Conference Agenda

Order and disorder have both been essential concepts of schooling throughout history (e.g. Biesta, 2021; Lanas & Brunila, 2019, Price, 2011). Order remains an underlying objective in both formal and informal schooling practices: students are arranged and expected to behave orderly, schooldays and facilities of school create particular order, the aim of schooling is to create some order in the society. Order is visible through acts, national and transnational documents, rooted practices (such as waiting for a turn, queuing and following a class schedule) and architectural solutions of physical school building.

In this paper, I focus on my PhD study’s first research question, how order and disorder are understood in school institutions. I approach order and disorder as counterparts that together exist in the everyday practices of schooling and education. I understand practices to be built on institutional, political, physical but also cultural and social conventions rooted in schooling (e.g. Biesta, 2021; Petersen & Millei, 2016). Everyday life of a school composes of informal and formal school culture where different power relations and ways of knowing are constructed. In formal school, knowledge is percieved to be teacher-led, based on guidelines (national curriculum, law, international guidelines) and often more restrained than the intense and fast-paced nature of informal schools (Lanas & Brunila, 2019; McLaren, 1993). The formal side of school culture and pedagogical thinking have been studied extensively in the educational sciences, yet there is a gap in the international and Finnish research literature on the informal side of school and its social orders in educational context (e.g. Kiilakoski & Lanas, 2022; Juva, 2019; Paju, 2011). To address this gap, I will focus on both the formal and informal side of primary school in analysing the existing ethnographic data.

In educational practices and implementations, there is a significant interest on developing models, interventions and programs (e.g. Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development register) on how to dismantle the so-called problem behaviour of students. To continue, these interventions are used to create and maintain a particular type of order in classrooms as well as in individual students (see for example Mertanen, Vainio, Brunila, 2021; Petersen & Millei, 2016). Yet, analyses on disorder have remained ambiguous. Hence, since the dominant discourse and gaze on disorder are mainly focused on how to diminish disorder instead of conceptualising what it comprehends, it is relevant to view the counterarguments and ask for a wider perspective on order and disorder (see for example Lanas & Brunila, 2019; MacLure, Jones, Holmes & McRae, 2011). As students, teachers and other everyday actors of school do not exist in a vacuum but are surrounded by school institutions and society that also create the idea of order and disorder (Dewey, 1957).

By looking at disorder in school institutions and society, we can see hierarchical power relations that stem from the idea of ideal order of schooling and education (Foucault, 1984). This is important because only after acknowledging schooling practices to be entangled in and stemming from surrounding society, it becomes possible to challenge the individual-oriented idea of order and rethink it as something wider (see for example Mertanen et al. 2021; Wright & McLeod, 2015).

In Portugal, as in other European countries, the universalisation of the right to education through equal opportunities of access to public school did not guarantee, however, effective equality of opportunities for success and school became, for a large part of the students, mainly from disadvantaged groups, a challenge to their right to education.

In the ‘60s, Bourdieu and Passeron (1970), draw attention to the importance of social class in education. The cultural (capital) differences between the students from the dominant classes and the ones from the working classes are the main drivers for the school’s failure of the latter and, in this sense, for cultural and social reproduction. Even nowadays, social class is a factor of social and educational inequalities both in Portugal and at a European level (Abrantes, 2022; Costa & Mauritti, 2018; Melo & Lopes, 2021; Ball, 2019; Reay, 2021).

The debate on students´ social and cultural diversities and how the school should relate to them has been a central concern in the pursuit of the democratisation of the education system and to assure student´s right to education. The school has been trying to accommodate these social and cultural diversities through the diversification in policies and practices: different educational routes, autonomy and curricular flexibility, tutorial support, and many others.

One important topic in several national and European policy documents is the broadening of higher education to other publics, namely VET graduates that are mostly from the working classes. Since 2020, there are special calls for their admission to higher education[1].

In Portugal, the number of graduates from scientific-humanistic courses (“regular school”) going to higher education is around 85%. However, although in 2021 vocational courses represented the largest educational and training offer in secondary education[2], only around 38% of graduates from vocational courses go to higher education[3], and this proportion is even more reduced when we refer to the graduates from apprenticeship courses. Hence, the VET students that go to higher education are sociological and statistical exceptions.

Attuned to this, our study is about working-class students, specifically graduates from vocational courses (VC) and apprenticeship courses (AC), who perform academic success pathways. Our main research question is: which dimensions and factors contribute to an academic success pathway of VET graduates who are attending or have attended higher education? However, to achieve academic success, these young people had to overcome numerous inequalities and barriers.

Considering studies and policy documents on the theme and the analysis of 8 in-depth interviews with VET graduates, in this presentation, we find it relevant to reflect on how these subjects live and narrate their school pathways in relation to two specific diversities:

i) social class, i.e., their experience as working-class students: e.g. which meanings do they assign to school? Which institutional, situational, and dispositional barriers do they face and must overcome? (Ekstrom, 1979)

ii) attending vocational education and training, an alternative educational route in upper secondary education, less prestigious academically and socially

Underpinned on Bourdieu´s concepts of class, "habitus" and "cultural capital" (1964, 1970, 1999, 2003), Ekstrom “barriers to education” (1979) and Fraser´s concept of “social justice” (2002, 2006), we aim to comprehend if and how these two specific diversities have influenced students´ right to education and social justice.

[1] . See Decree Law nº 11/2020 (https://dre.pt/dre/en/detail/decree-law/11-2020-131016733) and https://www.poch.portugal2020.pt/pt-pt/Noticias/Paginas/noticia.aspx?nid=1152&ano=2017&pag=2&nr=9

[2] . See https://www.cnedu.pt/pt/noticias/cne/1874-estado-da-educacao-2021

[3] . See https://www.dgeec.mec.pt/np4/47/%7B$clientServletPath%7D/?newsId=256&fileName=DGEEC_Estudantes_a_saida_do_secundario_2.pdf

In France, incarceration represents a time when inmates are isolated from the outside world and they deal with the resources available in prison. The Penitentiary Code of May 1, 2022 insists on the fact that "[every convicted person is obliged to carry out at least one of the activities offered to him]" (Article L411-1). Among these activities there is the teaching, the result of collaboration between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of National Education since the agreement of January 19, 1995. The teaching provided in prisons is part of a perspective of lifelong education, an inalienable right of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that "[everyone has the right to education]" (Article 26). The French prison population is mainly composed of poor young men with an educational level below the average of the population (Combessie, 2018). The obligation to provide primary education in all prisons for all inmates makes this activity more attractive since it is part of the main mission of the sentence of deprivation of liberty: the insertion or reintegration of persons placed under judicial authority (Article L1 of the Penitentiary Code, 2022). The time spent in prison can be an opportunity to make up for the shortcomings of initial education, especially because 67.8% of incarcerated persons have a level below the baccalaureate and 52.5% are serving a sentence of more than two years (Ministry of Justice, 2021). Thus, education appears to be a means for prisoners to educate themselves but also to demonstrate a desire to reintegrate into their prison pathway.

People serving a prison sentence in France have a particular relationship with education. The illiteracy rate in the closed environment is about 12% on average, whereas it is 7% in the overall population (Heraud & Marmonier-Lechat, 2021). Concerning the educational program offered, 53% of the penal population attending school is trained in basic skills, 16% of which are devoted to learning French correctly (Heraud & Marmonier-Lechat, 2021). This population is characterized as a priority need group that requires special attention.

