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The successful integration of technology in teaching is a key component of education. Although prior research highlighted factors fostering the use of technology by teachers, few studies focused on whether these factors vary among teachers of different grade levels and subjects. Moreover, no studies have investigated personal experiences related to distance education among a large sample of teachers. To address these gaps, the present mixed-method study sought to examine whether factors promoting distance education varied among Italian teachers of different grade levels and subjects. A further aim was to explore experiences of teachers using distance education. The sample involved 357 Italian teachers and preservice teachers who completed an online questionnaire during the COVID-19 pandemic that also contained open-ended questions. Findings indicated that teaching self-efficacy was greater in pre-service and primary teachers, while facilitating conditions were greater in humanities and science secondary teachers. The perceived ease of use of technology and technology for pedagogy skills were more pronounced among science secondary teachers. Advanced technology skills were lower in humanities secondary teachers while the behavioural intention to use technology was greatest among pre-service teachers. Four themes emerged from the qualitative study of teachers' insights. These included positive and negative aspects of using technology, the relationship with students, the versatility of distance education, and the quality of lessons. This study underscores the need to address training based on different teachers' grade levels and subjects, and to focus on the emerging themes to better integrate the use of technology in schools.

Background: The rapid spread of COVID-19 forced many countries to adopt severe containment measures, transferring all didactic activities into virtual environments. However, the integration of technology in teaching may present difficulties, especially in some countries, such as Italy. Objectives: The present study analyzed how the two main factors of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), namely perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, combined with online teaching self-efficacy, were associated with the intention to use technology to teach. We posited a moderated moderation model in which perceived usefulness represented the main predictor, with self-efficacy and perceived ease of use as moderators of intention to use technology to teach. Method: The model was tested through multiple regressions, using the PROCESS macro on SPSS 26 with a sample of 178 upper secondary school teachers in Italy. Results and conclusions: Regressions showed that each variable significantly predicted the intention to use technology. In addition, a moderation effect of self-efficacy on the perceived usefulness of using technology was found for medium and high-level of perceived ease of use of technology. Implications: The present study provides targeted implications for distance education policy and practice to promote its adoption (or the blended modality) in Italian upper schools.

Research is sparse on who targets whom in peer aggression. In this study, we investigated the harm associated with the type of relationship between aggressed and aggressor with an international sample of over 5,000 students aged 11-16, living in 12 nations. Best friends and individuals with whom the respondent had no relationship were the least likely to engage in aggression, while one-third of peer aggression could be attributed to friends (not best friends), and classmates/peers. Greater harm was experienced between best friends only when it involved relational aggression, such as spreading rumors and being left out. Harm from aggression varied by world location and number of different experiences of aggression, while gender and age differences were inconsistent. Intervention programs could take advantage of the vital role that friends play as socializing agents during adolescence that focus on the harmfulness of aggression undertaken in the guise of a joke.

This original paper, based on data from the Erasmus+Blurred Lives Project, presents a new multi-dimensional categorisation model to describe negative online experiences, including forms of cyberbullying, based on a study of internet usage among over N = 2,500 adolescents with lower socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds across five European countries. The paper first sets out the rationale for the development of a new coding system, before describing the current study and nature of the survey data collected. There follows a description of the development of the new system and the series of reliability checks undertaken by the research team (N= 11, from 5 countries) and of the refinements made to the categories and codes. The resulting coding system is presented with consideration of the strengths and limitations, and description of two early pilot studies which have successfully adopted the new system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital communication technologies play an important role in the social development of young people, but can create vulnerabilities to cyberbullying and other negative online experiences. The "Blurred Lives" project aimed to tackle cyberbullying innovatively using a co-participatory approach, collaborating with 14-16-year olds living in areas of socio-economic disadvantage in five European countries. In phase one, 2,658 teenagers were surveyed on their internet use and any unpleasant online experiences. This data informed the second phase where the participating countries worked together with 237 adolescents across 10 schools with adult facilitators to create original anti-cyberbullying resources for teachers, parents/carers, peers, and social media providers using the Quality Circle approach. This methodology adopts an ethos of working together to solve a problem in small, peer-led groups. Each group was tasked with creating a resource for one of the target audience groups. The final resources comprise a rich variety of different formats including videos, comic strips, a board game, leaflets, posters, and newsletters. The pupil feedback highlights, for most but not all participants, an increased knowledge of cyberbullying and e-safety skills, as well as enhanced problem-solving skills, levels of confidence, and group work skills. Several operational challenges are also discussed, including the importance of school-level support, planning, staffing, and finding an appropriate balance between facilitator support and pupil agency.

