<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <rss version="2.0">
      <channel xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/">
        <title>Frontiers in Education | New and Recent Articles</title>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education</link>
        <description>RSS Feed for Frontiers in Education | New and Recent Articles</description>
        <language>en-us</language>
        <generator>Frontiers Feed Generator,version:1</generator>
        <pubDate>2026-08-20T05:48:36.573+00:00</pubDate>
        <ttl>60</ttl>
        <item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1750942</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1750942</link>
        <title><![CDATA[What is the relationship between sports psychology and educational attainment: exploring the moderating and the mediating relationship]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-20T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Jawad Ali</author><author>Oussama Saoula</author><author>Abderrahim Benlahcene</author><author>Sadia Jabeen</author><author>A. Shorouk</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Decision-makers in most countries are recognizing the importance of sports in education. Sports are important because they help improve a person's performance at both the individual and professional levels. Despite this established importance, the specific explanation for how these psychological factors jointly influence educational attainment among sports students remains insufficiently articulated in existing literature. This study investigates how sports psychology enhances educational attainment through the integration of goal setting, self-motivation, self-esteem, self-autonomy, and self-confidence. A quantitative research design and a purposive sampling technique were used. The study's respondents were KSA-based students who participated in sports. The researcher distributed 350 questionnaires to KSA students. The number of usable questionnaires was 242, with a response rate of 69.14%. The instrument's reliability was greater than 70%. Structural equation modelling in AMOS was used to analyze the data. The results of the study demonstrated the positive effects of goal setting, self-esteem, self-autonomy, and self-confidence on self-motivation. Self-esteem had a significant positive effect on self-motivation (β = 0.88, p ≤ 0.01). Similarly, self-autonomy (β = 0.35, p ≤ 0.01), goal setting (β = 0.36, p ≤ 0.01), and self-confidence (β = 0.58, p ≤ 0.01) had significant positive effects on self-motivation. Self-motivation positively influences educational attainment (β = 0.68, p ≤ 0.01). The measurement model exhibited high reliability because all model fit indices met the necessary standards (CFI = 0.92, RMSEA = 0.02, and CMIN/DF = 1.25). Results also showed a significant mediating role for motivation and a moderating role for self-efficacy. These findings are vital for policy developers and strategists, enabling them to focus on students' psychological motivational traits to improve their academic performance. In this study, a cross-sectional research design was used; future research may include a longitudinal study or a cross-cultural or cross-country analysis.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1891055</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1891055</link>
        <title><![CDATA[From trainee to colleague: REM scholars’ experiences transitioning from postdoctoral fellow to faculty within the same biomedical department]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-20T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Wendy Y. Carter-Veale</author><author>Fadel E. Ugarte Paguaga</author><author>Jennifer G. Aumiller</author><author>Blessing Enekwe</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionPostdoctoral-to-faculty pathway initiatives have increased within biomedical higher education as strategies intended to broaden participation within the professoriate. Earlier scholarship identified disparities in biomedical faculty representation and positioned postdoctoral training as a critical stage in academic career trajectories. Institutions developed structured postdoctoral-to-faculty pathways to intentionally connect postdoctoral training with faculty opportunities. Although studies have examined the implementation and diversification goals of these initiatives, less attention has been given to how scholars experience these career pathways.MethodsThis descriptive phenomenological study examined the experiences of racialized ethnic minority (REM) postdoctoral scholars who transitioned into tenure-track faculty roles through the AGEP PROMISE Academy Alliance (APAA), a National Science Foundation-funded train-and-retain (T-RT) postdoctoral initiative operating across a Mid-Atlantic public university system. Semi-structured interviews with four REM scholars, between 2018 and 2022, revealed five interconnected themes shaping transition into faculty roles.ResultsThe themes that emerged included: (1) encountering varying mentorship and advocacy; (2) navigating unclear expectations and institutional processes; (3) managing uneven resources and expanding workload expectations; (4) sustaining research productivity during transition; and (5) negotiating belonging and faculty identity. Across four institutional types, the timing of the transition varied from six months to two years. Participants described the transition as simultaneously familiar and uncertain, as they navigated evolving collegial relationships, shifting expectations, perceptions of legitimacy, and departmental environments where past trainee identities remained visible. Mentoring relationships often provided support and advocacy while also complicating independence and faculty identity formation.DiscussionFindings distinguish this phenomenon from early-career faculty experiences typically examined after the faculty appointment. Within T-RT pathways, participants’ experiences began during the postdoctoral period and continued across tenure-track positions, as prior trainee identities, relationships, and recognition carried into faculty roles within the same departmental context. Professional legitimacy, collegial integration, mentoring, racialized visibility, belonging, and faculty identity were gradually negotiated across the formal transition.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1906655</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1906655</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Enabling a professional learning community in Malaysian rural primary schools: the role of collegial trust]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-20T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Lokman Mohd Tahir</author><author>Mohammed Borhandden Musah</author><author>Roslizam Hassan</author><author>Muhammad Syukri bin Sapuan</author><author>Mohd Fadzli bin Ali</author><author>Asma Khaleel Abdallah</author><author>Abdelaziz M. Hussien</author><author>Shimaa Tameem</author>
