c e p s Journal | V ol.12 | N o 3 | Y ear 2022 7 Editorial This issue of CEPSj introduces papers that are not a part of a specific fo - cus but fall into the category of V aria. The content of the papers differs, and they comprise topics from the inclusion of differentiation in literacy lessons, college attendance among low-income students, stress among primary school teachers, quality pedagogical practice in early childhood education institutions relating to children at risk of social exclusion, leadership in the organisational culture of preschool institutions and organisational culture in public universities. The second part of this CEPSj Varia issue deals with the influence of Covid-19 on education in different countries. The first paper, entitled ‘The Inclusion of Differentiation in Literacy Les - sons in the First and Second Grades of Slovenian Primary School’, by Jasna Švajger, introduces the problem of teachers’ adaptations of the lessons to the student’s individual abilities, prior knowledge, interests, and social skills. Her study, which aims to examine the inclusion of differentiation in literacy lessons in the first and second grades of Slovenian primary schools, was carried out on a smaller scale ( N = 79). It also aims to determine the views of first- and second-grade primary school teachers on differentiation and how it takes place in literacy lessons, and which factors affect student performance in class. The results show that the inclusion of differentiation in literacy lessons is present throughout the initial literacy teaching process. Slovenian teachers undergo regular training and professional development courses in this area, thus con - tributing to students’ educational success and affecting their personal growth and development. Teachers estimate that the intertwining of individual abili - ties, family environment, engagement in co-curricular activities and well-de - veloped social skills represents a key factor in student success. It was expected that internal differentiation would be more effective than external differentia - tion. Surprisingly, however, teachers report that heterogeneous groups do not enhance educational efficiency. The second paper by Christian Michael Smith and Noah Hirschl, entitled ‘College Attendance among Low-Income Y outh: Explaining Differences across Wisconsin High Schools’, deals with the problems of low-income students’ postsecondary participation to remediate their disadvantages and to improve society’s overall level of education. Recent research has demonstrated that sec - ondary schools vary considerably in their tendencies to send students to post - secondary education, but existing research has not systematically identified the school characteristics that explain this variation. Identifying these characteris - tics can help improve low-income students’ postsecondary outcomes. Relevant doi: 10.26529/cepsj.1519 8 editorial characteristics are identified using population-level data from Wisconsin, a mid-size state in the United States. It is first shown that Wisconsin’s income- based disparities in postsecondary participation are wide. Next, it is shown that several geographic characteristics of schools help explain between-secondary school variation in low-income students’ postsecondary outcomes. Finally, whether a dense set of school organisational features explain any remaining variation is tested. The results indicated that these features explain virtually no variation in secondary schools’ tendencies to send low-income students to postsecondary education. The third paper, entitled ‘ Are they Stress-Free? Examining Stress among Primary School Teachers in Tanzania’ , by Patrick Severine Kavenuke, Joel Jona - than Kayombo and Mjege Kinyota presents a study in which authors examine the extent of stress among primary school teachers and the factors influenc - ing stress. Overall, the results indicate that teachers’ levels of stress range from low to moderate. Moreover, the results from hierarchical regression analysis indicate that factors such as sex, class size, age, career intentions and teaching subject significantly predict teachers’ stress. The study concludes that there is a need for the government, policymakers, and school administrators to reduce teachers’ workload. Furthermore, school administrators, in particular, should be supportive and design mechanisms that could develop a sense of collegiality among teachers to improve teacher-to-teacher relationships. Sandra Antulić Majcen and Maja Drvodelić, in their paper ‘Quality Pedagogical Practice in Early Childhood Education Institutions Relating to Children at Risk of Social Exclusion’ , study how the concept of quality in early childhood education and care from various research perspectives, with special emphasis on a review of the literature on the quality of pedagogical practice aimed at children at risk of social exclusion. The paper presents the theoreti - cal model of responding to the needs of children at risk of social exclusion in Croatian early childhood education and care. Special attention is given to the quality of pedagogical practice regarding children at risk of social exclusion as a prerequisite for planning targeted measures and interventions directed at this group of children and their families within the Croatian early childhood educa - tion and care system. It was concluded that the key factors for quality pedagogi - cal practice are an interdisciplinary approach of highly qualified professionals, the participation of all key stakeholders