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In January 2021, the state government of NSW, Australia, announced that all year 9 and 10 elective courses developed by schools will be phased out. This paper offers a brief historical account of school-developed board-endorsed courses (SDBECs) in NSW and a close analysis of the policy to phase them out.

I give an historical account of the meaning and place of SDBECs within the NSW school system, before situating the policy decision to phase them out within the broader historical and political context of curriculum reform in NSW. Finally, I offer an analysis of the discourses and framing of the policy both across curriculum review reports and in the government and public rhetoric, by examining policy documents, government media releases, news and blog articles at the time of the policy change.

This policy change and surrounding discourses are contextualised and analysed to show how the curriculum came to be blamed for a host of educational problems, and how the government arrived at their irrational yet politically expedient policy response by distorting the meaning of one metaphor: the crowded curriculum. I conclude with a reading of the policy as indicative of centralisation and de-legitimisation of teachers’ curriculum development work.

The convergence of state and federal discourse about curriculum as a site of cleaning up, reforming or re-organising should concern educators in Australia especially as authority over education is increasingly centralised and made vulnerable to political whim. Close studies of such minor policy decisions provide a window into how larger processes of centralisation are justified and enacted at the local level.

This study investigates user preferences for motivational features aligned with self-determination theory (SDT), emphasizing autonomy, relatedness, and competency. The study seeks to identify the most appealing and effective motivational features in AI-driven mobile apps for fostering autonomy, promoting relatedness, and enhancing feelings of competency in the context of reading comprehension.

Employing a mixed-methods research design based on the self-determination theory, the study used triangulation of methods to enhance the research findings' quality, completeness, validity, and understanding.

Both qualitative and quantitative findings showed similarities in the emphasis on personalization, progress tracking, social interaction, gamification, differences in specific feature preferences, and nuanced recommendations, highlighting the importance of a comprehensive and user-centric development approach.

The study design and sample size might constrain the statistical power and generalizability of the results. The study used a convenience sample of students from one school.

The synthesis of findings suggests the need for a comprehensive development strategy that incorporates both the commonalities and nuanced recommendations from qualitative and quantitative data. Combining the strengths of both findings, a holistic user-centric approach that integrates personalization, progress tracking, social interaction, and gamification is crucial for effective app development. Recognizing that individual preferences may vary, developers should consider tailoring features to accommodate a range of user needs, as indicated by qualitative and quantitative insights.

This comprehensive approach contributes to advancing knowledge in AI-driven mobile applications and their impact on student motivation and reading comprehension in the Philippine context. Also, it provides valuable insights for designers and developers, contributing to creating engaging and user-friendly platforms that enhance reading comprehension skills.

This systematic literature review aims to identify the pattern of data mining (DM) research by looking at the levels and aspects of education.

This paper reviews 113 conference and research papers from well-known publishers of educational data mining (EDM) and learning analytics-related research using a recognized literature review in computer science by Carrera-Rivera et al. (2022a). Two major stages, planning and conducting the review, were used. The databases of Elsevier, Springer, IEEE, SAI, Hindawi, MDPI, Wiley, Emerald and Sage were searched to retrieve EDM papers from the period 2017 to 2023. The papers retrieved were then filtered based on the application of DM to the three educational levels – basic, pre-tertiary and tertiary education.

EDM is concentrated on higher education. Basic education is not given the needed attention in EDM. This does not enhance inclusivity and equity. Learner performance is given much attention. Resource availability and teaching and learning are not given the needed attention.

This review is limited to only EDM. Literature from the year 2017 to 2023 is covered. Other aspects of DM and other relevant literature published in EDM outside the research period are not considered.

As the current trend of EDM shows an increase in zeal, future research in EDM should concentrate on the lower levels of education to identify the challenges of basic education which serves as the core of education. This will enable addressing the challenges of education at an early stage and facilitate getting a quality education at all levels of education. Appropriate EDM techniques for mining the data at this level should be the focus of the research. Specifically, techniques that can cater for the variation in learner abilities and the appropriate identification of learner needs should be considered.

Content sequencing is necessary in facilitating an easy understanding of concepts. Curriculum design from basic to higher education dwells much on this. Identifying the challenge of learning at the early stages will facilitate efficient learning. At the basic level of learning, data on learning should be collected by educational institutions just as it is done at the tertiary level. This will enable EDM to accurately identify the challenges and appropriate solutions to educational problems. Resource availability is a catalyst for effective teaching and learning. The attributes of a learner will enable knowing the true nature of the learner to determine the prospects of the learner.

