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The expressive power of natural languages depends on their regular compositional structure, which allows us to express and understand an infinite set of messages. However, a complete model of language evolution should also account for irregular exceptions to regular rules, common in natural languages. Historical linguistics has established a correlation between irregularity and frequency in language use, which has been attributed to preferential irregularisation of frequent items, or preferential regularisation of infrequent items. In an iterated learning experiment where participants learn and reproduce a miniature language across multiple generations, we show that this correlation can be explained by the relationship between frequency, regularity and learnability, without needing to appeal to frequency-dependent irregularisation. We find that systems of plural marking regularise across generations of transmission, but that high-frequency items remain irregular. Our results further show that the persistence of irregularity is due to high frequency overriding pressures which normally reduce learnability, such as low generalisability of the inflectional strategy (suppletion is disfavoured except in high frequency items) and low type frequency (belonging to a small inflectional class is disfavoured except in high frequency items).

Background: There is a growing evidence base for the importance of spatial reasoning for the development of mathematics. However, the extent to which this translates into practice is unknown. Aims: We aimed to understand practitioners' perspectives on their understanding of spatial reasoning, the extent to which they recognize and implement spatial activities in their practice, and the barriers and opportunities to support spatial reasoning in the practice setting. Sample: Study 1 (questionnaire) included 94 participants and Study 2 (focus groups) consisted of nine participants. Participants were educational practitioners working with children from birth to 7 years. Methods: The study was mixed methods and included a questionnaire (Study 1) and a series of focus groups (Study 2). Results: We found that whilst practitioners engage in a variety of activities that support spatial reasoning, most practitioners reported little confidence in their understanding of what spatial reasoning is. Conclusion: Informative and accessible resources are needed to broaden understanding of the definition of spatial reasoning and to outline opportunities to support spatial reasoning.

New first-year students are vulnerable to dropping out of university because the transition into higher education (HE) is difficult to navigate. Using thematic analysis, we analysed focus groups/interview, exit interviews and qualitative survey data with university students during their first year as criminology undergraduates to explore how they transitioned into HE. Findings show that the transition to a new identity of 'university student' was hampered by feelings of awkwardness, which prevented students from fully integrating into student life. However, the subject of criminology was a protective factor because interest in the topic and wanting a degree for betterment, including for future career plans, buffered students against dropping out. We argue that subject-specific interventions may be better in supporting the retention of students and that addressing physical, social and academic awkwardness is key.

There are reports about school improvement initiatives that have been successfully implemented and evaluated within relatively brief time scales. However, many initiatives do not survive over longer terms. Our purpose in this study was to identify successful strategies for achieving long-term school improvement. We interviewed 12 leaders at four educational sites. We adopted complex adaptive systems perspectives to analyse the interview transcripts, provide rich descriptions of contexts, illustrate examples of practices, and synthesise participants' accounts to highlight key areas for attention and action. Participants described purposeful programme selection with clear goals, strategic staff leadership and continuous professional education, accountable professional networks, data sharing and feedback, time and resource management, distributed multilevel leadership, and a supportive school culture. We recommend adopting a complex adaptive systems perspective to communicate and facilitate processes of change, including planning, enacting, and evaluating school improvement as a continuous long-term process rather than as an end product of any singular initiative.

New first-year students are vulnerable to dropping out of university because the transition into higher education (HE) is difficult to navigate. Using thematic analysis, we analysed focus groups/interview, exit interviews and qualitative survey data with university students during their first year as criminology undergraduates to explore how they transitioned into HE. Findings show that the transition to a new identity of 'university student' was hampered by feelings of awkwardness, which prevented students from fully integrating into student life. However, the subject of criminology was a protective factor because interest in the topic and wanting a degree for betterment, including for future career plans, buffered students against dropping out. We argue that subject-specific interventions may be better in supporting the retention of students and that addressing physical, social and academic awkwardness is key., Author(s): Helen Williams [sup.1] , Nicola Roberts [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.7110.7, 0000000105559901, School of Social Sciences, University of Sunderland, St. Peter's Campus, , Wearside View, SR6 0AN, Sunderland, England [...]