within the child’s immediate environ - ment, and the connection between relevant policies and practices, which are crucial for early childhood education and care quality. The fifth paper in this Varia issue, by Vesnica Mlinarević, Ružica Tokić Zec and Ana Cvjetičanin with the title ‘ A Model of Transformational Leadership c e p s Journal | V ol.12 | N o 3 | Y ear 2022 9 in the Organisational Culture of Preschool Institution’ , deals with the connec - tion between the characteristics of the leader and the transformational model of leadership in the organisational culture of the preschool institution. This research aims to determine whether the assessments and self-assessments of leaders and preschool teachers differ in the frequency of using the transfor - mational leadership style and to determine the relationship between that style and the leader’s personality traits. The research was conducted in a private Croatian preschool institution, which consists of 10 kindergartens. A total of 51 participants in 9 kindergartens participated in the research. The study used a quantitative research approach. The results show that preschool teachers and leaders do not differ significantly in estimates of the frequency of application of the transformational leadership style and that there is a significant correlation between some characteristics of the leader and the transformational model of preschool leadership. The objective of this research of the sixth paper by Iliriana Tahiraj and Janez Krek, with the title ‘Organisational Culture in Public University: A Case Study in Kosovo’ , was to identify the dominant organisational culture types in higher education and understand how the planned changes are aligned with the dominant cultures. The research was conducted in a large public university in Kosovo. The Competing Values Framework was used to assess the organisa - tional culture. The study adopted a quantitative research approach. The sample consisted of 102 academic staff from a population of approximately 960. The data were collected using a standardised instrument (The Organisational Cul - ture Assessment Instrument (OCAI)) to identify the dominant organisational culture based on four organisational culture types: clan, hierarchy, adhocracy, and market. The data related to the planned changes of the university were col - lected through document analysis. The research identified hierarchy and mar - ket cultures as the dominant cultures. The results also show that the dominant organisational cultures militate against the main planned changes. The findings confirm the relevance of the Competing Values Framework in assessing the organisational culture in higher education institutions and provide direction to academic leaders about how they can align their planned changes with the organisational culture to achieve better outcomes. The next five papers deal with the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on education in different countries, such as Indonesia, Lithuania, T urkey, Croa - tia, Germany and Slovenia. The first in this part, by Mohamad Arief Rafsanjani, Heni Purwa Pa - mungkas, Nujmatul Laily and Andri Eko Prabowo, with the title ‘Online Learning During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Readiness and Satisfaction among 10 editorial Indonesian Students’ , examines the relationship between Indonesian students’ readiness and satisfaction with online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. It used an online questionnaire to reach 518 students as participants. Structural equation modelling (SEM) with SmartPLS software was utilised to examine the relationship between the variables. The finding indicated four dimensions of student readiness (online student attributes, time management, technical competencies, and online communication competencies) closely related to their satisfaction with online learning. The result provided an understanding of online learning satisfaction from students’ readiness point of view during the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. This study serves as a starting point for stake - holders (government and education institutions) in making future policies. The next paper entitled ‘Through Thick and Thin: Lower Secondary School Students’ Barriers to Learning under Covid-19 Conditions’ by Rasa Nedzinskaite-Maciuniene, Egle Stasiunaitiene and Gerda Simiene also presents the problem of the Covid-19 pandemic in education. This paper aims to reveal what learning barriers lower secondary school students face and how schools can minimise these barriers. A systematic review of the literature from two well-known databases, EBSCO and ScienceDirect, was performed to identify and determine the prevailing consistencies and gaps. The empirical study fol - lows a qualitative research design as an explanatory case study. The data were collected through observations of online lessons, interviews with teachers and the school principal, and students’ reflections. In addition, inductive thematic analysis was employed. The empirical results help to identify secondary school students’ barriers to learning in terms of learning accessibility and technologi - cal literacy, planning and reflections on learning, self-regulated learning, active involvement, and emotional and psychological well-being. Furthermore, the study highlights how a school can minimise these barriers. The third paper in the Covid-19 section of this Varia issue, entitled ‘Distance Learning under the Covid-19 Conditions within Architectural