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Although building professional capital improves student learning and the effectiveness of schools in educating students, it needs to be explored in the area of primary schools in Ethiopia. Thus, this study was conducted to explore the practices of primary school principals to develop the professional capital of teachers and the associated challenges.

A case study was used to collect data from nine teachers and five principals of Ethiopian primary schools using a maximum variation sampling. Data obtained from interviews and two focus groups were subjected to thematic analysis.

Principals and teachers reported that to develop the human capital of teachers, principals provided teachers with opportunities to attend training, encouraged informal collaboration for professional improvement and encouraged the practice of continuous professional development programs. For the development of social capital among teachers, the principals also formed various social groups, encouraged frequent interactions between school stakeholders and created a caring school culture to strengthen the interactions between school stakeholders. For building the decision-making capital of teachers, principals promoted an environment in which teachers' professional judgment and wisdom are respected and so forth. The challenges to develop professional capital were related to teachers and principals, schools and education bureaus.

Building teachers' professional capital increases school effectiveness, although primary schools still need to investigate this further. Therefore, by improving knowledge and information on approaches to building professional capital in teachers, this study is important to administrators and other relevant school stakeholders. This also helps principals transform their leadership behavior to be more pedagogical in leading teaching and learning and enhance teachers' ability to build and exercise effective social and professional behaviors towards their students in their daily practices.

The study examines the effects of organizational compassion during the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers' mental health and, consequently, their commitment and work engagement. The study tests a serial mediation model for the effects of organizational compassion on employee engagement via mental health and the three components of organizational commitment.

A cross-sectional sample (N = 436) completed an online questionnaire towards the end of the prolonged lockdown of schools in Uganda (2021–2022). Serial mediation analysis in PROCESS Macro was employed to test the hypotheses.

As hypothesized, organizational compassion was significantly related to teachers' mental health, the three components of organizational commitment, and employee engagement. A double mediation path of the effects of organizational compassion on employee engagement via mental health and affective commitment was significant.

The findings highlight how organizational compassion benefits employees’ psychological health and work attitudes and behavior. The findings draw attention to the need to design compassion practices that boost the emotional value of organizational compassion to the individual over the economic and normative value.

The study contributes to the literature on organizational compassion outcomes by focusing on employee engagement and the underlying mediating mechanisms. The study is also one of the few that has examined the effects of organizational compassion on the three components of organizational commitment.

The paper aims to clarify how work-specific characteristics at both the individual and organizational level influence professional civil servants’ readiness for change during the implementation of reforms in public administration. We examine the influence of work characteristics at the individual and organizational levels, such as reform-related strains, organizational climate, and organizational professionalism, on the employees’ response to change. In addition, we also consider the interaction between these specific work characteristics.

This article employs a quantitative multi-level analysis to examine the influence of individual and collective predictors of employees' readiness for change. For our analysis, we used data from the evaluation of a school reform in Switzerland aimed at aligning teachers' working conditions with those of other administrative employees. The survey conducted for the evaluation includes responses from 2,162 teachers.

Our study expands the understanding in public management research of work characteristics that either promote or reduce employees’ readiness for change in the public sector. Our findings suggest that the organizational level, in our case the school level, influences the individual’s response to change. Furthermore, the role of organizational professionalism in terms of a reform-related transformation of the identities, structures, and practices of the actors concerned is highlighted as a potential stressor and catalyst that reinforces the negative correlation between reform-related stress and willingness to change.

This paper offers insights into how public managers can effectively overcome challenges in the implementation process of public school reforms. This also includes the awareness among change agents that positively associated changes at the organizational level may have negative consequences at the individual level, due to the fact that they affect professional understanding, for example, which may cause the affected actors to respond with resistance.

This paper contributes to the small number of multi-level research studies on the responses to change in public administration and answers the call for research to investigate the hurdles that may arise when implementing change. Further, the paper contributes to the literature on the impact of new public management (NPM) on the identity of professional civil servants.

The purpose of this study is to explore the understanding and observance of the program “This School is a Zone of Peace” (SZOP) in schools where conflict and violence are not prevalent.

This paper followed a qualitative research tradition – narrative inquiry. Eight teachers and a school head participated in the study. Data were gathered through nonparticipant observation, photography and focus group discussion with photo elicitation.

The participants elucidated the declaration, “This School is a Zone of Peace,” as a message of assurance to the community that the school is a home for learners that is welcoming and violence free. Furthermore, learners in a school that is a zone of peace are honed holistically with the participation, cooperation and togetherness of the school community members. Teachers at the forefront viewed themselves as mentors, implementers and models. Teachers contended that peacebuilding practices in schools could be sustained through regular implementation, encouraging others to get involved and have commitment.

A handful of articles have illustrated the essence of the School as Zone of Peace program, which pointed out to create a culture of peace in schools; however, it leaned toward the negative conception of peace – the absence of conflict and violence. This study bared additional insights and fresh perspectives of the SZOP initiative observed in schools with different contexts and experiences that may be helpful to policymakers for the enhancement of the adapted program with the goal of peacebuilding to making schools highly functional.

Prioritization of technological skills in China has led to scarce resources for art education. In this study, we tested whether personality traits were associated with creative learning and creative thinking skills, and whether these aspects of creativity were linked with academic achievement. We considered self-efficacy and 21st-century skills as mediating and moderating factors.

498 art school coaches were recruited from 12 Chinese universities. Coaches reported on their students’ Big Five personality traits, creative thinking skills, creative learning and self-efficacy, 21st-century skills and academic achievement. Data were analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling.

High openness, low conscientiousness, high extraversion and high agreeableness were associated with creative thinking skills, while high openness, low conscientiousness, high agreeableness and low neuroticism were associated with creative learning. Creative thinking and learning skills were both positively associated with academic achievement. Self-efficacy partially mediated the association between creative thinking skills and academic achievement. No moderation effects were identified.

Findings imply that art education would benefit from deeper consideration of individual differences and the promotion of learning environments conducive to creativity.