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Family partnerships should be a central component of teacher preparation. Although research provides family engagement strategies, little research offers teacher educators guidance from the perspectives of families themselves. The purpose of this convergent mixed-method study was to begin to fill the void in the literature by investigating family perspectives of theirs and their children's experience in 10 reading clinic/literacy lab literacy specialist preparation programs across the United States and Canada. Through analysis of survey ratings (N = 132) and responses to structured interviews to (N = 84), this study found that families valued clinic/lab tutors building relationships with them, responding to their children's strengths and needs, promoting self-efficacy, and working together as partners. Methods used in this study can provide a useful model for how teacher educators can intentionally seek input from families. Findings have implications for teacher educators advocating for and centering family engagement in teacher preparation.

The current research evaluates the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model (PSDM) by considering the links between measures of trait perfectionism and perfectionistic self-presentation and measures of social support, loneliness, and distress in cross-sectional research. A particular focus is on perfectionism and levels of social support as assessed by the Social Provisions Scale. The current study also uniquely evaluates levels of perfectionism and perfectionistic self-presentation in undergraduate students, medical students, and law students. The results across samples provided evidence that loneliness mediates the link between interpersonal perfectionism and distress in keeping with the predictions of the PSDM. Correlational results found robust links between loneliness and low levels of social support. Moreover, socially prescribed perfectionism and perfectionistic self-presentation were associated negatively with social support, and this was especially evident in terms of the facet tapping the nondisclosure of imperfections. Group comparisons of perfectionism yielded few significant differences in accordance with expectations. Levels of perfectionism tended to be lower among medical students. However, the links between perfectionism and distress were clearly evident among undergraduates, medical students, and law students, thus attesting to the vulnerability of perfectionistic students in general. Overall, the results further confirm the relevance of perfectionism in distress among students and applicability of the PSDM in various types of students.

Postsecondary students with disabilities risk facing challenges while pursuing their academic goals. Although disability service providers are encouraged to support their goal pursuit, its actualization and the role of individual differences remain poorly researched. We examine the role of autonomy striving dispositional styles, need satisfaction, and goal action crisis. A three-wave, semester-long study was conducted with 234 university students with disabilities. Through path analysis, a type of structural equation modeling, four hypotheses were tested. Assisted autonomy was associated with higher need satisfaction and less severe goal action crises in the middle of the semester. Indirect effects were also evidenced on goal progress and positive affect at the end of the semester. Striving to satisfy their autonomy need through collaborative means supports well-being and academic goal progress for university students with disabilities. Disability service providers and university settings are thus encouraged to create need-supportive environments and foster collaboration across campuses.

This article explores the possibilities for decolonizing approaches to intercultural learning for international students in Canada. In this article the authors present the findings from a series of photovoice workshops conducted as a part of a larger mixed-methods project that explores how informal and everyday pedagogies shape international students' mobility decisions in the Atlantic Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Participants' collaborative analysis of their own photographs reveal how everyday citizenship learning emerges from international students' affective relationships to place in such a way that obscures how international education is implicated in processes of settler colonialism. However, evidence suggests that participants' sense of belonging is deeply implicated in their connections to place, highlighting potential opportunities for integrating international students in current initiatives to "decolonize" higher education in the Canadian context.

Critical thinking, creativity, communication, teamwork, emotional intelligence, problem-solving, empathy, resilience, ambition, grit, and innovation (Heckman & Kautz, 2012). These skills, often referred to as 'soft' skills, are considered a requirement for employment and advancement for the 21st-century graduate (Carnevale & Smith, 2013). Within a Western Canadian School of Business, in an environment highly regarded for technical skill achievement in diploma and degree graduates, faculty set out to investigate the absence or inclusion of human skills in curriculum outcomes as an initial phase of investigation. There is an institutional presumption that human skill development is innately a part of the programs. The intention is that human skills (LeBusque, 2020) or power skills (PMI, 2022) naturally occur during course delivery, creating a commonality across foundational courses to reinforce the skill sets identified, developed, and refined as students complete their credentials. However, industry reports (Lapointe & Turner, 2020; RBC, 2019) and the authors' own institutional data collected from new graduates and employers indicated room for improvement in these skills. To gain a better understanding, the authors undertook an examination via document analysis of all common core courses that form the program foundation. Through the lens of dynamic skill theory (Mascolo, 2020), this evaluation involved 24 common courses, comprised of 1,442 course objectives, resulting in a range of 134 Bloom's Taxonomy verbs. In this paper, the authors begin the exploratory first phase of a broader comprehensive study with a focus on course foundations for learner development. Through this analysis, the authors present a draft framework to better understand and strengthen the learning foundations, to proceed with considerations for realignment and strategic scaffolding of both technical and human skills from entry through graduation.

Digital technology coaches (DTCs) often support teachers with integrating technology into their classroom and instructional program, as well as provide ongoing staff development. To be effective, coaches tend to have specific characteristics for instructional coaching and competencies for educational coaching. We investigated if these characteristics and competencies applied to effective DTCs while we observed their proficiency with technology, their interactions with other educators, and the way they provide support for the teacher-professional learning (PL) process. Three DTCs led over 80 K-12 teachers from the same school district in classroom coaching sessions, collaborative planning meetings, PL sessions, and conference presentations. In keeping with generic qualitative methods, multiple data sources including fieldnotes, artifacts, and transcribed interviews were analyzed. Through examining data detailing their role and impact on the learning of their teacher colleagues, it was apparent that these DTCs possess the characteristics and competencies of effective instructional coaches. Importantly, this study adds to the literature on effective coaches by documenting the applicability of these characteristics and competencies to not only instructional coaches, but also DTCs, elucidating their role, and explaining their influence on teacher PL.