        <description><![CDATA[PurposeThis study examines how different dimensions of collegial trust are associated with teachers’ engagement in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) practices within rural primary schools. Although PLCs are widely recognized as mechanisms for teacher learning, limited attention has been given to understanding which dimensions of collegial trust function as relational resources that sustain collaboration in geographically isolated and resource-constrained educational contexts.MethodsA cross-sectional correlational survey design was used to collect data from 310 teachers selected through proportional cluster random sampling across 57 rural Malaysian primary schools. Descriptive analyses and structural equation modelling (SEM) were conducted to examine relationships between collegial trust dimensions and PLC practices.ResultsThe strongest dimensions of collegial trust among rural teachers were reliability, competence, and openness. The dimensions that were weaker among rural teachers were benevolence and honesty. In general, teachers in rural schools implemented PLC practices to a moderate extent. Although the overall relationship between collegial trust and PLC practices was modest, reliability, competence, and openness contributed more strongly to explaining teachers’ PLC engagement.ImplicationsThis study extends the PLC literature by revealing that trust exists along multiple dimensions. The findings of this study suggest that enhancing reliability, competence, and openness among PLC teachers could improve the implementation of PLC strategies in rural schools. However, because this study was cross-sectional, these findings should be used only to describe the relationship between these variables, rather than to suggest causal relationships.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1866456</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1866456</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Navigating uncertainty: strategy formulation in higher education]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-20T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Aidana Makatova</author><author>Kairat Moldashev</author><author>Assylbek Nurgabdeshov</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This exploratory interpretative study delves into the strategic formulation processes and practices at higher education institutions (HEIs) in a developing country. Drawing on Mintzberg's strategic schools and the strategy-as-practice (SAP) perspective, this research examines the actors involved, methodologies employed, and the influence of the pandemic on strategic planning within these institutions. The study utilises semi-structured interviews with key figures from both public and private universities, coupled with strategic document analysis, to investigate strategy formulation. The study highlights a general paucity of external stakeholder involvement across the HEI spectrum, with limited engagement from employers and alumni in strategic development. The findings also show that public universities in the sample remain strongly shaped by state-directed planning, prescribed performance indicators, and formal reporting requirements, while some private universities display greater use of positioning, broader strategic direction, annual review, and delegated planning. At the same time, deliberate and emergent strategies coexist across the sector, as formal plans are supplemented by situated managerial responses to changing conditions. The study contributes to strategy-as-practice and higher education strategy research by offering a context-sensitive account of how regulation, ownership, stakeholder participation, and managerial action interact in strategy formulation.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1886542</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1886542</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Autistic high school students’ perspectives on the feasibility and acceptability of a geospatial information science & technology program: an exploratory qualitative study]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-20T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Brief Research Report</category>
        <author>Jamie N. Pearson</author><author>Kayla Palazzo</author><author>Janelle Johnson</author><author>Erica Bergmann</author><author>Jetta Lewis</author><author>Mariam Elias</author><author>Jason Painter</author>
        <description><![CDATA[In the United States, approximately one in 31 children is identified as autistic, and research indicates that autistic individuals complete bachelor’s degrees and secure employment at lower rates than their non-disabled peers. Expanding access to STEM may help address these disparities, which often emerge during the transition to adulthood. Although autistic college students often pursue STEM majors, low degree completion rates highlight the need for stronger preparation and support in these high-demand fields. Strengthening STEM preparation and support during high school may improve long-term outcomes. Therefore, this exploratory qualitative study examined GIST participants’ perspectives on the feasibility and acceptability of the Geospatial Information Science & Technology (GIST) program. Participants included 16 autistic high school students. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings identified lecture-based instruction as the primary barrier to feasibility. Participants reported positive impressions of GIST, including social interaction, supportive instructors, and real-world applications, alongside areas for improvement such as reducing lectures, increasing hands-on learning, and incorporating student interests. These findings highlight the importance of aligning STEM programs with autistic students’ attention, engagement, and self-regulation needs and offer practical guidance for designing more accessible and effective STEM learning experiences.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1870648</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1870648</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Making professional learning pathways visible: student-generated curriculum visualization and rubric-based self-checking in a landscape architecture bridge course]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-20T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>LeeHsueh Lee</author>