This research has not been published in any journal. The information presented is the original knowledge of the authors. However, a pre-print of the work is in Research Square.

Through the review of several journal articles on the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and how it impacts students’ motivation to continue with their studies or to drop out of their academic program, this study aims to review the literature on the impact of ICTs on student motivation at a university.

This paper is based on a systematic literature review steered by the PRISMA guidelines. This paper uses both Durban University of Technology subscription-based and publicly available papers. The research articles examined were published between 2018 and 2023 in Scopus, Web of Science and ScienceDirect.

Reviewed literature bespeaks that ICTs can increase student motivation by enhancing interactive, engaging and individualized learning. Digital technologies that engage students and offer a more engaging learning environment include instructional apps, online simulations and multimedia content. Using ICTs may be useful in lowering university dropout rates.

The systematic review yielded valuable insights for both academic research and real-world applications in education regarding the Durban University of Technology. The study offers a comprehensive analysis of the nexus between ICTs and student motivation.

In November 2022, the commercial company, OpenAI, launched ChatGPT. Since then, university students have rapidly become regular users of this artificial intelligence (AI) platform. One reason for this is the powerful capability of this generative AI tool to produce textual content, which in many cases, is almost indistinguishable from human-generated content. Another reason is that ChatGPT easily gives anyone access to knowledge. However, there is a problem as the vast majority of its users have no idea how this AI platform works and thus overlook the importance of thinking critically about information communicated in ChatGPT. While some call for banning this generative AI tool, this study aims to provide evidence that science classrooms can become scenarios where students find explicit, concrete, and realistic opportunities to critically evaluate scientific information generated by ChatGPT.

An intervention study was conducted with 55 students (26 females and 29 males, 17–24 years old) during a university Spanish-English bilingual science course taught within an active learning environment. The data consist of the written critiques of the students about Spanish-English bilingual scientific texts produced by ChatGPT.

Results indicate that the intervention had a positive effect on students’ abilities to construct sound arguments in Spanish and in English while judging the quality of scientific texts produced by this AI bot. Moreover, the findings suggest that the intervention enriched students’ skills to make improvements to texts produced by this generative AI tool.

The evidence provided in this study contributes to the exploration of possibilities to help students become critical users of ChatGPT.

Educational accountability and student achievement polarization, which result in high dropout rates, pose significant challenges and pressures on teachers' pedagogical leadership. Whether pedagogical leadership, which originates in the Western educational environment, can significantly improve student achievement in Chinese high schools remains unclear. This concept has not yet been fully explored in the Chinese educational environment, and its direct impact on student achievement and the mediating role of English teaching methods remain to be investigated. However, existing research has concentrated on the effectiveness of principals' pedagogical leadership, with variations in teachers' pedagogical leadership practices. Many reform measures have been implemented in China to improve student achievement, but past educational practices have analyzed the impact on student achievement from a single instructional leadership, school capital or teaching method perspective. Furthermore, there is a lack of multidimensional and systematic assessments of the direct effects of teacher pedagogical leadership on student achievement and the mediating effects of English teaching methods.

To address this gap, this study analyzed the impact of teachers' pedagogical leadership on student achievement and the mediating effect of English teaching methods with the support of the theory of action for teacher leadership, specifically using pedagogical leadership and English teaching methods models.This study conducted a questionnaire survey of 968 participants in Taian City, China, and quantitatively analyzed the data using SmartPLS structural equation modeling (SEM).

This study revealed that pedagogical leadership has a positive direct effect on student achievement. Meanwhile, among the four mediating factors, the Direct Method, Audio-Lingual Method and Communicative Language Teaching had significant mediating effects.

This study shows that the effective use of academic and professional capital allocation in pedagogical leadership, combined with effective measures of using multiple effective English teaching methods, helps achieve high-quality student achievement.

Financial literacy, capability and behavior are crucial factors in personal financial management, which in turn plays a significant role in individual and societal financial well-being. The objective of this investigation is to explain critical factors and dimensions of personal financial management systems by employing a hybrid approach that encompasses a bibliometric analysis and a systematic review of the literature.

The research team carefully evaluated a selection of 606 scholarly articles from the Scopus database and studied the evolution of personal financial management behavior over 38 years (1986–2023). This research adopted several graphical representations and network structures to comprehend publishing tendencies, high-impact papers, theoretical frameworks, intellectual constructs as well as the current state of research collaboration.

