Child Friendly School (CFS) is a democratic environment based on children's rights, where all students are accepted, teaching-learning processes are organized according to children's interest needs, health, safety and protective measures are taken for children and gender-based discrimination is not provided. Preschool education institutions, which are considered to be very effective on the future of the child and the society, should be child friendly in this way. The aim of this study is to identify the teaching-learning environment of independent kindergartens in the context of a child-friendly. The data of the study was obtained from the independent kindergarten in different socioeconomic environments with “CFS Diagnostic Form”. According to the results, it was seen that in terms of effectiveness, the physical areas and materials of the schools were sufficient, but the places and qualifications that increase the effectiveness of teaching were insufficient; in terms of inclusiveness, all children attend school without discrimination in terms of inclusiveness, but female students have low access to school; in terms of democratic participation, means are used to ensure communication with the environment, in terms of healthy, safe and protective environment, physical requirements are fulfilled, necessary measures are taken, but ventilation and out-of-school safety measures are not sufficient and in terms of gender sensitivity, there is no discrimination based on gender. It has been concluded that the independent kindergartens are largely child-friendly, despite some inadequacies.

Many educators hold beliefs that including students, at least to some degree, has academic and social benefits, however, they struggle with fundamental pedagogy. With a global shift from a segregated lens to that of an inclusive lens, special education teachers who once held positive beliefs towards segregated special education are now faced with a new reality of teaching students with disabilities in inclusive classroom settings. This paper highlights the experiences of ten educators who transitioned from teaching in a self-contained class to an inclusive class. Focus group and interview themes indicated that all had experienced a shift in their pedagogy- their overall beliefs and teaching methods- after they taught students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Despite their special education training, these educators were challenged by their own beliefs and expectations, the attitudes of others, and systematic barriers within the education system. Highlights of their change process include the positive performance of students with disabilities, the growth and development of the other students, and their overall pedagogical self-reflection. As a result, a framework, the Inclusive Educators’ Continuum of Change, was developed to highlight the change process and connect this research to the literature on inclusion and teacher change. This diagram can provide teacher educators a framework for discussing pedagogical change. Implications for professional development and teacher training for inclusive practice, as well as maximizing the educator skills in Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and mentorship opportunities will be highlighted.

One adds meaning into his/her own life thanks to several values (reliance, respect, tolerance, benevolence, responsibility, justice, etc.). While the foundation of these values is laid at early ages, they might undergo several changes thanks to life experiences. Thus, the perceptions of the interviewee regarding that value are to be taken into consideration while teaching values. This study is assumed to raise awareness and to lead similar other studies. This study is in the form of a research article. The purpose of this qualitative research is to find out the views and opinions of students on trust values, taught in social sciences courses. In the research, the case study method was applied. The research was conducted in Zubeyde Hanim Primary School in Isparta, in the 2017-2018 academic year towards the end of the second semester on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd graders. Students differ in parents' education level, gender and age. In the study, data were collected by a semi-structured interview form. Four experts’ opinions were consulted to ensure the reliability of the study. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and content analysis methods. According to the findings obtained, it is observed that students differ in trust values, desired to be acquired in social sciences courses, depending on grade level and gender. We may state the fact that the interaction of the child with his/her environment has been affecting the value of reliance since very early ages and that the meaning added into reliance might differ as the child gets older.

Citizenship is an act of being the ideal member of a society that “maintains and adapts to the culture of this society”, besides having a legal status with the duties and rights that the state imposes on the individual. This study aims to determine the citizenship perceptions of primary school teacher candidates and their ideal citizenship narratives.  The study was carried out according to the mixed research design. Three different measurement tools were used in the research and content analysis method was used for the analysis of data. According to the findings of the study, it was concluded that teacher candidates' perceptions of citizenship and ideal citizenship are similar. Accordingly, it was determined that they participated in the items related to traditional citizenship in the scales, and their perceptions of active/social citizenship were relatively low. It was also determined that all of the teacher candidates mentioned the courses they took during the university process in the differentiation of their ideal citizenship perceptions, and the ideal citizenship narratives were built on traditional citizenship as well as the perceptions of citizenship of the pre-service teachers.