Individuals with ADHD report diminished emotion regulation capacities and adversity in childhood detrimentally affects emotion regulation development; however, how positive childhood experiences (PCEs) and whether and how social support are related to PCEs and emotion regulation for those with ADHD is unknown. Objective: To identify direct and indirect associations between PCEs and social support to emotion regulation outcomes in adults with ADHD. Method: Adults with ADHD (n = 81) reported PCEs, current social support, and emotion regulation. Conditional effects modeling examined the direct and indirect relationships between PCEs and emotion dysregulation through social support. Results: Higher PCEs were indirectly related to improved emotion regulation through increased social support generally ([beta] = -0.70, 95% CI [-1.32, -0.17], and specifically through belonging ([beta] = -0.43, 95% CI [ -0.87, -0.05], self-esteem ([beta] = -0.61, 95% CI [-1.08, -0.27], and tangible social support ([beta] = -0.50, 95% CI [-1.07, -0.02]. Conclusions: PCEs may protect emotion regulation in adults with ADHD through social support, possibly through facilitating social connections, increasing access to social support, and sustaining emotion regulation strategies

Converging lines of evidence suggest that a feeling of being cared for and cared about is a key element of the feeling of mattering to other people. In the current article, we summarized theoretical observations and the findings of research investigations that indicate that the feeling of being cared about is central to the mattering construct. We then evaluated the role of feeling cared for in an extended six-item General Mattering Scale (GMS-6). A sample of 276 university students completed the GMS-6 and self-report measures of depression and loneliness. Psychometric tests established that a six-item version has one factor and enhanced internal consistency. Correlational analyses confirmed that mattering is associated negatively with depression and loneliness. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the additional focus on feeling cared about predicts unique variance in depression and loneliness beyond the considerable amount of variance predicted by the original GMS. The lack of feeling cared as measured by the GMS-6 was established as especially relevant to loneliness. Our discussion focuses on key directions for future research and for the need for a greater emphasis on caring as part of mattering from a construct validity perspective.

This paper reports the findings of a Canada based multi-institutional study designed to investigate the relationships between admissions criteria, in-program assessments, and performance on licensing exams. The study's objective is to provide valuable insights for improving educational practices across different institutions. Data were gathered from six medical schools: McMaster University, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University, Queen's University, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, and Western University. The dataset includes graduates who undertook the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part 1 (MCCQE1) between 2015 and 2017. The data were categorized into five distinct sections: demographic information as well as four matrices: admissions, course performance, objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), and clerkship performance. Common and unique variables were identified through an extensive consensus-building process. Hierarchical linear regression and a manual stepwise variable selection approach were used for analysis. Analyses were performed on data set encompassing graduates of all six medical schools as well as on individual data sets from each school. For the combined data set the final model estimated 32% of the variance in performance on licensing exams, highlighting variables such as Age at Admission, Sex, Biomedical Knowledge, the first post-clerkship OSCE, and a clerkship theta score. Individual school analysis explained 41-60% of the variance in MCCQE1 outcomes, with comparable variables to the analysis from of the combined data set identified as significant independent variables. Therefore, strongly emphasising the need for variety of high-quality assessment on the educational continuum. This study underscores the importance of sharing data to enable educational insights. This study also had its challenges when it came to the access and aggregation of data. As such we advocate for the establishment of a common framework for multi-institutional educational research, facilitating studies and evaluations across diverse institutions. This study demonstrates the scientific potential of collaborative data analysis in enhancing educational outcomes. It offers a deeper understanding of the factors influencing performance on licensure exams and emphasizes the need for addressing data gaps to advance multi-institutional research for educational improvements.

A recent global reconnaissance of Christian higher education found a number of key themes that shaped current developments, such as the pressing challenges of secularization and nationalization but also the advantages of privatization and massification. This article provides an update to this older analysis by taking a birds-eye view of trends within the past 70 years of global Christian higher education. It reveals that privatization and massification trends do not predict new developments in countries and outliers always exist. Furthermore, it highlights some findings missed in previous analyses related to the importance of indigenous Christian groups and Christian general education.

Previous research indicates that menopause can be an extremely difficult transition for some autistic people. This study asks how autistic people experience menopause and how they can better access services, support and information; autistic Community Research Associates played an important role in each stage of the research. Online focus groups and interviews were conducted with 24 autistic participants who lived in Canada (n = 13) or the United Kingdom (n = 11) and had experience with the menopausal transition. Transcripts were coded and analysed by four team members using reflexive thematic analysis. Four themes and eight subthemes were identified: (1) Complexity, multiplicity and intensity of symptoms (0 subthemes); (2) Life experience and adversity converging at midlife (three subthemes); (3) The importance of knowledge and connection (two subthemes); and (4) Barriers to support and care (three subthemes). Limitations include a potential sample bias towards difficult experiences of menopause. The majority of our sample had a late diagnosis or discovery of autism, and their experiences might not generalize to wider autistic populations. This research may help autistic people prepare for menopause and recognize symptoms earlier. Hearing about the experiences of others may let autistic people who struggle with menopause know they are not alone.

The Teaching and Learning Network (TLN) at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, represents an effective network model for faculty and educational leadership development. Grounded in the principles of communities of practice (Wenger, 1998), the TLN is a collaborative network that fosters interdisciplinary dialogue, relationship building, knowledge exchange, and professional development for its members and the broader campus community. This article explains the TLN's structure, goals, and activities, with special attention to practical examples and suggestions for advancing faculty development through this network model.

