International Journal of Educational Development最新文献

{"title":"The interaction between learning, mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal mixed-methods study in Ethiopia","authors":"Louise Yorke ,&nbsp;Mesele Araya ,&nbsp;Nardos Chuta ,&nbsp;Abebech Demisse ,&nbsp;Pauline Rose","doi":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103352","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103352","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted education and exacerbated mental health challenges in Ethiopia, where prolonged school closures and limited access to remote learning have disproportionately affected vulnerable populations. This paper investigates the experiences of primary school students during pandemic-related school closures and reopening, and the consequences this had on their learning, mental health, and wellbeing. It combines quantitative data from over 2000 students tracked from Grades 4–6, together with qualitative data from in-depth interviews with a subsample of these students who experienced a decrease in their learning during this time. Our quantitative data show that 42 percent of students in the sample experienced a decline in numeracy test scores following school closures, with an average loss of 10 percentage points. Students with lower self-reported mental health and wellbeing, as well as those from the poorest families, were disproportionately affected—about 12 % more likely to experience learning loss than peers with better mental health or from wealthier families. Our qualitative findings highlight key factors that shaped students’ experiences, including a lack of access to learning resources, increased household responsibilities, economic hardships, and heightened stress due to uncertainty about the future. Girls were more likely to have been involved in domestic work activities, which left them with less time to spend on education. Our findings point to the need for targeted interventions to support the specific needs of students most affected by crises, focusing on both their academic learning and their mental health and wellbeing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48004,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Educational Development","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103352"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144535740","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mapping adult education institutions for development in Taiwan: The impact of course design, instructional approach, and faculty management on performance","authors":"Kuang-Hsien Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103351","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103351","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how adult education institutions in Taiwan contribute to broader development goals by integrating course design, instructional approaches, and faculty allocation. Drawing on nationally representative data covering 1526 adult education institutions from the Ministry of Education’s 2024 Adult Education Survey, multiple regression and linear endogenous treatment effects models were employed to analyze the impact of different institutional strategies on performance. Results indicate that institutions affiliated with formal schools primarily offer diploma- or credit-based courses, whereas non-formal providers deliver more flexible, diverse programs—spanning interest-based learning, leisure activities, and career-focused skills—to meet the varied needs of adult learners. Although face-to-face instruction is prevalent in diploma and certification courses, the rising demand for workforce training and skill upgrading has driven the adoption of blended and online formats. Faculty allocation strongly influences teaching quality and enrollment, highlighting the importance of rigorous teacher qualification review, professional training, and ongoing faculty development. Moreover, marketing strategies and resource flexibility enable institutions to remain responsive in a dynamic environment and achieve sustainable goals. The study underscores how adult education can promote social inclusion, lifelong learning, and broader societal progress by mapping the interplay among curriculum design, pedagogical practice, faculty management, and institutional performance. These findings offer evidence-based insights for policymakers and institutional leaders seeking to enhance the developmental impact of adult education through strategic resource allocation and innovative practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48004,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Educational Development","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103351"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Empowering STEM education from within: A call for self-reliance in the Global South","authors":"Joshua Sarpong,&nbsp;Bezawit Alamirew Wube","doi":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103350","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103350","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper explores the need to develop a practical and contextually relevant STEM education system in the Global South to equip future generations to participate meaningfully in the global economy and to foster inclusive development. Enhancing access to quality STEM education is important, particularly in Africa, where it is estimated that most of the world’s new workers in the next 30 years may come from. However, persistent underinvestment in education by many governments in the region continues to undermine progress, making STEM education systems less efficient and more vulnerable to external influence. While international support has played a role in advancing STEM education, this paper critically examines its complexities. Foreign aid can accelerate progress when aligned with national strategies, but it may also come with conditions that compromise local priorities, institutional autonomy and disciplinary balance. This paper argues that the Global South must strategically leverage international support while increasing domestic investment, strengthening national policy frameworks, and preserving a balanced education system that values STEM and the humanities. A more self-reliant and critically engaged approach to foreign aid can help ensure that STEM education serves national development agendas without replicating historical patterns of dependency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48004,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Educational Development","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103350"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cognitive spillover benefits of early childhood education: Quasi-experimental evidence based on random class assignment from China","authors":"Yalin Tang ,&nbsp;Xinmeng Hao ,&nbsp;Yuhe Guo ,&nbsp;Chengfang Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103343","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103343","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper investigates the cognitive spillover effects of classmates’ early childhood education (ECE) experience on junior high school students, using data from the first two waves of the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS). To address potential endogeneity in classmates’ composition, we leverage exogenous variation in students’ ECE experience generated by random class assignment upon their entry into junior high school. Employing a value-added model, we find that classmates’ ECE experience significantly enhances students’ cognitive performance. Specifically, a 10-percentage-point (pp) increase in classmates’ ECE enrollment raises students’ cognitive scores by 0.08 standard deviations (SD), while an additional year of classmates’ ECE experience shows insignificant effect. As to underlying mechanisms, the spillover effects are driven by an improved class environment, increased parental homework support, stronger learning efforts and enhanced non-cognitive skills of students, together with the peer interactions within social networks. Among them, students’ behaviors exert the strongest explanatory power of 13 %. Furthermore, the benefits are more pronounced among urban students with ECE experience, those from better-educated families and with moderately below-average baseline cognitive skills.