A considerable amount of research has examined the link between children's peer acceptance, which refers to the degree of likability within the peer group, social functioning and emotional wellbeing, at a same age and in a long term perspective, pointing out to the contribution of peer acceptance for mental wellbeing. Our study proposes a sociometric methodology that, differently from many studies focused on individual classifications of social status, moves to the analysis of affiliative social networks within the class group. This study describes how individual factors such as socio-emotional competence, temperament, and linguistic skills are related to positive reciprocated nominations (=RNs) and examines the cliques generated by reciprocal nominations according to similarities (socio-emotional competence, temperament and linguistic skills) among cliques' members. Eighty-four preschool children (M age = 62.5 months) were recruited. The Sociometric Interview to assess RNs and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R; Dunn & Dunn, 1981) to assess receptive language were administered; the Social Competence and Behaviour Evaluation Short Form questionnaire (SCBE-30; LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996) and the Quit Temperament Scale (Axia, 2002) were filled in by the teachers. Results showed that children with higher RNs presented higher scores in social orientation, positive emotionality, motor activity, linguistic skills and social competence (trend), and exhibited lower anxiety-withdrawal. The analysis of cliques revealed that children preferred playmates with similar features: social competence, anger-aggression (trend), social orientation, positive emotionality, inhibition to novelty, attention, motor activity (trend) and linguistic skills. These findings provide insights about processes of peer affiliation, highlighting the role of socio-emotional functioning and linguistic skills.

This study describes the social contexts in which four-year-olds undertake practitioner-assigned cognitive/learning tasks within preschools and the different experiences these contexts provide for children. Data was collected in 34 preschool settings in South East England, using a phenomenographic mapping of activities and social groupings during learning activities. The data was subject to frequency-based analyses. Results identified distinct social pedagogic contexts wherein children interacted with practitioners or with peers; these contexts were differentiated by group size and composition, activity, type of interaction with practitioner and peers, level of cognitive challenge and genderisation of activity. The results revealed that while children engaged in cognitive/learning activities within both practitioner- and child-oriented pedagogic worlds the nature of the activities within these social contexts emphasised interactive inclusion and interactive exclusion respectively.

In recently published studies on cyberbullying, students are frequently categorized into distinct (cyber)bully and (cyber)victim clusters based on theoretical assumptions and arbitrary cut-off scores adapted from traditional bullying research. The present study identified involvement classes empirically using latent class analysis (LCA), to compare the classification of cyber- and traditional bullying and to compare LCA and the conventional approach. Participants were 6,260 students (M = 14.8 years, SD = 1.6; 49.1% male) from six European countries. LCA resulted in three classes for cyberbullying and four classes for traditional bullying. Cyber- and traditional bullying differed from each other, as did LCA and the conventional approach. Country, age, and gender differences were found. Implications for the field of traditional and cyberbullying research are discussed.

Cyberbullying may sometimes be an extension of traditional bullying. However, some particular features of cyberbullying suggest that it may have a distinct causal pathway, due to the social context of a virtual environment within which peer social processes occur. Moreover, boys and girls may perceive and respond differentially to their social context, which may heighten the risk for victimisation. This study aimed to describe how the perceived relational context (school, peers and family) may influence the probability of becoming a victim, in both offline and virtual contexts, among boys and girls. A questionnaire, measuring school climate; global, family and peer self-esteem; loneliness in relationship with parents and peers; and victimisation in traditional direct, traditional indirect and cyberbullying, was completed by 2326 Italian adolescents (mean age 13.9 years). For traditional victimisation, significant predictors were loneliness in relations with peers and a negative perception of school climate, in both males and females, while younger age (for direct victimisation) and lower global self-esteem (for indirect victimisation) were predictors for males only. For cybervictimisation, involvement as either a direct or an indirect victim was a very strong predictor for both males and females, but with an element of distinction compared to traditional victimisation, as lower self-esteem in family relationships was a predictor of cybervictimisation for males, while parent loneliness was a predictor for females. Implications for understanding the continuity/discontinuity between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, and for the development of intervention strategies, taking into account some differences by gender, are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

