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This article explores the nature, strengths and limitations of Roman, Christian, Kantian and utilitarian ethics and their legacy in some modern theories of educative leadership that are educative in intent and outcome. It is shown that Roman, Christian, Kantian, and utilitarian ethics have profoundly shaped transformational, instructional, distributed, and ethical leadership theories. Roman ethics emphasize civic duty, virtue, and community service, influencing leaders to inspire collective goals and improve educational outcomes. Christian ethics highlight love, compassion, and moral integrity, guiding leaders to act as ethical exemplars and nurture followers. Kantian ethics focus on duty, universal principles, and respect for individuals, promoting ethical consistency and dignity in leadership practices. Utilitarian ethics prioritize maximizing happiness and well-being, driving leaders to achieve positive changes and balance individual needs with the greater good. It concludes that these ethical foundations (a) continue to inform contemporary educative leadership practices and (b) underpin recent scholarship that has shown how Roman, Christian, Kantian, and utilitarian ethics can shape moral school leadership and ethical decision-making, offering school leaders a nuanced approach to promote learning and social justice, fairness, and community well-being.

The relation between English language teaching and religion has not been given sufficient attention. Most of the existing explorations of this relationship have tended to reify Western-biased outlooks of this phenomenon, which rightly highlight serious moral dilemmas derived from a focus on Christian evangelization, neo-imperialist dynamics attached to the spread of English, and valid questions about the quality of teaching while proselytizing (e.g. Edge, 2003; Pennycook & Coutand-Marin, 2003). This body of work, however, fails to consider other possible and multiple ways in which religious values come to bear in ELT considering, for instance, non-Western, less globalized, and less diverse contexts such as rural locales in a South American country. This paper presents an alternative outlook, drawing on a narrative study of the current state of ELT in rural Colombia. The analysis uncovers religion-informed metaphors that illuminate how the spiritual values of eight teachers intersect with their professional identities. It suggests that spirituality plays a central role in helping teachers navigate the complex sociocultural conditions of teaching English in rural areas, influencing their roles beyond language instruction.

This study investigates the integration of global citizenship education (GCED) within the Christian worldview, focusing on youth education in the post-pandemic era. It underscores the necessity of GCED in addressing pandemic-exacerbated challenges and aligns its objectives with Christian values through scriptural exploration. Core competencies like empathy, ethical reasoning, and global awareness are examined from a Christian perspective, alongside practical applications in educational settings the post-pandemic. The study concludes with reflections on the potential impact and challenges of incorporating Christian perspectives into GCED, advocating for inclusive and diverse educational approaches in a post-pandemic world.

The present research shows the absurdity of education, especially education management, in the posthumanist schema. Posthumanists seem to want to form their own group, but researchers see that posthumanism is not new, especially in the world of education. Philosopher Mortimer J. Adler, in the framework of perennialism, shows the structure of education, especially in America, which, according to researchers, is relevant in Indonesia. Research findings are based on qualitative research with data retrieval methods from literature studies. Results showed that Mortimer J. Adler's philosophical thinking emphasizes the expansion of education management in both depth and fragility by and through learners, parents, teachers and related parties in the mecca of an independent curriculum.

Knowing the factors affecting fear of large carnivores is important for wildlife management and conservation. In this regard, the effect of worldviews of human-wildlife and human-nature relationships on the fear of large carnivores needs to be investigated in different cultures. In this study, the influence of wildlife value orientations (WVOs), connectedness with nature, religiosity, fear of dogs, and gender on the fear of wolves and wild boars were examined. Quantitative research was conducted via a questionnaire on a convenience sample of 656 university students from state universities in various regions of Turkey. Domination orientation did not influence the fear of either animal. Mutualism negatively influenced the fear of wolves but did not significantly influence the fear of wild boar. Connectedness to nature is related negatively to the fear of both animals. More religious students feared wild boars more. Female students had a greater fear of both animals than male students. In addition, students with a fear of dogs had a greater fear of both animals. The relationship between worldviews and fear of large carnivores can vary across different species and needs to be investigated in different cultures

