Search results for: educational policies

Authors: Athanasios A. Gavrilidis, Mihai R. Nita, Larissa N. Stoia, Diana A. Onose

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Contemporary global environmental challenges must be primarily addressed at local levels. Cities are under continuous pressure as they must ensure high quality of life levels for their citizens and at the same time to adapt and address specific environmental issues. Innovative solutions using natural features or mimicking natural systems are endorsed by the scientific community as efficient approaches for both mitigating climate change effects and the decrease of environmental quality and for maintaining high standards of living for urban dwellers. The aim of this study was to assess whether Romanian cities’ authorities are considering nature-based innovation as solutions for their planning, management, and environmental issues. Data were gathered by applying 140 questionnaires to urban authorities throughout the country. The questionnaire was designed for assessinglocal policy makers’ perspective over the efficiency of nature-based innovations as a tool to address specific challenges. It also focused on extracting data about financing sources and challenges they must overcome for adopting nature-based approaches. The gather results from the municipalities participating in our study were statistically processed, and they revealed that Romanian city managers acknowledge the benefits of nature-based innovations, but investments in this sector are not on top of their priorities. More than 90% of the selected cities have agreed that in the last 10 years, their major concern was to expand the grey infrastructure (roads and public amenities) using traditional approaches. When asked how they would react if faced with different socio-economic and environmental challenges, local urban managers indicated investments nature-based solutions as a priority only in case of biodiversity loss and extreme weather, while for other 14 proposed scenarios, they would embrace the business-as-usual approach. Our study indicates that while new concepts of sustainable urban planning emerge within the scientific community, local authorities need more time to understand and implement them. Without the proper knowledge, personnel, policies, or dedicated budgets, local administrators will not embrace nature-based innovations as solutions for their challenges.

Keywords: nature based innovations, perception analysis, policy making, urban planning

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Authors: F. Rashno Seydari, M. Nikafrooz

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This paper intends to study needs analysis of hearing-impaired students’ teachers in elementary schools all over Iran. The subjects of this study were 275 teachers who were teaching hearing-impaired students in elementary schools. The participants were selected by a quota sampling method. To collect the data, questionnaires of training needs consisting of 41 knowledge items and 31 performance items were used. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS software in the form of descriptive analyses (frequency and mean) and inferential analyses (one sample t-test, paired t-test, independent t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficient). The findings of the study indicated that teachers generally have considerable needs in knowledge and performance domains. In 32 items out of the total 41 knowledge domain items and in the 27 items out of the total 31 performance domain items, the teachers had considerable needs. From the quantitative point of view, the needs of the performance domain were more than those of the knowledge domain, so they have to be considered as the first priority in training these teachers. There was no difference between the level of the needs of male and female teachers. There was a significant difference between the knowledge and performance domain needs and the teachers’ teaching experience, 0.354 and 0.322 respectively. The teachers who had been trained in working with hearing-impaired students expressed more training needs (both knowledge and performance).

Keywords: educational needs analysis, teachers of hearing impaired students, knowledge domain, function domain

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Authors: Oljana Hoxhaj

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The integration process of Albania into the European family carries many difficulties. In this context, the Albanian legislator is inclined to implement in the domestic legal framework models which have been successful in other countries. Our paper aims to present an analytical and comparative approach to the health system in Albania and France, mainly focusing on citizen’s access to these services. Different standards and cultures between states, in the context of an approximate model, will be the first challenge of our paper. Over the last few years, the Albanian government has undertaken concrete reforms in this sector, aiming to transform the vision on which the previous health system was structured. In this perspective, the state fulfills not only an obligation to its citizens, but also consolidates progressive steps toward alignment with European Union standards. The necessity to undertake a genuine reform in this area has come as an exigency of society, which has permanently identified problems within this sector, considering it ineffective, out of standards, and corrupt. The inclusion of health services on the Albanian government agenda reflects its will in the function of good governance, transparency, and broadening access to the provision of quality health services in the public and private sectors. The success of any initiative in the health system consists of giving priority to patient needs. Another objective that should be in the state's consideration is to create the premise to provide a comprehensive process on whose foundations partnership and broader co-operation with beneficiary entities are established in any decision-making that is directly related to their interests. Some other important and widespread impacts on the effective realization of citizens' access to the healthcare system coincide with the construction of appropriate infrastructure, increasing the professionalism and qualification of medical staff, and the allocation of a higher budget. France has one of the most effective healthcare models in Europe. That is why we have chosen to analyze this country, aiming to highlight the advantages of this system, as well as the commitment of the French state to drafting effective health policies. In the framework of the process of harmonization of the Albanian legislation with that of the European Union, through our work, we aim to identify the space to implement the whole of these legislative innovations in the Albanian legislation.

Keywords: effective service, harmonization level, innovation, reform

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Authors: Nel Jayson Santos

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The growing number of international students in post-secondary institutions in Canada has positively contributed to the country’s economy and educational systems while also enriching cultural diversity in the classrooms. However, international students face social and relational challenges as they try to adapt to their host nation’s culture. One specific area of cultural adaptation among international students that has yet to be studied extensively is dating experiences and romantic relationships. Although numerous studies have been done regarding the relational challenges and dating experiences of American international students, only a few studies have focused on international students based in Canada. Hence, this study examines the dating preferences, dating challenges, and dating adaptations of international students based in Vancouver, Canada. Using a social constructivist approach, a semi-structured interview was conducted among fifteen heterosexual international college students. Inductive thematic analysis was then used to analyze the gathered data and identify common themes. Findings suggest that students’ (1) preferences were influenced by racial background and parental approval of dating partners; (2) students experienced language barriers and cultural differences; (3) students adapted through constant communication and being open-minded. Finally, the analysis intends to help counselors and psychologists in various colleges to help understand the issues of international students in terms of intimate and romantic relationships.

