International large-scale assessments are on the rise, with the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) seen by many as having strategic prominence in education policy debates. The present article reviews PISA-related English-language peer-reviewed articles from the programme's first cycle in 2000 to its most current in 2015. Five literature bases were searched, and results were analysed with SPSS. Results map the frequency of publications according to journal, country, and scientific discipline. They also summarise major themes within three identified categories: secondary analysis, policy impact, and critiques. Findings indicated that studies based on the PISA dataset has led to progress in educational research while simultaneously pointing to the need for caution when using this research to inform educational policy.

In the academic context, trigger warnings can be defined as explicit statements that alert a group of learners that certain content explored or discussed in a learning environment may contain potentially distressing material. Extant research highlights a relationship between traumatization and trigger warnings; however, the extent to which trigger warnings constitute a method of best practice for reducing traumatization in higher education has not been addressed. Thus, a systematic literature review was conducted to explore this relationship. A search conducted across academic databases to locate peer-reviewed articles published between November 2010 and November 2020, combined three areas of interest: (1) “trigger warnings,” (2) “best practice,” and (3) “higher education.” Database searches and further manual searches yielded a total of 194 journal articles. Of these, 20 studies satisfied all inclusion criteria. Following the data extraction process, thematic analysis was employed to identify, analyze, and report patterns within data. The key themes identified through the review include trigger warnings as inclusive practice, as part of trauma-informed pedagogy, as ineffectual practice, and as harmful practice. The evidence suggests that when embedded as part of a broader, holistic, and trauma-informed approach, trigger warnings can be a valuable tool for assisting with the effective reduction of traumatization in the higher education context.

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Creativity in the form of musical improvisation has received growing attention from researchers informed by the literature on embodiment. To date, this research has focused on the embodied experiences of improvising instrumentalists rather than those of improvising singers. This article investigates the experience of embodiment during improvisation through a systematic analysis of the metaphorical language used by an artist-level jazz singer in her reflections on practice. Extensive interview data with the participant were analyzed to identify and reconstruct metaphorical expressions into conceptual metaphors. In this process, the metaphor of IMPROVISATION IS AN ADVENTURE was identified as the overarching conceptual structure that the participant used to make sense of her experiences of improvisation. This metaphor and its mappings illuminate the cognitively embodied dimension of vocal jazz improvisation. These findings will be of interest to jazz singers and vocal jazz educators who are encouraged to explore more fully the role of the body–mind’s interactions with its environment in order to establish expertise in improvisational ways of knowing. This research illuminates the multidimensional nature of an expert singer’s experiences of improvisation and is presented as a provocation for future research to include singers as participants when investigating musical improvisation and cognitive embodiment.

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