This study sought to identify and compare the characteristics of the social pedagogic context of cognitive activities in a sample of early education settings in six European countries (England, Finland, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden). Previous research concerning the social context within which cognitive/learning activities take place has focused on practitioner-child relations; yet, children undertaking these activities spend the majority of their time with peers and away from the presence of practitioners. Data were collected in two early education settings in each of the countries, using as research tools: descriptive narrative contextual information (concerning structure, size, curriculum framework), mapping of interpersonal activity, reflective rating scales (concerning nature of cognitive tasks and support for children's interactions) and practitioner interviews (concerning children's interactions for learning and development). Results identified some variation in frameworks, activity and practice between the partner countries but noted more generally that children are found in distinct pedagogic "worlds" when acting/interacting with practitioners and peers. These pedagogic worlds were separated by size and composition of grouping, activities and communication. The pedagogic worlds also related to task and interpersonal support for learning and development within settings. Interviews with practitioners showed a concern to promote children's social development but a consistent focus on individual children's development (rather than a social focus on all children). Conclusions identify that the distinctive pedagogic "worlds" may be the source of social exclusion (especially among peers) and question how practitioners may more fully integrate/support a socio-constructive basis of cognitive activities into peer-based interactions. (Contains 12 tables and 5 notes.)

Psychological assessments, particularly with young children, rely on developmental estimations reported by different caregivers (i.e. parents and teachers). The degree of accordance between different informants is very important to detect early impairments or delays in different developmental domains. To date, recentresearch studies have drawn attention to the association between gross motor proficiency in infancyand later academic successorchildren's personal wellbeingthrough the long-term effects of gross motor domain on social acceptance, general participation in play, and willingness to take part in social activities in general. This investigation examined parents' and teachers'agreement in rating107 pupils' gross motor development. Caregivers' estimationswere compared with children's actual motor skillsperformedat standardized clinical assessment testing for their accuracy. The convenient sample was composed from 47 kindergarten children, 60 first graders (age range 4-6 yearolds). Parents and teachers were interviewed with the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales(VABS-II) and children completed the gross motor proficiency tasks of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2). Findings revealed significant differences in caregivers ratings of children's gross motor development with respect to the Walking and Running, Play Activity and Total Score of the VABS-II. Teachers' ratings were higher when assessing the ability to run and throwing balls but were lower when reporting children's performances in handling bikes and balance skills. Estimations differed in the Aiming and Catching and Static-Dynamic Balance subscales of the MABC-2. Overall caregiver estimations correlated with children's actual motor proficiency. Parent judgements have been found to be more accurate than those of teachers. Results are discussed in light of practical considerations for the school setting, teacher disciplinary preparation in estimating children's motor skills, and situation specificity influence on caregivers' assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research is sparse on who targets whom in peer aggression. In this study, we investigated the harm associated with the type of relationship between aggressed and aggressor with an international sample of over 5,000 students aged 11–16, living in 12 nations. Best friends and individuals with whom the respondent had no relationship were the least likely to engage in aggression, while one-third of peer aggression could be attributed to friends (not best friends), and classmates/peers. Greater harm was experienced between best friends only when it involved relational aggression, such as spreading rumors and being left out. Harm from aggression varied by world location and number of different experiences of aggression, while gender and age differences were inconsistent. Intervention programs could take advantage of the vital role that friends play as socializing agents during adolescence that focus on the harmfulness of aggression undertaken in the guise of a joke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]