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The use of learner modelling approaches is critical for providing adaptive support in educational computer games, with predictive learner modelling being among the key approaches. While adaptive supports have been shown to improve the effectiveness of educational games, improperly customized support can have negative effects on learning outcomes. To tackle these challenges, we present a novel approach, called DeepLM, that considers a series of time windows representing both sequences of learners' actions during gameplay and estimation of their current competencies (using stealth assessment) to model learners and accordingly predict their future performance. The approach employs a variant of deep neural networks to early predict learners' midterm and final scores simultaneously. The results show that using 20-50% of learners' action sequences can early predict their final scores, with a cross-validated convolutional neural network (CNN) achieving an area under the curve (AUC) and accuracy of 0.879 and 85.3%, respectively. The same model can also achieve high accuracy in predicting midterm and final scores at the same time, with an AUC and accuracy of 0.848 and 77.9%. Overall, the CNN model outperforms recurrent neural network, long short-term memory, and baseline multilayer perceptron (MLP) models in predicting learners' final performance and performs better than the baseline MLP model in predicting learners' midterm and final performance using both cross-validation and independent datasets. These findings show the potential of the proposed approach in accurately early predicting learners' performance, allowing educators and game designers to tailor interventions and support mechanisms that could lead to optimized learning outcomes.

Today, countries are taking important steps towards providing more effective services to citizens by determining strategies to quickly adapt to artificial intelligence-based digital transformation processes, especially education, health, security, justice and local services. National strategies for artificial intelligence studies are determined in countries in different continents of the world, and priority is given to educational studies in order to create human resources trained in the field of artificial intelligence. In Türkiye, artificial intelligence studies are carried out in line with the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Document (2021-2025) published by the Presidency. Considering the size of the service it provides to millions of citizens, the thousands of schools/institutions and the number of more than one million personnel, the Ministry of National Education is one of the public institutions that has made the best use of information and communication technologies for many years. Since the early 2000s, when internet access was provided to schools and institutions, the Ministry has accelerated e-transformation studies in administrative and educational activities and has carried out permanent works that have been used for many years, mainly e-School, MEBBIS and EBA projects. The leadership of the Ministry of National Education in the use of technology in education increases the expectations in studies in the field of artificial intelligence. In this study, the points reached by the Ministry of National Education in five countries in different geographies (Malaysia, Singapore, China, South Korea, Estonia) and Türkiye, which carry out effective studies in education in line with artificial intelligence strategies, in the use of artificial intelligence were examined and evaluated. The analysis concluded that individualized artificial intelligence applications of countries started to be implemented with different contents, at different learning levels and in different years.

Purpose: This article examines the use of English medium instruction (EMI) for teaching Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) by non-native speakers with a focus on multilingual classrooms. It also explores teachers' positive and negative beliefs about using EMI in classroom settings for JFL instruction. Methods and procedure: 274 non-native Japanese language teachers from around the world (57 countries) voluntarily participated in a survey, answering a questionnaire on Google Forms and Jotform. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. The research instrument was piloted before the main study and was found to be effective and adequate to elicit the desired data. The research questions aimed to identify whether there were any relationships between the use of EMI and the multilingual classroom. Findings: The results showed a clear correlation between the extensive use of EMI and the multilingual character of JFL classrooms. Translanguaging turned out to be a common practice adopted by non-native Japanese teachers regardless of the primary language of instruction. The article concludes that EMI can be a valuable tool for JFL instruction in multilingual classrooms. Based on the investigation of the teachers' beliefs, the results showed a changing positive attitude towards English employed in JFL classrooms. Implications for research and practice: The findings can be used to further investigate EMI in JFL instructional practices in multilingual classrooms, improve the quality of JFL instruction and facilitate the integration of multilingual education into foreign language teaching. Future research can explore the effectiveness of EMI in different JFL contexts and investigate the impact of EMI on students' language learning outcomes.

Education is seen as a resource at a global level but is currently considered to be in crisis in many parts of the world. This constitutes a significant drawback in terms of humanity's prosperity and well-being since education is the key not only to an educated workforce but also to humane, collaborative, and caring societies. Even within this dim landscape, there are certain educational systems that defy the odds and perform significantly higher than their otherwise comparable systems. This paper proposes using an unusual lens for educational policy comparative studies, that of positive deviance, to aid us in progressing towards a more stable educational state of affairs. Using a positive deviance methodology, which focuses on learning what is working well in systems that defy and overcome substantial challenges, this study investigates the patterns, attitudes, and actions of three selected cases: Massachusetts as a positive deviant in the US, Estonia as a positive deviant in Europe, and Castile-Leon as a positive deviant in Spain. The purpose is, by analysing educational policies, laws, and other related documents, to find commonalities that explain why these systems outperform others. The results of the comparative analysis pinpoint areas and strategies informative to those leading struggling educational systems, such as a strong commitment to equity and justice, placing teachers at the centre of reforms, using assessment as a tool for process monitoring and summative inquiry, and making preschool education accessible to all.