This qualitative case study explored the experiences of a digital technology (DT) coach over the duration of a school year, as she forged her role and sought to support elementary teachers' abilities to integrate technology in instruction across the curriculum. In a school district in Ontario, Canada, the DT coach engaged teachers in individualised, face-to-face, classroom-based coaching and facilitated small group professional learning meetings. This study sought to understand how a DT coach navigates her role, with attention to the factors that affected her ability to support teachers. Multiple data sources were collected including observational field notes from group meetings and classroom-based coaching sessions with teacher participants, as well as individual interviews with the coach and a convenience sampling of teacher participants. Analyses of these data derived six interconnected themes: flexibility and responsiveness, authenticity and humility, growth mindset, relationships, engagement, and resourcefulness in overcoming constraints. Implications include the need to further examine the characteristics of effective DT coaches, with particular attention to their flexibility, humility, and learning orientations. Additionally, this study revealed the need for further research exploring the professional learning of DT coaches and continued exploration of factors that affect the efficacy of DT coaching.

The present study employed a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of a 6-hr mandatory stress management and well-being program for preservice teachers. A program group of 157 preservice teachers (M[subscript age]= 22.46 years; 88% women) completed the program as well as baseline, post program, and follow-up measures. A comparison group of 63 preservice teachers (M[subscript age] = 23.50 years; 85% women) completed measures at similar time points but did not receive the program. All participants completed measures of stress, coping self-efficacy, anxiety, mindfulness, and well-being. The program group completed additional measures of well-being, affect, and program satisfaction. Findings revealed significant improvements in key indices of mental health and well-being for those in the program group relative to the comparison group and high ratings of program satisfaction. Discussion focuses on implications of present findings for mandatory inclusion of wellness curriculum in teacher preparation programs with instruction on enhancing their own "and "their students' well-being.

Research shows that culturally diverse students are often disengaged in multicultural classrooms. To address this challenge, literatures on self-regulated learning and culturally responsive teaching both document practices that foster engagement, although from different perspectives. This study examined how classroom teachers at schools that enroll students from diverse cultural communities on the West Coast of Canada built on a Culturally Responsive Self-Regulated Learning (CR-SRL) Framework to design complex tasks that integrated SRL pedagogical practices (SLPPs) and culturally-responsive pedagogical practices (CRPPs) to support student engagement. Two elementary school teachers and their 43 students (i.e., grades 4 and 5) participated in this study. We used a multiple, parallel case study design that embedded mixed methods approaches to examine how the teachers integrated SRLPPs and CRPPs into complex tasks; how culturally diverse students engaged in each teacher's task; and how students' experiences of engagement were related to their teachers' practices. We generated evidence through video-taped classroom observations, records of classroom practices, students' work samples, a student self-report, and teacher interviews. Overall findings showed: (1) that teachers were able to build on the CR-SRL framework to guide their design of a CRSRL complex task; (2) benefits to students' engagement when those practices were present; and (3) dynamic learner-context interactions in that students' engagement were situated in features of the complex task that were present on a given day. We close by highlighting implications of these findings, limitations, and future directions.

The writing retreat has been positioned as an effective response to the pressure to "publish or perish" in higher education. An academic writing retreat is a professional development event that allows scholars to immerse themselves in writing for publication and to receive on-site support for that writing. In 2012, the Office of Research and Innovation Services at the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada introduced a biannual writing retreat for faculty and staff across the disciplines. This program evaluation examines 252 retreat evaluations submitted between 2015 and 2019. Our goal is to identify what participants perceive to be the benefits of the retreats. A review of the international research literature suggests primary benefits of retreats include protected writing time and space, the development of a sense of community, increased motivation to write, increased productivity during retreats, and organizational investment in follow-up support. These findings are consistent with our study. However, the overarching benefit of our retreats lies in their development of a supportive community of writing practice that extends back to campus. Participants report their retreat experience is reshaping the ways that they write elsewhere, and that they are collaborating on projects with other retreat participants. This research contributes a Canadian example to a growing body of evidence that suggests retreats can help academic writers prioritize the task of writing over other conflicting demands. A unique contribution of the study is its cost-effective, flexible, interdisciplinary, day-away retreat model, which is an alternative to the discipline-specific, residential retreats within the literature.

Teachers may be encouraged to follow a prescribed curriculum when teaching social and emotional learning (SEL), and varied research findings attest to the efficacy of this approach in fostering students' social and emotional competencies. An alternative approach might see teachers create SEL initiatives and infuse, embed, or integrate SEL into core teaching content. This case study explored how, when asked to foster social and emotional learning within their schools, 16 SEL teachers created learning opportunities for students to bolster their social and emotional skills. Teachers were asked to first define SEL and then to create portfolios showcasing three of their SEL lessons or initiatives. Content analysis of definitions revealed that teachers largely defined SEL as fostering students' self-awareness and self-management. Content analysis of each of the teachers' lessons indicated that the learning opportunities or initiatives that teachers introduced were predominantly social in nature and oftentimes focused on having students practice emotion regulation strategies. Findings inform our understanding of the perceptions and actualizations of SEL in applied contexts.

