Conference Agenda

Background

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009 (known as the Right to Education Act or RTE) symbolises India’s commitment towards providing learning for all children. The RTE’s enactment means a statutory framework is now in place for the first time to ensure all children between the ages of 6 – 14 receive a compulsory education (Maithreyi and Sriprakash, 2018). This policy has so far been instrumental in increasing school enrolment (Bhattacharjee, 2019) while reaffirming India’s recent drive towards becoming a nation which embraces inclusive education.

The RTE is also striking for acknowledging the role of the private sector in realising an education for all. RTE Section 12(1)(c) is an innovative public-private policy instrument which mandates unaided private schools allocate 25% of school places to economically weaker / disadvantaged children (Sarin et al., 2017). The clause therefore echoes the sentiment of UNESCO’s recent Global Education Monitoring Report, “Non-state actors in education: Who chooses? Who loses?”, which highlights how meeting shared education goals may require close collaboration between state and non-state actors (UNESCO, 2021).

Yet in spite of the huge growth of the private sector and an increasing number of children accessing school places, whether the Section 12(1)(c) reservation (hereafter, the 25% provision) is universally applied and supportive of disadvantaged children remains in doubt. Although the provision applies nationally, only 17 out of 36 states are currently admitting children under its remit (Indus Action, 2021) and many elite private schools have resisted admissions or attempted to evade the system by contesting the constitutionality of the clause through the Supreme Court (Sarangapani et al., 2014).

Aims and Research Questions

The present qualitative study aims to evaluate how private schools under RTE Section 12(1)(c) support disadvantaged children with their learning, and the extent this learning can be deemed inclusive. It seeks to investigate this issue by exploring the views and experiences of different actors connected to private schools, namely pupils, parents, teachers and non-teaching staff.

Research in this area is needed because there remains a paucity of qualitative studies examining learning under Section 12(1)(c), particularly regarding the concept of inclusive education. Furthermore, given the absence of evidence regarding children’s experiences of the 25% provision (Lafleur and Srivastava, 2019), it would be interesting to explore this topic through the perspectives of child and adult actors experiencing the policy in their daily lives. This PhD project therefore assesses whether disadvantaged children under the 25% provision are treated and taught in the same way as their peers, or instead experience forms of discrimination or segregation. The following main research questions will aid this inquiry:

• What is the current role of India’s RTE 25% provision in enabling inclusive education for disadvantaged children in private schools?

• How is the RTE 25% provision experienced by various actors in private schools (students, parents, teachers and non-teaching school staff)?

Theoretical frameworks

The project relies on two frameworks to evaluate inclusive education elements under the 25% provision: Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Bioecological systems theory of human development’ (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2007) and Save the Children’s ‘Quality Learning Framework’ (QLF) (2022). Bronfenbrenner’s theory depicts the role of individuals, their activities and interactions across different levels of an ‘ecological system’, namely the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem. Thus, the framework provides the possibility of mapping, exploring and understanding the connections and interconnections that influence inclusive education (Anderson et al., 2014). The QLF is distinctive due to its incorporation of widely-accepted elements of inclusion in relation to education for all. It provides detailed guidance on crucial features of inclusive education, such as access to learning, teaching, community involvement and school leadership issues.

Critical thinking - the educational ideal of higher education - has become a mandatory objective that academics and educators seek to develop within their students as a crucial skill for their academic success, in the university setting and even beyond in the workplace (Davis, 2011). Critical thinking has become increasingly prominent in language education in the 21st century (Li, 2016).

With the demands of the twenty-first century, many countries in the world – in addition to western countries - have initiated educational reforms trying to ameliorate the students’ learning experiences, along similar lines (Bell, Stevenson and Neary, 2009). However, in Algeria, critical thinking has not received the same attention as other basic skills (Melouah, 2017; Kheladi, 2019). It has not been seriously supported by the educational system, and there is little evidence of it being infused into the curriculum (Benmati, 2008). Djamaa (2016, p.252) claims: ‘. . . critical thinking, however the cornerstone of higher education worldwide nowadays, seems lost in the shuffle in Algeria, particularly in the EFL classroom’.

Therefore, this study aims to explore the real state of critical thinking in the the Algerian university, nowadays, from different dimensions to identify where the actual problem lies. More specifically, this research aims the explore the extent to which critical thinking is integrated in the policy documents communicated by the Ministry of Higher Education. It aims also to explore EFL teachers’ conceptualisations of critical thinking, whether or not they have a deep understanding of the concept, how they view the significance of incorporating critical thinking in different subjects, and what teaching approaches and potential practices they employ to infuse it in their pedagogy, if there are any, highlighting the obstacles and challenges that prevent them from implementing critical thinking in their classes. Lastly, this study aims to investigate whether critical thinking has moved from the educational agenda to actual educational practices.

This paper aims to assess the trade unions’ alignment with the European Union (EU)’s skills strategy and the priority that trade unions give to the promotion of lifelong learning across all segments of the Belgian (future) workforce. Trade Unions hereby find themselves in competing social dialogues regarding Education, Employment and Social policy-making. The leading research question of this article is: how do trade unions contribute to promoting lifelong learning in Belgium?

For the last two decades scholars and policy-makers, knowledgeable in the disciplines of (Adult) Education and Social Sciences, have addressed the diversity of (adult) learners, and have warned for the risk of creating a dual society, between ‘those who know’ and ‘those who don’t know’ (Boeren, 2009; Desjardins & Ioannidou, 2020). Possessing agency to participate to (adult) learning in the new Information Society, is not an equal challenge for all (Boeren, 2017; Eynon & Malmberg, 2021; Iñiguez-Berrozpe & Boeren, 2020).

The EU’s Pillar of Social Right urges social partners, including trade unions, to put equal access to lifelong learning higher on the collective bargaining agenda (CEC, 2021; CEDEFOP, 2020) while Adult Education Surveys tell that employers distribute investments in adult learning unequally across their groups of employees. Vulnerable employees, are likely to participate less in learning in an unfavourable learning climate (Boyadjieva & Ilieva-Trichkova, 2017; Fugate, Heijden, Vos, Forrier, & Cuyper, 2021; Vansteenkiste, Kimps, Penders, Deschietere, & Van Cauwenberghe, 2022; Vansteenkiste, Verbruggen, Forrier, & Sels, 2014).

Policy-makers and business practitioners introduce upskilling and reskilling measures against the contested paradigms of full employment, and the imperfect matching of skills (de Beer, 2022; B. E. Kaufman, 2010). They blend concepts such as 21^st century skills, STEM education, lifelong learning and employability in contemporary work-of-the-future-narratives, and push educational curricula and teaching methods into reforms to modernise economy on the Industry 4.0 highway (Bughin, Lund, & Hazan, 2018; Federal Government, 2018; Krajcik, Sahin, & Mohr-Schroeder, 2019). The EU’s positioning of adult learning goals in economic competitiveness strategies, and the increased focus on quantitative benchmarking, tend to narrow down lifelong learning to lifelong earning goals (Boeren & Íñiguez-Berrozpe, 2022).

Educators often see their role with a humanistic scope, and fear that the social function of education is crowded out under business needs (Rasmussen & Lolle, 2022) while employers complain that school leavers lack a lifelong learning mentality and skillset to transit smoothly from school to work, and to adapt quickly to changing skill demands in the workplace (De Rick, 2010; Hvinden et al., 2019; K. Kaufman, Sahin, & Mohr-Schroeder, 2019).

Scholars find that growing effective lifelong learners before they enter the world of work, requires an integrated approach, and diverse learning experiences and diversity interactions from teachers (Loes, Pascarella, & Umbach, 2012). Goodman et al. recommend that instructors obtain training and support to adapt their teaching approach, and integrate diversity in view of improving learning for all students (Goodman & Bowman, 2014). Culver et al. have found -especially for students with lower grades when starting college- that a combination of in-class rigor and intellectually challenging assignments for first-year students benefits their critical thinking skills in the fourth year of college and throughout their careers (Culver, Braxton, & Pascarella, 2019).

Providing diversified education curricula demands considerable efforts from teachers, and leads to teachers’ trade union opposition (Barrett, 2020). Trade unions experience paradoxical tensions between debates of educational modernisation on one hand, and implementation of citizenship education frameworks, boosting equal access to 21^st century skills’ provision on the other hand. This research will describe and explain the pathways and instruments that trade unions in Belgium use to implement emerging lifelong learning legislation.

Teacher identity is shaped by the interaction between the teacher and the community of practice (Loo, 2021). Teachers’ personal experiences, as well as their emotions and interactions with students, colleagues and the entire educational community, influence their identity (Nichols et al., 2017; Walker-Gibbs et al., 2018). A crucial element of teaching identity is their professional (pedagogical) identity, which can be understood as how teachers define and assume their duties and comprehend their relationships with others who perform the same responsibilities (Avalos & Sotomayor, 2012). One of the main determining factors in teacher identity is the context; through interactions with the environment, identities are reconstructed socially and culturally (Baeza, 2022; Loo, 2021). Understanding teacher identities in rural Indigenous contexts is key to reviewing teacher education programs and professional development. Moreover, one of the leading causes of teacher attrition is the lack of preparation educators have to work in multicultural contexts. This situation is a global concern, as reported in countries such as Spain, Britain, Sweden, Canada and Australia (UNESCO, 2009). However, a limited number of studies have explored teachers’ identity in rural contexts and with a high Indigenous population. Some of these studies suggest that some essential components of teacher identity are the power relationship established with students and their knowledge of their learners (Perso & Hayward, 2015; Walker-Gibbs et al., 2018; White, 2015). The size of the school and the community can also influence their identity. For example, in small towns there are limited options for professional development (Walker-Gibbs et al., 2018).

The relationship with the local community is also essential to teacher identity. Several studies found the best way for teachers to understand their students’ culture is by working closely and collaboratively with the local community (Harrison & Murray, 2012). However, similarly to other countries affected by European colonization, in Chile, education has reproduced the dominant western culture, ignoring the incorporation of Indigenous traditional knowledge into school (Quilaqueo et al., 2014; Vera et al., 2017). Children are receiving a decontextualized and racist education, which is against preserving Indigenous culture and constructing a multicultural society (Mendoza & Sanhueza, 2016).

Theoretical framework

This study adopts an Indigenous decolonized approach, informed by the United Nations (2008) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. This declaration acknowledges the impact Indigenous communities have suffered from the effects of colonization, such as the loss of their ancient land and discrimination in their access to justice and education. It also emphasises the right of Indigenous children to receive an education that respects their local culture. Furthermore, the Indigenous decolonizing perspective highlights the knowledge of minorities affected by colonization in finding solutions to local concerns. Indigenous knowledge is shaped by interaction with nature and the relationship with other community members and the local context (McKenna et al., 2021). Consequently, Indigenous knowledge cannot be separated from the place in which this is generated (Higgins & Kin, 2018). In the interaction between Indigenous wisdom and research focused on social justice and democracy, Indigenous knowledge is built (Chilisa, 2012; Smith, 2012). From this point of view, this research includes the voice of Indigenous community members as the first source of information

This study intends to contribute to the knowledge about the experiences of rural teachers in Indigenous contexts. Through hearing the voices of teachers working in rural schools in the Atacama Desert in Chile, and members of the Atacameños Indigenous community, this research answers the question: How do the lives and pedagogical experiences of teachers in Indigenous rural contexts determine their professional identity?

The brutal murder of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis in the United States of America at the hands of a white police officer led to the largest global racial justice protest since the civil rights movement (Smith, 2021) However, concurrently, political leaders across the globe were also grappling with unforeseen statistics, which highlighted that Black Asian and Ethnic minority (BAME) groups had between a 10 and 50 % per cent higher risk of fatality due to COVID-19 in comparison to their White Counterparts (Smith, 2021. Public Health England, 2020). Subsequently, racism was named as a factor in the unequal deaths of BAME communities due to the ongoing pandemic and global leaders were forced to respond to both “viruses: the pandemic and racism” (Smith, 2021).

In Scotland the Scottish Government established ‘The Race and Equality Framework’, which aimed to ensure that Scotland’s Children and young people were provided with an understanding of the nation’s colonial and slavery history. While also challenging racism, eliminating racial discrimination, and promoting social equality (Scot, Gov 2021). In addition to this and in conjunction with the ‘The race and Equality Framework’, The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), also introduced the new ‘Professional Standards for teachers. This regulatory body goes on to state that teaching professionals should be committed to social justice through fair, transparent, inclusive, and sustainable teaching in relation to the nine protected characteristics and intersectionality (Ibid). However, in each of the documents discussed above there is no theoretical definition of what intersectionality maybe, its historical roots, or how teaching professionals can successfully implement this framework. Furthermore, the protected characteristics this document refers to, which are taken from ‘The Equality Act (2010) (Scot Gov, 2010) and similar to the EU Charter of Fundamental rights, are listed as a single identity lens which is known to create challenges in applying intersectionality- diminishing the synergy which is inherent in intersectional frameworks (Solanke, 2011). Education systems across the globe are charchterized by their cultural and ethinc diversity, however, education policy must reconcile with indigenous and ethinc groups and be culturally responsive to global and national issues.

Intersectionality is a theoretical paradigm and analytical tool that moves away from single-axis frameworks that view oppressive identity markers such as race, gender, sex, and class as juxtaposed identity groups (Crenshaw, 1998. Hill-Collins, 2016). As a theoretical paradigm, intersectionality is a critical framework that provides us with the language and mindset to identify interdependencies and interconnectedness between socially constructed systems and categories (Atewologun, 2018). However, this paradigm chart moves beyond identifying micro-level specific social locations and is also an analytical tool that helps individuals understand the world’s complexity. This framework unpacks intersecting systems of inequality and subsequently supports the analysis of the domains of power- structural, interpersonal, disciplinary, and cultural and how these domains organise power relations throughout society(Hill- Collins, 2016. Symington, 2004)

This research paper uses critical discourse analysis as an analytical tool to establish where this leaves contemporary policy responses in the field of education and the extent to which they are cognizant with intersectionality. Or if alternatively, contemporary political responses such as the ‘The Race and Equality Framework’ are an example of a pernicious form of doublespeak. A form of language which aims to communicate but does not, language which denies or shifts responsibility and language which conceals or prevents thought. The following sub questions guided this research project:

What approach is taken in Scottish education policy creation in terms of protected groups? Will this support the successful implementation of intersectionality? What role will this framework play in reinforcing, legitimising and reproducing white group dominance?

Migration constitutes an increasingly significant phenomenon in the Western world, and the reasons behind people’s choice to leave their native land are multiple. Most migrants depart from their country of origin to secure a better life for themselves and their offspring; aiming to do so, many of them rely on education. Given how Finland represents an attractive option for foreign students, who form a conspicuous part of its immigrant population (Maury, 2017), it is important to evaluate what shapes their identity and sense of belonging.

This paper contributes to the field of educational research by focusing on young adult and adult students who are from non-EU countries, particularly the ones who are reskilling, upskilling or in courses aimed for them to enter the labour market. My interest lies in how their experiences may contribute to the development of their sense of belonging. Aiming to provide an in-depth view of individuals' narratives, the fieldwork was carried out in adult vocational schools by means of mixed methods combining ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews.

The article aims to answer the following questions:

• What are the factors that contribute to young adult and adult migrant non-EU students’ sense of belonging in Finland?
• What barriers might they encounter and how does this affect their plans?

Previous research focusing on migrants’ experiences through the Finnish educational system show how these may be hindered by racialisation and genderisation (Kurki, 2019; Kurki et al., 2019). ‘Immigrantisation’ and ‘immigrant-ness’ combined with other social dimensions such as race, gender and class position them in a disadvantaged place within the power discourse, defining their subjectivities and their future perspectives.

Drawing on Foucault’s subjectification theories (1982) and Sara Ahmed’s feminist and postcolonial work on ‘Embodied Otherness’ (2000), I argue that temporality combined with racialisation may affect the development of young adult and adult students’ identity and sense of belonging.

This paper is about ways of encouraging the development of visual literacy and mutual communication through research children's reading of Picturebooks. In this research, the Picturebook is served as a stimulating medium for influencing the development of the initial impulses of visual literacy so that even if preschool chlidren can not read, throughout visual literacy they can understand the same story of the Picturebook and connect with each other.

Visual discourse, as one of the main components of a Picturebook, should first provide children with an inviting feeling to turn the pages, because "the aim of the Picturebook is not to offer the child a work of art that the child has yet to learn to perceive, but to enable a kind of fun observation process that can have a didactic dimension in the sense of forming a cultivated artistic view, but in this process the activation of the child's ludic ability of visual perception is more important" (Hameršak and Zima, 2015: 169).

Visual perception is not the same for every reader, through visual literacy one gets the possibility to discover the meaning of visual discourse.

The aim of this work is to investigate how a Picturebook can stimulate the development of visual literacy in preschool children, and which pictorial content of a Picturebook children can read and understand regardless of the language they speak. The second goal is to see how to shape the didactics and spatial material environment in the multicultural kindergarten in order to stimulate children's interest in the Picturebook and it's s visual content as much as possible.

