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Writing anxiety has been identified as a significant obstacle for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in China, with previous studies indicating that it can negatively affect writing performance. Despite this, most research on writing anxiety in the Chinese EFL context has focused on the relationship between writing anxiety and writing performance, with limited attention paid to exploring writing anxiety during the writing process and its sources in depth. This study applied a qualitative method to explore Chinese EFL learners' writing anxiety in the writing process. Thematic analysis was used for analyzing data collected through semistructured interviews with 18 Chinese EFL learners. The results revealed seven primary themes, including lack of knowledge about the writing topic, inexperience with the genre, challenges with brainstorming or coming up with ideas, trouble with structuring or arranging information, difficulty with integrating sources, linguistic difficulty, and negative or no feedback from instructors. The findings indicated that writing anxiety accompanies throughout the writing process. EFL learners need strategies to alleviate writing anxiety, including clear instructions on how to approach writing tasks, provision of appropriate resources, individualized feedback, and a supportive learning environment.

This study examines the effort of one higher education college in China to see how it secures external funding resources to enhance its educational programs. The college is known for its success in getting external funding in addition to public revenue appropriations. The researchers took a case study approach by first reviewing the current literature to find out what has been done by other universities worldwide to secure external funding. Data in this study were retrieved by reviewing relevant documents in the college files. Additionally, five college administrators were interviewed to solicit their experiences in seeking external funding for the college. The findings of this study disclosed that the college administrators and staff have contributed tremendous effort to secure external resources to help achieve the college goals. The findings were also discussed relating to the current literature and the implications for educational planning.

In recent years, international students' settlement experiences have emerged as a new focus in migration studies. This qualitative study examines the study-to-work transition experiences of 30 mainland Chinese graduates living in Hong Kong and deepens the current discussion of these students-turned-migrants' socio-cultural integration. Specifically, mainland Chinese students-turned-migrants experience ongoing challenges in their study-to-work transitions. Adaptation difficulties in their university years, including limited Cantonese proficiency, meagre cultural understanding of the host society, and weak connections with locals, continue to affect their subsequent employment and social integration. Our findings underscore the crucial links between international students' prior socio-cultural adaptation and their post-study settlement experiences. We also reveal everyday workplace microaggressions, which should receive greater attention from scholars interested in international students' and students-turned-migrants' intra-ethnic interactions. Our findings have implications for immigration policy, university student services, and local companies.

Early childbearing is associated with high maternal stress and family violence. However, the long-term effects of rapid repeat pregnancy (RRP) in young motherhood on child outcomes remain largely unknown. This study examined the pathways between maternal RRP at young ages and child psychosocial problems and emergency room visits in later years. A total of 232 Chinese mother-child dyads provided baseline data in 2015 (Time 1; T1) and follow-up data 6 years later in 2021 (Time 2; T2). At T1, mothers completed questionnaires about child physical abuse frequency and family cohesion and reported their own stress levels. At T2, mothers were re-surveyed with the same questionnaires about child physical abuse frequency and family cohesion. Children's psychosocial problems were assessed through parent proxy-reports and records of emergency room visits were retrieved from hospital databases. After adjusting for demographic information, maternal history of RRP was associated with child physical abuse at T1 ([beta] = 0.15, p < 0.05) and in turn linked to child physical abuse recurrence ([beta] = 0.22, p < 0.01) and emergency room visits at T2 ([beta] = 0.22, p < 0.001). Improved family cohesion over time did not break the link between maternal RRP and child physical abuse recurrence. Poor family dynamics can lead to child physical abuse recurrence and worsen developmental outcomes in children, particularly when coupled with other risk factors such as maternal RRP at young ages. Early interventions to enhance support and reduce vulnerabilities are important for preventing child physical abuse in at-risk families.

The article examines the experiences of Chinese PhD students doing research in China Studies as well as the experiences of their supervisors who supervise their research in Australian universities. By conducting semi-structured interviews with both PhD students and their supervisors, we aim to understand the expectations, concerns and challenges of both students and supervisors involved in the PhD journey. We found that the main concerns and challenges of students lie in the tight timeframe of scholarship, their 'ideological dissonance' and their relations with supervisors. The supervisors hope their Chinese students could improve academic writing skills, critical thinking skills and social skills in order to well accommodate the research culture in Australia and successfully complete their PhD research. Our findings could help Australian universities to better understand the cultural and educational challenges of Chinese PhD students and to further build up the quality for research training to attract more international research students from China and elsewhere.

Due to the Zero-COVID policies implemented in China, students have accepted online education for curriculum learning for a considerable period of time. The objective of the current study was to determine the relationship between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, gender, and the online learning effectiveness of emerging adult learners in Guangzhou, China, who were enrolled in a continuing education program. The research framework was created in accordance with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The convenient sampling and snowball sampling methods were used to collect 123 respondents for the study. Findings revealed that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were positively associated with online learning effectiveness, but gender was not. The study recommended that school administrators enhance students' perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use to improve the online learning effectiveness. The findings of this study will provide scholars with insights for improving the investment effectiveness of adult education programs. In addition, because online learning tends to be more adaptable and economical than traditional classes, the increase in learning effectiveness can provide schools with justifications to continue utilizing online education even after the pandemic.