Keywords: higher education, international students, dating experiences, cultural adaptation

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Authors: Sri E. Wati, D. Roswidyatmoko, N. Maslahatun, Gunawan, Andhika B. Taji

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Natural resource is the main sources to fulfill human needs. Its utilization must consider not only human prosperity but also sustainability. Balance of natural resources is a tool to manage natural wealth and to control land use change. This tool is needed to organize land use planning as stated on spatial plan in a certain region. Balance of natural resources can be calculated by comparing two-series of natural resource data obtained at different year. In this case, four years data period of land and forest were used (2010 and 2014). Land use data were acquired through satellite image interpretation and field checking. By means of GIS analysis, its result was then assessed with land use plan. It is intended to evaluate whether existing land use is suitable with land use plan. If it is improper, what kind of efforts and policies must be done to overcome the situation. Subosukawonosraten is rapid developed areas in Central Java Province. This region consists of seven regencies/cities which are Sukoharjo Regency, Boyolali Regency, Surakarta City, Karanganyar Regency, Wonogiri Regency, Sragen Regency, and Klaten Regency. This region is regarding to several former areas under Karasidenan Surakarta and their location is adjacent to Surakarta. Balance of forest resources show that width of forest area is not significantly changed. Some land uses within the area are slightly changed. Some rice field areas are converted into settlement (0.03%) whereas water bodies become vacant areas (0.09%). On the other hand, balance of land resources state that there are many land use changes in this region. Width area of rice field decreases 428 hectares and more than 50% of them have been transformed into settlement area and 11.21% is converted into buildings such as factories, hotels, and other infrastructures. It occurs mostly in Sragen, Sukoharjo, and Karanganyar Regency. The results illustrate that land use change in this region is mostly influenced by increasing of population number. Some agricultural lands have been converted into built-up area since demand of settlement, industrial area, and other infrastructures also increases. Unfortunately, recent utilization of more than a half of total area is not appropriate with land use plan declared in spatial planning document. It means, local government shall develop a strict regulation and law enforcement related to any violation in land use management.

Keywords: balance, forest, land, spatial plan

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Authors: Nooraisah Katmon, Hartini Jaafar, Hazianti Abdul Halim, Jessnor Elmy Mat Jizat

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Our study empirically examines the effect of student activities on Facebook and religion on academic performance. We extend prior research in this area in a number of ways. First, given the paucity of the research in this area particularly from the Asian context, we provide the evidence from developing country like Malaysia. Second, our sample drawn from Sultan Idris Education University in Malaysia, where graduates from these universities are unique since they are expected to be able to work in both education and industry environment, and presumed to play significant roles in shaping the development of future student’s intellectual at the Malaysian secondary school and Malaysian economy in general. Third, we control for religiosity aspect when examining the association between Facebook and academic performance, something that has been predominantly neglected by the prior studies. Fourth, unlike prior studies that circulating around the Christian sphere in measuring religiosity, we provide evidence from the Islamic perspective where the act of worships and practices are much more comprehensive rather than the Christian counterparts. Fifth, we examine whether Facebook activities and religiosity are complementary or substitutive each other in improving student’s academic performance. Our sample comprise of 60 undergraduates. Our result exhibit that students with high number of friends on facebook and frequent engagement on facebook activities, such as sharing links, send message, posting photo, tagging video as well as spending long hours on facebook generally are associated with lower academic performance. Our results also reported that student’s engagement in religious activities promotes better academic performance. When we examine the potential interaction effect between facebook and religiosity, our result revealed that religiosity is effective in reducing student’s interest on facebook, hence lead to better academic achievement. In other words, religious student will be less interested in joining activities on facebook and make them more perform than their counterparts. Our findings from this study should be able to assist the university management in shaping university policies and curriculum to regulate and manage student’s activities in order to enhance overall student’s quality. Moreover, the findings from this study are also of use to the policy maker such as Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commissions to regulate the policy on the student’s access and activities on facebook.

Keywords: facebook, religiosity, academic performance, effect of student activities

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Authors: Bhawna Shivan

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Indian monuments have been spoken of as for variety, extent, completeness and beauty unsurpassed perhaps unequaled in world. India’s monumental heritage is a part and parcel of India today. The underlying issue with the monumental heritage in contemporary times is that these monuments suffered many times with various degrees of threats/ pressures which hampered their beauty. In the current situation, the urbanization policies for sustainable development and tourism management pay no attention to the basic point of conservation and protection of these cultural heritages rather they focus more on profit earned from these sites. Many times rich heritage is found balancing between conflicting pressures of conservation of heritage elements with sustainability and local economic development. There is a need of a new attitude to India’s independent and democratic ideology. The paper will enquire about the historical perspective by analyzing and understanding the importance of Mughal Architecture while focusing on Humayun Tomb while assessing the value and sentiment people attach to these monuments. It will also put the focus on the future of these monuments in the era of globalization and urbanization. The role of public and private authorities for conservation and sustainable development of these monuments. As well as assessing other facilities like toilets, parking, eatery joint, Museum with Display of structural representation and display of books, and a mobile shop. The research will be helpful in assessing the importance of heritage buildings whether they are a tool of enhancing ‘Tourism Industry’ for Central and State Government or really there is still some future of these monuments. Can we still consider these heritage sites as the integral part of our society in this urbanized world? The study will also analyze the attitude of the central and state government towards a building when it declared as a ‘World Heritage Site’. The study will also examine how the Youth and other aged generations append their sentimental values towards them, say (what is their purpose of coming to a heritage site, what makes them coming here, how they view this particular monument) Apart from this, probing the factors such as rapid growth of cities and its population, increasing value of urban land and effect of globalization on urban growth pattern that are capable of producing a variety of threats and pressures on any monument for instance Humayun Tomb.

