Conference Agenda

‘’Like gender, sexuality is a political category. It is integrated into systems of power that encourage and reward some individuals and activities while oppressing and punishing others“ (Rubin, 2003, p. 73 translated by author).

Sexual and gender diversity receive more and more attention in western societies. While homosexuality was long frowned upon and prohibited (Rubin, 2003), the European Union has been speaking out against discrimination on the grounds of gender or sexual orientation since the early 2000s in Article 21 of its Charter of Fundamental Rights (EU, 2000). But it should not go unmentioned that violence against queer people is still a reality and is practiced in many countries (ILGA-Europe, 2020). Moreover, queer issues have also gained prominence in state educational institutions. In 2010, the Council of Europe called on its member states to take measures in working against sexual discrimination in schools. Also, objective information on gender identity and sexual orientation should be implemented in curricula and teaching materials (Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, 2010).

Considering the school habitat more precisely, it becomes clear that there is a broad consensus on schools being institutions which are shaped by heteronormativity (Ferfolja & Hopkins, 2013; Hartmann, 2012; Klenk, 2023; Llewellyn & Reynolds, 2021) and that sexual minorities experience discrimination (Schmidt, 2014). Furthermore, queer-hostile insults are an everyday occurrence in schools (Abreu et al., 2021). Consequently, Ferfolja and Hopkins (2013) conclude that sexual and gender diversity is marginalized and silenced in schools.

While academic publications on queer adolescents and young adults have been published in the recent years and more literature on teaching implications can be found on this matter (e. g. Hartmann & Busche, 2018) , the perspective of queer teachers remains largely unconsidered (Llewellyn & Reynolds, 2021).

Internationally, few studies which focus on queer teachers can be found (e.g. Bower-Phipps, 2020; Llewellyn & Reynolds, 2021). With regard to Germany, the study „LGBTIQ* teachers in Germany“ by the Anti-Discrimination Agency (2017) offers information on the topic and focuses primarily on queer teachers' experiences with discrimination and the handling of their sexual orientation and gender identity from a predominantly quantitative perspective. The results are ambivalent, since some teachers are open about their queer identity, others however, are closed out of fear of discrimination.

There is also the possibility of linking queerness to school culture (for example to the school culture theory of Helsper (2008)). From a queer perspective, one could ask how the school cultural order of meaning reacts to queer lifestyles or orientations and whether queer persons with their habitus are able to connect to the individual school culture or remain marginalized.

Following on from this desideratum, the aim of the dissertation is to take a deeper perspective by the use of qualitative analysis. The overarching question of the project is:

What experiences do queer teachers have in a heteronormative work environment in light of their (professional) biography?

Following subquestions are:

Q1. Where and how does sexual orientation or queer gender identity become relevant in the school context?

Q2. From the respondents' point of view, how does the school deal with sexual and gender diversity?

Q3. What is the influence of the individual school culture?

Q4. To what extent are (professional) biographical experiences perceived as a resource or an obstacle?

The major aspiration of this study is to explore the epistemological implications for educational change in the digital era. This theoretical positioning paper focuses on the case of translator education and the onset of machine translation (MT) which has a major impact on translator competence acquisition. Various studies have been carried out exploring different MT-related aspects, such as the assesment of automated translation quality, the development of translators‘ post-editing competence and technological skills. In addition, the European Masters in Translation (EMT) – a partnership network of the European Commission and higher education institutions – launched the Translator Competence Framework in 2022. This framework is considered to be fully in line with the EU priorities for higher education and has become one of the leading reference standards for educating translators throughout the EU and beyond (EMT Translator Competence Framework (2022)). Hence, attempts to redefine translator competencies in the digital age are obvious and well-supported.

On the other hand, little has been said about the position that MT has undertaken within translator educators‘ views towards knowledge and knowledge acquisition. Are translator educators epistemologically and theoretically equipped to keep up with the new reality of uncertainty that this technological advancement is bringing along? The major aim of this study, therefore, is to outline novel epistemological and theoretical approaches that could possibly enable translator educators to address this paradigmal shift and foster educational change.

The breakthrough of AI-based technologies and task automation has fostered a paradigmal shift in a variety of fields ranging from as far as medical sciences and economics to cognitive sciences and humanities. Among the latter, translation studies have become a preeminent example of task automation as MT, particularly neural MT which has been dominating the industry for the last five years, is significantly altering the nature of translation processes and translators’ tasks. Not only does it raise concerns regarding the future of translation as a profession, but it also plays a pivotal role in the entire concept of translator competence (Pym (2011), TAUS (2017), Munoz (2017), Risku (2020)). Two decades ago, Pym (2003) pointed out that the main tasks of translation had included communication between people and not machines; however, today this divide is no longer so clear. Translation as a form of human-computer interaction (O’Brien (2012)) urges translator educators to fundamentally reconsider their study programmes (Orlando (2016), Kenny (2020), Gonzáles-Davies (2017)). Nonetheless, translation theorists and practitioners are not always open to the epistemological aspect of translator education and often stick to the linear-transmissionist ways of teaching. Given the context of the MT dominance and the paradigmal shift it has fostered, translator education should open up to novel epistemological and theoretical approaches that embrace this new reality.

In most other European countries, educational expansion has taken place over the past decades. Yet, inequalities in pathways to higher education remain (Marginson, 2016). This is the case in the Netherlands as well – students’ social background still influences the travelled pathways to higher education. Students whose parents did not go to higher education, disabled students or students with a bicultural background are less likely to enter higher education right after secondary education (Van den Broek et al., 2022). Rather, they more often follow a so-called "indirect" route to higher education, using alternative pathways to reach their aspirations.

In the Dutch stratified educational system, students’ educational track placement in secondary education is crucial. The pre-academic tracks give direct access to higher education, whereas vocational secondary education tracks prepare students for post-secondary vocational education. Students from less privileged backgrounds are more frequently selected into these vocational secondary education tracks in their transition from primary to secondary education, independent of students’ performance (Kloosterman et al., 2009). Therefore, they more frequently have to “stack” diplomas before gaining access to higher education (Visser et al., 2022), by gaining multiple diplomas in secondary education or moving from post-secondary vocational to post-secondary academic education. These pathways are longer, and students in these pathways more often drop-out or face obstacles - having to traverse multiple transitions. Even when these students are part of the pre-academic tracks in secondary education, they are more likely to self-select on their path to higher education (Vietze et al., 2022). This means they decide not to go for the highest level of higher education, even though they are qualified to do so. The differences in travelled pathways to higher education are not the result from differences in educational performance, and are considered unjust from a meritocratic point of view. .

The Dutch educational system does not put up additional barriers for students from various social backgrounds, and is supposed to provide equal pathways to higher education. The educational system and the barriers that are part of it – for example, the entry requirements to post-secondary education – are similar for all students. To find out why students who face the same formal conditions in reality differ in their pathways to higher education, this study aims to uncover students’ perceptions of the path to higher education. Students from various social backgrounds might differ in their perceptions of the opportunities and obstacles on the path to higher education (Merton, 1995). Students from less privileged backgrounds could anticipate or experience different obstacles (Voigt, 2007), or see different opportunities as (un)available to them (Schoon & Lyons-Amos, 2016). Identifying students’ perceptions, and possible differences in them, could help us improve our knowledge as to why some students within the same opportunity structure nonetheless differ in their pathways to higher education (Whitty et al., 2015). The aim of this study therefore is to find out what students’ perceptions of the opportunities and obstacles on the path to higher education are, and whether these perceptions differ between students from various social backgrounds.

Sexual violence and harassment are widely recognised as globally significant and widespread human rights problems. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, 35% of women worldwide report having experienced either physical or sexual violence by a partner or sexual violence by a friend, family member, acquaintance, or stranger. Studies around the world estimate that between 14 and 25% of adult women have been raped during their lifetime (Levinson, 1989; Koss, Heise, Russo, 1994; McCloskey, Williams, Larsen, 2005). Sexual violence is an umbrella term covering a range of unwanted and unwelcome sexual behaviours that violate a person’s basic safety and dignity, values, and autonomy. The consequences of sexual violence range from individual and interpersonal to societal factors. Sexual violence is a problem deeply rooted in social, cultural, and religious norms. It should also be regarded as a public health problem, it means that it is the responsibility of the community of educational institutions to prevent it. In addition, furthermore, sources of knowledge concerning such a vast topic as sexuality should be reliable and correct because a person’s sexual identity is built on these foundations.

This Ph.D. project will examinate women's knowledge and attitudes toward the broader issue of sexual violence. The study will assess the relationship between knowledge and attitudes and socio-demographic characteristics (age, place of residence, marital status, level of education, and professed faith). In the designed research, I would like to explore women’s beliefs, attitudes and behaviours related to the acceptance of modern myths about sexual aggression, norms and beliefs about the use of violence. Introduced into the scientific discourse, the concept of the ‘rape myths’, was intended to identify, clarify, and explore false beliefs about rape and the victim’s reactions to rape. These beliefs were intended to emphasise sexual aggression and sexual violence committed against women. Rape myths – which contain elements of blaming the victim, absolving the perpetrator, and minimizing or rationalising sexual violence - perpetrate sexual violence against women (Payne et al. 1994).

In addition, with the help of expert interviews, the study will also explore the possibilities of effective preventive, educational, and support interventions in the area in question. Investigating the knowledge and attitudes of the women's community and the possibilities for preventive, educational, and support interventions in the area of sexual violence is of the utmost importance for the implementation of appropriate measures to prevent sexual violence, which is helpful in many undertakings ( e.g., development of specialist training, preparation of training programs on sexual and anti-violence education addressed to a wide and diverse group of recipients, promotion of educational, prophylactic and assistance actions, establishing rules of conduct towards victims-survivors of sexual violence, creation of appropriate intervention classes for perpetrators of sexual crimes).

In the conceptualization of the research project, three main research problems were identified.

The quantitative research posed two main problems:

1. What is the level of women's knowledge and their attitude concerning sexual violence?
2. What are the possible preventive, educational, and assistance interventions related to sexual violence?

Substituted one main question for the qualitative research:

1. What are women's views on sexual violence and the possibilities of preventive, educational, and supportive interventions?

Across Europe many education systems struggle with continuous and strong performance inequalities between students with and without a migration background (Hadjar and Gross, 2016). Despite many often well-meant (top-down) policy actions to tackle these inequalities the latter seem quite persistent. What remains particularly puzzling in this regard is that ethnic minority students are generally highly motivated to perform well in education, yet their educational outcomes remain, on average, low. This is also known as the achievement-motivation paradox (Hadjar & Scharf, 2019; Mickelson, 1990; Salikutluk, 2016). Much time and effort have been spent researching this paradox and the causes of these inequalities, focusing on theories around the reproduction of inequality, capital theory and deficit thinking theory (Agirdag, 2020; Dewitt & Van Petegem, 2001; Triventi et al., 2022). Yet, this research has mostly focused on mainstream education institutions, examining, among other things, the role of the curriculum (Civitillo et al., 2017; Clycq, 2017; Van Praag et al., 2016), teacher-student relations (Charki et al., 2022; Nouwen & Clycq, 2019) and teaching practices (Agirdag et al., 2014; Pulinx et al., 2017). The role and the agency of the ethnic-cultural minoritized communities to overcome themselves the inequalities they are most affected by has been mostly overlooked. In addition, research in education initiatives beyond the boundaries of the mainstream institutions which produce or reproduce these existing inequalities has been limited until now, and the resources present in these alternative forms of education which exist next to the mainstream schools are thus missed. My PhD project shifts this focus and aims to study in what ways bottom-up initiatives, taken by ethnic minority communities themselves, can reverse educational inequalities. These community based educational spaces (CBES) are educational initiatives set up by ethnic minorities, often to supplement mainstream education. It touches upon the idea that learning through public education is insufficient to ‘succeed’ and become adequately qualified in the knowledge society and that there are resources present in ethnic minority communities that mainstream education is not aware of or is unable to tap into. By establishing CBES these resources can become ‘unlocked’ and applicable to support the achievement of educational goals. However, even though CBES have been around for years the current state of the art does not reveal if these CBES indeed support minority youth in increasing their educational success in (mainstream) education.

This research aims to move beyond gaps in the current state of the art by linking theories on community-based educational spaces (CBES) with impact and evaluation research through the concepts of capital and resources. This will enrich and strengthen our understanding of the reasons why CBES are established, which types can be discerned and what their impact is on the performances, well-being and identity construction of youngsters. This leads to the following objective this project aims to examine: to understand the mechanisms underlying the impact of CBES by studying the ways resources become unlocked and applied by stakeholders in their interactions in CBES and mainstream public schools. Hence, the research question for this part of my doctoral thesis is: how do stakeholders experience their role in CBES, what interactions take place, and how do pupils use the resources made available in CBES?

In comparison to their cisgender peers, gender creative students are more vulnerable to develop mental health problems, poor psychological well-being and negative peer relationships (Baams and al., 2013; Bennet and al., 2019; Gordon and al., 2018; Jewell and Brown, 2014; Rieger and Savin-Williams, 2012; Roberts and al., 2013; Zosuls and al., 2016). Ehrensaft (2011, p.5) defines a gender creative person as someone who “transcends the normative male/female definitions of culture to creatively weave a sense of gender that does not come entirely from within (the body, the psyche), nor entirely from without (culture, others' perception of one's gender), but resides somewhere in the middle”. Gender creative students deviate from the gender identity or gender expression that is culturally associated with their assigned sex at birth (Airton and Meyer, 2014). Thus, those students deviate from gender norms, i.e., they do not follow socially prescribed rules of conduct regarding roles, behaviours, activities, and characteristics deemed appropriate for their gender, which traditionally must correspond to their birth-assigned sex (Heise and al., 2019). Schools play a key role in the development of young people and in promoting their mental health. Since gender creative students are more vulnerable to developing poor mental health and since schools represent an environment that can convey gender norms (Weber et al., 2019), it seems important to look upon these topics inside secondary schools. This research will therefore try to answer the following question: How do gender creative secondary students perceive their mental health at school? Mental health is more than the absence of mental health problems (Gilmour, 2014). To see mental health fully, it is important to take into account positive mental health. Positive mental health has three dimensions: emotional well-being, psychological well-being and social functioning (Keyes, 2007). Meyer (2013) developed a minority stress model to explain the factors influencing mental health in minority individuals, i.e., the additional stresses experienced by these people. According to Martin-Storey (2016) and Rieger and Savin Williams (2012), the minority stress model could be a key to understanding low psychological well-being among gender creative youth as it would explain the discrimination, stigma and stresses experienced by them due to their minority status. The present study’s objectives are to explore the perception of gender norms in the school environment as well as the perception of mental health of gender creative secondary students. This study takes place in Canada, and more specifically in the province of Quebec. In Quebec, students in secondary school are between 12 to 17 years old and stay normally five years in these schools, from secondary one to five. The United Kingdom equivalent would be college from year 7 to year 11. Data were collected through narrative interviews with six gender-creative Quebec secondary school students, average age 15.5. Through their accounts of their school experiences, the students revealed that gender norms are still present in their respective school environments. Qualitative analysis by themes grouping revealed the sampled students' sense of well-being at school, the stressors they felt in the school environment, the coping strategies they developed, and the social support felt inside and outside school. In summary, the life stories highlight the different paths and varying levels of mental health of the students interviewed. Most of them reported overall positive mental health, despite previous literature generally attributing different indicators of negative mental health to gender creative students. The results allow to propose a model that incorporates additional stressors (Meyer, 2013) and elements of positive mental health (Keyes, 2007) experienced as a result of minority status, thus influencing the mental health of gender creative students.