Four major clusters were identified in the field of personal financial management behavior: the relationship between financial literacy and financial capability, factors influencing financial behavior, the impact of financial behavior on financial well-being and the financial behavior of different demographic groups. In addition, by performing content analysis on papers published within the last five years, new themes in personal financial management behavior were identified.

This investigation serves to equip financial advisors, policy architects and scholarly investigators with a deeper insight into the intricacies of personal financial management behavior and aids in pinpointing prospective domains for forthcoming research.

This study seeks to address a significant vacuum in the current body of research by providing a thorough bibliometric analysis that specifically examines financial literacy, ability and conduct. To the best of our knowledge, no previous research has conducted such a comprehensive investigation in this field. This research aims to identify important researchers and influential works in the subject by using a mixed-methods approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including content analysis. The purpose of doing this is to provide exclusive insights and expertise that can be highly valuable to scholars, practitioners, policymakers and other stakeholders who are interested in furthering the comprehension and encouragement of financial literacy and responsible financial behavior.

This paper aims to present a comprehensive assessment of the literature about the research agenda for future studies on risk management in small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) with a research agenda for bibliometric analysis. The author's goals are to point out inconsistencies and gaps in the literature and to suggest directions for future study.

A total of 147 papers were analyzed in terms of bibliographic information, research design, and findings. These included publication by year, most cited documents, citation by year, publication by authors, publication by subject area, publication by country, publication by affiliation, funding sponsor, network representation of keyword co-occurrence, and cluster visualization of keyword co-occurrence. This study used bibliometric analysis methods, keyword searches, and suitability assessment for bibliometric analysis.

The bibliometric research revealed a number of potential risk categories for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In addition, an analysis of the risk-related elements aimed to avoid or reduce their adverse effects, the published study highlights how crucial a risk management procedure is for SMEs. Risk factors were also shown to be unavoidable; as a result, everyone needs to practice social responsibility in order to reduce the detrimental effects on the economy.

Future studies are required on risk identification, analysis, plan implementation, and control in the context of small and medium-sized enterprise risk management.

This work represents the first in a bibliometric analysis of risk management in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for the future research agenda.

Design an innovative Flipped classroom’s Delivery through virtual laboratory.

The fundamental framework of the present investigation is a Participatory Action Research (PAR) design. By merging the impetus of “action.” with the inclusiveness of “participation,” PAR establishes a “network” for collaborative teaching or research. PAR is pertinent to our research because it facilitates the participation of infrastructures and individuals in formulating a critical community. This community encourages critical self-reflection, promotes accountability, redistributes authority, and cultivates confidence in research. PAR fosters constructive transformation in educational environments by utilizing participants' combined insights and experiences to establish a structure for substantive dialogue and proactive measures.

As virtual laboratories are becoming essential in 21st-century science education, we found groundbreaking evidence that can support our novel approach to enhance the quality and equity in education. Our results show that virtual labs engage scientific goals and practices, develop scientific literacy, foster scientific inquiry and problem-solving, and promote metacognition. The effects of the virtual laboratory can develop high self-efficacy and positive attitudes among students. It improves students' laboratory performance, which we noted from laboratory activities, simulations, and long exam results.

The study offers groundbreaking account to depict epistemic fluency aided by virtual laboratory.

The purpose of this study is to determine the perception of graduates from teaching degree programs in Early Childhood and Primary Education carried out in Spain in accordance with the European Higher Education Area, who are currently working in classrooms, on their initial training in the educational treatment of diversity (ETD). In addition, potential differences were examined based on the teaching degree that was studied (Early Childhood or Primary).

This study used a mixed methodology including an ad hoc questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Participants were 140 working teachers who had previously earned their degree in Early Childhood or Primary Education programs. Data analysis was carried out from an integrative perspective, using a basic descriptive focus and content analysis.

The results reveal that the new teachers considered that their initial training in the area of ETD was not as extensive as it should have been and as required by their daily teaching needs. They felt that they had acquired better education in the theoretical content as compared to the practical component. They mentioned a lack of training to attend to students entering the system at a later stage as well as for those with high intellectual abilities, noting that the initial training in ETD focused excessively on deficits and not enough on potentialities and other student diversities.

This study may be useful as it offers an improved adaptation to the reality of early education in ETD classrooms of future teachers, both for the competent education administrations and universities. It may also serve as a starting point to adjust the permanent training offer for teachers to their specific needs, making up for the deficiencies of their initial training.