With the rising prevalence of digital data, infrastructures and platforms in education, the challenge of conceptualizing and investigating 'intermediaries' has substantially increased. This not only refers to various new types of actors that have been materializing around practices of data infrastructuring (e.g., data management), but equally to the rising empowerment of data infrastructures themselves "as" intermediaries of policy and governance. The aim of this article is to sharpen our conceptual understanding of this interrelation between intermediaries and data infrastructuring. More specifically, the article suggests to approach intermediaries through a lens on "performative contexting," thus shifting the focus towards how 'intermediary contexting' is used, by whom and where exactly, rather than seeking to map intermediaries as an object 'from the outside'. Data infrastructuring, then, can be regarded both as part, and as a result, of such contexting efforts. Using Estonia as a case study, it is shown what we see (differently) when applying such a lens to the digital transformation of education. The findings hereby indicate a gradual emergence of what could be described as 'governance by intermediarization': a process in which more and more actors are shifted into the (self)contexting as infrastructural stewards, while the politics of digital transformation become centered -- i.e., seemingly depoliticized - around asserting continuous change through digital connection.

Modern conditions of public administration are formed in the BANI world (Grabmeier, 2020), unstable, disturbing, uniquely technological and digital. How many of today's civil servants are capable of functioning in such a world through current training and professional development systems? This issue is particularly relevant for post-Soviet countries, as most of them belong to emerging economies that are still shaping their own unique public administration system. The article is aimed at studying the practice of professional development of civil servants within the framework of additional education in post-Soviet countries in the context of digitalisation. According to the study, it is clear that the Soviet model of supplementary education for civil servants is still valid, with minor differences in the countries studied. This model is characterised by a centralised organisation of training of civil servants within the framework of specially created structures (public service academies). With the transition to digital learning, countries are differentiated by the pace and level of transition to distance and e-learning for public servants.

The aim of this study was to examine which topic- and learning-related knowledge and motivational beliefs predict the use of specific deep-level learning strategies during an independent learning task. Participants included 335 Estonian fourth- and sixth-grade students who were asked to read about light processes and seasonal changes. The study was completed electronically. Topic-related knowledge was assessed via an open question about seasonal changes, and learning-related knowledge was assessed via scenario-based tasks. Expectancies, interest, and utility values related to learning astronomy and using deep-level learning strategies were assessed via questions based on the Situated Expectancy-Value Theory. Deep-level learning strategies (using drawings in addition to reading and self-testing) were assessed while completing the reading task. Among topic-related variables, prior knowledge and utility value--but not interest or expectancy in learning astronomy--were related to using deep-level learning strategies. Among learning-related variables, interest and utility value of effective learning--but not metacognitive knowledge of learning strategies or expectancy in using deep-level learning strategies--were related to using deep-level learning strategies. This study confirms that it is not enough to examine students' knowledge and skills in using learning strategies with general or hypothetical questions, instead, it is of crucial importance to study students in real learning situations.

Understanding math and the ability to use math in various situations can greatly contribute to a successful life. Different math skills are of importance for understanding and supporting math ability. In addition, math interest may influence math ability. We investigated the relationship between math conceptual and procedural skills, their development over time, and the relation to math interest in Grades three and five. Participants in the study were Estonian students (N = 855), who were in Grade three (2019/2020) during the first testing and in Grade five (2021/2022) during the second testing. Students completed math competence testing which consisted of procedural and conceptual skill tasks and a questionnaire about math interest. Both person- and variable-oriented approaches were used in the analyses. Students' math conceptual and procedural skills in Grades three and five were moderately related to each other. Furthermore, based on latent profile analysis, three profiles of skills were identified in both grades, distinguishing between students with low, average, and high levels of skills in both skills, with the exception of an approximately average-skill group in Grade five that had low conceptual skills but average procedural skills. Students were likely to remain in similar-skill groups for both Grades three and five. Lastly, there was a significant difference in math interest in Grade three among the groups with stable low, stable average, and stable high skills from Grades three to five. Fostering interest in math may be beneficial for achieving a high level of math proficiency. Future research should prioritize the integration of person-oriented methods into studies aimed at enhancing understanding of math skill development.

The study aimed to find out which differences and similarities emerge in the self-concepts of early and late adolescents and young, middle-aged, and older adults. A total of 822 participants, including 530 adolescents aged 9-19 (over 50% were girls) and 292 adults aged 20-71 (over 80% were women), from Estonia provided their spontaneous self-descriptions. Early adolescents described their preferences, appearance, family, peers, and peripheral attributes more frequently and traits, identity, and global attributes less frequently than other age groups. Late adolescents' self-descriptions included significantly more traits and fewer social roles, identity, and family mentions than those of adults. The three adult groups were similar in the use of different attributes to describe themselves. Overall, the study suggests that early adolescents describe themselves mainly through concrete, objective attributes, late adolescents through abstract psychological attributes, and adults through social-psychological attributes.