This poster is based on a research that looked at the learning experiences of teachers during their journey through a full-time Master of Education programme for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MEd TESOL), in a university in the UK. The aim was to explore the cognition development of four international Asian students: two novice and two in-service teachers enrolled on the programme. This was achieved by exploring their cognitive processes (Badger, 2018) through focus on knowledge, beliefs, and identity which together form the model of cognition used in the current study, as set out by Borg (2003, 2009, 2015). This model is situated within the framework of Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (SCT) that is widely used in this type of context.

The following research questions were addressed in the study: 1) what is the impact of the MEd TESOL programme on the teachers’ cognition? And 2) what is the influence of the MEd TESOL programme on the teachers’ future professional teaching identities? These were answered by examining the experiences of the four participants. Although each participant lived a unique experience, they all showed some indicators of changes in knowledge, beliefs, and identities. Also, their experiences on the MEd TESOL programme have clearly influenced their professional identities. The findings revealed unexpected aspects of the participants’ well-being, as well as the impact of Covid-19 on the students’ lives.

The ubiquitous phenomenon of sexualization, noticeable especially at the sociocultural level, is reflected in numerous activities in the public space (Waszyńska, Zielona-Jenek, 2016). It would seem that with the tendency to popularize this topic, there will be increasingly more studies, concerning sexual violence in the scientific discourse. Yet, the number of studies and researchers studying this topic is very limited. Simultaneously, one can find studies indicating a clear correlation between the acceptance of rape myths and the perpetration of sexual violence, as well as less frequent reporting of crimes by victims (Moyano, Monge, Sierra, 2017; Heath, Lynch, Fritch, Wong, 2013). The current disparities in the level of education and its consequences suggest the need to create a whole system of prevention and education against sexual violence. However, it is difficult to create effective social policy without adequate knowledge, a thorough scientific analysis of the phenomenon or a thorough terminological study of the new phenomena of sexual violence that have arisen with the development of new technologies.

Thus, the scientific aim of my work will be to investigate and describe the phenomenon of men experiencing sexual violence by women.

The research problems in this work concern (1) society's knowledge and opinion on sexual violence against men in Poland, including, among others, knowledge of the physiology of the male body during an attempted sexual abuse, current myths and stereotypes of masculinity, knowledge of the functioning of aid institutions or the social image of male victims of violence. In addition, the aim of the research is to present (2) statistics from the Central Statistical Office and the Police regarding reports of sexual abuse of which a male victim was a victim, as well as any noticeable, statistically-significant changes that have occurred in recent years. The third research problem revolves around the interviews conducted with experts and their knowledge of, the range of available assistance from which victimized men can benefit, the scale of the analyzed phenomenon in Poland, the social causes and consequences of not reporting the act of violence to law enforcement, and the recommended changes in this regard on the social, political and legal levels. The final, fourth research problem concerns the context surrounding the act of sexual violence in selected cases of men who experienced it. That is, the characteristics of the victim and the perpetrator, the consequences faced by the victims and the reporting of the analyzed situation to law enforcement authorities.

In the literature, it can be noted that the taboo of sexual violence, if it is already mentioned, mainly concerns women and children (e.g.: Marzec-Holka, 2011; Piotrowska, Synakiewicz, 2011). There is now much talk in the public space about equality and fair treatment of all people regardless of gender. A number of foundations have also been created to provide assistance and information campaigns on violence and gender equality. The nature of these foundations, however, most often points to women and children as the objects of assistance. In Poland, only one foundation deals with assistance aimed directly at men victimized by sexual violence. Certainly one of the reasons for this is the stereotype of men, which has been built up for many years, as those who are always willing to engage in sexual activity, are tough and do not show emotions, do not talk to other people about their feelings and suffer in silence (Grzybek, Bielak, 2015). The lack of reporting of the act of violence on men is reflected in statistics, which show that sexually victimized men are practically non-existent in Poland (Central Statistical Office), contrary to case evidence and sociopedagogical practice.

Despite extensive research about the value and features of dialogic teaching and learning (Vrikki et al., 2019), predominantly monologic interactions continue to persist in primary classrooms in the UK. The complexities of dialogic approaches are well-documented, from the difficulties of the fluid and transient nature of spoken language (Bearne and Reedy, 2018) to the shifts in power dynamics that such an approach demands (Thompson, 2007). However, the role of dialogue seems to be benefiting from a renewed focus, with current educational policy instructing pre-service teachers to both support effective dialogue within the classroom and engage in reflective dialogic learning themselves (DfE, 2013; 2019). With limited progress in this area of practice and professional development (Vrikki et al., 2019), teaching practices seem to resist fundamental and shifts towards dialogic teaching; this study asks why this might be.

In the context of dialogic education, prior research has often focused on dialogic interactions as a pedagogical approach. However, research which has moved beyond an interactional form in considering classroom dialogue suggests that teachers’ dialogic stance, identity, and sociocultural and socio-historical expectations of professional identity may offer insight for understanding why monologic patterns persist (Sherry et al., 2019). Furthermore, whilst attitudes and beliefs are seen as highly influential in the development of dialogic approaches, understanding how personal and professional dialogic experiences relate to pre-service teachers’ professional identities, learning, and practice is a significantly under-researched area (Groschner et al., 2020). Although research has considered the role of teacher identity in relation to reading and writing, there is a gap in research seeking to understand how teachers’ identities might either constrain or enable dialogic practices within the classroom. Indeed, Hofmann (2020) highlights the need for research which understands professional development as a sociocultural process and the role of teachers’ own learning experiences within this, in order to consider the range of complex challenges inherent in realising the benefits of a dialogic approach.

Whilst there has been a significant increase in interest in teacher identity within educational research and teacher education, there is a continuing lack of clarity around what we mean by this (Solari and Ortega, 2022) which presents a key challenge in understanding its influence on teachers’ learning and professional roles. Teachers’ professional identity can be seen as shaped by their past experiences and as a key motivating and orienting factor in their actions and beliefs about practice; yet there is a lack of knowledge about the dynamics of identity construction within teacher education (Henry, 2019). Hsieh (2015) usefully articulates these dynamics as “how teachers’ orientations in relation to the intersection of multiple competing discourse (internal and external) play out in their establishment of identities as professionals and in their professional practices” (p.179). By applying a dialogic lens to pre-service teachers’ professional identity construction, this study seeks to recognise this ongoing, dynamic interplay as distinct from the functions and procedures of the professional role. Furthermore, it is not simply a process of change and adaptation but is wrought with potential conflicts and tensions (Henry and Mollstedt, 2022), one in which core beliefs continue to be shaped and changed through experience (Wyk, 2011). Through this lens, the study aims to explore how past dialogic experiences and the ways in which pre-service teachers position themselves in relation to dialogue, influence their navigation of dialogic spaces and possibilities within their teaching practices and professional roles.

The thesis of this article is that the school in Chile in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries was central to the prevention of dangers related to hygiene, the degeneration of the race, and the promotion of certain types of moral habits. In this context, the concern to establish in Chile an educational system that would constitute a tool to improve the deplorable living conditions of the late 19^thcentury was considered “a national problem” (Salas, 1914/1967). Thus, the thesis of this analysis is that the school has been an important vector for the deployment of security mechanisms that address issues as diverse as the prevention of diseases, family and student habits, corporal discipline, and moral formation. In other words, the school has been a platform for the governmental construction of a kind of “moral topographies”, in search of “dangerous and endangered populations”, the disciplinary technology of the school being a tactic of moral management (Hunter, 1996, p. 143).

However, this problem was not exclusive to the Chilean case, and on the contrary, the reception of a series of ideas coming from Europe played a central role. With the sanitary movement that took place in the late 1830s in countries such as England, France and Spain, public health policies took on unprecedented importance, addressing not only technical issues such as sewerage and water infrastructure, but also seeking social stability, moralisation of the working classes, and economic efficiency (Ramos, 2014). In the transition to the 20^th century, this sanitary revolution arrived in Chile, a period in which hygiene, the theory of degeneration and eugenics were theoretical perspectives that constituted the foundations for addressing the so-called “social question”, a historical process that graphs social transformations product of accelerated modernisation, industrialisation and urbanization (Durán, 2014; Vetö, 2014; Becerra, 2018). From this process, hygiene began to be seen as a social and security problem related to issues such as mortality, disease, and contagion, and also, to the prevention of “social diseases”, the propagation of good customs, and the prosperity of the nation.

From a theoretical perspective, this study is interested in the analysis of how power has been exercised throughout history, process that has been introduced by Foucault (2009b) as “governmentality” in response to what he saw as the insufficiency of theoretical tools to analyse the exercise of power according to modern rationalities in Western societies. Governmentality has been described as a set of institutions, procedures, analyses, reflections, calculations, and tactics that enable the exercise of power, whose main object is the population, its form, the political economy, and its technical instrument, the security dispositif (Castro, 2018). In this framework, the concept of security dispositive is even more important, since according to the analytical proposal presented here, school institutions could be considered as part of their strategic purposes. In this sense, security dispositif is described as the mechanism of government that deals with possible and probable events in the future, assesses the cost through comparative calculations and establishes a binary division between the permitted and the prohibited (Foucault, 2009b) prescribing an optimal mean within a bandwidth of tolerable variation (Gordon, 1991).

According to the above historical and theoretical background, this research is interested in to analyse the experience of security in the Chilean school in the transition to the 20^th century, which is explored through the articulation of three axes: the axis of truth (knowledge), the axis of power (regulations) and the axis of subjectivity (relationship of the subject with him/herself and with others), whose interconnections is posed as a mechanism and organisational method to account for historical experiences.

Nowadays, diversity in education and upbringing is associated with such phenomena as language, religion, culture, gender. At the state level, laws on the above-mentioned phenomena are adopted and protected, and after being approved, they enter into circulation in educational programs, school standards.

The study of the history of world pedagogical thought shows that there have been examples of diversity in education since the 15th century, for example, after the spread of Protestantism in Europe, great attention was paid to the development of the national language and culture. The catechism was translated into different languages: French, German, Italian. Luther was a leader of that movement. Another example of diversity is making education accessible to all social strata of society. There was no discrimination. Later, the idea that girls and boys should study together in the same class began to circulate. Parallel to all this was the separation of the secular and the spiritual. Schools fall out of Church patronage, but communication with religion continues to be emphasized by state administrators.

Given that the phenomena of education and training have undergone changes over time due to continuous reforms of economy, politics, religion, language, culture, human history, there is a need to review and reevaluate all the words and concepts that form a new worldview. One such concept is the word diversity.

Today, education theorists, theologians, philosophers, education policymakers talk about having a diverse, inclusive society. A society where everyone is welcome. Various approaches are drawn up by experts, which will contribute to forming such a society. Diversity is a cross-sectoral phenomenon. That is, only in the context of legal, legislative, sociological, linguistic, historical discourses can one "build" a healthy, diverse, inclusive society. Therefore, results can be achieved as a result of the dialogue of specialists in the above-mentioned fields.

It is interesting to study the history of the word diversity in the context of education and upbringing, to see the interpretation of the word in different periods. Accordingly, to compare past and present perceptions of the concept of diversity, analyze them, understand what changes the word has undergone, reflect on the past and present and "build" the ideal diverse environment that will be most suitable for education and upbringing.

It is noteworthy that the present is based on the past, and the future is a combination of both. Based on this, it is necessary to understand what kind of content was, is and will be in the future under the concept of diversity.

Within the framework of our study, we paid attention to the interpretation of the word in the context of classic languages, and compared it with each other.

We tried to find interpretations of language, religion, especially in Christianity, the word diversity in the works of foreign and Armenian authors. Analyze past models of diversity, their features, find out their applicability in the present.

It is noteworthy that the present is based on the past, and the future is a combination of both. Based on this, it is necessary to understand what kind of content was, is and will be in the future under the concept of diversity.

Summarizing the above examples, it can be said that in the past diversity, although not fixed by law, led to the creation and development of the national language and culture, organizing joint teaching with different genders. Today, the importance of diversity is fixed and emphasized by laws, but in practice we are witnessing the weakening of national languages and cultures, the overestimation or underestimation of genders.

How can past approaches to diversity be valued and reformulated in today's education system?

The popular narratives in the history of education in India regard the educational initiatives and experiments (popularly called ‘Nai Talim’/ ‘Basic Education’) of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 – 1948) as the original, indigenous, and radical alternative to the colonial education which was ‘imposed’ by the British on Indian masses (Rao 2020, pp. 43-44). This educational experiment became significant during the anti-colonial sentiments of the early twentieth century, as the curriculum was designed deliberately along nationalist lines. Since the ‘manual work’ has been the significant basis of Gandhi’s Nai Talim, the apparent similarity between John Dewey’s philosophy of education and Gandhi’s educational thoughts has been explored by many educationists (Sadgopal 2019, Kumar 2008, Link 1962). However, during the nationalist movement, in the first half of the twentieth century, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar (1891 – 1956) also started several educational initiatives of his own, which are lesser known compared to Gandhi’s experiment. Ambedkar is known for advocating the basic human rights of the oppressed in Indian society, which constituted women, Dalits (ex-untouchables), and backward castes. He was also a student of Dewey at Columbia University and hence was under the direct influence of Dewey’s educational thoughts and philosophy. Despite being closely associated with Dewey during his formal years, there is no exploration of the domestication of Dewey’s educational ideas in the educational thoughts and initiatives of Ambedkar in India. This paper focuses on this strand of transnational connection. Further, the paper also compares the extent of influence of Dewey’s philosophy of education on the educational thoughts of Gandhi and Ambedkar, two important Indian actors who shaped and influenced the educational landscape in colonial and postcolonial India.

The Deweyan conceptual and theoretical framework of democracy and education will be used in the exploration of these questions. This framework is significant because of the diverse nature of Indian society with traditional inequalities along the different axes such as caste, gender, class, religion, and ethnicity, and also the history of systematic discrimination against these marginalised groups in the area of education. This context is similar to the historical context of a diverse society due to industrialisation and migration, in which Dewey developed his philosophy of education.

Education is a fundamental concern of all countries. This relevance comes from the fact that it is a Fundamental Right, necessary for people to develop, grow and contribute to a fulfilling life. Despite the discrepancies about the foundations and goals that education should pursue in its most global sense, there is a consensus regarding the need for education, as well as the commitment to quality education.

This can be seen at the most current level, when the United Nations in 2015 established a framework of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), among which education is number four. To further elaborate on the education goal of 'Quality Education', several international bodies, including UNESCO, UNICEF, or the International Labour Organization, based in Switzerland, come together to develop the so-called "Incheon Declaration". A Framework for Action for 'Quality Education' is elaborated under the subtitle "Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all" (2016). This serves as a reference for governments to define their education policies, following the general guidelines set out here.

This work is not intended to elaborate on education policy, but rather to highlight the importance of education for personal and social prosperity. Precisely, this paper will try to clarify the ‘good teacher’ concept and analyze some of the characteristics that might contribute to ‘quality education’, responding to the following objectives:

1. Analise the elements of a good teacher following David Carr’s contributions.
2. Suggest two moral virtues, humility and magnanimity, as characteristics of a good teacher.

In the recent years, the characteristics and requirements of ‘professionalism’ have been a matter of debate, questioned by researchers and academics such as Carr (1991, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2007; Cooke & Carr, 2014), Campbell (2000, 2008; Campbell et al., 2013), Arthur (2011, 2019; Peterson & Arthur, 2020; Revell & Arthur, 2007), Kristjánsson (2015), Sockett (2012; Sockett & LePage, 2002), Sanger & Osguthorpe (2011, 2013), and many others, who are trying to define what is understood by ‘the good teacher’.

Teaching, for all the above-mentioned authors, is a moral profession, which requires being, as Carr stated (1991), “a certain kind of person”. This implies that the personal character of the teacher is manifested in his or her professional work.