There are rising cases of disrespect in Kenyan society amid efforts by Christian Religious Education (CRE) in secondary schools to make the learner appreciate and respect their own, and other people's cultural beliefs and practices. The morals of the secondary school graduates enrolled in colleges and society do not reflect the acquisition of values learnt through CRE. Despite the exposure of students to the Christian Religious Education curriculum, cases of disrespect, for instance, drug abuse, abortion, arson in schools, hate speech, religious and ethnic hatred continue being witnessed everywhere. The purpose for this study was to examine the Christian Religious Education teachers' perception on the use of valuing methods for learner value acquisition in National Secondary Schools in Kenya. The objective of the study was to establish the Christian Religious Education teachers' perception on the use of valuing methods for learner value acquisition and to find out the challenges they face in the process. The study was based on the Theory of Development of values. The study adopted mixed methods under the convergent parallel design. The target population of the study was 95 national secondary schools in Kenya with a total of 224 CRE teachers. However, 30% of schools and teachers were sampled. The study sample size was 67 CRE teachers. The study employed stratified and simple random sampling to select the schools for study and purposive sampling technique to select CRE teachers to participate in the study. Data was collected through the questionnaire, document analysis, and interview and observation schedules. The validity and reliability of data collection instruments was done through use of experts and piloting respectively. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics presented in frequencies and percentages while the qualitative data was analyzed in thematic coding. The study revealed that CRE teachers are conscious of certain values that the CRE content is to facilitate to learners and are aware that particular content may not only transmit a single value depending on how it is facilitated they are however not keen on being specific on relating particular content to particular values. The main reasons perceived by the teachers to this non-use was noted as overcrowded curriculum, insufficient in-service training and the seeming neglect of the affective domain in teaching and examinations. Much as majority of the teachers do not use valuing methods, they however perceive them as having positive characteristics that can enrich content acquisition by learners. Study recommends that the syllabus be explicit in mentioning particular values in relation to particular teaching content. On this note the study recommends that KICD should work very closely with CRE subject specialists to ensure that the affective domain in the teaching of CRE is given adequate guidance.

Religion has been associated with human values and competencies needed to shape young people into responsible citizens able to make a positive difference in the lives of others. However, this correlation remains dependent on the context. As the correlation has not yet been investigated in Mauritius, which is a multicultural and multi-ethnic country, this study aims to bridge this knowledge gap using a purely positivist epistemological approach. It will analyze the Mauritius-specific data derived from a public data set which was part of the "Mapping the Terrain" project to examine the correlation between religion and a broad set of human values and competencies, namely forgiveness, individualistic orientation, collectivistic orientation, self-efficacy, problem-solving, meaning-making, sense of belongingness, religiosity/spirituality, hope, life satisfaction, gratitude, emotion, regulation, empathy, and self-regulation. The descriptive analysis and the Structural Equation Model (SEM), developed using the SPSS and AMOS software, revealed that (i) independent of ethnic group, educational stakeholders in Mauritius have a high affinity to most of the human values and competences, and (ii) as compared with others, the Muslim community has a slightly lower affinity to forgiveness, life satisfaction, individualistic orientation, self-efficacy, and problem solving. These data, which represent important baseline information needed to inform policymakers and other educational stakeholders, were used to derive a set of recommendations that will further the development of the key human values and competencies needed to promote harmony in a multicultural and multi-ethnic country.

Indonesia as a multicultural country has a very complex diversity. More differences create greater potential for disunity as well as conflicts between ethnic and cultural groups. Inculcating values of tolerance towards students in Indonesia is a must, because Indonesia does not only consist of one understanding, religion, ethnicity and culture. Therefore, a uniter for Indonesians in order to make the nation live in harmony is needed. One of the concerns is regarding to the religious tolerance in Indonesia. This qualitative research was conducted in Cilacap at Immaculata Foundation, by using observation, interview, and documentation techniques. The data analysis used was interactive analysis, including data reduction, data display, and data conclusion. The findings of this study describe that the values of religious tolerance are applied through routine activities, such as respect, mutual help, cooperation, equality, freedom, justice, and responsibility which are internalized through exemplary, habituation, and the giving of advice to keep the harmony among religions.

Nigeria's triple music heritage of traditional, Islamic and Western music should have informed her formal music education curriculum. Instead, western music was used by the early Christian missionaries that it became difficult to integrate indigenous music traditions into the curriculum that music could not gain traction as a school subject across the country. In an effort to correct the defect a bi-musical curriculum of western and African traditional music was designed by the Nsukka Music School (NMS). Although the change was epistemologically right, the bi-musical curriculum confronted numerous challenges during implementation. This paper identifies the challenges and discusses how they were addressed. Data were obtained through interviews of key informants and a review of relevant literature. The challenge of stereotyping music and musicians was solved by students proving their mettle among their peers. Non-acceptance of music within the academia and society, was not addressed throughout the period. Difficulty of finding music lecturers was ameliorated by employing expatriates and some Nigerians but the latter undertook graduate studies abroad. Lack of scholars and traditional practitioners in the theoretical and practical aspects of African music knowledge was solved through awarding research grants for traditional African music, and hiring traditional musicians to teach indigenous instruments. Challenges arising from low student registration were ameliorated by creating alternative entry requirements for music while encouraging non-music majors to register for music ensemble courses. The challenge of poor musical background of the foundation music majors was tackled by passing them through an accelerated program and creating an enabling environment for teaching and learning. The solutions to the challenges enabled NMS to graduate students that were musically competent and socially relevant.