        <description><![CDATA[In high-participation higher education contexts, students in professional programs may complete individual courses without clearly understanding how those courses form a coherent learning pathway or relate to future professional roles. This exploratory single-case study examines student-generated curriculum visualization and rubric-based self-checking as a bridge-course strategy in a junior-year landscape planning theory course in Taiwan. The course was positioned at a curricular threshold between foundational design learning and more integrative planning-oriented and professionally situated learning. Students used fishbone diagrams to map vertical and horizontal relationships among courses, concepts, competencies, and future applications. Rubrics were used as formative self-check tools to help students evaluate the completeness, coherence, and professional relevance of their maps, while problem-based guidance and teaching assistant facilitation provided additional scaffolding. The study drew on three-wave questionnaire data, reliability analysis, exploratory paired comparisons, student fishbone outputs, rubric records, institutional course evaluation, student feedback forms, teaching assistant review records, and group learning logs. Questionnaire results showed stable positive responses across the course sequence. Descriptive paired-comparison patterns suggested a possible later-stage increase in perceived career linkage and application, but this pattern was interpreted cautiously because of the small matched sample and multiple exploratory comparisons. Process-based evidence indicated that students used the fishbone task to move from course-by-course recall toward more relational interpretations of curriculum hierarchy, cross-course linkage, learning gaps, and professional application. The study does not claim statistical generalizability or causal effectiveness. Instead, it contributes an analytically transferable pedagogical model showing how student-generated visual mapping, rubric-supported self-checking, and guided facilitation may help make professional learning pathways more visible and discussable at a critical curricular transition point.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1851938</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1851938</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Energy transitions and the C3 inquiry arc: modeling an inquiry-driven unit for rural elementary preservice teachers]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-20T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy</category>
        <author>Amber Adgerson</author>
        <description><![CDATA[University-based teacher educators in teacher preparation programs (TPPs) are tasked with preparing preservice teachers (PSTs) to design meaningful and engaging learning experiences for diverse elementary students. In rural contexts, this work often involves supporting PSTs in making instruction more relevant through place-conscious approaches that connect classroom learning to students’ local communities, experiences, and identities. However, engaging students in locally relevant topics, particularly complex and potentially contentious environmental issues such as energy transitions (ETs), requires PSTs to navigate multiple perspectives and community tensions, which can challenge their teaching confidence and self-efficacy. Despite this need, TPPs often lack explicit models that demonstrate how to design and facilitate inquiry-based, place-conscious instruction around difficult topics. In response, this article outlines the development and implementation of a College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework-aligned instructional sequence used by a rural teacher educator to model for PSTs how they can: (1) locate place-conscious primary sources and materials, (2) design inquiry-driven activities for elementary students, and (3) implement inquiry driven tasks alongside place-conscious materials to encourage classroom discourse around complex environmental topics such as ETs. Implications are discussed for how discourse-driven, place-conscious instructional sequences can be used within TPPs to support PSTs’ development of teaching self-efficacy and confidence, as well as directions for future research on preparing teachers to engage elementary students in meaningful inquiry around difficult, locally relevant issues.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1860563</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1860563</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Decolonizing university education—the concerns consuming Indian students regarding the compulsory isiZulu module at UKZN]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-20T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Sana Jeewa</author>