The current educational aims, in contrast, are mainly instrumental. Competencies are considered as the ultimate goals and assessment standards. According to DeSeCo (2005, p. 4), “a competency is more than just knowledge and skills. It involves the ability to meet complex demands, by drawing on and mobilizing psychosocial resources (including skills and attitudes) in a particular context”. This frame is intended to go beyond a simple provision of knowledge and skills, conforming the base of some European educational political frameworks. Nevertheless, the frequent use of competence as a set of dispositions which omit deliberation fail to resolve, according to Carr (2000), the deepest sense of education, the pursuit of the good to contribute, in an Aristotelian language, to a ‘eudaimonic life’.

Whereas ‘dispositional competence’ is focused on the efficacy of action, virtue seeks the realisation of the good at its epistemological levels, identified with the ‘capacity competence’ presented by Carr (2000). Many writers have challenged the competence scope on the grounds that these educational standards cannot encapsulate all the human abilities or qualities of the ‘good teacher’ (Arthur et al., 2016, p. 16). Therefore, in accordance with Carr (2006, 2007), without rejecting the contribution of competences and skills, it is a matter of revitalising virtue for being ‘a good teacher’. For that, the Aristotelian and neo-Aristotelian theory of virtue forms the theoretical framework that we intend to explore in depth here (2010).

One of the aims of contemporary education is to enable individuals to understand that society and science are mutually influenced by each other. The concept of Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI) is scientifically based controversial dilemmas such as biology, sociology, ethics, politics, economy and environment that concern the society. The process of dealing with SBK requires students to make sound decisions and schools to train knowledgeable individuals. In SSI education, students' ability to think critically, associating subjects with daily life and raising individuals as individuals who can cope with these issues come to the fore.

The purpose of the argument is to convince oneself and other participants of the peculiarity of one's own reasoning (Krummheuer, 1995). Reasoning occurs interactively during mathematical modeling processes (Lesh, Doerr & Carmona, 2003). Thus, argumentation, defined as interactions in the observed class, relates to deliberate disclosure of a solution's reasoning, during or after the development of a solution. It can be a trigger for the modeling processes of the participants. In this context, this study examines the arguments created by the participants in the mathematical modeling cycle and interprets these arguments by taking into account the participants' modeling processes. In the broadest sense, cognitive argumentation is defined as an argumentation, justification process in which more than one person (student or teacher) has a mathematical claim and presents evidence to support this claim (Conner, et. al., 2014).

The cognitive argumentation considered in this study considers the arguments of small groups or individuals working on different learning and teaching activities (Conner et. al., 2014; Yackel) rather than examining participants' arguments during proving activities (Inglis, Mejia-Ramos & Simpson, 2007). & Cobb, 1996). The focus is on the interactional aspect of argumentation. To investigate cognitive arguments, Krummheuer (1995) proposes the Toulmin argumentation scheme.

When students engage with modeling tasks, transitions between school mathematics and the real world, their cognitive reasoning in a real-world context can be supported during model development. By doing this, they try to reach consensus through their reasoning by discussing the claims put forward by the group members. In this process, they actively formulate and justify arguments. Therefore, since it is believed that the arguments created in the modeling cycle are based on the modeling processes, it is possible that the examination of the modeling processes will give an idea about the arguments of the students. The mathematical modeling cycle (Blum & Niss, 1991) was chosen as the research framework because it clearly explains the modeling processes that occur during the modeling cycle based on the modeling definition. This study will reveal the arguments in the mathematical modeling cycle by taking into account the modeling processes based on SSI issues.

Considering the focus of mathematical modeling, it is seen that this study has a different context from other cognitive modeling studies due to its argumentative nature. On the other hand, if the focus is on Cognitive Argument, the study is again different from previous literature examining student arguments during proving and learning/teaching activities due to its emphasis on modelling. Working to uncover the arguments in the modeling cycle will ultimately enable to identify the particular aspects that make in-group arguments meaningful, such as how they formulate the claims, how they refute each other's claims to reach the best common solution, what they warrant, what claims they make use of, and how they arrive at a solution.

The aim of the study was to explore how teacher candidates engage use their models whilst arguing about contextual of the COVID-19 a socioscientific issue and to explore whether and how the process of arguing is linked with the modelling process.

This paperexamines the perceptions of newly qualified teachers, placed in one Scottish local authority, of the practitioner enquiry that is required to be conducted by them during their first year of teaching. Using a constructivist (Charmazian) grounded theory framework, this research examined the perceptions and attitudes towards the enquiry pre and post enquiry and seek to identify what influence this may have on professional identity and classroom practice. This work analysed the literature relating to Charmazian grounded theory, discussed how this research was conducted, and examine the researcher’s positionality within the subject area. Throughout the paper, a number of themes emerge from the data and are discussed, including newly qualified teachers’ (NQT’s) perceptions of practitioner enquiry at pre and post enquiry, the importance of relationships, and what influenced their professional identity. Through the research methods of focus group and interviews, this dissertation looks to challenge the practice of a mandated practitioner enquiry in the first year of teaching. I conclude with a series of recommendations, in line with constructivist grounded theory, including the recommendation for the question of enquiry as project v enquiry as stance to be revisited in relation to the NQT experience. Additionally, for a reassessment of the NQT voice in the decision-making process around what support and experience in their first year should look like.

This paper will look at practitioner enquiry within the context of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) undertaking a practitioner enquiry during their first year of teaching. Two research questions guided the research, shedding light on the issues related to the requirement for NQTs to conduct practitioner enquiries in the early stages of their career:

1. What influence, if any, has undertaking a practitioner enquiry had on NQTs’ perceptions of themselves as professionals?

2. To what extent do NQT teachers feel enabled to effect change in the classroom as a result of undertaking a practitioner enquiry?

The early months and years of teaching can be crucial to identity formation, so it could be suggested that early experiences of teaching, and any professional learning programme that sits alongside it, should nurture within students a perception of themselves as being able to develop a constructively critical approach to practice that can affect change within the classroom. The small-scale nature of this project, along with using a constructivist grounded theory approach, enabled a more in-depth consideration of the factors which may have influenced how a NQTs identity as a professional evolves through their practitioner enquiry, situated in the context of their professional practice. This research topic is relevant due, in part, to the increasing expecation across Europe that teachers will come into the classroom and be research informed and research ready. This research focuses predominantly on ’how’ the above may influence NQT teachers’ perceptions of themselves as professionals (professional identity). Professional learning is defined where learning opportunities ‘stimulate their thinking and professional knowledge and to ensure that teachers’ practice is critically informed and current’. The research also focuses on the ‘what’, in terms of the outcomes of effecting change in the classroom and of moving forward in their careers. Finally, it considers the ‘why’ or rationale behind practitioner enquiry being built into the NQTs’ programme in Scotland and elsewhere in Europe.

Objectives

Teacher agency is a rather abstract concept, and it has been extensively theorized (e.g. Aiello & Sibilio, 2018; Eteläpelto, 2013; Priestley et al., 2015a; 2015b), yet its practical unfolding in an actual inclusive school setting remains largely unexplored. Recent literature reviews on teacher agency for inclusive education have shed light on the phenomenon (Miller et al., 2020; Li & Rupper, 2020; Andreoli et al, 2022). However, a comprehensive empirically based theorization is still lacking. The purpose of this study is to explore teacher agency for inclusive education at work, by collecting and analyzing teachers' experiences and perspectives. To this end, we have tried to respond to the following research questions: 1) How does teacher agency for inclusive education unfold in inclusive school settings? 2) How can teachers “make a difference” and contribute to more equitable opportunities for all students? 3) What strategies are employed in this process? 4) Is teacher agency enacted differently by general and special education teachers?

Theoretical Framework

According to Pantić (2015; 2017a), Pantić and Florian (2015) teacher agency is a transformative process aimed at fostering social justice in schools, which are more and more characterized by increasing cultural and social diversity. When enacting teacher agency, teachers act strategically, removing the risks of school failure and social marginalization, promoting academic achievements, and ensuring better opportunities for all students (Pantić, 2015).

School systems and teachers as change-makers are mutually constituted, meaning that teachers act not only in but also through a particular school context. As Biesta and Tedder (2007) put it, “the achievement of agency will always result from the interplay of individual efforts, available resources, and contextual and structural ‘factors’ as they come together in particular and, in a sense, always unique situations” (pp.137). In this vein, several environmental elements have emerged in the literature as relevant factors impacting teacher agency for inclusive education. Pantić (2017b) notes that teacher agency is influenced at the micro level by personal factors, i.e., teacher attitudes and beliefs, at the meso level by school/context-specific ideologies and practices, and at the macro level by educational policies, curriculum, etc. The most critical factors lie at the meso level and concern relationships and cooperation among different school actors. They are, nonetheless, also more "malleable" and unlike structural elements, they can be modified by new practices. Other factors facilitating or hampering teacher agency for inclusive education have been mapped in three different literature reviews (Miller et al., 2020; Li & Rupper, 2020; Andreoli et al, 2022). Barriers include the absence of structural resources, the dominant ableist culture, the perceived inadequacy in the relationship with the students with disability, the special education teacher's unpreparedness on specific learning contents, the marginalization of the special education teacher, the absence of shared planning, and the lack of school administration support. On the other hand, teachers proved they can change existing practices thanks to resilience, teamwork, and student-centered ideologies (Andreoli et al., 2022). Yet, how do they do that? What actions do they take? What happens when teachers make a change and make enhanced educational opportunities for all students possible? Miller et al. (2020) and Li & Rupper (2020) argue that for a better understanding of the phenomenon, researchers should identify specific “actions” informing teacher agency. Building on these premises, we collected a large body of empirical data to gain practical knowledge on transformative actions and agency-driven outcomes in existing inclusive school settings.

There is increasing attention paid to improving students’ historical thinking (HT) competences in the UK. With this, there are several definitions and understanding of HT in the literature from all around the world. Among British history educators and researchers, for instance, HT refers to several aspects of disciplinary-based history teaching, In the United States, Wineburg (2001) defined HT as a systematic recognition process that the past is different from the present, and it has several distinctive and disciplinary procedures to make meaning about the past. In the present study, this term has been framed as teaching history in a way that equips young people with a set of abilities such as asking perceptive questions, weighing evidence, thinking critically, sifting arguments and judgement. Teaching HT had gained considerable interest in history teaching communities because of what it entails and its potential benefits. As HT involves processes such as examining historical sources, negotiating different perspectives, and resolving historical values with present judgements, it is essential for students’ cognitive development (Lee, 2011). From a social perspective, learning HT may equip and sensitise young people to understand the differences around them and to learn how to live with them peacefully and respectfully (Levesque, 2016). The roles of teachers’ self-efficacy and agency have been oftentimes found to be decisive factors in their decisions of teaching HT.

Although the popularity of HT within the history teaching circles, existing literature gives very little considerations to the conceptions and ideas of history teachers of teaching historical thinking and its influences on their practices. However, teachers play a vital role in this process as they are the meditators who are responsible for interpreting and enacting the curriculum (Harris & Reynolds, 2018; Monte- Sano et al., 2014). Although teachers’ role in this process is highly critical, the literature is quite limited in terms of how history teachers adopt the demands of official policies into their school curricula (Harris & Reynolds, 2018). Thus, it will be important to focus on the perspectives and behaviours of teachers associated with HT to provide further insights in this field. One of a few comprehensive studies exploring history teachers' thinking was conducted by Husbands et al. (2003). However, since then, the field of history teaching has seen many changes. Therefore, a new and updated study exploring history teachers' perspectives, specifically for teaching HT, can make an important contribution to the field.

This study, therefore, aims to investigate the perspectives and approaches of history teachers towards teaching HT by raising and evaluating the question of what influences the decisions teachers make in terms of teaching historical thinking. Teachers' decision-making processes involves the process of taking action according to the specific intentions (Seixas, 2012). Therefore, at this point, the concept of teacher agency and self-efficacy become important aspects of teacher decision-making processes (Biesta &Tedder, 2007; Robinson, 2012). In this research, teacher agency is associated with their decisions and actions in relation to improving their teaching based on the new ideas and changes – more specifically HT. Teachers’ self-efficacy also affects their decisions for the selection of curriculum, teaching strategies, and their general behaviours in the classroom (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). Teachers’ sense of efficacy may shape their goals and their level of effort and desire that they invest in teaching in the classroom (Hoy, 2004). Therefore, teachers with higher self-efficacy are more likely to choose to apply classroom enquiries and student- centred teaching methods (which are very beneficial for teaching HT) to improve students’ learning.

Digital technology, as a form of infrastructure, has greatly facilitated sharing of knowledge and information. However, these technologies were not invented for education but can be appropriated for it because researchers, including Henry Jenkins (Jenkins, 2006; Squire & Jenkins, 2003), have observed that learning can be developed through engagement in such platforms. Selwyn points out that the introduction of technology in education is often approached in a deterministic way, which leads to the polarisation of debates and practices. The role of teachers in such transformation is increasingly examined. They are acknowledged as having the capacity to practice agentively in their classroom for educational change (Severance et al., 2016; Van der Heijden et al., 2015), and they are considered the most important agent affecting the implementation of digital education. Teacher agency is commonly referred to as teachers' capacity to make choices and implement actions to realise changes (e.g., Emirbayer & Mische, 1998; Eteläpelto et al., 2013). Although the number of publications on teacher agency has increased significantly in recent years, there is a lack of scholarly consensus on the relationship between digital technology and teacher agency, and mediating factors in shaping teacher agency within technology-integrated teaching. In order to address these gaps, a systematic review was conducted with the following objectives:

● Explore a comprehensive and clear understanding of the relationship between digital technology and teacher agency.

● Summarize factors that have been identified to impact teacher agency for implementing digital education.

The research questions of the review were:

1. What teacher agency has investigated in empirical research of digital education?

2. What factors influence the improvement of teacher agency for digital education?

3. How has the effectiveness of digital technology for teacher agency been measured?

-What is the impact of digital technology on teacher agency?

This paper will discuss the findings from a recent research study exploring the experiences of high ability lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) post-primary students in Ireland, in particular the factors which create a positive or negative educational environment. The study also examines how this environment influenced overall identity development for the study participants. While previous studies exist on the experiences of high ability LGBTQ young people (see references), this is the first set of data outside of the United States.

The participant sample (n=155) was derived from current and former students of the Centre for Talented Youth, Ireland programme at Dublin City University. This is an enrichment summer programme for high ability young people that takes place on the university campus. The mean age for study participants was 18.4 and all attended post-primary school in Ireland. This was a mixed methods study, with quantitative data collected via an anonymous questionnaire and qualitative data collected via a series of interviews and focus groups. The majority of participants identified as LGBTQ (76.7%). The study found that the climate of an environment plays a key role in prevention of bullying, increased feelings of safety and overall social and emotional growth. Participants had a mixed experience at school, reporting a high frequency of anti-LGBTQ language, a low frequency of intervention when such language occurred, incidents of bullying and varying levels of peer and teacher support. Participants reported a positive experience at CTYI, with low levels of anti-LGBTQ language, higher levels of intervention and a higher overall perception of support from peers and staff. LGBTQ leadership and extra curricular activities were also singled out as key positive factors.

The study also explored the experiences of identity development for high ability LGBTQ young people. With no predetermined labels for gender or sexuality, participants were allowed complete self-identification in terms of their gender and sexual orientation. Overall, participants used 14 different labels to describe their gender and 17 different labels to describe their sexual orientation, with some using multiple labels and writing thick descriptions of their identity. Identity development was analysed under the themes of social and emotional development, gender norms, coming out as LGBTQ, friendships, identity rejection and identity affirmation. Each interviewee had very different experiences coming out at school, leading to either identity rejection or affirmation, both internally and externally.