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48004,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Educational Development","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103343"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144502485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of introducing free & compulsory pre-primary education policy on mothers’ labor outcomes","authors":"Rachel Kidman ,&nbsp;Amy Raub ,&nbsp;Alfredo Martin ,&nbsp;Pragya Bhuwania ,&nbsp;Bijetri Bose ,&nbsp;Jody Heymann","doi":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103338","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103338","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pre-primary education improves child health and development. By reducing caregiving constraints, access to pre-primary school may also facilitate the ability of parents to work. This is particularly true for women who disproportionately carry the care workload globally. However, few studies have explicitly assessed the potential for a national, free pre-primary policy to shift women’s paid employment in low and lower-middle income countries, and none from Africa. This study employs a natural experiment to estimate the effect of introducing free and compulsory pre-primary school on paid maternal employment. We use nationally representative economic survey data from seven African countries, focusing on the 2008 introduction of tuition-free and compulsory pre-primary school in Ghana. Using two-way fixed effects modelling, we find that the introduction of tuition-free and compulsory pre-primary education significantly increased the likelihood of being in paid employment for mothers of young children (OR 1.53); this translates into a 4.0 percentage point increase in paid employment. Thus, our study found positive impacts of providing free and compulsory pre-primary school on paid employment in Ghana compared to six African countries with similar parental leave policies that did not introduce free pre-primary school. Together with prior evidence that pre-primary school benefits children’s development, this makes a strong case for greater investment in national pre-primary school.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48004,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Educational Development","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103338"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144502487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Educational development in secure juvenile justice settings: The benefits, the challenges and power dynamics in international research collaborations","authors":"Adeela ahmed Shafi,&nbsp;Tristan Middleton","doi":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103346","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103346","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>International research collaborations (IRCs) can play a significant role in shaping educational development, particularly in youth justice settings. This study explores the benefits, challenges, and structural inequalities within IRCs focused on education for justice-involved children and young people. Drawing on qualitative data from participants from three Erasmus+ -funded projects across multiple European countries, the findings highlight how IRCs enable the exchange of knowledge, the adaptation of educational practices, and the development of more inclusive policies. However, persistent structural inequalities shape the dynamics of these collaborations. Participants from lower-income countries were more aware of hierarchical power relations, reinforcing existing critiques of global North-South imbalances where similar patterns were observed within European partnerships. Leadership roles, funding, and research methodologies were influenced by perceived credibility of established institutions and economic disparities, impacting on equitable participation. Methodological challenges, including language barriers, ethical considerations, and variations in data collection processes, also shaped the consistency and effectiveness of these collaborations. Despite these challenges, the study demonstrates that IRCs have the potential to foster meaningful learning and innovation when equity is embedded in collaborative frameworks. The research highlights the need for more equitable funding mechanisms, leadership development initiatives, and methodological strategies that prioritise inclusion. By critically examining the complexities of international research in youth justice education, this paper contributes to broader discussions on how IRCs can be more effective, even in the most constrained of research contexts. The findings have direct implications for policymakers, funding bodies, and practitioners seeking to strengthen the role of international collaboration in educational research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48004,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Educational Development","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103346"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144491640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Realizing the right to education for all: Approaches to removing barriers based on gender, disability, and socioeconomic status in 193 countries","authors":"Callahan Moriyasu,&nbsp;Adele Cassola,&nbsp;Aleta Sprague,&nbsp;Amy Raub,&nbsp;Jody Heymann","doi":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103348","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103348","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Major global gaps persist in educational access and attainment, and disparities across gender, disability, and socioeconomic status remain vast. All countries have committed to realize universal primary and secondary education through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet with just five years left to achieve the SDGs, hundreds of millions of children and youth remain out of school and little information exists on whether countries have adopted evidence-based policies to advance educational equity. This article draws on over 1200 legal and policy texts across 193 UN member states to systematically examine legal and policy approaches to removing barriers faced by low-income children, guaranteeing schools are inclusive of children with disabilities, and prohibiting discrimination based on gender and disability as well as sexual harassment. We find that nearly a third of countries globally still charge tuition before the completion of secondary school. Twenty-six percent of countries lack legal protections against sexual harassment in education, while 21 % fail to prohibit disability-based discrimination. Only a third of countries explicitly provide for inclusive education. Protections against multiple bases of