The article acknowledges the limits of the categories of similarity and difference in undergraduate comparative religion courses. To challenge these limitations, including the potential for dualistic or "us/them" thinking, several pedagogical attempts to increase relationality in Christian-Muslim courses are explored. Relational methods include emphasizing living and public interreligious conversations during class segments on scriptural figures as well as humanizing perpetrators of religiously motivated violence.

In this study, I explore the discourse surrounding parental rights in U.S. public schools, with Virginia as a focal point. Analyzing two sets of model policies regarding the treatment of transgender students--one established under a Democratic governor and another implemented following the election of a Republican candidate championing parental rights--this research employs qualitative content analysis to gain insight into the contemporary parental rights movement in educational settings. Five key themes emerged: 1. Reliance on expert opinions; 2. Variation in depth and breadth of information within policies; 3. Transgender student inclusion in policies; 4. Student and parent focus imbalance; and 5. Adherence to legal intent. The findings indicate a shift in emphasis from addressing gender identity concerns to prioritizing parental rights, with ramifications for the broader political landscape. This research enriches the ongoing dialogue on the role of parents in education and the consequences of the conservative parental rights movement for educational policy.

This research aims to know and understand the position of the family altar in local Papuan culture in maintaining the holiness of today's increasingly modern families and realizing the mission of Christ. The research method used is Qualitative with an Ethnographic approach. The primary data sources in this study consist of individuals familiar with and engaging in Family Altar rituals. Meanwhile, secondary data sources encompass existing scientific literature. The researcher selected participants and respondents non-randomly, specifically opting for purposeful sampling. This approach involved the deliberate selection of participants and respondents, including ten families represented by functional church workers such as pastors, elders, and shamas, as well as five young individuals categorized as youths. Finally, the research results contribute to constructing this ritual tradition's values into the congregation's families who struggle with multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious challenges and still survive and mission elegantly.

This study aims to assess the critical thinking skills of adolescent students at junior high schools in Rantepao, particularly in the context of Christian education. This study used quantitative design research and a proportionate stratified random sampling method to select the sample. There are 66 students became the sample of this study. Data were collected through a questionnaire that assessed the student's critical thinking skills based on the critical thinking indicators. The collected data was then analyzed using descriptive statistics calculation related to the variables of critical thinking skills. This study found that adolescent students at Junior High School in Rantepao have only a fair level of critical thinking skills in the context of Christian Education. This study highlights the need to improve students' critical thinking skills in Christian Education. Teachers should foster students' growth by focusing on their learning process and offering appropriate activities.

A cross-cultural historical examination of Santa Claus reflects that women have contributed substantially to the legend of Santa Claus, but their contributions are downplayed, demeaned, or reframed to fit a sexist view of women's roles. Santa Claus type figures have emerged around the world as part of celebrations of the winter solstice, but strategically removed from their original cultural context to be portrayed to be part of a Christian holiday, when in fact they are not. In most reviews of the winter holidays around the world, there is almost no mention of the vital role that women play in their creation and sustainability. In a diversified world, it is time to change the narrative of this altruistic figure so that he can become more inclusive for all.

Teacher quality is one of the most important factors influencing a student's educational outcomes, yet scant research has examined teacher hiring and quality in Protestant Christian schools. In this qualitative work, we thematically analyze interviews about Christian schools' teacher hiring practices with a group of 12 leaders from 10 member schools in the Association of Christian Schools International. We find that these 10 schools generally follow a standard hiring process. The qualifications they seek in teachers could be arranged into a pyramid, where the base -- the most fundamental quality -- is demonstration of authentic belief in Protestant Christian doctrines. After faith, school leaders desired teachers to demonstrate Christian virtue and to be a good "fit" for their school culture; at the tip of the pyramid is the category of professional and pedagogical skills. While there was some heterogeneity in the top three tiers among school leaders, all agreed on the importance of Christian school teachers having "a heart for Christ and a heart for kids."