Despite the proven effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing severe illness, many individuals, including older adults who are most susceptible to the virus, have opted against vaccination. Various factors could shape vaccination decisions, including seeking health information (HI). The internet is the primary source of HI today; however, older adults are often referred to as those missing out on digital benefits. The study explores the correlations between information and communication technology (ICT) use, online HI seeking, socioeconomic factors, and COVID-19 vaccination readiness among individuals aged 50 and above in Estonia. The survey data were gathered from 501 people aged 50 and older after the first lockdown in 2020. The outcomes revealed that vaccination readiness positively correlated with factors such as higher educational attainment, greater income, male gender, access to ICT, a readiness to employ digital technologies for health-related purposes, a greater demand for HI, and a higher frequency of seeking it online. There was some discrepancy in the preference of HI sources; for example, vaccination consenters preferred online versions of professional press publications and specific health portals. Based on the findings, it is advisable to encourage older adults to utilize the internet and new technology for health-related purposes. This practice expands the range of information sources available to them, ultimately enabling better decision-making regarding their health behaviors.

In this study, maternal socialization goals in early childhood were linked to qualities of children's self in middle childhood, while also considering maternal education and child gender. Estonian mothers (N = 209; M[subscript age] = 33.6; 52.2% had university education) provided ratings of their socialization goals for children (52.2% girls; M[subscript age] = 6.2), children's self was gauged 4 years later. The more mothers endorsed social conformity-related socialization goals, the fewer different autonomy-related ([beta] = -0.15) and relatedness-related qualities of self ([beta] = -0.21) their children had in their descriptions of themselves and their autobiographical memories. Mothers' self-maximization socialization goals were not linked to the qualities of children's self. Mothers without a university degree endorsed social conformity-related socialization goals more than mothers with a university degree ([beta] = -0.20). Girls referred to more relatedness-related qualities than boys ([beta] = 0.23). The results show that maternal socialization goals do not always have a straightforward effect on different qualities of children's self. Yet, conformity-related goals by mothers predict the qualities of children's later self.

As future academics, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students are be expected to employ learning-centred approach as stated in the Paris Communique (2018) by the European ministers of education. The limited research available about doctoral students' conceptions indicates that they range from content- to learning-centred. Although a few studies explored the factors which prompt students' transformation of conceptions and approach, none specifically focused on PhD students. This comparative case study explored how PhD students describe the transformation in their teaching conceptions and approach towards learning-centredness, and the context surrounding it. The results indicated that participants described the transformation through the gaining of theoretical teaching-related knowledge, being related to dissatisfaction with their own teaching, the application of a learning-centred approach, and time. The teaching-learning context was described mostly as supportive but not always allowing the implementation of transformation. Results suggest that discourse is needed to facilitate critical reflection leading to transformative learning.

This study aimed to identify the factors that foster a collaborative culture in the school improvement process. Estonian schools are characterized by a high degree of autonomy in developing the school curriculum and choosing the appropriate methods for its implementation. As a result, some schools are more successful, while others face difficulties in improving their pedagogical processes. Six Estonian schools with lower performance indicators participated in the School Improvement Program in 2021-2022. In each school, leaders and teachers formed a team together with two mentors. Supported by university experts, the school teams began working on a topic they chose to improve their students' learning while simultaneously increasing the school's leadership capacity by strengthening a collaborative school culture. The results of this qualitative research demonstrate that the arrangement of teamwork and the creation of shared values and goals constitute the key factors in creating a collaborative culture. Collaborative culture can be fostered by composing a stable team, developing routines for collaboration, ensuring open communication among all parties, focusing consistently on the goal, and building trust among participants. The obstacles are resistance to change, an unstable team, no routines for collaboration, a lack of communication, and no commitment to the goal. External support is important for both successful school teams and those facing challenges in the improvement process.