We report the validity of a test instrument that assesses the arithmetic ability of primary students by (a) describing the theoretical model of arithmetic ability assessment using Wilson's (2004) four building blocks of constructing measures and (b) providing empirical evidence for the validation study. The instrument consists of 21 multiple-choice questions that hierarchically evaluate arithmetic intended learning outcomes (ILOs) on arithmetic ability, hierarchically, based on Bloom's cognitive taxonomy for 138 primary three grade students. The theoretical model describes students' arithmetic ability on three distinct levels: solid, developing, and basic. At each level, the model describes the characteristics of the tasks that the students can answer correctly. The analysis shows that the difficulty of the items followed the expected order in the theoretical construct map, where the difficulty of each designed item aligned with the cognitive level of the student, the item difficulty distribution aligned with the structure of the person construct map, and word problems required higher cognitive abilities than the calculation problems did. The findings, however, pointed out that more difficult items can be added to better differentiate students with different ability levels, and an item should be revised to enhance the reliability and validity of the research. We conclude that the conceptualizations of such formative assessments provide meaningful information for teachers to support learning and tailoring instruction.

Universities are accountable to the community for the academic mission assigned to them through public support. The purpose of this study is to investigate the strategies employed by a department of a university in South China to achieve the accountability goals established by the university. The focus is on examining how faculty and staff at the department level of the university have correspondingly developed practical plans to assure their program quality to meet the university goals. This article starts with a review of current literature on program quality assurance and accountability in higher education. A case study of the targeted university and the special education program was designed by reviewing the university and department documents in file searching for details of accountability strategies aiming at university goal achievement. The findings of the study indicate that the targeted department has performed exceedingly well in achieving the university accountability goals of Academic Development, Research and Knowledge Transfer, and Management and Infrastructure.

This study investigated the critical roles of school climate and efficacy (collective teacher efficacy and teacher self-efficacy) in teachers' enthusiasm throughout their teaching careers. Based on multigroup structural equation modelling and mediation analysis of a sample of 4594 primary school teachers in China, this study found that school climate significantly affected teachers' enthusiasm. Furthermore, collective teacher efficacy had a stronger mediating effect than teacher self-efficacy on the relationship between aspects of school climate and teachers' enthusiasm. Among the four aspects of school climate, teachers' perception of student relations had the strongest influence on novice, mid-and late-career teachers' enthusiasm. Moreover, the practical implications of the findings for improving teachers' enthusiasm at different stages of their careers are discussed.

Mobile-assisted Language Learning (MALL) has been widely adopted in teaching and learning, yet there has been scant research concerning speaking test adaptation. An emerging type of mobile application is designed to facilitate test takers' performance in a high-stakes speaking test (e.g., the International English Language Testing System (IELTS)). Such an exam-oriented mobile application provides customized learning opportunity with automatic feedbacks through artificial intelligence (AI) technology for users to enhance their speaking skills. This study aims to explore the attitudes of test takers on using exam-oriented mobile application to adapt in testing environment as influenced by their perceptions through the theory of Technology Acceptance Model. 235 Chinese IELTS test takers with experience of using such applications were invited to fill out an online questionnaire. Collected data were analysed through statistical method, textual analysis, word cloud approach, and sentiment analysis. Results revealed that test takers' perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use towards the exam-oriented mobile application explained their attitudes to use such an application. They also expressed the concern of personalized AI function to support speaking test adaptation. Implications for educators, test taker, and application developers are provided.

Blended learning, which combines face-to-face lectures with online learning, has emerged as a suitable teaching approach during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used a national survey of anatomy educators in Mainland China to evaluate the changes in the implementation of blended learning in anatomical pedagogy. A total of 297 responses were collected from medical schools across all provinces. Respondents included 167 males and 130 females, with an average age of 44.94 (±8.28) and average of 17.72 (±9.62) years of professional experience. The survey showed adoption of online teaching and assessment by Chinese anatomy educators increased by 32.7% and 46.8%, respectively, compared to pre-pandemic levels. Perceptions of blended learning outcomes varied, with 32.3% and 37% educators considering it superior and inferior to traditional teaching, respectively. Faculty training programs related to blended learning increased significantly, fostering a collaborative learning environment; however, challenges remained in achieving satisfactory online assessment outcomes. Anatomy educators' attitudes reflected a strong preference for classroom learning (4.941 ± 0.856) and recognition of the importance of relevant technology (4.483 ± 0.954), whereas online learning received lower acceptance (4.078 ± 0.734). Female anatomy teachers demonstrated effective time management in online teaching. Meanwhile, educators with over 15 years of experience encountered difficulties with relevant technology, consistent with negative attitudes toward blended learning. Overall, this survey highlights the persistent challenges in implementing blended learning in anatomy education and provides insights for enhancing the pedagogical model in the post-COVID-19 era.