educational exclusion were also scarce: only 11 % of countries had guarantees that enabled fundamental access to education across gender, disability, and socioeconomic status. We found significant variation in protections by country income level and region. Fulfilling the right to education for all has long been recognized as one of the most effective development strategies; this article identifies how countries’ legal and policy frameworks could be strengthened to achieve educational equity and reap its immense benefits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48004,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Educational Development","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103348"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144491639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Making meaning of rural teaching: A phenomenological study of teachers' daily life experiences","authors":"Alper Kaşkaya ,&nbsp;İhsan Ünlü ,&nbsp;Mehmet Fatih Kılıç","doi":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103341","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103341","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rural teachers' experiences in village schools represent a critical dimension of educational development. This phenomenological study explored the meanings that teachers attribute to being a teacher in village schools through their daily lived experiences. The study examined how classroom teachers working in village schools construct meaning from their experiences across four dimensions: managing basic needs and social integration, participating in daily village life, developing teacher-community relationships, and structuring time outside school hours. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 11 classroom teachers (4 female, 7 male) working in multigrade village schools across seven provinces in Türkiye and analyzed using phenomenological methods. The findings reveal that teachers' meaning-making processes are deeply influenced by their cultural alignment with the community, gender dynamics, and physical infrastructure arrangements. While teachers have developed effective strategies for managing basic needs, their sense of professional identity and meaning is significantly shaped by the degree of their community integration. The physical separation of teacher housing from village centers emerged as a critical factor in how teachers interpret their role and position within the community. Teachers sharing cultural similarities with their assigned communities demonstrated more positive meaning-making patterns and deeper understanding of their professional role. Gender emerged as a crucial factor in how teachers construct meaning from their experiences, particularly in accessing and interpreting community spaces and relationships. The study provides significant insights into how rural teachers interpret and make meaning of their professional experiences, suggesting that successful rural teaching involves complex processes of professional identity construction and meaning-making beyond mere adaptation to physical conditions. These findings have important implications for understanding rural teacher identity development and designing support systems that address both practical and existential aspects of rural teaching.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48004,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Educational Development","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103341"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144471745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Young Chileans entering university through inclusion quotas: Linking their funds of knowledge and identity to higher education","authors":"Gustavo González-García ,&nbsp;Cecilia Millán La Rivera ,&nbsp;Luis Reyes Ochoa ,&nbsp;Andrea López-Barraza ,&nbsp;Laura Muñoz Masson","doi":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103344","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103344","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper reports a narrative investigation of ten students who entered education,health and social sciences careers in a Chilean university. The context of the study isrelated to the accelerated increase, in the last 30 years, of the enrollment of lowerclass.students in higher education in Chile and the challenges of equity. The background discusses the traditional training and academic support strategy with these students, before and throughout university, based on a deficit perspective. This study seeks to bond funds of knowledge and identity with narrative methods and the conceptualization of diverse capital forms, in order to propose a notion of recognition and social justice, considering the potentialities of these students at the university.Interactions between these young students adversities, support and achievements are analyzed to identify the learnings and skills acquired in their biographies, as capital forms that challenge changes and transformations at higher education in terms of Access and admission policies, curriculum and study plan reforms, transformation of teaching and pedagogical challenges and institutional support and a culture of recognition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48004,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Educational Development","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103344"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144471869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"College experiences and outcomes of undergraduate major switchers in China","authors":"Hongjiang Zhai ,&nbsp;Qiaoling Huang ,&nbsp;Ping Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103340","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103340","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In China, most universities restrict students from freely switching majors, implementing a selective major-switching policy that permits only high-achieving students to switch their majors. This policy provides a unique opportunity to examine the potential impact of switching majors on high-achieving undergraduate students. Utilizing data from the China College Student Survey of University A, the study compared the differences in college experiences and outcomes between major switchers and general students to assess the impact of switching majors on high-achieving students' learning. The results indicate that major switchers exhibited enhanced academic emotions and engagement both inside and outside the classroom, and did not face significant challenges regarding interaction with students and teachers. Although some students experienced a decline in grades after switching majors, their overall academic performance remained at the forefront. In conclusion, the impact of switching majors on high-achieving students is more beneficial than detrimental, as it enhances students' learning emotions and engagement without bringing other negative consequences. Therefore, it is recommended that universities further increase the proportion and opportunities for major switching, allowing more students to switch to their preferred majors, while providing comprehensive and effective support for the academic and social adjustment of students who switch majors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48004,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Educational Development","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103340"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144471832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}