In France, as in many other countries, teaching in prison is not the subject of much research. We are particularly interested of the professionals who teach in a closed environment, but also in the teaching itself and the meaning that professionals give to it. The professional subgroup of prison teachers represents 0.2% of the total number of teachers in France (Heraud & Soigneux, 2020). These teachers in the margins (Kherroubi, Millet & Thin, 2018) intervene punctually or full-time basis within prison establishments. Teaching in prison is a voluntary process, there is no systematic assignment possible, especially since the penitentiary institution seems to be an impediment to the proper conduct of teaching with the security and disciplinary logics it imposes (Salane, 2013). In particular, it would seem that reorientation in difficult contexts allows professionals to focus on the transmission of knowledge (Maroy, 2006). Moreover, these teachers on the margins of the institution also seem to present a logic of global educational action (Kherroubi, Millet & Thin, 2018) with the consideration of various dimensions, particularly social, adjoining teaching.

We can ask whether this teaching activity represents a resource for incarcerated people, both in terms of the activity itself and through the teachers practicing in prison. We hypothesize that teaching is a resource that takes different forms for adult prisoners. We also suggest that teachers are essential resources for people in prison. In this presentation, we will show the benefits to teachers and prisoners of this closed instruction. We will present our first results showing that teachers are resource persons for inmates and how they find a particular interest in this atypical environment.

Academic achievement in higher education (HE) is the subject of a substantial amount of research in the field of educational sciences, mainly aimed at identifying and understanding the factors of academic performance. In France, higher education is divided into a variety of educational institutions, of varying selectivity as well as ranging of academic or vocational nature. However, university continues to welcome a majority of students enrolled in HE and was up until 2018 the only remaining non-selective body in the French HE landscape: the only requirement was the Baccalauréat, the end-of-study secondary school diploma.

However, the comparison of the Baccalauréat pass rate (around 90%) with the Bachelor's first year achievement rate (barely 40%) highlights an apparent dissociation between secondary and higher education. To fight against failure in undergraduate programs, many HE measures have been taken over the years, the latest being the Orientation et Réussite des Etudiants (ORE) Act, in 2018. It introduced a new academic portal for HE application, Parcoursup, and thus, generalised selection, including at university. In continuation, for the first time since 1995, a secondary education reform has modified the structure of the general Baccalauréat, to improve the articulation between secondary and higher education, and therefore improve the Bachelor’s first year achievement.

Until now, the French general Baccalauréat (the most academic, non-vocational path of the diploma) has been characterised by three tracks: a scientific track, a social science track and a humanities track. The scientific track has always been the most prestigious, as it offered the most and the best opportunities in HE, including non-scientific degrees (Dubet, 1991; Duru-Bellat & Kieffer, 2008). For this reason, 40% of students in the science track did not pursue scientific studies in HE: they only chose this track for its reputation as the 'royal way' of the French education system (so for the best students), and not for its scientific curricula (Mathiot, 2018).

This is the reason why the Baccalauréat reform removed these tracks and offered instead a system of combinations of specialities, inspired by the A-level, which provides pupils a new diversity of subject choices. From now on, they must choose three specialities in the second year of secondary school and then keep two in their final year. These specialities are the most important subjects of the Baccalauréat curricula and determine their disciplinary profile. The aim is for them to build up a specialisation consistent with their aspirations for further education.

However, this system introduces many uncertainties. How will the choice of specialities be made? We can assume that the choices will depend on the individual characteristics of the pupils (gender, social background, past academic records…) and on the characteristics of their secondary schools (social composition, reputation and prestige, overall academic level, public or private status, geographical location, size…). Moreover, chances are that some students will reproduce the disciplinary paths of the previous Baccalauréat, especially the scientific track, while others will choose more atypical combinations of transdisciplinary specialities. But we do not know how these choices will affect their achievement chances in the first year of the Bachelor. What are the winning specialities and combinations of specialities in terms of academic performance? Will it remain scientific subjects? (Beaupère et al., 2007). And who will be the pupils informed enough to choose these combinations? If this new system allows for more curriculum diversity, there is a risk that choices will be highly predetermined by individual and contextual factors, resulting in a homogenisation of the students’ characteristics within some subjects, and thus, a loss of diversity, especially regarding gender and social background.

The workshop aims to involve and enable emerging researchers into the discussion about open research, its practices and infrastructures in education. In recent years, the open movement and the digitisation in scholarship have enhanced a cultural transformation in research towards accessibility, re-usability, and participation. Open Science and Open Research have become umbrella terms for several developments calling for the transparency of scholarship and its processes, for the accessibility and traceability of outcomes and resources. While the discussions have on the one hand led to pragmatic guidelines[1], on the other hand a UNESCO Recommendation emerged.[2]

Network 12 changed this year its name to Open Research in Education to provide a platform for engaging in these discourses on openness in scholarship. We want to shed light on potentials, concerns, and possible ways forward in aligning Open Science to educational research and its practices. The new network name Open Research in Educational address this perspective and the heterogeneity of educational research.

The workshop starts with a short introduction to Open Research in Education focussing on open research practices and enabling infrastructures. The format will be interactive and open to stimulate a high engagement and encourage ongoing collaborations at the sessions and beyond. Therefore, participants can pose their own questions which serve as a starting point for discussion. Participants are welcome to participate in the discussions forthwith at: https://yopad.eu/p/ERC-Workshop_Open_Reseaerch_on_Education-365days

[1] See https://www.cos.io/initiatives/top-guidelines

[2] See https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000378841

Understanding how teachers perceive students with disability is essential to their inclusion and education, particularly with the rising debate between special and inclusive education (Florian, 2019). It was the recognition of the inequality and unfairness of systems that segregated students because of their differences that led to questions about the practice of special education (Vislie, 2003). Saudi Arabia is a signatory to international initiatives aimed at improving education for all and so in the drive towards Vision 2030 Saudi Arabia has embarked on a series of initiatives aimed at improving education. With the international drive towards inclusion, Saudi Arabia is now turning its attention to placing students with disabilities in mainstream schools. While this practice is to be welcomed, successfully including students with disabilities is not straightforward.

The Saudi context is one that is underpinned by Islamic values and Arabic tradition. Thus, this paper is part of my PhD thesis and will provide a snapshot from Muslim teachers involved in inclusive schools. Looking at this phenomenon from an Islamic perspective offered a unique opportunity to explore how these aspects intersect on the ground. This is an important omission, because as this study will argue, the Islamic cultural context found across the Middle East brings a unique and dynamic understanding of inclusive education. This is not to suggest that there is a homogenous approach to inclusion across the Middle East region; rather, each country in this geographical region implements inclusion in ways which consider local and national contexts, and this can result in different practices being adopted (Gaad, 2011). We know from the literature that the Middle East is not alone in this phenomenon, as differences in implementation exist globally (Carrington et al., 2015; Yada & Alnahdi, 2021). Studies of Islam and disability are quite limited, with a notable exception of Bhatty et al. (2009), who synthesise the historical, legal, sociological and theological literature relating to disability. Al-Aoufi, Al-Zyoud & Shahminan (2012) contend that within Islam, concern for the disadvantaged demonstrates a commitment to inclusion, and they cite acts undertaken by the Prophet to include those who were sick or disabled. Their paper also considers the right to education of those with disabilities, and argues that this right is clearly upheld in the Quran. Analysing text from the Quran, they conclude that:

- ‘Individuals have a right to be treated equally: everyone is equally important, whether disabled or not disabled.

- Individuals have a right to be educated regardless of disability.

- Individuals have a right to be included within society and to have an effective, valuable role within it.'

Al-Aoufi, Al-Zyoud & Shahminan (2012:211)

However, there has been little debate about the concept of inclusion in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in general (Gaad, 2011). As countries implement inclusion based on international declarations, the additional lens of the Islamic faith within Middle Eastern countries is of importance not only to this study but to the field in general, and it brings an added dimension to the topic. Indeed, recently there has been a call to pay more attention to the Islamic perspective when fostering inclusive education, as the principles of inclusive education are seen to align with Islamic values (Ibrahim & Ismail, 2018; Abu‐Alghayth, Catania, Semon et al. 2022). This study is an attempt to tease out how Islamic principles influence teachers as they seek to understand and work with young people with disabilities when providing an appropriate education so that future work with staff can use these as a starting point for the implementation of inclusive education.