Keywords: globalization, monuments, tourism, urban heritage

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Authors: Memnun Seven, Mine Bahar, Aygül Akyüz, Hatice Erdoğan

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Background: The workplace has been deemed a suitable location for educating many women at once about cancer screening. Objective: To determine how group education about early diagnostic methods for breast and cervical cancer affects women’s behavior and readiness to receive mammography and Pap smears. Methods: This semi-interventional study was conducted at a textile factory in Istanbul, Turkey. Female workers (n = 125) were included in the study. A participant identification form and knowledge evaluation form developed for this study, along with the trans-theoretical model, were used to collect data. A 45-min interactive group education was given to the participants. Results: Upon contacting participants 3 months after group education, 15.4% (n = 11) stated that they had since received a mammogram and 9.8% (n = 7) a Pap smear. As suggested by the trans-theoretical model, group education increased participants’ readiness to receive cancer screening, along with their knowledge of breast and cervical cancer. Conclusions: Group education positively impacted women’s knowledge of cancer and their readiness to receive mammography and Pap smears. Group education can therefore potentially create awareness of cancer screening tests among women and improve their readiness to receive such tests.

Keywords: cancer screening, educational intervention, participation, women

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Authors: Mi Ok Kang

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This study examined the influences of including LGBTQ-related content in a multicultural teacher education course on the development of prospective teachers’ social justice identities. Appling a content analysis to 53 reflection texts written by participating prospective teachers in response to the relevant course content, this study deduced the stages of social justice identity development (naïve, acceptance, resistance, redefinition, and internalization) that participants reached during the course. The analysis demonstrated that the participants reached various stages in the social identity development model and none of the participants remained at the naïve stage during/after class. The majority (53%) of the participants reached the internalization stage during the coursework and became conscious about the heterosexual privileges they have had and aware of possible impacts of such privilege on their future LGBTQ students. Also the participants had begun to develop pedagogic action plans and devised applicable teaching strategies for their future students based on the new understanding of heteronormativity. We expect this study will benefit teacher educators and educational administrators who want to address LGBTQ-related issues in their multicultural education programs and/or revisit the goals, directions, and implications of their approach.

Keywords: LGBTQ, heteronormativity, social justice identity, teacher education, multicultural education, content analysis

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Authors: Stefanie Behncke

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This paper analyses the effects of different macroprudential policy measures that have recently been implemented in Switzerland. Among them is the activation and the increase of the countercyclical capital buffer (CCB) and a tightening of loan-to-value (LTV) requirements. These measures were introduced to limit systemic risks in the Swiss mortgage and real estate markets. They were meant to affect mortgage growth, mortgage risks, and banks’ capital buffers. Evaluation of their quantitative effects provides insights for Swiss policymakers when reassessing their policy. It is also informative for policymakers in other countries who plan to introduce macroprudential instruments. We estimate the effects of the different macroprudential measures with a Differences-in-Differences estimator. Banks differ with respect to the relative importance of mortgages in their portfolio, their riskiness, and their capital buffers. Thus, some of the banks were more affected than others by the CCB, while others were more affected by the LTV requirements. Our analysis is made possible by an unusually informative bank panel data set. It combines data on newly issued mortgage loans and quantitative risk indicators such as LTV and loan-to-income (LTI) ratios with supervisory information on banks’ capital and liquidity situation and balance sheets. Our results suggest that the LTV cap of 90% was most effective. The proportion of new mortgages with a high LTV ratio was significantly reduced. This result does not only apply to the 90% LTV, but also to other threshold values (e.g. 80%, 75%) suggesting that the entire upper part of the LTV distribution was affected. Other outcomes such as the LTI distribution, the growth rates of mortgages and other credits, however, were not significantly affected. Regarding the activation and the increase of the CCB, we do not find any significant effects: neither LTV/LTI risk parameters nor mortgage and other credit growth rates were significantly reduced. This result may reflect that the size of the CCB (1% of relevant residential real estate risk-weighted assets at activation, respectively 2% at the increase) was not sufficiently high enough to trigger a distinct reaction between the banks most likely to be affected by the CCB and those serving as controls. Still, it might be have been effective in increasing the resilience in the overall banking system. From a policy perspective, these results suggest that targeted macroprudential policy measures can contribute to financial stability. In line with findings by others, caps on LTV reduced risk taking in Switzerland. To fully assess the effectiveness of the CCB, further experience is needed.

Keywords: banks, financial stability, macroprudential policy, mortgages

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Authors: Saurav Kumar

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Rural-urban migration is the most commonly adopted strategy in rural areas to overcome the risk associated with the subsistence economy and diversify income. The Garhwal Himalaya has the highest rate of rural-urban migration in India, which has serious repercussions. Despite this, there is a dearth of literature on the implications of rural-urban migration in the Garhwal Himalaya. This paper attempts to fill this void. The objectives of the paper are to look into various types, patterns, determinants, and implications of rural-urban migration in the Garhwal Himalaya. In order to meet the objectives, 15 villages were selected from five districts of the Garhwal Himalaya. In every district, three villages were chosen from different altitudes, including five from river valleys, five from mid-altitudes, and five from highlands. The villages range in altitude from 550m to 2660m. A total of 658 households were surveyed from the villages, covering 100% samples from each village. Using a structured questionnaire, the author asked the heads of each household about the types of rural-urban migration they practiced, the year of first migration, destinations of migration, and reasons for migration. Further, migrants’ age, sex, caste, marital status, educational background, income, occupation, and remittances sent by migrants were also inquired about. The study reveals that rural-urban migration is a serious problem in Garhwal Himalayas, posing various socio-economic issues. Without immediate action, it will have serious consequences. Finally, this study suggests some policy measures to minimize the current rate of rural-urban migration in the Garhwal Himalaya.

