Journal of Culture and Values in Education

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

2025-08-14T15:43:27+03:00

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

2025-08-14T15:43:27+03:00

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

2025-08-14T15:43:27+03:00

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

2025-08-14T15:43:27+03:00

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

2025-08-14T15:43:27+03:00

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.