School inclusion pursues the normative goal of identifying and overcoming barriers that disadvantage, discriminate, and marginalize and replacing them with means that (can) enable full participation of all students (Ainscow, 2008). School systems in German-speaking contexts with their multi-tracked structure, their hierarchizing and selective functions are often problematized in this context and contrasted with more inclusive programming. This contrast has been reconstructed in various studies conducted in the German-speaking context in recent years (a.o. Rabenstein et al., 2013; Sturm & Wagner-Willi, 2015; Wagener, 2020). These studies identify achievement rankings as a central difference dimension of teachers' teaching practices in multi-tracked school systems: "These differences are ascribed to the students individually, in a hierarchical way (better/worse), accompanied by discrimination and a lack of learning opportunities, mostly for the 'weak(er)' students" (Sturm, 2019, p. 657 f.). At the same time, exploratory studies that comparing the construction of differences in schools in single-track systems and ones following multiple tracks suggest that teachers' practices and their construction processes differ according "to the formal school-based context in which they work" (ibid., p. 656; Sturm & Wagener, 2023, under review). For example, group discussions conducted with teachers in Norway, the USA and Germany showed that “German teachers only refer to the students’ achievement, which they understand as a result of the giftedness of the child, measured in IQ” whereas teachers in Norway and the United States explained lower “academic achievement of students in terms of the need to adapt their teaching approaches” (Sturm, 2019, p. 666). Since these results concern single cases and cannot be generalized to single-track and multi-track school systems overall, it is the central concern of the PhD researcher to systematically compare the constructions of achievement (or student differences) between school systems that differ in basic structure (integrative/selective) in order to find out whether and to what extent teachers’ practices differ. The project provides a comparison of teaching practices situated in a single-track school system, specifically that of Canada, and in a multi-track school system, specifically that of Germany. Canada – in Germany discussed as the “North Star” of inclusion (Hinz, 2006) – was the first country to enshrine rights for people with physical and mental impairments in 1985 as part of its Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (see CCD press release, 2012, online). In educational discourses, it is particularly characterized by its approach to societal heterogeneity and diversity. For example, Canada has enshrined multiculturalism nationally in law since 1988 (cf. Canadian Multiculturalism Act, 1985), which protects the rights of all marginalized population groups and aims to preserve and strengthen Canada's cultural diversity (Polat, 2019). The following research questions are formulated to address the multi-level comparison described here: How is achievement constructed and dealt with in the teaching practices of social studies classes in single versus multi-tracked school systems? Which forms of enabling and hindering academic and social participation of students in the classroom are reconstructable? In order to begin articulating an explanation for the similarities and differences in teaching practices, this study investigates the question of the significance and relevance of structural and legal frameworks in everyday school practice and curriculum. For this purpose, the second empirical part of the work will include curricuuma analyses as well as analyses of the respective school laws. In comparing teaching practices, data (principally audio/visual) have been collected at two secondary schools in British Columbia. Similarly data have been collected at a secondary school in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, while data collection at two other types of schools is still pending.

As professionals engaged in learning environments continue to adopt inclusive approaches, it is important that we recognise how theories frame “inclusion” and our approaches to “inclusive practice”. In this paper we will share the learning from a doctoral research that identified “the power to include” when exploring i) Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in relation to (ii) Career Guidance, within (iii) the philosophy of inclusive education. This innovative research paradigm enabled a deeper and meaningful consideration as to what “Inclusion” means for career guidance practice; as once again we seek to identify the interlinked factors that might necessitate careful attention if guidance is to take its place in the broader inclusion agenda and adopt a more sustainable inclusive approach as defined by the UN SDG’s (United Nations Department of Global Communications, 2015).

Career guidance theory originated at a time when work was predominantly male and industrialised (Arthur & McMahon, 2018) – a time when the medical model of disability was prevalent. Frank Parsons, a lawyer, and social activist identified the significance of a more scientific approach for decision making around learning and career choices; he observed the many inter-linked factors that required careful attention and understanding when choosing career paths (Jones, 1994). However, little has been considered in terms of inclusion in educational guidance; while there has been considerable change in relation to learning, learning outcomes and the workplace for learners themselves (Mann, Denis, Schleicher, Ekhtiari, Forsyth, Liu, & Chambers, 2020).

The medical model of disability once separated learners with disabilities from their peers, seeking to “fix” the problem while the social model demanded that education change the focus from the person to the learning environment. Universal Design (UD), based on 7 principles is primarily focused on designing for inclusion; and while “inclusion” is framed by the experience of people with disabilities, the objective is to design for the widest diversity of people possible. Such a philosophy demands adaptability and flexibility and a consideration of all who want to engage (Storey et al, 1998). Universal Design for Learning (UDL) – UD applied in the learning environment also demands change; responding to the diversity of learners in our classrooms (Bowe, 2000; Rose & Meyers, 2006). Philosophies and practices based on UD and UDL approaches take a very contemporary and proactive approach, embracing notions of democracy, diversity, belonging and empathy.

The research design also adopted such values together with an unlikely combination of a bioecological (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), UD and UDL approaches, while continuously seeking to empower (Freire, 1996). The “inclusion as process” approach (Quirke, Mc Guckin, & McCarthy, 2022), a reflective research method that seeks to take both an ethical and inclusive approach to educational research enabled a reframing and re-understanding of the central issue - the definition and understanding of the term “inclusion”. This resulted in an understanding of “inclusion” in relation to guidance and an elevated view of “inclusion” itself. As inclusive practices continue to develop, we ask, is there a bigger challenge emerging – the role and “knowing” of each professional and expert?

It is important that the wider diversity of professionals engaged in contemporary education, each consider their approach to inclusion – particularly if there is to be a more sustainable approach for inclusion across education – an approach aligned with the UN SDG’s. In 2001, Herr credited career guidance as a contributor to the equality agenda at the time; can guidance, perhaps again, contribute to a renewed focus on inclusion for the ever-changing set of demands faced today as change takes hold across education.

If being a teacher and attending to the diversity and heterogeneity of students in the classroom, giving appropriate help to all students, is a complex task even more so in the case of multi-grade classrooms of rural schools (Abós et al., 2021). In these schools, teaching pupils of different chronological ages, interests and characteristics together in the same classroom represents a challenge for teachers to give an adequate attention to all of them, enhancing the inclusive and pedagogical value of the multi-grade classroom. A type of school that must be valued for the active methodologies applied and the inclusive work that is promoted and carried out. Nevertheless, in many aspects rural schools still remain invisible in favor of the urban graded school (Abós et al., 2020) despite the fact that it represents 30% of all schools worldwide (Little, 2006). Moreover, there is a lack of initial and continuous teacher training that takes into account the particularities of rural schools (Abós et al., 2021; García-Prieto, 2015), which hinders teaching in multigrade classrooms. There, to respond to the heterogeneity of all students, it is necessary that teachers implement active-participative, democratic and globalized strategies of specific multigrade didactics (Bustos, 2007) and to develop specific competencies for working in rural contexts. The methodology used must be supported by teaching materials that go along the same lines and also take multigrade into account in their creation or use by adapting the teaching response to the diversity of students in the multigrade classroom (Boix & Bustos, 2014). The scarcity of existence of specific didactic resources for multigrade teaching and learning, as well as the lack of knowledge about how these resources should be (Brown, 2010; Msimanga, 2019), is a problem reported in international research (Carrete-Marín & Domingo-Peñafiel, 2022; Coladarci, 2007; Fargas-Malet & Bagley, 2021). In addition, different studies highlight the inadequacy of existing resources (Juvane, 2005) and those used in schools, as well as teachers' difficulties in developing them, despite their importance for the success of work in the multigrade classroom (Boix & Bustos, 2014). In view of this, it is necessary to see how teachers face this challenge today and show what materials teachers are using in the classroom and how, what aspects they take into account to select or design them and what their needs are in this respect. In addition, it is relevant to analyze what teachers think and what they actually do, to see if it goes accordingly.