This ethnographic case study utilizes intersectionality and sense of belonging to understand students' experiences in a Latino Bible study and how it contributes to their overall college experience. The findings suggest that the Bible study offers a unique space for students to explore faith, ethnic identity, and politics in a culturally appropriate format that helps them feel like family. This study helps demonstrate the value and role of student groups in students' college experience.

Service-learning, especially from a critical perspective, is a method of education that aims to bring students into relationships with community members to foster mutual understanding and give opportunity for shared learning and service. Universities that are compelled by their faith to seek justice may be the most effective at implementing service-learning programs when they are grounded in the justice and love of God. Herein, I report on a service-learning program that aims to advance the Christian mission by serving the least of these. I discuss lessons learned along the way and give examples from our partners.

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.

Educators throughout the world are deeply concerned about what ChatGPT means for education. I argue that Christian educators must avoid extreme reactions and fulfill three key roles to remain focused on students' holistic formation: (1) casting a moral vision of truthfulness; (2) evaluating curricula, syllabi, and formal assessments while also creating a secure and explorative learning environment to learn about ChatGPT; and (3) exercising their authority through accountability measures and by paradoxically surrendering that same authority to foster dialogue. These three roles reflect the threefold office of Christ as a prophet, priest, and king and are explored using this Reformed motif.

A well-informed perception of leaders is critical in how members of worship congregations experience spiritual formation. This study focuses on six selected worship congregations of Kenya's Christ Is The Answer Ministries (CITAM). The Straussian grounded-theory design was employed to analyze interviews and focus group discussions. The findings indicated that inclusive spiritual formation for children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in worship congregations is nonexistent due to leaders' perceptions regarding NDDs. The study recommends training worship congregational leaders to address the spiritual formation needs of children with NDDs.

Relating faith and learning is central to Christian education, but few large studies have examined how grade-school teachers understand this task. Witwer previously reported Likert-type data from 1059 teachers in Christian elementary and secondary schools. The present paper reports findings from 2356 open responses by 655 of those teachers. Teachers' responses associated faith with attitudes about teaching, presenting a Christian perspective on content, and using standard pedagogical practices more often than they reported using distinctive pedagogical practices or limitations in faith's influence on their teaching. These and other findings add to our understanding of how grade-school teachers perceive teaching Christianly.

There is a longstanding discussion in child theology around the role of cognition for faith formation. This article explores research in the area of disability theology in order to examine potential benefits for Christian ministry to the child. It suggests three areas which may be profitable: the importance of increasing information to accompany development; the importance of the role of the teacher as embodiment and model of discipleship; and the requirement to give better account for ritualised processes within evangelical children's ministry.

This introductory chapter provides a framing of non-Christian students in higher education. It begins by providing data on the current contexts on the religious identities of college students. Additionally, the chapter examines the concept of Christian privilege and how religious discrimination is institutionalized in the organizational structures of higher education. Primarily, this chapter is a historical overview of the marginalization of non-Christian students on colleges and universities. From the time the colleges and universities were founded, Christianity has been embedded in the function and mission of higher education. This has led to the continual marginalization of non-Christian students throughout history. The chapter concludes with an overview of the volume.

This article examines how Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' remarks contribute to anti-intellectualism and fuel the pushback against critical race theory (CRT) championed by like-minded conservative Republicans who view its instruction as an affront to society and authentic historical narratives. Dismissing educators and scholars who uphold the teaching of CRT as unpatriotic and denigrating to American society, DeSantis, who has presidential aspirations, has effectively used the issue (along with a number of other matters) to solidify his conservative base fearful of social and hegemonic change. Although CRT is not taught in Florida public schools, similar to other conservative-dominated states which have seized on the teaching of CRT as anathema to their civic principles, DeSantis' thinly veiled attempt to appease right-wing voters is yet another example of Republicans stoking cultural wars designed to energize conservative constituents against what many of them perceive as liberal attacks on their beliefs and values.

