Digital media skills are becoming more important in contemporary Australia. As the digital economy gains momentum, the 2020 Australian Digital Inclusion Index reports a continued gap between rural Australians and urban Australian, indicating the continued existence of the digital divide. However, almost half of all Year 10 Australian students did…

This study examined the association between elementary students' (N = 1627; 51.3% girls, ages 4-12) engineering-related ability beliefs (competence), task-value beliefs (interest, importance), and career aspirations. Findings suggest that mean levels of children's engineering-related beliefs did not vary by gender. High levels of competence,…

Issues of Early Childhood Teacher (ECT) shortages, recruitment, and retention are of concern in many nations, with ECT attrition being a contributing factor. Simultaneously, scholars argue that neoliberal influences are restricting the agency of ECTs. This article explores the relationship between ECT attrition and agency by re-examining…

Aim: The aim of this article is to analyse Dewey's writing on vocational aspects of education in his book "Democracy and Education," An introduction to the philosophy of education to identify and to relate the main philosophical ideas to Maslow's theory of motivation and to establish the key similarities between the two theories to…

Purpose: This study explored graduate students' academic success by testing a hypothesized model based on the self-determination theory (SDT), which posits that motivation, time management and career aspiration predicts perceived success. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative methodology was employed to garner data from a population of 324…

Our article unpacks the emergent and dynamic relationship between learning needs and approaches and the evolving landscape of the gig economy in the country. This research seeks to comprehend the contextual collapse of generic, utility-driven, and structured educational models to create space for a personalized and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) approach to…

Context: Adolescence is the training ground for adult life. In a relatively short period, the adolescent will undergo a metamorphosis. During the high school years, the majority of adolescents move from persistent dependence to true independence, from logical thinking to abstract, complex and hypothetical thinking, from impulsivity to…

This study explores the motivations for becoming a teacher, teachers' self-efficacy, and the relationship among motivations and teacher self-efficacy using data from the TALIS 2018. The data included responses from 1933 United States teachers with six or more years of teaching experience. Results indicate that motivations, which were more…

Mentoring schemes for aspiring BAME clinical psychologists, are being introduced in universities across the UK. The aim of this study was to conduct a mixed-methods prospective evaluation of the 2021/2022 mentoring scheme. Mentees (n = 8) and mentors (n = 20) completed an online questionnaire at the beginning (T1) and end (T2) of the 2021/2022…

Background: Increasing research capacity and capability for the speech and language therapy (SLT) profession is a key national strategic driver, with many speech and language therapists (SLTs) aspiring to a clinical academic (CA) career. There are known benefits but also acknowledged challenges with this career path, including limited funding…

This dissertation investigates the issue of gender stratification within engineering and other STEM-related fields. The dissertation is divided into three articles that address different aspects of the problem and propose potential solutions. Article 1 explores the persistent gender imbalance within STEM fields, particularly in engineering and…

There are eleven million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Approximately two million are young people under the age of twenty-four. Although they came to the United States as children and were essentially raised and educated here, they remain without a pathway to legal permanent citizenship. Relatively little is known about the…

Academic motivation enables students to face challenges in their studies and is important for student performance. Academic self-concept refers to students' perceptions of their competencies and ability to learn. The goal of the study was to evaluate academic motivation and self-concept of undergraduate optometry students. We used a mixed methods…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and develop a detailed description of how digital inequities in rural Alabama contribute to the underrepresentation of African Americans in STEM careers. The participants' unique lived experiences with digital inequities related to understanding the intersection of attributes such as rurality,…

The purpose of this study was to determine if mentorship and sponsorship could help identify the potential political pitfalls or "hidden rules" of senior-level leadership to increase the identification, recruitment, and retention of minority women, specifically African American women in the role of superintendent or executive at the…