Keywords: rural-urban migration, Garhwal Himalaya, patterns, determinants, implications

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Authors: Ali M. Alsagheir

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Effective teaching is concerned to be one of the research fields of teaching, and its fundamental case is to reach the most successful ways that makes teaching fruitful. Undoubtedly, these methods are common factors between all parties who are concerned with the educational process such as instructors, directors, parents, and others. This study had aimed to recognize the cognitions of physical education supervisors and teachers for conceptions of effective teaching according to the interests theory. A questionnaire was used to collect data of the study; the sample contained 230 teachers and supervisors.The results were ended in: that the average of conceptions of effective teaching expressions for the sample of the study decreases at the progress through stages of teaching development in general. The study showed the absence of statistical indicator between teachers and supervisors at the core of both teaching principals and teaching tasks although the results showed that there are statistical indicators at the core of teaching achievements between supervisors and teachers in favor of supervisors. The study ended in to recommendations which can share in increasing the effectiveness of teaching such as: putting clear and specific standards for the effectiveness of teaching in which teacher's performance is based, constructing practical courses that focus on bringing on both supervisors and teachers with skills and strategies of effectiveness teaching, taking care of children achievement as an important factor and a strong indicator on effectiveness of teaching and learning.

Keywords: concerns theory, effective teaching, physical education, supervisors, teachers

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Authors: Roberto Rosenhaim, Marcos Antonio Crus Moreira, Robson da Cunha, Gerson Gomes Cunha

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This work provides details on the wind speed behavior within cities of Arraial do Cabo and São Pedro da Aldeia located in the Lakes Region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This region has one of the best potentials for wind power generation. In interurban layer, wind conditions are very complex and depend on physical geography, size and orientation of buildings and constructions around, population density, and land use. In the same context, the fundamental surface parameter that governs the production of flow turbulence in urban canyons is the surface roughness. Such factors can influence the potential for power generation from the wind within the cities. Moreover, the use of wind on a small scale is not fully utilized due to complexity of wind flow measurement inside the cities. It is difficult to accurately predict this type of resource. This study demonstrates how fuzzy logic can facilitate the assessment of the complexity of the wind potential inside the cities. It presents a decision support tool and its ability to deal with inaccurate information using linguistic variables created by the heuristic method. It relies on the already published studies about the variables that influence the wind speed in the urban environment. These variables were turned into the verbal expressions that are used in computer system, which facilitated the establishment of rules for fuzzy inference and integration with an application for smartphones used in the research. In the first part of the study, challenges of the sustainable development which are described are followed by incentive policies to the use of renewable energy in Brazil. The next chapter follows the study area characteristics and the concepts of fuzzy logic. Data were collected in field experiment by using qualitative and quantitative methods for assessment. As a result, a map of the various points is presented within the cities studied with its wind viability evaluated by a system of decision support using the method multivariate classification based on fuzzy logic.

Keywords: behavior of winds, wind power, fuzzy logic, sustainable development

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Authors: Szu-Yin Chu

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Self-determination has been particularly influential in obtaining a better quality of life through successful transition processes for students with disabilities. The development of self-determination through learning has raised attention at an early age. This study used a survey questionnaire to construct the understanding of the self-determination in Taiwan, learn the perspectives about the environmental and situational contexts where the respondents expect children to display self-determination skills in different cultures. Specifically, the research questions are: (a) What are Taiwanese families’ general perspectives about the development of foundations of self-determination for young children with special needs? and (b) how does families’ demographic background (i.e., income level, educational background) and child characteristics (i.e., age, emotional or behavior problems) impact Taiwanese families’ perspectives on the foundations of self-determination across three critical components (i.e., choice-making and problem-solving, self-regulation, and engagement) for young children with special needs? Data from 125 participants were gathered and analyzed. The findings suggested that Taiwanese families showed very positive attitudes toward promoting a foundation of self-determination for young children with special needs. Families’ income level and child’s severity of emotional/behavioral problems were two variables that were found to impact families’ views on their child’s foundational self-determination skills. Implications for future research and practice in supporting families to promote foundations of self-determination for young children with special needs will be provided.

Keywords: disabilities, self-determination, Taiwan, young children

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Authors: Fulufhelo Oscar Makananise

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This paper explores the framing strategies of the South African BRICS Summit 2023 discourse by SABC Mafhungo X (formerly known as Twitter) news account through indigenous African languages to engage online audiences. This account serves as the digital news portal for SABC, providing news content in the Tshivenḓa language. However, framings of most international events on social media such as X have been through colonial English as the dominant language of politics, economy, and news discourses; leaving a critical research lacuna on the global South societies, particularly from the South African languages and lived experiences. Hence this paper is centred on how the South African BRICS Summit news coverage was framed through Tshivenḓa as one of the South African Indigenous languages on X accounts. In addition, the paper has been strengthened by Entman’s framing theory which indicates that various media outlets construct cognitive narratives and frame events in ways that influence public perception on salient matters. In this paper, a merger of qualitative content analysis and sentiment analysis of SABC Mafhungo X News account tweets have been explored to determine the variety of framing strategies, themes, and narratives used in the coverage of this significant and international event through Tshivenḓa language. The data collected from a sample of tweets and analysed through sentiment analysis established that Phalaphala FM through the SABC Mafhungo X account employed diverse linguistic and artistic framings to disseminate the BRICS Summit news in a manner that resonates with their predominantly Tshivenḓa-speaking audience. The findings indicated that the coverage of the Summit heavily relied on frames correlated to economic development, regional cooperation, technological innovations, health, fostering an environment of peace, South Africa’s electricity supply, and BRICS new members. In a nutshell, these frames could contribute to a positive sentiment among the station’s audience, with increased engagement and interaction on the platform. Ultimately, the findings of this paper could inform media practices, and policies, and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the role of indigenous languages in the context of news media coverage.