The basis for the inclusion of Christian Religious Studies (CRS) into the primary school curriculum in Nigeria was particular to the learning of morals and the development of societally acceptable values and attitudes. Presently, Nigeria is experiencing a high level of social vices, immoralities and an unprecedented amount of anti-social behaviours among youths. Of course, the considerable amount of problems generated by the increasing immoralities among primary school pupils of Lagos State was attributed to effectiveness in the teaching methodologies used for teaching and learning of CRS. Contemporarily, the use of computer-based technologies and digital tools for classroom teaching and learning proved to be effective because it engages primary school pupils. This study focused on the use of digital storytelling in the teaching and learning of CRS in Lagos State primary schools. The research was carried out to study the attitudes of primary school pupils toward CRS after the use of the "Teacher-Led Digital Storytelling Strategy" (TLDSS). Data obtained from the intervention revealed that primary school pupils exposed to TLDSS had the highest adjusted post-value acquisition mean score in CRS of 53.86. Again, there were observations from the study that primary school pupils exposed to TLDSS were significantly different from those exposed to conventional strategies (CS) in the teaching and learning of CRS in terms of value acquisition. The findings showed the effectiveness of the use of TLDSS for primary school pupils of Lagos State because TLDSS enhances primary school pupils' acquisition of values, achievement and development of positive attitude to CRS.

Research shows that teacher quality is the most important school-related input correlated with student success. In religious private schools, teachers do not merely influence academic outcomes; they may also play a role in spiritual formation. Religious school administrators report that their faith informs their hiring decisions. However, little research has examined the ways that religious school administrators choose individuals to place in teaching positions. In this study, we use conjoint analysis to experimentally examine the hiring preferences of 170 Christian school administrators. We find that having modest (compared to below-average) academic achievement and qualifications or extensive (compared to limited) experience each increases a teacher candidate's likelihood of being hired by 26 percentage points. Having strong (compared to modest) academics, being a graduate of a Christian (compared to secular) postsecondary institution, or being a graduate of the administrator's K-12 school (compared to a different school) produces smaller effects.

Hindu sacred scriptures are a rich interweave of cosmological revelation that is embedded in melopoeia (melodic poetry) and sung in designated meters during rituals, liturgical services, festivals, and personal prayers. Revelation is conveyed through enigmatic dialogues, debates, parables, anecdotes, legends, and narratives. These occur between mendicants and saints, kings and mystics, and sometimes fables that include the natural world. These narrative accounts appeal to the young and the old and influence the body-mind-sense complex. A growing body of evidence attests to the positive effects of music and storytelling in the classroom setting. Drawing from these data and Hindu understandings of sacred mantric sound and storytelling, I discuss my experiments with musical frameworks and storytelling in my classes at the Graduate Theological Union, the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, and Starr King School for the Ministry in California. I contend that the incorporation of parables, tales, legends, and narratives within a musical melodic framework, as is used in Hindu texts, is an effective means of imparting Hindu-Christian theological education.

Learning style theories suggest that individual learners may have different ways of learning and will probably learn better with their preferred learning methods. Educators in almost all fields are increasingly aware of the importance of adopting learning style approaches, which requires instructors to understand the diverse learning styles of students and adapt their teaching strategies to accommodate various learning styles. Given the existence of diverse learning styles, it is impossible to have any single correct way to learn or to teach. However, instructors can provide students with a beneficial and rewarding learning experience by accommodating various learning styles. As the research in the field of learning styles testifies, students will benefit from learning style approaches that are properly adopted. In various areas of Christian education, Christian instructors are also able to make use of learning style approaches to facilitate the learning process of their students.

This mixed methods study investigated teacher perceptions of the relationship between school leader visibility and teacher trust in that leader in two private Christian elementary and secondary schools of less than 1,000 students in California. A review of current available literature on this topic revealed three key themes: the positive effect a trusted leader has on an organization and school, the positive effect leader visibility has on building trust in leader-follower relationships, and the need for frequency and quality of leader visibility to build trust. In this study, three key themes emerged from an original survey and one-on-one, in-depth teacher interviews, which supported prior study findings and provided further insight. The three themes identified in this study include a strong relationship between leader visibility and teacher trust in that leader, teachers' desire for frequent visibility of their school leader, and teachers' emphasis on the critical role of high-quality visibility in increasing trust in their leader. Christian school leaders should maintain frequent, high-quality visibility in both unscheduled, informal and scheduled, formal interactions to cultivate trust and build relationships with teachers that furthers the success of their educational institution and its stakeholders.

Teacher identity is complex, dynamic, ongoing, and worthy of examination. This study examined the perceptions of preservice teachers' personal identity (e.g., gender, race, religious background, etc.) and how they influence preservice teachers' professional identity as a subject, pedagogical, and professional expert. Participants (N = 81) were preservice teachers from two different Christian-based institutions, one in Canada and one in the United States, who were completing the requirements for initial licensure. Findings from a survey measured the preservice teachers' perceptions based on two scales examining personal and professional identity. Results suggested that preservice teachers did not perceive race as impacting their personal identity as a teacher, nor did they perceive religion as an influence on their professional identity, even though they had chosen Christian institutions. However, preservice teachers did perceive teacher preparation as impacting their understanding of professionalism as they transitioned from learner to teacher in the field.

