Psychological Barriers to Learning: Risk, Resilience, and Intervention across Educational Contexts

Learning is shaped not only by curriculum, teaching, assessment, and cognitive abilities, but also by psychological, emotional, social, and educational factors that influence engagement, persistence, achievement, well-being, and successful educational transitions across diverse learning contexts. Learners may encounter psychological barriers such as academic stress, test anxiety, fear of failure, low self-efficacy, perfectionism, emotion regulation difficulties, and negative learning experiences, which can undermine motivation, participation, help-seeking, and long-term educational and career development. Conversely, protective factors including psychological resilience, psychological flexibility, self-compassion, a sense of belonging, supportive educational practices, and positive learning environments can foster academic success, well-being, and employability. Understanding how these risk and protective factors interact throughout the educational journey has become increasingly important as educational institutions seek to promote student success, lifelong learning, equitable participation, and positive psychological outcomes across schools, higher education, vocational education, and other educational settings.Despite growing recognition of the importance of psychological well-being in education, research continues to focus predominantly on cognitive outcomes and academic achievement, often overlooking the psychological processes that influence learning, educational transitions, and long-term educational and career development. Learners across schools, higher education, vocational education, and other educational contexts face challenges such as academic stress, test anxiety, fear of failure, perfectionism, low self-efficacy, emotional difficulties, and disengagement, all of which may undermine learning, persistence, well-being, and future success.This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of the psychological mechanisms that both hinder and facilitate learning across diverse educational contexts by examining the interaction between risk factors, protective processes, educational practices, and learning environments. We particularly welcome research on resilience, emotion regulation, self-efficacy, motivation, sense of belonging, psychological flexibility, learning engagement, employability, career development, educational transitions, and supportive educational interventions. By bringing together empirical, theoretical, methodological, and evidence-based intervention studies, this collection seeks to inform educational practice, institutional support, and policies that promote positive psychological, educational, and career outcomes across the learner journey.Areas of interest include, but are not limited to the following:Psychological risk factors that hinder learning, academic engagement, classroom participation, persistence, and educational adjustment.Academic stress, test anxiety, performance anxiety, fear of failure, perfectionism, shame, self-criticism, and avoidance behaviors in educational settings.The role of emotion regulation, psychological flexibility, resilience, self-compassion, motivation, academic self-efficacy, and intolerance of uncertainty in learning processes.Psychological mechanisms influencing learning engagement and disengagement, help-seeking behaviour, academic procrastination, problem solving, classroom participation, ethical decision-making, identity development, values, and responsible behaviour across educational contexts.Psychological processes underlying learning in digital and technology-mediated educational environments, including digital learning engagement, digital well-being, and responsible digital behaviour.Contextual influences on learning, including classroom climate, psychological safety, school belonging, teacher feedback, peer comparison, and teacher–student relationships.Interactions among cognitive, emotional, motivational, interpersonal, and environmental factors that shape academic functioning and well-being.Psychological barriers and protective factors in specific learning domains, including mathematics, reading, writing, science education, and quantitative thinking.Teacher practices, psychoeducational interventions, counseling services, and classroom-based approaches that support students’ psychological adjustment and academic development.Psychological barriers to learning among vulnerable populations, including students with special educational needs, neurodevelopmental differences, migration backgrounds, chronic stress exposure, or socioeconomic disadvantage.Psychological factors influencing career development, career self-efficacy, employability, and professional identity, as they relate to students’ learning trajectories and psychological adjustment during educational transitions.Psychological factors influencing research self-efficacy, academic identity, research engagement, and the development of doctoral students and early-career researchers.This Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Systematic Reviews, Meta-Analyses, Scoping Reviews, Methods Articles, Intervention Studies, Qualitative Research, and Mixed-Methods Research. Topic editors: Şahin Danişman, Claudio Longobardi Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83975/psychological-barriers-to-learning-risk-resilience-and-intervention-across-educational-contexts