        <description><![CDATA[The isiZulu module has been an innovative, game changing implementation at UKZN over the past decade or so. Interrogating students of the Indian population who engaged with the module, my study aims to deduce an insight into the students attitudes towards it & how it has affected their use of the language more generally. By combining two different methods (quantitative questionnaires and qualitative interviews), the study analyses attitudes towards the IsiZulu module, isiZulu usage & student's abilities to communicate in isiZulu once the module had been complete. This study further discusses how social variables create boundaries which, to a large extent, divides the Indian & Black African community. Also, the study shows how there seems to be very limited multilingualism amongst the students investigated and that despite being committed to South Africa, interest in and knowledge of isiZulu remains uncommon amongst the learners, even after engaging with the isiZulu module. While this is taken from one population group's perspective, the success of the isiZulu module is still debatable given its relatively novel introduction to the academic world.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1882380</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1882380</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Perceptions of employers and graduates on employability skills in online education: a rapid review]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Systematic Review</category>
        <author>Francisco Paiva-Cornejo</author><author>Nelson Vargas-Malebrán</author><author>Lucy Kuhn-Barrientos</author><author>Macarena Morel-Marambio</author><author>Angela Valverde-Henríquez</author><author>Ximena Triviño-Bonifay</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionEmployability is a central concept for higher education institutions, as it reflects one of their main objectives in students' professional preparation. The literature has reported current deficiencies in the development of skills needed to respond to the new demands of the labor market. As online higher education continues to expand, understanding how different key stakeholders perceive the development of employability competencies has become increasingly important.MethodsA rapid literature review was conducted using the Web of Science and Scopus databases. This rapid review represents the first mapping that synthesizes which employability competencies are most frequently assessed regarding online education and describes the methods most commonly used in this type of research, with the aim of informing future research designs that allow for greater comparability.ResultsThe results highlight the importance of measuring soft skills, such as communication and teamwork, as well as the relevance of digital technologies as employability competencies. The studies also indicate a preference among employers for face-to-face education, attributed to the lower development of soft skills in online education. Furthermore, the literature reveals limited validation processes for the instruments used to assess these competencies.DiscussionThe findings highlight the need for higher education institutions to strengthen curricular and pedagogical strategies aimed at developing employability competencies, particularly soft skills, within online learning environments. They also indicate the potential of rapid reviews as a rigorous and timely approach to supporting evidence-informed institutional decision-making in higher education.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/4V6PT]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1854437</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1854437</link>
        <title><![CDATA[The impact of deductive and inductive grammar instructional approaches on Jordanian fifth-grade EFL learners’ acquisition of English deictic expressions]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Mheel Maleh Al-Smaihyeen</author><author>Mohammad Faleh Al- Hanaqtah</author><author>Safi Mahmoud Mahfouz</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This study investigates the effects of deductive and inductive grammar instructional approaches on Jordanian fifth-grade EFL learners’ acquisition of English deictic expressions. Sixty-six Arabic-speaking students participated in a quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test design to assess their knowledge before and after instruction. A 15-item multiple-choice test was administered at both stages to measure learning outcomes. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a General Linear Model with pre-test scores as covariates, employing Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to examine differences in performance across teaching approaches. Moreover, classroom observations of the same teacher teaching grammar using the deductive and inductive instructional approaches were used to show which grammar instructional approach is more effective. Findings indicated that the inductive grammar instructional approach led to significantly higher post-test scores among participants than the deductive approach, suggesting that active engagement and contextualized practice enhance learners’ understanding and correct usage of deictic expressions. These findings highlight the importance of instructional design in grammar teaching and provide empirical evidence for strategies that effectively support young EFL learners in acquiring functional and accurate use of English deictic expressions. The study offers practical implications for curriculum development and classroom pedagogy in similar EFL contexts.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1861903</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1861903</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Students who expect to be rejected by their teachers display weaker engagement and self-concept]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Zuzanna M. Preusche</author><author>Kerstin Göbel</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionSince teachers play a pivotal role in students' well-being and school engagement, expecting to be rejected by a teacher based on a persons' background could have negative effects on affective and cognitive academic outcomes. This paper explores the hitherto understudied construct of students' background-based rejection expectation by teachers and school engagement.MethodIn a study with 7th grade students in Germany, we addressed the question of whether students' expectation of rejection by teachers is connected to their school engagement, grades, self-esteem, and academic self-concept. We explored which groups of students expect to be rejected, and we checked whether strong emotional teacher support can moderate the effect of rejection expectation on school engagement.ResultsA strong expectation of rejection is associated with lower emotional and behavioral school engagement, lower grades, self-esteem, and academic self-concept. Ethnic minority students and students with lower cultural capital expect rejection more than their peers. There is indication that a strong emotional teacher support could moderate the relationship between rejection expectation and minority students' emotional and cognitive school engagement.DiscussionExpectation of rejection can be associated with several negative academic outcomes. More research is needed to better understand when and how students expect rejection. It is relevant to understand how schools can be culturally responsive and inclusive.