Since the questions related to the research goal are asked with the interrogative words "what" and "how", it is clear that we are talking about qualitative research that describes before putting variables into relationships and testing hypotheses (Halmi, 2005: 56).

In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the following research questions are asked:

a) How can we offer preschool children picture books in order to encourage them to self-initiate the development of visual literacy and then talk about it?

b) What kind of spatial and material environment can encourage children to observe the visual contents of a picture book?

c) What meanings do children of preschool age (5-7 years old) recognize in the pictorial contents of picture books regardless of the language they speak?

Because of the visual content, the picture book must be attractive to children with illustrations so that they will start exploring it through internal motivation and interest, because this is the only way we can encourage the child's full participation and, in the process, understand his perception and thoughts. Then we can also support the child's interest in the Picturebook and use that didactics for mutual communication between children.

This contribution presents the first findings of a narrative review (Baumeister & Leary 1997; Bourhis, 2017) about the development of competences and soft skills for youth participation, in outside school contexts. Competences and soft skills have come into wide use in various fields of knowledge in recent decades and have been used with different and peculiar nuances depending on the context of reference. The aim of the review is to trace the origins and the development of the term “competence”, dwelling on its temporal and spatial origin along with its areas of application, and to unearth the relationship between the discourse of competences and their implications for youth participation in outside school contexts.

Exploring the meanings of the term within the outside school contexts becomes crucial and challenging in our modern world, due to the fact that a lot has been written about competences to be developed within school contexts as well as in the labour market, and a gap in outside school contexts is clearly present.

In recent decades, the interest in the concept of “competence” has intensely grown in various and heterogeneous fields, from economics to business management, from psychology to training, from education to politics, producing an ongoing debate on the topic. Simultaneously, it underwent an interesting development over time, so that we can now recognize a number of definitions that scholars have come up with in the last years (McClelland, 1993; Spencer & Spencer, 1993; Le Boter, 1994, 2000; OCDE, 1996; Levati & Saraò, 1998).

Bearing in mind that different schools of thought have defined the term with meanings not always aligned, the focus will be on how they have been defined specifically in the fields of youth education. Since the mid-1990s of the twentieth century, the EU has also been increasingly interested in competences, considering them as central to education, lifelong learning and work, in the perspective of enhancing "human capital" as a primary factor of development (Conclusions of the Lisbon European Council 23-24 March 2000; Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council, 2006; European Qualifications Framework 2008; 2017; Council Recommendation, 2018).

In this framework, my contribution occurs in a special year for soft skills and competences, since 2023 has been named the European year of Skills, right after the 2022 European Year of Youth which sought to empower, support and engage with young people, including those with fewer opportunities. There is a clear relevance given to the topic as the EU is promoting concrete initiatives to support skills development, such as a European skills Agenda planned to promote lifelong learning, to foster economic growth and employment by enhancing training, accompanying society and businesses towards ecological and digital transitions (Employment and Social Policy Council proposal, 12 October 2022).

One of the most relevant EU objectives is directly related to youth political participation by focusing on the engagment of more young people who are not working and not in education or training. To this end, initiatives such as the Skills Agenda for Europe, the new European Innovation Agenda, and the European Universities Strategy are already in place to achieve these goals, founded by the European Social Fund Plus, the Digital Europe program, the Horizon Europe program, and Erasmus+.

Once more, to foster the importance given to “competence”, we clearly understand that the EU is championing skills policies and investments globally (Global Gateway strategy and the Youth Action Plan, 2002) to prioritise investments in quality education systems in partner countries.

At last, shifting to the international level, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015) needs to be mentioned in relation to this topic.

In this paper, I discuss the conceptual definition of student “participation” in teaching activities in my phd-project. I consider why it is relevant to conceptualise student school “effort” differently, when studying the formation of teacher expectations. In this paper I ask the question; what is the relevance of a concept of “participation” in the study of teacher expectations?

I start with a critical perspective on the way that teachers evaluate and attribute meaning to student effort, if swayed by “meritocratic beliefs” (Mijs, 2016, 2021). In a recent study, Geven et al. (2021) suggests that teachers might consent to educational inequality, because they believe differences in educational attainment is due to fair meritocratic principles of educational attainment. In this paper, I argue that meritocratic beliefs can be problematic for justice in education, because a belief in fair meritocratic selection obscures the structural component of inequality in general (Batruch et al., 2022; Mijs & Hoy, 2022). Meritocracy implies that achievement or success is awarded on the account of merit; for students, innate ability and the effort put into school work is believed to determine opportunities for learning and educational attainment (Batruch et al., 2022). Mijs (2021) argus that education in fact distorts meritocratic ideals, by legitimising a lack of achievement as personal failure. But are all students given the same opportunities to learn and achieve?

Teacher expectancy research consistently presents evidence that non-meritocratic student traits have a significant impact on teacher expectations, indicating that opportunities for learning are not distributed solely on account of effort. This provides support for a critique of meritocratic selection. Recent reviews show consistent evidence that teacher expectations are biased against student gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status (Murdock-Perriera & Sedlacek, 2018; Wang et al., 2018). Also, high- and low-expectation teachers tend to create very different instructional and socioemotional classroom environments (Rubie-Davies, 2014; Rubie-Davies, 2007) and present more group work opportunities, assign cognitively harder tasks, give more positive feedback, and provide more instruction to high-expectancy students (Aydin & Ok, 2022; Babad, 2010). This suggests that the stratification of opportunities for learning in classroom teaching can be reproduced by bias in teacher expectations and mediated by teacher differential behaviour. This indicates that, while school effort is a prime indicator of merit for teachers, “merit” is itself determined by non-meritocratic factors and meritocracy violates its own merit principle (Mijs, 2016).

I present findings from an observational study of student participation in teaching activities, suggesting that student effort should not be operationalised disconnected from classroom teaching. My findings indicate that the interpretation of student effort changes according to different expectation structures enacted by teachers throughout the course of a lesson. Further, observations suggests that expectation structures determine the interpretation of student effort as either good or bad, while simultaneously being dependent upon form of teaching. Also, students participate very differently under the same expectation structure.

Conclusively, my findings point to the relevance of a different conceptualisation of effort that aligns better with the volatility of classroom teaching, and attribute agency to students according to what is expected of them at different times during a teaching activity. Geven et al. (2021) investigate teachers’ expectations of student’s chance to attain a bachelor’s degree and examine the impact of student traits, but a disadvantage is that they utilize a narrow conception of effort (p. 7). I propose that a concept of “participation” is relevant in this regard. I argue that it accounts for the complexity and changeable nature of teachers’ evaluation and attribution of meaning to student effort and can have important implications for future vignette experiments.

In order to deal with complex societal challenges such as climate change, globalization, global inequalities, and the scarcity of natural resources, the development of a holistic global understanding and a clarification of one's own role in the transformation process is central (cf. e.g. Veugelers & De Groot, 2019, p. 27; Witt, 2022). Against this background, education for sustainable development (ESD) and global citizenship education (GCE) address SDG 4.7 (UNESCO, 2019, p. 12). Although in the wake of the SDGs there is increasing pressure on companies to contribute to the development of 'global employees', the two concepts have so far remained largely unaddressed in the discourse on workplace learning. This paper therefore explores the role of corporate education and training in the context of global and sustainable developments in companies.
Tried and tested scales and models for capturing the necessary competencies for sustainable and global development are already available (e.g. Morais & Odgen, 2011; Seeber et al., 2019, Wiek et al., 2011). This paper transfers these competency models to in-company education and training and answers the following questions: to what extent do the existing competency profiles of training personnel meet the demands of companies in the fields of ESD and GCE? What potentials do current qualification offers in these two areas offer from the company's point of view and where is there a need for action?
The empirical basis for the article is provided by 10 expert interviews with company HR managers from 10 globally operating large companies from different industries (Meuser & Nagel, 2009). Using qualitative content analysis according to Mayring (2023), the interviews are evaluated deductively with reference to the above competency models.
The results systematically show the existing competence profiles as well as development needs of company education and training personnel in the field of sustainable thinking and acting. In addition, current requirements for corporate training and development personnel on the part of HR managers are identified and prioritized. The article provides concrete practical recommendations on the extent to which corporate framework conditions must change so that training personnel can meet the new tasks in the context of ESD and GCE, and it identifies necessary qualification offers.

In recent years, Spain has experienced an increase in the number of students enrolled in Basic Vocational Education and Training (BVET) and Intermediate Vocational Education and Training (IVET). However, 4 years after enrolling, 41.7% of BVET students and 30.7% of IVET students would have dropped out of the degree and educational system (Ministry of education and vocational training, 2022). For these reasons, it is important to explore those variables that would help prevent dropout in Vocational Education and Training (VET).

Numerous studies have indicated that school engagement is one of the central elements in preventing dropout (Cerdà-Navarro et al., 2020). In addition, various investigations have pointed out the decisive role that teachers play in promoting school involvement (Roorda et al., 2011).

The Self-determination Theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2017), considers the influence of teaching practices on teaching-learning processes, focusing on the types and sources of motivation and their impact on student behaviour. According to SDT, it is essential to consider teachers' perceptions of their professional autonomy, teaching competence, and interpersonal skills as determinants not only of beliefs and intentions, but also of teaching practice and the connection established with students (Deci & Ryan, 2000; Niemiec & Ryan, 2009).

Bandura (1997) defined self-efficacy as the set of individual attitudes and beliefs that teachers have about their ability to accomplish particular activities successfully. Subsequent research has shown that self-efficacy beliefs is related to the ability to teach and facilitate learning process (Tschannen-Moran & Johnson, 2011). Furthermore, high levels of teacher self-efficacy predict better instructional practices (Zee & Koomen, 2016) and closer relationships with students (Hajovsky et al., 2020).

In order to determine which factors influence the feeling of teacher self-efficacy, Klassen and Chiu (2010) argued the influence of years of teaching experience on teachers' self-efficacy is a nonlinear relationship, increasing as more years of teaching experience are attained but decreasing in the last professional stage. However, Fackler & Malmberg (2016) found that years of professional experience do not predict teachers’ sense of self-efficacy. Siciliano (2016) noted that an optimal climate in the school and a good relationship and communication between teachers are factors that positively influence the teachers’ sense of self-efficacy. Finally, Fackler & Malmberg (2016) observed that having opportunities for professional development positively influences the teachers’ sense of self-efficacy.

Taking into account the little existing research on this construct in VET and understanding self-efficacy as an element of vital importance for teaching practice, which helps to improve the relationship with students and strengthens their school engagement, the objective of this research is to delve deeper into this concept, analyzing which factors influence the teaching self-efficacy of VET teachers.

This study is an empirical contribution to the explanation of class-specific educational inequality in continuing vocational education and training (CVET). Inequalities in CVET build up or down over the life course. It is in relation to this life course dependency that I want to examine educational behavior in CVET (O'Rand 2006). Class-differentiating educational decisions are related to class-specific differences in the cost-benefit trade-off. Those decisions then - mediated by the selection and allocation function of the educational system and the resources of the parental home - lead to social inequality of educational opportunities. An important conceptual distinction of social educational inequalities is that between primary and secondary effects (Boudon 1974). The latter is aimed in particular at social inequalities that arise outside the education system and already before entry into the (pre-)school education system - i.e., primarily within the family of origin. Inequalities during a person’s life course shape their attitudes towards CVET (Loeng 2020).

In the public and academic debate, a close and direct connection between educational systems and educational decisions is often assumed (Van de Werfhorst and Mijs 2010). Such a connection is of interest mainly because educational institutions are among the factors that are in principle open to political control and can thus be shaped. In contrast to early pre-vocational education, two characteristics become important in the case of CVET. First, educational decisions are no longer made within the framework of institutionally predetermined decision-making latitude, i.e., under specifications of the respective decision alternatives and access criteria. According to educational research, a large part of adult learning processes takes place outside of educational organizations (Livingstone 1999, Livingstone 2001, Holland 2019). The decision for or against CVET and the knowledge of relevant and necessary educational offers are thus even more dependent on the individual and his or her decision-making and subjective and objective knowledge about educational offers. Second, the dimension of standardization ceases to apply. An institutional anchoring of education with predefined (humanistic) educational ideals and determined standards is increasingly being replaced by the practice- and application-oriented perspective on education. Education becomes economically exploitable employability, which is also discussed under the term “subjectification of education” (Ryökkynen, Maunu et al. 2022). In this sense, the term "vocational education" is becoming more diffuse as it is applied to an increasingly wide range of different learning processes and as CVET becomes less and less definable by institutional or content-related criteria. In particular, the specification of forms of "organized learning" (Bildungskommission 1970: 197) can no longer be convincing today in view of the increasing importance of informal learning (Eraut* 2004, Holmgren and Sjöberg 2022).

The paper first provides a brief overview of empirical findings on social inequalities in the (German) CVET landscape in order to clarify key comparative dimensions of the observed educational differences. Then, based on a number of problems identified, the paper outlines the main features of a research program that combines the analysis of CVET with that of an individual decision-making behavior and educational history. The research question is Q: What impact do (parental) educational decisions during school time, bounded rationality/norms and framing of education and the learning environment during school time have on educational decisions on CVET?

Motivation is widely acknowledged as a strong predictor of academic achievement (Cambria, Eccles & Wigfield, 2012). Educational motivation predicts attitudes toward school, class participation, homework completion, test performance, attendance, and grades. It is particularly salient in high school because educational decisions made during high school are consequential as students position themselves in further education and their specific interest in certain subjects (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Manganelli, et al., 2021). According to self-determination theory, motivation is able to play an important role in helping students from low-wealth situations break out of poverty by raising certain behaviours to overcome the inequality barrier (Ryan & Deci, 2017). However, previous studies have demonstrated that low-socioeconomic status (SES) students endorse lower levels of achievement motivation than high-SES students (Manganelli, et al., 2021). Nevertheless, some low SES students obtain high educational motivations in China, albeit it “against the odds”, and achieve high academic achievements afterwards (e.g. Xie, 2015). Underlining the cultural background of filial piety in China, Guo and his colleagues (2021) also emphasise the role of parenting factors, including parental control and support, on adolescents’ motivations. Thus, it may be that parenting factors, are especially key for young people from low SES backgrounds to be highly motivated. For example, Leung and Shek (2016) have identified that parent-child discrepancy in perceived parental sacrifice influences the motivation of poor Chinese adolescents based on their study of 275 adolescents and their families in Hong Kong. Therefore, it is worthwhile to explore how the parenting factors associate with the SES-academic motivation relationship in China. Moreover, empirical evidence of how disadvantaged adolescents can be more motivated academically could supplement studies of social justice.

Led by the theoretical framework of Coleman’s social capital theory in the family (Coleman, 1988), this study regards educational motivation as a non-cognitive ability outcome, which is considered to be closely related to future academic achievement (Ames, 1992). Coleman’s theory of social capital in the family suggests that financial capital, human capital and social capital all affect educational outcomes jointly and intercorrelate with each other (Coleman, 1988). Following this framework, this study aims to explore the association of parenting factors, SES and educational motivations among 12 to 15 years old adolescents in China using a nationally representative secondary dataset, the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS). This secondary data was collected from around 20,000 secondary school students from 112 schools in 28 counties in mainland China (National Survey Research Centre at Renmin University of China, 2015). Through conducting quantitative analysis, the article aims to answer the following research questions:

1. What is the educational motivation pattern of adolescents in China? What is the difference in educational motivation patterns between Grade 7 (Age 12 to 13) and Grade 9 (Age 14 to 15) students?

2. How do different kinds of parental capital, including occupation, education and home possessions, relate to students’ educational motivations?

3. How do parental capitals incorporate parenting factors as a form of social capital in the family, including parental involvement, parenting styles and parental aspiration, relate to students’ educational motivation?

This study offers empirical evidence from China to further explain Coleman’s theory of social capital, joining the international theoretical conversation from a different country background. Moreover, it includes a broader range of SES and parenting factors and a wider age range than similar studies that have used large-scale data from China. Furthermore, it explores the patterns of educational motivation of adolescents in mainland China and its relationship with SES and parenting factors, which have not been jointly identified in previous large-scale quantitative educational research.

From the beginning of the 21^st century, especially after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the digitalization process of higher education has been accelerated worldwide, and the inclusion of virtual dimension in internationalisation actions has also gained momentum in academic practices and discussions (Woicolesco et al., 2022) thereby emerging different definitions and exerting a multifaceted impact on internationalisation practices. While the academia kept monitoring the approaches, rationales, activities or stakeholders of internationalisation of higher education, the most accepted definition of internationalisation of higher education was put forward by J. Knight (2004) as ‘the process of integrating an international, intercultural and global dimension in the purpose, functions, delivery of postsecondary education.’ This definition was later revised and enriched by de Wit et al. (2015), with emphasis on the ‘intentional’ process as well as its benefit for ‘all students and staff’ instead of the mobile few. Based on the Knight’s definition, Bruhn et al., (2020) has proposed to view virtual internationalisation as ‘the process of introducing an international, intercultural, or global dimensions into the delivery, purpose or functions of higher education with the help of ICT’. Recently, Liu (2020) also scrutinized Knight's (2004) definition under Chinese context, and highlighted the Chinese national goal as the purpose and functions of Chinese higher education universities for internationalisation.