The first results of a research project in the Spanish context are thus presented, the central questions of which are as follows: What kind of teaching materials do teachers use in multigrade classrooms? What elements do they take into account to select them to promote inclusive work in the multigrade classroom? What are the rural school teachers’ beliefs and actions about the selection, use, creation and adaptation of materials to face the teaching-learning process in the multigrade classrooms?

Based on these questions, the goals of the study were: (1) to analyze the type of resources used by teachers and their use in relation to the planning and methodology used in the multigrade classroom by teachers; (2) detect criteria for the elaboration and selection of didactic materials in rural schools, so that they are pedagogically meaningful and take into account multigrading.

This research is also a response to the scarcity of research on the subject, despite the need for it as reflected in various studies. This study is therefore of particular importance because it is unique on the subject and provides relevant results to take into account.

Although the pursuit of equality of opportunity has been high on the agenda in both policy and practice in recent years, inequality in educational opportunities has meanwhile increased even further, arguably especially since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Achieving equality of opportunity turns out to be a particularly complex task. It can be characterized as a ‘wicked’ problem – for a number of reasons.

First of all, wicked problems are socially complex, because a large number of actors is involved, in a dynamic social context. Because various stakeholders (can) play different roles in both the causes and the solutions of the problem of inequality of educational opportunities, it can be seen as a multi-actor problem. Relevant actors in the Dutch educational policy context are parents, teachers, school directors, educational directors or school board members, local policy makers and the municipal educational executive.

Secondly, wicked problems are normatively complex, as solutions often require transcendence of individual interests. All aforementioned stakeholders do not only have an actor-specific views and interests, but also a personal or political ones, which at times might contradict each other.

Thirdly, wicked problems are substantively complex, because the problem cannot be defined unambiguously and has a multitude of – often interrelated – causes. Reducing inequality seems a goal shared by many and, at first glance, the definition of equal opportunities seems unambiguous. Research shows that the shared pursuit of equality of opportunity can be and has been interpreted in a variety of ways.

In this study, inequality of (educational) opportunities is approached as a wicked problem that requires individual and collective commitment from various actors in educational policy and practice, such as local governments, school boards, teachers and parents. To reach collective efficacy, each actor should feel responsible for tackling the problem of inequality of opportunities (ownership) and be willing and able to do so (agency). Feelings of ownership and agency, however, might differ as they are affected by the perspective that actors have on the nature, causes and approaches of the problem of inequality of opportunity. Moreover, in order to be able to show agency, the context must provide sufficient space for actors to actually exert influence on a situation or problem.

This study investigates the perceptions and perspectives of various actors within a local context, regarding the problem of inequality of opportunity in education, their own role in tackling it and possible obstacles they might encounter in developing (collective) agency. The aim is to gain insight in the ways in which local networks handle 'wicked' problems. The central question of this study is: What views, ownership and agency do different actor groups in education have with regard to increasing the equality of opportunities in education?

This quantitative study focuses on various actor groups in their local contexts. In two medium-sized Dutch cities, the entire local school networks, including the municipal educational executive and local policy makers, school boards, headteachers, teachers and parents were asked to fill out an online survey.

Although this study takes place in the Netherlands, the insights will be useable by researchers and policy makers across the national borders as well, as the problem of inequality of opportunity and questions of agency and ownership are universal. During the discussion we can compare the results of our study to the experiences of the audience: do they recognize the way this ‘wicked’ problem is viewed and handled in their own local context? Moreover, possible explanations for (a lack of) perceived ownership and agency by various actors and potential implications for policy can be discussed.

The role of teachers as active curriculum-makers, who make curriculum by considering the contextual conditions and the needs of diverse learners, has particular importance for today's educational environments with a growing number of students from different socio-cultural backgrounds. Subsequently, recent educational reform movements in many places strongly emphasise the role of teachers in enacting curriculum policies, with an increased rhetoric of autonomy and flexibility that is linked to teacher agency (see, for example, Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence and New Zealand Curriculum Framework; Priestley & Biesta, 2013). Offering more flexibility and space for teachers have been addressed along with equity goals (Pantic, 2015; Sinnema & Aitken, 2013). Moreover, the teacher role as the agent of change has been widely discussed in relation to teaching diverse learners by referring to an effective teacher who can initiate and also resist the change to create equitable practices (e.g. Irvine, 1990; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Darling-Hammond, French & Garcia-Lopez 2002; Pantic, 2015).

However, Turkey followed somewhat different trends than international reforms by standardization of educational processes and offering narrow flexibility and autonomy for teachers, while still focusing on reducing the inequalities in the education system through policy papers (e.g. Education vision 2023; MoNE, 2018). Hence, it is crucial to examine teachers’ role in curriculum making for promoting social justice and equity in the context of Turkey.

Teacher agency has been addressed by referring capacity of the teacher and individual ability to act like a change-maker and critical decision-maker in the literature on educational change (e.g. Fullan, 1993; Zeichner, 2009; Villegas & Lucas, 2002). However, Priestley, Biesta, and Robinson (2013) have challenged this approach with their model for understanding teacher agency from an ecological perspective which is outlined by Emirbayer’s and Mische (1998), that suggests social, cultural, and structural conditions also play an important role in achieving agency for teachers in their work. The model of the ecological approach to teacher agency is a theoretical basis for this study that aims to explore teacher agency in curriculum making in respect of social justice and equity. Thus, this study aims to explore how do teachers' individual and ecological conditions enable and constrain mathematics teachers’ achievement of agency, in respect of curriculum making through social justice and equity in Turkey.

The following questions are addressed in this study:

1. How do mathematics teachers perceive their agency in relation to teaching diverse learners?
2. How do teachers perceive the mathematics curriculum and their role in curriculum making in relation to social justice and equity?
3. What are individual, cultural, social, and structural factors that influence teacher agency in mathematics curriculum making in relation to social justice and equity?

Auditing Gender Equality

This study contributes to critical literature on educational equality policies by examining equality promotion through school level functional equality planning. Equality policies in Nordic countries, such as Finland, have been described pro-active and exemplary, especially because state-feminism has an established status in the national policies (Kreitz-Sandberg and Lahelma, 2021; Lahelma, Öhrn and Weiner 2021). An equality planning obligation was extended to Finnish basic education (grades 1-9, age group 7-15 years) in 2015 in the reform of the Act of Equality (609/1986). The reform was a state-feminist establishment of equality work in elementary schools, that feminist researchers have desired for decades (Kreitz-Sandberg and Lahelma 2021). In this study, I examine critically the steps and missteps that the Finnish gender equality work has taken when the recently implemented equality tool – equality planning – was operationalised in elementary schools and reflects its potential in equality promotion in Finland and elsewhere.

The functional equality planning is targeted to challenge the educational equality policies that have repeatedly failed to problematise gendered binary structures and norms (see Ikävalko and Brunila 2019; Myyry 2022). In general, schools draft their equality promotion policy on the grounds of the gender inequalities, which school community find out by surveys addressed to pupils (FNAE 2015). Previous studies have examined the equality planning in upper secondary education (Ikävalko 2016), working life (Ylöstalo 2012; Ikävalko and Brunila 2011), and a diversity planning in universities (Ahmed 2012). These studies on equality tools have shown that the equality planning can offer a stage for institutional discussions on gender equality, but unfortunately the plan and the planning process are often truncated into technical performances of fulfilling the requirements. Additionally drafting a document requires time and effort from every-day school practices and thus after completing the formal document, there is no time left to critically ponder and raise awareness of inequal structures (Ikävalko & Brunila 2011, 328-329). Thus, despite the step forward in equality promotion, policy researchers have shown that bureaucratic logics of equality techniques depoliticise feminist approaches, because then feminist knowledge becomes mainstreamed and equality work is audited from the viewpoint of efficiency and effectiveness (Prügl 2011; Ikävalko 2016; Ahmed 2012; Ylöstalo 2012). From the critical viewpoint, equality planning represents an auditing culture of education, and then the plan is a document in which schools perform their equality (see Ball 2000).

