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In this article, we highlight ways in which disability critical race theory (DisCrit) (Annamma et al., 2013), inclusive education and community-based participatory research (CBPR) can be used within professional development schools (PDS) to provide students with disabilities with more access to inclusive classrooms. At a grade 4–6 elementary school, we developed a model of a critical PDS to promote inclusive education and facilitate the transition of students of color with disabilities from self-contained to inclusive classrooms. We conducted semi-structured interviews and used action plan meetings with school administrators, teachers, professionals and students with disabilities and their parents to assess the impact of our critical PDS model. Findings suggest this model had a positive impact on administrators’ and teachers’ critical consciousness, ideological and instructional practices, students of color with disabilities’ social, academic and personal outcomes, as well as a schoolwide culture of inclusion and social justice. This study can inform tailored professional development efforts to improve educators’ inclusive practices.

We conducted semi-structured interviews and used action plan meetings with school administrators, teachers, professionals and students with disabilities and their parents to assess the impact of our critical PDS model.

The findings of this study suggest this model had a positive impact on administrators’ and teachers’ critical consciousness, ideological and instructional practices, students of color with disabilities’ social, academic and personal outcomes, as well as a schoolwide culture of inclusion and social justice.

This study can inform tailored professional development efforts aiming to improve educators’ inclusive practices.

We developed a model of a critical PDS to promote inclusive education and facilitate the transition of students of color with disabilities from self-contained to inclusive classrooms.

This research explores why tourists are dissatisfied in places considered “wonders of the world”. The authors ask if the place does not match visitors' expectations or if other factors spoil the experience.

The authors analysed the lowest-rated reviews of these wonders on TripAdvisor. The authors identified the main causes of complaints and the problems tourists faced. The authors grouped the complaints into categories and used CoDa.

The results indicate that dissatisfaction does not stem from unmet expectations regarding the monument itself, but rather from other factors related to the quality of the tourist service.

The findings of this research can be implemented in those tourist spots that, despite their global popularity, have considerable proportions of unhappy visitors, not due to the attraction itself, but to shortcomings in its administration.

This study provides a deeper insight into the causes of complaints about some of the most renowned monuments, regarded as extraordinary places, where high satisfaction levels would be anticipated. It also contributes theoretically to the literature on customer complaints in tourist places.

This research paper investigates the theoretical frameworks encompassing a nuanced analysis of the digital divide in the Indian educational context, recognising that it is not merely a matter of technology access but also the ability to effectively use the resource for enhancing learning outcomes. This research provides valuable insights for fostering a more equitable and digitally inclusive learning environment by integrating conceptual insights with empirical evidence. The New Education Policy (NEP), India 2020 firmly emphasises the appropriate integration of technology into the teaching-learning process to develop relevant competencies. The pertinent question is, for India to conquer the second digital divide challenge, is the pace of technology accessibility and skill development sufficient?

The paper is a desk research, using secondary data from the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE+), the Indian Government database of schools. A structured dataset has been created for all years, where states are grouped in descending ranking order of availability of infrastructure and teachers trained. A colour key segregates the States into three zones demonstrating their different levels of performance – high (green), moderate (blue) and low (yellow). The purpose is to identify state/s that have moved from one zone to another and, thereafter, analyse the reasons behind the movement.

Almost all states remained in the same digital resource availability zone for the four years studied, except for a limited few. Despite government interventions through higher budget allocation and targeted policies, growth rates of teacher training in computer usage slowed down post-COVID-19. A high positive correlation between Teachers' training in computer usage and the availability of computer and Internet facilities in schools indicates that an increase in digital infrastructure in schools is highly linked to teachers' training in computer usage and would ultimately translate into better use of digital resources to impart equitable education opportunities.

Primary data collection through interviews might have added to the critical findings. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further on a case-by-case basis for any state under consideration.

Enhancing digital infrastructure in schools and building digital competence in teachers must be understood in the context of the learning organisation and the beneficiaries' attitudes at the meso-level to expand stakeholder motivation towards digital internalisation. This requires continuous engagement with education institutions as professional learning organisations, which will thereby help develop a decentralised context for teacher competency building. Collaboration, continuous monitoring of the outcomes of professional development programs, and sharing best practices are crucial in improving teacher readiness for digital education.

Access to tangible resources, such as computers, Internet connectivity and educational software, and developing intangible resources, such as teacher digital competencies, will play a pivotal role in shaping students' learning experiences. By studying the discrepancies in digital resource accessibility and teacher technology adoption, this research endeavours to add to the efforts towards enhancing the educational landscape.

This paper seeks to address a critical issue in the Indian education system and contribute to the ongoing effort to prevent the widening of the second and third digital divide in schools, and help achieve UN SDG Goals 4 and 10.

Professional development (PD) is an essential component of continuing learning for in-service teachers. This paper discusses a school-based example of using the best practice of coaching in early childhood education supported by a professional development school partnership. We explain how a teacher identified need led to a collaborative, multistep approach to meeting that need in connection to State mandates.

In this research, we used a case study methodological approach with a team of preschool teachers at one school. The model combines use of PD sessions, classroom coaching, classroom observation and reflection.

Teachers’ feedback indicates that using the strategy positively impacted most of the participants’ ability to support communication, community-building and inclusive practices in their classrooms. The data that emerged in the following year evidenced increased use of visual supports in classrooms, use in connection with literacy goals and interest in creating new uses in the school.

This article contributes an action-oriented school-based example of bridging research to practice to support teachers’ needs through PD and coaching in a PDS. The design and practical implications may interest preschool educators, instructional coaches, administrators, professional development schools and others involved with monitoring teacher development initiatives.