At the end of the session, actionable items for educators will be discussed, in particular the factors which can create a positive learning environment for all LGBTQ young people.

Schools can be important sites for advancing peoples ability to build respectful relationships with one another, especially when the students come from diverse backgrounds (Schwarzenthal et al., 2020). However, the presence of diverse students in the environment does not alone lead to realizing competence but can lead to either positive, or in the worst case, negative attitudes towards diversity (Schmid et al., 2014; Schwarzenthal et al., 2020). Thus, there is a need to study how students in a diverse school position themselves in relation to rights of minoritized people which is the central aim of this study. Additionally, an aim of this research is to bring awareness to educators, researchers and practitioners involved in education and policy, in order to create counter educational opportunities to challenge problematic LGBT+ narratives that are now omnipresent throughout online social media content and quickly filtering into the contemproary Finnish school environment.

While there have been enermous gains regarding the rights of LGBT+ in previous decades in Finland and accross most Western contexts, there clearly remains more work to be done in education for social justice in order for people to interact in a way that avoids deficit perspectives (Mikander et al., 2018; Sleeter, 2014). Despite the growing awareness of minority rights for inclusion there remains at the same time exclusion and stigmatization of LGBT+ (Vijlbrief et al., 2019; Rosen & Nofziger). Studies show that LGBT+ youth are significantly more likely to experience higher levels of exclusion and higher levels of victimization (Birkett et al., 2009). Additionally, experiences of discrimination at school has increaingly been shown to be grounded in hegemonic masculinity, predicated on heterosexuality, physical dominance, normalization of violence and how gender intersects with other social locations such as ethnicity and social class (Rosen & Nofziger, 2019). Therefore, there is a clear need for active work against inequalities (Freire, 1973) through questinong power relations that hegemonic norms might produce (Alemanji, 2016; Hoskins & Sallah, 2011).

As difference is increasingly accepted in the mainstream, it seems that division is becoming more polarized at the extreme ends of the debate. Amid strong gains made by women's movements and social movements, a counter-revolution has emerged, one with no finite geographical or national boundaries, which is truly global in its reach - an epitome of technological globalization. The push back against now dominant mainstream narratives surrounding rights and justice comes from outside of the status-quo, from fringe actors who exploit fears and anxieties, capitalizing on male alienation, and bolstering a male victimhood narrative. Masculinities, understood as hegemonic (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005), are ordered as such by creating symbolic value associated with dominant masculinities over subordinated ones. In other words, those reproducing and embodying hergemonc masculinity seem to be less suseptible to discrimination and exclusion. It is therefore important to provide education for social justice which could enable students’ mutual positive attitudes and the absence of discrimination in the surrounding context (Hoskins & Sallah, 2011), which could support the well-being of students from diverse background (Yeasmin & Uusiautti 2018).

Thus, there is a need to take a critical stance and go beyond simply getting along and instead focus on structural inequalities and overcoming inequities inherent in current social structures that marginalize non-dominant students and systematically prevent them from achieving their full potential (see e.g. Mikander et al., 2018). Hence, this study will investigate how students negotiate inequalties and the rights of minoritized people in the Finnish lower secondary environment, and how do they position themselves in relation to sexual and gendered "othereness".

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Chinese students, the largest source of international students in Europe, particularly favour the UK as their destination for Higher Education (HE) (Soysa et al., 2018). While Chinese women dominate participation in UK HE (HESA, 2022), in light of intersectionality (Collins, 2019), they may face various challenges, stigmatization, and discrimination based on their gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, culture and language throughout their university experience. So, at the intersection between Chinese international students and women students, Chinese women’s lived experience can be different from that of both Chinese men and other women students, although, very little published data has a focus on Chinese women in UK HE. I am, therefore, interested in approaching Chinese women’s lived experience in UK HE from an intersectionality perspective, to engage with literature on HE students’ experiences, particularly those of women students and international students in Europe and globally.

After 1976, China’s dual approach to modernity was based on the neoliberal-socialist regime and ideology as a result of which young adults’ embraced values of neoliberal individualism and parents’ espoused gendered expectations for their daughters. Women’s life experience was characterised by this dual burden and Chinese young women’s construction of modern and traditional womanhood (Liu, 2014). Feminism in China now faces a new structure of power, rekindled traditional discourses, the widespread anti-feminist backlash and the dominance of an institutionalized marriage market. All stress the imperative of research into the understudied subject of Chinese womanhood and the limitations of doing so in the Chinese context. I am interested in exploring whether, and how, Chinese women students’ international HE experiences and transnational mobility can contribute to disrupting and challenging the gender status quo in China.

In light of black feminist thought (Collins, 2014a), it is vital for women, especially those at the margins of society, to define themselves to counter being historically defined by their intersectional marginalization and oppression. Also, in light of internalized oppression (Williams, 2012) and notions of the ideal womanhood (McRobbie, 2015), women students’ understanding of womanhood can have a significant impact on their opportunities and achievement. Considering the widespread influence of post-feminist discourse, the interaction between the understanding of womanhood and women students' life experiences is worth studying. Chinese women students in the UK experience transnational movement and International HE, so they may experience changes in their understanding of womanhood and its interaction with their transnational experience. However, very little is known about whether and how they experience such changes over time.

So, focusing on Chinese women with experience in UK Higher Education, this research aims to explore their understanding of womanhood and its interaction with their lived experience in UK HE over time. It asks specifically:

Q1 How do they understand womanhood over time?

Q1.1 Do they perceive a difference in womanhood between Chinese women and other women in UK HE?

Q2 How does their lived experience in UK HE interact with their understanding of womanhood over time?

Shedding light on UK HE, the findings of this transnational feminist research can engage with the discussion of intersectional justice in Chinese women’s experience in HE in Europe and globally. Also, the findings can contribute to the discussion of Chinese womanhood, gender equity and feminism in China. Together, this research aims to contribute to the discussion of international HE’s role in transnational intersectionality, which is part of the global effort of fighting against interlocking systems of oppression.

This research sits in a critical research paradigm particularly grounded in feminist epistemologies, including feminist standpoint epistemology, such as situated knowledge (Haraway, 2020), double consciousness (hooks, 2000), and outsider-within status (Collins, 2014b), intersectionality (Collins, 2019), and transnational feminisms (Moghadam, 2000).

From the 1950s until the year 2000 there are some important German and US-American sociological and psychological studies about same sex relationships especially between gay men, like Dannecker and Reiche (1974), McWhirter and Mattison (1986), Pingel and Trautvetter (1987) or Richard A. Isay (1993).

But since then, there have been only a couple of studies (Buba & Vaskovics 2001, Çetin 2012, Wagner 2014) that explored experiences of discrimination for gay couples and how homosexuality became more or less accepted in society due to changing attitudes of population and legal changes.

However, a research gap can be identified concerning the ways in which gay men arrange their relationships, in the light of discrimination and its effect on couple’s cooperation and the questions: How do social and legal changes could influence partnership’s dynamics and how do gay men cope with different personal and structural challenges? Especially considering how society has changed, former problems might have been solved (e. g. political persecution) or became easier to handle (e. g. living with the threat of HIV due to medical improvement) whereas new challenges might come up (e. g. marriage and child adoption without descent role models).

As there is a desideratum and, hence, a need for research on relationships between gay men in the 21^st Century, I developed the two following research questions: What kind of challenges might gay relationships face nowadays? How do they cope with different challenges based on relationship as a couple and individually?

By summarizing most of German or English-speaking studies I realized that most of the studies include heteronormative point of views and valuations about role allocation, sexual arrangements, and general lifestyles. They also seem to be written from a white, socially and economically privileged, (hetero-)normative perspective. So, the aim was not only to have a constant heteronormative-critical perspective, but to find diverse interview partners according to age, social and family background, ethnicity and (mental) health.

I refer to a social constructivist and post-structuralist approach that became very common in educational and social research, especially in quality and biographical research (Fritzsche et al. 2001; Jäckle 2009; Kleiner 2016). Not only gender, but the norms about sexual and romantic relationships are seen as culturally and historically constructed, to have an open-minded focus and attitude on relationships between gay men free of prejudice.

From an educational point of view coping strategies (e. g. the coming out process in front of family and friends) can be seen as processes of Bildung, in which the relation between the subject (self) and its environment (world) can lead to a fundamental transformation (Koller 2018) after e. g. a coming out, when someone can not only act and live due someone’s true (sexual and romantical) identity, but can live and arrange someone’s partnership without restrictions in everyday life. In the context of social disadvantages everyday experiences of differences for having a non-normative sexuality often prevent a subject’s fundamental transformation. But the agency/capacity to act as a process of stabilization can be understood as a process of Bildung as well (Wischmann 2010; Wischmann & Jansen 2023).

This perspective does not only lead to a positive view towards gay relationships and their potential to grow (as individuals and as a couple) but make an important impact on the discourse of educational processes and educational research under consideration of social injustice and disadvantages.

Having high aspirations is an important factor in developing the potential of individuals, achieving their own goals and becoming productive and active citizens. In this context, the educational aspirations and choices that influence the attainments in the future professional career and the quality of life of individuals in general are of particular importance.

As many studies evidence, the educational aspirations are shaped and developed in response to many individual (e.g. academic self-efficacy, believes about education, sex) and contextual determinants (e.g. family socio-economic status, parental education, parental support, school’s support) which can hinder or facilitate the development of high educational aspirations (Gorard et al., 2012; Gutman and Akerman, 2008; Schoon et al. 2007).

Despite significant attainments in education, women still belong to those social groups that encounter obstacles in achieving their educational aspirations, and experience a gap between their educational achievements and professional career that results in lower wages for women.

According to the statistics for the year 2020, 46% of women in EU obtained tertiary education compared to 36% of men. Although women have outperformed men in achieving tertiary education, across the EU they earn less per hour than men. In 2018, the gross hourly wages of women in the EU were on average 14.4% lower than those of men (Eurostat, 2020). Similarly, in Croatia there is also a gender gap between educational achievement and economical reward of women. Women make up 57% of higher education students while men make up 43%. At the same time, women's average monthly earnings were 89.9% of the monthly earnings of men (Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2022).

Like statistical indicators, research results, including Croatian studies, also point to gender differences in educational aspirations, indicating a consistent trend of higher educational aspirations for girls than for boys (Schoon et al. 2007; Gutman and Akerman, 2008; Jugović, 2015; Šabić and Jokić, 2021). Educational aspiration is a complex construct, associated with various individual and contextual characteristics of students that influence relationship between gender and educational aspirations. Scoon et al. (2007) show that socially disadvantaged students tend to have lower educational aspirations than their socially privileged counterparts. Additionally, girls from families with traditional gender beliefs and stereotypes also tend to have lower educational aspirations. Research findings also suggest that aspirations are related to attitudes towards education and beliefs, especially to belief in an individual's own academic abilities. (Gutman and Akerman, 2008).

From a methodological point of view it is important to emphasize that these studies show that the complexity of various interdependent influences on educational aspirations requires an intersectional approach.

The aim of our research is to explore gender differences during the COVID-19 pandemic in upper secondary school students' aspirations to study abroad, i.e. to test if gender contributes to these aspirations when contextual variables (cultural capital, economic capital and residential status) and students’ individual variables (GPE, self-efficacy for HE and estimates of the societal value of education in Croatia) are controlled for.

As we have mentioned, Croatian statistics and research indicate higher aspirations of girls to pursue tertiary education than boys, the influence of gender stereotypes on students study choices and higher aspirations of economically and culturally priviliged students to study abroad. Studying abroad proved to be an additional channel for the reproduction of a privileged status (Puzić et al., 2020).

Based on the mentioned, we hypothesize that higher educational aspirations of females will be also visible in proportion of girls who aspire to study abroad (in comparison to proportion of boys). We also assume that the aspiration to study abroad will be associated with higher cultural and economic capitals of boys and girls.

The UNESCO (2021) stresses in its paper about the inclusion of LGBTI students on the vital role of teachers to create a safe atmosphere for all students, regardless of their gender identity, gender expression, variation of sex characteristics or sexual orientation. Although training programmes for teachers are essential to translate policies into reality, in many countries of the European Union pre- and in-service training with reference to this topic is still missing. Germany, for example, offers information, guidelines, support systems and inclusive national curricula; but there doesn’t exist any mandatory teacher training on LGBTQI awareness (IGLYO 2018). Therefore, many teachers lack knowledge regarding the current nature of (in)equalities of genders and sexualities. Moreover, they lack confidence to address questions of gender and sexual diversity in their classrooms. Educational research on LGBTIQ youth and teachers is increasing in Europe and Germany, but it is still in the beginning (Fahie2017; Siemoneit 2021). Studies so far stress on LGBTIQ youth in school, on heteronormativity in the classroom (Kleiner 2015; Kosciwet al. 2019; FRA 2020), the imbalance of ‘to want and to can do’ (Klocke et al. 2018) or it describes school as a place where nobody is responsible for LGBTIQ topics (Schmidt/Schondelmayer 2015).

In our educational research project on Queer Professionality we analyse the ‘want and can’ of teachers at German schools who stand in between progressive policies and conservative realities. We ask how teachers understand and address – what we would call – ‚the many ways of living gender and sexual diversity‘ (Hartmann 2002) in the classroom. With this term we emphasize that we try to ‘think diversity from a diverse perspective’ - instead of just adding LGBTIQ colours to an already existing binary picture. In recent years a huge change happened in the political and social discourse about gender (identity) and sexuality in Germany. Heteronormative power relations faltered and became more flexible, simultaneously initiating processes of pluralisation and normalisation of gender and sexual diversity. Teachers are part of these discursive negotiations: they are challenged and struggle with responsibility.

In our study we are interested in teacher’s interpretation patterns concerning gender and sexual diversity. To understand these interpretations pattern, we use a hybrid fusion of pedagogical theories connecting critical theory, deconstructivism and intersectionality, to evaluate the narratives teachers told us in an episodic discursive interview study (see below). The theoretical framework we refer to is threefold. Critical Pedagogy (Kritische Bildungstheorie, Heydorn 1972) stresses on the contradiction of education (Bildung, Hartmann 2013; Messerschmidt 2009) and power structures. Education is understood as a tool to adjust students to the power structures of society and at the same time to support students to develop a critical attitude against it. Queer Subject Theory (Discurs Theory, Foucault 1992; Butler 2009) deconstructs power relations and stresses on the paradoxes of submission, resistance and empowerment in the sexed and gendered subjectivation process. Intersectionality (Riegel 2016) considers the interconnectedness of concepts of sociocultural divide such as heteronormativity, classism, ableism and racism, affecting social individuals. These connected concepts unfold at school between structures and organisations, discourses and practices of subjectivation. In using this hybrid theoretical framework we can update the concept of maturity (“Mündigkeit”, Heydorn 1972) and develop and unfold the perspective of the many ways of living gender and sexual diversity. Within this framework we can study collective orientations and interpretation patterns of teachers dealing with and theming gender and sexual diversity in the classroom. We can answer the research question how these teachers negotiate and realize institutional responsibilities and pedagogical competences related to LGBTIQ topics.

In recent years, transgender children and adolescents have gained increased visibility in Israeli culture, and the education system faces the need of coping with students’ gender transition in the school arena. The parents, and especially the mothers of these children, function as key figures who navigate their children’s transition and mediate between them and the school. The proposed paper is based on a study that explores parents' practices and experiences in the encounter between the school and family environments. Our research explores the experiences of contemporary Israeli mothers of transgender and gender-variant children focusing on their roles as actors who negotiate their children's preferences and performances and mediate these to others in the family and school settings. The family and school are the most important institutions of gender socialization (Thorne, 1993). Yet, very few studies have investigated parent-school relations in the context of transgender and gender-variant children. Our aim is to investigate how parents of transgender and gender-variant children interact with various actors in their children's schools in the process of mediating their children's gender performance or navigating their transition.