However, due to the novelty of the gender equality tool in basic education, there is no information yet on how the equality plan succeeds in challenging binary inequalities. In this study, I show how equality planning as an equality tool discursively fix, shrink, stretch, and bend meaning of gender equality and what happens to problematisation of gender binarism in the process of functional equality planning. In particular, I will show that drafting a document does not itself problematise gender binarism, but instead it can be harmful for equality promotion, if the meaning of gender equality is stretched and bended to other premises or fixed to some depoliticised questions (see Lombardo, Meier and Verloo 2009).

Introduction

Policies and laws regarding child adoption in some countries have created barriers for gay and lesbian couples in the adoption process (Shelley-Sireci & Ciano-Boyce, 2002). Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019; yet, the Legislative Yuan has not legalized the adoption of children by same-sex couples. One of the main reasons for the child adoption barrier in Taiwan is that most older adults insist that children adopted by same-sex families oppose the traditional Chinese culture.

According to Herek (2002), older adults express less favorable generic attitudes toward sexual minorities than younger participants. Moreover, being a man, older, and highly religious predicted higher levels of sexual prejudice regarding same-sex parenting (Costa & Salinas-Quiroz, 2018). In addition, people with traditional gender beliefs tend to have more negative attitudes toward same-sex couples (including lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons) and same-sex parenting than people who hold beliefs in equal roles across gender (Jewkes et al., 2015; Webb et al., 2017). Negative beliefs about children raised by same-sex families are commonly characterized by unfounded fears related to children’s development, such as social rejection, homophobic bullying, and confusion about sexual orientation or gender identity (Gato & Fontaine, 2013). Moreover, negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians are one of the significant influences on public disapproval of parenting in same-sex families.

These previous studies on prejudice against gay and lesbian individuals among heterosexual adults or older adults were from the U. S. or other western countries. Comparatively, few empirical studies have been devoted to attitudes toward same-sex parenting within the context of the society in Asian countries. Since Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019, it is very important to understand the attitude toward same-sex parenting among older Taiwanese adults, the generation most resistant to change (Lee & Lin, 2020). What is the nature of Taiwanese heterosexual older adults’ attitudes toward same-sex parenting? Is there any significant relationship between Taiwanese heterosexual older adults’ background variables and their attitudes toward same-sex parenting? Without answering these questions, the prejudice against same-sex parenting cannot be solved and the goals of social justice for same-sex families cannot be achieved. Therefore, this study seeks to contribute to the limited literature on the effect of gender, age, educational background, gender role beliefs, and attitudes toward gay men and lesbians on attitudes toward same-sex families of Taiwanese heterosexual older adults.

In South Asia, the intersection of culture, class, gender, and access to education
addresses the unique interpretations of disability which is related to the social
environment. The metanarratives encased in the study elicit global concerns of social
exclusion, stigmatisation, marginalisation as well as exploitation of the weak and the
vulnerable. The red-light district of Kalighat is located in a neighbourhood of south
Kolkata and comprises of migrant women, not only from the nearby villages but also
from Bangladesh and Nepal. Most of the women and children are sold into prostitution
by their families and friends, whilst others come into the city to seek work and are forced into the flesh trade. The city of Kolkata has emerged as a hub for the trafficking of girls. The study explores the pivotal role of inclusion that is transforming the lives of
children living in the red -light district of Kalighat in the city of Kolkata, India. The
‘safe space’ provided by the stakeholders enables the children of Kalighat to complete
their education. This ensures that the children are not harvested back into the human
trafficking industry. The qualitative enquiry sheds light on the lived-in realities of the
informants. The findings from the study reinforces that ‘inclusion’ is imperative
towards realising dreams, aspirations and building bridges within societies to attain
equality for every person everywhere. Education is a great leveler only if societal
conditions are conducive for children to reach their potential. Hence, inclusion is
symbiotic to social justice and imperative for accessibility to education. The success
stories reinforce that there must be sustainable human resources to create opportunities for women and children who live in the shadows and are often overlooked. It signals that intervention needs to be contextualised in order to meet, address and overcome the challenges that hinders the realisation of human rights.

The fulfilment of the Human Rights of women is still lagging in Europe. Discrimination on the grounds of gender and sex remains widespread and has been further exacerbated by the economic crisis and ensuing austerity measures adopted in some European States, which have impacted on women disproportionately (COE, 2023). Recognising that intersectionality refers to a situation in which several grounds of discrimination (based on i.e. gender, colour, socio-economic status, age, migrant background, or disability) operate and interact with each other in a way that is inseparable and produces specific types of oppression, many women face intersecting inequalities in the European countries and intersectional policies cannot be implemented without centring racialised people (UE, 2023). European guidelines underline the need to recognise how racialised women are at a heightened risk of violence and how intersecting forms of discrimination exacerbate the consequences of gender-based inequalities, including due to the persisting biases and stereotypes.
Within the current international debate that calls for action to reduce inequalities (ONU, 2015) and to promote spaces for dialogue in our complex societies (Besley&Peters, 2012), our research project “Female voices, plural perspectives” (Authors, 2023) intends to open a perspective which is less explored in the intercultural educational discourse. It aims to engage women with a migrant background that are active constructors of relationships and positive actions in family and social-educational contexts and create safe meeting spaces, where they can take the floor and overturn the stereotypes and prejudices that accompany the representations and the educational interventions often aimed at them.
Following this direction, our project wants to promote the visibility of these women from diasporas in our multicultural societies, by highlighting their contribution in innovation-making professional roles and in countering discrimination and harassment and by analysing bias, stereotypical representations and missing representations in educational and social services.
By crossing their stories, we recognise the crucial role of racialised women in the changing process of Italian educational contexts and promoting equality, gender equality, respect, awareness-raising, non-discrimination, intercultural sensitivity and inclusiveness in social systems.
In the frame of critical, feminist, and decolonial pedagogy studies (Ngũgi, 1986; hook, 1990; Adichie, 2006), we would like to create a space where to encourage storytelling, recognize the educational value of these women's experience, and foster the processes of speaking out. Listening to and entering into dialogue with these women's voices can allow us to educate ourselves to a plural gaze and to cultivate narratives for a more inclusive and equal society.

School climate has an impact on how students with a migration background both succeed and experience a sense of belonging at school (Schachner et al., 2019). Students with a migration background often experience a lower sense of belonging than the majority population (Borgonovi, 2018). Importantly, perceptions of a positive diversity climate buffer against personal experiences of discrimination and predict better belonging (Baysu et al, 2016; Heikamp et al., 2020). In this study, we investigate how school climate, students’ sense of belonging, and perceptions of inclusion and exclusion are perceived through the narratives of culturally diverse students in Finland. The research questions are as follows:

RQ1 How do students from diverse backgrounds perceive inclusion and exclusion at their school?

RQ2 What aspects (of identity) are related to inclusion and exclusion in the narratives of diverse students?

With a large and culturally diverse school as its research site, the research attempts to uncover and assess the pluralities of belonging among the student body. This study is a part of a larger research project, which aims to advance understanding of how to develop more inclusive education for all students, especially for those with migration backgrounds.

Being part of a group is a basic need: a sense of belonging positively affects students’ well-being (Anderson & Graham, 2016) and school success (Schachner, et al., 2019). However, studies have shown that some students, especially those with a migration background, have a lower sense of belonging than the majority population in OECD countries in general (Borgonovi, 2018), and in some countries especially if they speak a language other than the language of instruction at home (Author 1 & Author X, 2021).