Edu- cation’ by Emel Unver and Asli Sungur, presents distance learning as one of the means of education used at various levels, from primary school to college. However, distance learning in architectural education differs from other disci- plines, as architectural education is design-based with predominantly applied courses. As the spring semester of the 2019/20 academic year had to continue online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and it remained uncertain whether or when face-to-face (FtF) education would start before the end of the term, the necessity to focus on online education was suddenly raised in architectural faculties. This study aims to start a discussion on how to proceed with online architectural education, focusing on quality, defining the fundamentals, and c e p s Journal | V ol.12 | N o 3 | Y ear 2022 11 proposing suggestions within this scope. To achieve this aim, research on the evaluation of the existing distance learning platforms of universities, the dif- ferences between the implementations of theoretical and applied courses, and the advantages and disadvantages of the process are made. For this purpose, a comprehensive literature review on universities that provide fully online, hybrid and conventional (FtF) education throughout the world is conducted, given, and discussed in the paper. After the research on ongoing processes, a case study is designed and conducted to determine the experiences, opinions and approaches of students and academic staff within the scope of emergency remote teaching. Together with the findings of the review and the case study, the challenges, strengths, and opportunities of online architectural education are discussed and evaluated with a focus on maintaining and raising the qual- ity of the education. In conclusion, suggestions and proposals are presented to be applied and developed in architecture faculties’ future online education experiences. The fourth paper, ‘Parents’ Opinions about their Children’s Distance Learning during the First Wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic’ by Maja Drvodelić and Vlatka Domović, presents part of the results of an online survey investigat - ing the opinions of 1,205 parents of primary school children on various aspects of distance education. The responses were analysed using the thematic analysis approach. The initial answers of parents regarding the positive and negative aspects of education during the lockdown were grouped into categories. The results indicate that distance education positively contributed to the develop - ment of children’s self-regulated learning, providing greater parental support in learning and empowering children in using ICT. Parents emphasise positive changes in the quality of family relationships, which are partly the consequence of joint learning with their children and partly due to changes in the way of life during the lockdown. Negative aspects can be divided into two general cat - egories, the first of which is linked to children (e.g., lack of support from the school, lack of children’s interest in learning), while the second refers to the challenges faced by parents (e.g., fear of school failure, undertaking the double role of custodian and teacher). The findings suggest the need for developing recommendations to support parents and children in situations in which the teaching and learning process takes place in an online environment. The last paper in this Varia issue also deals with the Covid-19 pandemic in education. It is entitled ‘How the Covid-19 Pandemic was Experienced by Slovenian and German Adolescents with Specific Learning Difficulties’ by Kar - men Javornik, Marija Kavkler, Sven Lychatz and Milena Košak Babuder. In the study, the authors present findings on how Slovenian and German adolescents 12 editorial with specific learning difficulties perceived and solved some of the challenges of distance learning. The data were collected with online questionnaires in Slo - venian and German. Slovenian adolescents were statistically significantly more likely than German adolescents to mention problems with attention, the im - portance of multisensory learning, and the importance of being able to choose the time to learn, as well as psychosomatic problems. Slovenian adolescents had more experiences with praise from teachers during the pandemic, and they also mentioned more issues with the transition to distance learning and the use of information and communication technology. Younger adolescents had more parental help. Male adolescents were more likely to report that they did not have the right spatial conditions for learning. German adolescents spent more time chatting on social media and experienced less support for learning. Fe - male adolescents were more likely to express fear of the pandemic and a lack of learning support, while male adolescents across the sample missed their peers more. Most of the respondents came from families in which the pandemic did not cause serious material and spatial problems, but German adolescents were statistically significantly less likely to feel these consequences. According to the respondents, both countries had similar spatial and material conditions. This CEPSj Varia issue ends with two book reviews. The first presents the book by Ana Ž. Pešikan, Learning in Educational Context: Psychology of Learning/Teaching , and the second presents Teaching in the Online Classroom. Surviving and thriving in the new normal by Doug Lemov and The Teach Like a Champion Team. Iztok Devetak