Currently, no formal policy exists concerning gender-variant students in Israel, despite the trans community’s efforts to work with the Ministry of Education to formulate guidelines for schools concerning the treatment of transgender students. Our research sets out from the premise that parents of transgender and gender-variant children play an important role in navigating (i.e., interpreting, mediating, and advocating) their children's gender variance/transition in the encounter with educational institutions. Therefore, they may promote educational personnel's awareness of gender variance, impacting educational policy. This approach to educational policy resonates with what Levinson et al. (2009) define as the "sociocultural approach." Unlike traditional policy research, which attempted to understand how and why a given policy succeeded or failed, the sociocultural approach analyzes how a policy defines reality, orders behavior, and allocates resources (Levinson et al., 2009). Within this framework, formal policymakers, and other social actors, such as parents and civil society bodies working with the educational system, can participate in policymaking around transgender children or atypical gender expression.

Following Rahilly (2015; 2018) who examined parents’ negotiations with the gender binary and its regulatory effects during everyday discursive interactions, we focus on parent-school relationships as an increasingly important and under-investigated arena of "doing (trans) gender" politics in contemporary Israel.

Assuming that parents' interactions with educational institutions are shaped by local social (religious, communal) constraints and values, we wanted to find out whether and in what ways parents’ participation in shaping policy around transgender children differs between different educational contexts. For this purpose, we distinguished between 3 types of schools in the Jewish sector: state schools, state-religious schools, and independent schools. The three types of schools differ in several respects. For the purpose of this study, a highly pertinent characteristic of Jewish state-religious schools is that most are gender segregated, beginning in 4th grade and sometimes earlier (Finkelstein, 2021). Independent schools (i.e., democratic, arts, experimental, private, and Steiner approach schools) are often characterized by progressive agendas, as well as a higher degree of parental involvement in school governance than the other state schools (Nir & Bogler, 2012).

Cyberbullying is a major issue within school. Heads of school admit this type of violence hard to predict, teachers are often blind to these underlying facts, families give in to the social injunction buying their teenager a mobile. While this is currently the case in French secondary schools, the phenomenon is spreading to many countries.

A proliferation of studies on the subject have documented this phenomenon since the early 2000s, mainly from a psychological perspective. It has been highlighted that part of cyberbullying is closely tied to the gender matrix through sexism, LGBTphobia and heteronormativity (Ringrose & al., 2013; Varela & al., 2021). In France, after the original work of Blaya (2011, 2013, 2018) we have taken up this topic according to the orientation of gender studies in the educational field (Couchot-Schiex, 2017; Couchot-Schiex & Moignard, 2020; Richard & Couchot-Schiex, 2020). While the term cyberbullying was popularised in the early 2000s (Belsey, 2004), agreement on a stable scientific definition is still lacking. There is, however, a consensus on certain features characterising the phenomenon, in particular the gendered identification of the roles of aggressor versus victim. While it is well established that half or even two thirds of aggressors are boys operating alone or in groups, the analyses do not always lead to a gendered interpretation of the operating mechanisms which we strive to incorporate into our studies.

Since 2016, we have conducted three studies in secondary schools (age range 11-16 years old) mapping this phenomenon among young people. This led us to set out elements of a definition in the French context (Couchot-Schiex & Richard, 2021), of what cybersexism might be. Thus, we are now able to describe this dynamic social phenomenon and bring out the underlying mechanisms. While there are strong characteristics of this phenomenon that are widely shared across schools, one of the interesting findings is that the amount of variation is strongly influenced by the context of students' lives, by their family and social anchors, which are locally situated, thus echoing some previous analyses on the importance of contexts on gendered socialisation, particularly for homophobic attitudes and behaviour (Anderson, 2011).

The paper aims to attest the reality of this phenomenon, as part of the socialisation among young people. The presentation will focus on some striking results of the image of cybersexism among pupils at school, identify the underlying gender mechanisms, and pinpoint the major developments from the latest survey.

Thanks to the numerous studies on bullying conducted since the 1970s, today the topic enjoys a high level of awareness (Menesini & Nocentini, 2015; Scierri & Batini, 2021). Various forms of aggression, abuse and violence, repeated and perpetuated over time, by one peer onto another one unable to defend him/herself, are the keys characteristics of bullying. According to Olweus (2013), bullying is the repeated physical, verbal or psychological violence, that lasts over time, with both an ex-ante and ex-post imbalance between victim and perpetrator. The victim(s) chosen by the bully are usually physically and psychologically weaker than him/herself, are persecuted for a long time with heavy psychological, emotional and relational consequences. Bullying is described as multidimensional, dynamic, complex and characterized by three elements: asymmetry, persistence and intentionality (Olweus, 1994; 1998; 2013; Menesini, 2000).

According to Volturo (2011), the bully and the victim are always surrounded by other figures. Thus, bullying does not only involve the perpetrator and the victim but creates a complex relational dynamic. Moreover, age affects the different manifestations of oppression by showing how, for example, with the advance of adolescence we move more frequently towards forms of indirect and relational aggression (Rivers & Smith, 1994). The victims of bullying are children and young people, among them most likely are foreigners, disabled, homosexuals and of course, girls who are also the victims of social misogyny. In short, the categories stigmatized by the dominant group in society at large. The difficulty in identifying clear and unambiguous motivations for aggression is linked to the fact that this phenomenon arises from many socio-cultural factors, whose interaction acts as a trigger for bullying. It is also important to note that bullying occurs at school and not in other contexts. The school is not only the “stage” for children interaction, i.e., where it plays out, but it is also a central place in its generation. Group dynamics and the phenomena of peer reputation building must therefore be examined in light of this specific environment that today is the only one left within our society where children spend many hours a day among hundreds of peers (Author 1 & 2, 2022).

Our study seeks to examine the complex phenomenon of bullying among teenage girls at school (ages 14-16). Albeit it is still perceived as less common as bullying among boys, violence and aggressions among girls are on the rise, and it has become a pressing concern in the field of education. Despite this reality, there is a relative dearth of empirical and/or multi-method research on the topic. Our nation-wide study “Female Bullying at School: an intersectional mixed-method investigation”, which involved colleagues from 5 other Italian Universities (Milan-Bicocca, Genoa, Perugia, Foggia and Enna “Kore”), approaches bullying from an interdisciplinary standpoint, using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, aiming to pursue two main objectives:

1. To reach a deeper understanding of female bullying based on an intersectional point of view that examines both the relational dynamics, and behaviours of bullies, bullied and bystanders.

2. To survey and assess the incidence of female bullying in Italy.

Given the existing evidence that female bullying is essentially an intragender phenomenon (Author, forthcoming), we chose to interpret aggressive behaviours and female (cyber)bullying as an arena of contention in which different “models of femininity” are compared and contrasted, to the point that we might consider the phenomenon an enactment of societal gender norms.

This hypothesis has been partially confirmed in the preliminary inquiry developed with students, age 18, in 2018-19 in Verona (Author 1 & 2, 2022).

An important public health issue that affects millions of people worldwide is gender violence. One of the most susceptible groups to gender violence is infants (Dagadu et al., 2022). Recent research has concentrated on examining the negative effects gender-based violence can have on children, particularly when they reach adulthood (Chung & Huang, 2021). Gender violence inflicted on young children is linked to detrimental developmental outcomes and may have long-lasting harmful repercussions (Banyard et al., 2019). While bullying and violence in schools are recognised problems with known impacts on children's physical and mental health, their underlying causes, which have not yet been fully examined, include social and gender standards (Segura & Carcedo, 2020).

Moreover, gender violence in schools is rarely documented and is less frequently acknowledged as a significant issue in young children (Evans et al., 2021). Therefore, prospects for its prevention and for an efficient intervention may be hampered by a lack of understanding of gender-based violence in childhood and very early in life (Doni, 2021). In this sense, schools are the perfect scenarios to promote prevention of gender-based violence and abuse, as they can provide students the skills they need to identify risky behaviours and lessen them (Devries et al., 2017). Thus, determining efficient methods to stop gender-based violence in the first years of school is crucial.

In order to guarantee that all children get high-quality education through violence-free schools, the goal of this research is to undertake a comprehensive assessment of treatments to prevent gender-based violence in childhood, especially from 3 to 12 years old, inclusive. The research questions related to the objective of identifying successful interventions and programs in preventing and overcoming gender-based violence from early years were stated:

• What programs and interventions have been implemented in school settings to prevent and reduce gender-based violence?

• Have they been successful? What effects have they achieved?

• What are their main characteristics?

To accomplish this goal a systematic review was carried out. By using this methodological technique, we have carefully systematised and analysed the scientific literature on t effective early interventions to identify and and prevent gender-based violence in schools.

Issues of equity, access, and justice have long been of paramount interest in education research, as a means of illuminating, challenging, and changing long-established relations of power. On the one hand, the field has utilised quantitative approaches to map inequalities in student distributions (related to e.g. gender and social class) across disciplines and institutions. On the other hand, there is also an abundance of small-scale qualitative studies, seeking to understand educational trajectories of individuals or groups of individuals and their positions of (dis)advantage in the generation of relationships with educational contexts. Typically, such studies utilise narrative, discursive and performative approaches to identity formation.

In contrast to the extensive research on discourse and identity, the role of materiality in processes of identity formation in scientific practices has received less attention (de Freitas & Curinga 2015). Theoretical stances that recognize the agentic force of materiality offer new avenues to investigate the students’ engagement with institutions and disciplines. The focus on materiality has been productive in exploring the significance of space in learning to be a scientist (Acton 2017); the gender performativity in science (e.g. Scantlebury et al. 2019); the ways in which diverse objects such as instruments (e.g. Milne 2019) are inscription devices in the scientific work in classrooms; and how space, bodies and objects interact in classrooms (Taylor 2013). In this symposium we are interested in exploring the entanglement of socio-material-discursive practices and subjectification processes, in the context of higher education. In particular, we focus on the methodological challenges of making appropriate empirical and analytical cuts in order to capture how subjectification processes are interlinked with both broader societal contexts, disciplinary cultures and concrete social-material practices, while allowing for both analytical clarity and contextual complexity.

The symposium brings together studies from different national contexts and of different educational contexts, in order to showcase a diversity of novel methodological approaches.

The first presentation will engage with different creative data experimentations (collaging, painting with data, and string figuring), in which researchers collectively become entangled with the data. The second presentation explores slow education research in the context of chemistry education research, foregrounding matters of care. This will be followed by a presentation focused on relationality in the co-design of spaces that are socially and culturally relevant to youth, adding embodiment, affect and more-than-human characteristics to the conceptualisation of science identity. The final presentation will zoom in on higher education spaces of physics and mathematics, using walking ethnographies to explore how assemblages of practice connecting bodies, spaces and materials come to be produced.

All presentations experiment with methodologies that seek to include the more-than-human in the research practices and avoid creating dichotomies between researchers and participants. But there are also multiple different ways in which the presentations link up, concepts that can be traced through two or more of the presentations include care, assemblage, multiplicities, apparatus, and knowledge/knowledge-ing. The discussant will highlight such entanglements between the presentations, but also challenge the presenters to explore how the theoretical richness in the symposium at large can provide new avenues for engaging with multifaceted qualitative data.

Karen Barad’s agential realism (2007) helps us attend differently to mattering and materiality in feminist educational research. In particular, in expanding the notion of who/what possesses agency to the nonhuman, Barad questions the usual alignment of human as agentic subject. Our paper is motivated by the question: what happens to researcher subjectivity in agential realist educational research? This is a compelling question that opens fresh avenues for research. In Cartesian logics, the subject is split from the object; whereas in agential realism, cuts are a cutting-together-apart: a separation that is also an entanglement. What, then, happens to subject-object-researcher-researched? We explore this knotty problem through empirical materials collectively produced as part of a collaborative research project entitled Get up and Move!, where a group of academics in education came together to explore walking methodologies (Bastos et al., 2022) as posthumanist, feminist materialist research practices. We devised experimentations that enabled intra-actions with the data including collaging (Fairchild et al., 2022), painting with data (Balmer, 2021) and string figuring (Haraway, 2016). These research-creation practices provided opportunities to attend to, and respond to, the ‘specificity of material entanglements in their agential becoming’ (Barad, 2007, p.91). In this paper we share the ways in which our specific socio-material-discursive practices opened us up to new possibilities, producing phenomena that we were always, are always, entangled within. As we cut together/apart meanings emerged and proliferated in rhizomatic and unforeseen ways illuminating what came to matter. These processual practices are a form of ‘knowledge-ing’ (Taylor, 2021), and enabled multiple and unexpected happenings to occur. The apparatuses, which as Barad reminds us, are phenomena themselves, are also part of the phenomena they produce. What began with an openness to enact different data experimentations illuminated how, ‘the object and the measuring agencies emerge from rather than precede the intra-actions that produces them’ (Barad 2007, p. 128). Collectively we became entangled with the data and each other and our collaborative enactments became a marbling of experiences like drops of colours on a liquid surface, swirling together into moving, changing unexpected assemblages. We resisted the material-discursive practice of boundary production between disciplines, opening up to transdisciplinary knowledge-making and unexpected kinships. Collaborative collaging, string figuring and data creations are relational, generative processes of slow scholarship. These approaches have the potential to be utilised in multiple educational contexts - offering ways for more just, creative and ethical research and practice.

Balmer A. (2021). Painting with data: Alternative aesthetics of qualitative research. The Sociological Review, 696, 1143–1161. Barad K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Duke University Press. Bastos E., Hogarth H., Taylor C. A., Barr K., Barratt Hacking E., Cranham J., Hewlett S. (2022). Walking together-apart: How the use of mobile material methods during the pandemic can help us think towards better educational futures. EERA Blog. Fairchild N., Taylor C. A., Benozzo A., Carey N., Koro M., Elmenhorst C. (2022). Knowledge production in material spaces: Disturbing conferences and composing events. Routledge. Haraway D. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press. Taylor C. A. (2021). Knowledge matters: Five propositions concerning the reconceptualization of knowledge in feminist new materialist, posthumanist and post-qualitative research. In Murris K. (Ed.), Navigating the postqualitative, new materialist, and critical posthumanist terrain across disciplines, an introductory guide. Routledge. Taylor C. A., Hogarth H., Cranham J., Hewlett S., Bastos E., Barratt Hacking E., Barr K. (in press) Concept-ing with the gift: Walking method/ologies in posthumanist research. Journal of Posthumanism.

As feminist chemistry educators engaged as (ill)disciplined researchers, scholars and teachers we position ourselves as reliable witnesses to the research and pedagogical practices in science education that undermine and counteract calls for equity and diversity. To this end we propose, by making a fuss, enacting matters of care and implementing slow education (Stengers, 2018; Stengers & Despret, 2014), are key steps in challenging the status quo in science education’s fast pedagogical and research practices. We illustrate how we are making a fuss through an examination of chemistry education research practices, the entanglement of emotions, the material and perspectives of undergraduate students in laboratory settings and education systems bogged down by beliefs of learning as a product to be consumed. We are looking to disrupt different aspects of science education and science by exploring "interstitial spaces where meaning resides" (Barad, 1995, p. 65) and that requires a slowing down. Slow education provides a space to re-think and re-examine practices with the intent of “opening up the possibility of new questions, new experimental settings and new puzzles” (Stengers 2018, p. 91-92). Our current slow science education research foregrounds matter and its entanglement with laboratory science and its research practices, undergraduate students’ laboratory experiences – the physical, emotional, and the socio-cultural. Through matters of care we identify the forms of exclusion, power and domination in science and science education, noting that care is an ethically and politically charged practice which allows us to engage in research that is outside the main and actively opening up opportunities for younger scholars in science education and science to have the space in research labs, undergraduate labs and when teaching science to pursue new theory, practices and method in science education. Using socially acute questions (Harraway, 2008) and socio-scientific issues as a basis provides the space and time to address wicked, ill-structured problems where context is key. For example, using a USA case study such as the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, USA where politically, racialized decisions on managing the town’s drinking water, combined with a series of chemical reactions caused major health problems for the populace (Authors, 2021a). We can enact slow education through asking students to make connections to the everyday through materials such as snaplogs (Authors, 2021b) which value students’ identifying diffraction and difference rather than an expectation that they would reflect back known facts.