Keywords: African languages, framing analysis, news media, coverage

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Authors: Åse Nygren, Linda du Plessis

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Academic leadership has traditionally been associated with collegiality, consensus and a limitation in time. These factors alone have resulted in a complex and fuzzy leadership culture in academia, combined with a strong sense of autonomy among researchers and teachers. A more competitive educational market have resulted in increased audit as well as recent autonomy reforms with higher demands on effectiveness, cost awareness and accountability in higher education. In recent years, with the introduction of new public management, academic leadership has been in a state of transition moving from collegiality towards manergerialism. University reforms and changes, which have gradually taken place in most western countries in the past decade, including Sweden and South-Africa, have contributed to the notion that collegial academic leadership is questioned. Academic leadership is traditionally associated with vice-chancellors, deans and heads of departments. This paper will focus on “outer circle” of academic leaders, consisting of, for example, program directors, directors of disciplines, course coordinators and research leaders. We investigate the meaning of collegiality for these groups of academic leaders in Sweden and South-Africa. The paper rests on a comparative study made on universities both in Sweden and in South-Africa. The aim of the comparison is to achieve a wider scope and to investigate perspectives from both inside and outside of Bologna.

Keywords: academic leadership, new public management, collegiality, consensus

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Authors: Abdulkarim Yusuf

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Motivation: A crucial but difficult goal for governments and policymakers in Nigeria in recent years has been the sustainability of economic growth. This goal must be accomplished by regulating or lowering greenhouse gas emissions, which calls for switching to a low- or zero-carbon production system. The lack of in-depth empirical studies on the environmental impact of socioeconomic variables on Nigeria and a number of unresolved issues from earlier research is what led to the current study. Objective: This study fills an important empirical gap by investigating the existence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis and the long and short-run dynamic impact of socioeconomic variables on ecological sustainability in Nigeria. Data and method: Annual time series data covering the period 1980 to 2020 and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag technique in the presence of structural breaks were adopted for this study. Results: The empirical findings support the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for Nigeria in the long and short run. Energy consumption and total import exacerbate environmental deterioration in the long and short run, whereas total export improves environmental quality in the long and short run. Financial development, which contributed to a conspicuous decrease in the level of environmental destruction in the long run, escalated it in the short run. In contrast, urbanization caused a significant increase in environmental damage in the long run but motivated a decrease in biodiversity loss in the short run. Implications: The government, policymakers, and all energy stakeholders should take additional measures to ensure the implementation and diversification of energy sources to accommodate more renewable energy sources that emit less carbon in order to promote efficiency in Nigeria's production processes and lower carbon emissions. In order to promote the production and trade of environmentally friendly goods, they should also revise and strengthen environmental policies. With affordable, dependable, and sustainable energy use for higher productivity and inclusive growth, Nigeria will be able to achieve its long-term development goals of good health and wellbeing.

Keywords: economic growth, energy consumption, environmental degradation, environmental Kuznets curve, urbanization, Nigeria

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Authors: Huidan Niu

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Existing research has focused extensively on teachers’ professional experience in education reforms. However, there is a lack of research on the role and influence of teacher unions in education policy. This study aimed to examine how teacher unions frame teacher professionalisation and professionalism discourses. Critical education policy scholarship study was adopted. This study positioned teacher professionalisation and professionalism discourses within their socio-political contexts to explore how the meanings of teacher professionalisation and professionalism are constructed, as well as how teacher unions, as collective actors, shape these discourses. This study examined the development of professionalisation and professionalism discourses in the two main teacher unions in Aotearoa, New Zealand, the New Zealand Educational Institute, TeRiuRoa (NZEI), and the New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers’ Association, TeWehengarua (PPTA). The data were collected from documents and archival material, as well as elite interviews. Twenty-four union leaders, including national presidents, secretaries, executives, and senior union officials, participated in the study. The data analysis followed a grounded theory method: from codes to themes. The findings of the study suggest that the teacher unions, as teachers’ collective (powerful) voices, appeared to highlight tension and confrontation between the teaching profession and governments with respect to the meanings of teacher professionalisation and professionalism.

Keywords: critical education policy scholarship, governments, teacher professionalisation, teacher professionalism, teacher unions

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Authors: Mary Luna Mancao Ninal

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This study aimed to determine the performance of the kindergarten teachers and its relation to pupils’ achievement in different learning areas in the Division of Kabankalan City. Using the standardized assessment and evaluation of the Department of Education secondary data, 100 kinder teachers and 2901 kinder pupils were investigated to determine the performance of the kindergarten teachers based on their Competency–Based Performance Appraisal System for Teachers and the periodic assessment of kinder pupils collected as secondary data. Weighted mean, Pearson–r, chi-square, Analysis of Variance were used in the study. Findings revealed that the kindergarten teacher respondents were 26-31 years old and most of them were female and married; they spent teaching for two years and less and passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers. They were very satisfactory as to instructional competences, school, and home and community involvement, personal, social, and professional characteristics. It also revealed that performance of the kindergarten pupils on their period of assessment shows that they were slightly advanced in their development. It also shows that domain as to performance of the kindergarten pupils were average overall development. Based on the results, it is recommended that Kindergarten teacher must augment their educational qualification and pursue their graduate studies and must develop the total personality of the children for them to achieve high advanced development to become productive individual.

