Life skills are personal resources that can be trained and applied in a specific situation and transferred to other contexts. The growing body of research has shown that intervention programs produce positive results in learning and transferring life skills. Nonetheless, there is a need to clarify the efficacy of life skills training, namely the theoretical background of life skills interventions and how to organize the intervention programs. This paper attempts to overcome these gaps of literature by providing a conceptualization of life skills into two axes: typology (cognitive to physical continuum) and function (personal and interpersonal). Also, it is presented a theoretical model of life skills training that establishes the stages and principles of life skills acquisition, the variables that influence training, and the measures and hypotheses that can be used to evaluate the efficacy of life skills training. In sum, we clarify the actual challenges of life skills training and provide indications on how to apply and evaluate the efficacy of the intervention.

The lives and learning experiences of high school students are increasingly intertwined with online activities. With the global trend of Education 4.0, equipping students with digital skills is essential, including the capacity for online social-emotional skills. Someone with social-emotional skills knows how to turn social media into a useful tool, providing opportunities for personal development. This study focuses on developing social-emotional competence for high school students in the context of the Education 4.0 trend. The project has developed a learning program consisting of 6 common social-emotional skill themes for both virtual and real environments and implemented a test on 34 students. Using experimental evaluation methods, classroom observation, and quantitative methods were employed to assess the effectiveness of the program. The results indicate a significant improvement in students' social-emotional competence, with an average score post-experiment of 3.7397. Our experimental model also achieved 63.6% of CASEL criteria for organizing social-emotional competence. Therefore, the study has strengthened the findings and achievements in the development of social-emotional competence training in the fields of educational psychology in Vietnam.

Using R to conduct univariate meta-analyses is becoming common for publication. However, R can also conduct multivariate meta-analysis (MMA). However, newcomers to both R and MMA may find using R to conduct MMA daunting. Given that, R may not be easy for those unfamiliar with coding. Likewise, MMA is a topic of advanced statistics. Thus, it may be very challenging for most newcomers to conduct MMA using R. If this holds, this can be viewed as a practice gap. In other words, the practice gap is that researchers are not capable of using R to conduct MMA in practice. This is problematic. This paper alleviates this practice gap by illustrating how to use R (the metaSEM package) to conduct MMA on educational psychology data. Here, the metaSEM package is used to obtain the required MMA text outputs. However, the metaSEM package is not capable of producing the other required graphical outputs. As a result, the metafor package is also used as a complimentary to generate the required graphical outputs. Ultimately, we hope that our audience will be able to apply what they learn from this method paper to conduct MMA using R in their teaching, research, and publication.

The current study investigates the academic adaptation levels of international students and their motivations for pursuing higher education in Turkey. The study also aimed to compare the adaptation of international students in higher education in terms of various variables such as gender, age, duration in Turkey, education level, and university. A mixed-methods design was employed, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The study involved 222 international students from four universities in Konya who completed an online questionnaire. Data collection used the "international students’ adaptation to higher education" scale. The quantitative data in this study were subjected to statistical analyses, using non-parametric tests such as the Mann– Whitney U test and the Kruskal– Wallis H test, while the qualitative data were analyzed using the content analysis technique. Because of the analysis, it was noted that international students demonstrated heightened levels of adaptation in the realms of academic processes, academic principles, and socio-cultural dimensions of university life. However, a moderate level of adaptation was identified in the domain of academic experiences, shedding light on some challenges encountered by students in this aspect. Additionally, the results showed no significant differences in academic adaptation levels among international students based on study variables. Concerning the motivations of international students to pursue higher education in Turkey, prominent factors encompass the quality and diversity of higher education opportunities, historical and cultural heritage, ease of living, affordability, and religious and ethnic ties. This underscores the importance of universities and policymakers in Turkey to recognize challenges and promote the strengths of the country as an international study destination.

This study used the COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities (COSMO) Study to examine home learning and parent attitudes to education during Covid-19 in relation to demographic and household financial circumstances and parent educational aspirations. The findings showed that White, female, and degree-educated parents were more likely than their counterparts to report positive attitudes to home learning, support their 16-year-olds’ learning, and contact schools during the lockdowns. Parents who experienced food poverty and reported being financially worse off after the pandemic were less likely to support home learning or contact schools but reported largely positive attitudes to learning. Also, parents who reported lower educational aspirations were more likely to support their children’s learning, reflecting their educational needs. This study contributes to our understanding of home learning during the pandemic and has implications for public policy and action regarding supporting children’s learning during health crises and reducing education inequalities.

The following research presents the outcomes of a cohort study investigating formal thinking skills among first and second-year secondary school students. A specially crafted instrument, the Logical Thought Performance Test for Adolescents (LTP-A), was employed to gauge the level of formal thought. The LTP-A assesses various aspects, including: combinatorial reasoning; proportional reasoning; permutation; inferences derived from exclusive and inclusive disjunction; biconditional and asymmetric implication; and, modus tollens. The study compares the achievements of four student groups from two educational institutions at two distinct time points, with a thirty-year gap. The independent variables include the sociocultural level and the epochal aspect. Methodologically, one-way analysis of variance and cluster analysis were performed, showing significant differences in relation to sociocultural level. Results suggest that the sociocultural factor outweighs epochal differences. Then, a content analysis of some answers was carried out to detect resolution strategies, some conceptual categories and types of errors. Conclusions explore the moderating role of students' sociocultural levels, and provide educational recommendations.

The mental well-being of individuals is as important as their physical health, contributing to their overall quality of life. It is, however, often neglected due to associated stigma, with people silently suffering from mental health challenges. In India, a large population is struggling with mental health concerns, especially teenagers and adolescents. With a population of around 1.4 billion, India faces an immense shortage of adequate mental health services, realizing the need for alternate strategies to fill the treatment gap. As teachers spend much time with students in school, they can contribute to their mental well-being if provided with capacity-building opportunities. This study aims to measure the impact of a teacher sensitization program in Indian government schools on mental health-related knowledge, beliefs, and the behaviours demonstrated by them in the classroom while interacting with children, creating a ripple effect towards students’ mental well-being. A total of 136 teachers who were teaching at government high schools in the district of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, were included in the study. The study used a pre- and post-design to investigate the impact of a teacher sensitization program on their understanding related to mental health. The results indicated notable improvements in teachers' attitudes and beliefs toward mental well-being, with significant improvements observed in areas such as behaviour, teachers' body language, relationships with students, and the use of effective teaching strategies. The findings highlight the importance of professional development initiatives to equip teachers with the skills to effectively support student well-being.

According to the systems perspective, the influence of various systems (e.g., family, school, community) on children's behavior at school is highly acknowledged. It is therefore accepted that problem behavior in the classroom originates from social interactions, providing a conceptual framework where problems are seen as indicative of dysfunction within the school system, thus removing blame from the individual child, the teacher, or the parents. Addressing the importance of interactions among students, teachers, and parents in this system, the present study aimed to identify and compare the types of behaviors that Greek primary and secondary teachers and parents view as problematic in the classroom. A sample of 378 teachers and 69 parents were asked to identify which behaviors were considered troublesome. Exploratory factor analysis revealed five categories of behaviors perceived as problematic by parents and teachers: Externalizing behaviors, School Difficulties, Internalizing behaviors, Attention seeking behaviors, and Hyperactivity/attention difficulties. Both teachers and parents considered externalizing behaviors to be more troublesome than other types of behavior. Teachers tend to worry less than parents about all types of children’s behaviors, except for school difficulties. The findings highlight the importance of considering diverse perspectives within the school system when designing interventions to address the specific needs of school communities while also promoting collaboration among all members of the school system.