When the need of transforming and remixing music education is illuminated, fields of tensions in relation to the traditional master-apprentice model of teaching often appear. Binaries have been constructed and critiqued in research to describe tensions at various music educational levels. Some studies have also asked for a holistic, "both/and" holding. In higher music education (HME), the need for new approaches in research to understand how teaching and learning is developing are asked for. As a contribution, the overall aim of the article is to illuminate to what extent traditional culture norms and structures are maintained and challenged at three European conservatories. The specific aim is to map possible fields of tension surrounding approaches to teaching and related learning. The analysis in this article partly builds on understandings of culture and institutions, and partly on theories of relational pedagogy. To get access to how leaders, teachers, and students experience participating in the teaching and learning of conservatory cultures, an interview study was planned. The transcriptions were treated by a thematic analysis model. The analysis explored three themes that represent fields of tension: teaching in relation to established cultural structures, to create or not create new learning trajectories, and collaboration or competition--the educational culture. The fields of tension found through the analysis concern relations between the traditional conserved conservatory teaching and new open and diverse thoughts about and actions within in HME teaching. It becomes obvious that creating new learning trajectories should be a common issue, involving students and teachers, as well as leaders of conservatories, and that competition should be supported by collaboration. A consequence of such a pedagogical approach would be that differences between programs for diverse instruments could be balanced, and that all involved could learn from each other, which demands flexibility between individual and collaborative learning activities.

Multimodal learning analytics (MMLA) research has made significant progress in modelling collaboration quality for the purpose of understanding collaboration behaviour and building automated collaboration estimation models. Deploying these automated models in authentic classroom scenarios, however, remains a challenge. This paper presents findings from an evaluation of collaboration quality estimation models. We collected audio, video and log data from two different Estonian schools. These data were used in different combinations to build collaboration estimation models and then assessed across different subjects, different types of activities (collaborative-writing, group-discussion) and different schools. Our results suggest that the automated collaboration model can generalize to the context of different schools but with a 25% degradation in balanced accuracy (from 82% to 57%). Moreover, the results also indicate that multimodality brings more performance improvement in the case of group-discussion-based activities than collaborative-writing-based activities. Further, our results suggest that the video data could be an alternative for understanding collaboration in authentic settings where higher-quality audio data cannot be collected due to contextual factors. The findings have implications for building automated collaboration estimation systems to assist teachers with monitoring their collaborative classrooms.

A concern across many vocational education systems is the high dropout rate from their programs. This problem is likely to be exacerbated at time of low unemployment rates when employers are less demanding about the certification of skills at the time of employment. This qualitative study examines the factors associated with students leaving early from Initial Vocational Education and Training (IVET) institutions in Estonia. The study analyses the challenges and potential risk factors of IVET early leaving from both the students and staff members points of view. The research participants were 20 Estonian IVET students and 12 staff members from various vocational schools. The study highlights the complex interplay of students' challenges and emphasises the importance of addressing them to promote retention and success in vocational education and training programmes. The study employs the Self-Determination Theory, more specifically, the conceptual frame of basic psychological needs to interpret the data. The results of the research indicate that students at risk are mainly shaped by their primary school experience prior to vocational school, with teachers and peers as the main influencers.

While empirical studies of research ethics and integrity are increasingly common, few have aimed at national scope, and even fewer at current results from Central and Eastern Europe. This article introduces the results of the first national research integrity survey in Estonia, which included all research-performing organisations in Estonia, was inclusive of all disciplines and all levels of experience. A web-based survey was developed and carried out in Estonia with a call sent to all accredited Estonian research institutions. The results indicate that the vast majority (89%) of respondents consider research ethics and integrity issues important and view falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism (FFPs) as the most severe forms of misconduct. Self-reporting of FFPs is generally comparable to levels published in other studies (6.2%). Gift authorship (41%) and hampering the work of a colleague (32%) were problematic practices most noticed among colleagues. At the same time, two of the noticed questionable research practices (QRPs) - salami-slicing and misuse of research funding -- were seen as less severe, hinting at the existence of counter-norms that career advancement rules and structural factors like funding policies may encourage. The availability of research ethics and integrity guidelines was considered good. Ethical aspects of studying potentially stigmatising data in a very small research community are discussed in the article and results are analysed through counter-norms andc normative dissonance frames.

Previous research on gender differences in young people's digital development has shown that boys and girls differ in frequency and type of internet use, but vital gaps in the literature remain. In recent years, gender is increasingly considered to be a multidimensional concept with a growing number of young people identifying as non-binary (i.e. genderfluid, an umbrella term for gender identities that are not conforming to the male/female dichotomy). Non-binary youth more frequently engage with a variety of digital risks such as misinformation, cyberbullying, and co-rumination than binary youth. Despite this, no research so far has investigated how digital development differs between non-binary and binary youth. In this online survey study among adolescents in six European countries (N=6,221), we focus on differences in digital skills and digital activities. Non-binary youth tend to make greater use of the internet for content creation and mental and physical health information than boys and girls. They also report greater content creation skills than boys and girls. Disparities in terms of entertainment and social relationship use are also found. Furthermore, findings on digital skills indicate that non-binary youth closely mirror boys in this regard. We conclude with recommendations for future research that should help bolster our understanding of how digital contexts may predict the development and well-being of non-binary youth.