Institutions of higher education (IHEs) are charged with instilling institutional identity among all employees and this is particularly true for smaller Christian IHEs committed to the Great Commission. Following a case study of a recently dissolved institution, this article suggests that it may be worth the investment to effectively generate institutional identity among adjunct faculty even if doing so requires additional funding or capital. In this paper the authors draw on the tenets of organizational socialization theory coupled with a prescribed curriculum as a conceptual framework designed to generate institutional identity among adjunct faculty. The authors highlight a multi-phased model for implementing a sophisticated curriculum formulated to effectively cultivate institutional identity and discuss the benefits that are associated with enhanced onboarding efforts. It is suggested that Christian IHEs consider benefitting from the recommended approach.

Mindfulness is an important metric of human functioning that has been a topic of cultural and academic attention over the past 30 years (Spijkerman et al., 2016) and can help to elevate one's awareness and internal psychological experience (Wielgosz et al., 2019). To date, there remains an absence of literature examining perceptions of mindfulness and mindful practices among college students, particularly among Christian students. The purpose of this mixed-methods, exploratory study was to better understand students' perception of mindfulness and assess current mindful practices. The participants (N = 107) were freshmen undergraduate college students enrolled in introductory psychology courses at a private, non-profit Christian university. Students completed a 9-question researcher-developed Mindfulness Awareness, Perception, and Practices questionnaire to assess perceptions and practices. Results of the thematic analysis revealed that approximately half of the students had a limited understanding of mindfulness, with several reporting disadvantages. Most students listed prayer as a consistent practice, with a much lesser percentage of students consistently engaging in other mindful activities. Implications for mindfulness education and the promotion of evidence-based methods, particularly among Christian communities, are discussed.

This study investigated the convergence of content and language integrated learning, translanguaging, and global citizenship education in an EFL tertiary English class. Conceptualized within translanguaging as an assemblage for meaning-making, machine translation was incorporated into the course in a way that EFL bilinguals could fully avail themselves of their linguistic repertoire for the learning of global citizenship and language. The analyses of thirty-three students' response essays and survey results demonstrate the success of MT as both a scaffold for bridging language-content gaps and a tool for language acquisition. Design features, perceived as important, were a careful introduction and training on MT use and teacher feedback on MT-assisted writing. Survey results emphasize the crucial role of the students' L1 in meaning-making. The study offers a practical guide for educators interested in using MT in L2 writing instruction and encourages further research on the theoretical and pedagogical applications of translanguaging in diverse EFL contexts.

A qualitatively oriented mixed methods case study was conducted to investigate the effects of incorporating LEGO robotics into a 7th-grade mathematics curriculum. Using the lenses of Social Constructivist Theory and the Five Stages of Technology Integration, this research focused on the development of proportional reasoning skills. The data show students experienced success in developing their proportional reasoning skills as they completed tasks using the robotics. The quantitative data shows evidence of growth in understanding and development of proportional reasoning. The qualitative analysis provides evidence that students developed their understanding through collaborative discussions as they worked through the different technology stages. Overall, students enjoyed the opportunity to learn with the robotics because it was hands-on and applicable to their lives.

Education is a fundamental human right crucial for individual growth and societal progress. In Somalia, modern education started during the colonial era with a focus on producing clerical workers for the colonial administration. Western Christian missionaries arrived to establish "modern schools," but suspicions of Westernization and proselytization led to their expulsion. This case study delves into the history of Somali education, highlighting persistent conflicts over objectives, management, and outcomes. Disagreements persist over language of instruction, curriculum unification, resource sharing, and mandates, hindering effective education implementation. The study adopts a qualitative case study approach, collecting data through interviews to shed light on the complex issues plaguing Somalia's education system. It emphasizes that the system remains rudimentary and reliant on external support due to insufficient local investment and ownership. Notably, the research reveals that parents and guardians invest more in their children's education than the government, challenging the belief that donor organizations heavily fund education in Somalia. The study proposes key recommendations. First, it calls for prioritizing education to meet the needs of all school-age children, including the millions out of school. Second, it suggests increasing the education budget to 20% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), aligning with neighboring countries' norms. Third, it advocates for clarifying constitutional mandates, roles, responsibilities, and resource sharing at all government levels. In summary, education's pivotal role in human development and societal advancement is underscored in Somalia's context. The study's findings illuminate the historical struggles and current challenges facing the education system, emphasizing the need for increased investment, clear mandates, and resource allocation to ensure quality education for all Somali children and youth.