As the number of international students in higher education continues to grow, so do concerns regarding systemic obstacles, discrimination, and social isolation that can impede students' academic success. Peer mentorship has been shown to support graduate students through academic socialization and achievement in higher education (Lorenzetti et al., 2019). The purpose of this study was to explore the transitional experiences of international graduate students, and the extent to which peer-mentoring relationships can support academic and emotional wellbeing. Researchers interviewed 13 international graduate students from 3 professional faculties at a research-intensive Canadian university. International students described academic and intersectional challenges experienced while navigating and adapting to new environments and how these impacted both academic outcomes and students' well-being. Relationships with peers were viewed as an essential means by which students could access academic and psychosocial supports necessary to adjust to and thrive in their new educational and cultural environments.

A lack of dialogue and collaboration between researchers and practitioners has been recognized in the field of second language education. Social media platforms such as X/Twitter have potential for connecting professionals in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) community and supporting professional learning and research; however, studies of TESOL professionals' uses of X/Twitter have only examined posts/tweets from a limited number of communities marked by hashtags/ keywords. This study identified 23 hashtags relevant to TESOL instruction for adults in the Canadian context and used them as search parameters to extract a data set of 4,833 posts/tweets. Eighty-two North American university professors who had published in the field of TESOL, were selected and searched for on X/Twitter. Upon locating 15 X/Twitter professor accounts, all 272 posts/tweets posted over the one-year period, were extracted. Two content analyses were conducted to infer the purpose of the posts/ tweets and identify the hashtags used by the professors. Results reveal considerable variation in the professors' and other TESOL community members' uses of X/Twitter and suggest that the two groups participate in rather separate X/Twitter communities. Recommendations for maximizing X/Twitter as a tool for professional learning and research and fostering the research-practice link are provided.

Self-regulated learning (SRL) and culturally responsive teaching (CRT) research, although from different viewpoints, both show instructional practices that enhance student engagement. This study examined the integration of self-regulated learning promoting practices (SRLPPs) and culturally responsive pedagogical practices (CRPPs) in the classroom context especially during a complex task. Using mixed-methods case study design, it explored how an elementary classroom teacher at a multicultural public school in the West Coast of Canada combined SRLPPs and CRPPs to support culturally diverse students' engagement. Data were collected through: (a) classroom observations, (b) practice records and documents, (c) students' work samples, (d) teacher interview, (e) student interviews, and (f) student surveys. Findings indicated that the teacher enacted integrated practices categorized as: (a) "classroom foundational practices"; (b) "designed instructional practices"; and (c) "dynamic support practices." Also, students' engagements related to their perceptions of teacher practices. Culturally diverse students were highly engaged in contexts with rich combinations of SRLPPs and CRPPs. Finally, this paper discussed the implications for theory (e.g., CRT, SRL), practice (e.g., an integrated pedagogy), and research (e.g., how to support culturally diverse learners' engagement in contexts).

Background: The imperative for social justice in education means that pre-service teachers should learn how to teach for and about social justice, including pedagogical and content knowledge. Understanding how physical education (PE) pre-service teachers and teacher educators construct and develop their knowledge of social justice pedagogies and critical content, intertwined with values based on social justice and equity, is needed to best support future teachers. Purpose: The focus of this paper is how physical education teacher educators and PE and sport pedagogy university faculty have developed their knowledge of teaching for and about social justice: where their knowledge came from and how they draw upon it in their teaching and programme design. Method: Seventy-two faculty from seven countries engaged in an in-depth interview about their conceptualisation of social justice, their knowledge, practices, institutions, and policy contexts and completed a demographic survey on their social identity and professional experiences. Using a social justice pedagogical and content knowledge (SJPACK) model, thematic analysis generated formal educational study, workplace experience, and personal or social identity bases of social justice knowledge. Findings: Many of those who expressed a commitment to teaching about and for social justice had personal and professional experiences that had provided 'eye-opening' moments. For instance, some had encountered marginalisation and discrimination based on their identity. If social justice issues were not a part of a participant's lived experience, but they had professional experience in the field, they were struck by what they did not know and subsequently sought out postgraduate or professional development. Professional experiences in the field were much more likely than formal education experiences to provide recognition that participants needed to learn more about social justice. Social justice is both knowledge and an ideological stance, so learning about social justice is as much about values and disposition as about content. Social justice must be important enough for teacher educators to embed in their belief system so that it becomes part of their pedagogical practice. Conclusion: This study prompts consideration of the professional development needs of teacher educators concerning social justice that goes beyond acknowledging the existence of sociocultural issues by moving towards changes in pedagogical practices in PETE and PESP programmes. We advocate collaborative and reflective professional development for educators if SJPACK is to be woven throughout teacher education programmes and not just incumbent on educators with personal experience of social justice issues.

Policies of dispersal are increasingly favoured internationally for the resettlement of refugees and asylum seekers. With forty percent of the world's forcibly displaced people being school-aged children, the dispersal of refugee-background people into regional areas means that rural schools are central sites of community response to refugees. Little is known in published research about how rural schools engage in refugee education within the policy context of 'dispersal'. This review of relevant literature examines the educational dimensions of dispersal policies, drawing on research in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and Sweden. Research linking refugee resettlement, refugee education and rurality shows a complex interplay between histories of exclusion and contemporary challenges in both the construction of rural spaces, and the deployment of humanitarian dispersal policies at national and international levels. This literature is thematically organised to show that in refugee education within a policyscape of dispersal, rural schools may be 1) operating in racialised community contexts; 2) working within poorly resourced infrastructure; 3) unfamiliar with refugee-background students; and, despite these challenges, they may become 4) key sites of resistance, creativity and support for refugee-background students and their families.