Sense of belonging is related to the experience of being accepted and belonging to a group (Lambert et al. 2013). The feeling of belonging is influenced by the experience of security, for example, that it feels good to come to school (Antonsich, 2010). However, belonging can also be viewed as discourses and practices of exclusion or inclusion, influenced by the values of different communities and groups (Juutinen, 2018; Yuval-Davis, 2011). Students’ well-being and sense of equality are further supported by their perceptions regarding their possibilities to participate at school, and being respected and listened to (Anderson & Graham, 2016). Students with a migration background often experience feelings of discrimination (Saarinen & Zacheus, 2019), which may affect their experience of school and lead to a weaker engagement in learning (Heikamp, ​​et al., 2020).

Students’ sense of well-being is associated with their perceptions of school climate (Aldridge et al., 2018). A positive school climate is safe, caring, participatory and encouraging, and it is associated with positive academic achievement (Cohen et al. 2009). Positive interactions between teachers and students promote an inclusive climate at school (Mælan, et al., 2020) and students’ well-being (Anderson & Graham, 2016). It is important that the school climate values diversity (Schachner et al., 2019), and actively challenges and works against inequalities (Freire, 1973). This is also essential for social justice (Mikander et al., 2018; Sleeter, 2014). The wellbeing of people with a migration background seems to be optimal when there are mutual positive attitudes as well as the lack of discrimination in the surrounding context (Berry, 1997). When students experience that the school climate values diversity, they have a higher sense of belonging to school, which is associated to better learning outcomes (Schachner et al., 2019). Intercultural education and education for social justice aims to promote these aforementioned issues (Deardorff & Jones, 2012; Freire, 1973; Hoskins & Sallah, 2011).

Recent years have seen increasing global attention to the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students (Kosciw and Pizmony-Levy 2016; UNESCO 2021). As one strategy for making schools more inclusive, activists have advocated for LGBT themes to be included in curriculum (Camicia 2016). Accordingly, some governments have passed LGBT-inclusive curriculum mandates. For example, the 2010 Equality Act in the United Kingdom mandates that schools teach about same-sex relationships as part of students’ Relationship and Sex Education curriculum (U.K. Department for Education 2014). In the United States, seven states have passed LGBT-inclusive history education mandates, which require, for example, that schools “accurately portray political, economic, and social contributions” of LGBT people (New Jersey Senate Bill 1569 2019).

Like many curriculum reform laws, these mandates have been controversial—particularly in diverse communities. In 2019, predominantly Muslim parents in Birmingham, England protested daily for 12 weeks in response to curriculum that taught about same-sex parent families (Parveen 2019). Also in 2019, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, more than 700 parents—including Coptic Christians, Muslims, Orthodox Jews, and Evangelicals—signed a petition protesting NJ 1659, which mandates teaching LGBT history. Amidst these larger protests, this study seeks to understand how educators are navigating these complex disagreements in their everyday teaching and interactions. Accordingly, we are conducting a comparative case study of two LGBT-inclusive curriculum mandates implemented in 2019: one nation-wide mandate in the United Kingdom, and one state-wide mandate in New Jersey. Our research questions are as follows:

RQ #1: What do educators include in LGBT-inclusive curriculum, and why?

RQ #2: How do teachers navigate potentially competing goals: teaching about diversity and equality on one hand, and being culturally responsive to their communities on the other hand?

In order to explore these questions, we use curriculum document analysis and educator interviews (see below). Comparing these dynamics in the U.S. and U.K. will enable us to analyze how differing political, demographic, and historical contexts shape the implementation of LGBT curriculum.

Protest against inclusive curricular reforms is nothing new (Figueroa 2003; Petrzela 2015; Zimmerman 2022). The protests against LGBT-inclusive curriculum, however, take a different tone. Rather than debating whether certain minority groups should be included in the national narrative, protesters against LGBT-inclusive curriculum often claim that the reforms violate their religious rights, that they seek to “make kids gay,” or that they inappropriately expose children to sexually explicit content (Nash and Browne 2021). Another key difference is that while majority populations cannot deny the existence of ethnic minority groups in their country (although they may downplay their importance), some anti-LGBT protesters deny the existence of LGBT peoples or claim that they have chosen a transgressive lifestyle that should not be recognized (Camicia 2016; Collins 2006). This case reveals a complex example of competing claims for state recognition by minorities (King and Samii 2020; Kymlicka 2007). While LGBT populations seek recognition via inclusion in the curriculum, some religious groups claim that learning LGBT history violates their rights.

In the midst of these debates, it is crucial to understand how educators—including curriculum writers, administrators, and teachers—grapple with these contradictions. Educators serve as intermediaries between the state and students, translating broad mandates into daily lesson plans. By investigating their thought processes and decision making, this study can provide insights into the possibilities and constraints of diversity and inclusion-based curricular mandates. As such, it aligns well with the ECER conference theme of “The Value of Diversity in Education and Educational Research” by delving into the contradictions of teaching pluralist ideals in diverse societies.

Students with low socio-economic backgrounds (SES) often have extenuating circumstances that interfere with their academic performance (Gardner, 2021). For example, students with low SES are slower to develop academic skills because of the underresourced school systems, the home literacy environment, the number of books owned, and parent distress (Aikens & Barbarin, 2008; Bergen, Zuijen, Bishop, & Jong, 2016) students with low SES often have fewer experiences that facilitate the development of basic skills such as phonological awareness, vocabulary, oral language and reading (Buckingham et al., 2013; McCracken (2013). In addition to reading, these students often struggle with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects (Banajeer, 2016). According to Jeynes' (2011) research, parents who are particularly well-educated, have key positions at work or earn a high salary are more concerned with their children's academic growth than parents who are from lower socioeconomic standing. Moreover, the last research shows that assignments are also beneficial in favor of students with high SES levels in terms of academic development (Calarco, 2022.) Children who attend schools in underprivileged areas also experience higher rates of drug use, homelessness, and violence than students attending wealthy schools. Social services must do more to assist students in these areas (Jeynes, 2011; Wilson, 1987, 1996). Another problem for schools in regions with low socio-economic status is the school budget. Schools in economically weaker areas have more limited budgets than those in wealthier areas (Şirin, 2005). Schools in Turkey are all managed by a centralized administration. This means that the budget that is allocated for each school is the same. However, according to regulations from the parent-teacher association, these organizations can provide financial and moral support to individual schools (Börü, 2019). This function of the school-parent union creates a socio-economic difference in schools in Turkey. In consequence, students may fall behind in academic development due to the lack of budget in schools with low SES levels in Turkey.

Considering the social justice leadership of school principals in this context, it is thought that the instructional leadership practices of school principals in low-voice schools should differ from those of high-voice ones. In this instance, the aim of this study is to determine how the instructional leadership practices of school principals should be for the development of social justice in schools with low SES and to evaluate the functionality of The MoNe regulations in practice. Accordingly, the research questions:

1. What are the requirements of students at low SES schools?

2. What should be the practices of school principals in schools with low SES?

3. How is the functionality of the MoNE applications in low SES schools?

Across the globe, classrooms are witnessing unprecedented student diversity that places continuous demands on schools and educators. The 2017 report from the European Commission entitled ‘Preparing teachers for diversity: the Role of Initial Teacher Education’, for instance, highlights the challenges of the changing nature of diversity in Europe brought about by international and intra-European migration. The complexity constituting this diversity is best captured through Vertovec’s (2007) notion of ‘super-diversity’ evident in intense diversity—marked by culture, language, religion, gender, class, and their intersections—among the society’s population. The report further emphasised the disadvantage experienced by students of immigrant backgrounds especially those of low socio-economic backgrounds. These students are left feeling alienated in schools against a backdrop of Eurocentric nationalism that continues to fuel polarisation and discrimination in society.

