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This systematic review considers recent evidence of the preparation of inclusive education implementation in the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education across different countries. The study comprised of a comprehensive search of multiple databases which are accessible for scholars with visual impairments working with an open-source screen reader application: British Education Index, Education Source, ERIC subscription, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection. The searches generated 508 studies from January 1 2002 to December 31 2022. 73 duplicated studies were removed, leaving 435 records to be screened for inclusion. 430 of these were rejected for not meeting the selection criteria, leaving five studies for inclusion. One additional relevant study from author's personal collection of references was also included in the review. The review discovered that the issue of disability and inclusive pedagogy in initial EFL teacher education scholarship is extremely under-studied. Only four relevant studies were conducted in the Global North, two in the Middle East, and none in the Global South, where an expanding population of pupils learning English are located. The findings of this study provide insights and recommendations for policy and practices of initial EFL teacher education.

BackgroundEffective education of relevant professionals underpins provision of quality eye healthcare.ObjectivesThis scoping systematic review had 2 aims: first to investigate the extent and nature of scholarly output published on ophthalmic and paraophthalmic education, and second to focus on the quality of reporting of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) identified.Study selectionA search strategy was created and applied to PubMed. Any scholarly publications on any aspect of education of those involved in the care of patients with visual problems as the main theme or context was selected. Predefined data were extracted.FindingsOf 255 studies included, the most common type of scholarly publications were descriptions of an educational innovation, opinion pieces and descriptive studies. RCTs made up 5.5% of the sample. Most of the 14 RCTs failed to report most of the items recommended in the CONSORT guidelines.ConclusionsThis review highlights the need for investigators, ethical committees and journals to insist on a better quality of RCT conduct than is presently apparent, but also that clinicians should not be blind to the strengths of non-RCT-based studies in the field of education.

There is good evidence that peer tutoring, when used in a structured manner can lead to attainment gains in English reading. Transferability of the technique to other languages and educational contexts are less well studied. This paper reports results from a Phase 2 exploratory trial designed to establish if peer tutoring, in the form of Paired Reading, could transfer to the Colombian education system, and into the Spanish language. A randomised trial was conducted in four Colombian elementary schools with eight classes, and 298 third and fifth grade pupils. Results indicated that Paired Reading could be an effective, low-cost strategy for improving reading. Positive results for the Paired Reading group, compared to the control group, were observed (Effect Size+0.16). The protocol established success criteria to determine whether there was enough evidence of efficacy to warrant a Phase 3 definitive trial of the technique. Results indicated that the criteria were met for progression to a Phase 3 trial, despite disruption to the research due to Covid related school closures.

This systematic review examines the experimental studies on interventions that influence the success of high-attaining primary school girls in STEM courses. The study conducted a comprehensive search of multiple databases, including EBSCO, ERIC, ELSEVIER, SAGE, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Springer, and Taylor & Francis, and identified 250 studies from 1st January 2000 to 1st January 2022. 250 records were screened for inclusion and 244 were rejected as not meeting the selection criteria, leaving six studies for inclusion. The evidence synthesis included only experimental designs, and the implementation of the intervention in formal school educational settings with high-attaining students aged 5–11 years old. The study assessed the quality of the identified studies using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) appraisal tool for quasi-experimental/experimental studies. The findings of this study can provide insights into the effectiveness of interventions in enhancing the educational success of primary school girls, especially in STEM courses.

This systematic evidence synthesis examined the reported research on the effect of peer tutoring on metacognition in primary and secondary school students. A comprehensive search of multiple databases, including ERIC, Education source, British Education Index, ProQuest, Scopus, and Psych Info was conducted. The evidence synthesis included experimental studies on peer tutoring and metacognition from 1st January 1990 to 11th November 2022. The criteria for inclusion were the use of randomized controlled or quasi-experimental designs with a control/comparison group, implementation of the intervention in formal school educational settings with students aged 5–18 years old, and the use of peer tutoring as an intervention and metacognition as a measured outcome. Seven-hundred and eighteen studies were identified including 86 duplicate records. Six-hundred and thirty-two records were screened for inclusion and 630 were rejected as not meeting the selection criteria, leaving two studies for inclusion. Studies were assessed for quality using the Briggs appraisal tool for quasi-experimental/experimental studies. Despite the abundance of literature on the effects of peer tutoring on academic and social outcomes, this review highlighted the severe lack of published peer-reviewed research on the impact of peer tutoring on metacognition in school students.

The World Health Organization estimates that almost one in three women were subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by someone other than their partner at least once in their lifetime. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were increased reports of violence against women in some countries, whereas others reported reductions, in part due to inaccessibility of services. The aim of this scoping review is to first document the available research evidence on violence against women during the COVID-19 epidemic, both in terms of its impact on violence against women and how it was addressed through services and interventions. This scoping review will begin with a search of six databases, using search strategies developed by the review team: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Social Science Citation Index–expanded, Cochrane Library (including CENTRAL), Campbell Systematic Reviews Journal, and Scopus. Predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria will be applied to identified studies to determine eligibility as part of a two-stage process (title and abstract; full text). Following data screening, data from included studies will be synthesised and presented in descriptive, tabular format and accompanied by a narrative description of the characteristics of those studies and their findings. The findings of this review will contribute to ongoing efforts of the World Health Organization to build evidence on how outbreaks like COVID-19 impact violence against women and identify strategies to address this and ensure access to services is protected. The scoping review will facilitate a follow-on deeper analysis of the available evidence through systematic review methods.