Keywords: performance, kindergarten teacher, learning areas, professional, pupil

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Authors: Noriyuki Suyama

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This paper looked into consumer behavioral changes by analyzing the data collected by ASMARKS Co., one of a research companies in Japan. The purpose of the paper is to understand the two differences of before vs. after COVID-19 pandemic and Japanese living in Japan. Subsequently, examining the analysis results helped obtain useful insights into new business models for business parties in Japan as a microlevel perspective. The paper also tried to explore future conditions of globalization by taking into consideration nation’s political and economic changes as a macro-level perspective. The COVID-19 has been continuing its spread across the world with more than 60 million confirmed cases in 190 countries. This pandemic with restricted scopes of behavior mandates have disrupted the consumer habits of their lifestyles. Consumers have tendency to learn new ways when they have trouble in taking routine action. For example, the government forces people to refrain from going out, they try to telecommute at home. If the situation come back to normal, people still change their lifestyles to fit in the best. Some of data show typical effects of COVID-19; forceful exposure to digitalized work-life styles; more flexible time at home; importance of trustful and useful information gathering between what's good and bad;etc. in comparison with before vs. after COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Japanese have less changed their lifestyles than Expatriates living in Japan. For example, while 94% of the expatriates have decreased their outgo because of self-quarantine, only 55% of the Japanese have done. There are more differences in both comparisons in the analysis results. The economic downtrend resulting from COVID-19 is supposed to be at least as devastating if not more so than that of the financial crisis. With unemployment levels in the US taking two weeks to reach what took 6 months in the 2008 crisis, there is no doubt of a global recession some predict could reach 10% or above of GDP. As a result, globalization in the global supply chain of goods and services will end up with negative impact. A lot of governmental financial and economic policies are supposed to focus on their own profits and interests, exclusing other countries interests as is the case with the Recovery Act just after the global financial crisis from 2007 to 2008. Both micro- and macro-levels analysis successfully reveal important connotations and managerial implications of business in Japan for Japanese consumers as well as after COVID-19 global business.

Keywords: COVID-19, lifestyle in Japan, expatriates, consumer behavior

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Authors: Meysam Saidi

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While the specific externalities and required regulatory measures in relation to Islamic banking are fairly uncertain, the business is growing across the world. Unofficial data indicate that the Islamic Finance market is growing with annual rate of 15% and it has reached 1.3 $ trillion size. This trend is associated with inherent systematic connection of Islamic financial institutions to other entities and different sectors of economies. Islamic banking has been subject of market development policies in major economies, most notably the UK. This trend highlights the need for identification of distinct risk features of Islamic banking and crafting customized regulatory measures. So far there has not been a significant systemic crisis in this market which can be attributed to its distinct nature. However, the significant growth and spread of its products worldwide necessitate an in depth study of its nature for customized congruent regulatory measures. In the post financial crisis era some market analysis and reports suggested that the Islamic banks fairly weathered the crisis. As far as heavily blamed conventional financial products such as subprime mortgage backed securities and speculative credit default swaps were concerned the immunity claim can be considered true, as Islamic financial institutions were not directly exposed to such products. Nevertheless, similar to the experience of the conventional banking industry, it can be only a matter of time for Islamic banks to face failures that can be specific to the nature of their business. Using the experience of conventional banking regulations and identifying those peculiarities of Islamic banking that need customized regulatory approach can aid to prevent major failures. Frank Knight has stated that “We perceive the world before we react to it, and we react not to what we perceive, but always to what we infer”. The debate over congruent Islamic banking regulations might not be an exception to Frank Knight’s statement but I will try to base my discussion on concrete evidences. This paper first analyzes both theoretical and actual features of Islamic banking in order to ascertain to its peculiarities in terms of market stability and other externalities. Next, the paper discusses distinct features of Islamic financial transactions and banking which might require customized regulatory measures. Finally, the paper explores how a more transparent path for the Islamic banking regulations can be drawn.

Keywords: Islamic banking, regulation, risks, capital requirements, customer protection, financial stability

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Authors: Swati Rajput

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Environmental psychology explains that the person is a social agent that seeks to extract meaning from their built and natural environment to behave in a particular manner. It also shows the attachment or detachment of people to their environment. Assessing environmental psychology of people is imperative for planners and policy makers for urban planning. The paper investigates the environmental psychology of people living in nine districts of Delhi by calculating and assessing their Environmental Emotional Quotient (EEQ). Emotional Quotient deals with the ability to sense, understand, attach and respond according to the power of emotions. An Environmental Emotional Quotient has been formulated based upon the inventory administered to them. The respondents were asked questions related to their view and emotions about the green spaces, water resource conservation, air and environmental quality. An effort has been made to assess the feeling of belongingness among the residents. Their views were assessed on green spaces, reuse, and recycling of resources and their participation level. They were also been assessed upon health awareness level by considering both preventive and curative segments of health care. It was found that only 12 percent of the people is emotionally attached to their surroundings in the city. The emotional attachment reduces as we move away from the house to housing complex to neighbouring areas and rest of the city. In fact, the emotional quotient goes lower to lowest from house to other ends of the city. It falls abruptly after the radius of 1 km from the residence. The result also shows that nearly 54% respondents accept that there is environment pollution in their area. Around 47.8% respondents in the survey consider that diseases occur because of green cover depiction in their area. Major diseases are to airborne diseases like asthma and bronchitis. Seasonal disease prevalent, which specially occurred from last 3-4 years are malaria, dengue and chikengunya. Survey also shows that only 31 % of respondents visit government hospitals while 69% respondents visit private hospitals or small clinics for healthcare services. The paper suggests the need for environmental sensitive policies and need for green insurance in mega cities like Delhi.

Keywords: environmental psychology, environmental emotional quotient, preventive health care and curative health care, sustainable living

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Authors: Habibullah Pathan

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The present study aims to explore problems faced by English Language Teachers (ELT) while implementing the Outcome Based Education (OBE) model in engineering universities of Sindh. OBE is an emerging model initiative of the International Engineering Alliance. Traditional educational systems are teacher-centered or curriculum-centered, in which learners are not able to achieve desired outcomes, but the OBE model enables learners to know the outcomes before the start of the program. OBE is a circular process that begins from the needs and demands of society to stakeholders who ask the experts to produce the alumnus who can fulfill the needs and ends up getting new enrollment in the respective programs who can work according to the demands. In all engineering institutions, engineering courses besides English language courses are taught on the OBE model. English language teachers were interviewed to learn the in-depth of the problems faced by them. The study found that teachers were facing problems including pedagogical, OBE training, assessment, evaluation and administrative support. This study will be a guide for public and private English language teachers to cope with these challenges while teaching the English language on the OBE model. OBE is an emerging model by which the institutions can produce such a product that can meet the demands.

