Use of technologies and online presence is now almost inevitable in language learning. The practice of virtual exchanges (VEs) has been receiving a lot of attention among educators at all levels over the past years. This research paper sheds light on 13 VEs carried out in pre-service teacher education in the last six years and proposes its own VE design based on recommendations from the literature with the future perspective of designing a specific VE for the research. The aim of the systematic review was at first to determine the exchange and interaction set-ups and the potential gains in the terms of pre-service teachers’ skills development. Afterwards, we identified areas for improvement and proposed our design of a VE between pre-service teachers of English in Slovakia and Turkey. Some of the expected contributions of the proposed VE design are development of a linguistic and intercultural communicative competence, digital literacy, and other competences relevant for development of VEs.

Work can be demanding, imposing challenges that can be detrimental to the job performance of employees. Efforts are therefore underway to develop practices and initiatives that may improve job performance and well-being. These include interventions based on mindfulness, inclusive leadership and work engagement. In the present study, authors have presented an association of inclusive leadership and mindfulness towards job performance through employee work engagement among secondary teachers in the context of Hong Kong. The sample size of 263 teachers working from three secondary schools in Sha Tin, Hong Kong has been incorporated in this study. A structured questionnaire designed on a 5-point Likert scale has been used based on purposive sampling by analysis of IBM SPSS 27 and Smart PLS version 4.0.9 by applying a structural equation modelling approach (SEM). The results indicated a strong positive influence on employee work engagement and job performance. Moreover, the bootstrap investigation showed that mindfulness and inclusive leadership were significantly associated with employees’ work engagement in the presence of mediators’ work engagement. This study adds to the very scarce literature on inclusive leadership and mindfulness. In addition, this research is the first study to test the mindfulness skill, inclusive leadership and job performance relationship. Furthermore, this is the first study to explore the concept of mindfulness and inclusive leadership in the Hong Kong context. Moreover, the findings of this research can be beneficial for future theory development on mindfulness skill and inclusive leadership in cross-cultural contexts.

Sustainable development (SD) is an approach that aims to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a key component in achieving this goal, as it equips young people with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to make sustainable decisions. This study investigated how preschool teachers in Saudi Arabia understood (SD) and the state of (ESD) practices. A survey was used to collect data from 230 Saudi preschool teachers. The findings revealed that 90% of teachers lacked awareness regarding SD. The overall evaluation of ESD practices among participants indicated a weak subpar status, with an average score of 2.49 out of 4. Notably, in ascending order, the following three dimensions had weak mean scores: the content aspect (2.38) had the lowest score, followed by the practice aspect (2.54) and the competencies aspect (2.58). Meanwhile, the values aspect (2.63) had an average outcome. Analysing the mean scores of ESD practices based on teachers’ qualifications and school types revealed significant differences, although no variations were observed based on experience. The primary obstacle to ESD implementation in pre-schools was the lack of awareness regarding SD/ESD. The study underscores the significance of expanding teacher training to promote ESD effectively in pre-school settings. The results highlight the need for professional development opportunities to improve ESD implementation in classrooms, educate Saudi preschool teachers about SD, and create instructional materials that align with the principles of ESD.

Comparative studies of national values are becoming increasingly important in the context of contemporary globalization processes. An essential condition for the shaping of national values in learners is the enrichment of pedagogical technology with components of digital technology. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in the current study. The purpose of this research is to examine the efficacy of mobile learning in shaping the national values of prospective teachers. The experiment included 180 participants. Diagnostics of the levels of national values formation in the initial stage confirmed the assumption about the low formation of national values among teacher candidates and, consequently, the need for targeted work on their formation. This study demonstrates that significant advances in students’ national values have occurred following the introduction and testing of mobile learning with experimental group (EG) participants to shape national values. The data from this study can serve as the basis for creating strategies for shaping the national values of learners in universities and as a methodological basis for adapting mobile learning for the shaping of national values.

Despite being controversial, teacher tenure policies are understudied, particularly in higher education contexts outside the Western world. Using semi-structured interviews with 15 university faculty members, this study explored how tenure systems influence the teaching practices, motivations, and job satisfaction of language teachers in Macau's universities. It was revealed that Macau implemented competitive, “up or out” tenure policies that were based on research output. Faculty were anxious as vague expectations heightened research priorities over teaching quality and student support. Requirements also strained collegial relationships as faculty goals focused on promotion. Veteran professors demonstrated resilience, maintaining intrinsic motivation despite policies. They advocated improving policies by promoting transparency, balancing workloads, accommodating disciplines, and communicating effectively. Using empirical data, this study identifies key policy implications for supporting teacher motivation while balancing inequality constraints. It provides empirical insight into optimizing tenure for teacher engagement and fulfillment.

Sustainability and green campus initiatives are widely examined in developed countries but less attention has been paid in developing countries such as Pakistan. Therefore, this study intends to examine the links between sustainability dimensions and green campus initiatives by mediating role of teachers and students’ involvement. Green campus or sustainable campus or environment friendly campus is based on the principles of environmental sustainability, incorporating social, and economic and environmental dimensions. Questionnaire for assessment of sustainability was adopted and 529 responses were received from the faculty, management and servicing staff of the seven Mountain Universities of the Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Northern Pakistan. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PL-SEM) was used to analyse the data. The results indicated that energy conservation, water conservation, green transport, sustainable waste management have enhanced campus green initiatives. Teachers and students’ involvement partially mediate the relationship between green transport strategies, sustainable waste management and green campuses initiatives. While on another hand, teachers and students’ involvement have not mediated the links between energy conservation, water conservation and green campus initiatives. The study contributes to theory building in the area of green and environment friendly campus initiatives by enriching the understanding of the processes carrying the effect of sustainability dimensions and both teachers and students’ involvement.