved some forms of specialized knowledge, for example reliability, performance data interpretation, and so forth. Overall, teachers performed slightly better at test-related items than assessment-related items. The association between AL and demographic variables seemed to be weak. The underperformance of the secondary teachers points to a gap between what was expected of them and what was possessed by them in respect of classroom assessment knowledge on the one hand, and on the other, a potential mismatch between the Standards and the actual competencies required for effective assessment practice in Chinese context. The study has implications for secondary teachers’ AL development and training.

One of the main concerns of teachers in the practice of their profession is that of managing the behaviour of their students. This concern is also justified by studies that point to the serious consequences of this educational shortcoming. This article analyses the perception of experienced teachers regarding the competences that helped them to encourage self-regulation of behaviour (SRB) among their students and how to acquire them. The minutes of 21 working group sessions conducted during three academic years and a focus group were contrasted with a competency framework. This resulted in a synthetic and cross-curricular proposal of six competences that initial and in-service teacher education should include and that in-service teachers judge to be more closely related to SRB. This is a manageable competency framework for teacher training plans aimed at equipping teachers with the necessary skills to promote SRB in the classroom.

There is still an approach to the Practicum in which pre-service teachers are still seen as trainees who cannot contribute to the experienced practice of in-service teachers. The aim of this study was to find out, from the point of view of in-service teachers, university practicum tutors and pre-service teachers themselves, whether the latter doing their last Practicum can contribute to school improvement from an inclusive perspective and, if so, in what aspects of improvement this influence is produced. A qualitative comprehensive-descriptive study was carried out during two school years with the participation of 14 in-service teachers from 2 different schools and 10 pre-service teachers who were participating in the last Practicum, as well as 2 university tutors. Results show that pre-service can play a relevant role in school improvement, especially in classroom organisation, in teacher’s professional development and, in children’s learning. Reflections on teacher training programmes are provided.

We describe outcomes from a small-scale feasibility study of the SpeakOut with Advocatr program intended to empower middle school students to make their voices heard, while simultaneously training school personnel in restorative approaches to promoting classrooms and schools where students feel comfortable speaking up. The study was conducted in a small rural middle school. We collected pre and post survey data from school staff and students, as well as interview data from the school administrator, counselor, and teachers who implemented the student curriculum. Results indicated some statistically non-significant changes in the desired direction on the staff survey, and few changes on the student survey. Student engagement appeared to decline from pre to post. Qualitative data provided strong support for the feasibility and continued use of the SpeakOut with Advocatr program. We provide recommendations for elevating student voice in the context of current literature and our study results.

The needs arising in today’s society, and consequently, the demands placed on its citizens imply that individuals must possess a set of competencies to address them, such as the need to navigate diverse social contexts, manage digital information, and solve complex problems collaboratively. In terms of competency-based education, it’s essential to highlight the role of the educational field, which, must constantly adapt and transform itself to promote the comprehensive development of its students, including critical thinking, socio-emotional skills, digital literacy, and collaborative problem-solving. The objective of this study is precisely to analyze the perceptions and practices of Early Childhood and Primary Education teachers regarding the implementation of active methodologies and innovation in the classroom. The results reveal that teachers innovate in their practices and prioritize active methodologies to foster competency development in their students. Although they acknowledge various challenges, such as limited preparation time, insufficient training, and the integration of digital tools. The study highlights how Early Childhood and Primary Education teachers implement active methodologies and innovate with their students, despite facing challenges such as a lack of specific training, time for preparation, and especially digital resources to further engage in educational innovation. They share their experiences and, therefore, their contribution as educators to shaping competent citizens prepared for present and future societal demands.

This article presents a study that aimed to examine the impact of Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs) and student-centred approaches in students’ wellbeing. The study was carried out through an ad hoc questionnaire administered to 74 students from schools where teachers had received ILE training and were implementing related pedagogical changes. Descriptive analyses showed that positive responses exceeded 74% for most items, with higher results in areas such as responsibility, collaboration, and participation. In terms of wellbeing, students reported increased feelings of acceptance, motivation, satisfaction, creativity, security, and capability. Pearson correlation analyses revealed significant associations, indicating that motivated students felt happier and more satisfied with their classroom work; those who felt more capable reported greater attention, responsibility, satisfaction, and ease of learning; higher satisfaction was associated with opportunities to express emotions, and ease of learning correlated with both satisfaction and relaxation. Demographic data (gender and stage) were also analysed. In summary, the findings suggest that ILEs and student-centred approaches positively influence students’ wellbeing and academic experience, pointing to the value of innovative educational practices for enhancing both learning and personal development.

Teacher-education programmes increasingly turn to AI to personalise learning, yet many designs still inherit assumptions from learning-styles (LS) models. This review synthesises 63 empirical studies from Scopus and Web of Science using a PRISMA-guided process to clarify what LS research in teacher education shows and how these insights should redirect AI-enabled personalisation. We find widespread declared support for LS (77.4% of studies) alongside limited comparative testing against alternative frameworks (51.6%), and substantial heterogeneity of instruments and methods that undermines comparability. Notably, the intersection of “personalised learning” and LS is comparatively small, suggesting a weak empirical basis for LS-driven personalisation. Concerns about LS as a neuromyth, and calls to bridge neuroscience and educational practice, recur across the corpus; the literature also points to conceptual-change strategies that can reduce erroneous beliefs among pre- and in-service teachers. Taken together, the evidence does not support style-matched instruction. We therefore argue for AI-enabled personalisation anchored in observable performance, strategy use, and self-regulation, with transparent evidence pipelines and attention to workload and equity. This contribution reframes personalisation for teacher preparation beyond fixed style labels and outlines a realistic route for school improvement in an AI-intensive educational landscape.

Despite growing interest in improving academic performance, the interaction between cognitive load and the learning strategies students use underexplored. This study examines how cognitive load and critical thinking skills affect academic performance in adaptive learning settings. We utilized a cross-sectional survey design with a sample of 500 undergraduate students to test a mediation model. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to examine the relationship between cognitive load, critical thinking and academic performance. Data were collected using validated self-report instruments administered online via the Qualtrics platform. The direct effect of cognitive load on academic performance was significant (β = –.45, p .05). The model tested showed good fit indices (CFI = 0.94; TLI = 0.92; RMSEA = 0.06; SRMR = 0.05) which confirm its theoretical validity. Additionally, correlational analyses demonstrated significant positive relationships between germane cognitive load and metacognition and academic performance, as well as negative relationships with intrinsic and extraneous load (all p < .01). The predictive value of germane load was also confirmed by regression analysis (β = .52, p < .001) followed by strategic learning approaches. The results of this study highlight the significance of limiting cognitive load and promoting successful strategy use in higher education.