Keywords: problems of ELT teachers, outcome based education (OBE), implementing, assessment

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Authors: Aparajita Santra

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In the context of the government's vision of turning Delhi into a green, privatized and slum free city, giving it a world-class image at par with the global cities of the world, this paper investigates into the various processes and politics of things that went behind defining spaces in the city and attributing an aesthetic image to it. The paper will explore two cases that were forged primarily through the forces of one particular type of power relation. One would be to look at the modernist movement adopted by the Nehruvian government post-independence and the next case will look at special periods like Emergency and Commonwealth games. The study of these cases will help understand the ambivalence embedded in the different rationales of the Government and different powerful agencies adopted in order to build world-classness. Through the study, it will be easier to discern how city spaces were reconfigured in the name of 'good governance'. In this process, it also became important to analyze the double nature of law, both as a protector of people’s rights and as a threat to people. What was interesting to note through the study was that in the process of nation building and creating an image for the city, the government’s policies and programs were mostly aimed at the richer sections of the society and the poorer sections and people from lower income groups kept getting marginalized, subdued, and pushed further away (These marginalized people were pushed away even geographically!). The reconfiguration of city space and attributing an aesthetic character to it, led to an alteration not only in the way in which citizens perceived and engaged with these spaces, but also brought about changes in the way they envisioned their place in the city. Ironically, it was found that every attempt to build any kind of facility for the city’s elite in turn led to an inevitable removal of the marginalized sections of the society as a necessary step to achieve a clean, green and world-class city. The paper questions the claim made by the government for creating a just, equitable city and granting rights to all. An argument is put forth that in the politics of redistribution of space, the city that has been designed is meant for the aspirational middle-class and elite only, who are ideally primed to live in world-class cities. Thus, the aim is to study city spaces, urban form, the associated politics and power plays involved within and understand whether segmented cities are being built in the name of creating sensible, inclusive cities.

Keywords: aesthetics, ambivalence, governmentality, power, World-class

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Authors: Yusarina Mat-Isa, Zuraidah Mohd-Sanusi, Mohd-Nizal Haniff, Paul A. Barnes

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In view that money laundering has become eminent for banking institutions, it is an obligation for the banking institutions to adopt a risk-based approach as the integral component of the accepted policies on anti-money laundering. In doing so, those involved with the banking operations are the most critical group of personnel as these are the people who deal with the day-to-day operations of the banking institutions and are obligated to form a judgement on the level of impending risk. This requirement is extended to all relevant banking institutions staff, such as tellers and customer account representatives for them to identify suspicious customers and escalate it to the relevant authorities. Banking institutions staffs, however, face enormous challenges in identifying and distinguishing money launderers from other legitimate customers seeking genuine banking transactions. Banking institutions staffs are mostly educated and trained with the business objective in mind to serve the customers and are not trained to be “detectives with a detective’s power of observation”. Despite increasing awareness as well as trainings conducted for the banking institutions staff, their competency in assessing money laundering risk is still insufficient. Several gaps have prompted this study including the lack of behavioural perspectives in the assessment of money laundering risk in the banking institutions. Utilizing experimental approach, respondents are randomly assigned within a controlled setting with manipulated situations upon which judgement of the respondents is solicited based on various observations related to the situations. The study suggests that it is imperative that informed judgement is exercised in arriving at the decision to proceed with the banking services required by the customers. Judgement forms a basis of opinion for the banking institution staff to decide if the customers posed money laundering risk. Failure to exercise good judgement could results in losses and absorption of unnecessary risk into the banking institutions. Although the banking institutions are exposed with choices of automated solutions in assessing money laundering risk, the human factor in assessing the risk is indispensable. Individual staff in the banking institutions is the first line of defence who are responsible for screening the impending risk of any customer soliciting for banking services. At the end of the spectrum, the individual role involvement on the subject of money laundering risk assessment is not a substitute for automated solutions as human judgement is inimitable.

Keywords: banking institutions, experimental approach, money laundering, risk assessment

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Authors: Ese Urhie, Olabisi Popoola, Obindah Gershon

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Several policies and programs initiated to address the challenge of unemployment in Nigeria seem to be inadequate. The desired structural transformation which is expected to absorb the excess labour in the economy is yet to be achieved. The agricultural sector accounts for almost half of the labour force with very low productivity. This could partly explain why the much anticipated structural transformation has not been achieved. A major reason for the low productivity is the fact that the production process is predominantly based on the use of traditional tools. In view of the underdeveloped nature of the agricultural sector, Nigeria still has huge potentials for productivity enhancement through modern technology. Aside from productivity enhancement, modern agriculture also stimulates both backward and forward linkages that promote investment and thus generate employment. Contrary to the apprehension usually expressed by many stake-holders about the adoption of modern technology by labour-abundant less-developed countries, this study showed that though there will be job loss initially, the reverse will be the case in the long-run. The outcome of this study will enhance the understanding of all stakeholders in the sector and also encourage them to adopt modern techniques of farming. It will also aid policy formulation at both sectoral and national levels. The recursive model and analysis adopted in the study is useful because it exhibits a unilateral cause-and-effect relationship which most simultaneous equation models do not. It enables the structural equations to be ordered in such a way that the first equation includes only predetermined variables on the right-hand side, while the solution for the final endogenous variable is completely determined by all equations of the system. The study examines the transmission channels and effect of modern agriculture on agricultural productivity and employment growth in Nigeria, via its forward and backward linkages. Using time series data spanning 1980 to 2014, the result of the analyses shows that: (i) a significant and positive relationship between agricultural productivity growth and modern agriculture; (ii) a significant and negative relationship between export price index and agricultural productivity growth; (iii) a significant and positive relationship between export and investment; and (iv) a significant and positive relationship between investment and employment growth. The unbalanced growth theory will be a good strategy to adopt by developing countries such as Nigeria.