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1927281</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1927281</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Educating for interdisciplinary careers: a call to embrace diversity and variability]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Perspective</category>
        <author>Hanne Andersen</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Interdisciplinarity takes many forms. Consequently, many different forms of interdisciplinary education can, in each their various ways, contribute fruitfully to students’ future careers, whether these careers will take place inside or outside of academia. This commentary suggests that, rather than pursuing universal guidelines that will hold for all interdisciplinary education, it will be more fruitful to articulate and discuss diversity and variability in interdisciplinary education, and to analyze how different forms of interdisciplinary education can educate students for different forms of interdisciplinary inquiry, innovation, and problem solving.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1882920</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1882920</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Exploring challenges of integrating Afghan returnee children into schools in Afghanistan]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Aziz Ahmad Fazli</author><author>Sayeed Ebrahim Darwishean</author><author>Khalid Ahmad Habib</author><author>Sadruddin Faizi</author><author>Hadyathullah Beheen</author><author>Rabiullah Rishteen</author><author>Noorajan Atif</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This study investigates the challenges of educational integration for refugee children returning from Pakistan to Afghanistan, specifically within the Torkham Omari Refugee Camp. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach involving 143 participants and targeted interviews, the research identifies a significant disconnect between parental aspirations and structural realities. Findings reveal that while 98.6% of parents are willing to support their children's education and 95.8% maintain high trust in Afghanistan's formal education system, approximately 76.3% of children experience incomplete educational trajectories. Poverty emerges as the most fundamental barrier, with economic constraints and a lack of identification documents (12.6%) hindering enrollment. Furthermore, one-third of returning children experience significant language barriers due to the shift from Urdu or English to instruction in Dari or Pashto. Qualitative analysis confirms that inconsistencies in curriculum and a lack of systematic integration programs exacerbate these challenges. Crucially, these integration deficits are profoundly gendered; the de facto authorities' formal prohibition on female secondary education transforms reintegration into an absolute legal barrier for girl returnees above grade six. The study concludes that successful integration requires targeted government interventions, including free quality education and specialized linguistic support.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1892104</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1892104</link>
        <title><![CDATA[The raw gap misleads: conditional conversion from environmental familiarity to action is small and development-gradient-patterned]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Henry Laverde-Rojas</author><author>Carlos Laverde-Rodriguez</author><author>Pedro Mauricio Acosta-Castellanos</author>
        <description><![CDATA[BackgroundEducation for Sustainable Development assumes that environmental understanding converts into action, but the “value–action gap” literature warns that this conversion is uneven.MethodsWe analysed PISA 2018 data from 612,004 students across 80 countries, using BRR-Fay replicate weights, country fixed effects, and a 999-iteration country-cluster bootstrap.ResultsA one-standard-deviation increase in perceived environmental familiarity is associated with a 0.12 standard deviation increase in reported action. Raw familiarity–action gaps and residual action shortfalls move in opposite directions across socio-economic terciles, demonstrating that raw gaps are not valid measures of conversion deficit. Country slopes are heterogeneous (standard deviation = 0.07) and load on a development/governance gradient (the first principal component explains 67.5% of country-context variance).ConclusionRaw cross-national gaps misdiagnose the effectiveness of Education for Sustainable Development. The conditional conversion from familiarity to action is modest, developmentally patterned, and inseparable from response-style heterogeneity in this design.