Enacting historical thinking in the history curriculum: Textbook representation and teacher mediation in Turkish secondary education

Critical Thinking Conceptions, Attitudes and Practices Among Ideological and Political Theory Course Lecturers in Chinese Higher Education

Critical thinking is a stated priority of higher education reform in China, yet its enactment in everyday teaching remains uneven. This study investigated how lecturers of ideological and political theory courses (IPTCs) understand and value critical thinking, and how they report teaching it. To our knowledge, few studies have modelled lecturers’ conceptions, attitudes, reported practices and contextual constraints jointly within these courses. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed. A validated questionnaire was completed by 362 IPTC lecturers across 20 universities in Anhui Province, and semi-structured interviews were subsequently conducted with 34 lecturers. The survey data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including multiple and moderated regression, whereas the interview data were examined thematically. Although lecturers endorsed critical thinking strongly as a general educational aim, they rated its place within IPTCs considerably lower, and they conceptualised it predominantly in terms of logic and reasoning. Reported classroom enactment fell below the scale midpoint. Conceptions did not predict practice; attitudes predicted it only weakly (standardised β = 0.13), and contextual constraints did not moderate the attitude–practice relationship. The regression models accounted for almost none of the variance in reported practice. These findings indicate a broad belief–practice gap that is shaped by structural conditions rather than by individual beliefs. The single-province, self-report design constrains wider generalisation. The findings direct reform attention towards assessment design and sustained, practice-based professional learning, since belief change alone appears unlikely to alter classroom practice.

The Role of Digital Bulletins in Cultivating Students’ Historical Literacy and Historical Thinking

The Transformation of History Learning in the Digital Age: The Role of Digital Bulletins in Cultivating Students’ Historical Literacy and Historical Thinking

Digital transformation has reshaped history education by requiring students not only to acquire historical knowledge but also to develop historical literacy and historical thinking skills. This study aims to analyze the role of a Canva-based digital bulletin in fostering students’ historical literacy and historical thinking within history education in the digital era. The research employed a descriptive qualitative approach conducted at SMAN 84 Jakarta, involving history teachers and students as participants. Data were collected through observations, interviews, and document analysis, and were analyzed using the Miles and Huberman model, which consists of data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing. Data validity was ensured through source and methodological triangulation. The findings indicate that the digital bulletin helped students understand historical narratives more contextually, increased their interest in reading history, and encouraged them to utilize various historical sources during the learning process. Furthermore, the use of the digital bulletin contributed to the development of historical thinking skills, as reflected in students’ abilities to interpret historical events, analyze cause-and-effect relationships, and understand multiple historical perspectives. The study also revealed a transformation in the roles of teachers and students toward a more student-centered learning environment. Therefore, the Canva-based digital bulletin has the potential to serve as an innovative instructional strategy for 21st-century history education.

Navigating Educational Influence: A Phenomenological Study on the Lived Experiences of Textbook Authors in the Philippines

This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of textbook authors in the Philippines to understand their roles and educational influence in shaping basic education. Although textbooks remain among the most influential instructional resources, limited scholarly attention has been given to the experiences of those who conceptualize, develop, and write them. Guided by phenomenological inquiry within the discipline of Applied Cosmic Anthropology, the study examined the meanings embedded in textbook authors’ lived experiences and their implications for curriculum development, instructional design, and educational transformation, among others. A qualitative phenomenological design was employed involving the researcher and six purposively selected textbook authors representing the major learning areas in Philippine basic education. Data were generated through phenomenological interviews, reflective narratives, and thematic reflections and analyzed using the processes of textual reflection, structural reflection, postulate formulation, eidetic insight, and creative synthesis. Findings revealed that textbook writing is experienced not merely as a professional task but as an educational vocation grounded in service, creativity, pedagogical responsibility, and commitment to social transformation. Participants described motivations rooted in teaching, lifelong learning, and social responsibility while navigating curriculum reforms, publishing timelines, quality assurance requirements, and the challenge of balancing academic rigor with learner accessibility. Reflective analysis identified textbook authors as lifelong learners, curriculum translators, innovators, cultural stewards, and agents of educational transformation. These findings culminated in the development of the Integrative Textbook Development Framework (ITDF), an emergent theoretical framework illustrating how educational influence develops through the dynamic interaction of personal vocation, professional practice, pedagogical commitment, and societal responsibility. The study contributes to phenomenological scholarship by illuminating the often-overlooked role of textbook authors in shaping educational experiences and learning outcomes. It also offers practical implications for textbook authors, educators, curriculum specialists, instructional designers, publishers, educational leaders, and policymakers in strengthening the quality and relevance of instructional materials while advancing Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) through equitable, inclusive, and meaningful learning.

Teacher agency under centralised curriculum reform: Divergent sensemaking in Türkiye's Life Studies curriculum

This study examines how elementary teachers interpret and enact the Life Studies curriculum within the Century of Türkiye Education Model (CTEM), a large‐scale, centrally steered curriculum reform. Using Q methodology to model shared patterns of subjectivity, 39 teachers sorted 35 statements about curriculum aims, pedagogy, support and implementation conditions. Three distinct viewpoint profiles emerged: (1) Outcome‐Focused Supporters, who strongly endorse CTEM's intended aims while critiquing limited responsiveness to implementation challenges; (2) Process‐Focused Critics, who value participatory, activity‐rich learning but foreground shortages of time, materials and resources; and (3) Implementation Realists, who express relative confidence in system‐level problem‐solving channels while sharply questioning the extent of teacher voice in enactment. Across profiles, teachers converged on the curriculum's pedagogical and civic promise, yet diverged on the conditions that enable or constrain enactment in a centralised system. Drawing on sensemaking and ecological accounts of teacher agency, the findings specify how teachers position themselves within reform trajectories and how differentiated interpretations shape curriculum work. Implications are offered for participatory curriculum development, targeted professional learning and implementation infrastructures that better align reform design with classroom realities.

Creative Thinking in Language Classrooms: A Qualitative Study of Instructional Practices, Divergent Thinking, and Curriculum Constraints

This study explores how creative thinking emerges in language classrooms through the interaction of instructional practices, learner cognition, and curriculum constraints. Grounded in an integrated framework that combines Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, Guilford and Runco's divergent thinking theory, and Amabile's componential creativity theory, the study adopts a qualitative interpretivist design based on semi-structured interviews with 22 English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Amman, Jordan. Thematic analysis reveals that dialogic and interactive instructional strategies enable creative engagement by stimulating fluency, flexibility, and originality in language use. However, rigid syllabi, limited instructional time, and the high-stakes Tawjihi examination constrain these practices. Crucially, curriculum constraints do not merely reduce creativity but reshape how teachers operationalize creative pedagogy, leading to adaptive practices such as "small creativity” brief, compressed creative episodes embedded within examination preparation lessons. The study also identifies second language (L2) proficiency as a condition shaping the expression of creative thinking, showing that lower-proficiency learners may struggle to demonstrate creative thinking even when instructional conditions are supportive. The study concludes that creative thinking is mediated, bounded, and a proficiency-conditioned process, not an individual cognitive trait. This research contributes to the EFL creativity literature by documenting how Jordanian teachers negotiate the interaction of pedagogy, learner cognition, linguistic proficiency, and curriculum constraints under the Tawjihi system, while identifying the adaptive practice of "small creativity" as a contextually situated pedagogical response to institutional constraints. The findings extend understandings of creativity in language education by demonstrating how teachers adapt creative pedagogies within examination-oriented environments rather than abandoning them.