Educators in mainland China are increasingly concerned about promoting school students' social and emotional wellbeing. However, there has been little exchange of research between China and western countries about this topic. For example, questionnaires developed in the west have not been generally available to mainland Chinese researchers. We translated three existing wellbeing questionnaires into simplified Chinese characters and administered the questionnaires to 2756 students aged 10 to 15 attending 16 schools in Beijing. Results showed that students generally reported positive wellbeing, with only small proportions of students indicating languishing mental health. Comparisons between Chinese and Australian students of similar ages indicated that the Chinese students reported slightly higher wellbeing scores. However, as students in both countries grew older, their wellbeing scores became significantly lower. This study provides foundational information to underpin future work in Beijing schools to promote students' social and emotional wellbeing.

School-improvement initiatives are implemented with admirable goals, often requiring substantial human and material resources. However, many fail to be sustainable beyond short-term funding cycles or the enthusiasm of local initiators. Typically, implementation and improvement are viewed linearly and as static end-products that fail to consider that schools are complex adaptive systems (CAS) that are continuously and recursively challenged with change. To investigate sustainable school-improvement within CAS, we used PRISMA-SR guidelines to conduct a scoping review of peer-reviewed journal articles extracted from six databases using keywords synonymous with 'complex or adaptive system', 'sustain', 'school' and 'initiative'. The search process yielded 1146 articles but only 16 of those articles met our inclusion/exclusion criteria that specified that authors present an integrated view of sustainable implementation in schools conceptualised as CAS. Within the selected 16 articles, key components for sustainability in schools described as CAS included access to adequate funding and resources, engagement and involvement of stakeholders, the ability of stakeholders to adapt to change, formation of collaborative partnerships, and the development of supportive policies and procedures. Some important issues arose, such as the tendency of the 'whole school approach' to be reduced to information dissemination activities that do not adequately deal with components of complex systems, and the increasing recognition that older implementation models that seek 'institutionalisation' fail to appreciate that sustainability is a process, not an end goal. This scoping review highlights the need to recognise the complexity and adaptivity of school systems for successful and sustained implementation of school-improvement initiatives.

Research into teachers' epistemic cognition is emerging as a key to understanding the quality of teachers' knowledge for teaching. Typically, investigations into the quality of teachers' knowledge have been situated within traditional subject areas, such as science or maths. However, developing good quality teacher knowledge about improving students' abilities to engage in self-regulated learning (SRL), across subject areas, is equally important. Studies have demonstrated gaps in teachers' knowledge and epistemic beliefs about SRL -- the foundations for teachers' epistemic cognition about SRL. This paper introduces a model of teachers' epistemic cognition about SRL, and reports a micro-analytic study with four secondary science teachers who undertook a 12-week researcher-facilitated Professional Learning Community (PLC). Thematic and numerical analysis of interviews and lesson plans indicated that the PLC facilitated teachers' reflexive examination of their knowledge and their epistemic beliefs about SRL. Improvements in SRL content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and constructivist beliefs were observed consistently for three of the four teachers. Providing opportunities, such as a facilitated PLC, to enable teachers to reflexively examine their epistemic cognition about a generic subject such as SRL, may be a necessary step in translating research about learning and instruction into classroom practices.

Schools address students' educational needs by delivering a range of traditional and innovative programs. Selecting, implementing, and sustaining a new program is a school improvement initiative. Despite investments of (often) substantial resources, many such programs have relatively short school lives. Effective educational initiatives need to survive in order to continue to deliver personal, social, and economic benefits. However, practical guidance for sustainable implementation of new initiatives in school settings is relatively lacking. Drawing from literature and interviews with 70 school leaders and teachers, we created and delivered to 10 educational sites a self-assessment site improvement tool. Principal components analysis identified 20 components, and feedback from sites indicated the practical usefulness of the tool. Adopting a systems perspective with explicit attention to interactions between goals, processes, and emerging outcomes has the potential to generate more thorough consideration of the range of components that influence sustained program implementation leading to site improvement.