Objectives: Student-athletes are unique in their undertaking of full-time academic and athletic roles. Their dual roles impose a multitude of responsibilities in their daily lives, yet little is known about the factors that may negatively impact their ability to effectively manage these responsibilities. Participants: Data from a large sample of Canadian varsity athletes (N = 1,353) were used for the present study. Methods: The association between stress and difficulties managing daily responsibilities, while simultaneously investigating the roles of sleep difficulties and sense of belonging as contributing factors was examined. Results: Findings indicated that the moderated mediation model was significant, revealing that sleep difficulties were a significant mediator in the relationship between stress and difficulties managing daily responsibilities and that sense of belonging moderated the relationship between stress and sleep difficulties. Conclusions: The results expose complex ways that student-athletes' performances (academic and athletic) can be impaired, signaling the need to develop strategic actions toward prevention and management of stress among student-athletes.

Participation in authentic research in the field and online through Community and Citizen Science (CCS) has shown to bring learning benefits to volunteers. In online CCS, available platforms present distinct features, ranging from scaffolding the process of data collection, to supporting data analysis and enabling volunteers to initiate their own studies. What is yet not well understood is how best to design CCS programmes that are educational, inclusive, and accessible by diverse volunteers, including young people and those with limited prior science experiences who are rather few in CCS. In this study, we interviewed 31 young people, aged 7-20 years old, who used iNaturalist, an online biodiversity monitoring platform, and identified how different forms of participation online and in the field facilitated (or inhibited) certain forms of learning, as defined by the Environmental Science Agency framework. Findings revealed that iNaturalist enabled participation of young people including those with limited science experiences and facilitated science learning such as the development of science competence and understanding. A blended learning framework for biodiversity monitoring in CCS is presented as a means to support the development of hybrid, educational, and inclusive CCS programmes for young people.

Specialized research training is a key component of graduate education, yet sexual and gender diverse (SGD) emerging scholars may not receive quality training and networking opportunities at their home institutions. International and interdisciplinary trainings by SGD scholars may develop research competence and academic networks, but few such extracurricular research training programs exist. This article presents the curriculum and mixed-method evaluation of the International Student Training Network (ISTN), a two-year bilingual training program designed to train SGD emerging scholars in Canada, the USA, Mexico, and the UK to conduct research with SGD youth. The racially diverse and interdisciplinary trainees (N = 38) completed a competence self-assessment at pre-test, midpoint, and post-test. Significant improvements in knowledge and skill were found, while importance of the concepts remained consistently high. Twelve trainees participated in interviews to reflect on their experience. Thematic analysis produced three themes, describing benefits of the ISTN: (1) 'You do stick out a lot': Fostering SGD scholarly community in academia; (2) 'We were all working together': Bridging the disciplinary and geographic gaps; and (3) 'A transformative experience': Developing scholarly self-concept and academic self-efficacy. The findings highlight the utility of specialized research training for emerging SGD scholars limited by geographical and disciplinary siloes.

Emerging research shows that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) may improve mental health for caregivers. Parents of autistic children, adolescents, and adults (N = 54) were randomly assigned to either complete a brief group-based ACT intervention or remain on the waitlist. Participants completed surveys immediately prior to randomization, and 3-, 7-, and 17-weeks post-randomization. The primary outcome was depression symptoms and secondary outcomes included stress, goal attainment, positive affect, ACT psychological processes, child mental health, and family functioning. Mixed effects linear models testing Group × Time interaction indicated the Treatment group (n = 27) demonstrated greater post-intervention improvements than the Waitlist group (n = 27) in parent depression (p = 0.03, d = -0.64) and family distress (p = 0.04, d = -0.57). Treatment group parents also reported greater short-term gains in positive affect (p =< 0.001, d = 0.77) and personal goal attainment (p = 0.007, d = 0.80), compared to the Waitlist group. Although there was no significant Group × Time interaction for other outcomes, stress (b = -2.58, p = 0.01), defusion (b = -3.78, p = 0.001), and experiential avoidance (b = -4.22, p = 0.01) showed improvement for the Treatment group, but not the Waitlist group, at post-intervention. All Treatment group improvements were maintained at follow-up. Results suggest that a brief ACT group intervention is efficacious for improving some aspects of mental health for parents of autistic children.