Humans have had to immigrate from one country to another throughout the history because of economic problems, warfare, safety, etc. Warfare and migration definitely bring about traumatic incidents for all humanity. However, they are much more destructive for children. The current study aims to review the warfare-and-migration-themed drawings of the Syrian and Palestinian children living in Turkey as refugees in comparison to the Turkish children’s drawings. A case study design was employed as a qualitative methodology. 19 Syrian, 6 Palestinian and 25 Turkish children aged between 6-10 years studying in various primary schools in City of Istanbul made up the study sample. Children were asked to draw pictures of warfare and migration, observed and interviewed for data collection. Content analysis was used to determine the themes present in the qualitative data. The themes identified in the drawings were discussed referring to the literature and recommendations were made.

Suspension and expulsion are adversely related to negative outcomes of students, such as falling behind academically, an increased risk of absenteeism or dropout from schools. Suspension discrepancy due to ethnicity is evident and well known in the United States. The proper understanding of factors affecting suspension may lead to intervention towards the reduction of suspension episodes in the schools. The aim of this study is to determine how student, parent and school characteristics affect the likelihood of K-8 school students’ suspension in the United States. We analyze the National Household Education Surveys of 2019 with a sample of 9,699 K-8 students to evaluate the risk factors of suspension. The study finds that 6% students receive K-8 school suspensions. Bivariate analysis suggests that gender, ethnicity, poverty, parental education, school type, repeated grades, contacted for behavioral problem and school type are significantly associated with the K-8 students’ suspension. An adjusted analysis of these factors via multiple logistic regression suggests that the odds of suspension of NH-black students are 2.7 times the odds of NH-white students. Odds of suspension for students with parental education below HS is 3.2 (95% CI: 1.77-5.80) compared those with parental education at Graduate or professional level. Likewise, students of public schools have higher odds of suspension compared to private schools. There is significant evidence that students with repeated grades, poor parents, school type and those contacted for behavioral problems have substantially higher odds of suspension.

This study seeks to reveal the perceptions of pre-service visual arts teachers on social justice through art-based practices focused on social justice. Designing on visual phenomenology, this study was performed in the fall semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. Five different activities involving visual inquiries are presented to reveal the perceptions of the pre-service teachers on social justice. The research participants are 35 (13 male, 22 female) sophomore-level pre-service teachers. The data are obtained through course documents, reflective diaries and semi-structured interviews. The data are then analysed through content analysis; reliability and validity are ensured through triangulation. This study identifies four different themes: association, questioning, transformation and reflection. The findings show that the pre-service teachers questioned common issues related to social justice. It was observed in the activities performed in this study that the pre-service teachers identified the visual themes. They mentioned common social justice issues based on the things they experienced and their observations. These are such as women's rights, violence against women, children's rights, LGBT, animal rights, language and religion differences, income imbalance, racism, and discrimination. The issues they questioned were the direct expression of the individual experiences of the pre-service teachers through visuals.

Gender is ever present in education preparation, school materials, curriculum, and school systems. To improve our knowledge about different facets of gender and the extent to which the depiction of gender has changed over time in picture books, there is a need to dig beneath the surface of questions about gender representation in picture books. Given that in-service teachers have proximity to approximately 75 million K-12 students, how in-service teachers think about gender, gender representation, and their own experiences with gender socialization have important implications on how K-12 students think, act, and feel about gender. In this study, we focused on teachers’ responses to a semester-long assignment about the selection and review of picture books. Specifically, we captured teachers’ perceptions on gendered images evidenced in picture books and to what extent there are changes (i.e., economical, emotional, physical, political, and social) in the central character throughout the book. We also explored if perceived changes were different based on the gender of the characters. Teachers reported four types of changes among the characters in the picture book. Emotionally changes in the books’ central characters emerged as the most commonly reported change among our participants.

