Journal of Culture and Values in Education

A Hispanic Framework for Transformational Leadership in K-12 Education: Puerto Rican Leaders Model Crisis Leadership

Barbara Flores Caballero — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0300

The United States, in alignment with the United Nations, has unequivocally declared that education is a human right. However, serious and pervasive achievement gaps grounded in race and socio-economic attainment exist for marginalized students, framing this gap as a human rights issue. Unfortunately, the achievement gaps are growing for Hispanic and Black students as well as English language learners. While closing the representation gap between students, teachers, and principals will address the issue of the achievement gap, this shift will predictably take decades to achieve. The researcher argues that this points to the need for a change in principal leadership as a short-term solution to closing the achievement gap. Hispanic English language learners are the fastest growing demographic of students; therefore, this shift in leadership should encompass the unique needs of Hispanic students. In the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic, the leadership lessons from principals in Puerto Rico offer valuable lessons for educators on the mainland. This article provides a new model for transformational crisis leadership that can close the achievement gap through an equity lens.

Sustaining a Healthy Supervisor-Student Relationship: Students Speak

Mbusiseni C Dube — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0300

Student supervision process is a cumbersome exercise which requires both supervisor and student or supervisee to work in tandem. This implies that there should be a good relationship which culminates to trust between the supervisor and student. However, if the supervisor and student mistrust each other, the whole supervision process may be a fiasco. The problem is that some supervisors are reckless when it comes to handling students and their supervision matters, and this affects supervision relationship. Without a healthy relationship between a supervisor and a student, the undertaking and completion of the research study may not be feasible. This paper sought to examine students’ voices on strategies to sustain a healthy relationship between the supervisor and the student. Data were generated qualitatively using semi-structured interviews and the study was sampled purposively. Using a thematic analysis, this study revealed that a healthy relationship can be sustained through open lines of communication, giving hope and motivation, teamwork, honesty about capabilities, mutual respect, providing timeous feedback, keeping confidentiality and providing guidance and support. This study concludes that supervisors should guard against the manner they treat their students because if they treat them badly and or disrespectfully, the supervision process may be negatively impacted. Therefore, this study recommends that supervisors should explore different ways of accommodating students with their needs and be flexible enough to support them so as to secure and sustain the supervision relationship that can determine the completion of the research study.

Educational Access and Success: Unravelling Challenges faced by Children of Widows in Sub-Saharan Africa

Ratidzai Shoko — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0300

It has been established that widowhood has detrimental impacts on both the widow and the children. Extreme poverty and widowhood are linked, and this has a significant effect on children. The claim is that the absence of the father reduces the financial resources available to the children, adversely affecting their ability to access and succeed in school. This paper explores how widowhood affects children’s achievement in school and access to it. Intersectionality will serve as the theoretical foundation for this investigation. Descriptive research will be used in this conceptual work. Information was gathered from e-books, academic papers, and research articles. The collected data was examined, and the conclusions were stated. The study results showed that the widow’s financial situation influences the children’s academic progress and access. It was shown that children whose mothers come from stable financial backgrounds are more likely to have access to educational facilities and excel in their studies. In contrast, those whose mothers’ income is unpredictable are more likely to have difficulties getting to and succeeding in school. Resources should be provided to widows’ children so that they can succeed in their academic work. To help widows care for their children without experiencing any issues, there should be policies that support widows’ immediate access to their husband’s estate.

Is Peter Your Real Name? An Autohistoria-Teoría Exploration of Self-Identity Conflict through Cultural Naming and Colonial

Peter Ndiangui — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0300

This study critically examines the enduring impact of colonialism on cultural and personal identity through the imposition of European names on the Kikuyu people of Kenya. Orchestrated by Christian missionaries and colonial administrators, this renaming served as a deliberate mechanism of cultural domination, severing vital connections between individuals and their ancestral, spiritual, and communal roots. In Kikuyu cosmology, names carry deep significance, linking individuals to lineage, memory, and land. The disruption of this system constituted a profound erasure of identity. In response, Kikuyu communities developed a dual naming practice: European names were adopted in colonial public domains, while indigenous names were preserved in private and familial contexts. This negotiation of identity under colonial rule illustrates both the psychological fragmentation imposed by colonial structures and the cultural resilience of the colonized. In the post-colonial era, the reclamation of traditional Kikuyu names has emerged as a powerful act of resistance and self-determination, even as European names continue to persist in contemporary Kenyan society, reflecting the lasting legacy of colonial power. Drawing on archival sources, missionary records, church registers, oral histories, and interviews, the study employed thematic analysis informed by postcolonial theoretical frameworks, including those of Foucault, Fanon, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Cultural validity was maintained by grounding the analysis in indigenous epistemologies, while reliability was ensured through triangulation and thematic consistency across diverse data sources. The findings underscore naming as a critical site of cultural struggle, highlighting how acts of linguistic imposition and resistance shape collective memory, post-colonial identity, and the ongoing quest for cultural sovereignty in Africa.