Authors, 2021a; b Barad, K. (1995). Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter. Signs, 28 (3), 801-831. Haraway, D. J. (2008). When species meet. University of Minnesota Press. Stengers, I. (2018). Another science is possible: A manifesto for slow science. Cambridge, Polity Press. Stengers, I. & Despret, V. (2014). Women who make a fuss: The unfaithful daughters of Virginia Woolf. University of Minnesota Press.

This presentation explores the production of affective spaces for science identity work among girls in an afterschool program called the Convoclub. Drawing on conversations we had with the program coordinator of the club, and artifact and interview data from a digital storytelling exercise we conducted with the girls in Convoclub (Author et al., 2013; Author and Author, 2023), we describe stories of assemblages—affectively charged associations of people, places and things (Ehret and Leander, 2019). In doing so, we propose a broadened vision of the construct of “science identity” to centre relationships, and a necessary focus on the embodied, affective and more-than-human characteristics of identity. We will share a series of vignettes that highlight considerations for the co-design of spaces that are socially and culturally relevant, and meaningful to youth in ways that contribute to their ‘becoming’ in science education. Our analysis of the vignettes is guided by Ehret and Leander’s (2019) discussion of assemblages which they describe as producing “affective affinities” that are not just experienced by one individual in ways that we can describe (e.g., happiness, sadness, anger). Rather Ehret and Leander suggest affective affinities are “experienced as the warp and woof of movements involving multiple actors—the everyday movements of people and things approaching and pushing against one another coming alongside, making a dance-like turn, pulling apart” (p. 6). The three vignettes we present will address concerns that arose in the design of the Convoclub, and our hope that the research itself would “become a transformative act” (Steinberg, 2014, p. xiii), implying “a methodological symbiosis of praxis and care” (Ali & McCarthy, 2020, p. 5). We will describe our dialogues with the program coordinator that led to the co-design of a learning space that centred critical reflexivity and affect; how the digital storytelling activity created an open door into which the girls were invited to engage with us, and through which we have considered the many ways that the girls moved through that door (e.g., Smith et al., 2022); and we will finally describe how these actions enabled a kind of deep relationality in the group supportive of “becomings”—the empowerment of identities in the making that brought to life a new way of being and moving with science. These vignettes challenge static views of science identities and highlight the entanglements and dynamic processes of becoming alongside science across space and time.

Ali, A. I., & McCarty, T. L. (2020). Centering critical youth research methodologies of praxis and care. In A. I. Alis & T. L. McCarty (Eds.), Critical youth research in education (pp. 3-20). Routledge. Ehret, C., and Leander, K. (2019) Introduction. In: Leander K and Ehret C (eds) Affect in Literacy Learning and Teaching: Pedagogies, Politics and Coming to Know. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. Author and Author. (2023). Author et al., (2013). Smith, T., Avraamidou, L., López López, M., and Adams, J. (2022). Exploring the Space: Border Crossing in a Community-based Science Engagement Programme. Science Educators for Equity, Diversity and Social Justice (SEEDS), Virtual Conference, January 29, 2022. Steinberg, S. R. (2014). Foreword. Criticalizing youth, youth criticalizing. In A. Ibrahim, & S. R. Steinberg (Eds.), Critical youth studies reader (pp. xiii-xiv). Peter Lang.

This presentation draws on the methodological pilot from a new research project focused on in/exclusion in higher education physics and mathematics (PI: last author), illustrating the reciprocal process of theoretical and methodological fine-tuning as the project literally takes its first empirical steps during walking ethnographies in higher education settings. The project explores the paths of students from under-represented groups into the fields of physics and mathematics, and the identities that they build as they engage with these disciplinary areas. We are inspired by socio-material perspectives that consider humans and nonhumans as constantly performed and enacted (de Freitas & Curinga, 2015). In their engagement with the disciplines of physics and mathematics, the students link into socio-historic practices and virtues, learning those through participation (Daston & Gallison 2007). From such a perspective, scientific knowledge can not be separated from the knower. More specifically, Mol (2002) argues that objects and subjects need to be understood as enacted inseparably in the multiple materialized relations of scientific practice. As such, human actors, scientific practices, materialities are all entangled in distributed networks of materialization of practice. Identity can be studied by tracing the assemblages of practice in which bodies, spaces and materials —objects, instruments, artefacts, matter— as well as language as materialities come to be connected (Acton 2017). In order to trace the reciprocity of student identities and scientific materialities we use walking ethnographies to identify configurations of identity that promote students’ successful engagement. In the walking ethnographies students are invited to take the researcher around places of importance to them as physics or mathematics students (e.g. laboratories, lecture halls, social areas, study spaces), focusing on the use of materials in the places (e.g. which objects, materials, instruments are used how and where), how the students experience the places (e.g. as contributing to a sense of belonging or competence, safety and/or insecurity) and their engagement with the room distribution, instruments and other artefacts in these spaces. As such, our methodological pilot seeks to sharpen our ethnographic gaze and our analytical apparatus. In the conference presentation we focus on how the data generated during the walking ethnographies is entangled with our theoretical vantage points, both in the generation and the analysis of the data.

Acton, R. (2017). Place-people-practice-process: Using sociomateriality in university physical spaces research. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(14), 1441-1451. Daston, L., & Galison, P. (2007). Objectivity. Zone Books, Distributed by the MIT Press. De Freitas, E., & Curinga, M. X. (2015). New materialist approaches to the study of language and identity: Assembling the posthuman subject. Curriculum Inquiry, 45(3), 249-265. Mol, A. (2002). The body multiple: Ontology in medical practice. Duke University Press.

In similarity to other working organisations are schools complicit in institutionalising age, gender, and sexuality in various ways. Instead of being neutral arenas of work (Acker, 1990), Mills (2004) argues schools to mimic the traditional gender roles of the nuclear family where women engage in emotional labour while men “engage in the supposedly more difficult aspects of the job, for instance, the disciplining of students and taking care of the fiscal responsibilities of planning and managing the school” (p. 35). Through the “straight face” of schooling, discourses of family traditions emphasise heterosexuality and binary gender identities as “truth regimes” to promote schools and its teachers as safe and normalised (Davis & Hay, 2018, p. 290). While the “truth regimes” of schools and education underlines teachers’ practices has the school-based sexuality education (SE) developed into a critical practice of examining norms and values. When teachers practice SE, they also operationalise democratic values (Venegas, 2022) by relating it with “feminist and LGBTQI+ struggles for equality, diversity, human rights, citizenship and democracy” (p. 491). The development of SE can take on different paths due to a country socio-political history (Sherlock, 2012).

When it comes to SE, Sweden tends to pride itself for being the first country in the world to make it a compulsory part of schooling. In Sweden, SE became a trademark of Swedish politics to promote sexual and reproductive rights world-wide (Irwin, 2019; Martinsson et al., 2016). In the national curriculum SE is inscribed in an overarching level from K-12 and expected to be a reoccurring, subject-integrated, and cross-disciplinary knowledge area (Skolverket, 2022a, 2022b). For the teaching practice this means that each and every one working in Swedish schools are obliged to engage with SE and address issues of sexuality, consent, and relationships with students. However, talking sex with children and adolescents is not always easy.

The paper presents data from a larger thesis project that aims to explore how SE take shape by interviewing teachers about their experiences of working with SE and observing a working group assigned to develop teachers’ practices concerning SE. In the teacher interviews I was surprised that some teachers began to talk about their own embodiments of age, gender, and sexuality to describe how they were able to teach and talk about sexuality and relationships with their students while others found it more difficult for the same reason. In this paper I ask, how do intersections of age, gender, and sexuality interfere teachers practises in teaching SE?

To understand how teachers’ embodiment create possibilities and limitations in discussing issues of sexuality and relationships with students, I departing from Joan Ackers (1990, 2006) notion on gendered organisations and Clary Krekula’s (2021) view on age as relation to analyse open interview with 18 teachers.

What is the role of relationships in sexuality education? To begin, it is at times part of the terminology. In the UK, Relationships and Sex Education is a statutory subject in primary school. Sweden recently updated the name of the knowledge area to Sexuality, Consent and Relationships (Skolverket 2023-01-31). Relationships is mentioned as the seventh (out of seven) central components of Comprehensive Sexuality Education according to the organization International Planned Parenthood Federation. When working with the concept of ‘family’, a teaching resource developed for the Health and Wellbeing division in Ireland (2023-01-31) discusses the importance of including non-traditional examples of what family means. They use critical approaches to gender and sexuality and argue that these are relevant for understanding family relationships – however, critical approaches to relationships are limited to inclusion.

There has been a thorough debate in international sexuality education scholarship around critical approaches to aspects of gender and sexuality drawing on theorists such as Judith Butler (1990) and Kevin Kumashiro (2002). Such studies have introduced critical and norm aware ways of teaching sexuality education and contributed to keeping the area alert on societal changes (Jones 2011; Lundin 2014; Bengtsson & Bolander 2020). A corresponding critical discourse on the topic of relationships is emerging lately in academia; however, it is rarely or never seen in the sexuality education practice.

What does it mean then to pursue a critique of normative assumptions on relationships? Relationships need to be placed into a context. Sociologist Eva Illouz (2012) argues that since the beginning of the 20th century, the marriage market has slowly been deregulated in the Western world in tandem with societal changes such as secularization, industrialization, and individualization. This means that today, there is a new cultural pattern where people can organize their close relationships more freely. However, it does not mean that individuals are free from norms, opinions from family members, or from implicit socio-economical structures.

Sociologist Catrine Andersson (2015) shows how the Swedish state regulates intimate relationships through sanctioning marriages and divorces. The former idea of monogamy is today more realistically termed “serial monogamy”: being with a partner, until you are with a new one. If you stick to one partner at the time, your intimate relationships are sanctioned by the state. However, many adults are engaged in consensual non-monogamy in different ways (not to be mistaken for infidelity). Andersson (2022) maps out a multitude of practices in her informants’ non-monogamous lives, such as open relationships, polyamory, swinging, and relationship anarchy. Research has shown how individuals practicing consensual non-monogamy are stigmatized and suffer from minority stress (Mahar et al. 2022). This is thought to be a result of the normative assumptions on relationship structures society bears today.

Two other aspects of relationships which are highly politicized are the variety of ways of how to start a family (IVF, adoption, surrogacy) and organizing domestic life (collective living, intergenerational living arrangements, the increase of single households). Less politicized – but equally relevant for people’s lives – are aspects such as friendship, online communities, and loneliness (Ceder & Gunnarsson, 2021).

Sexuality education is a knowledge area where societal topics are raised; for the knowledge aspect of them, and for the importance this knowledge might have in students’ lives. This paper aims to explore how relationships as a topic can be taught with an awareness of critical approaches. The research questions are: What aspects on relationships appear in sexuality education in Swedish secondary school? How can these aspects be understood through literature on critical approaches to relationships? How can the topic of relationships be developed as a part of the knowledge area of sexuality education?

Pre-teens explore and express other than cis- and heteronormative forms of gender and sexuality in their peer relations. Despite this, these ‘non-normative’ ways of being and doing often threaten to drown under mainstream assumptions that follow the common idea of gender-dichotomy and the mutual attraction of boys and girls (Hawkes & Dune, 2013). Although the national curriculum outlines that schools should support the development of students’ gender and sexual identities (Finnish National Board of Education, 2014), particularly non-binary and non-heterosexual youth tend to find the school's practices cramped and are often left to ponder these issues by themselves in their other life spheres (Kennedy, 2020). The aim of this study is to focus on youth everyday spaces, and to look at how they come together in shaping pre-teen non-normative gendered and sexual cultures.

To do this, the research draws on case study, which was implemented in Northern Finland and consists of an arts-based case study of a group of three 12- to 13-year-old students. As we worked with the group of friends and their nine classmates, what stood out was the trio’s powerful, iterative reflections of non-normative gender and sexuality that emerged during our engagement with them. As they were sharing their thoughts with us, they especially discussed two life spheres as vital for expressing gender and sexuality: school and online communities. We became interested in exploring how these spaces operate; although they might seem distinct or even separate from each other, they act together in co-constituting pre-teen gender and sexuality.

Earlier research on young people’s gender and sexuality has focused on their romantic and/or sexual relationships as well as on the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) youth (Kennedy, 2020; Lehtonen, 2021). Despite this, there is a lack of research examining young people’s relationalities which transgress hetero- and cisnormativity in the transition to adolescence (see however Neary, 2021). In addition, these themes have been primarily approached through human-centred, talk-based methodologies, which can make it challenging for young people to explore these topics. In recent years, a growing body of feminist new materialist and posthuman work (see e.g., Allen, 2018; Renold, 2019; Taylor, 2013) has begun to explore new methodological, ethical, and ontological possibilities of mapping youth sexualities in expansive ways. We join this scholarship by employing creative, arts-based approaches in exploring young people’s views on gender, sexuality, and power in the less-studied elementary school context.

Firstly, we turn to ask, how school and online communities are constantly coming together with other entities and co-constituting possibilities for pre-teen non-normative gendered and sexual relationalities. Our intention is to focus particularly on the flux and flow school and social media entanglements create for navigations and ruptures of gendered and sexual norms and the alternative visions and ways of being they enable. Secondly, to consider and encourage the transgressive gendered and sexual practices in young people’s everyday lives and draw insights for the development of more supportive youth spaces, we focus on our creative workshop space and ask how it acts as a space for expressing pre-teen gender and sexual diversity.

Teen dating violence is a complex and multifaceted problem. This violence has been defined as that in which acts that hurt the other person occur, in the context of a relationship in which there is attraction and in which the two members of the couple date to go out together (Close, 2005). Although for some authors this type of violence has a structure similar to partner violence in adults, it presents certain peculiarities related both to the relationship (there is no cohabitation, absence of children, economic independence) and to the dynamics of violence (bidirectionality and reciprocity) (Borges & Dell'Aglio, 2017 ; López-Cepero et al., 2015; Rubio-Garay et al., 2017).
The studies on partner violence have focused mainly on couples made up of both binary sexes and where their sexual orientation was defined as heterosexual (Díaz & Nuñez, 2015). Intragender violence occurs between people of the LGTBI collective and can be defined as the violent behavior or attitude of one of the members towards their partner of the same gender (Tomás Cánovas, 2019). For their part, Rodríguez et al., (2015) point out that in couples in which a member belongs to the transsexual, transgender or intersex group, violent behaviors are an exercise of power by the "normative" member in order to dominate, control, coerce and/or isolate the victim, as happens in heteronormative couples. That is, the difference with intragender violence lies in the absence of sexist or patriarchal reasons, although the purpose is the same, to exercise domination and control over a member of the couple.