Vocational teachers (VTs) have been seen as the key individuals executing changes, solving problems and achieving goals in vocational education and training (VET). Therefore, the work of VTs is fragmented between different types of tasks which influence their professionalism and professionality (individual views, experiences and professional practices of teachers). Despite this, their professionality has been studied remarkably little, and previous studies have focused on different narrow aspects of professionalism. However, it is not clear how various factors, including changes in VET, can shape VTs' perception of their professionality. Based on a meta-analysis, this study aims to create comprehensive knowledge through an empirical model of vocational teacher professionality in the context of VET changes based on the example of Estonian VET. The results show that VTs have expressed different perceptions, evaluations and experiences of change in VET, and therefore different forms of collaboration and learning activities have been used to adapt to changes, which together shape the professionality of VTs. Therefore, three profiles of VT professionality have emerged and the wider scope of the collaboration of VTs fosters more positive attitudes, satisfaction and commitment to their work and profession, while also relating to their higher self-efficacy, which supports coping in demanding pedagogical situations and when faced with new tasks and roles in a changing context.

Based on the expectancy-value perspective on identity and identity formation, this paper explores the relationship between math identity (MI) and the dimensions of motivation (i.e. intrinsic value, attainment value, utility value and perceived competence) and math achievement in primary school. An additional aim of our research was to explore these relationships in different cultural contexts and investigate potential gender and grade differences concerning MI. The participants were 11,782 primary school students from Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Portugal and Serbia. All predictors from the motivation spectrum were significant for students' MI across the examined countries and had a stronger association with MI than math achievement. Among the motivational dimensions, intrinsic value had the strongest association with students' MI. Boys had significantly more positive math identities than girls in Estonia, Finland, Norway and Portugal. The results showed that the grade 4 students perceived themselves less as "math persons" than their grade 3 peers in all countries.

Research has shown that some students who underperform in mathematics overestimate their performance, while others who excel in mathematics underestimate it. Looking at this mismatch of performance and confidence judgement--the Dunning-Kruger effect (DKE)--the current study investigates how well students' confidence judgement and item-specific mathematics competence relate with each other and whether such a relationship differs across six European countries (i.e., Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Serbia and Portugal). We also examine whether perceived competence, mathematics identity, gender, socioeconomic status and immigration background predict this mismatch and whether these demographic factors function differently between the examined countries. The results show that the DKE could be found across grades three and four in all six countries. However, there are country-specific patterns regarding the relationship between performance, mathematics identity and perceived competence; the DKE; and how different demographic variables predict its occurrences in particular subpopulations.

Teacher beliefs and practices related to them could provide varying opportunities for students to develop their agency related to learning math. The aim of the current paper is to explore how different math teacher beliefs (concerning the nature of mathematics, constructivist beliefs, and self-efficacy) relate to different dimensions of student agency in primary education. A two-level multilevel model was analyzed to find out to what extent selected teacher beliefs are associated with student math competence and agency dimensions. The study was conducted in Estonia and data from 3rd and 4th grade students (N = 1557) and their teachers (N = 121) was included in the analysis. The results showed that teacher self-efficacy beliefs, constructivist beliefs, and static views on the nature of mathematics were related to students' agency dimensions. Possible explanations and directions for further studies are discussed.

Mathematics teachers' beliefs are central to mathematics teaching and student learning. Because different aspects of motivation and affect--particularly enjoyment--primarily develop within the classroom context, examining how different teachers' beliefs may affect student outcomes in mathematics is imperative. The current study examines teachers' beliefs about the nature and learning of mathematics in connection to students' motivation (i.e. intrinsic value, utility value and perceived competence) and enjoyment of mathematics across different settings by considering students' mathematics achievement, gender and classroom composition (i.e. socioeconomic and behavioural). Data were collected from 3rd- and 4th-grade mathematics teachers (N = 686) and their students (N = 11,782) in six countries (i.e. Norway, Finland, Sweden, Portugal, Estonia and Serbia). A two-level structural equation modelling technique (TSEM) (i.e. student level and classroom level) with random slopes was employed to address our research questions. The results indicate that students' intrinsic value and perceived competence positively relate to their enjoyment of mathematics in all six countries. Teachers' beliefs about the nature and learning of mathematics moderate the within-classroom relationship between boys and girls and the motivation and enjoyment of learning mathematics in Portugal and Norway. Unlike boys, girls consistently perceive themselves as less competent in mastering mathematics, even in primary school. Classroom socioeconomic composition had a more pronounced influence on teachers' beliefs in Sweden, Norway and Serbia. In relation to teachers' beliefs, classroom behavioural composition was relevant in Estonia and Sweden. In Finland and Norway, classroom composition was essential to boys' and girls' differential motivation and enjoyment of mathematics learning.