This paper engages with the challenge of educating in the context of diversity by posing the question: What matters for student participation in diverse contexts? It does so by examining the concept of ‘relationship’ as a key factor shaping student participation. This finding is taken from a research project that sought to examine the experiences and perspectives of educators and students in a culturally and linguistically diverse Australian primary classroom. Although Australia has been touted as a successful multicultural society, much of the basis for these claims rely on diversity statistics to celebrate multiculturalism or isolated stories of success that seem to emphasise the values of assimilation (e.g. Australian Government, n.d.). Literature continues to provide evidence that racism and discrimination persistently penetrate and perpetuate in culturally and linguistically diverse schooling contexts, which in turn negatively impacts on student participation and learning outcomes (Kalantzis, 2013; Rudolph, 2013).

In asserting that relationships do matter for student participation in multicultural schooling contexts, this paper seeks to problematise the dynamics and nature of ‘relationship’ and its contestations. Pedagogical frameworks that centre building relationships are traditionally tied to learner-centred approaches to teaching that emphasise developing a sense of community in the classroom (Cullen & Harris, 2009; Cornelius-White, 2007). Scholarship advocating for this approach advocates for feelings of ‘cohesion, trust, safety, interaction, interdependence, and a sense of belonging’ (Rovai & Whighting, 2005, p. 101) as pre-conditions for fostering safe spaces that enable dynamic and risky interactions. In the context of diversity and disadvantage, pedagogical approaches such as critical pedagogy and culturally responsive pedagogy also highlight the importance of relationships and community whilst contesting the dominance and privilege of Eurocentric and elite underpinnings of education—a taken-for-granted condition in learner-centred education. As such, the relationship-building in diverse contexts require educating ‘against the grain—to contest and resist the current social arrangements that constrain social justice’ (Keddie, 2012, p. 1).

In problematising the concept of relationship, I engage with Pierre Bourdieu’s (1977) notion of habitus. Habitus allows for an understanding of dispositions as culturally and socially mediated. Habitus, as explored by scholars, denote to both determinative and evolving or agentic characteristics (e.g., Reay, 2004). As such, habitus enables an understanding of how barriers to relationship-building in the context of diversity are sustained and maintained. In engaging with Bourdieusian notion of habitus, I illuminate how the dispositions of both educators and students constrain student participation and speculate on the possibilities for change and transformation.

This paper draws on one-year ethnographic fieldwork in a first-grade, public school, in a major Norwegian city, exploring how ethnic differences and similarities are understood and expressed by both children and teachers. The purpose of the study has been to scrutinize how ethnic diversification of pupil population transforms and modifies schools, contributing to the field of intercultural education and social justice in Norwegian Education.

The study was conducted in a first-grade classroom in a neighborhood where immigrant population prevails. In addition to ethnography, which was carried out during the entire school year 2021-2022, a focus interview of first-grade teachers was conducted at the end of the observation period. The class consists of approximately 60 six-years old pupils, of which 21 are immigrants, descendants of immigrants, children of labor migrants, and refugees.

Departing from Barad's (2007) material-discursive performativity and Zembylas (2015) White discomfort, premiliminary analyses of empirical material reveal the unquestioned and invisible hegemony of dominant Eurocentric knowledge enacted through affects, bodies, physical organization, and materiality in primary educational settings in Norwegian schools.

Preliminary analysis illustrates the existence of different assemblages in first-grade classroom. Assemblage is a philosophical approach originated from Deleuze and Guattari (1987). Assemblages embraces the ontological diversity of agency, redistributing the capacity to act from an individual to a network of bodies, things, and discourses. Assemblages disseminate agency to materiality, bodies and affects, decentering actions to include material-discursive relationality and entanglements. Material-discursive performativity refers to how human action is entangled with the physical organization and materiality surrounding assemblages, so that actions are made possible by connections in assemblages, not just by individuals.

In assemblages of children in this study, ethnic differences are played, expressed, compared, and discussed through materiality including toys, the body, touch, and talk. Children are daily concerned with their similarities and try to understand why they are different from each other. On the other hand, in teacher’s assemblages, pupils ethnic diversity seems invisible and non-present. Ethnic differences are not talked about by teachers in classrooms or taken up as a topic in teaching or other pedagogical practices. It seems that teachers understand ethnic differences as ‘cultural diversity’, a celebration of cultural expressions and material symbolism (flags, songs, food), without questioning the existence of hierarchies of power imbedded in colonial asymmetries between ethnic majority and minorities.

Leaning on new material and decolonial perspectives, this study shows how children and teachers are immersed in assemblages where school's physical organization and materiality reflects western values and whiteness as naturalized. The study also suggests the mismatch between the way differences are named, understood, and expressed among teachers and children in school settings.

Research suggests that schools often address diversity in superficial ways (Roegman et al., 2021), such as through world food days, rather than through sustained culturally relevant teaching (Ladson-Billings, 1994; 2014) that develops students’ multicultural competence and critical consciousness of larger social inequities. Jewish culture and antisemitism are often missing entirely from curricula that address diversity (Marcus, 2021). This omission is particularly worrisome as the ACLU (2013) reports that over 79,000,000 harbor antisemitic views in Western Europe. Within the US context, American Jews experience extremely high, and rising, rates of antisemitic hate crimes (ADL, 2021), with many reported antisemitic incidents occurring on school grounds (Adler, 2021). Violent antisemitic hate crimes are also rising in Europe; the UK saw a 34% increase in antisemitic attacks in 2020 (Goodwin & Greene, 2022).

Education, beginning with teachers and educational leader preparation programs must take responsibility for teaching children about antisemitism and also for addressing antisemitism within schools (Marcus, 2021). When schools teach about antisemitism at all, they often focus on the Holocaust, which suggests that antisemitism is no longer a problem. Even when schools do teach the Holocaust, it may only receive very brief coverage, such as reading the Diary of Anne Frank (Himmelstein, 2020), and focusing on Jews who were more culturally similar to their Christian neighbors, suggesting that Jews who spoke Yiddish or dressed differently may have been less deserving of empathy (Horn, 2021). Holocaust education often focuses on individual experiences rather than the social, political, and economic conditions that allow antisemitism to flourish.

This paper uses culturally relevant teaching (Ladson-Billings, 1994; 2014) as a framework for examining the UNESCO (2020) curricula on addressing antisemitism in schools. UNESCO offers four curricula in their Addressing Anti-Semitism in Schools series: for primary teachers, secondary teachers, vocational teachers, and for school directors. These curricula were developed to assist educators globally in training teachers to prevent and respond to antisemitism in schools (UNESCO 2020).

We ask, how do the UNESCO Antisemitism curricula promote academic achievement, cultural competence, and sociopolitical awareness in both Jewish and non-Jewish students?

The UNESCO curricula can help promote academic achievement through clear links with existing international curricula and standards, e.g., clear connections to existing social studies and language arts curricula.

Developing students’ cultural competence requires schools, including institutions of higher education, to teach positive, accurate representation of Jews, Jewish culture, and Judaism, including diversity within the Jewish people. Yet, research suggests that Jews are often omitted from multicultural curricula (Marcus, 2021; Rubin, 2013), or that they may be represented inaccurately, e.g., lumped inappropriately into a “Judeo-Christian” umbrella that is primarily Christian (Joshi, 2006).

Developing students’ sociopolitical awareness requires teachers to explicitly teach students how to recognize and understand antisemitism, including ways in which it looks and sounds different from other forms of discrimination. Antisemitism is, fundamentally, a conspiracy theory that Jews hold too much power over, e.g., the government or media (SPLC, 2023). Antisemitic statements, then, may sound different from deficit-based forms of discrimination and oppression, such as anti-Black racism, that position certain groups as inferior (Author, 2022). A culturally relevant curriculum addressing antisemitism should help students understand how and why Jews were scapegoated for economic and political crises in mid-twentieth century Europe based on age-old stereotypes of Jews controlling the economy in particular, and the government more broadly. As Europe, the U.S., and other countries and regions with long histories of antisemitic ideology face economic and political turmoil related to the COVID-19 pandemic, conditions are ripe for scapegoating Jews again rather than addressing the root causes of existing problems.