Background: Teachers' instructional quality is critical to student learning and development. However, the affordance of different aspects of instructional quality remains underexplored. Aims: This study explores the relationship between teachers' personal growth initiative (PGI) and teacher engagement and instructional quality. Sample: The data were collected from 998 teachers (82.9% female, average years of teaching experience = 15.25, SD = 10.29) from China. Methods: The participants completed an anonymous online survey questionnaire that examined their PGI, work engagement and self-reported instructional quality. Structural equation modelling and bootstrapping were performed to determine the differentiated associations between PGI and each aspect of the teachers' self-reported instructional quality. Results: The results confirmed the critical role of PGI in teacher engagement and self-reported instructional quality. To varying degrees, the dimensions of teacher engagement, except for cognitive engagement, mediated the association between PGI and self-reported instructional quality. Conclusions: The teachers' self-reported data showed that their motivation for personal growth played an important role in improving their instructional quality. The teachers' emotional engagement and social engagement with colleagues were positively related to classroom management, and their social engagement with students was associated with a supportive climate.

Left-behind children are children under 18 years old who live in their rural hometowns and are cared for by grandparents or other relatives for more than 6 months when their parents migrate from rural to urban areas for work. Left-behind adolescents are more likely to experience bullying victimization, which may lead to internalizing problem behaviors. Existing research showed that bullying victimization is related to left-behind adolescents' depression, but the mediating and moderating mechanisms that underlie this association are unclear. This study investigated the mediating effect of hopelessness and the moderating role of grit in the association between bullying victimization and left-behind adolescents' depression. A sample of 476 adolescents (mean age = 14.49, SD = 1.04) from two middle schools in a rural area of China anonymously completed the Children's Depression Inventory, the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, the Hopelessness Scale for Children, the Grit-S, and a demographic information questionnaire. After controlling for gender and age, bullying victimization was significantly and positively related to left-behind adolescents' depression. The mediation analysis showed that the positive association between bullying victimization and left-behind adolescents' depression was mediated by hopelessness. Furthermore, the moderation analysis indicated that grit moderated the association between bullying victimization and left-behind adolescents' depression. The current study explains how and to whom bullying victimization is related to left-behind adolescents' depression. This study informs that prevention and intervention of depression among left-behind adolescents would be effective if efforts target bullying victimization, hopelessness, and personal grit.

The purposes of this paper are to investigate Taiwanese undergraduate students' responses to a selected fictional text, and to propose a critical intercultural pedagogical approach of reading global literature in the EFL educational context based on the insights from the research findings. The authors first critically analysed Xiaolu Guo's third novel, "A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers," in terms of Occidentalism, in order to unpack the ideologies underlying her representation of the British and the Chinese. The analysis of the text was conducted through a qualitative approach of critical content analysis. After that, a semi-structured interview was adopted to scrutinise Taiwanese undergraduate students' perceptions of the ideologies underlying the fiction. The analysis of the text identified three themes of British-Chinese binary opposition together with the juxtaposition of ethnocentric Occidentalism and reverse Occidentalism. The findings obtained from interviews indicated that two of the three dichotomies, i.e. individualism versus collectivism and cosmopolitan versus rooted, underlying the fictional text were commonly perceived by the interviewed undergraduates while they had diverse views on the second dichotomy, sexual freedom versus sexual reticence. Furthermore, some students? responses to the fiction signified a subtle, implicit and delicate form of reverse Occidentalism. Based on the above research findings, the authors configured a critical intercultural pedagogy for raising students' capability of decoding and deconstructing Occidentalist ideologies underlying global literature.

Summary writing is an important tactic for learning from text and the summaries provide information on students' comprehension and learning processes. We investigated the nature of the summaries produced by bilingual adolescents, and whether their summaries were related to their reading abilities in their first and second languages. In each language, we examined the performance of students identified as typically developing, poor decoders, or poor comprehenders. Participants were 246 grade 8 students enrolled in English immersion programs in China. Measures included English word reading and reading comprehension, Chinese word reading and reading comprehension, and nonverbal ability. Students' text-absent summaries of an English 254-word expository passage were analyzed for the number of themes, main ideas, important details, and unimportant details. Using latent profile analysis, participants were identified as typical readers (TR, n = 123), poor decoders (PD, n = 74), or poor comprehenders (PC, n = 49) in English, and TR (n = 129), PD (n = 74), or PC (n = 43) in Chinese, based on word reading and reading comprehension in both English and Chinese. MANCOVA results showed that after controlling for nonverbal ability, in the English-defined groups, the TR group outperformed PD and PC on themes, main ideas, and important details; in the Chinese-defined groups, the TR group outperformed PD and PC on themes, TR performed better than PC on main ideas and important details, and PD outperformed PC on main ideas. Discussion focuses on the difficulties faced by bilingual students with reading difficulties and on the potential of summary writing instruction to improve their comprehension and learning processes.

Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember and complete planned tasks in the future, which relies on working memory (WM) for encoding and maintaining the intention. Implementation intention is a useful strategy for improving PM function in adults. Yet the effect of implementation intentions in children, and whether factors such as age, gender, and WM capacity could modulate its effect remains unclear. In this study, we examined the effect of implementation intentions on PM in 154 children at 7-11 years of age. The standard group received standard instructions on PM task, whereas the implementation intention group received additional PM instruction, which comprised the "if . . . then . . ." format and guided visual imagery of the PM scenario. Participants completed the computer-based PM tasks (tapping into focal event-, time-, and activity-based PM) and the WM tests. The results showed that the two groups exhibited similar focal event-, time-, and activity-based PM performance. Although age and gender did not modulate the effect of implementation intentions on PM, WM capacity moderated the implementation intention effect on time-based PM. Specifically, higher WM capacity predicted higher implementation intention benefit. These findings suggest that children with higher WM capacity may have higher chance to benefit from the implementation intention strategy.