Since most schools and learners had no choice but to learn online during the pandemic, online learning became the mainstream learning mode rather than a substitute for traditional face-to-face learning. Given this enormous change in online learning, we conducted a systematic review of 191 of the most recent online learning studies published during the COVID-19 era. The systematic review results indicated that the themes regarding "courses and instructors" became popular during the pandemic, whereas most online learning research has focused on "learners" pre-COVID-19. Notably, the research topics "course and instructors" and "course technology" received more attention than prior to COVID-19. We found that "engagement" remained the most common research theme even after the pandemic. New research topics included parents, technology acceptance or adoption of online learning, and learners' and instructors' perceptions of online learning.

The aim of this research is to give an overview of the psycho-didactical model of Engineering Pedagogy, as the basis of effective STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts (Design), Mathematics) teaching and instructional design. Attributes of engineering graduates and basic skills of 21st century graduates are presented. The competency model of Engineering Educators by the International Society for Engineering Pedagogy (IGIP) is introduced. Micro-credentials pedagogical continuing education programme for STEAM teachers and engineering educators is presented, ensuring the acquisition of competencies for effective STEAM teaching. Learning activity as a system with a large number of elements is introduced, which under certain conditions can also become subsystems, being interconnected, with integrative properties and with the function of achieving certain specific goals. A Psycho-Didactical Model of Engineering Pedagogy is introduced as the basis for a toolbox of effective teaching STEAM.

This study on the Estonian lower secondary (7-9th grade) science curricula, is seen as an important framework for educators preparing students as tomorrow's citizens able to reflect on sustainable energy development. As the curriculum is taken to be the major document allowing insights into Estonian educational standards, this study identifies components within the intended lower secondary science curricula for subjects of biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, and interdisciplinary science. Using document analysis, verbs associated with career-related learning outcomes are detected, allowing the relatedness of the energy conceptualizations and determination of their cognitive level utilizing SOLO (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes) taxonomy. A team of coders identify a total of 782 learning outcomes across three learning domains: psychomotor (176), affective (32), cognitive (574) at unistructural (33), multistructural (225), relational (276), and extended abstract (40) levels. The majority of energy concept learning outcomes (274) are identified in the source (form) and transfer (transform) categories. Very few career-related learning outcomes are detected with the science education relevance dimensions (individual, societal, career). The suitability of the findings is discussed. The current analyzing method can be applied to other educational disciplines for raising awareness of disciplinary crosscutting concepts.

This paper presents a qualitative study of Estonian video game companies. In total, 11 companies were interviewed regarding their company values and expectations for employees. The interviews consisted of two parts. First, a regular semi-structured interview was conducted. In the second part, we used three persona sheets based on Bachelor graduates to provide an imaginary but tangible hiring situation for the company. This allowed us to explore in more detail what the companies consider important in certain employee candidates. Findings show that a strong common theme is that people working on video games need to be aware of the player and how the work shapes the game experience. Many companies encourage a work ethic based on individual responsibility and ownership in their employees. Interdisciplinary communication is very valued as well. Several companies said that employees need to be good fits, and a few even said that employees need to feel like part of a family. One company implied that, unfortunately, employees should be ready for crunch time. Overall, this paper depicts the peculiarities of different Estonian video game companies. While some of these might be specific to Estonia, we believe companies elsewhere also exhibit such properties. Thus, this observation paper provides insight into the video game sector for video game curriculum designers, video game scholars, and the video game industry itself.

Enhancing interest in physics learning has been an important component of education policy and policy implementation for decades. However, in many countries, student interest in physics has not increased. The aim of this study was to predict situational interest using individual interest and the instructional activities students engaged in. Also, the suitability of the data collection approach to measure situational interest was assessed. A teaching module about real-world oscillations was implemented to 179 Estonian lower secondary school students. Data about situational interest were collected using the experience sampling method (ESM), which was measured three times during the module. The results indicated that gender, grade, and instructional activities did not predict situational interest. Individual interest was a significant predictor and correlation with situational interest increased with time, contrary to previous findings. The ESM approach used in this study was considered to be effective in disturbing students' study flow minimally but may have affected the amount of missing data. This study contributes to the research done on student interest in a classroom setting by indicating a more complex relationship between situational and individual interest than previously suggested.

This article discusses the findings of qualitative case-study research that looks at pedagogical contexts of adult education programs for migrants in Cyprus, Scotland, Malta, and Estonia. The goal of this research is to understand how Learner-Centered Education (LCE) is promoted within a human-rights framework and implemented as an approach to emancipatory social change. The findings show significant discrepancies in the implementation of LCE. Differences emerged between educational interventions that influence the language-learning and assimilation-integration processes of adults with migrant backgrounds. Informed by these findings, this article builds a case for Emancipatory Learner-Centered Education (ELCE)--a pedagogical approach that goes beyond course adaptations, to engage migrants in consciousness-raising and confidence-building, while fostering communal action between migrants and adult educators.