Introduction: Post-secondary institutions are increasingly promoting equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in health professions education. Yet, institutions continue to be spaces of exclusion and marginalization for health professional students from marginalized groups. Purpose: To explore the education experiences of health professionals from marginalized groups in Canada. Methods: We draw on a subset of data from a larger qualitative study examining experiences of health professionals who self-identify as disabled, working-class origin, racialized, ethnic minority, and/or minority sexual/gender identity (LGBTQ+). This analysis includes 35 participants from medicine, nursing, and occupational therapy. Results: We identified five main themes: 1) isolation, being the "only one"; 2) normative curricula; 3) marginalization by classmates and instructors; 4) exclusionary social and cultural capital; and 5) coping strategies. Conclusion: Learners from marginalized groups are still experiencing marginalization in health professional education, despite institutional commitments to EDI. An overhaul of professional education is needed to address exclusionary processes.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the mental health of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Numerous pandemic-related stressors experienced by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities may have impacted their ability to thrive, which has been linked to mental health outcomes. The current study examined the associations among COVID-19 stressors, thriving, and mental health problems among youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Method: Caregivers of 159 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities between 12 and 35 years of age from Canada completed an online questionnaire. Results: A mediation analysis revealed that COVID-19 stressors were positively associated with mental health problems, and that thriving partially mediated this association. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that experiences of thriving may be an important target for mental health support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Engineering students enter a challenging sector in higher education and are potentially at risk of poor mental health and or mental wellbeing and less likely to seek help when experiencing poor mental health or wellbeing. We carried out a scoping review using Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology. Ten databases were searched over a three-year period. Searches identified 191 sources of evidence after title screening and 33 sources of evidence were included for final extraction following full-text screening. Included studies represented over 4000 engineering students from 10 countries. Studies were mostly pilots, suggesting a lack of diverse research methods in the existing research base. Studies also varied in approaches to reporting. Interventions included training, relaxation, technology use, alternative teaching models, support services and a study break with a range of outcome measures used to evaluate intervention effects. Study results indicated reduced stress and anxiety, improved academic achievement, improved communication, motivation, physiological responses, attitude, and increased physical activity, health awareness, and confidence. Mindfulness activities appear to be helpful to engineering students. The review mapped interventions to support mental health and wellbeing in engineering students but identified a need for further high-quality robust studies that are transparently reported using reporting guidelines.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a significant mental health concern on university campuses. It has been proposed that dispositional mindfulness, which may be fostered through mindfulness practice, may have important benefits for university students with a history of NSSI through its positive impact on coping self-efficacy. However, students' receptivity to mindfulness practice may be an important precursor to their ability to incur the benefits of dispositional mindfulness. This study sought to explore the interrelations between NSSI history, mindfulness receptivity, dispositional mindfulness, and coping self-efficacy among a sample of 246 university students (M[subscript age] = 21.53 years). Mindfulness receptivity was found to be positively predictive of coping self-efficacy; dispositional mindfulness fully mediated this relationship for participants with a history of NSSI, but did not mediate this relationship for those without such a history. Findings provide preliminary evidence for the importance of mindfulness receptivity in fostering dispositional mindfulness and coping self-efficacy in university students.

Colleges are important providers of vocational education and training and in some countries they are the major provider. Although the international literature on colleges has grown considerably in the past two decades, it still consists primarily of qualitative descriptions of college sectors in different countries. Quantitative studies of differences in the activity mix of colleges in different countries could improve knowledge of international variation in the roles of colleges and provide a stronger foundation for study of the sources and consequences of variation in college roles. After reviewing different methodological frameworks for comparative analysis of college activity, the research reported here employs one of these frameworks to analyse differences in the activity mix of colleges in five countries. In addition to finding some noteworthy differences among the five countries, the paper also identified several problems of comparability of college data from different countries. The paper concludes that the development of internationally comparable data on colleges would require leadership by international organisations and agencies and is an undertaking well worth pursuing both for the benefits that it could bring to those whom colleges serve and for its contribution to the advancement of comparative study of vocational education and training.

Public health campaigns have the potential to correct vaping misperceptions. However, campaigns highlighting vaping harms to youth may increase misperceptions that vaping is equally/more harmful than smoking. Vaping campaigns have been implemented in the United States and Canada since 2018 and in England since 2017 but with differing focus: youth vaping prevention (United States/Canada) and smoking cessation (England). We therefore examined country differences and trends in noticing vaping campaigns among youth and, using 2022 data only, perceived valence of campaigns and associations with harm perceptions. Seven repeated cross-sectional surveys of 16-19 year-olds in United States, Canada and England (2018-2022, n = 92 339). Over half of youth reported noticing vaping campaigns, and noticing increased from August 2018 to February 2020 (United States: 55.2% to 74.6%, AOR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.18-1.24; Canada: 52.6% to 64.5%, AOR = 1.13, 1.11-1.16; England: 48.0% to 53.0%, AOR = 1.05, 1.02-1.08) before decreasing (Canada) or plateauing (England/United States) to August 2022. Increases were most pronounced in the United States, then Canada. Noticing was most common on websites/social media, school and television/radio. In 2022 only, most campaigns were perceived to negatively portray vaping and this was associated with accurately perceiving vaping as less harmful than smoking among youth who exclusively vaped (AOR = 1.46, 1.09-1.97). Consistent with implementation of youth vaping prevention campaigns in the United States and Canada, most youth reported noticing vaping campaigns/messages, and most were perceived to negatively portray vaping.

This study examined whether the assessment of executive function (EF) added a unique contribution to second language (L2) reading comprehension in children in French immersion. Participants were 8- to 9-year old children who completed a collection of measures assessing French reading (i.e., word reading, decoding, and reading comprehension ) and EF (working memory, inhibition, and shifting). After controlling for word-level reading, measures of shifting explained the most variance in reading comprehension compared to the variance accounted for by working memory and inhibition. The results add to the growing evidence of EF's contribution--especially shifting--to reading comprehension within the context of early literacy learning in the L2.

Boredom is a commonly experienced emotion that is detrimental to student performance. This study piloted Phase 2 of the Boredom Intervention Training (BIT) program which used cognitive restructuring to alter students' boredom misbeliefs. The sample consisted of 149 students from a midwestern Canadian University. We identified participants' boredom misbeliefs at baseline and employed McNemar tests to determine if students reported fewer boredom misbeliefs after viewing a psychoeducational training video. Our results revealed students reported fewer boredom misbeliefs post-video compared to pre-video (all p's < 0.025). Implications of Phase 2 of the BIT program for university students are discussed.

