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Mentoring is an essential tool for teacher education, not least because it allows knowledge and experience sharing. Research findings suggest a close relationship between mentoring and the well-being of those involved. However, little is known about this relationship or the mechanisms involved. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned issues.

Through an integrative literature review, important links between mentor and mentee well-being and certain aspects of mentoring are explored. The results of the review are then synthesised into a theoretical framework.

The framework developed here posits that the well-being of teachers relates to the quality of mentoring. This includes teachers' perceptions of mentoring and their decision to get involved, their contributions to functional mentor–mentee relationships and the selection and use of mentoring styles that support both mentor and mentee well-being. Moreover, the framework hypothesises that the quality of mentoring received by mentees is related to their well-being, which is in turn connected to their professional development. Most of these relationships appear to be bidirectional, meaning that mentee well-being also contributes to mentoring quality and mentor well-being. Finally, it is hypothesised that the well-being of both mentors and mentees is connected to the school context in which the mentoring takes place.

This work provides a novel, comprehensive framework for future examinations of the connections between well-being and mentoring. It synthesises the prior work on this topic by integrating findings from both the mentor and mentee perspectives into a single framework.

The aim of this study was to measure the level of challenges faced by novice teachers in South Africa. Findings suggest a need for professional development courses to upskill teachers with effective pedagogies that can incorporate the social and emotional components into teaching and learning.

This study applied a descriptive research methodology by administering a questionnaire to 143 novice teachers. The data analysis technique was the Rasch model.

The findings indicated high item and person reliability, with a good item fit and polarity values that are compatible with the Rasch model. The three major challenges identified are uninvolved parents, discipline problems and a lack of guidance and counselling. These challenges can be related to social and emotional learning (SEL) components.

The study used quantitative methods and discovered the challenges that novice teachers face. If the research uses a combination of qualitative methods, it will be possible to better identify the specific causes of the above three challenges of novice teachers.

Due to the complex nature of South African society, many novice teachers are overwhelmed by the challenges they face when entering the profession. These challenges are often embedded in societal risk factors, which complicate the transition from student teacher to novice teacher. The major challenges identified in this study can be related to SEL components, as the challenges are closely linked to the psychological and social backgrounds of the students. Teachers in this study indicated that they found it difficult to deal with these challenges at the beginning of their careers.

By identifying the challenges facing new teachers in South Africa, they will be better prepared for their work in schools. Therefore, they will improve the above situation to continue developing professionally.

The findings indicated high item and person reliability, with a good item fit and polarity values that are compatible with the Rasch model. Teachers in this study indicated that they found it difficult to deal with these challenges in the beginning of their careers. Professional development courses are suggested to help teachers deal with issues such as discipline, uninvolved parents and guidance and counselling effectively. Higher education programmes should also include these topics in their curricula for student teachers. A greater emphasis on training teachers in their pastoral roles is suggested.

The purpose of this research study was to examine school leaders’ critical perspectives about the nature of their partnerships with K-12 schools and two Educator Preparation Programs (EPP).

Data were collected through interviews with K-12 school leaders to obtain partners’ critical perspectives about school–EPP partnerships. The interviews were coded thematically and oriented around the central concept of working to represent the interplay of the participants and their collaborators’ perceptions of the nature and dimensions of school–EPP partnerships.

The analysis resulted in the construction of a mosaic of school leaders’ collective lived experiences using a statewide conceptual framework as a guide. Four themes emerged from our interviews with school partners: (a) the need for dynamic, responsive and synergistic partnerships; (b) the need to monitor and maintain the underlying structure and integrity of the partnership; (c) the culture of interns as colleagues or as visitors; and (d) the need to innovate.

Four themes emerged from our interviews with school partners: (1) the need for dynamic, responsive and synergistic partnerships; (2) the need to monitor and maintain the underlying structure and integrity of partnerships; (3) the culture of interns as colleagues or interns as visitors; and (4) the need to innovate.

The study aims to assess the effectiveness of engaging tutors in designing and using ICT integrated lesson activities in strengthening their pedagogical use of ICT competences.

Survey data from an intervention group of 70 tutors from two teachers colleges (TCs) were used to compare their level of ICT competences and domains of professional practice before and after the intervention. Document analysis, lesson observations and feedback from the learning management system (LMS) were used to describe tutors’ experiences from the intervention.

There was a statistically significant increase in tutors’ level of pedagogical use of ICT competences and domains of professional practice associated with hands-on practice in designing and implementing the intervention.

The intervention focus on hands-on practice, actual teaching and learning needs, and the use of active learning strategies like flipped classroom and the LMS, were useful means for tutors to make sense of pedagogical use of ICT competences.

The results offer useful insights to teacher education institutions and policymakers on how to prepare professional learning and supportive policies to enhance teaching and learning with ICT for addressing the learning needs of the subject matter.

Creating 16 ICT integrated lesson activities helped tutors to learn pedagogical use of ICT competences by doing. Use of such intervention could be a useful strategy in teacher education institutions to reposition ICT competence development from reproducing technological competences toward developing knowledge creators who could innovate their pedagogical practice with support from mentors, digital learning resources and networks.

The purpose of the current study is to assess Omani teachers’ performance on tasks related to the stages of engineering design. To achieve this, data from an engineering design test was used, and demographic variables that are correlated with this performance were identified.