Early attention bias to threat-related negative emotions may lead children to overestimate dangers in social situations. This study examined its emergence and how it might develop in tandem with a known predictor namely temperamental shyness for toddlers' fear of strangers in 168 Chinese toddlers. Measurable individual differences in such attention bias to fearful faces were found and remained stable from age 12 to 18 months. When shown photos of paired happy versus fearful or happy versus angry faces, toddlers initially gazed more and had longer initial fixation and total fixation at fearful faces compared with happy faces consistently. However, they initially gazed more at happy faces compared with angry faces consistently and had a longer total fixation at angry faces only at 18 months. Stranger anxiety at 12 months predicted attention bias to fearful faces at 18 months. Temperamentally shyer 12-month-olds went on to show stronger attention bias to fearful faces at 18 months, and their fear of strangers also increased more from 12 to 18 months. Together with prior research suggesting attention bias to angry or fearful faces foretelling social anxiety, the present findings point to likely positive feedback loops among attention bias to fearful faces, temperamental shyness, and stranger anxiety in early childhood.

This empirical article examines the policies, perspectives, and practices of building and developing cross-border and transnational higher education (TNHE) programs, with special attention given to the international joint and dual degree programs in North America and Asia. Specifically, this paper reviews the historical, political, and social dimensions of two international collaborative academic degree programs between the United States and Mainland China using Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI) and Sun Yat-set University (SYSU) as the case study. Findings suggest that IUPUI's most cited challenge with SYSU concerns alignment with general education requirements. On the other hand, SYSU's biggest challenge with IUPUI concerns language and cultural differences. This article offers five recommendations for teacher-scholars, policymakers, and advanced practitioners interested in developing, designing, and implementing dual degree programs during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications for future research on and applications and practices for TNHE programs are discussed.

Research has indicated that parents play a significant role in promoting school and family collaborative activities. However, empirical studies on parental engagement in school and family collaboration in China are scarce. This study investigates how Chinese parents perceived the school and family collaborative activities initiated by elementary school staff. Out of 300 parents in elementary schools in Wu Xing District, Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, 135 agreed to participate in this study to indicate their perceptions of school and family collaboration. A mainly quantitative approach was employed in this study of school and family collaboration. An open-ended question was added to the end of the quantitative questionnaire to offer the parents the opportunity to express themselves freely with no restriction. The findings of this study indicated that Chinese parents were in favor of school and family collaboration and were willing to work with teachers to foster better communication. However, they needed guidance and initiations from teachers and school administrators. It is concluded that parents could be more involved in creating a comprehensive school and family collaboration plan to help with children's development. This study comes in timely in response to the Chinese Central Government's call for promoting school and family relationship to enhance student learning.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the joint effort of the Chinese Government and the educators in reacting to the threat of COVID-19 in China to keep learning continue while schools close. The sources of data in this paper are from the most current reports of the Chinese Government, newspapers, televisions and the latest published journal articles. These reports cover the challenges, the immediate actions of the Government and the stakeholders during the toughest COVID-19 period in China. The paper also includes the Post COVID-19 Plan of the Chinese Government to bring normal learning back after the pandemic. The courageous acts of the Chinese Government and the educators to save Chinese education during the pandemic have significant implications to educational planning worldwide.

Although informal teacher learning (ITL) has been deemed critical for teachers in various contexts, it remains unknown how different kinds of ITL are associated with teacher self-efficacy, and how these relationships differ between public school teachers and private school teachers. Based on sociocultural theory and reflection theory, this study first categorised ITL activities into four types: (1) learning through interaction with colleagues, (2) learning through interaction with stakeholders (i.e. students, parents, friends, and researchers), (3) learning through interaction with multimedia, and (4) learning through reflection on practice. Borrowing from social cognitive theory, the study then investigated the relationship between each type of ITL and teacher self-efficacy among public school teachers and private school teachers. Survey responses were collected from 289 teachers in a pilot study and 510 teachers in the main study. Multigroup structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The results substantially support the existence of the four ITL categories listed above. Compared with the private school teachers, the public school teachers reported that they interacted more with stakeholders. The public school teachers' reflection on practice was significantly related to their self-efficacy, whereas the private school teachers' interaction with stakeholders and multimedia was important to their self-efficacy.

Changes in physical activity levels and increases in screen time across different cohorts may affect young children's motor skill development (MSD). This study examined cohort differences in MSD in China. Four-year-olds living in Shanghai and in Guizhou province were assessed, in individual sessions, in 2013 (n = 230) and in 2017 (n = 446). Controlling for age, parental education, gender, height, weight, and overall development, children's MSD scores were significantly lower in 2017 than in 2013 in both Shanghai and Guizhou. Parental education moderated these differences. Declines in MSD scores may be due to increased screen time, higher levels of air pollution, and decreased access to safe, outdoor spaces. The overall decline in motor skills across both regions suggests that appropriate and timely interventions are needed to support young Chinese children's MSD.

