This volume contains selected papers submitted to the 21st Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES), held in Sofia, Bulgaria, in June 2023. The Conference theme was "Recovering Education: Using the Experiences and Learning Acquired to Build New and Better Education Systems." The theme focuses…

This paper presents the use of the time-on-task analysis (TOTA) diagnostic model as an instrument to improve the efficient management of allocated academic time in schools and focuses on the descriptive analytics produced by the TOTA model. The model aims to analyse how time is spent during the school day to enable school leaders, managers, and…

Legislation such as the Equality Act 2010 has ensured that considerable progress has been made in tackling discrimination in relation to the 8 protected characteristics that are defined in law. UK HEIs are well-versed in monitoring the diversity of their workforce and ensuring that recruitment is compliant with the legislation. However as HEIs…

International large-scale assessments, such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), are a crucial source of information for education researchers and policymakers. The assessment also includes a student questionnaire, however, the data can be biased by the differences in reporting behavior between students. In this paper, we…

For organisations to thrive, their employees need to be trained and developed. The training must be specific and targeted to the benefit of both the individual employee and the organisation they serve. The training and development can be for the development of the individual which will directly benefit the organisation. In reverse, whole…

South African higher education experiences low outcomes regardless of the significant financial investments made into the sector to address student poverty through financial aid. Concerning is that more than half of the low-income students who receive funding from the government do not graduate which points to the presence of other deprivations…

Summative assessment is often criticised as an unfair representation of learner effort and aptitude. In summative high-stakes examinations, economically privileged learners consistently outperform marginalised counterparts, perpetuating inequitable social class reproduction. But UN Sustainable Development Goal No.4 calls for equitable quality…

This study investigated Nigeria's private university lecturers' welfare and their legal rights. The study adopted a doctrinal approach which enabled a proper examination of the extant laws applicable to a lecturer as an employee and the reviewed laws included: the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as Amended), Labour Act Cap…

This paper accentuated the importance of the availability of suitable programs to train parents to support their children to survive and thrive in school. Parents have a role to play in supporting their children to fully benefit from their education. Parents should set a positive home environment to support the learning of children. It was also…

As evident in scholarly literature, universities worldwide embrace Sustainable Development Goals initiated by United Nations. Yet, regardless institutions' commitment, many countries, especially developing ones, struggle to effectively implement sustainability-oriented principles and practices in higher education. To that end, this paper, based on…

Soft skills are key for the successful realisation of individuals in their personal, professional and social life, but scientific research conducted on the soft skills of homeschoolers is still scarce so far. One of the most frequent questions, when homeschooling is discussed concerns the presumed lack of social skills of homeschoolers. A common…

The paper has focused on important leadership and management strategic roles in employee retention with reference to a London higher education institute. It analyses some of the reasons for high turnover and theories around effective leadership and management roles in retaining hard working employees, with reference to teachers in a higher…

In the context of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), paradoxical findings concerning the relationship between questionnaire scales and student achievement are often documented. These questionnaire scales are found to correlate positively with student achievement within countries at the individual level, but negatively at the…

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced school closures, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers were left with the challenging task of devising ways for students to conduct experiments at home. This was necessary because experiments and other hands-on activities are integral to STEM education and are linked to the development…

This paper investigates the transition planning for youth with disabilities living in foster care. Statutory regulations in South Africa contend that foster care lapses when young people reach the age of 18. It is however not certain how many of them are ready to navigate into an adult and independent lifestyle. This paper is concerned with the…