In this article we report on an investigation into developing people and serving the community at faith-based schools through a servant leadership theory lens. Relevant literature was reviewed, and data were collected from school leaders by means of individual semi-structured interviews. Twelve participants were purposively selected from schools classified as top-performing schools in Gauteng, a province in South Africa. The interviews with these participants were audiotaped and transcribed, and the data analysed by using a process of abductive data analysis. The following measures were employed to review the servant leadership practices of faith-based leaders: being a serving leader, fostering people growth, and enhancing community relationships. Overall, principals were found to be effective leaders involved in a hands-on manner in both task-orientated and person-orientated activities. The servant leadership conception whereby "other" interests are regarded as more important than own interests serves as the basis for people development and there is a clear awareness that the enhancement of community relationships is a key facet in the communication that takes place between school principals and community members. The participants also showed concern for school-led development activities. It was evident that participating school staff were personally involved in facilitating learning activities such as collaborative workgroups and workshops and in creating a supporting structure for staff development. Apart from recommending that principals' leadership behaviour in the abovementioned areas is consolidated, we strongly support their involvement in related matters such as coping with contextual realities and enhancing community relationships. The improvement of community relationships is eventually a challenging task to be exercised by principals within the social, political and demographic contexts of faith-based schools.

This paper explores the current challenges of Catholic popular education in Latin America, with a focus on Ecuador. It identifies the current economic and political context -- threats to democracy and economic crises -- that affects the social fabric as well as challenging educational outcomes exacerbated by the pandemic. It focuses on Fe y Alegría, a Jesuit-affiliated network, to explore these issues as well as the transmission of faith, spirituality, and Christian leadership. It then presents a case study of contextualised Ignatian popular education in Ecuadorian indigenous communities. The challenges entailed in fostering individual integral development and community transformation through agency, citizenship and participation are discussed, as well as the difficulties of transmitting faith as underpinning for justice, with implications beyond Ecuador.

Health care in the 21st century has emphasised science and technology-centred practice, which might lead to dehumanisation such that healthcare professionals come to treat patients less like persons and more like objects. A programme of humanities for healthcare professionals has been suggested as a solution to overcome the problem of dehumanisation. The OMNIBUS programme was developed in humanities curriculum for a Catholic nursing programme to foster students to have attributes of a 'Good Samaritan', a model for compassionate professional. This paper describes the effect of a four-year nursing programme with a humanities curriculum on students' compassionate attributes including bioethics awareness, cultural competency, empathy, and spirituality. It was a secondary data analysis using time-series data collected from nursing students. The levels of bioethics awareness and spirituality among the nursing students have improved. They maintained cultural competencies and empathy skills over time. Developing a humanities curriculum can be used as a strategy to teach Christian values to professional students without emphasising religious aspects.

This study proposes "grounding" as a theoretical approach to studying linguistic landscape (LL). Grounding is the positioning or sequencing of languages in a multilingual 'text' to reveal the languages' relevance or a community's association with the languages. The study explores language grounding in church names which constitute part of the Ghanaian LL, in general, and namescape in particular. The multilingual church names in a self-compiled Church Names Corpus - Ghana (CNCorpus Ghana) were, therefore, collected for the study. The study generally adopted the corpus-driven approach where the data were analysed with no predetermined theoretical or conceptual framework. The study found that the languages in the church names are grounded as meaning-making semiotic resources. The study further discovered three language inputs in multilingual church names, culminating in foregrounded, midgrounded and backgrounded languages. Further, the study found that global, glocal, and local languages are multi-grounded to make the languages more visible and prominent. It is argued that the grounding of languages is informed by the nexus between language and identity. The language grounding model is a modest contribution to linguistic landscape (LL), multilingualism and onomastic theorisations.

Few would argue against health education's (HE) role in optimising student wellbeing. HE can refer to health-directed curricula or non-curriculum wellbeing programs and practices, including spiritual health. This scoping review aimed to explore HE in Christian faith-based primary schools (CFBPS), which typically encourage holistic learning. Seventeen articles were examined to identify (a) How HE is "positioned" to support student health and wellbeing and (b) What "praxes" are included in HE to assist student wellbeing in Christian faith-based primary schools? Findings highlighted the research gaps, the dearth of literature and collated the article proposals to promote HE and wellbeing in CFBPS. These proposals, or 'Five As of HE in CFBPS', include 'adopting' whole school approaches to prioritise HE and wellbeing practices, 'asking' participants' perspectives when planning programs, 'applying' the researched tools, 'assisting' with professional development or training and 'associating' HE and faith connections more overtly for student understanding.