The Impact of Contrastive Analysis on Turkish Linguistic Competence: An Empirical Investigation Among Students in Kazakhstan

Saule Daurenbek, Fatma Açık, Didar Ryskulbek — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 03:18:58 +0300

This study aims to examine the impact of contrastive analysis on the linguistic competence of Kazakh students. The study sample consisted of 66 basic-level Kazakh students studying Turkish as a foreign language at Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design, a quantitative research method, was utilized in the study. The study included an experimental group that received contrastive analysis instruction and a control group that followed traditional teaching methods. Data were collected through the Turkish Level Test and Turkish Proficiency Exam, both developed by Gazi TÖMER, along with a personal information form to collect variables affecting outcomes. A mixed-design ANOVA was used to examine both between-group differences and within-subject changes over time. The results revealed a statistically significant interaction effect, showing that contrastive analysis had a positive impact on the students’ Turkish linguistic competence. Based on these findings, it was concluded that contrastive analysis supported Kazakh students' acquisition of Turkish structures. Therefore, it is recommended that foreign language instruction—especially between typologically similar languages—integrate contrastive approaches and utilize the native language as a translanguaging resource.

The Role of TV Programmes in Developing Children's Language Skills

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 07:55:04 +0300

This study aims to examines the impact of television programs in developing children’s language skills, with a focus on the deficiencies in the language used in TV programming. To explore these issues, the authors conducted a comprehensive survey across all regions of Kazakhstan and analysed the findings. Based on respondents’ feedback, the study identified primary challenges and drew conclusions grounded in scholarly perspectives. The survey addressed several aspects, including the language of children's television programmes and its effect on linguistic development, children's fluency in Kazakh, the extent to which media language conforms to linguistic norms, common speech deficiencies among children, and the amount of time children spend watching television. The survey involved 407 participants. Lexical deviations in children's language were analysed using data from a social questionnaire completed by respondents. Conducted across diverse demographic and geographic regions, the survey results show the frequency and impact of various social factors contributing to lexical deviations, including children's exposure to television. The study also highlighted the role of parents in fostering native language development (Kazakh) and confirmed that the surrounding environment – especially television – affects children’s adherence to lexical norms. The questionnaire was administered in the state language, with respondents given the opportunity to provide additional comments. Based on the findings, the study assessed the impact of television on children's language development and proposed recommendations for linguistic, cultural, and social interventions.

Mapping the Landscape of Critical Thinking Skills in Higher Education in the AI Era: A Bibliometric and Systematic Literature Review

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 18:25:31 +0300

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed higher education, creating new demands for the cultivation of critical thinking skills in academic settings. This study combines bibliometric mapping and a systematic literature review to explore the publication landscape and examine how critical thinking is conceptualized and developed in AI-integrated higher education. Metadata were retrieved from the Scopus database on December 24, 2024, yielding 90 documents, with 22 selected for full-text analysis. The study findings reveal several influential authors, relevant journal sources, affiliations, key themes central to current studies, and potential themes for future research. The systematic review reveals a fragmented research landscape with limited theoretical consistency in defining critical thinking. Some studies refer to established frameworks such as Bloom's revised Taxonomy and Paul and Elder's intellectual standards, while others use the term “critical thinking” without a clear conceptual foundation. The review identifies key challenges, including overreliance on AI, diminished reflective engagement, and ethical issues such as academic dishonesty and misinformation. However, AI also presents notable opportunities for supporting critical thinking through adaptive feedback, personalized learning, collaborative reasoning, and immersive simulations. Various pedagogical strategies are proposed, including AI-integrated assessments, scaffolded feedback, ethics instruction, and AI literacy training, which aim to strengthen both cognitive processes and intellectual dispositions. These findings underscore the importance of intentional pedagogical design and stronger theoretical integration to ensure that AI enhances rather than undermines critical thinking. This study offers actionable insights for educators, researchers, and policymakers seeking to leverage AI in ways that uphold the integrity and depth of human reasoning.