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1886876</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1886876</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Governing generative AI in digital education: how institutional guidance becomes course-level policy]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Evelyn Wu</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionAs generative artificial intelligence becomes embedded in digital education, universities face a governance problem that institutional guidance alone cannot resolve: how should acceptable AI use be defined within particular courses and assessments? This study examines syllabi as formal governance texts through which university principles become student-facing rules.MethodsUsing qualitative comparative document analysis, the study analyzed 35 syllabi collected from a large U.S. public research university, including 22 from Education and 13 from other fields. Course-level statements were compared with the institutional governance framework. The analysis distinguished primary governance stances and examined institutional alignment, policy rationales, discourse registers, and variation across course contexts.ResultsThe institutional framework delegated substantial authority to instructors while emphasizing communication, attribution, verification, and student responsibility. Course-level enactment was highly heterogeneous: 11 syllabi were silent on student AI use, 11 were prohibitive, five permitted specified uses, two broadly permitted AI with responsibility safeguards, and six treated AI or machine learning as an object of pedagogical or professional learning. Six syllabi were explicitly aligned with institutional guidance, seven implicitly aligned, eight elaborated the institutional framework, three provided minimal guidance, and 11 remained silent; none directly contradicted a specific institutional requirement. Authentic or independently produced work was the most common rationale, appearing in 18 of 24 non-silent syllabi. Governance patterns crossed disciplinary boundaries, while all pedagogical cases were concentrated in AI-adjacent courses.DiscussionThe findings challenge simple disciplinary explanations and show that course-level AI governance is shaped by the interaction of assessment design, authorship expectations, course purpose, AI adjacency, and instructor discretion. Variation is best understood as an outcome of delegated digital governance whose educational value depends on clarity, justification, and alignment with the intellectual work students are expected to perform.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1855663</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1855663</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Debating for persuasion versus debating for deliberation: the effect of differing communicative goals on disciplinary knowledge construction]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Ingrid González-Palta</author><author>Antonia Larrain</author><author>Gabriel Fortes</author><author>Javier Torres</author><author>Susan Galdames</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionLearning disciplinary knowledge is a complex process and a challenge for university education. Although it is argued that active methodologies, such as debate, are a means of promoting learning, there are few studies that measure this effect. There are good reasons to think that debate does promote learning, since it promotes argumentation, a type of dialogue that would be key to the construction of knowledge. However, it is not clear what effect different types of debate objectives would have on disciplinary learning. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of two debate designs (with persuasive and deliberative objectives) on the construction of disciplinary knowledge of psychology students.MethodsA mixed repeated measures design was conducted with 43 students who were randomly assigned to the debate designs. Interviews were conducted to assess disciplinary knowledge before and after the intervention, and the argumentative moves used by each participant in the debates were identified with a pattern of argumentative moves.ResultsA Principal Component Analysis identified two configurations of argumentative moves: deliberative component and persuasive component. A Kruskal-Wallis test with these components showed that students use significantly more deliberative moves in the deliberative debate, but there were no significant differences in persuasive moves between the debates. A Mixed ANOVA showed that students advance in disciplinary knowledge in both designs. Finally, a Linear Mixed Model is presented showing that change of position significantly predicts advancement in disciplinary knowledge.DiscussionThe findings are discussed from the relationship between objective, argumentative language and learning.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1889292</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1889292</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Older visitors’ acceptance of augmented-reality heritage interpretation: an extended technology acceptance model for informal cultural heritage learning]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Hypothesis and Theory</category>
        <author>Xuejia Zhu</author><author>Suebsiri Saelee</author><author>Quan Wen</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Augmented-reality (AR) interpretation is increasingly used to explain heritage buildings, yet its educational value depends on more than interface acceptance. This Hypothesis and Theory article proposes an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) for studying older visitors’ acceptance of AR heritage interpretation as an informal cultural heritage learning experience. The manuscript does not report a survey, experiment, interview, observation, usage log analysis, or any human participant dataset. Instead, it specifies a testable model and future field study protocol that connect perceived ease of use, AR interaction quality, interpretive usefulness, perceived cultural authenticity, trust in digital interpretation, attitude, intention to use, AR-supported learning engagement, and self-reported interpretive learning outcomes. The primary contribution is the adaptation of TAM for an aging and heterogeneous visitor group by incorporating trust, authenticity, and educational outcomes that are relevant to museum and heritage learning. The proposed protocol defines candidate constructs, hypotheses, survey indicators, older-visitor eligibility criteria, control and moderator variables, and structural equation modeling procedures, including bootstrapped indirect-effect testing. The framework is intended to guide future empirical studies examining whether AR helps older visitors notice architectural evidence, connect visible fabric with historical explanations, maintain control over their attention and movement, and evaluate the credibility of reconstructed or interpretive content.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1900495</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1900495</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Evidence, context, and pedagogy: rethinking ELT practice in Turkey through a contextual validity lens]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Perspective</category>