In addition to varying definitions of virtual internationalization, the digital age has also embraced changes and brought new possibilities for future internationalisation efforts in many areas (Rajagopal et al., 2020). In terms of virtual course delivery, researchers highlighted the enriched access to unprecedented wealth of online information, tools and services and global knowledge in the digital age, which brought benefits both for education and research (Bruhn et al., 2020; Kobzhev et al., 2020; Moore & Kearsley, 2012; Saykili, 2019). Meanwhile, researchers stressed the addition of an international dimension to educational experiences and more possibilities and forms for internationalisation at home or internationalisation of curriculum in the virtual environment (Bruhn, 2017; de Wit & Hunter, 2015; Kobzhev et al., 2020; Woicolesco et al., 2022). However, as Saykili (2019) quoted, knowledge access and dissemination roles are shifting away from higher education at social level. Amirault & Visser (2010) observed the lack of recognition of virtual internationalisation, which made the virtual mobility programs difficult to benefit from the same advantages as in the offline environment, such as recognition of credits, credits transfer, accreditation, etc.

While previous studies have abundant discussion on the possibilities provided by the digital age for internationalisation, new initiatives continue to emerge and thrive globally, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, relevant studies in the post-pandemic period are still in scarcity. Meanwhile, De Wit & Jones (2022) called for a global cooperative strategy to better understand the multifaceted aspects of internationalisation by involving higher education stakeholders in various contexts. Academic members, as major components of the higher education system, have crucial role for the successful initiation and implementation of virtual internationalisation. This indicates a need to understand the various perceptions of virtual internationalization theoretically and practically from academic members in higher education from various contexts. To provide more up-to-date data for future studies as well as a response to this call, this study aims to explore the perceptions of academic members from a diverse context about virtual internationalization

The research objectives that guided this study are:

(1) What is virtual internationalisation as perceived by academic staff members in higher education?

(2) What are the new possibilities for internationalisation in this digital age as perceived by academic staff members in higher education?

Teacher effectiveness has been one of the most common topics in education for several decades. There has been a noticeable increase in studies examining teacher effectiveness during the past 20 years. One way to examine teacher effectiveness is by investigating the correlation between teacher characteristics as independent variables and student performance in standardised tests as a dependent variable. This study aims to add to existing knowledge by exploring the relationship between teacher characteristics and student math achievement in Saudi Arabia. This study examines teacher characteristics including gender, age, formal education, degree major, experience, and professional development. TIMSS 2019 is the primary data source for this study. The strategy for examining the correlation between teacher characteristics and student achievement in Saudi Arabia relies on including several student and school controls by utilising the Ordinary Least Squared (OLS) to explore this relationship for fourth and eighth-grade students. The findings of this study show that, on average, students with female teachers performed better than those with male teachers in both grades. Also, teachers' age and professional development are positively and significantly correlated with student math achievement in both grades. In addition, teacher major is positively and significantly associated with student achievement only in 4^th grade. The estimations for teacher experience were very close to zero in both grades. Furthermore, it was not applicable to examine teacher formal education due to the small sample size. One explicit limitation arises due to missing data, which could bias the results of this study. One way to deal with it is to rerun the model after excluding variables that present high missing values. This model presents the same results. These findings are relevant to education policy discussion since teachers are hired and paid based on these characteristics.

McLoughlin & Lee (2008) describe that in a society, which is increasingly adopting a variety of high-speed technologies, students have access to a variety of resources, ideas and communities to support their learning environment. In order for individuals to participate and engage in democracy and citizenship, they should be able to use relevant digital tools (UtdanningsdirektoratetNorwegian Directorate for Education and Training, 2017). To allow students to become active and engaged in their own learning, teachers need to understand how technology can support communication, creativity and innovation. In addition, teachers need to be aware of the opportunities, limitations, effects and risks of using technology (European Commission, 2019). Students digital competence is expressed as knowledge, skills and attitudes through coincident technology in school and in leisure time (Vuorikari et al., 2022).

In teacher's selection of learning resources, an understanding of technology as part of the students' learning environment should be based on the same understanding of how digital technology can add value to the students' learning. Kolb (2017) refers to three main reasons for adopting digital technology. Technology must engage and help students stay focused on tasks or activities. Furthermore, technology can contribute to increased motivation and learning outcomes. By changing view from passive receiving to active contributing in their own learning, Technology also give students opportunities to learn in new ways beyond their typical school life through changing their role from passive receiver to active contributors in their own learning. Learning with technology does not happen because a particular tool, or application, revolutionizes education, but when teaching and learning are connected to technology.

Through the lens of The Tree P's of pedagogy for the Networked society (McLaughlin & Lee, 2008), students’ learning is driven by personal needs, ability to collaborate with others, and active participation in their own learning. More engaging, socially based learning is needed to replace the traditional classrooms, which emphasize the institution and the instructor. Customized learning refers to the idea that learning should be tailored to each student's individual needs, interests, and abilities. This can be achieved by selected use of technology, which can adjust the content and pace of learning, based on the student's prerequisites, gender, cultural and linguistic affiliation. Overall, there are a plethora of learning resources that support user autonomy, increased levels of socialization, interactivity, and creativity. Different resources provide access to open communities and peer-to-peer networks to move beyond instructor-centered classroom environments. This is in contrast to prescribed curricula and content that are often restricted through learning management systems.

Norwegian municipalities report that they encounter a jungle of digital learning resources, which is largely based on analog formats, from both national and international providers. 36 % of schools in Norway lack a systematic plan for competence enhancement in digital competence (Kunnskapsdepartemenet, 2020). The emergence of digital learning resources has made access to learning materials unclear and challenging for the teacher when choosing and using technology in the students' learning environment. Without expertise and competence on what is to be purchased, the purchases risk becoming random (Kunnskapsdepartemenet, 2020).

The challenge for teachers is therefore judging the quality and choosing appropriate technology. The teacher should have knowledge of how technology changes and expands the subject's content, the pedagogical methods and have an overview of how technology can add value in the students' learning environment (Koehler & Mishra, 2014).

The study has the following research question: What do teachers emphasise when choosing digital learning resources in a learning environment with room for all students?

The issue is operationalized into three areas:

• the teacher's awareness of digital learning resources based on the students' learning assumptions and resources (individualization)
• gender
• cultural and linguistic affiliation.

This study focuses on the aesthetic dimensions of the learning of technology; taking the stance that the doing of technology - in and out of schools - is inseparable from aesthetic experiences. In technology education, aesthetics has been emphasized as foundational to design and appreciation of aesthetical qualities in technological artifacts related to personal identity and lifestyle (DeVries, 2016). Previous research has however primarily attended to aesthetics in technology education in terms of student attitudes and motivation towards different aspects of the technology subject based on student reports in surveys (Potvin & Hasni, 2014). The studies are usually motivated by the important relation between student interest and learning (del Olmo-Muñoz et al., 2021; Witherspoon et al., 2016), observed gender differences in attitudes (Virtanen et al., 2015), the need of a qualified workforce and societies need of technological literate citizens (Ardies et al., 2015). Since most of previous research on student attitudes builds on Likert-type questionnaires, such as the PATT-survey, the knowledge of the role of aesthetics and taste for student learning technology is largely based on students’ recollections of their experiences of technology class. To our knowledge, only rarely have attitudes and identity work been contextualized as situated and so describing aesthetic experiences as constituted in classroom action. What role aesthetics has for student learning and identity work in technology class is thus little investigated. The aim of the study is therefore to explore aesthetics and technology education, and more specifically we ask: What role has aesthetics for learning when students are programming robots in technology class? The study thus focuses on programming activities where aesthetic experiences are not so much related to exterior design features but more with the processes designing functional programming solutions. In the Swedish technology syllabus, programming is part of the core content methods for developing technological solutions and in years 1-3 (age 7-9) the students are supposed to learn to control objects, such as a robot, using programming. In years 4-6 (age 10-12) the students should learn to control their own constructions or other objects by using programming, and in years 7-9 (age 13-15), the students are supposed to use programming for controlling and regulating their own constructions. Programming is thus primarily a tool for controlling objects and a progression in terms of knowledge in programming is not formulated in the technology syllabus.

The study is grounded in a pragmatic and anti-representational perspective on meaning-making (eg. Kelly et al., 2012), words and actions are thus not understood as ready-made once for all but rather approached as gaining their meaning through their use and consequences as part of activities. Here we primarily draw on previous studies within the pragmatic perspective that have approached the teaching and learning of a school subject as constituting a process in which cognition, norms and values (aesthetics) are intertwined (eg. Wickman, 2006)

The main purpose of the study is to teach high school students how to prepare their Start-Up projects in accordance with modern requirements. Through the design thinking algorithm, you can develop the skills of preparing a startup project. In the empathy stage, teams were formed among the students, in the analysis and synthesis section, each team identified a problem that needs to be solved in the future, and in the third stage of design thinking, each group identified ways to solve the problem and started preparing a prototype (MVP). During the tests of the created prototype, the teams were able to find a timely solution to the identified obstacles. And in the last stage, each startup team presented their products at a fair held inside the school and received feedback from the audience. As a result, each team participates in various competitions and presents its products in the direction of a business idea.

The main goal of the research work is to use the thinking design algorithm to guide students in grades 9-11 to develop technological startup projects, identify the obstacles encountered and offer solutions.

Research questions:

- What do startup projects teach students in grades 9-11?

- What are the obstacles to improving the project and what actions have been taken to eliminate them?

- What is the effectiveness of the thinking design algorithm in developing technological startup projects for students?

In order not to lose motivation and interest in learning, it is important for teachers not only to conduct interesting lessons, but also to lead them to research projects. In order to implement modern business ideas, students ' desire to engage in startup projects is developing rapidly. In the process of developing startup projects, students develop skills of communicative, constructive thinking, problem solving through the accumulation and analysis of information. Therefore, in this study, an algorithm for thinking design was selected to train students to engage in startup work. D. Kelly states that thinking design relies on the natural ability to be intuitive, find patterns, and come up with ideas that are not only emotionally attractive but functional, so thinking design is an effective tool for developing creativity and skill [1]. The design of thinking is based on the ability of a person to feel intuitively, to create ideas that have not only a functional, but also an emotional component [2]. Thinking design is good for everyone because it goes beyond simple things, stereotypes, and patterns to solve and, as a result, helps open up new paths, opportunities [3]. Using 6 stages of the thinking design algorithm in the development of technological startup projects, you can hone students ' love for the complex and creative skills.

Methods of startup development. A startup is a way to test new product ideas with real customers and constantly adjust the business model to get started. In 2011, Eric Rees proposed the Lean Startup approach in his book business from scratch [4].

Introduction

In school, one of the most widely applied teaching methods is the conversation in pairs in the form of peer learning or peer tutoring (Thurston et al., 2020). However, often these conversations lack sufficient structure and scaffolding, and frequently the teaching method, e.g. Cooperative Learning, is detached from the subject area (Rasmussen & Schmidt, 2022). This can result in unqualified and superficial pair work (Gillies, 2013).

At University College Copenhagen (UCC) we investigate how to qualify peer tutoring through an intervention project called SYKL, an abbreviation for Systematized Reciprocal Peer Tutoring. SYKL has already been developed for and implemented in science and mathematics and is currently being carried out in Danish L1 in all 4th grade classes (students aged 10-11 years) at the 7 schools in Hillerød Municipality in Denmark. This presentation is about the ongoing SYKL project, and it seeks to investigate the students’ dialogic pair work and possible benefits and challenges of SYKL in Danish L1.

Background

Research into peer tutoring in L1 has mainly focused on literacy in general and reading in particular. Several such studies have documented that peer tutoring has a positive effect on both basic reading skills, reading comprehension and self-regulated reading activities (e.g. Spörer & Brunstein, 2009; Tsuei et al., 2020). However, our knowledge is more restricted when it comes to how peer tutoring can be applied, and with what effects, when working with more complex L1 skills such as deep understanding and critical thinking.

Research suggests a close connection – and possibly even causality – between social and academic benefits of peer tutoring (Rasmussen & Schmidt, 2022; Thurston et al., 2020). Accordingly, in SYKL, students are paired based on social as well as academic criteria. Thus, the intent is inclusion through the subjects, which in SYKL is referred to as socio-academic inclusion (Schmidt, 2015).

Research into socio-academic inclusion is sparse. In a review of structured reciprocal peer tutoring from a combined social and academic perspective between 2011 and 2021, Tiftikci (2021) finds only two such studies with direct relevance for Danish L1, both encouraging: Tymms et al., (2011) document positive effects regarding reading for both cross-age and same-age interventions (ES = 0.2 for both). Willis et al. (2012) find in a qualitative cross-age study notable benefits, both for the literacy skills of the tutees (mentees) and the communication, problem-solving and leadership skills of the tutors (mentors).

SYKL in Danish L1

In the SYKL intervention, we view Danish L1 widely as both a language, literacy, text and Bildung subject, and we build upon contemporary research on student communication and reflection (Holmberg, et al. 2019). In this context, we seek to scaffold investigative and explicitly reflective conversation for the students, also known as exploratory talk, which is “hesitant and incomplete because it enables the speaker to try out ideas, to hear how they sound, to see what others make of them, to arrange information and ideas into different patterns” (Barnes, 2008, p. 5). The objective is that such exploratory and dialogic oracy eventually becomes part of the students’ socio-academic norms (Rasmussen & Schmidt, 2022), in order to strengthen the students’ social relationships as well as their deep L1 understandings and strategies.

Research Question

The research question for this presentation is thus:

RQ: What characterise the students’ (speech) acts during SYKL interactions – and what do they reveal about the establishment of socio-academic norms in Danish L1?

The terminology (speech) acts illustrates that the focus of the presentation is the students’ talk and dialogue as well as body language and gesture.

Baddeley and his associates (2010) outlined that the learning behavior of older adults is different from that of younger generations. The World Health Organization (2015) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2017) claim that there is a continuing growth of elderly population in demography, which basically concerns citizens who are 60 years old or above. As found, for instance, altered cognitive abilities may impact their learning progress and their memory, attention, or perception (Grein, 2013). Further, their potentially negative learning experiences triggered by frontal teaching methods and a rather autocratic approach to classroom management may have also influenced their attitudes toward learning (Grein, 2018). These factors are likely to affect their ability to learn in an effective and independent way. Hence, promoting older adults’ learning by enhancing their learner autonomy should play a key role in continuing education, since the evolvement of their autonomous learning behavior can also contribute to the acquisition of skills and attitudes that play an important role in active social participation and experienced independence (Bélanger, 2016; Ciechanowska, 2015). In so doing, foreign language learning (FL) has emerged as an important developmental opportunity among senior citizens in the international context as well as in Hungary (Kaczor, 2011; Berndt, 2003).

One-to-one counselling for autonomous learning is a useful method to develop learner autonomy in adulthood (Karlsson et al., 2007; Mozzon-McPherson & Vismans, 2001). It is described as a solution-centered approach that acknowledges learners’ capacity for self-direction and focuses on promoting their self-development (Mynards & Carson, 2012). One-to-one counselling for autonomous learning specifically emphasizes the evolvement of effective teacherless learning by determining individual learning needs or purposes and enforcing possible courses of action for learning enhancement (Karlsson et al., 2007).

This exploratory study, therefore, focuses on developing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning autonomy of older learners through language learning counselling. The aim was to investigate the different supporting strategies applied by adult educators and to study participating older learners’ learning paths throughout the counselling program. Panel surveys were applied to explore the possible long-term effectivity of counselling on participants’ autonomous learning behavior. Hence, the research questions are (1) how EFL teachers can contribute to the development of older adults’ learner autonomy with the help of applying one-to-one counselling of autonomous learning, (2) how do older learners conceive of their learning experiences during the counselling program, and (3) how do older learners reflect on their independent learning experience over time, three and six months after the counselling program.

Various studies state that quiz games like Kahoot or Quizz foster motivation in foreign language learning and are perceived as effective tools by both instructors and students (e.g. Degirmenci, 2021; Halim et al., 2020). Online quiz learning games promote specifically intrinsic motivation and get students involved in educational activities more (Iaremenko, 2017).

However those studies mostly focus on English as a foreign language (e.g. Degirmenci, 2021), handle a specific type of quiz game instead of comparing them (e.g. Dellos, 2015 ), or conducted through quantitative method (e.g. Halim et al., 2020). Therefore, this study will be a qualitative study focusing on German as a foreign language, handling three different quiz games in the same instruction. To variate the sort of games, in addition to the existing games, an online quiz game was also developed by the course instructor considering the language level of students. With this purpose, the following research questions will be examined;

1. How do adult learners of Online DaF (German as Foreign Language) Courses perceive the effects of Gamification on their learning motivation under the conditions of distance education?
   1. How does Gamification affect the learning motivation of adult learners of Online DaF (German as Foreign Language) Courses under the conditions of distance education?