Another important point to note is that the difficulty of identifying an unhealthy relationship by the partner is attributed to the invisibility of intra-gender violence itself in society and the lack of information to be able to recognize this type of violence (Janice Ristock, 2005). Along the same lines, the Yogyakarta Principles identified the key role that educational methods and resources play in increasing understanding and respect for the diversity of gender identities and expressions, including the particular needs of those who receive it and their families (Commission Inter-American Court of Human Rights, 2020).
The prevalence of violence among adolescents, both in the case of the violence committed and in the scale of violence suffered, several types are distinguished: verbal-emotional (insults, humiliation, threats, depreciation, false accusations, ridicule, etc.), violence physical (acts of physical force and other restrictions aimed at causing pain), sexual violence (forced sexual relations, abuse, the use of sex as a form of pressure and manipulation), cyber violence (control of the partner's mobile phone, harassment with continuous messages , knowing where that person is, what they are doing and who they are with, spying on their activity on social networks or with their phone, etc.). Since new technologies have been used to exercise violence (Borrajo & Gamez-Guadix, 2018). Violence through NICTs includes violent behavior through electronic media, mainly mobile phones and the Internet (Ocampo Botello et al., 2015).
The objective of this study is to determine if gender identity influences the violence suffered or exercised in adolescent dating relationships. Also, know the types of violence are more prevalent based on the gender identity of the person who suffers and exercises it and on sexual orientation.
For this reason, the approach of the null hypothesis was: the three groups with different gender identities (non-binary) are equal depending on the types of violence that are analyzed. The alternative hypothesis being: At least one of the groups is not identical depending on the types of violence that are analyzed. With a significance level of 5% (0.05).

Although gender equity is a fundamental right, the 2020 gender equality index (GEI) places Portugal at 16th in the European Union, below average, despite recent progress. According to the Portuguese Government, education and communication are the two areas that can transform more the rigid conceptions of gender social roles, pointing to technological and digital developments that integrate artificial intelligence as one of the biggest challenges for the future of gender equality, with education being a priority area of intervention. The 2020 GEI also accounts for the enormous segregation in education and the labor market in Portugal for ICT graduates (18.6% women), specialists (15.7% women), and scientists and engineers in highly technological sectors (20.2% women). Considering the impact of these fields to present and future societies, it is urgent to revert such figures.

According to UNESCO, efforts to promote gender equality should start early, as children begin to understand the concept of gender in the 3-7 age group. On STEM Education, UNESCO considers that children can be exposed to learning opportunities in science and mathematics from an early age, that initial educational experiences have a positive effect on the subsequent choice for science and mathematics courses, as well as on career aspirations and that in primary education,… gender role stereotypes are reinforced in this age group. On the other hand, UNESCO also highlights how teachers' pedagogical practices are partially shaped by their prejudices, which in turn affect students' values and learning.

Considering that in Portugal, and compulsory schooling, it is in the 1st level of basic education that the percentage of women teachers is higher (87.0% in 2020), this can sharpen the difficulty of STEM education at this level.

We consider that the use of emergency remote education motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic forced teachers to use digital media in a way that would hardly have happened outside this context, constituting an opportunity to build knowledge about digital literacy, pedagogical practices and gender equality and how they intersect. Therefore, we seek to answer the following research questions: how current 1st level teachers perceive or integrate their existing digital knowledge into their teaching? how current 1st level teachers perceive differences between boys’ and girls’ digital skills? how current 1st level teachers support differently boys and girls, to achieve equity regarding digital skills? How teachers’ characteristics, both personal and from context, explain their perceptions and practices concerning digital skills promotion among pupils?

All networks hold a meeting during ECER. All interested are welcome.

Recent global developments have shown how important issues regarding gender are as we focus of the effects of various social justice movement related to gender, gender identity and diversity and are indeed evidenced in the precarity of the modern times. In this presentation we disucss the importance of gender as a transdiciplinary tool in education, both as a pedagogical tool and as well as within our research. Crossing disciplinary and methodological boundaries, and thus creating a transdisciplinary framework, the paper springs from our recent publication of Gender and Education Politics, Policy and Practice: Transdisciplinary Perspectives (2021, Carlson et al.). This book uses intersectional and transnational lenses to explore education in diverse contexts using empirical examples taken from Croatia, Indonesia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Turkey, the UK and the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). For our talk we will frame the various conceptions of gender in educational contexts to explore the use of gender and intersectionality in educational research at various educational levels and contexts, from formal and informal contexts, and ranging from early childhood to adult education. While transdisciplinary research is not a new concept in academia, such discussion is less common in educational research, perhaps because both educational research and gender theory are by nature transdiciplinary. While these two fields are interdisciplary, our paper and the book work to combine the two fields and cross disciplinary boundaries in order to bring awareness to the importance of understanding education as a multilayed and multifaceted field where intersectional discussions of education can be constituted as transdiciplinary and as important in addressing pressing issues of a percarious nature in education. Gender studies in education require an interrogation of power relations, politics and policy in institutions and educational contexts, both formal and informal.

They also deconstruct the social, economic and cultural processes implicit and explicit in local, regional, national and global structures. These processes include the racialization, ethnicization, and class-based divisions included in gender studies and allow research to highlight how and why it is necessary to understand them as intersecting forces, rather than separate and discrete. Using the over­arching themes include in this book we focus on a critical discussion of policy, practice, cooperation by looking at such issuses as action/agency; increased emphasis on theorization and neoliberalism and exploring issues of dualisms and the Anglophone and Western bias (Mohanty, 2003; Phoenix, 2009). In line with Woodard and Woodard (2015), we want really to emphasize that through an interdisciplinary approach, critiques and analysis of the connections between the political and personal can be interrogated, understood and engaged with and what the implictions for education in a broad sense can be.

Our understanding of gender is multifaceted and often contested. It is through a deeper exploration of what gender is as a concept that we develop and engage in new ways of thinking about the relationship between “sex, gender and sexuality”. This relationship is then seen in conjunction with concepts of social class, immigrant rights, belonging and citizenship, education, educational aspirations and attainment, and the historical developments of gender research. In research, gender has been used as both an empirical category and a theoretical conceptualization. Its goal has been to develop greater understandings of social, cultural and educational relations and divisions. We find that engagement in dialogue across different subjects in the field of education as Chiapello and Fairclough (2002) noted: “A transdisciplinary approach asks how a dialogue between two [or more] disciplines or frameworks may lead to a development of both through a progress of each internally appropriating the logic of the other as a resource for its own development” (p. 4).

This workshop explores sexuality education with a feminist materialist framework in a practice-based research project. The research project is a four-year study on sexuality education in Swedish secondary schools and focuses on both classrooms teaching and collaborative research circles with teachers. The aim of the project was to examine how sexuality education is taught, experienced and can be developed. For this paper and workshop, we focus on the research circle meetings and the collaborative methods put to work there. We explore how these methods were co-constructed in relation to a feminist materialist framework and how they affected the collaboration and the teaching.

Sexuality education is an integrated part of Swedish secondary school and referred to as a particular knowledge content by the Swedish Agency of Education. In 2018, when the Swedish Schools Inspectorate published its quality review of sexuality education it highlighted a range of different problems. For example, it showed a lack of equality in the teaching. The review also stressed the need for competence development among teachers. This applies to knowledge about norms, LGBTQ issues, and honour-related violence. Many teachers did not consider themselves up-to-date with current social trends and several teachers felt uncomfortable teaching about controversial issues in the subject area (Swedish Schools Inspectorate, 2018, 2022). In 2022, the curriculum on this knowledge area was revised and made more coherent. Following societal trends and shifts such as the #metoo movement, the name of this area was changed to ‘Sexuality, consent and relationships’. The curriculum and materials produced in relation to this knowledge area are working with norm awareness as a central perspective (Ceder et al. 2021).

Working within this educational-political context, the research project was grounded in feminist materialisms. This theoretical framework addresses the relationality of discourses, affectivity and materiality which is central for teaching on sexuality, consent and relationships. Further, this framework offers productive views on knowledge production for interdisciplinary topics such as sexuality education which entangle biological and social aspects. In line with this, Haraway (1988) pursues a critique of essentialist or objectivist knowledge production and argues that all knowledge is situated in relation with participants. Herein, intra-action (Barad, 2007) becomes a productive notion to emphasise that in a research process, the producer of knowledge is always a part of the production of knowledge. Hence, feminist materialists argue against the idea of distance and separation as a requirement for knowledge production. Rather, it is argued that knowledge is produced collaboratively through the intra-action of the many diverse and co-producing participants.

Over the last decade, a growing number of studies within sexuality education have put a feminist materialist framework to work (cf. Allen 2018; Renold 2019; Ringrose et al., 2020; Pasley 2021; Planting-Bergloo et al., 2022). Although there are a range of different labels, this framework “acknowledge education and sexuality as assemblages of transformative relations and doings that include both humans and more-than-humans” (Gunnarsson, 2023, p. 2). As such, it affords to push sexuality education research in the direction of the inventive and ambiguous.

This workshop aims to create a collaborative space to share insights on writing approaches, reviewing practices, and publishing strategies for scholars doing qualitative and quantitative research that examines and theorizes the interrelated experiences of gendered subjects in formal and informal education settings.

Led by current researchers and editors with substantial experience of publishing in ‘quality’ journals across disciplines, ECER networks, and education levels the workshop is oriented to scholars at the beginning to their careers and those seeking to re-tool their skills. The workshop has a practical focus: to place of gender in relation to other key differences, to further feminist knowledge, philosophies, theory, action and debate.to share strategies, exchange information, and build networks. Its goal is to highlight ways to maximize involvement in writing, reviewing and publishing for scholars at any career stage who are striving for gender equality in education via their research and practice. The workshop leaders are currently co-editors of the leading, international journal Gender and Education.

In considering writing as a craft, this presentation hones in on the details. It provides advice on how to deal with what the ‘technical’ aspects of writing journal articles. It analyses the importance of writing titles that are clear, concise and eye-catching in an age of search engines and metrics. It reviews how to effectively structure a paper to maximize the clarity of the argument. It also suggests ways of creating a balance between theory and empirical data.

However, writing a good article needs more than craft. It is about having something ‘new’ to say, it is about shaping what it is you want to say in ways that enable the writer to make an original contribution (theoretically and/or empirically) to on-going debates, and it is about staking a claim to enter a particular discourse community. We discuss how to do these things effectively.

The workshop also considers writing journal articles that matter to both you and your audience. We need to attend to the writing’s artistry as achieved through a corporeal mode of mattering in which one’s heart, mind and identity are entangled (Barad, 2007). In discussing this entanglement of heart, mind and identity, workshop participants will be invited to dispense with the notion that ‘good’ article writing requires ‘genius’ or ‘inspiration’, that writing can only be done ‘when the mood takes me’, or that it requires a long time ‘alone’. Instead, academic article writing as a material practice, a ‘habit geography’ (Dewsbury & Bissell, 2015). This is habit not as stale routine but as a corporeal event of lived importance which releases pleasure and gets the writing done (Author, 2016).

The workshop will provide important insights into the practices that shape writing, reviewing and being published in journals focused on gender research in education settings. The publishing world is rapidly changing, with greater opportunities for informal modes of disseminating scholarship, alongside publication in a wider range of open access journals. However, within this expanding field, established journals continue to hold considerable power. This power is reinforced by international rankings and ratings metrics across neo-liberal, higher education systems, and by institutionally-entrenched performative, accountability structures. These wider forces shape the careers of individual academics and their publication aspirations. Journals that are recognised as the leading ‘quality’ journals are, then, those that early career academics often to aspire to be published in. Such journals provide access to valuable discourse communities and the circulation of new ideas, knowledge and theory; and they are repositories of historical expertise and experience in mapping a field. The workshop is significant in demystify writing, reviewing and publishing in a ‘top’ international journal.

In recent years there has been a swell of praxis experimenting with cultivating methodological and pedagogical approaches to working with children, young people, parents and teachers as key stakeholders (Allen 2018; Gilbert et al 2018; Quinlivan 2018; Renold et al 2021) in ways that open up relationships and sexuality education (RSE) to its ‘more than’ (Manning 2013). This symposium will bring together a collective of international educational researchers who are pushing the boundaries of how critical educational praxis might attune to the diversity of children, young people, parents and teachers’ contemporary gender and sexuality becomings (Davies et al, 2021; Neary, 2022; Ollis et al, 2020;Renold, 2019; Robinson et al, 2023). In dialogue with feminist, queer, trans, new materialist and posthuman theories, this symposium seeks to diversify thinking about the transformative potentials of RSE. In doing so, it offers a collection of critical, creative and co-produced encounters with what more RSE related research and praxis might do, be and become across diversified educational contexts and societies.

The concept of ‘age-appropriateness’ is an arbitrary signifier and yet it commands a powerful common-sense appeal (McClelland & Hunter, 2013) in governing the shape and content of sexuality education. The visibility of LGBTQI+ lives in primary schools is deeply impacted by the ways in which ‘age-appropriateness’ and ‘childhood innocence’ are mobilised; very often resulting in silence and delay (Robinson, 2013; Neary & Rasmussen, 2020; Stockton, 2009). The concept of ‘age-appropriateness’ becomes entangled too with moral panics about ‘promoting’ LGBTQI+ lives, or children being somehow ‘recruited’ to identify as LGBTQI+ (Gray et al. 2021; DePalma & Atkinson, 2010). This paper draws on a study with the parents of eleven trans and gender diverse children (then aged between 5 and 13) conducted in 2017, as well as a follow-up study conducted with the same cohort of parents and children in 2022. This paper explores how the politics of age and agency intersect and become intensified as trans and gender diverse children and their parents navigate and make decisions about their bodies, lives and everyday worlds. These stories of trans and gender diverse children — laden as they are with tensions and ambivalences— are an arresting invitation to adults to attend closely to the stories of children themselves in (re)considering the potential of sexuality education across contexts

DePalma, R., & Atkinson, E. (2010). The nature of institutional heteronormativity in primary schools and practice-based responses. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(8), 1669-1676. Gray, E., Reimers, E., & Bengtsson, J. (2021). The boy in a dress: A spectre for our times. Sexualities, 24(1-2), 176-190. McClelland, S. I., & Hunter, L. E. (2013). Bodies that are always out of line: a closer look at “Age Appropriate Sexuality”. In The moral panics of sexuality (pp. 59-76). Palgrave Macmillan, London. Neary, A., & Rasmussen, M. L. (2020). Marriage Equality Time: Entanglements of sexual progress and childhood innocence in Irish primary schools. Sexualities, 23(5-6), 898-916. Robinson, K. H. (2013). Innocence, knowledge and the construction of childhood: The contradictory nature of sexuality and censorship in children’s contemporary lives. Routledge. Stockton, K. B. (2009). The queer child, or growing sideways in the twentieth century. Duke University Press.

Comprehensive Sexuality and Relationships (CSR) education provides information foundational to children’s and young people’s sexual health literacy, wellbeing, and sexual citizenship. However, CSR is fundamentally a political field that is highly regulated by socio-cultural discourses of childhood and sexuality that underpin perceptions of ‘age-appropriate’ knowledge for children and young people. CSR aimed at children and young people is often framed within cisgender-heteronormative discourses and, therefore, does not meet the complex needs of trans and gender diverse (TGD) young people. Lack of access to relevant, inclusive, and high-quality CSR particularly impacts TGD children and young people who may be making significant decisions about their fertility and reproductive futures. This presentation draws on Australian pilot research conducted with TGD children and young people (aged 7-12) and their parents/carers, which is on-going, as well as research with healthcare professionals working with TGD young people and their families. In this presentation, we explore parents’ concerns about inclusive sexuality education in the school setting; pedagogical practices in this area; young people’s perceptions of their reproductive lives; and the importance of TGD young people’s access to quality comprehensive sexuality education, inclusive of fertility education, to their decision-making. Finally, the implications for educators and schools are addressed.

