This study investigated whether various aspects of the home learning environment -- that is, learning-related processes, parental perceptions of their child, and structural characteristics -- predicted private tutoring attendance in Grade 8. We used the data of 7393 students from the German National Educational Panel Study. Seventeen percent of…

Research on the big-fish-little-pond effect demonstrates that class-average achievement negatively affects students' academic self-concept via social comparison processes. The neighborhood-effects literature reports positive effects of advantageous socioeconomic neighborhood conditions on students' academic development via collective socialization…

To promote pro-environmental behavior (PEB), it is crucial to understand the drivers behind it. Studies indicate that, in addition to environmental attitudes and nature activities, interest in nature drives people to engage in PEB. However, the relationship between interest in nature and PEB is still greatly understudied among adolescents even…

Over the last twenty years, visual methods in childhood research have become more mainstream across social science research. Through this paradigm shift, children became active agents in the research process. Participant-produced drawings in particular allow a constructive process of thinking in action, rather than seeing drawings as simple…

The Home Learning Environment (HLE) focuses on everyday learning habits in families to support the development of children's early cognitive competencies. A growing number of studies have assessed the HLE by using different conceptual approaches and various assessment methods, often focusing on either the home literacy environment or the home…

Comparative education scholars are often sceptical of teaching effectiveness research that compares 'teaching quality' using systematic classroom observation systems across nations. This article investigates how three international observation systems designed for comparative use, and studies that apply them, attend to three concerns intrinsic to…

In studies of academic resilience, the concept is typically operationalized by pre-defined cutoff values of students' achievement level and their social background. A threat to the validity of such arbitrary operationalizations is that students around the cutoff values may be misclassified. The main objective of the current study is to apply a…

This paper reports the findings of a case study that examined the importance of flexible learning spaces and student-centred pedagogies for facilitating effective teaching and learning in schools. By exploring the arrangement of learning spaces at the school level, the study compared a case school in Germany with the Future Classroom Lab Model.…

Academic resilience is difficult to define in an international setting, since economic levels and achievement standards vary across countries and over time. In studies of academic resilience, the concept is typically operationalized using pre-defined cut-offs of achievement and social background. The main objective of the current study is to apply…

This study presents a novel standardized rating instrument for observing and measuring effective classroom management (ECM) as part of the teaching and learning environments in primary school. The instrument comprises eight high-inferent items on organizational aspects (lack of disruptions/discipline problems, withitness, effective time use, clear…

There is a large base of empirical evidence that points to the importance of school leadership with regard to functional schools and student achievement. Based on this importance, a change of principal can be a critical event for a school. This study seeks to answer the question if principal turnover is associated with a change in a school's…

Teachers' well-being is important for the optimal functioning of schools and educational systems. Contextual and individual factors influencing teachers' work-related well-being have been identified but rarely investigated concurrently. This study examined contributions of school climate and job crafting to teacher well-being. Time-lagged survey…

Despite the immense amount of literature on ethical leadership and ethical climate, little is known about how ethical leadership characteristics are correlated with different dimensions of ethical climate. This study investigated the relationship between ethical leadership and ethical climate in European educational organizations. With a view to…

Hands-on activities are considered to be particularly suitable for generating long-term knowledge that increases environmentally friendly behaviour. Appropriate flagship species in a respective curricular context can enable high-quality education. We have developed a teaching concept and material for hands-on activities with bumblebees. This…

We examined whether German adolescents who participated in an adapted 8-week school-based intervention, the "Identity Project," reported greater changes in heritage and global identities and perceptions of classroom cultural climate. We used a longitudinal, wait-list control design pooling eight classrooms across the school years of…