This study explores the literacy self-efficacy of 235 Canadian and American pre-service teachers during a 2021-2022 elementary literacy methods course amid COVID-19 disruptions. Utilizing the Teachers' Self-Efficacy Beliefs for Literacy Instruction in the 21st Century (TBLI21c) scale, administered at Time 1 and Time 2, the findings reveal high confidence in eight subscales. While participants displayed increased self-efficacy in diversity and 21st-century competences, early literacy and language skills saw lower confidence. US pre-service teachers exhibited higher self-efficacy initially, evening out by Time 2. These results underscore the need for assessing pre-service teachers' literacy self-efficacy, particularly concerning contemporary literacies and diversity, with implications for program evaluation and course design.

While previous research has shown that language use in the home is an important factor in bilingual language development, little research has focused on how specific language strategies used by parents relate to bilingual children's language exposure and vocabulary development. Yet, for parents, this information has the potential to inform their day-to-day decisions about language use in their home. The present study aims to contribute to this understanding by applying a Bioecological Systems Model to understand how language use within the community and within the family influenced young children's amount of language exposure and vocabulary abilities. A total of 51 French-English bilingual four-year-old Canadian children participated in the present study. Children's exposure to each language was measured through parent reports, and their vocabulary was assessed in each language. Differences in community context were not a significant predictor of the amount of exposure or vocabulary abilities. Family language strategies predicted vocabulary scores in English but not French, whereas the amount of exposure predicted vocabulary scores in French but not English. These findings suggest that, in the preschool years, family language use strategies and amount of exposure impact vocabulary development and that their role differs based on context.

This article focuses upon the milieu of single-sex schooling within an elite independent school in a Canadian urban centre. This research served as an exploratory and critical examination of single-sex schooling in a specific context, and considered its relevance, pedagogical effectiveness, and ability to meet its purported goals. Using an interpretative methodological framework, and employing a multi-methods case study design, the purpose of this research was to investigate the strengths, limitations, and possibilities of single-sex schooling in a particular educational context as informed by its students, parents of students, graduates, and teachers. We found little evidence to support the idea that single-sex schooling overwhelmingly impacted student academic or social development. Implications for practice at schools offering single-sex schooling are addressed and focus upon the importance of gender-inclusive schooling; the school as the key, rather than the school's single-sex classes; and addressing boys' behaviour.

Objective: The present study explored differences in four domains of university adjustment (i.e. personal-emotional, social, academic, and institutional attachment) among students with and without a history of engaging in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and examined the independent influence of NSSI on university adjustment. Participants and Methods: Participants were 231 students from a large Canadian university who completed an online survey during their first and second year of university examining their perceived stress, perceived social support, coping self-efficacy, and university adjustment. Results: Relative to students who never engaged in NSSI, those who did reported lower levels of university adjustment across domains. However, NSSI was not a significant predictor of university adjustment after accounting for perceived stress, perceived social support, and coping self-efficacy. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence that engaging in NSSI may not confer additional risk for university adjustment, as students' psychological resources appear to be stronger determinants of adjustment.

Globally, there is an increasing prevalence of higher education students with mental health issues. Educators are guaranteed contact points, and students often seek their support to manage their mental wellness. However, there is limited research describing educators' experiences of these interactions. This interpretive phenomenological study engaged 16 educators from an institution in Canada and Australia. Interviews were conducted to understand their lived experiences interacting with and supporting students with mental health issues. Data demonstrated that educators encountered students with challenges to mental wellness, most commonly around course assessments. These encounters caused strain on educators personally and professionally, which they responded to by adapting teaching practices to mitigate risks to student and educator wellbeing, compartmentalization and boundaries, and relational connection and support. Over time they evolved to manage this and incorporate this role into their teaching, with more confidence and less impact on themselves. This manuscript highlights the lived experiences of educators engaging with students with mental health stressors, and provides tangible examples of professional and personal modifications that mitigated the strain on the educator caused by these encounters.

During COVID-19, sudden field placement cancellations impelled schools of social work to find immediate means to support students in the completion of practicums remotely, whilst accreditation standards had yet to be re-articulated and permitted adaptations were unclear. Early "panic-gogy" moved to strategic development of new field pedagogies that build institutional resilience during times of crisis. The social work practicum learning portal (PLP) is one such pedagogy. Designed by Canadian field education faculty and created by community social workers, this series of online modules engages students in experiential learning by simulating the ways students learn in practice. During periods of disruption, the PLP expands access to field placement hours using digital technology and helps equip students for remote practice.

Psychiatric disorders are common in youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This is a vulnerable group of children whose behavioural problems often have more complicated care needs than other children, which can place a great deal of stress on their families. However, the association of family mental health issues, level of intellectual ability, and diagnostic co-morbidity in children is relatively under-studied. In the present study, we investigated the relationship among child diagnoses, family mental health problems, risk for self-injury, and disruption in care among children with (N = 517) and without (N = 517) intellectual and developmental disabilities. A negative binomial regression showed that mental health problems in multiple family members, self-injurious behaviour, and self-reported abuse/trauma was related to greater likelihood of provisional diagnoses of co-occurring psychiatric disorders in both a clinically referred sample and a sample with IDD. Implications for care-planning are discussed.

Self-directed learning is a process by which students take the lead, with or without the help of others, in determining their learning needs and managing their learning strategies and outcomes. Relatedly, self-directed learning readiness (SDLR) looks at the attitudes, abilities, and personality characteristics necessary for self-directed learning. In study one, we shortened, and slightly modified, the SDLR scale (Fisher et al., 2001) to make it more applicable for broader use among undergraduate university students and to examine its factor structure and reliability. In a sample of 194 students, the three-factor structure of this scale (self-management, desire to learn, and self-control) was confirmed with acceptable reliability. In study two, we examined whether the modified SDLR subscales predicted a preference for a teacher-directed or student-directed class format in a sample of 256 undergraduate students. We conducted a series of four multiple linear regressions to examine whether the three dimensions of SDLR were predictive of four classroom preference styles (knowledge construction, teacher direction, cooperative learning, and passive learning). While three of these analyses were statistically significant with small to medium-effect sizes, the results minimally supported our hypotheses. We discuss whether these results indicate a lack of relationship between SDLR and teaching style or whether these results may be characteristic of the sample.