Studies about learning motivation, divide motivation into two categories as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Reiss, 2012). They state that intrinsic motivation does not require any prods or contingencies. Therefore, it causes autonomous or self-determined behaviors (Deci & Ryan, 2013). On the other hand, extrinsic motivation need external factors. It is the practice of activity for purposes other than its intrinsic merits and it comes in a variety of forms, each with varying levels of autonomy or self-determination. External regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation range from low to high autonomy (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Deci and Ryan (1993) draw a theoretical framework that relates intrinsic learning motivation with competence, autonomy, and social involvement. Studies about language learning through quiz games also demonstrate a direct relationship between competition and increased motivation (Dellos, 2015; Halim et al., 2020). Therefore, this study is based on the self-determination theory of Deci and Ryan (1993) which is a conceptual framework that contains smaller theories as an umbrella framework (Olson & Jiang, 2004). It supports the idea that all human beings bring autonomous tendencies. However, those tendencies are the sources of motivation and should be supported by the environment for the autonomous continuation of extrinsic motivation. Because of that reason, teachers should support the autonomy of students. To do that three ways were suggested; providing a rationale, acknowledging, and providing choices instead of controlling (Deci & Ryan, 2013).

At the outset of the establishment of the Network 27 on Didactics, Learning and Teaching, the field of didactics, learning and teaching, and teacher education was characterized by its fragmentation. Thus, there was a strong motivation to overcome this fragmentation by searching for common ground (Hudson/Schneuwly 2007; Hudson/Meyer 2011). In a similar way the German discourse on teacher education regards the fragmentation of the whole course of teacher education as a constant challenge (Korthoff/Terhart 2013; Blömeke 2009). This fragmentation between distinct phases and institutions, but also between the various disciplines involved lead to a fragmentation of the professional pedagogical, general and subject-specific didactical knowledge and to a lack of a common terminology which impedes a coherent course of teacher education (Grammes 1998; Reusser 2008). In addition, some observe a trend in the recent discourse which promotes cross-disciplinary work instead of disciplinary teaching (e. g. Dussel 2020). At the same time, there are still references to positions which emphasize the importance of specialized knowledge and warn against a risk of deprofessionalization (Young/Moller 2016; Reh/Caruso 2020). The efforts to develop a general subject didactic (Bayrhuber et al. 2017; Rothgangel et al. 2020) might also be interpreted as a response to these lines of discussion (Reh/Caruso 2020).

Against this backdrop, we can formulate as a core challenge in teacher education, how to link the knowledge of the subject-specific didactics in teacher education to develop professional practical competencies across the disciplines as well as to deepen the subject-specific knowledge?

This question was also an initial point for the project presented in this paper. In this project we have set up an interdisciplinary team which consists of members of the didactic departments in the social sciences, geography and German. Our aim is the development of interdisciplinary multimedia online learning units for teacher education which address selected core aspects of both subject and general didactics: subject-specific concept of education (Bildung), subject-specific culture of exercises, language in specific subjects, fostering of competencies, structuring lessons, and media. These multimedia online learning units contain various materials as short video clips, podcasts, interview sequences with teachers and students, appropriate specialist literature, further reading suggestions, and training and reflection exercises. The materials should be suitable to be used in courses of teacher education as well as for the purpose of independent studies. By using the learning units pre-service teachers should deepen their subject-specific competencies and also develop an interdisciplinary didactical perspective.

The course of the project follows a step plan for the discussion and development of the learning units (for more details see the paragraph on methodology). In our paper, we will present preliminary results of the first phases of our projects and further questions and perspectives for the following phases.

Specifically, we will focus on results, questions, perspectives relating to the question to the common ground and subject-specific characteristics within the selected core aspects:

What do we learn from these results about the aim of fostering professional practical competencies across the disciplines in the context of teacher education? In general, what can we learn about the aim of an interdisciplinary perspective in teacher education as such? More specifically, in which aspects can an interdisciplinary perspective in teacher education support the development of subject-specific competencies? In which aspects does it support an interdisciplinary didactical perspective? Finally, how can we integrate these results in the online learning units for teacher education?

The objective of this study is to explore possibilities and practices of translanguaging for epistemic equity in teacher-researcher workshops. More specifically, we report on a series of 4 in-service teacher workshops on translanguaging that we, three researchers and teacher educators, held in an adult basic education (ABE) center in small-town Finland. We analyze our data (audio recordings) through a lens of knowledge and translanguaging theory with the goal of understanding the potential for working towards pedagogies of epistemic justice with the teachers.

De Sousa Santos (2007) understands “Modern Western thinking” as “abyssal thinking” as it “consists of a system of visible and invisible distinctions'' (p. 45) that draw a line, an abyss, beyond which knowledges do not exist. According to de Sousa Santos, it is particularly “popular, lay, plebeian, peasant, or Indigenous knowledges” (p. 47) that exist beyond this epistemic abyss, to which we would add the knowledges of another epistemically marginalized group: adult learners from African, South American, West Asian, and Eastern European countries, who come to Finland as refugees or migrants, often with a history of interrupted formal education. As de Sousa Santos contends, the abyss of epistemic erasure serves to justify and perpetuate the colonial project of epistemic imperialism, where so-called “Western” educational institutions aim to impart their accredited knowledges onto those perceived as lacking them. Scholars in the area of language education have applied his framework to linguistic practices (García et al., 2021) and explained how continued colonial logic bans certain linguistic practices beyond the abyss by considering them, if at all, to be inadequate (e.g., non-academic).

To challenge this abyssal thinking, they have suggested to adopt translanguaging as a pedagogy and political stance: “Translanguaging rejects abyssal thinking; it is a way to understand the vast complexity and heterogeneity of language practices, avoiding [...] their evaluation in the negative terms of the colonial imaginary line” (García et al., 2021, p. 208). We build on this existing work in our attempt to design linguistically and culturally sensitive teacher education (Lucas & Villegas, 2013; Paris, 2012), which aims to support teachers in crossing the pervasive epistemic line (i.e. engage in what we refer to as “line crossing”) by understanding students’ linguistic and other epistemic resources as assets and tapping them for their learning. In line with a translanguaging-as-a-polticial-stance (Wei, 2022) approach, our workshops did not merely focus on recognizing diverse linguistic resources, but also on questioning the norms and standards that reify linguistic compartmentalization (e.g. separation into named languages or language families) and on bringing marginalized languages and knowledges to the center of educational activities.

Some work focuses on translanguaging as a practice, describing linguistic practices that surface in any context where multilinguals interact, such as trilingual families (Paulsrud & Straszer, 2018), CLIL classrooms (Jakonen, Szabó & Laihonen, 2018), or businesses (Räisäinen, 2018). Research in the translanguaging-as-practice paradigm from Finnish contexts that focuses on normalizing multilingual interaction in educational spaces, may include findings that show potential for embrittling linguistic norms (e.g., Jakonen, Szabo & Laihonen, 2018; Lehtonen, 2019; Nikula and Moore, 2016), but typically refrains from tapping into antioppressive scholarship. Some recent work has taken up translanguaging as a political stance and brought it in dialogue with budding research on Finnish coloniality (author, 2022; author, 2023). This study contributes to this line of work as it explores the potential of translanguaging for epistemic justice in an ABE context. We ask:

• What constitutes “the epistemic line” in an ABE in-service teacher education context?

• How did teachers and researchers navigate (the possibility of) line crossings in the workshops?

In order to address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the United Nations in 2000, the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation developed the Green Plan (2009) as well as the national reference system for Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility (SDSR). During the last couple of years, the French Higher Education institutions have thus been seriously working out the ways of teaching their students the SDSR. The author of the recent ministerial report Jean Jouzel (2022) urged the universities to raise students’ awareness on these matters.

In this study carried out in one of the French universities, we are interested in the teaching practices used by higher education teachers and pedagogical teams in response to this “supranational political injunction” (Barthes & Alpe, 2012, p. 3). Among other things, we refer to the UNESCO (2017) report outlining learning objectives aimed at reaching Sustainable Development goals, as well as pedagogical approaches addressing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Various studies have identified teaching practices that can foster the Sustainable Development Competences (SDC) (Cavicchi, 2021; Lozano et al., 2017).

In addition to identifying teaching practices, this study allows us to clarify how one can integrate the topics of SD and SDG in different higher education training programmes (Lozano et al., 2015). We will confront these results with students’ perceptions of teaching practices aimed at fostering SD competences (Cavicchi, 2021).

More generally, our study addresses the problem of education for sustainable development in the context of higher education in France. How is it integrated in different programmes? Which forms can it take? We aim at identifying both the place the SD competences take in the higher education programmes and the existing teaching practices used by teachers. We also confront the results with the inputs from the international research.

Our hypothesis is that the SD takes a significant place in the content of the programmes that aim at developing competences in the domain of SD. Our second hypothesis is that university teachers have few teaching practices based on the principles of the transformative learning even if they consider them important.

Some children struggle with difficulties in learning to read and write. Researching teaching methodologies that enable children to achieve academic success are a matter of great importance as learning difficulties, namely, to read and write are common in today's education institutions.

Knowledge of the complete phonemic code, namely grapheme-phoneme correspondence is one of the essential foundational skills for reading success. The domain of the phonemic code is an essential skill that students must develop, to acquire the reading-writing process. Decoding and understanding are crucial to a meaningful reading process, in languages that use the alphabetical principle.

Children with intellectual disabilities, often, have difficulties in intellectual functioning (such as learning, problem solving, judgement) and adaptive functioning (such as communication and independent living) (APA, 2013). One of the three areas of adaptive functioning is the conceptual domain (language, reading, writing, math, reasoning, knowledge, memory). Mild levels of intellectual disability may not be identified until school age, when children show difficulties with academics, namely learning how to read and write. One of the reasons argued for this effortful learning may lay in the nature of the audiovisual process that is recruited for the integration of principle arbitrarily linked elements (Blomert & Froyen, 2010).

There are a range of models, methods, and processes for teaching and learning how to read and write, including multisensory methods. Multisensory methods involve the use of all senses. They focus on using visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile elements. They are based on the belief that incorporating all senses into the learning process activates different parts of the brain simultaneously, enhancing memory and the learning of written language. In traditional methodologies, teaching occurs using vision and hearing. In the multisensory methodology there is a recruitment of other sensory modalities, such as kinesthetic and phono articulatory techniques (Seabra & Dias, 2011).

The multisensory methodologies integrate strategies in its structure that include a greater number of sensory aids, like visual and auditory aids – the most used – as well as kinesthetic and tactile. The increase of this type of aid works as a compensation technique which allows the child to achieve a greater probability of success (Seabra & Dias, 2011). The relation between phoneme and grapheme, during the formal learning of reading and writing is based on a multisensory association. It is taught in a systematic and formal way that allows the manipulation of those segments, without recurring to higher cognitive processes (Blomert & Froyen, 2010).

Studies and reports of the application of this method in children, demonstrate that this is an effective method in learning to read and write skills. Studies in neuroscience and cognition also show that teaching with multisensory methods strengthen neural pathways (Kelly & Phillips, 2016). Through the development and implementation of a multisensory methodology-based teaching program, this research project aims at documenting and understanding improvements in reading and writing learning processes in children with learning disabilities.

This study presents the added value that art journaling has for Education students. Art journaling is a contemplative-pedagogical strategy we used while teaching “Assimilating Arts into Teaching,” an introductory course in an undergraduate program in Israel which emphasizes contemplation and personal growth through the arts (Ankori & Hammer, 2018).

Barbezat and Bush (2013) stated that “reading in college today is more often a race to finish a text than a search for hidden meaning” (p. 112). They described cases of college teachers who were inspired by traditional contemplative religious reading practices and who underwent a reading process in their classes aiming at achieving personal and spiritual insights.

Furthermore, Barbezat and Bush (2013) suggested that contemplative journal writing can encourage students to generate their own fresh ideas rather than limit themselves to the academic analysis of other people’s texts. It helps them explore their emotional, intuitive, and sensorial responses to course material. Many teachers introduce mindfulness meditation practice before, during, and after periods of writing or reading to encourage their students to write mindfully and to “discover direct, honest language, without self-conscious cleverness or display of ego, a language that yearns to reveal, to lay bare the truth of the student’s insight and the details of his or her unique story” (Barbezat & Bush, p. 132).

In recent years, personal blogs have been widely used in higher education to promote reflective thinking (e.g., Garcia et al., 2019; Rennie & Morrison, 2013). Blogs can facilitate student-centered learning, support the development of academic literacies, and foster collaborations (Wankel & Blessinger, 2012). Educational blogs can be seen as an extension of academic journaling: whereas journals are personal documents (typically read only by instructors), part of the thrill of publishing a blog is its public nature (Radclyffe-Thomas, 2012). For many students, presenting their artifacts publicly is a motivational boost (e.g., Radinsky et al., 2001).

In a visual journal, individuals record their experiences using both imagery and written text. Numerous studies have shown that educational journals and blogs promote critical reflection. However, few studies address the potential of visual journaling to facilitate reflection (Deaver & McAuliffe, 2009). Deaver and McAuliffe's participants considered the combination of artmaking and responsive writing to be a particularly effective aspect of their experience.

Contemplative art takes art journaling a step further. The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society (2016) described the creative “branch” (and, within it, contemplative art) as one of the major contemplative practices currently in use in academic settings. The Center stressed that the purpose of contemplative art is to observe the mind while engaging in the creative process. Thus, the process of making artwork overrides the product itself. For instance, people are encouraged to maintain an awareness not just of what they are making and the process of creating it but also how they are feeling and the way the mind jumps from one topic to another.

This study’s goal was to examine the impact of art journaling on students’ emotional and intellectual understanding of theoretical articles and on their ability to appreciate and integrate experiences and insights from theoretical papers into their professional development.

From those goals stem several research questions:

• How would students respond to the request to create art journals while reading theoretical texts?

• Would they be open to sharing their journals with classmates?

• What kinds of art journals would emerge from this assignment?

• What would be students’ evaluations of the extent to which creative art journals enhanced their understanding of a theoretical paper?

• How would students view the potential contributions of art journals to their professional and personal development?

Within the four language skills, writing seems to be the most challenging skill for EFL learners simply because it is a skill that must be learned well.

The focus of this action research was selected to be developing students’ writing skills, because according to the results of the external summative assessment, majority of students could not cope well with the writing assignments. By analyzing the high-school students works we detected some common mistakes that most students made in writing formal essays. Learners might go off-topic providing irrelevant information; superficial coverage of the subject and poor organization made the content unclear; due to insufficient evidence and unclear reasoning their arguments appeared to be weak and not extended, and they also found it difficult to support their claims. Miller & Pessoa (2016) also ascertained that many students at secondary and post-secondary levels, particularly L2 writers, struggle with writing arguments.

To identify the best approaches in encouraging students to strengthen their writing skills, the results of the previous studies were referred to. Researchers acknowledge the significance of argumentative writing in academic context (Lee & Deakin, 2016). In his work Schleppegrell, noted that “the construction of a well-organized text” is particularly important to argumentative writing (2006, p. 136). Hirvela (2017) identified that if learners are effectively engaged in arguing, it will lead them to thinking, searching, and learning.

Majority of researchers found feedback as the best way to encourage learners to enhance their writing. Hyland & Hyland (2006) indicated that feedback is a main form of ESL/EFL writing programs across the world. Ismail, Hassan & Maulan (2008) determined that even minimal feedback will help learners to do self-revision and self-correction. It was also proven that L2 students who receive written corrective feedback on their errors are able to improve the accuracy of their writing compared with those who do not receive error feedback. (Bitchener, Young & Cameron, 2005).

Taking into consideration the results of the previous and latest research works, providing students with oral and written corrective feedback was selected to tackle the problem. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to investigate ESL students’ perceptions and attitudes towards oral and written feedback they received for their essays aimed at developing argumentation skills as well as their reasons they made in response to feedback.

The study addresses the following research questions:

1. What is the relationship between feedback and learners’ uptake in writing?
2. How effective is written and oral feedback in encouraging students to develop their argument-building skills in essay writing?
3. What are the most effective ways of feedback that encourage students to develop their argument-building skills?

Brown’s words clearly underscore the fact that a teacher should be necessarily there if learning is to take place. That is possibly why Brown (2001, p.340) contends that “we are still exploring ways to offer optimal feedback to student writing.” Shintani & Ellis (2013) revealed that uncoded feedback leaves the student to diagnose and correct the error himself. Ahmadi, Maftoon & Mehrdad, (2012) found that in EFL writing classes it is advised to incorporate both feedback types, keeping in mind that there is no single feedback strategy which works for all students, in all situations and with all the variety of errors. Hyland & Hyland, (2019) disclosed that providing feedback to students, whether in the form of written commentary, error correction, teacher-student conferencing, or peer discussion is recognized as one of the ESL writing teacher’s important tool.

Based on research two forms of feedback were considered: written corrective feedback as explicit, implicit and uncoded and oral feedback - Teacher-Student conferencing, Peer review, Whole class discussion.