Keywords: employment, modern agriculture, productivity, recursive model

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Authors: Melek Göregenli, Işık Gürşimşek

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There has been a great deal of research in the past few decades examining attitudes toward homosexuals.Theoretic research has demonstrated that antihomosexual attitudes are expressed in cognitive, affective, behavioral and cultural components. Homophobia is generally defined as hostility towards or fear of LGBTI people, but can also refer to social and cultural ideologies which stigmatize homosexuality. Negative feelings or attitudes towards non-heterosexual behavior, identity, relationships and community can lead to homophobic behavior and is the root of the discrimination experienced by many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTI) people. Since the increase in number of hate crimes during the last decade, there has been a sense of urgency to respond to the problem of hate violence in Turkey. The LGBTI Rights Association KAOS-GL indicated that the most of lesbian, gay, bisexual, travesty and transsexuals reported some form of victimization in their lifetimes based on their sexual orientation in Turkey. This study explored the relations between homophobia, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation and just world belief attitudes towards LGBTI individuals in a sample of 393 Turkish college students from Ege University in Izmir, Turkey. Data were collected with a questionnaire including the Homosexism Scale, the Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale, Social Dominance Orientation Scale and Just World Belief Scale. Participants completed a questionnaire containing the attitude measures and other several questions related with the socio-demographic variables. Consistent with the previous finding males were more homophobic than females. Contrary to this finding the main effects of other demographic variables (age, income, place of birth, class) were not statistically significant except the department of participants. These findings imply that efforts to garner wide-ranging support for policies designed to change negative attitudes to LGBT people and to enhance the given awareness on homophobia. The results of the study were discussed in cross-cultural and social psychological perspective considering cultural and social values of Turkey and current political circumstances of the country.

Keywords: homophobia, just world belief, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, Turkey

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Authors: Sarah Werner, Michael J. Pritchard

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From pilots to engineers, the skills development within the aerospace industry is exceptionally broad. Employers often struggle with finding the right mixture of qualified skills to fill their organizational demands. This effort to find qualified talent is further complicated by the industrial delineation between two key areas: aviation and aerospace. In a broad sense, the aerospace industry overlaps with the aviation industry. In turn, the aviation industry is a smaller sector segment within the context of the broader definition of the aerospace industry. Furthermore, it could be conceptually argued that -in practice- there is little distinction between these two sectors (i.e., aviation and aerospace). However, through our unstructured text analysis of over 6,000 job listings captured, our team found a clear delineation between aviation-related jobs and aerospace-related jobs. Using techniques in natural language processing, our research identifies an integrated workforce skill pattern that clearly breaks between these two sectors. While the aviation sector has largely maintained its need for pilots, mechanics, and associated support personnel, the staffing needs of the aerospace industry are being progressively driven by integrative engineering needs. Increasingly, this is leading many aerospace-based organizations towards the acquisition of 'system level' staffing requirements. This research helps to better align higher educational institutions with the current industrial staffing complexities within the broader aerospace sector.

Keywords: aerospace industry, job demand, text mining, workforce development

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Authors: Hadjer Chellia

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In the light of the recent global pandemic, different issues in educational research seem to invite careful considerations. Following this perspective, this study sets out to question the concept of classroom management in an EFL higher education context during Covid-19. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of their experiences, 6 EFL teachers from different Algerian universities took part in semi-structured interviews. The main emerging themes revealed that EFL teachers have different pedagogical practices in relation to classroom management during the global crisis than those of normal times. In relation to flexible education theory, the teachers’ experiences suggest flexible classroom management during Covid-19; flexibility in the teaching methods, approach and design, flexibility in time, flexibility in space and pace (speed), flexibility in assessment modes and flexibility in coping with students’ well-being. The flexibility awareness helps them to develop readiness towards the future, mainly in terms of maintaining an appropriate pedagogy to face the future crisis. In terms of theoretical concepts, working on classroom management under unusual circumstances in relation to flexible education helped come out with the concept of flexible classroom management (FCM) and virtual classroom management (VCM). It is then important for educators and researchers to rethink different pedagogical concepts and mind a careful application in the case of unusual times.

Keywords: Covid-19, EFL educators, flexible classroom management, flexible education, virtual classroom management

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Authors: Eun Kyong Park

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This study explores the relationships between immigrant parents’ beliefs about bilingualism, family literacy practices, and their children’s identity development in Sydney, Australia. This project examines how these parents’ ideological beliefs and knowledge are related to their provision of family literacy practices and management of the environment for their bilingual children based on family language policy (FLP). This is a follow-up study of the author’s prior thesis that presented Korean immigrant mothers’ beliefs and decision-making in support of their children’s bilingualism. It includes fathers’ perspectives within the participating families as a whole by foregrounding their perceptions of bilingual and identity development. It adopts a qualitative approach with twelve immigrant mothers and fathers living in a Korean-Australian community whose child attends one of the communities Korean language programs. This time, it includes introspective and self-evocative auto-ethnographic data. The initial data set collected from the first part of this study demonstrated the mothers provided rich, diverse, and specific family literacy activities for their children. These mothers selected specific practices to facilitate their child’s bilingual development at home. The second part of data has been collected over a three month period: 1) a focus group interview with mothers; 2) a brief self-report of fathers; 3) the researcher’s reflective diary. To analyze these multiple data, thematic analysis and coding were used to reveal the parents’ ideologies surrounding bilingualism and bilingual identities. It will highlight the complexity of language and literacy practices in the family domain interrelated with sociocultural factors. This project makes an original contribution to the field of bilingualism and FLP and a methodological contribution by introducing auto-ethnographic input of this community’s lived practices. This project will empower Korean-Australian immigrant families and other multilingual communities to reflect their beliefs and practices for their emerging bilingual children. It will also enable educators and policymakers to access authentic information about how bilingualism is practiced within these immigrant families in multiple ways and to help build the culturally appropriate partnership between home and school community.

Keywords: bilingualism, beliefs, identity, family language policy, Korean immigrant parents in Australia

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