Children's development during early childhood affects their well-being and educational success, but there are few reliable assessment instruments available. The aim of the study was to develop, pilot and validate an e-assessment instrument for assessing five-year-old children's development in cognitive processes, learning, language and mathematical skills. The tablet-based instrument was piloted in Estonia in 11 kindergartens with 122 children. The teachers guided the children one by one over several days. The instrument was validated using teachers' evaluations of the sampled children's skills. The results showed positive associations in expected skill areas supporting the claim of the instrument being valid for assessing young children's development.

Mathematics seems abstract, difficult, and uninteresting to many students, which in turn reduces their interest in learning mathematics. It has been found that the use of ICT and meaningful contexts of problem-solving tasks can make learning mathematics more enjoyable and easier to understand for students. To increase students' interest in learning mathematics and using the GeoGebra program, math competitions "Notice Mathematics Around You" have been organized in Estonia for lower and upper secondary school students, where the task was to create a GeoGebra applet on a given topic. In our paper, we present the works of students from three years on topics such as creating patterns using graphs of functions, creating fireworks for Estonia's birthday and creating moving objects. The number of participants in these competitions was 232, 160 and 167, respectively. We also present students' opinions on this competition based on the questionnaires they filled out. The results showed that participants learned more about the GeoGebra program by creating their works. Some students realized that their math skills improved while doing the competition work or they understood something that they could not grasp in class with paper and pencil. Students realized that mathematics is useful beyond the classroom, and therefore, their attitude towards math improved. They enjoyed the sense of accomplishment, seeing the beauty of mathematics, and having math classes different from the usual. Students' opinions could encourage teachers to give students similar tasks in math classes or in projects that integrate multiple subjects. This could also provide ideas for students' creative work.

Teacher agency has been explored in many studies in different contexts, however research on supporting agency is somewhat limited. In this study, we aimed to support teacher agency in a collaborative inquiry-based in-service course developed based on the ecological model of teacher agency and earlier empirical studies. We conducted a study among 57 course participants to explore the potential impact of the course on participants' agency and investigated which role the motives to join the course had on participants' agency dynamics. Data were collected with questionnaires. The results showed that participants' agency was supported to some degree during the collaborative inquiry-based in-service training course, teachers' motives to join the course were somewhat related to professional agency dynamics.

The success with which minority teachers cope with socio-cultural integration indicates their transformative agency. However, teachers' ideational projects, which are converted into a set of established practices, are tightly connected with their ideologies. In this case what they transform is not a matter of integration for them but is irrevocably intertwined with protecting their own culture. Applying a symbolic interactionist methodological lens and Archer's 'social morphogenesis' explanatory framework, in this qualitative research I aim to examine the unique educational context of Estonia. Schools with Russian as the language of instruction co-exist with schools where instruction is in the national language. The paper explores the mechanisms that stand behind the social agency of minority teachers and why their practices are considered 'morphostatic' for the whole education system. The paper concludes that these teachers' agency is culturally mediated and their strategies are reflexive and morphogenetic in nature, even though they don't lead to integration.

STEM education has experienced significant growth due to its pivotal role in innovation and economic development. While cognitive factors like prior knowledge are known predictors of STEM success, non-cognitive factors, including attitudes and demographics, also play vital roles. However, there is a notable scarcity of research focusing on the "S" in STEM - science - compared to extensive studies in fields like mathematics. This study aims to address this gap by exploring gender differences in science test performance and related attitudes, providing insights into this under-researched aspect of STEM education. The effective sample comprised 1839 Estonian 12th-grade students who took a computer-assisted science test. The test consisted of tasks combining chemistry, physics, biology, and geography, and a post-test survey was also administered. Across the total sample, the results showed that test performance positively correlated with test-taking duration, effort, and test importance. Test performance was negatively correlated with perceived test difficulty. Interestingly, while general science anxiety was not associated with test performance, subject-specific anxiety, especially chemistry anxiety had a negative association with test performance. While there were no gender differences in test performance, female students scored consistently higher on all science anxiety measures, compared to male students. Furthermore, female students assessed the science test to be more difficult, and they also took more time to complete the test. The correlations in gender subsamples mirrored those observed in the total sample. The association between science test performance and test-related variables is nuanced: students might not necessarily have a "general" STEM anxiety but it may be associated with a specific subject. Moreover, the findings imply that although there are no gender differences in test performance, girls have a greater anxiety when it comes to natural sciences subjects. These findings indicate the need for investigating the origin of such anxieties, which do not seem to stem from aptitude.

