Huda Salem Alazmi

International accreditation frameworks increasingly influence teacher education and quality assurance worldwide, yet limited research has examined their implementation in non-Western higher education contexts. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to explore faculty perceptions of how well the teacher education programs at Kuwait University’s College of Education align with the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) standards. The study also explained the institutional factors that shaped these perceptions. In the quantitative phase, a questionnaire was distributed to all eligible College of Education faculty members, and 38 faculty members completed the survey. In the qualitative phase, seven faculty members were purposively selected because of their direct experience with accreditation, quality assurance, and program evaluation. In addition, historical accreditation reports were analyzed to provide a broader institutional context. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data from the interview transcripts and historical accreditation reports were analyzed using thematic analysis. The quantitative findings indicated moderate perceived alignment with CAEP Standards 1 (Content and Pedagogical Knowledge), 2 (Clinical Partnerships and Practice), and 6 (Fiscal and Administrative Capacity), while lower alignment was reported for Standards 3 (Candidate Quality, Recruitment, and Selectivity), 4 (Program Impact), and 5 (Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement). The qualitative findings explained these patterns by revealing that weaker alignment was associated with challenges in candidate recruitment, curriculum alignment, school–university partnerships, evidence-based quality assurance, institutional leadership, organizational culture, communication, and resource capacity. The integrated findings demonstrate that successful implementation of international accreditation standards extends beyond technical compliance and depends on organizational readiness, institutional commitment, and sustained quality assurance processes within the local context. The study recommends strengthening institution-wide quality assurance systems, improving leadership coordination, and promoting evidence-based decision-making to support sustainable accreditation and the continuous improvement of teacher education programs.

Global Citizenship Education (GCE) plays a significant role in supporting the development (or the preparation) of informed and active citizens capable of engaging with global challenges in an increasingly interconnected world. Research within the GCE field suggests that there is presently a lack of investigation into preservice teachers’ conceptual understandings of the topic. This study, therefore, aim to address this gap in the literature by exploring preservice teachers’ perspectives (in Kuwait and Germany) regarding their conceptual understandings for the GCE, aiming to compare how future educators in both contexts define and interpret the subject. To achieve this goal, the study employed a qualitative comparative approach, using semi-structured interviews with 15 preservice teachers from Kuwait and 7 from Germany. These data were analyzed through a critical GCE lens to uncover underlying themes and interpretation differences. Findings revealed that, while preservice teachers from both countries articulated similar thematic understandings, their interpretations reflected distinct contextual differences. Moreover, both groups exhibited a predominantly soft approach to GCE. The study reveals the need for a more robust integration of critical GCE principles within teacher education programs in both settings.

There is increasing educational interest in immersive virtual reality (IVR) applications which aid student learning and performance. However, few empirical studies have investigated the potential for implementing the technology in middle-school social studies classrooms. This study employed a quasi-experimental approach to address this issue, using pre- and post-test evaluations to measure academic achievement, and questionnaires to examine cognitive load and sense-of-presence. 48 seventh-grade students participated, split evenly between experimental and control groups. The experimental group received a systematic set of IVR-based social studies lessons via Head-Mounted Displays, while the control group covered identical content conventionally. Experimental group participants attained higher academic achievement with lower cognitive loading than control group students. The experimental group also experienced high levels of multimodal presence (physical, social, and self). This study yielded empirical evidence demonstrating the potential benefits which IVR offers social studies education. Furthermore, it provides an example for how effective, IVR-based social studies lessons can be developed.

Although there is increased need for closing the gap between educational research and policy to better enable effective practice, addressing the problem remains a challenge. A review of current literature reveals a lack of systematic guidelines which clarify how collaboration between researchers and policy-makers can actually be achieved. Therefore, this study aims to articulate a framework which satisfies these needs. We used Lasswell’s stages heuristic model, integrated with perspectives from Kingdon's model, as a basis for building this framework, and conducted semi-structured interviews with nine experts in educational research and policy-making to gain understanding for how to effectuate their collaboration. The study identified six main stages for achieving effective collaboration, and the resulting framework could prove useful to future applications.

In the context of modern globalising forces, this study attempts to reframe the concept of citizenship education within the social studies curriculum. Utilising a qualitative study approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted to generate nine international experts’ perspectives on this issue, revealing two major themes of global citizenship education: (1) characteristics and (2) the best teaching practices (via learning dimensions). The first theme illustrates two characteristics of citizenship that should be reflected in the curriculum during this global era: First, there should be a broader focus that not only discusses the national level but also the regional and global levels, and secondly, there should be a deeper emphasis on the digital, social, economic, and cultural aspects rather than merely focusing on moral and political components. In the second theme, involving how to best educate students about global citizenship, three dimensions should be developed: cognitive, socioemotional, and behavioural. Teaching global citizenship should advance students’ civic knowledge, develop their feelings toward and social interactions with their global community, and help them to act and serve globally.

Researchers have developed various approaches for exploring the spatial information, temporal patterns, and Twitter content in topics of interest in order to generate a better understanding of human behavior; however, few investigations have integrated these three dimensions simultaneously. This study analyzes the content of tweets in order to conduct a spatiotemporal exploration of the main topics of interest in Kuwait in order to provide a deeper understanding of the topics people think about, when they think about them, and where they tweet about them. To this end, we collect, process, and analyze tweets from nearly 120 areas in Kuwait over a 10-month period. The study’s results indicate that religion, emotions, education, and public policy are the most popular topics of interest in Kuwait. Regarding the spatiotemporal analysis, people post more tweets regarding religion on Fridays, a holy day for Muslims in Kuwait. Moreover, people are more likely to tweet about policy and education on weekdays rather than weekends. In contrast, people tweet about emotional expressions more often on weekends. From the spatial perspectives, spatial clustering in topics occurs across the days of the week. The findings are applicable to further topic analysis and similar research in other countries.