Research has suggested that high- and low-expectation teachers tend to create very different instructional and socioemotional classroom environments (Rubie-Davies, 2007) and high expectation teachers provide students with more learning opportunities by planning and conducting their teaching differently for different students (Aydin & Ok, 2022; Rubie-Davies, 2014). In this paper, I start by considering that the use of Teacher Expectancy Research (TER) has great unfilled potential for more practical use in education, something that is also voiced by Weinstein (2018). Wang et al. (2018) recommends that future research investigates the impact of classroom behaviours and engagement. Further, Geven et al. (2021) has presented findings that suggests how the impact of influential factors on teacher expectations vary across educational contexts, but research in a Danish educational context remains underdeveloped. I address this gap and focus on students forms of participation, as an indicator of classroom behaviour and engagement. I argue how it is an important departure from a dominant research focus on student demographic traits and can contribute towards a more practical application of TER. In this paper, I ask the question; how can TER better inform classroom teaching? I believe there are two social conditions that impedes the practical usage of TER:

Firstly, I consider the notion of “meritocratic beliefs” (Mijs, 2016) about students’ academic performance as potentially problematic. Such a belief system could be a reason for the great unfilled potential of TER as a framework for equitable conditions for learning and achievement. In a meritocratic belief system inequalities are personalized, which poses a serious problem to justice in education; it holds the learner accountable for the lack of academic performance, rather than focusing on the learning environment. In this perspective, differences in students’ academic performance are viewed as connected to their innate ability and the effort they put into school work, determining opportunities for learning and educational attainment. Mijs (2021) show how meritocratic beliefs are increasingly widespread among citizens in society, and Geven et al. (2021) suggests that teachers might consent to educational inequality, because they believe it is due to fair meritocratic principles of educational attainment.

Is academic performance all about effort? Bourdieu has suggested that a large part of the explanation can also be found in reproduction of structural, intergenerationally transferred inequalities, and empirical studies have consistently identified reproduction mechanisms in education (Jæger & Holm, 2007; OECD, 2016). Even thou recent reviews show consistent evidence that teacher expectations are biased against the gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic status of students (Murdock-Perriera & Sedlacek, 2018; Wang et al., 2018), this might not be properly acknowledged by teachers if swayed by meritocratic beliefs.

Secondly, I consider that bias in teacher expectations is often latent and need to be elicited to make teachers aware of them. I argue that variations in teachers’ expectations towards the academic performance of students across different forms of participation, could potentially elicit latent bias (if any) so it cannot be explained solely by merit. Also, bias across the gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic status of students would force the acknowledgement of structural inequalities as part of the explanation to differences in academic performance. A focus on classroom behaviour and engagement could provide teachers with an infraction point for interrupting detrimental cycles driven by their own expectations.

I conclude by presenting forms of participation observed in my study, together with a schematic of my research design and outline how I intend to investigate influential factors on the formation of teachers’ expectations and incorporate a focus on classroom behaviour and engagement. Conclusively, I stress the need for classroom teaching to be better informed by TER.

Self-regulation is a key part of who we choose to become and how we choose to live our lives. It has been defined as deliberate efforts to regulate one’s behavior so as to reach a preset goal. Although the definition of self-regulation seems unequivocal, it actually involves a vast array of complex self-directed processes such as setting a goal, use of metacognitive knowledge and skills to direct the process, organization of the sources as well as the environment, and also monitoring and reflecting on the process (Butler & Winne, 1995; Schunk & Zimmerman, 2007). Self-regulated learning can be described as students’ self-generated thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to attain particular goals (Zimmerman & Schunk, 1989). Directing strategic action as a demonstration of metacognitive skills and motivation in academic studies is self-regulation taking place in the school context (Zimmerman, 2002; Winne & Perry, 2000). There is a paucity of research indicating the impact of self-regulated learning on school readiness (e.g., Denham et al., 2012a; McClelland et al., 2006) and academic success of students (e.g., Denham et al., 2012b; Nota et al., 2004) which takes us to the role of the teacher in enriching self-regulated learning process. Teachers are regarded as one of the crucial elements contributing to the promotion of self-regulated learning in many studies (e.g., Magno, 2009; Rozendaal et al., 2005). As underlined by Boekaerts and Cascallar (2006), “clarity and pace of instruction, the amount of structure provided, autonomy granted, teacher enthusiasm, humor, fairness, and teacher expectations about students’ capacity” can prompt the self-regulated learning process. Besides, Peeters et al. (2014) emphasize that the competencies of teachers in terms of self-regulated learning processes as well as their beliefs of self-regulated learning, have a great potential to impact their acts in the classroom. This signals the importance of investigating the factors related to teachers’ promotion of their students’ self-regulation. For this reason, uncovering the predictors of teachers’ promotion of students’ self-regulated learning has the potential to contribute to both research and practice. With this rationale in mind, the present study explores how well the intrinsic interest of teachers and their beliefs in self-regulated learning predict their promotion of student self-regulation strategies.

The nursing profession values the ideal of viewing patients as whole persons which claims having a distinct focus on understanding, knowing, and caring for the whole person. Holism, from the Greek ’holos’ and ’hale’ meaning whole, can in modern time be traced back to the Gestalt psyckologists regads an internal and external horizon of awareness in the 1920 (Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka) here turning to Gurwitch, 2012/1974) influencing nursing, According to Sarkis & Skoner (1987) the term holism was mentioned in psychological and philosophical settings before making an entrance into nursing referring to Dr. Myra Levine, who, in turn, refer to Erikson’s (1964) followed by Rogers (1970), the view on wholeness as an open system start to became influential, as opposite to a reductionist view dominating the medical paradigm at the time...Thus, the nursing profession have over time increasingly developed a more holistic view concerning an approach in nursing practises, and in the 1980s, the ideal of holism was further emphasized in nursing as a response to and as a discourse against - the still prevailing medical model that mainly focused on diseases and diagnoses (Kim 2006; Smart 2005). The idea of a more holistic view was to avoid a reductionist trend and approach in nursing and care, since the medical model derives from the tradition of natural science regarding the human body as a physical object, where diseases can be objectified and measured (mostly statistically) physically and biological (Artioli, Foà & Taffurelli, 2016). Today the intention of a holistic approach and holism related to contemporary nursing and its practice are advocated in many health caring contexts, but the meaning and understanding of holism varies widely, as shown in Larsen and Borup’s (2011) review of 23 Nordic articles and McMillan et al’s (2018) concept analysis of holism in nursing practice. As in another study by McEvoy and Duffy (2008) performed a concept analysis including 27 articles concerned with nursing and allied health literature. We address underlying questions concerned with nurses epistemological and ontological understandings related to holism and a transformed holistic approach in nursing, as mirrored in contemporary research. More specifically, we address the following main research questing aiming to identify and describe nurses’ awareness related to their approaches in nursing related to a globalised/internationalised world perspective. Underpinning explorative questions are: What are the epistemological assumptions underpinning the nurses’ meanings/understandings? What are the ontological assumptions underpinning the nurses’ meanings/understandings? What are the nurses’ knowledge and understanding(s) about holism and a holistic approach in nursing and health care practices? What does holism/holistic approach mean according to nurses? and What does it mean in health care and nursing contexts? We make no claim about presenting the meaning/understandings of ‘true’ holism/holistic approach’, also, we have avoided any core predefinition or the ‘word meaning’ except for the described historical dichotomy concerning the holistic versus reductionist approach in nursing, in order to maintain an open explorative approach. Thus aiming at describing and demonstrate the current and practicing holistic understanding(s) and approach in healthcare from the nurses’ perspective based on the contents presented in our material. Said this, we however turn to Heidegger’s (1953;1971b,c...) view (as a theoretical frame) on holism when interpreting the results as a possible and reasonable suggestion for developing a more aware understanding of a holistic approach.

These challenging times (COVID-19 pandemic and the following disruptions to activities in schools; the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine) have highlighted inequalities still permeating our education institutions (EU, 2022; p.3). Equity and inclusion in education and training demand to eradicate the negative effects of individual circumstances on people’s prospects in life, looking at diversities not as disadvantages but as human conditions from which all education reasonings have to start (Sen, 1999). Recognizing and respecting diversities can create tensions and can challenge the homogeneous system framework. In a society that, through techniques and technologies, favors the value of repeatability (of recording), in a scientific world that, from positivism onwards, appreciates ​​the effectiveness of replicability, a changing perspective could be to valorize diversities (against homologation) and the unrepeatable (against repeatability).

In the pedagogical field, the unrepeatable is traceable and recognizable in the "awareness of diversity" that constitutes the Shibboleth of every genuine educator (Borghi, 2000, p. 103). The educator who does not bother to identify the singular and unrepeatable characteristics of each pupil, who instead of conceiving and conducting teaching as a perennial apprenticeship and living in school and class as a "laboratory", lays down in the cotton wool of general ideas, is placed in the enclosure of a pedagogical province where the transmission of notions and habits of homogenizing behavior are the instrumental forms, suitable for the conservation (repetition?) of the existing state of affairs (Borghi, 2000, p .103, in Bocci, 2021, p.93). Therefore the unrepeatable can be the common value which connects all the diversities and differences: everyone, everything, and every moment are unique and unrepeatable and this is the core of teaching-learning processes which want to recognize dignity and respect for the actors and knowledge involved.

The concept of unrepeatable is central in improvisation and deeply rooted in the very process of making it (Berliner, 1994; Becker, 2000). Five dimensions make possible the unrepeatable (Sparti, 2005, p.118): inseparability (process and product occur and flow simultaneously); originality and uniqueness (each act is different from the previous one every time); impromptu (everything takes place in a here and now and is a response to a series of circumstances, perceived as unrepeatable and propitious moments); irreversibility (one can go only forward, signifying what has already done); responsiveness, (the ability to react to changes, to make decisions). A further aspect differentiates true improvisation, from improvisational processes of another nature: awareness of doing and while doing improvisation (Bertinetto, 2016; Zorzi, 2020, p.32).

So improvisation can be conceived as the process in which the awareness of diversities and the unrepeatable of each one are manifested, collocated in the pedagogical perspective of pedagojazz (Santi, 2016) and of the educational and didactic differentiation (Tomlinson, Mc Tighe, 2006; D'Alonzo, Monauni, 2021; Ingold, 2018).

This work - based on previously published studies (Santi, Zorzi, 2016; Zorzi, 2020) - deals with the topic of diversity intended also as unrepeatable in the educational field, investigating how improvisation can be a generative teaching-learning perspective and procedure in the classroom. The research aims are to understand when and how improvisation emerges in teaching-learning processes, and to investigate which kind of didactic activities are connected to improvisation as a practice that sustains diversities and valorizes the unrepeatable. Research questions are: How is it possible to realize improvisation in teaching? Which kinds of activities or practices can offer space for improvisation in the classroom? Can teachers conceive the practice of improvisation - in the fullness of its dimensions (Zorzi, 2020) - as a perspective/procedure to express their awareness of diversities and unrepeatable, promoting well-being through this practice in the classroom?

The topic of school assistance has received increasing attention in German educational policy and educational science contexts since the obligation of an inclusive school system was legally anchored in Germany by the UN-CRPD in 2009. Thereby the function of inclusion support for students with special educational needs to participate in school is linked to the expectation of bridging the gap between individual needs and the school’s ability to support them (cf. Laubner et al., 2022, p. 7). According to Dworschak (2010), school assistants mainly accompany one student who needs individual support inside and outside of class due to special needs in the context of learning, behaviour, communication, medical care and/or coping with everyday life. As a systemic measure, school assistance is discussed in terms of its effect on inclusive education, especially with regard to the various facets of stabilizing or irritating practices, orientations and processes that accompany it (cf. Blasse et al., 2021, p. 189).

By bringing school assistants into the classroom, two professional groups coexist being responsible for student learning. At the same time, the practice of school assistants is subject to different conditions and normative expectations than those of teachers. The diversity among the topic of school assistance and individual learning support can be related to several aspects: the diversity of political and structural requirements depending on federal states and local authority, the diversity of the people working as school assistants concerning their profession and qualification, the diversity of their job and role(s) in school and in class, and finally the diversity of the students they support. While school assistance appears to be one of the younger yet a rather complex field of research, the arrangement of individual learning support in inclusive educational settings has long been a subject in German research on school pedagogy and didactics (cf. Hackbarth & Martens 2018) as well as in international discourses on adaptive education (cf. Wang 1992) .

The paper presentation will focus on the perspectives of school assistants on individual learning support by taking into account the tensions they face when dealing with self and external expectations. On the one hand, school assistants are not allowed to ‘teach’ students – on the other hand, they work more closely with individual students than any other professional group in the classroom. That leads to the main question of the paper presentation: To what extent do school assistants take responsibility for learning and how are these teaching-learning-processes structured? In this regard we are interested in the following aspects: How do school assistants negotiate the artificial separation of teaching and additional support? What are the perspectives of school assistants on subject-related professional learning? Which individual learning needs do school assistants identify, how do they describe them, and how do they meet them didactically? Considering that we will focus on the value of diverse perspectives on children’s needs as well as the risk of the exclusionary effect on children that might become evident due to fixed one-to-one learning support and other practices.

The topic of this paper is placed in the context of contemporary social changes from the perspective of multiculturality. Political approach to social diversity, interculturalism present the demand for coexistence within the framework of equality, respect for the dignity of each person and dialogue. (Portera, 2011; Rey-von Allmen, 2011; Banks, 2014). The field of education is an important means and method of achieving those goals. Education for religious diversity is increasingly affirmed as an indispensable factor in education. The subject of religious education in public schools is seen as an important part of education for dialogue, a factor for promoting the dignity of each person and coexistence with others. (Keast, 2007; Council of Europe, 2008) Qualified teachers are an essential pre-condition for achieving goals related to intercultural education. (European Commission, 2019)

The theoretical concept of intercultural education and its religious dimensions form the political guidelines and educational documents of the Council of Europe. Although intercultural education has undergone a transformation, the diversity of religions and worldviews was not taken into account up until 2002. (Rey-von Allmen, 2011) Ever since 2002, a year that is closely related to the global event of September 11, there have been revisions of the concept of intercultural education, followed by the introduction of the religious dimension. (Jackson - O'Grady, 2019) The religious dimension of intercultural education is realized in religious education in public schools where the acquisition of knowledge about other religions and non-religious beliefs, the development of intercultural sensitivity and communication, and education for interreligious and ecumenical dialogue are expected. (Council of Europe, 2008; Jackson, 2014; Jackson - O Grady, 2019) The manuals and guidelines for the implementation of religious education based on the recommendations of the Council of Europe (Keast 2007; Jackson 2014) all promote a non-denominational model of religious education in Europe. However, despite the tendency to introduce non-confessional religious education in public schools in Europe, religious education in most European countries is still confessional. (Rothgangel et al. 2014a, 2014b, 2016, 2020)

It can be concluded that at the European level, learning about religions is recognized as crucial for reducing religious inequalities and discrimination at the social level. Considering that the Republic of Croatia is a member of the Council of Europe and has a specific, confessional form of religious education, we were interested in the extent to which the implementation of the religious dimension of intercultural education was researched. Training teachers for the religious dimension of intercultural education, in addition to knowledge about religions and worldviews, also requires knowledge of adequate teaching methods and competencies. (Korkeakoski – Ubani, 2018; Whitworth, 2020; Sweetman 2021)

This paper explores the issue of the work methods used by religious education teachers in confessional religious education in the Republic of Croatia when transferring knowledge about religious diversity. The aim of this research is to examine the attitudes and opinions of Islamic, Orthodox and Catholic religious education teachers about didactic approaches and the development of intercultural competence in teaching when discussing religious diversity.

The research results, although primarily focused on the Croatian context, will show how they contribute to the European context in relation to the ability of confessional religious education to integrate and implement the guidelines provided by the Council of Europe and recommendations regarding the realization of the religious dimension of intercultural education. The current thesis in the European educational discourse is that learning about religions can only be achieved in a non-denominational environment. The results of the analysis of the attitudes and opinions of religious education teachers with regard to teaching will show the validity of this thesis, which can also be applied to the wider European context.

With the advancement of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), many European countries quickly jumped onto the bandwagon of communicative language teaching approaches (Carlgren et al., 2006), thereby embracing a massive movement for reform of second language teaching from traditional, teacher-centered, and decontextualized teaching to the so-called student-centered approaches, notably task- and project-based language teaching. These approaches are motivated by the belief that, for second language acquisition to be possible, the target language should be used in ways reminiscent of the kinds of communication taking place in natural environments. The attempt to eschew traditional teaching approaches and methods was further enhanced by the rapid societal changes and the need to create an education that takes as its starting point students' needs and interests and is capable of equipping them with the knowledge and skills necessary for late-modern society (Säljö et al., 2011). To this end, learning a second language while doing projects has become a prominent staple in language education in recent years. Using project work, teachers aim to engage their students over an extended period of time in an active and interactive pursuit of knowledge while focusing on real-life issues, which enables them to use the language communicatively in authentic contexts to eventually accomplish a final product that may be in the form of presentation, debates, posters, written essays, etc.