Strategy interventions have been found to support students' text comprehension, but little is known about the sustainability of these effects. This study examined short- and long-term effects of a strategy intervention on students' vocabulary and text comprehension at the literal, inferential and evaluative levels. A pretest, posttest, and retention test design with experimental and control conditions was used. Ninety-nine six-graders from six Estonian schools were examined while using vocabulary and text comprehension tests. Comprehension strategies were taught in an experimental condition by Estonian-language teachers during a three-month intervention. The group-level analysis indicated short-term improvements in all skills when strategies were taught. The long-term effect was found in literal and inferential comprehension with continual improvements in literal comprehension. For the students in the control condition, short- and long-term improvements were detected in literal text comprehension. The individual-level analysis revealed three vocabulary and text comprehension profile groups: Average High, Average Low, and Low Combined. In the experimental condition, students from every profile group benefited from the intervention. In the control condition, enhancements were seen in the students in the Average High profile group. Thus, the explicit teaching of comprehension strategies supports students in becoming aware of using multiple comprehension strategies, despite individual differences.

Several studies have shown the effect of information activism and microinterventions, such as I Am Here International, the Elves and #NAFO to combat information disorder and hate online. Nevertheless, microinterventions have yet to be conceptualised in promoting media and information literacy (MIL) and informational resilience. This study positions microinterventions as information activism tools and empirically tests microinterventions in the context of higher education. Using an action research approach at a university MIL training course, we aim to understand what types of information activism are used and how the collective interventions affected the participants' MIL-s. We construct a typology of information activism roles and corresponding study tasks: the Worker Bees (focused on microprotections), the Meerkats (microaffirmations) and Lions (microchallenges). These different types surfaced in each participant over a cycle of exhaustion, disappointment, group support, feedback and encouragement that we dubbed the phoenixing cycle.

The study of variables related to the use of ICT in the classroom is a topic of interest that has been frequently researched. In this paper, after examining the importance of teacher training in explaining the use of ICT in the classroom, we focused on analysing the weight of variables related to teaching practices and the organisational context of schools, which are variables that are less frequently addressed in the literature. To do so, a secondary analysis was carried out using data provided by the Teaching and Learning International Study (TALIS 2018). Specifically, we worked with a sample of 3,918 principals and 64,899 teachers from a total of 3921 schools in 21 countries. A multilevel binary regression model with random intercept, fixed coefficients and a two-level structure with teachers at level 1 and schools at level 2 was used. The results indicate that the presence of ICT in the classroom is associated with self-efficacy in teaching and the cognitive activation of students and with the organisational aspects of the school, which are scarcely addressed by the existing literature on this topic of interest, such as school climate, educational innovation and cooperation among teachers. Based on these results, we reflect on possible ways to promote the use of ICT in the classroom.

School leaders have an important role in supporting implementation of inclusive education practices in schools. Therefore, it is necessary to understand how school leaders' attitudes towards inclusive education are formed. We used the Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale that was developed to measure different facets of attitudes towards inclusive education "for all" students. The instrument was completed by 301 school leaders in Estonia. Three factors describing attitudes in facets of inclusive education practices, vision, and supports were distinguished. Structural Equation Modelling revealed that school leaders' practices towards implementing inclusive education approaches are driven more strongly by their vision than the support available to them, although both aspects have a significant effect on their attitudes towards these practices. However, participation in in-service courses focusing on inclusive education and working as a school leader in a special school had negative association with school leaders' attitudes towards inclusive education practices.

This study considered the influences of socioeconomic status (SES), home learning environment, and age of enrollment in early childhood education and care (ECEC) on early literacy and numeracy development of 5-year-olds in England (N = 2,577), Estonia (N = 2,110), and the United States (N = 2,234) by leveraging data from the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2018). Structural equation modeling indicated that, in all three countries, SES was positively associated with earlier ECEC enrollment, emergent literacy and numeracy. Earlier ECEC enrollment was positively related to emergent literacy and numeracy in England. The home learning environment was positively related to emergent literacy in the United States and emergent numeracy in England and the United States. Overall, SES had a positive indirect effect on emergent literacy and numeracy through ECEC enrollment age in England. Findings are interpreted against country-specific ECEC policies.

Teachers in Estonia are working in a tense environment of conflicting expectations which, on the one hand, involves a neoliberal approach to standards and, on the other, the humanistic values of education and well-being of students. The purpose of the study was to identify the factors of school climate which ensure both the job satisfaction of teachers and the satisfaction of students, and to analyse the impact of these factors on the teacher-student relationship. The findings are based on the results of interviews with teachers (n=40) and students (n=39) and the results of student questionnaires (n=139) conducted in four schools. The teachers and students who were satisfied with the school and their job perceived the teacher-student relationship through the following aspects: the potential of students, openness to knowledge, the recognition of personal qualities, equal treatment and taking students into account. Despite the external turbulence in the Estonian school system, all schools still have the autonomy to transform their school into an oasis where all parties feel satisfied.