Achievement-oriented leaders let their followers know their expectations. They regularly set clear goals with potential high-performance standards, they trust in the capabilities of their subordinates, and they encourage the continued performance improvement of their subordinates. This investigation studied the effects of private secondary school principals’ leadership styles on teachers’ job performance. Four leadership styles outlined in the path–goal theory and five key performance indicators (KPIs) of teacher job performance were chosen for the present research. Numerous prior studies have documented this subject. However, they reported on teacher job performance as a single unit. Therefore, a concerted effort was required to examine the effects of adopted principal leadership styles on each of the five key performance indicators of teacher job performance. A total of 253 middle management personnel took part in this empirical study. The correlation findings from the structural equation modeling revealed that the directive leadership style had a significant effect on teacher job performance in the studied schools, followed by the supportive and achievement-oriented leadership styles. Conversely, although participative leadership was identified as a significant predictor, it was not considered a promising predictor of teacher job performance. This research was conducted in a non-Western culture, where directive leadership is beneficial for encouraging teacher job performance; this claim is greatly supported by the available rigorous literature.

Aim/Purpose: This study aims to examine the challenges faculty members face with online teaching practices in public universities in Karachi, Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty members’ pedagogical experiences were examined by following the approach of the technology acceptance model (TAM) framework presented by Davis in 1986 and 1989. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected educational activities and disrupted the traditional norms of education at colleges and universities in the world, and, as a result, teaching and learning have shifted to online. Accordingly, the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic has unexpectedly forced educators and educational leaders to analyze pedagogical measures to offer quality education to students and make changes to their curriculum and instruction. Methodology: This study used a mixed-method research design with closed-ended surveys and interviews. The researchers distributed online questionnaires and conducted phone call interviews, followed by simple random sampling approach to strengthen data collection and analysis. The research data were analyzed through descriptive statistical tests, including mean, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation, and thematic analysis. Contribution: By examining the challenges faculty members face with online teaching practices, this study contributes to the literature knowledge to advance the Practical-Knowledge gap (the lack of empirical studies in the context of practice and theoretical perspective) by knowing faculty members’ experiences and attitudes regarding online teaching in public universities in Karachi, Pakistan. The adopted framework of the technology acceptance model provides confirmation of reliability in the context of higher education institutions, which can help explore pedagogical challenges and practices of teachers who teach online in other provinces in Pakistan, cultures, and countries. This study provides suggestions to online teachers in Pakistan to sort out their challenges. Findings: The findings highlight a favorable attitude of faculty members’ usage of virtual platforms for teaching. Likewise, faculty members encountered several challenges that caused restrictions in accomplishing competent teaching and learning. Furthermore, faculty members lacked sound experience in conducting online classes and were not given adequate technical assistance or ICT infrastructure to cope with the technical challenges. Recommendations for Practitioners: It is recommended by this study that teachers should be given adequate professional development opportunities to develop technical and ICT infrastructure competencies to facilitate them to successfully teach online. Recommendation for Researchers: Another study should be conducted at the national level to reinforce the understanding and generalization of this study’s results. Furthermore, this study assessed public universities faculty members’ experiences through self-reported surveys and interviews. However, future researchers should employ other means and methods of examination such as private universities, public universities, primary schools, middle schools, secondary schools, and observations or focus group discussions to broaden the understanding of online teaching practices and challenges in Pakistan. Impact on Society: By examining faculty members’ experiences and challenges of teaching online, this study will help educators and educational leaders to raise the quality of online teaching in Pakistan by knowing the appropriate solutions and recommendations. Future Research: This study examined the adoption of three ICT indicators through pedagogical practices such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude to use. For future studies, researchers and practitioners should evaluate other indicators such as students’ learning outcomes.

Globalization and technology are presently impacting every aspect of life, with digital technologies helping to set the trend. Human-centricity and the ethical use of technology are integral components of Society 5.0, which emphasizes quality of life, productivity, social responsibility, and sustainability. The purpose of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of how Higher Education 5.0 empowers the future workforce in the landscape of Society 5.0. A systematic literature review was conducted using 18 full-text research papers from the Scopus database. It shows that the number of studies in this area is limited. The results revealed the critical role of education in cultivating the digital skills necessary for upcoming professionals. In order to transition from higher education to the workplace, fresh graduates need academic and practical readiness to meet the demands of a future-ready workforce. The contribution of the future workforce will also be crucial in building a harmonious human-centric society that will use technology to improve the quality of life towards sustainable living as envisioned by the United Nations’ SDGs. Additionally, we identify the current gaps in the research on Education 5.0 in the landscape of Society 5.0 and subsequently provide recommendations for the future.

Economic growth has been attributed to STEM education in many countries. It is widely recognized as crucial to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, especially for traditionally disadvantaged groups. In this age of the fourth Industrial Revolution, we are going through a rapid change. Several difficulties have been associated with STEM’s implementation, particularly troubling developing countries. In this article, we investigated STEM teachers’ unique challenges in their classroom experiences and how these factors influence their instructional practices and students’ learning outcomes. STEM teachers’ teaching reflections at the secondary level were examined in this qualitative study. A purposive sampling method was used to recruit ten novice STEM teachers. The data were analyzed using NVivo11. Despite their disciplinary expertise and the variety of teaching methods they employed, the teachers faced numerous challenges. Teachers faced difficulties managing classrooms, developing curriculums, and recognizing practical constraints in STEM education. Teacher beliefs about effective STEM education, the tension between these beliefs and the teaching goals of the teachers were closely linked to the teachers’ beliefs about effective STEM education and the educational system’s expectations. For STEM teachers, the mastery of content knowledge is critical. A regular exchange of experience is of significant help to teaching. Teachers’ pedagogy and professional development in STEM education are discussed concerning underdeveloped countries’ contexts. Researchers and educators in developing countries might not understand STEM education’s significance. The reason may also be that STEM education in developing countries faces several challenges.

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic is triggering a public health emergency and crisis on a large scale, with far-reaching effects and severe damage to all aspects of politics, economy, cultural and social life, and health. Consecutive outbreaks over the past nearly 2 years of “living with COVID-19” have forced most schools to physically close, resulting in the largest educational disruption in human history. In turbulent times of the COVID-19 crisis, school leaders are facing numerous major challenges germane to school governance and leadership. The key objective of the study is to fully explore the prospective challenges principals are encountering in public schools in times of COVID-19. To fulfill the research purpose, a systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out to investigate the leadership challenges. As a result, a total of 24 challenges were explored through SLR approach. Frequency analysis approach was initially applied to figure out the most significant challenges. Accordingly, seven challenges were found statistically significant as showing frequency ≥ 50 each. Irrevocably, the study works as a contribution to K-12 school leadership by providing guidance for current and future leaders in crisis based on practical investigation, experiences, and recommendations. Policy makers can leverage these findings to make necessary adjustments to school policy to better prepare school leaders for crisis. Additionally, the findings of the current study are believed to have profound implications for future research. These findings expand our current understanding on school leadership in time of crisis that needs further investigation. Subsequent studies can quantitatively and/or qualitatively validate these leadership challenges findings regarding a particular school context.