A growing body of literature has identified student evaluations of teaching (SETs) as introducing bias against minority faculty members and not serving as a reliable or valid measure of teaching effectiveness. This lack of reliability and validity presents issues for university tenure and promotion committees, as these institutional processes necessarily require accurate, objective, and holistically informed modes of evaluation to recognize teaching achievements. Summative peer review of teaching (SPRT) is an alternative mode of assessment that aims to provide evidence of teaching effectiveness to inform promotion and tenure. SPRT, as an institutional practice, has been adopted at a small cohort of institutions of higher education, marking a potential shift in practice. This article examines SETs to articulate the problematic elements introduced by SETs, specifically to examine if SPRT can serve as a viable alternative. By describing the SPRT processes that four institutions have taken, the authors aim to articulate these emerging approaches to collecting evidence of teaching effectiveness. In this descriptive work, it is our secondary contention that SPRT, through intentional design and facilitation, can offer a process that does not introduce bias in the same way as SETs and thus, can also be used to satisfy the growing need for practices that help achieve, in part, institutional goals related to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the necessity for many services to transition from in-person to online, including teaching in higher education and continuing education venues. This shift raised important pedagogical questions that have not yet been explored in the scholarship of teaching and learning literature. This study explored the experiences of students and instructors participating in a synchronous online four-day training workshop on counseling skills relating to supporting individuals who experience life stress and trauma. While many of the findings were consistent with what is already in the e-learning literature, new insights about safety and comfort emerged that have important implications for online delivery when teaching counseling skills and other topics involving potentially complex and emotional content. Recommendations for online teaching and future research are made.

Knowledge exchange, also called knowledge translation, mobilization, or transfer, increasingly factors in university strategic plans and funding agency mandates. The growing emphasis on research that includes community engagement and making research knowledge more accessible and useful for nonacademic constituents often brings in knowledge brokers, whose activities promote sharing of research knowledge among different actors. In this article, we consider how librarians and adult literacy educators engage in this work as professionals uniquely positioned to advance knowledge exchange initiatives. Three initiatives in British Columbia, Canada, involve academic librarians and adult literacy educators engaging in knowledge exchange work in transformative ways. We describe how they are reconfiguring knowledge making, sharing, and use with constituents and bridging nonacademic and university communities. This approach disrupts traditional notions of who produces and consumes knowledge and who is an expert while acknowledging how place-based approaches are essential for advancing knowledge exchange initiatives.

Although there is increased attention to the mental health needs of university students, far less attention has been given to mental health-related university policies. Many Canadian public universities have mandated leave policies that specify the conditions under which a student may be required to take a leave of absence from university. The purpose of the current study was to conduct an in-depth analysis of current mandated leave policies in public Canadian English-speaking universities. Applied framework analysis methodology was used to examine the approaches to balancing the needs of students experiencing mental health challenges and providing a safe environment on campus. Three primary themes regarding mandated leave policies were identified, including (a) approaches for addressing mental health concerns, (b) balancing the needs of the student with the needs of the institution, and (c) guidelines, standards, and quality assurance. Implications for mandated leave policies and approaches to students experiencing mental health challenges are discussed.

The purpose of the current study was to explore graduate students' mental health and educational experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Graduate students (N = 28) in Canada completed an online survey consisting of both closed- and open-ended questions related to their mental health, degree progress, and access to campus workspace. Data were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative approaches before being synthesized through a pillar integration joint display to merge study findings. Based on self-report data, approximately 60% of participants were experiencing poor-to-moderate mental health at the time of the survey. Participants also expressed dissatisfaction with online learning and felt uncertain about their degree trajectory due to changes and restrictions associated with the pandemic. Based on the participants' responses, recommendations for assisting graduate students during the pandemic were presented. Highlighted by these recommendations was the importance of accessing workspace on campus and the challenges associated with university mental health resources. Overall, nearly 16 months into the pandemic, participants' mental health was negatively impacted by the restrictions. Although the study findings may not be generalizable to all post-secondary institutions, they could be used to inform university administrators regarding the continued challenges faced by graduate students during the pandemic.

School board trustees play an important role in the education of children throughout Ontario. Using an online survey of Ontario residents, expectations of school board trustees are explored in detail. The survey included an open-ended question that asked respondents what role they see being performed by trustees, as well as a question that asked respondents whether they preferred a "delegate" governing model, which believes trustees should represent constituents, or a "trustee" model, which believes trustees should render decisions based on their best judgement. On the surface, respondents see three primary and distinct roles: represent the public; support the administrative functions of the school board, and to ensure educational outcomes are met. In addition, the sample tilts favourably towards the "delegate" governing model. Regression models identify some factors that help explain respondents' choices.

Managing health and well-being issues can be challenging for college students. Alternative supports, such as online programs, have been identified as cost-effective and efficient methods of providing inclusive support to college students, removing numerous barriers to health and well-being promotion. The article summarized a novel, evidence-based approach to developing an online health and well-being program. The program is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), the positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishments (PERMA) construct, and the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE) model. It discusses future directions in the evaluation, assessment, and documentation of the fitness-for-purpose process.