Not only has project work transformed the topics and tasks into more authentic ones, but it has also modified the teacher's role in coordinating the project process. While the focus on teaching the language remains prime, much of the teacher talk in project work is devoted to helping students with the logistics of their work (Legutke & Thomas, 1991). Furthermore, since project work involves different constellations of students searching for knowledge and building up their project ideas, a great deal of classroom talk, including teacher instructions, happens at their desks. Therefore, constant visits to the students’ desks to supervise the students’ work, answer their questions and monitor their progress become a prerequisite for the accomplishment of the project tasks. This format of teaching constitutes a departure from traditional teaching and requires more demanding input from the teacher. Despite this rather substantial change in the teacher's role, there are barely any available studies that zero in on how teachers manage the project process that is mediated via a great deal of small group work and between-desk instructions (Amri & Sert, 2022). Surely, most teachers working with projects rely primarily on their common sense and experience repertoire to coordinate the process. Still, crucially, as researchers, we should contribute to an informed understanding of teaching strategies and practices that are consequential for accomplishing language projects. Based on this overarching aim, I intend to offer an understanding of – what is, in many ways, lacking from studies on second-language classrooms – teachers' responding strategies to students' initiatives. Therefore, I ask the following research question:

How do teachers respond to students' initiatives in the context of project-based instruction?

Given the lack of studies on teachers' strategies in answering students' questions in the context of project-based instruction, I attempt to use a qualitative approach that is based on the methodological tools of multimodal conversation analysis (henceforth MCA, Kääntä & Kasper, 2018; Mondada, 2018). MCA provides a fine-tuned interactional analysis of participants' turns-at-talk in order to shed light on the social co-construction of these interactions that is part and parcel of the entire social encounter. Such research is essential as more innovative teaching approaches that can cope with the rapidly changing societal and educational needs should be empirically investigated to help us pinpoint pedagogical practices that are consequential for language learning.

The presentation focuses on conscious return to the learning for primary school students during lessons of the native language. Conscious return to the learning is the essence of the ability to reflect on the learning. This is the process when a teacher encourages school students to consider what happened during the lesson, what they succeeded to learn, what was interesting or, on the contrary, what was boring, what were the feelings and emotions, what was successfully completed, what required more efforts, what was the value of the learnt matters, where will the acquired knowledge be applied and the like. Recent scientific research (Ebert, 2015; Zuckerman, 2018, Kazlauskienė, Gaučaitė, 2018; Papleontiou-Louca, 2019; Vrikki, Wheatley et al., 2019; Branigan, Donaldson, 2020; Jakavonytė-Staškuvienė, 2021 etc.) underlines conscious return of primary school students to the learning and reflective speaking and writing about it during lessons of the native language, which improves the understanding of the situation of learning (strengths and weaknesses), the ability to discover problems in the learning and to solve them, to consider autonomy, motivation, self-directedness, cognitive capacity etc. International European documents on education (recommendations of the European Council on general skills for lifelong learning, “Dėl bendrųjų mokymosi visą gyvenimą gebėjimų”, 2018 etc.) point out reflection on one’s behaviour, emotions while learning as one of general skills for lifelong learning because it provides opportunities for school students to effectively manage their time, information, to constructively learn individually and in group. On the ground of classical, fundamental scholarly theories (Dewey, 1933; Piaget, 1977; Flavell, 1979 etc.) as well as recent research (Klimovič, Liptakova, 2017; Perez, Herreo-Nivela, Losada, 2019; Jakavonytė-Staškuvienė, 2021), the best time for that is exactly the stage of primary forms.

Back in the twentieth century, L. S. Vygotsky (1978) and J. H. Flavell (1995) were discussing about significance of the language in processes of conscious return of children (at age from 5 to 10 years) to the learning. The language is underlined in this process because a poorly developed skill of reflection and still weak linguistic abilities are obstacles for children to express their thoughts of how they consider the learning. Still, thoughts that occur when reflecting should not remain in the children’s heads but rather be shared with a teacher and peers. Therefore, primary school students being enabled to reflect on the learning at the very beginning should expand their vocabulary by the concepts such as to know, to think, to believe, to guess, to remember (Larkin, 2009). While learning to read and write as well as how to reflect on it, children should start expressing their thoughts in a language that is characteristic to this process, but also to perceive the very reflexive thought, which is still complicated in such early age (Flavell, Green, Flavell, 1995).

The review of research works allows stating that enablement of primary school students to reflect on learning is needed and useful, guidelines for carrying this out are indicated. However, there is lack of systematic research based on empirical data that would clearly reveal what teachers specifically do while enabling students to reflect on learning, what instruments are used to support this process. There is lack of such systematic research in Lithuania, too. Thus, the research question is raised: how does primary school students’ conscious return to the learning during lessons of native language proceed?

University Colleges in Denmark provide education to a wide range of professions from basic education to continuing education. The Professional Bachelor's degree program is a 31/2-4 years medium-length higher education. This study takes place at the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences and includes four professional bachelor's degree programs: Pedagogy; Social worker, Administration and Disaster & Risk.

Students at University Colleges in Denmark has different educational experiences. Almost half of the students is from families where the parents do not have a higher education, and one in five students have primary and secondary school or vocational school as their highest completed education (Danske Professionshøjskoler 2022). In addition, over the past twenty years, there has been a significant increase in the admission of students in higher education. In professional bachelor's degree programs, there has been an increased admission of 45%. This has lead to a change in student composition. In 2009, students with the 25% lowest grades from primary and secondary school was 10% but in 2019 it was 20%. Students with the 25% lowest grades from high school have risen to 31%, and students from low-income homes and educationally alien homes have risen to 27% in 2019 (Falkencrone et al. 2022:17). In addition to this young people and adults' desire to read is declining (Hansen et al. 2021) and "Respondents, where one or possibly both parents have a long higher education, have better reading skills than respondents where both parents have an education at primary and secondary school level" (Rosendahl et al. 2013:31). This has given rise to a study of newly started bachelor students reading skills at the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences at Copenhagen University College. The study includes reading screenings and qualitative interviews.

Screening of the students’ reading skills at the start of their study shows that 75% of the students are untrained and weak readers. Only 25% can be described as safe and experienced readers. Whereas 60% of the students can benefit from training: reading speed, reading comprehension, and written language elements. Some students in this group read so insecurely that it affects reading comprehension and speed. This means that they probably will experience problems and challenges with large reading volumes. Finally, 15% read, but with big challenges. This group has a limited vocabulary and a lack of basic knowledge of e.g. grammar, spelling rules.

The qualitative interviews identify the students' reading strategies and first experiences with the study. The untrained and weak reader seems to be particularly challenged at the beginning of the study. Furthermore the students are preoccupied with efficiency in their study. The students' reading strategy, use of reading questions and perception of what they read, is about minimizing time and quickly get the points in the texts. They explains it by referring to the amount of reading material and a time pressure in the study and to obligations in their everyday lives. The students emphasis reading approaches, teaching and texts that quickly present the professional points, and that are be easy to read. Text reading emerges primarily as a means of quickly acquiring, what they think, is relevant skills. Finally help to the study is sought from family, girlfriend or friends, while no one mentions the possibility of seeking help from fellow students or teachers. They emphasize that a good teacher is structured and clear in his messages, but at the same time they point out that the teachers fail to include their prerequisites in the organization and implementation of the teaching.

The role of learners’ first language (L1) and translation have always been a hotly debated issue in the history of English Language Teaching (ELT). However, this ongoing debate mostly takes place in academic circles rather than in classrooms (Topolska-Pado, 2010). As contemporary language teaching is dominated by the communicative method, English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers still consider that English is best taught and learned without the use of learners’ L1, i.e., teachers are undoubtedly influenced by this monolingual view. As a result, many teachers are believed to disclaim the use of L1 and translation in their classes, in fear of receiving criticism or feeling guilty (Butzkamm & Caldwell, 2009; Macaro, 1997; Littlewood & Yu, 2011). In addition, there is an increasing recognition that theoretical statements of teachers do not necessarily reflect the actual teaching practices in the classroom (Artar, 2017). This conflict between theoretical statements and teaching practice shows the need to investigate the actual attitudes towards L1 and translation use in EFL classrooms.

A number of recent studies within ELT have investigated the use of L1 and translation in the classroom (Yavuz, 2012) and teachers’ attitudes towards it in different contexts, EU-wide and globally (Artar, 2017; Hall & G. Cook, 2013; Pym et al., 2013). The findings reveal widespread use of L1 and translation in EFL classrooms and a positive rather than negative attitude towards it. In the Kazakhstan context, there is an insufficient number of publications devoted to the use of learners’ L1 and translation in the EFL classroom (Sulkarnayeva, 2017). As preliminary literature review has so far shown, there are a few qualitative studies exploring teachers’ attitudes towards the modern practice of translanguaging which allows the use of several languages in a classroom (e.g., Akhmetova, 2021; Kuandykov, 2021; Tastanbek, 2019). The results of these qualitative studies, with a maximum of ten participants, have shown that EFL teachers mainly hold English-only beliefs in the context of Kazakhstan, meaning that they prefer using the target language more than their learners’ first language (Kuandykov, 2021). However, this is only true for higher education teachers. There is a substantial gap in understanding the overall attitudes of teachers in Kazakhstani secondary schools as well as factors influencing their attitudes.

In view of the above, this study aims to investigate Kazakhstani secondary school EFL teachers’ overall attitudes towards L1 and translation use in the EFL classroom, and examine the factors which influence their self-reported attitudes. The research questions are as follows:

RQ1. What attitudes do Kazakhstani secondary school EFL teachers hold towards some of the key arguments about the use of L1 and translation in language teaching?

RQ2. In which cases and for what purposes do Kazakhstani secondary school EFL teachers consider it appropriate to use L1 and translation in EFL classroom?

RQ3. What are the factors which influence Kazakhstani secondary school EFL teachers’ choice between using or avoiding L1 and translation in the classroom?

RQ4. How are Kazakhstani secondary school EFL teachers’ self-reported attitudes towards L1 and translation use affected by background variables such as experience, school type, qualification, the language proficiency of both teachers and their learners?

The quantitative survey research was chosen after having reviewed the research methods used in previous studies on similar topics. Since most research about attitudes towards L1 and translation use are qualitative in nature and limited to ten participants only, the large-scale quantitative study is seen to be particularly relevant in the context of Kazakhstan. The questionnaire was selected as the main data collection instrument due to its ability to collect information rapidly in a form that is readily processable (Dörnyei, 2007).

Secondary teachers in Kazakhstan have pursued the realization of the Updated Curriculum since 2016 reform. The updated programme requires teachers to teach innovative content and differentiate it to meet the needs of every learner. The most widely-accepted definition of differentiated instruction (DI) belongs to Tomlinson (2017). DI is a way of teaching to reach diverse learners who have diverse needs and employ a variety of ways to engage them sin learning. Being aware of the students’ learning needs will prompt teacher’s instructional practices (Heacox, 2012). There is a variety of differentiated instruction models which mainly focus on differentiating the learning content, process and products (Tomlinson, 2000). Interestingly, Kazakhstani teachers tend to associate DI with the levels of task complexity, however, the discussed approach may provide a great variety of tools (Makoelle, 2020). An explanation for that may lie in the methodological recommendations from the National Academy of Education which monitored the implementation of the new curriculum and as a result issued recommendations. They recommend using levelled assignments from simple to advanced. The methodological recommendation state that Via DI teachers aim to include every learner in the process which makes the education process inclusive and is built on inclusive values. The spread of inclusive education philosophy has become a pushing factor to devise the principles of differentiated instruction and strategies of differentiated learning. Inclusive values are also among universal human values (UN General Assembly, 1948) that guarantee non-discrimination towards human nature. Further on, Booth and Ainscow (2016) underpin the significance of values in achieving school improvement as its driving force and name them “deep-seated beliefs” indicating their profound connection with human actions to create inclusive culture (p.11). They also conceptualized crucial inclusive values for education such as equity and equality, respect, community and collaboration, sustainability, participation and support. As teachers are more involved in the professional development paths and communities in their schools, they tend to welcome inclusive values and practices in such countries as the USA, Canada, Finland, Australia, India etc

The research explored how Kazakhstani teachers translated inclusive values in science classes to meet learners’ individual needs and constructed the link between values and pedagogy to respond to student diversity. Equity and equality are considered to be change-making values in the development of the inclusive school environment. The principles of equity in inclusive education regard the access to education, provision of quality conditions, such as space and pedagogies to enhance students’ growth and achieve more social justice in the society (UNESCO, 2017). Inclusive schools relate diversity to a wider range of human characteristics than merely ability, which means gender, age, culture, ethnicity, socio-economic background and religion. (Ainscow, 2007). Booth and Ainscow (2016) consider all kinds of support to be well-planned when peers learn from each other. And school support policy should embrace not only interaction among children, but also among teacher community to make sure they plan, teach and reflect collaboratively.

The main research question is: what are teachers’ perceptions towards inclusive values for implementing differentiated instruction in science lessons? Sub-questions:

What are science teachers’ perceptions towards inclusive vales in education?

What are science teachers’ perceptions towards DI?

What DI strategies are used for translating inclusive values in science classes?

What challenges do teachers face in DI implementation?

This research is a subset of a broader doctoral study examining conditions for education in second language education in Sweden. The first study examines teachers’ beliefs about teaching newly arrived students Swedish in middle school (Kuksa et. al, 2021) and the second study analyzes the content of L2 textbooks for newly arrived middle school students, as textbooks play a crucial role in shaping learning conditions, language development, and integration into Swedish society. This presentation is about the second study and the aim is to examine how the language development and needs of newly arrived middle school students are addressed in L2 textbooks by answering the following questions: a) What are the characteristics of the textbook content and tasks? b) Are certain reader constructs present in the textbooks, and if so, how can these be described? c) Do the textbooks reflect different beliefs about the Swedish as a Second language as a schoolsubject and if so, in what ways?

Previous studies have highlighted that the primary challenge in teaching newly arrived students is to develop a functional language through ability to speak and understand in daily life, while also building their proficiency in academic language (Cummins, 2000). Textbooks can be a useful resource in language education for, but the lack of resources and skills among teachers to provide explicit language instruction can result in an over-reliance on textbooks. However, L2 textbooks do not always align with the findings of successful second language development as identified by L2 research (Tomlinson, 2017) due to a lack of communication between theorists and practitioners and the use of specialized terminology in publications not accessible to teachers and textbook authors. This results in L2 textbooks providing plenty of activities like filling in blank spaces, transforming sentences, and practicing language under strict guidance. Often they do not provide opportunities to use the language in interactive, communicative activities that would encourage students to express their opinions and intentions (ref?).

The study draws on UNESCO's Agenda 2030, which places a strong emphasis on high-quality education for all as a key aspect in achieving a sustainable society. The theoretical point of departure for this study is Vygotsky's theory of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZDP) combined with the idea of the model reader as proposed by Eco (1979), which posits that the meaning of a text is not only determined by the author, but also by the reader and the context in which the text is read. The model reader is a hypothetical reader who is able to understand the text fully without any misinterpretations or ambiguities and is assumed to have all the necessary background knowledge, cultural references, and linguistic skills. According to Eco, every written text requires the author to create a mental image of the intended reader, which the author subsequently addresses through various linguistic strategies. This means that a textbook has certain expectations of its reader and assumes certain experiences, abilities, and prior knowledge of the intended reader. Relating this to Vygotsky's thoughts on ZPD, it could be argued that the ZPD of the intended model reader should be addressed in teaching materials in order to achieve successful L2 development.

A point of departure is also that all teaching materials convey a certain understanding of knowledge, students, and subject, and through the selection of content and the design of tasks, the Swedish language instruction for newly arrived students is conditioned. The concept of school subject perception, (p. x) or paradigm (as described by Malmgren, 1996), is used to explore how the content, intended readers, and task characteristics are represented in these materials.

Motivation is a critical determinant in student outcomes, including achievements (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009), well-being (Gagne et al., 2015; Ryan & Deci, 2017), creativity, and learning (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009). It influences whether an individual embraces the opportunity to learn or resists (Siegle et al., 2017, 2018), sustains oneself through failures or abandons the task (Subotnik et al., 2011) and reaches their potential or falls short (Siegle et al., 2017). It is a universal construct, meaning that it is essential for all students within the increasingly diverse classrooms that comprise schools today. Recent studies (e.g., Martin et al., 2017) suggest that no single motivation leads to substantial change and that different motivations relate in various ways to outcomes (e.g., well-being vs. ill-being [Ryan & Deci, 2017], creativity vs. uninspired thinking [Csikszentmihalyi et al., 2018], and vitality vs. fragmentation [Orsini et al., 2018]). This variation in student outcomes implies that educators must be familiar with various motivational constructs (Worrell, 2018) to develop adaptive motivational patterns in students. In other words, more motivation is not necessarily better if the motivation is poor quality and associated with detrimental outcomes (e.g., cheating, stress).

Additionally, it is essential to understand the combined effects of different types of motivation at the individual level (Litalien et al., 2019). For instance, self-determination theory posits that motivation comprises specific beliefs (interests, values, pressures, rewards) and a global self-determined motivation which may configure in ways to form patterns within individuals. Studies have examined motivational patterns (or profiles) across a range of contexts, including employment (Graves et al., 2015; Howard et al., 2021), university (Litalien et al., 2019), exercise (Lindwall et al., 2017) and school (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009). Findings suggest patterns of autonomous motivations (e.g., interests, values) are associated with better outcomes than controlled (e.g., ego, rewards, punishments) motivations. However, there is yet to be a clear answer on the benefits of a combined profile typified by autonomous and controlled motivations.