I use the disability studies framework and autoethnography method in this qualitative research to examine my lived experiences in education and their impact on the disability community. The qualitative research method focuses on obtaining data through open-ended and conversational communication. This method is about what people think and why they think so. Disability Studies is an interdisciplinary body of intellectual work that positions disability positively and complexly, interrogating rhetoric that disability is a deficit that experts should remedy. Autoethnography is a research method and methodology which uses the researcher’s personal experience as data to describe, analyze and understand cultural experience. I focus on my disability community membership, professional development, and ways I integrate social justice in teacher education to correct education systems into ones that value disabled people. Using the self-study technique, I review my education journey and identities and how they have shaped me into a teacher educator who believes education leverages us to question happenings and provide solutions. I, therefore, reflect on the entwinement of my scholarship and community outreach and how they are geared towards creating and advancing a local and global pluralistic society that values disabled people. My values of collaboration, innovation, integrity, excellence, access, diversity, equity, equality, and inclusion are best practices that dismantle educational barriers and empower educators and disabled people.  

Interculturality, inclusion, and diversity are generally associated with bilingualism in countries with different socio-cultural identities, but rarely with school coexistence among students hailing from different backgrounds. The present systematic review is framed in a descriptive-qualitative approach since its main objective is to provide an account of the relationship between welcoming, school coexistence, and the integration and inclusion processes in schools in countries receiving foreign migrant families. For this purpose, Web of Science, SCOPUS, EBSCO, and SCiELO databases were searched using a reference chain, and according to search results, 26 empirical studies retrieved from those databases published between 2010 and 2020 were analyzed. The main findings indicate that the inclusion process is developed through the acculturation and disciplining devices of foreign children to the dominant national logic, which marks a hierarchical difference between nationalities. They also highlight the recognition of cultural diversity under the logic of folklorization and a vision that focuses on academic achievement rather than on the particularities that cultural diversity can contribute to social relations and learning within the school.

Evaluation of child-friendly school (CFS) policies is essential to determine the achievements of school efforts in reducing violence cases. This research aims to proving the reliability and validity of CFS policy evaluation instruments in elementary schools with different locations. This investigation uses the Context Input Process Product (CIPP) evaluation model to confirm the factor structure or dimensions of several observed variables (items) to evaluate the reliability and validity of the CFS policy evaluation tool in elementary schools. The validity and reliability of previously created instruments are evaluated quantitatively, but this study utilises different subjects and study sites. There were 320 respondents, with 145 school principals and 175 teachers taken randomly. Confirmatory factors analysis (CFA) results show goodness of fit (GOF), and the model is acceptable. The CFS evaluation instrument can be accepted after eliminating several question items and modifying them. All items of the teal instrument meet the goodness of fit criteria in terms of chi-square and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). The instrument for evaluating CFS policies in primary schools using the CIPP model has met a valid and reliable psychometric property test so that it can be applied.

This pilot study is part of a larger “Decolonization of Digital Learning Spaces” project, which aims to develop research tools for communities that are remote and/or excluded geographically, politically, economically, socially, culturally, and linguistically. The project’s ultimate goal is to work alongside these communities to design their own digital learning tools, networks, and online educational environments by accessing and leveraging their knowledge and skills. Testing the single-criterion card sorting method is the first step toward this goal. Card sorting is an easy, enjoyable, and cost-effective method for data collection and analysis, particularly for researchers working in remote areas with limited access to electricity or the Internet. The pilot explored single-criterion card sorting as a method to elicit knowledge from two diverse cultural and linguistic groups engaged in learning activities within their communities. These groups were from a Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) community in Canada (engaged in a bow-making workshop) and a rural Kabyle community in Algeria (engaged in a traditional cooking lesson). Despite low participant numbers, distinct patterns emerged, indicating the method's effectiveness. The results, though anticipated, were non-random, demonstrating the potential of card sorting in producing patterns indicative of how individuals and/or communities categorize their world(s). Kabyle sortings focused on ingredients, highlighting older individuals as teachers passing along knowledge, while the DHH sortings emphasized face-to-face contact and hand movements in communication. The findings, though modest, established relationships, provided insights into the research context and offered logistical understanding, paving the way for further work with DHH and Kabyle communities towards the design of digital learning spaces.