The study aims to qualitatively analyze how faculty can mobilize the intellectual capital of higher education institutions (HEIs), comprising human, structural and relational capital to enable the education and learning of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Drawing upon the extant literature, the researcher conducted a qualitative study through written, in-depth interviews with a sample of 40 academic staff/faculty members having prior experience in teaching individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The data was collected through a set of questions formulated as key questions, to be asked to all participants for their responses.

Results of the analysis demonstrated that intellectual capital’s contribution to higher education of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities can be best understood in terms of its three components/dimensions. Accordingly, three main themes, with each comprising two sub-themes were uncovered. The first theme, leveraging human capital comprised: faculty acumen and faculty training as sub-themes; the second theme, resourcing structural capital comprised: tangible and intangible structural capital as sub-themes; and the third theme, nurturing relational capital comprised: in-class engagement and the second is ex-class connection as sub-themes.

The paper collects data from 40 faculty having prior experience in teaching individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to explore and reveal a completely new perspective of looking at intellectual capital as a means of providing accessible and inclusive higher education to differently-abled students, making them a part of the mainstream.

This study introduces an ecological framework for disabilities meant to provide a new model of viewing and learning about disabilities and special education. This model projects a multi-systemic view of factors that influence a person's life, where people with disabilities are active actors in the development of the world. The increased awareness about interconnectedness, globalization, inter- and trans-disciplinarity, influences on human experience, greening, sustainability, inequality, inequity and lack of opportunities is shifting how people think about potential and growth.

The methodological approach is qualitative, interpretive research.

In disability studies, the Ecological Model of Disabilities helps reframe this uniqueness as part of the spectrum of human experiences. In special education, the Ecoducation Model helps reframe the learning experience.

This research is conceptual, but it is also all-inclusive, rendering itself to a wide application in educational settings.

The Ecoducation Model for Special Education is specific to the education of children and adults with disabilities, and it is directly compatible with the broader Ecological Model of Disabilities. These ecological models can be applied to all levels of the ecological system, and to different ecodemes of population. Nevertheless, the ecological models need to be locally implemented, with general principles tailored to national traditions, laws and resources.

Advocating for the pursuit of individual well-being within the larger society, both models call for practical changes in a multitude of areas, including legislation and policy, training of professional personnel, sufficient financial input in programs designed for the care of children and adults with disabilities, change in societal mentalities to fight discrimination, disempowerment and isolation. Because the scope of ecological frameworks is incommensurate, being both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary, further research possibilities are countless. The ecological perspective opens the fields of disability studies and special education to new theoretical and empirical possibilities.

Two epistemological models are described as new frameworks in disability studies: the Ecological Model of Disabilities and the Ecoducation Model for Special Education. Both are original models that look into the education and inclusion of the person with disabilities.

This paper aims to explore the key factors through which an optimum pedagogy mix can be determined towards effective teaching practice and enhanced student learning outcomes in business/management education.

An exploratory research design has been used. A sample of 310 was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis. A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data. It was pre-tested, and essential modifications were made before its final implementation.

The study has presented the idea of pedagogy mix, which refers to a set of most obvious teaching methods/tools suitable to deliver marketing education in a context-bound manner. Eight factors have been identified that help to decide and/or maintain an optimum mix of pedagogies for effective teaching. An adequate “pedagogy mix” would help achieve educational objectives and equip students with the essential competencies.

The study is particularly significant to educators who are in the initial years of their careers. The identified factors help educators decide and/or maintain an optimum mix of pedagogies by offering an understanding of different pedagogies, their strategic relevance and student needs.

An institution's academic philosophy and commitment to the learning outcomes make it excellent or poor. Present institutions have and retain a main focus on preparation for professional careers, and without a perfect blend of pedagogies, it cannot be achieved. An optimum pedagogy mix would facilitate the key learning process and proffer the intricacies of the concerned profession. In this sense, this paper is a significant attempt, particularly in management education and higher education in general, that enables the educators of higher academics to decide and utilize an idyllic blend of pedagogies towards the successful execution of an educational process of higher order and ensuring the holistic student development.

The present research aimed to examine the role of FDP in enhancing the teachers' competencies through modern technological tools and innovative teaching methods. And also, to evaluate the impact of FDPs on teachers' attitudes and motivation to integrate modern teaching innovations into their classroom practices.

Using a pre-post study design, the study was conducted in two phases, Phase I was conducted one week before conducting FDP (14th to 20th August 2023) and Phase II was conducted after one week of FDP (15th to 21st September 2023). The data were gathered through structured questionnaires from the participants in FDP and collected data were processed and analyzed through a statistical package for social sciences.

The study found that undergoing FDP by teachers significantly influences the adoption of advanced pedagogical approaches and technology integration during their teaching practice. This indirectly helps in promoting quality education at large and contributes to the UNSDG-4. The study also revealed that the effective FDP not only helps in advancing teaching methods but also influences instructors' philosophies and attitudes towards students' overall learning and development.

These findings have several key implications for higher education institutions, policymakers and teachers at large. Firstly, HEIs should prioritize undertaking FDPs that promote in adopting advanced pedagogical approaches. This indirectly equips the instructors with the knowledge and skills necessary to integrate modern teaching methods into their real classroom practices. Further, by adopting FDP as a strategic initiative to improve the quality of education and work by aligning these programs with broader SDG goals.

Advancing education for enhancing the overall quality of learning depends on the competencies of instructors. The competencies of instructors rely upon the involvement of instructors in life-long learning, level of adoption of technology, innovative approaches used, etc. This study may help higher education institutions adopt FDP as a strategic initiative to improve the quality of education and work by aligning these programs with broader SDG goals.