Additionally, most studies still need to integrate global and specific dimensions in research instead of focussing on specific motivations (i.e., interests, values, ego, rewards) at the expense of the global motivation (e.g., Corpus & Wormington, 2014) or vice versa (e.g., Ommundsen & Kvalø, 2007). An exception, Howard et al., (2021) simultaneously considered global and specific motivations and reported profiles that differed across each of these dimensions, with the global dimension representing the most influential factor in employee motivation. Thus, there remains a need to understand further the relative importance of global and specific motivations in characterising profiles and predicting student outcomes.

To the researcher’s knowledge, no studies have explored motivational profiles in a high-achieving population. Instead, there is an ipso facto assumption that high-achieving students are all highly motivated – a myth this study intends to address. Moreover, this study accounts for the dual nature of motivation proposed by self-determination theory to understand how high-achieving students differ quantitatively (global self-determination) and qualitatively (interest, value, ego, rewards). An area that remains unexplored. Surprisingly, few studies have explored motivational profiles at a domain-specific level (i.e., within a single subject), with most considering general motivations towards studying (e.g., Vansteenkiste et al., 2009) college (e.g., Litalien et al., 2019), or employment (e.g., Graves et al., 2015; Howard et al., 2021). Considering how motivational patterns are situated within a specific context is essential. One’s motivations towards science may differ from one’s motivations towards history, and this study intends to address this by investigating profiles within the context of science.

The following research questions emerged:

• Which motivational profiles emerge in high-achieving students?
• How do perceptions of the climate of the classroom predict motivational profiles?
• How do motivational profiles predict student engagement?

This paper reports on an exploratory secondary analysis of classroom observations to inquire patterns of instructional features. These features are explored within and between lesson segments to reveal patterns of instruction, which could provide further knowledge on didactical aspects of teaching and on internal structures of lessons. Insights into these patterns can serve as grounds for further exploration, both between different specific subject contexts and also across different school subjects. The paper aims to answer the following research question: What is the relationship between instructional features within and between different lesson segments.

Observation systems focus on specific dimensions of teaching to deepen understanding and improve teaching (Bell et al., 2019). Although wording, conceptualisation and instrumentalization differ between frameworks, common dimensions include aspects such as instructional clarity, cognitive activation, discourse features and supportive climate (Klette et al., 2017),. Cognitive activation, a concept used in several frameworks (Bell et al., 2019; Klette et al., 2017; Praetorius & Charalambous, 2018), includes practices that “encourage students to engage in higher-level thinking” (Lipowsky et al., 2009, p. 529) by utilizing appropriately challenging tasks, activating previous knowledge and students are expected to explain and challenge their reasoning (Praetorius et al., 2014). Instructional clarity is related to explanation of subject matter and includes aspects of modelling strategies and ways of working (Bell et al., 2019; Klette et al., 2017; Praetorius & Charalambous, 2018). This can be included in the way that Cohen (2018, p. 324) conceptualise explicit instruction as practices that “makes learning processes overt and clear with detailed models, strategies, and examples of the skills students are expected to demonstrate”.

The dimension of cognitive activation and instructional clarity (or degree of explicit instruction) are of special interest for this paper as they are identified to be important aspects of teaching quality, and part of core processes within and across school subjects, and salient in several frameworks. Comparative as well as specific subject didactic research has identified commonalities and differences within and between subjects (Cohen, 2018; Praetorius et al., 2014; Tengberg et al., 2021) regarding these dimensions. For cognitive activation, Praetorius et al. (2014) identified challenges in measuring. They underline the importance of further understanding since cognitive activation might be different depending on the stage of the instructional sequence, or whether it is as the start or end of a lesson. Thus, it is of importance to further explore how instructional features are related within lessons.

The Linking Instruction and Student Achievement (LISA) project is based on the four dimensions previously mentioned as a perspective on instructional quality (Klette et al., 2017). In the LISA-project, instructional features in classrooms was observed and rated following the Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observation (PLATO) protocol. PLATO revolves around four central domains which are divided into elements (see Grossman et al., 2014, 2015) of which the following are of interest for this paper: modelling (MOD), Strategy Use and Instruction (SUI), Feedback (FB), Intellectual Challenge (IC), Classroom Discourse (CD), Representations of Content (ROC), Connections to Prior Knowledge (CPK), Purpose (PUR). Additionally, the main instructional format was observed, distinguishing between whole class, group work, pair work and individual seat work. Cognitive Activation is mainly related to IC and CD whereas instructional clarity is related to MOD, SUI and ROC.

This paper explores a self-study action research project which aimed to identify effective approaches to support students to develop their critical thinking skills within the context of global citizenship education (GCE) in initial teacher education (ITE) in Ireland. The study was guided by a theoretical framework for critical global learning which is used within this study to identify the ways in which the fields of critical thinking and GCE overlap in relation to their purpose, aims, outcomes, and the pedagogical approaches employed when teaching about them in ITE.

The main research question explored in the study was as follows:

What can be learned from a self-study action research project to contribute to the understanding and application of critical global learning for teacher educators?

Furthermore, the study had two objectives which guided data collection and analysis:

1. To ascertain the factors which contribute to student motivation, participation and achievement within critical global learning.
2. To identify the supports and barriers which impact on implementation of critical global learning.

This paper will explore outcomes from these aims in sharing the external, societal tensions which were found to influence students’ acquisition of critical thinking skills within the contexts of GCE and ITE. The findings from this research are significant within Irish and European contexts as they are presented within the context of my professional role as a member of the DICE (Development and Intercultural Education) Project. The DICE Project has been repeatedly commended for its contribution to progressing GCE within formal education due to its long-standing involvement in ITE in Ireland. In their reporting, the Global Education Network Europe (2015) named the DICE Project to be a model of good practice for mainstreaming GCE in ITE. The research presented in this paper reflects my experiences as part of the DICE Project and builds on what I have learned about embedding GCE into ITE as part of the project.

The critical global learning theoretical framework developed in this study was informed by a wide range of literature in the fields of GCE, critical thinking and ITE which were brought together to present a conceptual framework of the synergies between the three. From a theoretical perspective, this study draws in particular on Freire’s (1974) Critical Consciousness, Boler’s (1999) Pedagogy of Discomfort, and Bourn’s (2015) Pedagogy of Development Education. The components of the resultant conceptual framework draw on these perspectives to offer an interactive approach to teaching which is focused on dialogue, modelling skills and attitudes, sharing challenging content knowledge, and supporting students to engage with and reflect on their learning. To support the development of ‘critical consciousness’ Freire (1974) promotes an emancipatory approach to education which focuses on raising learners’ critical capacity. Furthermore, Boler’s (1999, p.176) ‘pedagogy of discomfort’ which she describes as “both an invitation to inquiry as well as a call to action” echoes Freire’s ambitions for education. The pedagogy of DE developed by Bourn (2015) further echoes the learning from critical consciousness and pedagogy of discomfort through a focus on debating while drawing on personal experiences and wider social and cultural influences. All three prioritise critical thinking as a core component of education. This conceptual framework is further enhanced by an awareness of the opportunities and challenges faced within ITE. The ITE context in Ireland is significant to this research study as the limited cultural, religious, socio-economic, and gender diversity represented in the student body in ITE in Ireland (Heinz and Keane, 2018; Higher Education Authority, 2020; Central Statistics Office, 2017) has an impact on student’s prior exposure to and level of preparedness for engaging with critical global learning in higher education.

Uncertainty has always existed in the world and in human life, a fact brought recently into focus by events such as a global pandemic. Furthermore, uncertainty is necessarily part of scientific knowledge and scientific inquiry. Each research process starts with uncertainty in the meaning of an open question, of something we do not know (Kampourakis & McCain 2020). Sometimes this uncertainty is something we do not know yet, but we will be able to know in the future. Contrary to this epistemic uncertainty, there are phenomena that will remain uncertain in the meaning of an ontological uncertainty (Dewulf & Biesbroeck 2018).

In the context of science uncertainty can differentiated into so-called technical uncertainty that is related to the technical aspects of inquiry in terms of “measurement error, modeling approximations, and statistical assumptions” (Gustafson & Rice 2020, p. 618) and the so-called consensus uncertainty which can be described as “disagreement,” “conflict,” or “controversy” (ibid.) that can take place between “relevant stakeholders […] or within the body of evidence itself” (ibid.).
In the public uncertainty in the context of science is mostly conceptualized as a thread and its communication often has negative impact on the supposed trustworthiness of scientific results (Han et al. 2018). For the context of science education this negative impact is a challenge, since we live in what Beck (2020 [1986]) has called a risk society, education in general should prepare students to make informed decisions in complex and uncertain situations (Christensen & Fensham 2012). From this, one can argue that biology education should offer students learning opportunities about uncertainty in the context of science.

The second framework of this study is the idea of specific disciplinary cultures framing each learning opportunity in class. Lüders (2007) defines a disciplinary culture in the context of schools with references to Higher Education as “a distinguishable, systematically connected context of patterns of thought, perception, and action that emerges from the interaction of various factors.” (ibid., p. 8; translated into English by B.L) A central aspect of her conceptualization is the concept of habitus by Bourdieu (1977), which is understood as “a subjective but not individual system of internalised structures, schemes of perception, conception, and action common to all members of the same group or class” (ibid, p.86).

There is already a lot of research referring to the concept of habitus in general education, school pedagogy and teacher professionalization, i.e. focusing the institutional habitus (e.g. Cornbleth 2010) as well as the habitus of teachers (e.g. Bonnet et al. 2020; Helsper 2018). But by now, there is less research about subject learning (e.g. Heitmann et al. 2017) and none looking on the phenomenon of uncertainty in science education through the lens of disciplinary culture and its specific habitus.

Therefore, this paper investigates uncertainty in two secondary biology classrooms while dealing with bioethical questions with the following research questions:

(1) How does uncertainty occur in the context of teaching and learning about genetic engineering in biology classes?
(2) How do the students deal with the occurring uncertainty?

Education, is often perceived as having a role in contributing to societal development, in both preparing learners to conceptualise, and enabling them to address sustainability-related issues in the society (OECD, 2018; UNESCO, 2015; United Nations, 2015). In so doing, there is a need for school science education to recognise its role in seeking to resolve societal concerns, not only science-dominated concerns like climate change, or pandemic, but also other prevailing concerns within the society such as social justice or economic transformation (Erduran, 2022; Fernández et al., 2022; Waight et al., 2022). However, science conceptualisation promoted through school alone is seen as ineffective in resolving such societal concerns which deal with complexities, i.e., problems without a straight-cut solution, referred to as wicked problems (van Baalen et al., 2021).

Yet, several literature indicate a major concern with respect to over-emphasis on science disciplinary conceptualisation (Chowdhury et al., 2021; Herman et al., 2017). In line with that, such disciplinary emphasis within school science education has been critiqued, for excluding science learning from inseparable societal affiliations, or even learners’ feelings associated with the learning (Guerrero & Reiss, 2020).

Alternatives of disciplinary framework for school science learning are seen as multi-disciplinary (Perrott, 1980), inter-disciplinary (Tytler et al., 2021) and trans-disciplinary approaches (Caiman & Jakobson, 2022). These three approaches are distinguished based on the teaching of science within, across, and beyond disciplines. However, it has been argued that both multi, and inter-disciplinary approaches yet have a disciplinary emphasis, and does not emphasise the interrelationship of science with society (Alvargonzález, 2011; Daneshpour & Kwegyir-Afful, 2021).

In mitigating against such limitations of discipline-restricted approaches, trans-disciplinarity is seen as offering a societal lens for school science learning, in which the teaching of school science extends beyond the disciplinary boundaries and seeks to address societal concerns through school science learning (Hjalmarson et al., 2020). Hence, this article aims to explore trans-disciplinarity to establish the role of school science education in societal development.

However, there are three concerns associated with trans-disciplinarity in school science education:

First, the term, trans-disciplinarity lacks a sense of clarity. For example, Gero, (2017) perceives trans-disciplinary approach in a school setting as a higher level of interdisciplinarity. Hence, it is not surprising that, STEM or STEAM education is considered both as inter and trans-disciplinary approaches (Liao, 2016; Perignat & Katz-Buonincontro, 2019).

Second, trans-disciplinarity lacks a conceptualisation from science education point of view. Different approaches to literature review has been undertaken within the scope of trans-disciplinarity in arts (van Baalen et al., 2021), or education in general (Daneshpour & Kwegyir-Afful, 2022). Although Takeuchi et al., 2020 conducted a critical review on Trans-disciplinarity in STEM education, their search for literature does not include trans-disciplinarity.

And third, trans-disciplinarity lacks a conceptualisation from school science point of view. Several existing studies explores trans-disciplinary approach in higher education STEM research, for example Shipley et al. (2017), O’Neill et al. (2019) or Slavinec et al. (2019). Although literature recognises the need to promote trans-disciplinarity at a school level science education (Sengupta et al., 2019), Wu et al. (2021) point out a gap of research in school level trans-disciplinary science teaching learning.

Hence, this article aims to address the need for conceptualising trans-disciplinarity from a science education point of view, at school level, so as to attain the need for school science education to address not only students’ individual, or social development, but but also a societal development.

Research Questions:

1. what are the general trends in including trans-disciplinarity in secondary school science education?

2. what are the key attributes of a trans-disciplinarity model of science education at the school secondary level?

In today’s Europe there are numerous societal issues that comes across as controversial and are debated from different points of views. Generally, controversial issues are defined as topics or questions where there are opposing ideas about the nature of origin and preferred solutions. On a European level, educational policy stress the importance of teachers dealing with these issues, manifested by for example Council of Europe’s professional development programme to ‘support and promote the teaching of controversial issues in schools in Europe’ (Council of Europe, 2015, p 7). In research literature most definitions of controversial issues encompass emotional, cognitive and evaluative dimensions (e.g. Cooling 2012; Hand 2008; Ljunggren et al. 2015, Stradling 1984). Here, the focus is set on emotions and more specifically emotions in relation to social studies subject teaching in grade 7-9. The study is part of a larger research project about controversial issues in Social studies teaching in Swedish secondary school (e.g. Larsson & Larsson 2021; Larsson & Lindström 2021). In Sweden the school subjects Civics, Geography, History and Religious education has a history of being grouped as Social studies subjects.

Teaching is largely an emotional practice (Denzin 1984; Hargreaves 1998) and we know that teachers find that it is challenging to deal with controversial issues and this can lead teachers to avoid addressing them (e.g Ojala 2019; Anker and von der Lippe 2018, Pollak et al 2018). Even though it is a challenge for the teachers, it is important to help students learn how to engage in democratic dialogue with those holding opposing views (cf Zembylas och Kambani 2012). Within social studies, pupils and teachers engage in topics that allows for controversies of different characters. In this paper, controversial issues in education are understood as situated. That is, situated in relations between teachers and pupils, inbetween students in a context of surrounding community and society, or situated in relation to other objects as material objects, statements, information etcetera (e.g. Blennow 2021). The purpose is to further understand what role emotions play in teachers’ didactical considerations and actions concerning controversial issues in social studies teaching. How does teachers reason concerning pupils emotional expressions? What considerations of the teachers own emotions comes to the fore? The ambition is to deepen the understanding of the teachers’ considerations as a knowing-in-action (Schön 1983) (compare Persson 2022).

One point of departure in this paper is an awareness that we are living in the Anthropocene era. Based on this, education, including science education, needs to be re-visioned. Since the first use of the term by Hurd in 1958, many different definitions of scientific literacy have been put forward. One and a half decade ago Roberts (2007) suggested two visions of scientific literacy and science education. To simplify, Vision I can be described as science without society (internal view), whereas Vision II is about contextual application of scientific knowledge in life and society (external view). As a complement to the two well-spread visions by Roberts, a Vision III has been suggested (e.g. Aikenhead, 2007; Yore, 2012; Liu, 2013; Sjöström & Eilks, 2018). This paper tries to systemize what different scholars have meant with the three different visions, especially focusing on Vision III. Furthermore, the paper elaborates on different ways in how the three visions relate to each other. The three visions are also discussed in relation to curriculum theory (e.g. Deng, 2020) and different curriculum emphases, educational-philosophical frameworks, and worldview perspectives.

Recently, Valladares (2021) discussed different interpretations of scientific literacy, including Vision III. She started discussing fundamental and derived senses of scientific literacy (part 2 of her paper) as well as Vision I and Vision II (part 3). After that follows a part (part 4) about Vision III; it has the heading “A Transformative Vision of Scientific Literacy”. She writes (2021, p. 565): “This new vision integrates three innovative aspects: 4.1: a fusion of the fundamental and derived senses of scientific literacy (Yore, 2012); 4.2: an introduction of the notions of science engagement and participation (Liu, 2013); and 4.3: the inclusion of a political and emancipatory agenda aligned with values such as equity and social justice (Santos, 2009).” With reference to Liu (2013, p. 29), Siarova et al. (2019) describe Vision III as: ”Scientific engagement – social, cultural, political, and environmental issues”. According to Tan (2016, p. 6), Yore (2012) interprets a Vision III-scientific literate person as one who: “1) understand core ideas through scientific inquiry, 2) have fundamental scientific principles rooted by critical thinking skills and 3) participates from a scientific perspective in socioscientific issues.” Siarova et al. (2019, p. 15) regard Vision III as “the broadest interpretation of scientific literacy”. It can, according to them, be explained as: science embedded in society and societal issues; action in the form of scientific engagement in various social, cultural, political, and environmental issues and contexts; and means to prepare students to become informed, responsible and active citizens and therefore it is needed by all students.

