Environment and Social Psychology

Primary school religious education is important and understudied in modern educational practice. Classes on religious education are used to impart knowledge to pupils about the world’s main religions. Knowledge about specific religions, or how to collaborate with representatives of different religions, is mostly absent. Unfortunately, teachers of religious education often do not use their classes as a tool for their students’ moral and spiritual development. It is also one of the problems for Swedish schools and it has to be solved because Sweden is a very multicultural country with representatives of many religions; and one of the tasks of modern schools is to show how to be tolerant of others. This research aims to highlight problems and develop ways of teaching religious education in primary schools through theoretical literature analysis on the research topic. Also, we provide didactic exercises which teachers can use during religion lessons to diversify them and make it more accessible to students.

Adult learners, in particular, must possess lifelong learning (LLL) skills to prepare for their future endeavours. Knowing their strengths in LLL characteristics is crucial for them as it allows better understanding of their learning strengths. There are studies that suggest adult learners do not engage enough in LLL as their learning style. This may conflict with their characteristic of being independent learners, which involves a continual process of learning in order to be able to maintain themselves. It is therefore the purpose of this study to investigate the relationship between LLL characteristics and LLL tendency among adult learners in higher education institutions in Malaysia. It also aims to investigate any moderating effect from demographic data, gender and academic background. The data were collected through an online survey and analysed using SPSS with a 95% response rate. The statistical analysis used for the analysis includes descriptive and inferential analysis of multiple linear regression analysis and moderating analysis. The result indicates that there is a medium positive relationship between LLL characteristics and LLL tendency. In terms of the moderator, gender and academic background do not affect the relationship in any way. This study may benefit stakeholders, especially management, in ensuring that adult learners can maximize their potential to adopt continuous learning practices.

The impact of pandemic control measures on student education in rural areas of China, particularly focusing on the challenges faced by educators. With the adoption of diverse pedagogical methods like online education during the pandemic, little attention has been given to the specific struggles of teachers in rural regions. The pandemic has exacerbated existing issues, leading to an alarming increase in rural teacher attrition. High turnover rates have detrimental effects on educational excellence, school culture, and the overall cohesion of educational institutions. Furthermore, the costs incurred to recruit and train new instructors in impoverished or remote communities pose additional challenges. As China lifts COVID-19 restrictions in 2022, a pivotal moment emerges for the advancement of rural education. To address challenges and support early-career teachers’ resilience, a comprehensive understanding of the rural educational environment is crucial. By prioritizing the well-being and needs of new teachers, education leaders can provide effective support and resources in the post-pandemic era, leading to a more optimistic scholastic atmosphere and improved student achievement.

In this era of uncertainty, the adverse impact of social ill-being brings forth dissatisfaction and discontentment in our life. Social peace gives us the required nourishment to yield a quality life. In this study, we made a modest attempt to assess to what extend the individuals’ life gets affected in these hours of post COVID-19 crisis. To understand the mental frame of individuals, we have adjudged the recourse to two key factors, i.e., digital illiteracy, communication crisis and social isolation, which might lead to dissatisfaction of life. Moreover, the present research assessed the degree of impact of social ill-being on the individuals’ life dissatisfaction. It gives us the provision to explore the mediating effect of higher stress on the association between social ill-being and life dissatisfaction. This honest attempt may help citizens and policymakers to get channelized, well-digitally equipped and prepared to come up with innovative solutions that serve to manage the curse of the COVID-19.

This study was conducted to identify the influence of academic stress and self-control on the psychological well-being of university students in the Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia campus. Besides that, gender ethnicity and location (on-campus and off-campus) have been compared according to academic stress, self-control and psychological well-being. This study uses a quantitative method in which 320 university students were involved. The research questionnaire consists of the Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PAS), the Sense of Control Scale and the Psychological Wellbeing (PWB) Scale were used as instruments of this study. This study found that academic stress and self-control are direct predictors of the psychological well-being of university students during the COVID-19, with beta value, the study findings showed (Beta = –0.18, R² = 0.056, p < 0.05) and self-control (Beta = 0.17, R² = 0.052, p < 0.05). Based on this indicates, academic stress contributed (5.6%) and self-control (5.2%) to the psychological well-being of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is due to the academic stress from the aspect of workload that is given during the online teaching and learning sessions. Therefore, university student needs to give importance to self-control and other recreational activity for them to be psychologically happy during the COVID-19 pandemic. With high self-control, students can manage their academic stress and increase their psychological well-being.

Cultural perspectives are important when exploring caregivers’ experiences. However, not much research has been conducted in South Africa on the experiences of caregivers who are taking care of children living with an autism spectrum disorder. This study was aimed at reviewing literature on the experiences of caregivers living with autistic children. A narrative review was employed as the research method and information was purposively extracted from different databases such as Google Scholar, ScienceDirect and EBSCOHost to collect data. It was gathered that caregivers have insufficient knowledge and understanding regarding the child’s autism diagnosis. We also found that caregivers experience socio-economic and psychological challenges. Little social support is enjoyed by caregivers from community and family members as a coping strategy.  Thus, we conclude and recommend that caregivers need a form of intervention that will help or assist their psychosocial well-being while providing care for their children. Moreover, caregivers have limited knowledge of autism and experience psychological challenges that are associated with the autism diagnosis of their child. This affects their subsequent abilities to efficiently provide care to the children.