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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. STEM Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1512274
Transforming Primary Education: Balancing Social Skills and Academic Achievement Through Global Inquiry-Based Learning Models
Provisionally accepted- Yogyakarta State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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This study analyzes the Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) model's application in enhancing social skills and academic performance in primary education across diverse international contexts. Using the CAQDAS (Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software) approach with NVivo 12 Plus, the study systematically examined qualitative data drawn from purposively selected literature focusing on IBL implementation in countries such as Finland, Australia, Singapore, and the United States. The analysis reveals that IBL significantly contributes to developing students' social skills-including collaboration, communication, and empathy-while improving academic engagement and performance. Countries with more flexible curricula, such as Finland and Australia, demonstrate higher IBL success rates, whereas systems with rigid, assessment-driven structures present notable challenges. The findings emphasize the importance of curriculum flexibility, teacher facilitation, and technological integration in supporting effective IBL practices. The study recommends greater curricular integration of IBL, comprehensive teacher training programs, and increased access to digital learning tools. These measures are essential to prepare students with the critical thinking, autonomy, and interpersonal skills needed to thrive in the 21st-century global landscape.
Keywords: Academic Achievement, inquiry-based learning, Social Skills, Primary education, global studies
Received: 16 Oct 2024; Accepted: 11 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Seprie, Wuryandani and Muthmainah. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Seprie Seprie, Yogyakarta State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.