Recently, Salinas et al. (2022, p. 9) described Vision III as: “Implies a politicized and action-based (e.g., climate change activism) knowledge aiming at promoting the development of critical thinking for dialogic emancipation and socio-eco justice. This vision emphasizes transdisciplinarity and sustainability; is oriented towards praxis and action”. This conference paper asks if this is a exhaustive description of Vision III and, if not, what needs to be added?

“Bildung” is a central concept in central European/Scandinavian educational theory. It has a long and multifaceted history of ideas including for instance humanistic values and the ideas of critical-democratic citizenship. In this paper Vision III of scientific literacy and science education, as it is presented in the international literature, is examined. Furthermore, implications of a Vision III-view on Bildung and teachers’ didactical choices are discussed.

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) has been considered an essential component of science education for several years (e.g., Abrams et al., 2008). A considerable number of studies has shown that IBL positively influences students’ attitudes towards science as well as their learning of science (e.g., Blanchard et al., 2010; Furtak et al., 2012). The skills addressed by IBL meet the requirements stated in science standards and curricula (e.g., NGSS Lead States, 2013) and foster the acquirement of scientific literacy (Roberts & Bybee, 2014). Depending on learning objectives, degree of openness, and instructional support, IBL can be implemented in a variety of forms (e.g., Abrams et al., 2008; Blanchard et al., 2010). Open inquiry settings (OIS) that give students the opportunity to pursue their own questions and design and conduct investigations in a self-determined (but scaffolded) manner seem to be particularly motivating (Jiang & McComas, 2015). Beyond that, OIS do not only foster students’ ability to apply science concepts and methods independently, but also address their diversity by allowing for individual learning paths (e.g., Abels, 2014). However, many science teachers are sceptical about the implementation of OIS, fearing that conceptual learning will be neglected (e.g., Hofer et al., 2018).

In the field of science education, conceptual learning is traditionally determined by assessing which and how many concepts students have acquired during a certain period of time or by a certain point in time, how elaborated these concepts are, and how they are related to each other (Amin et al., 2014). This perspective on conceptual learning is what Scott et al. (2007) call acquisition metaphor. According to this, conceptual learning is a process of acquiring and accumulating “basic units of knowledge [concepts] that can be accumulated, gradually refined, and combined to form ever richer cognitive structures” (Scott et al., 2007, p. 5).
In OIS, however, science concepts are not presented in an isolated way, detached from the context, but are developed by the students as part of the inquiry process. Learning in OIS is therefore rather a process of developing participation in the practices of a specific community (participation metaphor) than acquiring and accumulating concepts. Consequently, established assessment tools and methods for investigating conceptual learning are only applicable to a limited extent (Cowie, 2012) resulting in challenges concerning educational research.

Data from PISA 2015 indicate that IBL and especially OIS still rarely find their way into European science classrooms. Beyond that, there seems to be a negative correlation between the frequency of implementing rather open instructional approaches, such as OIS, and students’ level of scientific literacy (e.g., Forbes et al., 2020). To put it in a nutshell: The more often students learn in OIS, the lower their scientific literacy. These results, however, are based on students’ self-reports and do not consider any further information concerning the implementation of OIS. Other studies investigating students’ outcomes in IBL (see e.g., meta-studies by Furtak et al., 2012; Lazonder & Harmsen, 2016) do either focus on procedural and epistemic skills or are limited to IBL with lower degrees of openness. Yet, there seems to be only little empirical evidence about students’ conceptual learning in open inquiry settings.

Hence, this study aims at identifying empirical studies on OIS in science education and synthesising what science education research actually knows about students’ conceptual learning in OIS. In so doing, the following research question is to be answered:
What are the findings on conceptual learning of primary and secondary science students in OIS that have been obtained from empirical studies so far?

Opportunities to learn science outside the classroom form an important contribution to science education (Rennie, 2014). Arenas outside the school provide authentic contexts for teaching, which complement teaching in the classroom and in the science laboratory (Braund & Reiss, 2006). Various terms, such as field trips, outdoor education, education outside the classroom and udeskole/uteskole (Denmark/Norway) are used to address utilising nature and local environments as an educational approach. In this article, I use the term "out-of-school education", and by this I mean using physical settings outside the classroom in a learning context. Examples of such settings include museums, science centres, universities, local companies, farms and fisheries, school grounds and natural landscapes as forest and riparian habitats. This definition is in line with Frøyland and Remmen (2019), and includes arenas that are designed for educational purposes and those that are not. There are several arguments for making use of nature and local environments in school science education. Braund and Reiss (2006) highlight how out-of-school settings can improve science learning through:

1. Improved development and integration of concepts.

2. Extended and authentic practical work.

3. Access to rare material and to 'big' science.

4. Attitudes to school science: stimulating further learning.

5. Social outcomes: collaborative work and responsibility for learning. (p. 1376)

In addition, the health benefits of being physically active in nature are often highlighted when using out-of-school settings (Morag & Tal, 2012).

Making use of nature in teaching science has been central to Norwegian curriculum since 1939 (Normalplan for byfolkeskolen, 1939), and is also prevalent in today's National Curriculum (Kunnskapsløftet 2020 (LK20)) (Ministry of Education and Research, 2019). In Norway, textbooks are designed in line with the official curriculum's (see Cuban, 1995) aims. Still, teachers have freedom of choice in terms of which materials or other teaching resources to use and are not obligated to use a science textbook. Hence, textbooks are not a part of the official curriculum, but are an interpretation of the official curriculum by the textbook author(s). The fact that the textbooks are designed in line with current curricula, in addition to being adapted to teaching in school and offering progression in a subject that is adapted to a secondary-level course, makes textbooks valuable for teachers (McDonald, 2016). Although teachers combine their textbook use with other teaching and learning resources, the textbook is often a first choice in planning and plays an essential role as a structuring element in teaching lessons (McDonald, 2016; Trygstad et al., 2013). Recent studies also show that textbooks are central as an idea bank for science teachers, especially for finding practical and inquiry activities for teaching (Isaksen et al., 2022).

Moving science teaching out of the classroom can be one type of practical activity. Despite the many positive aspects of using out-of-school settings in education (e.g. Braund & Reiss, 2006; Morag & Tal, 2012), it appears that using out-of-school settings is often de-prioritised; teachers experience a number of obstacles when using out-of-school settings, such as it being more time consuming than classroom teaching, more economic constraints and poor curriculum fit (Anderson et al., 2006).

This study's purpose is to contribute knowledge about the relationship between science teachers' use of and orientation towards textbooks, and the utilisation of local actors and the local environment in teaching. I ask the following research questions:

• To what extent are out-of-school settings utilised in secondary school science teaching?
• In what ways can using science textbooks be an obstacle or a driving force for utilising out-of-school settings?

National and international standards of science education require the transformation of modern approaches and teaching methods. Researchers of the Autonomous Organization of Education "Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools" (2022) determined that only 53% of students aged 15-16 can complete assignments in the field of scientific interpretation of evidence data, requiring developed skills in interpreting data and applying scientific evidence, reasoning based on scientific data and theories.

Following the basic principles of equal rights for all to receive quality education and access to education (Law on Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan) and the fourth goal in the field of sustainable development to ensure quality education (United Nations), the authors of the study focused on data on the level of development of skills in interpreting data in adolescents 15-16 years old from urban and rural areas.

Most teenagers aged 15-16 in Kazakhstan study in mainstream schools with standardized curricula, 50% of which live in rural areas (UNICEF, 2020). However, there are schools in the country where education is carried out according to their own programs, for example, the network of the Autonomous Organization of Education "NIS". Despite significant differences in learning conditions, as the results of PISA show (Irsaliyeva S.A., 2020), all students in Kazakhstan have difficulties in completing tasks that require the skill of analyzing and interpreting data.

In 2022, for the first time, the authors used an evaluation sheet in the form of an experiment protocol, which made it possible to determine that 75% of the students of the NIS FMN in Taraz and 25% of the students of the secondary school in the village of Arshaly are able to manage the evidence of the experiment, which is 50% on average. 70% of NIS students and 35% of Arshaly village are able to create explanations in the form of discussion of results, planning ways to improve the experiment and formulating conclusions, which is 52.5% on average.

An analysis of educational programs used in public schools and NIS showed that the amount of practical work required for data interpretation and quantitative analysis increases from grade to grade: from 6% in grade 8 to 40% in grade 10. Accordingly, the success of learning and mastering the educational goals of the educational program depend on the level of development of skills in interpreting data and applying scientific evidence in adolescents aged 15-16. In addition, the analysis of interviews with students showed that most of them do not understand the practical application of the knowledge and skills acquired in the course of laboratory work at school. The authors also noticed that the results of achieving learning goals in practical work are much higher if students work in a team. All this contributed to the choice of teaching method, which should be focused on the connection of students' research activities with real life, creating conditions for data collection and interpretation, teamwork. All these requirements are met by the method of problem-based learning (PBL), which is confirmed by the results of research by Conway, J. and Little, P. (2000).

Thus, the research question was formulated: to what extent the method of problem-based learning (PBL) can contribute to the development of data interpretation skills and the application of scientific evidence in adolescents 15-16 years old. The main goal of our study is to develop the skills of interpreting data and applying scientific evidence before and after using the PBL method in the lessons of chemistry, biology and physics among students of 15-16 years old of the NIS FMN in Taraz and secondary school No. 2 in the village of Arshaly.

We live in a globalised world where Information and Communication Technologies allow our communication to take place immediately. The vast majority of today's college students were born after the advent of the Internet. They have grown up connected to virtual environments and have access to more information than any other generation (Seemiller & Grace, 2017). Moreover, they live in an increasingly digital world that transforms people's lifestyles by reshaping personal, educational and professional environments. In this increasingly digital world, the human relationship with technology has changed considerably (Marín & Castañeda, 2022, p. 16). As stated by Acevedo-Gutiérrez, Cartagena-Rendón, Palacios-Moya, and Gallegos-Ruiz (2019), the introduction of digital technology in education has impacted the improvement of education quality. It has meant the opening of services, the personalisation and flexibilisation of conditions in training, given the creation of strategies to support learning. However, according to UNESCO (2020), the excessive use of digital technology is increasing the isolation of university students, becoming one of the main concerns.

At present, each person inhabits their learning ecosystem with multiple interactions. Thus, today's society's distinctive features cause changes in how new generations learn and access knowledge. They also influence how they relate and their personal and social interactions (Pérez-Escoda et al., 2016). For example, Castro et al. (2019) argue that this generation tends to communicate, relate, generate and share content through networks in real-time, but without boundaries between public and private. Currently, young people use multimodal forms of communication and information search (McCrlinde & Wolfinger, 2011), giving preference to non-textual content platforms (Geraci et al., 2017).

Universities must face challenges related to these new scenarios, heavily influenced by corporations, and consider the new students' profiles. Educators and researchers are key players in meeting these challenges, particularly in their relationship with a student body that grows and learns differently. (Castro et al., 2019). To address these challenges, it seems necessary to understand young people and hence the need to deepen and understand the changes taking place in the meaning they give to learning and knowledge, both at the University and outside it. That is why we set out to carry out research that would offer ways of understanding the question: how do young people learn inside and outside the University? What are their conceptions, strategies, technologies and contexts of learning? What is the role of relationships and interactions during their learning processes?

This paper builds on the research project [project name], whose main objective is to address the above challenges by exploring, through participatory and inclusive research, how, where, with what and when university students learn.

The gamers are a unique group of students who feel that their uniqueness comes from their self-identification with the phenomenon that represents them—i. e. digital games—and who prioritise digital game-based learning (DGBL) strategies. Research has shown the educational value of digital games as a motivational and learning aid and has revealed their significance in learning both general skills and various school subjects such as Physics, Biology, Mathematics, etc. (Tobias, Fletcher, Dai, Wind, 2011; Van Eck, 2006, 2015). DGBL has some features that are beneficial for teaching and learning: learning within a context relevant to the student (Van Eck, 2006), immersion in the activity (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Meyer, Sørensen, 2011), immediate feedback (Van Eck, 2006; Adams, 2009), enjoyment and motivation (Plass, Homer, Kinzer, 2015), personalisation (Kickmeier-Rust et al., 2011), and learning from each other (Egenfeldt‑Nielsen, Meyer, Sørensen, 2011). However, according to researchers, some parents and teachers still doubt the positive impact of DGBL and are questioning whether it is useful to students and whether it does not distract them from serious learning (Kirstavridou, Kousaris, Zafeiriou, Tzafilkou, 2020). In school, there is a clear dissonance between the learning approaches and methods desired by the students of the upcoming generation and the approaches and methods they are offered (Paul, Hansen, Taylor, 2005). A failure to satisfy the needs of students creates preconditions for the exclusion of certain student subgroups (e. g. the gamers) by not embracing and not applying learning methods that are acceptable to them. Studies show contrast between the growing number of students who play digital games and declining enthusiasm and motivation for school (Turkay, Hoffman, Kinzer, Chantes, Vicari, 2014). It could be assumed that the gamers represent the group of unmotivated students who spend more time playing digital games than formally studying in school. It is important to analyse what are the reasons that reduce the motivation of the gamer group to study in the formal education process, which of their learning needs are not being met and what kind of learning process would be acceptable to them.

Our study based on the classical Grounded Theory unexpectedly revealed certain processes that create preconditions for the exclusion of the gamers as a subgroup of students in school. The following processes emerged: Stereotyping of digital games and gamers, Power Without Authority, Domination, Hyper-Intellectualisation, Standardisation and Hyper-Care. These processes reveal how the exclusion of the gamers is cultivated in school. They demonstrate the learning needs of a specific group of students, their expectations for school and the mismatch between the said expectations and the characteristics of formal education. The study data also shows that these processes are related to the transfer of behaviours which are characteristic of the gamers (and considered undesirable in school) to digital games. The gamers use digital games to experiment with things that are taboos in school: they choose games with aggressive content (because it is frowned upon by teachers) and explore the consequences of more aggressive solutions and hostile actions (provoke conflicts, allow themselves to act aggressively, explore limit states, conduct social experiments, etc.) For them, it is a counterbalance to the processes cultivated in school such as Hyper-Care, over-emphasising of intellectual activities, or sterile educational content (not containing certain controversial topics).

During the pandemic of COVID-19 in-place lessons at museums were stopped and a remote, live-streamed lesson format was developed and launched.The learners, their teachers, the museum teacher, and the objects of learning are roomily separated, and the lesson takes place on a screen. With that in mind, I have surveyed how live-streaming shapes the instruction of animals at a natural history museum. The research questions were:

1. What experiences do learners, class teachers and museum teachers have with a live-streamed lesson?
2. What affordances of resources allow or constrain the teaching and learning of animals in a live-streamed museum lesson?
3. What, if any, impact does a class teacher have on the interactions between learners and the museum teacher?

The first research questions aimed to investigate participants' experience of the activity and learning outcome of a live-streamed lesson as a new lesson experience, with the second research question to see possibilities or constraints in remoteness and the use of didactical resoursec (affordances).The overarching aim of this study is to investigate how a live-streamed museum lesson formats through material and didactical affordances.

The objects were 76 learners in ages 9 to 12 years in grades 3 (n=27), grade 5 (n=27) and grade 6 (n=21) from five classes in three municipal schools in Sweden, their class teachers (n=3) and one museum teacher who led the lessons and two other museum teachers.

The lower age limit was at grade 3 to be sure the learners could read and write independently to answer the questions. The higher age limit was at grade 6 as the lesson content on animals aligned with the curriculum contents up to grade 6. I selected two lesson themes for my study: "A giraffe, an elephant and a rhino" and "Wild animals in Sweden ".

The theoretical framework is rooted in a sociocultural perspective (Vygotsky, 1978) and Designs for learning (Selander & Björklund Boistrup, 2021). The sociocultural approach comes with the concept of appropriation, making words into somebody's intellectual and cultural property. The sociocultural theory and designs for learning perspective point out that communication is mediated by semiotic modes of speech, gestures, objects, or environments. The theoretical background is complemented by the ecological approach to visual perception (Gibson, 2015) and the concept of affordances (Gibson & Pick, 2000) as resources in the learning environment. either allowing or constraining activity. ‘When no constraints are put on the visual system, people look around, walk up to something interesting and move around it so as to see it from all sides and from one vista to another.’ (Gibson, 2015, p. 2). Moreover, the use of senses, not only the audiovisual but also touch, is lacking in live-streamed lessons. Still, there is a need to actively engage learners in a live-streamed lesson, for example hands-on (Gaylord-Opalewski & O’Leary, 2019).