        <author>Rizwan-ul Huq</author><author>Alia Amir</author>
        <description><![CDATA[In English language teaching (ELT), pedagogical evidence rarely transfers intact across educational systems, a challenge particularly salient in Turkish ELT. This perspective article introduces contextual validity as an analytical and evaluative framework for judging whether a research-supported pedagogy remains educationally appropriate, institutionally feasible, sociolinguistically legitimate, and ethically defensible in a given teaching ecology. Unlike context-sensitivity, which describes variability, contextual validity issues a verdict: a practice is appropriate, appropriate with adaptation, or inappropriate for the given context. Building on postmethod critiques and extending them through ecological and complexity perspectives on teacher agency and language learning, the article specifies six analytical dimensions with measurable indicators, a provisional normative hierarchy for weighing dimensions that may conflict, and a staged workflow for professional judgement. Translanguaging pedagogy in multilingual Turkish classrooms serves as the case example, demonstrating the framework's discriminating, analytical use. The more productive question for Turkish ELT is not which method the field should adopt globally, but whether, by what evidence, and at what level of decision-making, a given pedagogy can be justified locally.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1851518</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1851518</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Project-based STEM learning through a socially relevant challenge: cognitive and affective outcomes of a sustainable construction project in secondary education]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Rosa Corral de la Torre</author><author>Guadalupe Martínez-Borreguero</author><author>Milagros Mateos-Núñez</author><author>Francisco Luis Naranjo-Correa</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This study examined cognitive and affective outcomes observed following an interdisciplinary project-based STEM intervention framed by a socially relevant humanitarian challenge. Students designed and built scale Superadobe shelter prototypes while applying knowledge of materials, measurement, proportional reasoning, and technical decision-making. Cognitive analyses used 78 complete pretest–posttest pairs from two ordinary-classroom analytical groups (MG1, n = 29; MG2, n = 30) and a Curricular Diversification group (CDG, n = 19). Affective results were analysed descriptively at the item level for students in the ordinary classrooms and in the CDG. Difference scores did not depart significantly from normality, and paired-samples t-tests with Holm correction showed higher posttest cognitive scores in all three groups (all adjusted p < .001; Cohen's dz = 0.93–1.62). Descriptive affective patterns included higher motivation, confidence, and positive evaluations of teamwork, together with lower reported frustration and concern. Open-ended self-assessments provided limited exploratory context for these patterns. Because there was no non-intervention control group and the affective instruments differed across educational settings, the findings are interpreted as within-group changes associated with the study period rather than as causal or cross-group evidence of inclusion.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1812733</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1812733</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Is theoretical training enough? Effects of a university course on disability and health in physical activity and sport science students]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-08-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Bingen Marcos-Rivero</author><author>Jon Ortuondo</author><author>Javier Yanci</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionThe preparation of future physical activity and sport professionals to promote inclusive and health–oriented practices for people with disabilities remains a persistent challenge in higher education. This study examined the effects of the course Physical Activity for the Health of People with Disabilities on students of a Bachelor's Degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences.MethodsFifty–eight fourth–year students participated in a pre–post mixed–methods design combining questionnaires with open–ended questions.ResultsQuantitative analyses revealed improvements in perceptions of theoretical training (p < 0.001; rb = –0.71, large), methodology (p = 0.041; d = –0.27, small), and community participation (p = 0.044; rb = –0.35, moderate). Conversely, decreases emerged in academic self–concept (p = 0.002; rb = 0.47, moderate) and self–efficacy (p < 0.001; rb = 0.62, large). Qualitative findings provided a nuanced interpretation of these results. Students reported acquiring a more structured conceptual framework and greater awareness of social, environmental, and attitudinal barriers affecting participation in physical activity. However, this increased cognitive understanding was accompanied by heightened recognition of the complexity of inclusive practice. The absence of authentic practical experiences and direct interaction with people with disabilities emerged as a recurrent theme, limiting perceived preparedness and confidence for real professional contexts.DiscussionOverall, the integration of findings suggests that predominantly theoretical training enhances knowledge and critical awareness but may simultaneously expose perceived competence gaps. Incorporating structured experiential learning opportunities appears essential to strengthen professional self–efficacy and facilitate effective transfer to inclusive practice settings.]]></description>
      </item>
      </channel>
    </rss>