Davies, C. Elder, CV., Riggs, D.W., Robinson, K.H. (2021). The importance of informed fertility counselling for trans young people. The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, correspondence, Sep; 5(9):e36-e37. Davies, C., Robinson, K.H., Metcalf, A., Ivory, K., Mooney-Somers, J., Race, K., Skinner, S.R. (2021). Australians of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, in T. Dune, K. McLeod, R. Williams (Eds.), Culture, Diversity and Health in Australia: Towards Culturally Safe Health Care, Routledge/Taylor and Francis, London, UK, 213-231. European Expert Group on Sexuality Education (2016) Sexuality Education – what is it? Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning, 16 (4) Lai, T.C., McDougall, R., Feldman, D., Elder, C., Pang, K. (2020) Fertility Counseling for Transgender Adolescents: A Review, Journal of Adolescent Health, 66: 658-665. Robinson, K.H., Davies, C., Ussher, J.M. & Sinner R. (2023) Holistic sexuality education and fertility counselling for trans children and young people. In Riggs, D., Ussher, J.M., Robinson, K.H. & Rosenberg, S. (Eds). 2023) Trans Reproductive and Sexual Health: Justice, Embodiment and Agency. London: Routledge. Shannon, B. (2022). Sex(uality) Education for Tran and Gender Diverse Youth in Australia. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

This paper builds upon critical and creative engagements with the politics and praxis of ‘youth voice’ (Mayes 2023) in sexuality education research (Quinlivan 2018; Ollis et al. 2022). It shares the methodological journey of an exploratory research project where creative methods were co-produced to invite a diversity of young people (aged 11-18) to be the critics and architects of what and how they are learning about relationships, sex and sexuality. Over 120 young people, across 6 schools and 2 youth groups in England, Wales and Scotland, participated in the making of ‘darta’ (arts-based data, Renold 2018). We follow this ‘darta’, from the field, and into a suite of creative research outputs: a film, poetry and darta ‘calling-cards’. Drawing on the concept of ‘youth voice assemblages’ to capture the material agency of ‘voice’, we explore how this empirical arts-praxis enabled us to attune to, animate and amplify the complex ways in which young people surface and share what matters to them on a wide range of topics (e.g. from periods and porn to gender and sexual diversity). In a sexuality education context which too often simplifies and silences young people’s feelings, views and experiences, we argue that a creative ontology of ‘youth voice’ is an ethical and political imperative for a more relevant, responsive and ethical sexuality and relationships education to come.

Mayes, E. (2023). Politics of Voice in Education: Reforming Schools After Deleuze and Guattari. Edinburgh University Press. Ollis, D., Coll, L., Harrison, L. and Johnson, B., 2022. Pedagogies of possibility for negotiating sexuality education with young people. Emerald Group Publishing. Quinlivan, K. (2018). Contemporary Issus in Sexuality Education for Young People. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Renold, E. (2018) ‘Feel what I feel’: Making da(r)ta with teen girls for creative activisms on how sexual violence matters. Journal of Gender Studies, 27 (1), 37-55.

Researchers have persistently highlighted the need for relationships and sexuality education (RSE) to reorient itself to the priorities of young people (Quinlivan 2018; Allen & Rasmussen 2017). Central to this, is an increased recognition that young people are invested in RSE futures that they co-create and often inherit (Coll et al, 2020; Renold 2018; Renold et al, 2021). This paper is derived from a larger three-year participatory action oriented project, undertaken in four secondary schools across Australia, which engaged over 100 students as co-researchers (aged 15–19) in understanding, critiquing and transforming sexuality and relationships education (Ollis et al 2022). This paper will focus on an activist orientated research engagement with one urban secondary school’s Feminist collective (Fem Co) who acted as critical friends and pedagogical consultants on the larger project. This paper explores what RSE and educational contexts more broadly might learn from student-led creative activism and the ways in which students are already working towards shared concerns for the transformation of futures. Drawing on queer and affect theory, this paper considers what a critical mode of hope might offer for a rethinking of transformative orientated pedagogies and co-constructed forms of RSE curricula. Part of the function of this paper is to look beyond what is broken and to diversify the stories we hear about young people in RSE orientated research in education.

Allen, L. and Rasmussen, M. L. (eds.) (2017). The Palgrave Handbook of Sexuality Education. Basingstoke: Palgrave Bragg, S., Renold, E., Ringrose, J., and Jackson, C. (2018). ‘More than boy, girl, male, female’: exploring young people’s views on gender diversity within and beyond school contexts. Sex education, 18 (4), 420-434. Ollis, D., Coll, L., Harrison, L. and Johnson, B., 2022. Pedagogies of possibility for negotiating sexuality education with young people. Emerald Group Publishing. Quinlivan, K. (2018). Contemporary Issus in Sexuality Education for Young People. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Renold, E. (2018) ‘Feel what I feel’: Making da(r)ta with teen girls for creative activisms on how sexual violence matters. Journal of Gender Studies, 27 (1), 37-55. Renold, EJ., Ashton, M. & McGeeney, E. (2021) What if?: becoming response-able with the making and mattering of a new relationships and sexuality education curriculum, Professional Development in Education, 47:2-3, 538-555.

Universities have become increasingly complex places with the growth in the number and diversity of the student body and the accompanying expansion of staff teaching and researching in universities globally (Marginson, 2016). Institutions like those in the UK, that are the starting point for the research in these four symposium papers, are increasingly characterised by the diversity of their students in terms of, for example, their class, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, nationalities, religions, first languages and (dis)abilities: although there are hierarchies, relating to different forms of access, learning experience and outcomes that also relate to their backgrounds and experiences (McLean et al, 2019) The same hierarchies exist between academic staff who do the teaching and research: those with different backgrounds, experiences and characteristics have different contracts, experiences, outcomes and relationships with universities when considered as a group (Courtois and O’Keefe, 2019). Hence, we argue that higher education research requires theoretical lenses that capture this complexity and propose that the concept of intersectionality, whilst often a hotly contested idea, is useful for consideration and further development (Museus, 2011).

The symposium begins with a short introduction and a brief discussion of the concept of intersectionality and its use in higher education research.

The first paper in this symposium by Andrea Abbas illustrates the value of 6 composite characters as ways of representing and presenting a theorised intersectional analysis of 14 diverse national and international academics in social sciences and humanities over a period of 11 years.

The second paper by Gihan Ismail reports findings from a qualitative study on the experiences of 22 Arab international doctoral students and 6 British supervisors in UK universities and highlights the importance of her intersectional analysis to the significance of managing difference (Zanoni et al., 2010) because it captures the implications of the gendered portrayals of international students with regard to how knowledges from students host countries are marginalised and epistemic injustices arise from this.

The third paper by Jie Gao examines the importance of an intersectional approach to examining how UK educated and domestic educated Chinese apply their professional knowledge in Law and IT in Chinese workplace. It brings out the issue of gender inequality and discrimination and regional differences in these. Participants from my research argue that gender representations and gender roles are not only influencing their social identities, but they intersect with national profession-related stereotypes in China which have significant influence on participants’ formation of their professional identity.

The fourth paper by Sally Hewlett analyses the experience of academics providing support for students with disabilities. It captures aspects of the global rise in the numbers of students declaring a disability and how policy decisions in the UK, confer the responsibility for inclusive practice on to individual universities. Individual lecturers who are first point of contact for students with disabilities, play a key role in their support and are central to the delivery of disability policies in higher education such as an “inclusive teaching and practice” agenda (Disabled Student Sector Leadership Group, 2017, p.3). This work falls disproportionately on women who themselves have intersecting identities.

The discussion of these papers at the end of the symposium focuses on the whether intersectionality is a valuable concept and its role in gendered, feminist and other higher education research.

DThe aim of the research was to explore whether individual academics ways of making decisions and enacting their careers was changing in the light of an increased marketisation of the system following a move to a fully-fees driven humanities and social science sector in English Universities in the UK and how this interacted with the various aspects of the intersecting identities of academics. Our participants were diverse in terms of social class of origin, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age, nationality and in other characteristics; as well as in relation to biographical experience and an intersectional lens drove our conception of the project and the analysis. One of the strengths of biographical studies is that they allow for the holistic study of individuals that offer nuance and allow us to explore how the lived experience of specific intersecting identities interact across life events and experience and educational contexts to produce emergent outcomes in particular ways (Merrill, 2015). However, with the academics we studied, presenting participants in this holistic way would reveal details that would identify participants. Consequently, the decision has been made to do the analysis in such a way that it has generated 7 composite characters that aim to capture the key themes in the data and illustrate and substantiate the theorisation of the study: which engages with Margaret Archers (2008, 2012) notion of different types of reflexive and a morphogenic society and also engages with understandings derived from theories of embodiment; emotions; time, space and place. The underpinning methodological ideas and concepts for generating the characters from the data draw upon the work of Kip Jones, Gail Crimmins and others who have utilised more artistic and creative methodologies within the social sciences.

Archer, M. 2007. Making our Way Through the World: Human Reflexivity and Social Mobility. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Archer, M. 2012. The Reflexive Imperative in Late Modernity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Merrill, Barbara. "Determined to Stay or Determined to Leave? A Tale of Learner Identities, Biographies and Adult Students in Higher Education." Studies in Higher Education 40.10 (2015): 1859-872. Web.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of gender in studying the internationalisation of doctoral education and understand the challenges of ‘gendering’ identities which may contribute to perpetuating global epistemic inequalities. Gender here refers to the socially constructed characteristics, associated with norms, behaviours and roles, attached to a gender identity. The sheer research on the intersection between gender and the internationalisation of higher education has been focused on gender inequalities, particularly centred on the professional profile of female academics and early-career researcher (Ackers, 2004; Vabø et al., 2014; Nikunen & Lempiäinen, 2020), and the general under-representation and lack of support for productivity and collaborationin the internationalisation process of higher education (Aiston & Jung, 2015; Huang et al., 2020; Kwiek & Roszka, 2020). However, studying gender within doctoral education setting does not attract equal attention and gender studies have shown little interest in exploring the role gendered identities plays in the narratives of internationalised doctoral education, specifically those related to the pedagogical encounters between doctoral supervisors and international students, in British and European universities. There is an evident gap in this area of research.

Ackers, L. (2004). Managing relationships in peripatetic careers: Scientific mobility in the European Union. Women’s Studies International Forum, 27, 189-201. Aiston, S. J., & Jung, J. (2015). Women academics and research productivity: An international comparison. Gender and Education, 27(3), 205-220. Huang, J., Gates, A. J., Sinatra, R., & Barabási, A. L. (2020). Historical comparison of gender inequality in scientific careers across countries and disciplines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(9), 4609-4616. Kwiek, M., & Roszka, W. (2020). Gender disparities in international research collaboration: A study of 25,000 university professors. Journal of Economic Surveys, 1–37. Nikunen, M., & Lempiäinen, K. (2020). Gendered strategies of mobility and academic career. Gender and Education, 32(4), 554-571. Vabø, A., Padilla-González, L., Waagene, E., & Næss, T. (2014). Gender and faculty internationalization. In F. Huang, M. Finkelstein, & M. Rostan (Eds.), The internationalization of academy. Changes, realities, and prospects. New York: Springer. Zanoni, P., Janssens, M., Benschop, Y., & Nkomo, S. (2010). Guest editorial: Unpacking diversity, grasping inequality: Rethinking difference through critical perspectives. Organization, 17(1), 9–29.

Comparatively China has one of the longest maternity leave policy: 158 days for women over the age of 24 in most areas and 188 days in areas such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. However, these maternity leaves are fully paid by employers without government aid. As the Chinese government are now promoting two-child and even three-child policies, the potential financial burden causes employers to see unmarried female employee as “ticking time bombs that will blow up twice” (Wang, 2021). Furthermore, employers believe female with children would not or could not focus on work, a subjective reason for employers to implicitly or even explicitly reject female for intensive and professional position (CCG, 2022; CCG, 2017). While women are the most direct victims of such policies and perceptions, men are not free from unjust expectations. It was not uncommon for single male participants to be called ‘unreliable’, ‘rootless’ because they do not have a family to ‘tie them down’, and participants who are employers believe that married employers are more stable and ‘have more to lose’, indications of a socially enforced sense of assumed responsibility. While stereotypical gender roles influence access and advancement, gender representations affect what is considered appropriate behaviour in a professional setting. Employers and clients associate professional characteristics with gender representations, limiting various forms and ways professional knowledge can or should be applied in different situation (Ko et al., 2020). In the case of lawyers, male lawyers are expected to express strong-will, hawkish approach whereas female lawyers are expected to be the gentle, soft-voiced character that can ‘charm’ their counterparts instead of someone who can build a comprehensive argument. Under such policies, gender representations and gender roles, professionals in China are facing complex and unique challenges when building their professional identities. This paper discusses how participants from my research encounter, perceive and attempt to tackle these challenges.

CCG, 2017. 21 shiji zhongguo liuxue renyuan zhuangkuang lanpishu [21st century Chinese overseas students status]. CCG, 2022. Chongguo liuxue fazhan baogao (2020~2021)[Chinese overseas education development annual report]. Ko, P., Leung, C. and Chan, B., 2020. Zhongguo laodongli shichang de jiekouxing wenti [structural issues in Chinese labour market]. Zixun, keji yu shehuixue, 2. Wang, Y., 2021. “Take Maternity Leave and You’ll Be Replaced”. Human Rights Watch [Online]. Available from: https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/06/01/take-maternity-leave-and-youll-be-replaced/chinas-two-child-policy-and-workplace [Accessed 30 January 2023].

This paper explores the additional influence of intersecting gender identities on the systems of support for students with disabilities. The literature shows that the institutional responsibilities for disability that have fallen on individual academics are in the context of insecure and sometimes unsafe working conditions. In the UK an average of over fifty percent of academics were reported to be working in ‘precarious’ employment conditions, such as short term, low paid contracts with an average of twenty-five percent of teaching staff being hourly paid (UCU, 2018). As academic work, including the support of an increasing number of students with disabilities, has become more precarious it has also become feminized where women are more likely to be in teaching and administrative work rather than in more prestigious research roles (Courtois and O’Keefe, 2019) and therefore more likely to find themselves as the first point of contact for students with disabilities. As teachers, women are more likely to be designing and delivering units (Courtois and O’Keefe, 2019) and are therefore also more likely to be responsible for delivering on the inclusive teaching policy and for providing reasonable adjustments to individual students. Women teachers are also “more likely to be on a fixed-term contract, zero hours contract and/or an hourly paid contract” (UCU, 2021 p.14). This precarity means they less likely to be given allocated time for training on supporting students with disabilities or receive support from senior staff. This paper raises important questions in relation to gender in recent changes in policy and of the gendered provision of support for students with disabilities.

Courtois, A., O'Keefe, T., 2019, '‘Not one of the family’: Gender and precarious work in the neoliberal university.' Gender, Work and Organization, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 463-479. Disabled Student Sector Leadership Group, 2017. Inclusive Teaching and Learning in Higher Education as a route to Excellence. London: Department for Education. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/att achment_data/file/587221/Inclusive_Teaching_and_Learning_in_Higher_Educa tion_as_a_route_to-excellence.pdf [Accessed 22 December 2021]. University and College Union, 2018. Precarious education: how much university teaching is being delivered by hourly-paid academics? [Online]. London: University and College Union. Available from: http://www.ucu.org.uk/media/9258/uni-teaching-by-hp-staff-march2018/pdf/uniteachingbyhpstaffmarch2018 [Accessed 23 January 2022]. University and College Union, 2021. Precarious work in higher education. Insecure contracts and how they have changed over time. [Online]. London: University and College Union. Available from: https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/10899/Precarious-work-in-higher-education-Oct-21/pdf/UCU_precarity-in-HE_Oct21.pdf.