Personal Learning Environment (PLE) represents a shift of learning paradigm towards learner-centered pedagogy, where users become masters of their own learning. PLEs are best used by learners with Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) abilities. Previous research showed that learners felt lost or socially isolated in PLEs due to their limited SRL abilities. To increase the accessibility of the PLEs, this research used IDEF0 to analyze the system design of Pintrich's SRL in a PLE platform. A supervised-PLE platform was developed with International English Language Test (IELTS) as its subject matter and was pilot-tested for two years in one of the largest comprehensive universities in East China. Distance Education Learning Environments Survey (DELES) was carried out among 285 learners to test their perceptions of the PLE-IELTS platform and MOOC engagement scale (MES) survey was used among 96 learners to diagnose their engagement on the platform. The DELES survey result showed that the majority of the respondents were positive towards the PLE platform. MES survey result indicated an active engagement on the platform, with cognitive engagement scored the highest compared to social engagement as the lowest. Future research on the system design of the SRL in the PLE platform was suggested.

This study assessed the effect of a teacher professional development (PD) programme that incorporated culturally responsive teaching on Chinese kindergarten teachers' perceptions of learning motivation of ethnic minority (EM) vs. Chinese pupils in Hong Kong. The moderating role of classroom ethnic composition was examined. Forty-five teachers in the intervention group attended 20 sessions of PD courses over 10 months, whereas 40 teachers who did not attend the current programme formed a control group. Pre- and post-tests were conducted to assess teacher perceptions of learning motivation and engagement of Chinese and EM pupils. Hierarchical structure of data was accounted for with multilevel modelling. Results showed that the intervention resulted in positive changes in teacher perceptions of learning motivation of EM (vs. Chinese) pupils among teachers working in classrooms with low proportions of EM pupils when compared to teachers in the control group. The findings highlighted that teachers' cultural diversity training programmes should be evaluated in relation to classroom ethnic composition and other contextual factors that influence the quality and frequency of interethnic contact.

This paper highlights the complex relations between public and private spaces with regard to young children's bilingual learning, and the importance of developing a pedagogy that allows for the interaction of learning across the two spaces. It uses findings from a qualitative study to illustrate nuanced (mis)alignments between dominant language discourses in New Zealand early childhood education and Chinese immigrant families' aspirations regarding the languages they want their children to learn and use. The study involved analysing a range of institutional documents to identify early childhood education discourses promoted in New Zealand. Alongside this, individual interviews were conducted with a group of Chinese immigrant parents to investigate their involvement in children's early childhood education. Families' aspirations, experiences and practices regarding children's bilingual learning were frequently mentioned during the interviews, and these are valuable knowledge for teachers. This paper presents findings related to these dual language learning expectations. It uses theoretical constructs of social spaces to interpret the findings and their implications for a responsive pedagogy that embraces bi/multilingualism.

Research Findings: Emotion talk (ET) is an emotion socialization practice theorized to promote children's socioemotional competence. The present study examined parent and child ET in two subgroups of Chinese-heritage families in low-income communities: Chinese immigrant families in U.S. (CA) and Taiwanese families in Taiwan (TW). In a sample of 75 children (age = 3.2 to 7.4 years, 55% girls, 37 TW and 38 CA) and their parents (99% mothers), parents' and children's ET (emotion words, emotion questions and explanations, and global quality or elaborateness of ET) were coded from a shared book reading task. Children's socioemotional behaviors (prosocial behaviors and behavioral problems) were reported by parents, and emotion expressions were coded from an emotion-eliciting task. Significant associations were found between parent and child ET and children's socioemotional behaviors. Controlling for child age, family SES, and total utterances, parents' use of positive emotion words was negatively associated with children's externalizing problems. Children's use of emotion reasoning was positively associated with their expressed sadness. A few cultural group differences were also found: TW children used more negative emotion words and engaged in more elaborative ET than CA children, and TW parents used more emotion reasoning than CA parents. Moreover, TW children had fewer peer problems than CA children. Practice or Policy: The findings suggest emotion talk during shared book reading may be a beneficial family activity that promotes children's socioemotional development in Chinese-heritage families. Parents in low-income Chinese immigrant families likely face socio-cultural barriers to engage in elaborative emotion talk with their children.

Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.2.1 is monitored by determining the proportion of children aged 24 to 59 months who are developmentally on track in the domains of health, learning, and psychosocial well-being. UNICEF has developed a caregiver report measure, the Early Childhood Development Index 2030 (ECDI2030), to measure progress towards this target. This paper examines whether a newly developed tool, the Early Childhood Development Assessment Scale--Direct Assessment (ECDAS-DA) can add value to the measurement of Target Indicator 4.2.1 by complementing UNICEF's ECDI2030, and explores the psychometric properties of the ECDAS-DA. A total of 956 children (476 girls) aged 3 to 5 years from Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar were administered the ECDAS-DA in individual sessions. Caregivers provided responses to a survey based on UNICEF's ECDI2030. Confirmatory Factor Analyses indicated that learning, health, and psychosocial well-being domains of the ECDAS-DA were three component parts of one underlying construct of early child development. Significant correlations between the ECDAS-DA and the caregiver-reported ECDI2030 survey were found in the learning and health domains but findings were mixed for the psychosocial well-being domain. Multiple measures of early development could be important in measuring SDG Target 4.2.1 and the ECDAS-DA has the potential to complement UNICEF's ECDI2030.

Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) established schools to reduce the burdens of the government to the provision of public education to its citizens since the 1950s. They spend billions of Chinese yuan each year to educate the children of their employees by creating and operating a variety of early years centers, schools, vocational institutes, and universities. However, the Chinese SOEs schools are required to transfer to local education bureaus under the modern enterprise system. This article utilizes network governance theory to explore the process of handover of Civil Aviation Guangzhou Children's School from the Civil Aviation Department to the local education bureau. It traces the historical development of SOEs schools under the Civil Aviation industry. By drawing on policy document analysis and semi-constructed interviews of different stakeholders, this article reports the detailed process of transferring. By applying "Asia as method" lens of network governance, "Mohe" involves various stakeholders to work together to solve the problems and achieve win-win results. This article argues that education governance in the Chinese administrative system has entered a new phase, from a central hierarchical approach to the approach of central steering with local diversity. The central government drove its core policy objective, and the local governments were able to achieve the objective by their own means in ways that reflected local characteristics.

Intensive research attention has focused on developing students' evaluative judgement within the higher education curriculum, but little has addressed how it can be measured. The contextual nature of evaluative judgement makes it difficult to generate an encompassing instrument, highlighting the need for situated measurement tools. Against this background, this study develops and validates a self-report instrument to measure engineering students' evaluative judgement of intercultural competence. A total of 815 Chinese engineering students participated in the pilot and formal phases of validation. Following sequential exploratory-confirmatory factor analyses, the final instrument contains 27 items covering six dimensions. Validity and reliability evidence supports the correlated six-factor model and a higher-order factor model. The study provides educators and policymakers with a useful tool to understand students' development in their evaluative judgement of intercultural competence. More importantly, for students themselves, the instrument facilitates self-reflection and helps them achieve greater autonomy in directing their development and growth. Although the study adopts a situated approach to measure evaluative judgement, we also discuss the possibility of adapting this instrument for other judgement contexts.

The aim of this study was to describe the trajectories of teacher leadership development by investigating the interaction between teachers' perceptions and practices of leadership at different career stages. A case study design was adopted. Data were collected from four primary school teachers in China through narrative-style, semi-structured interviews, storylines and observations. The results showed that teachers' perceptions and practices of leadership changed and interacted over time, shaping the trajectories of teacher leadership development. Three leadership development trajectories, influenced by various personal and contextual factors, were identified: perception-driven, bumpy and practice-driven. Adopting an insider's perspective, this study theoretically contributes to the knowledge of teacher leadership by describing and categorizing the dynamic changes in teachers' perceptions and practices of teacher leadership. Moreover, this study has revealed how the interaction of teacher perceptions and practices shapes teacher leadership development. The implications for facilitating teacher leadership development are discussed.

For students to sustain their learning beyond higher education, it is important for them to develop their evaluative judgement. Although the importance of evaluative judgement is well-established, the process through which students make such judgements remains contested. This study explores students' evaluative judgement process by asking 20 engineering students to evaluate their own intercultural competence and that of other engineers in task-based interviews. The findings reveal that in the process of judgement-making, students negotiate and navigate multiple dimensions, including their 'knowledge of intercultural competence', 'awareness of bias', 'attitude towards development', 'capability to judge', 'action towards improvement' and 'identity as assessor'. Building on these findings, the study further reconceptualises evaluative judgement as a negotiated process rather than a capability.

Positive associations have been found between executive function (EF) and language skills in young children. However, the relations between specific components of EF and language are unclear. This study examined these relations among young children in three Asian countries. A series of EF and language tasks was administered to 700 children (350 girls) aged from 3 to 6 years from urban and rural areas in Bangladesh (n = 232), China (n = 233), and India (n = 235). Overall EF was positively associated with oral language and literacy after controlling for age, socio-demographic variables, and country. Hierarchical linear regression analyses examined the associations of three EF components (working memory, shifting, and inhibitory control) with oral language and literacy. In all three contexts, inhibitory control was significantly associated with oral language; and working memory was significantly associated with literacy. Specific patterns of relations between EF components and language were observed across contexts. Future research may consider whether these findings can be generalized to different language systems.

The purpose of this study is to examine if school principals' roles and responsibilities in China, Ghana, Hungary, Turkey, Poland and the United States are significantly different from one another. This study adopts a survey design which provides a quantitative or qualitative description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by studying a sample of that population. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from school principals in these six countries by using a researcher designed survey questionnaire. The quantitative data derived from principals' responses were analyzed by country and by total average according to the subsets of character, professional knowledge, professional skill, administrative style, administrative duties, personnel management, and student affairs management. The principals' roles and responsibilities of the six countries were compared by using Multivariate Analysis of Variance. Answers to the three open-ended questions provide qualitative data for analysis. Emerging themes and patterns were observed among the principals' responses. Results of data analysis show that principals of the six countries confront many similar problems in their daily school functions. The unique political infrastructures of their locations determine how they address these problems to meet the individual demands of their own societies. Understanding of common challenges and emerging roles of principals in changing social and political settings provide educational leaders of these countries the opportunities to share their unique experiences and success stories.