This descriptive study employed a cross-sectional design and the collection of quantitative data. A sample of preservice science teachers from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) (n = 70) participated in this study.

Findings showed low and moderate levels of proficiency related to the stages of engineering design. Differences between males and females in terms of performance on engineering design tasks were found, with females scoring higher overall on the assessment. Biology preservice teachers scored higher than teachers from the other two majors (physics and chemistry) in two subscales. There were also differences between teachers studying in the Bachelor of Science (BSc) program and the teacher qualification diploma (TQD) program.

This study provides an overview, in an Arab setting, of preservice science teachers’ proficiency with engineering design process (EDP) tasks. It is hoped that the results may lead to improved instruction in science teacher training programs in similar contexts. Additionally, this research demonstrates how EDP competency relates to preservice teacher gender, major and preparation program. Findings from this study will contribute to the growing body of research investigating the strengths and shortcomings of teacher education programs in relation to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

This exploratory study aims to discover the different forms of challenges encountered by school stakeholders, including students, teachers, parents and management due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Qualitative methodology was deployed for the study. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the respondents for a semi-structured interview. Data were examined using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).

It was found that each stakeholder faced four different challenges: mental distress, physical immobility, financial crunches and technological concerns. Findings suggest that teachers are experiencing higher financial, technological and physical challenges as compared to other stakeholders followed by parents.

This paper discusses the major challenges faced by each stakeholder along with the opportunities. These findings will be useful for educationists, regulatory authorities, policymakers and management of educational institutions in developing countries to revisit their policy frameworks to develop new strategies and processes for the smooth implementation of remote learning during a period of uncertainty.

Adolescent mental health is a global concern. There is an urgent need for creative, multimedia interventions reflecting adolescent culture to promote mental health literacy and well-being. This study aims to assess the impact of a film-based intervention on adolescent mental health literacy, well-being and resilience.

A pretest-posttest intervention with a multi-methods evaluation was used. A convenience sample of ten schools facilitated students aged 15–17 years to engage in an online intervention (film, post-film discussion, well-being Webinar). Participants completed surveys on well-being, resilience, stigma, mental health knowledge and help-seeking. Five teachers who facilitated the intervention participated in post-implementation interviews or provided a written submission. Analysis included paired-t-test and effect size calculation and thematic analysis.

Matched pretest-posttest data were available on 101 participants. There were significant increases in well-being, personal resilience and help-seeking attitudes for personal/emotional problems, and suicidal ideation. Participants’ free-text comments suggested the intervention was well-received, encouraging them to speak more openly about mental health. Teachers similarly endorsed the intervention, especially the focus on resilience.

Intinn shows promise in improving adolescents’ mental health literacy and well-being. Film-based interventions may encourage adolescents to seek professional help for their mental health, thus facilitating early intervention.

The geographic information systems (GIS) sector is witnessing significant growth in recent times at the global level and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the same pace. In this research, the authors aim to measure the GIS market employability in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the required skills of those seeking GIS employees, existing knowledge and abilities of graduates of relevant academic programs and gaps, if any, between the graduates and the labor market requirements in terms of GIS. Research on GIS education and GIS employability from an information system perspective is scarce; thus, this study is needed.

In this study, a questionnaire was distributed manually and electronically to a specific group of GIS students, teachers and employees. The questionnaire was prepared in Arabic and English language. It was distributed manually to the attendees of the 12th GIS Symposium, organized by Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University at Dammam city, Saudi Arabia in April of 2018. The event is a yearly one that gathers local GIS community and outside speakers and guests. An electronic version of the questionnaire was also available and distributed via personal contacts. Responses were received until the end of 2019.

The results of 107 respondents indicates good GIS foundation (for example in topology, geospatial data processing and cartography); however, programming and business skills (namely cost benefit analysis, organizational perspective and business understanding) are lacking from Saudi GIS graduates. About 67% of respondents acknowledge directly that it is difficult to find locally qualified GIS graduates. Moreover, 55% of respondents classify GIS job candidates as underqualified. This research identifies under qualification in business competencies and computer programming skills for GIS students and workers in Saudi Arabia. This research did not find a statistically significant different response between GIS teachers and GIS employees/employers; however, students’ response was significantly different from these two groups.

Research on GIS education and GIS employability from an Information System perspective is scarce; thus, this study is needed. Moreover, research about this topic in Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Gulf is almost nonexistent.

In this opinion article, the authors share their experiences with and perspectives on course design requirements and barriers when applying challenge-based learning (CBL) in an online sustainability education setting. CBL is an established learning approach for (higher) sustainability education. It enables teachers to engage students with open, real-life grand challenges through inter-/transdisciplinary student team collaboration. However, empirical research is scarce and mainly based on face-to-face CBL case studies. Thus far, the opportunities to apply CBL in online educational settings are also underinvestigated.

Using the TPACK framework, the authors address technological, pedagogical and content knowledge related to CBL and online sustainability education. The integration of the different components is discussed, providing teachers and course designers insight into design requirements and barriers.

This paper supports the promising future of online CBL for sustainability education, especially in the context of inter-/national inter-university collaboration, yet emphasizes the need for deliberate use of online collaboration and teaching tools.