This study reports results from a randomized controlled trial of a reading intervention program in English elementary schools implemented during Covid19. Trained staff delivered targeted reading fluency and comprehension instruction to small groups of eligible children aged 7-9 for at least 12-weeks. Twelve schools from four English districts with high socio-economic disadvantage participated, with a sample of 186 children. Positive effect sizes of +0.26 on overall reading scores were observed, on an independently designed standardised reading test. A process evaluation assessed implementation fidelity. This intervention shows excellent promise as a technique to improve overall reading (mainly through enhancing sentence level reading comprehension).

The authors define peer tutoring and describe the types of peer tutoring reported in the literature. An organizational typography of peer tutoring in school classrooms is presented, and the variables that influence patterns, nature and effectiveness of peer interaction are explored. Cognitive models of peer tutoring approaches that follow either Piagetian theories of cognitive conflict or Vygotskian theories of co-construction are compared and the similarities and differences of each model interrogated. The influences each model may have on cognitive and affective development, as well as metacognition, are illustrated. The authors discuss knowledge transfer issues to facilitate the development of effective models of peer tutoring in the classroom practice of teachers in schools. Finally, areas for future research and development are highlighted.

ABSTRACTBackground: Rates of adolescent HIV and unintended pregnancy in southern Africa are amongst the highest in the world. Gender-transformative interventions that address underlying gender inequalities and engage both males and females have been emphasised by the World Health Organisation, amongst others, to target prevention. However, few such gender-transformative interventions have been rigorously developed or evaluated.Objective: To expedite potential impact and reduce development costs, we conducted a needs assessment to inform the co-design, in consultation with local stakeholders, of adapted versions of an existing gender-transformative Relationships and Sexuality Education intervention for use in South Africa and Lesotho.Methods: Adaptation of the intervention was guided by a modified version of Intervention Mapping (IM). This process involved consultation with separate adolescent, community and expert advisory groups and a collaboratively conducted needs assessment, which drew on focus groups with adolescents (8 groups, n = 55) and adults (4 groups, n = 22) in South Africa and Lesotho, and was informed by our systematic review of the literature on the determinants of condom use among adolescents in the region.Results: The findings clarified how the intervention should be adapted, which individual- and environmental-level determinants of condom use to target, and actions for facilitating successful adoption, evaluation and implementation in the new settings.Conclusions: The IM approach allows for a systematic appraisal of whether components and processes of an existing intervention are appropriate for a new target population before costly evaluation studies are conducted. The findings will be of interest to those wishing to rigourously develop and evaluate gender-transformative interventions engaging men to improve health for all.

The Syrian crisis has resulted in a large refugee movement of Syrian citizens from inside Syria, to countries of safety/asylum, notably Turkey. It is estimated that there are approximately 1.7 million Syrian women refugees in Turkey. This research uses Freire's framing of oppressors and facilitators in education to looks at how the war has impacted on the education of women their country of safety/asylum. Interviews were conducted with 24 refugee women, and the findings presented to a user focus group of Syrian refugee women. Findings indicate that language and finance are key barriers to women fulfilling their educational potential. Changes in the roles of women in countries of safety/asylum are key opportunities that could be exploited by women. Findings also indicated that non-government organisations must co-design educational provision with refugees in order to ensure that opportunities are maximised.

This paper presents the research protocol for a Phase 2 randomized controlled trial of the Fluency into Comprehension program in primary schools. The program is a workforce development program that supports teachers and teaching assistants develop and deliver targeted reading fluency and comprehension instruction to children aged 7–9. The protocol outlines a research design to assess whether the program delivered over approximately 12 weeks improves reading outcomes, in a sample of up to 192 children from 12 schools in four English districts with high socio-economic disadvantage. The outcome measures are two reading standardized tests. A process evaluation will measure fidelity and potential for scale-up.

This paper reports data on self-esteem collected during a large-scale randomized trial of paired reading and Duolog Maths with primary school children (The Fife Peer-Learning Project). Self-report measures were analysed to assess the effect of a range of organisational variables on measured self-esteem. The presentation reports findings from a sample of reading-only schools in the first year of the project. Statistically significant gains in self-esteem were found across a range of conditions. Patterns of scores pointed to differences between same-age and cross-age conditions, and highlighted the influence of role played (tutor v tutee). In addition to the findings summarized here, it is hoped that preliminary findings from year two of the project – with an increased sample size – will also be shared.

•Statistics self-concept is a dimension of statistics attitudes.•Statistics self-concept is measured with self-reported questionnaires.•Studies testing statistics self-concept enhancement had methodological limitations.•Randomised controlled trials would improve understanding the causal mechanism.

Reciprocal peer tutoring in mathematics was conducted with 487, ten to twelve year-old students from 20 elementary schools in three different school districts. The peer tutoring technique, a form of paired mathematics, placed specific emphasis on mediation through strategic metacognition between tutor and tutee. Student mathematics attainment significantly increased using this technique (Effect Size=+0.43). Student perception of the social status of their tutoring partner influenced attainment outcomes. Greatest mathematics attainment gains were predicted by having a higher opinion of the cognitive ability of students’ mathematics tutoring partner and by having a mathematics tutoring partner that you believed was less popular. After peer tutoring, students showed increased social relationships in and out of school. Gains in social relationships were indicative of a more inclusive classroom being developed. The implications for theory, policy, practice and future research are discussed.