In this paper, we report on the cross-cultural comparative analysis that was undertaken as part of the Social Unit of Learning project investigating student collaborative problem solving in China and Australia. The video-based research examined the 'negotiative foci' of dyadic student interaction during collaborative problem solving within the mathematics classroom setting. In the analysis we take "negotiative focus" as the central construct and compare the student interactions in terms of their focus on either facts and procedures, didactical norms, or social/interpersonal considerations. We report on the analysis based on an open-ended pair task (Household task) that was completed by year 7 students (mostly 12- to 13-year olds) in China and Australia. In the study we analysed the video and written responses of 20 student pairs from three year 7 classes in China (40 students in total) and 25 student pairs from two year 7 classes in Australia (50 students in total). The findings from this comparative study provide empirical evidence regarding how the participating students in each country interpreted and negotiated meaning as they tackled the open-ended task collaboratively.

Teacher noticing can be an important element in improving teaching and students' mathematical success. While the focus of the international project "Learning from Lessons" was on teacher learning, in this paper we report what mathematics teachers noticed and claimed to learn through the process of planning, teaching, and reflecting on their lessons. The study involved teachers and research teams from three countries (Australia, China and Germany) with different cultures, contexts and pedagogies. The explicit goal of the current study was to identify commonalities and differences with respect to those aspects that teachers noticed during their teaching. A multiple case study with three teachers, one from each of the three participating countries, was conducted using prompting questions to facilitate teacher reflection. The process of defining and refining categories for teacher noticing was implemented in the methodology. The findings suggest that there were many commonalities across the cases despite the different cultural and individual backgrounds of the teachers. The specific topic and individual lessons as well as the teachers' expectations based on their lesson planning seemed to influence what the teachers noticed in their teaching process. The study highlights the importance of attending to the situational aspects of teacher noticing and learning.

Assessment of progress toward UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 requires measurement of the proportion of children aged 24 to 59 months developmentally on track in health, learning, and psychosocial well-being (Indicator 4.2.1). UNICEF's methodological work culminated with the development of the Early Childhood Development Index 2030 (ECDI2030) to measure on track status. To compare direct assessment and caregiver report of early child development, a measure aligned to ECDI2030 -- the Early Childhood Development Assessment Scale-Direct Assessment (ECDAS-DA) -- was developed and administered to 510 preschoolers aged 36- to 59-months from Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar. Their caregivers completed the Early Childhood Development Assessment Scale-Caregiver Survey (ECDAS-CS) containing items based on the ECDI2030. Research Findings: The two measures correlated with each other and were associated with child age, maternal education, and family wealth. ECDAS-DA showed more variability by child age and provided more fine-grained analyses of emerging developmental competencies than ECDAS-CS. Practice or Policy: Given the dearth of pan-culturally appropriate tools, ECDAS-DA can be deployed in longitudinal studies and impact evaluations in low- and middle-income countries.

Guided by the social-ecological model, the present study used hierarchical linear modeling to examine the multilevel associations between teacher victimization (TV), teacher burnout, and school climate. Participants were 1,711 teachers from 58 middle and high schools in mainland China. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the study found that upon controlling for teacher and school demographic factors, TV at the individual level had a significant and positive association with all three dimensions of teacher burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment). School climate at the teacher level, but not at the school level, was negatively associated with all three types of burnout. Moreover, school climate at the school level, but not at the teacher level, significantly moderated the association between TV and two dimensions of teacher burnout (i.e., depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment). More specifically, a positive school-level climate buffered the positive association between TV and depersonalization but magnified the positive association between TV and reduced personal accomplishment. The current findings highlight the importance of reducing teacher victimization and promoting a positive school climate for preventing teacher burnout and teacher retention. It also indicates that teacher's adjustment in responding to teacher-targeted violence varies depending on school climate context and across the different dimensions of teacher burnout.

This paper examines the translanguaging practice of two EFL teachers in a Xinjiang university, where English and Mandarin Chinese are predominant but Uyghur is minoritised as a medium of instruction. We focus on data in which the teachers translanguage across all three languages and make a case for the conception of pedagogical translanguaging which is differentiated from spontaneous translanguaging and in which named languages (or naming languages) can play an important role in the instruction (Cenoz, J., and D. Gorter. 2017. "Sustainable Translanguaging and Minority Languages: Threat or Opportunity?" "Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development" 38 (10): 901-912. doi:10.1080/01434632.2017.1284855; Cenoz, J., and D. Gorter. 2020. "Pedagogical Translanguaging: An Introduction." "System" 92: 102269. doi:10.1016/j.system.2020.102269). More specifically, named languages can be helpful in accomplishing specific goals of pedagogical translanguaging, in particular, developing metalinguistic awareness of multilingual students whose mother tongue /community language is minoritised. While translanguaging across all three languages appears a very useful teaching resource, it is restricted to the teaching of English vocabulary and grammar, areas in which students are perceived to be weakest. Moreover, the use of Uyghur only when it is felt to be most needed suggests that much more 'breathing space' (Cenoz, J., and D. Gorter. 2017. "Sustainable Translanguaging and Minority Languages: Threat or Opportunity?" "Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development" 38 (10): 901-912. doi:10.1080/01434632.2017.1284855; Cenoz, J., and D. Gorter. 2020. "Pedagogical Translanguaging: An Introduction." "System" 92: 102269. doi:10.1016/j.system.2020.102269) is required to sustain Uyghur and to exploit the full pedagogical potential of the ethnic language.