Digital badging has seen widespread adoption within the US higher education sector with continued growth predicted. Might digital badging present an underrealized opportunity for libraries seeking new vehicles through which to deliver information literacy instructional content? This paper offers an analysis of badging in higher education and considers the strengths and weaknesses of digital badging for asynchronous information literacy instruction by employing Dr. Everett Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations theoretical lens. Current evidence is presented and a case study is provided, detailing Samford University Library's development of an information literacy digital badging pathway incorporating the ACRL Framework and the institution's Christian mission.

Women missionaries who came to India with a superior Protestant religious imaginary were keen on critiquing Hindu cultural practices that created divergences and transfigurations. They blatantly proclaimed that the deep-rooted custom of women's "seclusion" was a stumbling block to education, evangelisation and modernisation. This study demonstrates how missionary construction of "secluded" women's femininity through civilisational, religious and pedagogical pretentions created conflicting emotions among a section of the orthodox Hindu and converted Christian women who defied the controversial missionary narratives that depicted women's seclusion in a rather poor light. Nonetheless, the continued missionary encounters through education impelled a section of the secluded Hindu women to be critical of what is conveniently referred to by missionaries as orthodox femininity. This article takes a close look at and critiques how missionaries negotiated with both the conflicting emotions and orthodox femininity by constructing an alternative narrative -- Christian femininity that sought to confront gender stereotypes in a more nuanced manner. It argues that the changing femininity in colonial India needs to be understood largely through missionary education, character-building zenana pedagogy and normative construction of femininity.

Despite the region's strong historic connection to Christianity, little research exists on Christian universities in the Caribbean. To complicate matters, the Caribbean is also little studied in higher education literature generally. Thus, this study examines how Christian universities in this region operationalize their faith identities in their administrative decisions. Examining 15 institutions, this article presents the national higher education trends for the five Caribbean countries or territories with Christian universities: the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Following an overview of Christian influences and the state of higher education in the Caribbean in general, Christian higher education is examined within each country specifically. Regional trends point to the prominence of Seventh-day Adventist universities, even on traditionally Catholic-dominant islands. Furthermore, using the Operationalizing Christian Identity Guide, Seventh-day Adventist institutions operationalize their faith identity the most visibly in comparison with Catholic and other Protestant institutions. Finally, as a general trend, these universities appear to merge a model of private higher education designed to meet excess demand with their Christian identities, distinguishing them from their secular peers.

Enrollments in religious higher education institutions have increased in recent years. Leaders of these institutions often cite students' desire to attend a college or university supportive of their faith as a reason for enrolling. However, limited research has been done on whether religious colleges and universities are more supportive of faith than secular institutions. We analyze a sample of private Christian school alumni and compare perceived faith support of students who attended a religious higher education institution with similar students who attended a secular institution. We find students of religious higher education institutions reported significantly higher levels of feeling supported (roughly 1.2 standard deviations) or strengthened in their faith (roughly 0.4 standard deviations) and significantly lower levels of feeling attacked for their faith (roughly 0.8 standard deviations). Differences are particularly pronounced for students who report having been a Christian for many years and for students who attend religious services weekly or more frequently.

Educators at religious preK-12 schools attempt to integrate their faith into their teaching. Yet there is limited empirical study about how faith integration self-efficacy may develop. This study examines the relationships between the faith integration self-efficacy of educators at Mennonite preK-12 schools and their past educational experiences and initial teacher education. Regression analysis of survey responses indicates that the quality of initial teacher education is associated with educators' faith integration self-efficacy. However, having attended a Mennonite preK-12 school or a Christian undergraduate institution were not predictive of faith integration self-efficacy. Discussion of results highlights implications for educators and future research.

Scripture encourages parents to pass on faith to children, and a multitude of studies show that the biggest predictor of the faith of kids is the faith of their parents. However, raising kids in faith is more complicated and nuanced than simple "parent to child" religious transmission. In this paper, animal family models are used to explore the relationship between congregations and families. By engaging instructions from scripture, research on changing household structures, and contemporary perspectives on parenting, this paper offers a new way of thinking about religious transmission within intergenerational family relationships and the uniquely central role for congregations.