This study aims to complement existing literature on Asian students' motivation through the adoption of person-centred approach in understanding Chinese and Filipino students' motivational profile using self-determination theory. By means of cluster analysis, both Study 1 involving Chinese college students (N = 306) and Study 2 involving Filipino high school students (N = 893) identified four clusters: 1) high autonomous-high controlled, 2) high autonomous-low-controlled, 3) moderate autonomous-moderate controlled and 4) low autonomous-low controlled. These clusters were significantly different when compared across various outcomes. Specifically, the high autonomous-low controlled motivation and high autonomous, high controlled motivation groups demonstrated the most favourable outcomes whilst moderate autonomous-moderate controlled, and low autonomous-low controlled motivation had the least favourable outcomes. The study yielded both etic and emic findings different from western findings. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed within the cultural context in which the participants operate.

There is a dramatic increase in the number of mainland Chinese students coming to Hong Kong to attend various courses. With the aim of developing a profound understanding of the adaptation of the mainland Chinese students (N = 210), this study tested the relationship between types of motivation and goal content when studying abroad with a wide array of adaptation and achievement outcomes within the framework of self-determination theory (SDT). Our results demonstrated that autonomous motivation emerged as the strongest predictor of various adaptation outcomes whilst preservation as a goal for studying abroad served as an important predictor of adaptation. Autonomous motivation is strongly linked to self-development while controlled motivation is strongly linked to preservation. Findings are discussed from cultural perspectives in order to better understand the dynamics of mainland Chinese students' adaptation.

Pedagogical documentation has been regarded as an important practice in early childhood education (ECE) settings because it provides an opportunity to observe children's learning and help teachers plan for learning experiences. This article focuses on teachers' use of information and communication technology (ICT) in pedagogical documentation in an under-researched context. A qualitative study was conducted in three kindergartens in Nanjing, China, over five months. The Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model was adopted to understand participants' decision-making about pedagogical documentation. Findings indicate that ICT-supported pedagogical documentation aimed to help children learn from peers' experiences and reflect on their own learning. Participants considered pedagogical documentation as a tool for initiating discussion with children, though few used it to plan for future learning experiences. A gap between practice and policy in relation to pedagogical documentation was found in the study, and implications for both areas are discussed.

Background: The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is well documented in developed countries, and yet public discussion of gender disparities in STEM in China is still in its nascent stage. Endorsement of traditional gender role beliefs and conformity to social norms are pertinent to Chinese culture, which may even exacerbate the gender disparities in STEM engagement. Grounded in social cognitive career theory, the present study drew on a national sample of secondary school students (N = 3020) in China to estimate gender disparities in self-efficacy, interest, and aspirations in STEM and examine how cultural and gender norms influence STEM engagement. Results: The proposed sequential mediation model was supported, in which girls were more likely to show lower levels of self-efficacy than boys; this was associated with lower interest in STEM and lower motivation to pursue STEM careers. The results also supported the moderating effect of traditional gender role beliefs and found that gender differences in self-efficacy, interest, and aspirations in STEM were more apparent among students who strongly endorsed stereotypical views of male and female roles. Conclusions: The findings provide important implications for efforts to improve girls' access to STEM education through curriculum enrichment and out-of-school time programs to bridge the gender gap in STEM. Access to female role models and gender-responsive pedagogy is also essential to boost girls' self-efficacy in STEM and eradicate traditional gender role beliefs among all students.

Cross-border education is defined as the movement of people, knowledge, programs, providers, and curriculums across national or regional jurisdictional borders. Each year, millions of students access better education by crossing their national borders from less developed or newly-industrialized countries to Western, industrialised countries. Most are tertiary education students but the numbers engaged in secondary, primary, and pre-school education are also significant. Under the implementation of "one country two systems" in Hong Kong after the transition of sovereignty from Britain to China in 1997, and a decision of a case in The Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong in 2011, babies born in Hong Kong to mainland Chinese parents are entitled to the right of abode in Hong Kong. Since then, tens of thousands of such births have occurred. More than 20,000 cross-border students travel from China to attend public schools in Hong Kong every day. This paper explores equality issues faced by these students. The paper evaluates the results of various stakeholders working together to solve important issues; for example, dedicated school zones, immigration clearance services, setting up Hong Kong classes in Chinese schools, and language, communication, and cultural support. The paper argues that inequality is prevalent.

The purpose of this paper is to critically review two studies conducted ten years apart to examine the roles and responsibilities of school principals in China. Data of one study were collected from seven provinces of south China while those of the other study were mainly from Changsha area, Hunan Province. Though the same survey instrument was used in both studies for data collection, because of time and location differences, direct comparison of findings tend to be inappropriate. Longitudinal approach of school leadership studies in the future is recommended. Results of this review showed that principals in these two studies had unbalanced workload in distributing their effort in dealing with daily school businesses. The research approaches and findings of these two studies have significant implications for planning of educational leadership programs, planning of daily school practices and planning for future research in school leadership.