In Europe, religious education is recognized as a resource, a tool used for the purpose of promoting democratic values, realizing human rights and active citizenship. More precisely, religious education serves as one of the tools for accomplishing European policies in the matters of coexistence in a pluralistic Europe. The institution that promotes it the most is the Council of Europe, connecting it with the principles of its own organization, namely human rights, democracy and the rule of law. (Council of Europe 2003, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2014; Keast, 2007; Jackson 2014) The need to expand and deepen knowledge about the religious phenomenon within the school education system is becoming increasingly obvious, and education for interreligious learning and dialogue in the context of intercultural education has become particularly important.

International research has shown that two aspects are particularly important for interreligious learning:

1) cognitive aspect: knowledge about other religions can greatly contribute to overcoming prejudices and stereotypes that prevent communication;

2) emotional and interactive aspect: collaborative learning, learning through encounters that promote empathy and mutual respect among members of different religions, is recognized as the most effective method of interreligious learning. (Korkeakoski – Ubani, 2018; Whitworth, 2020; Rothgangel – Jäggle – Aslan, 2020; Sweetman 2021)

Although there seems to be a tendency in Europe to implement interreligious learning through a non-confessional and value-neutral model of religious education, it should be pointed out that certain recommendations and declarations (Council of Europe 2008, 2011, 2015) show that confessional (the term used in the documents is ‘denominational’) religious education can achieve the goals of the religious dimension of intercultural education: ‘learning about religions and non-religious beliefs is not incompatible with denominational learning, as both types of learning help to shape values and attitudes, especially those needed to promote the core values of the Council of Europe’. (Council of Europe 2009) Although there are differences in those two approaches, there is no obstacle to the achievement of intercultural goals, but it is necessary that the approach to learning about religions includes and respects certain principles and values, advocating holistic teaching as parents have the right that their children are religiously educated in accordance with their religious affiliation. An open attitude and critical reflection must be advocated in every model. Religious education must promote intercultural goals, reduce ignorance, remove prejudices and stereotypes.

In this analysis, the main research question revolves around the extent to which confessional religious teaching, in all three versions present in the Croatian national curriculum, is open to intercultural education. It is important, in fact, to answer the question relating to the extent to which religious education takes into account interreligious education and dialogue within the framework of intercultural education.

In the Croatian educational system, the subject primarily responsible for this issue is religious education. There are three confessional religious education curricula in the national curriculum: the Catholic religious education curriculum, the Orthodox religious education curriculum, and the Islamic religious education curriculum. The aim is to investigate the representation of the Council of Europe’s policy guidelines on the religious dimension of intercultural education within the subject curricula of Islamic, Orthodox and Catholic religious education. The theoretical premises of the research were based on the guidelines contained in the fundamental document of the Council of Europe on the religious dimension of intercultural education (Council of Europe, 2008) and intercultural competence (Jackson, 2014). The key concepts of the content categories stemmed from the aforementioned theoretical framework and in the context of the educational policies of the Council of Europe, they are expected to be implemented in the subject curricula at the national level.

Embodied education acknowledges the importance of sensorimotor experiences in developing cognitive processes and the active use of embodied experiences during the learning process (Georgiou & Ioannou, 2019; Gulliksen, 2017). Such approaches have been demonstrated to be effective in promoting students’ understanding of science concepts (Johnson-Glenberg & Megowan-Romanowicz, 2017; Lindgren et al., 2022). Since embodied experiences are developed by the interaction between humans and the environment (Dewey, 1958) the role of the situated sociocultural context for science learning and its relationship with the embodiment needs to be better understood (Danish et al., 2020; Leung et al., 2011). Consequently, this research aimed to investigate the relationship between embodiment, sociocultural context, and their impact on the understanding of scientific concepts.

Metaphors are indicative of the way individuals express their understanding of scientific concepts (Johann et al., 2020). They may also capture differences in participants’ conceptualizations (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). The use of a particular metaphor has also been shown to be profoundly related to an individual’s embodiment and their context (Kövecses, 2020). Consequently, metaphor analysis was deemed to be the ideal approach to answer the three main research questions:

RQ 1: How do students’ embodied experiences impact metaphor production for scientific concepts?

RQ 2: How does students’ sociocultural context impact metaphor production for scientific concepts?

RQ 3: How do these two factors impact students’ understanding of scientific concepts?

For the significance of this research, firstly, it can provide a new perspective to embodied science education by extending it to the sociocultural context of science education. Secondly, it may increase our understanding of metaphors, which have grown in importance in science education. Moreover, this research, which focuses on the impact of sociocultural context on science learning in a specific community, should be of interest to audiences with various sociocultural backgrounds. The theories and results involved in this study could be utilised to further conduct relevant research in other communities or promote science learning for culturally diverse students.

In the liberal world order, democracy constitutes as an important prerequisite for sustainable development, for security and peace, and for the protection of universal human rights. Therefore, democracy promotion is a central element of the foreign policy of almost all OECD countries, including the Federal Republic of Germany. (Leininger 2015: 509) As indicated in the “Konzeption 2000” (see AA 2000), not only Germany’s Security and Economic Foreign Policy, but also its cultural and educational engagement abroad, the “Auswärtige Kultur und Bildungspolitik” (AKBP), aims to provide important impetus for stabilization, democratic development and the opening up of civil society. (AA 2011: 5)

Various actors are involved in implementing this policy goal. These include the German Schools Abroad (DAS), which hitherto have received only little attention in research, although the large network of 140 DAS is the oldest of its kind. (Adick 2014: 109; Mägdefrau/Wolff 2018; Herzner 2019: 25) In particular, § 8 of the “Gesetz über die Förderung deutscher Auslandsschulen” (Law on the Promotion of German Schools Abroad) requires that the DAS, funded by the German foreign office, need to take into account the democratic values of Germany. (Herzner 2019: 19) The DAS quality framework likewise demands that the DASs’ educational work imparts democratic values and promotes democratic action.” (translated by the author; ZfA 2018: 13)

Offering education that goes far beyond the teaching of the German language and seeking to realize the goals of the AKBP, namely the promotion of democracy, the DAS are unique in their nature. (Klingebiel 2018: 230) However, the DAS face particular challenges, as a large proportion of them are located in non-democratic countries. (Chahin-Dörflinger 2016: 8) For example, DAS in non-democratic countries have to deal with the discrepancies between the schooling and learning culture of the DAS and the formal education system of the host country, they are characterized by a highly selective student body and strong homogenization efforts while having to integrate into two cultures, and their potential to promote democracy must also be evaluated in light of the DAS' colonial past. (cf. Scheunpflug 2014: 31ff.; Eschborn et al. 2011: 7f.)

For the purposes of exploring the field of democracy promotion and education at DAS in non-democratic contexts, I examined the following questions in the framework of a single-case study of the German School in Nairobi (DSN), Kenya: 1. Which significance does democracy education and its aspects as indicated on the Degede (2017) catalogue on “Characteristics of democratic schools” have at the DSN? 2. How do these aspects of democracy education relate to the specific conditions of the non-democratic host country Kenya? 3. Based on the case study, what general "fields of action" for democracy education in the DAS can be identified?

In my presentation, I will first give an overview of the role of democracy promotion in the AKBP and present the state of research on system and typology of the DAS. I will then introduce the theoretical background which consists of, firstly, the discourse on the role of education in external democracy promotion led by mainly political scientists (Finkel 2003; Bush 2015), secondly, the role of schools in transition and transformation research and theory (Henze 2003; Merkel et al. 2019) and thirdly, theories of democratic pedagogy (Dewey 1916 [2016]; Freire 1971). After outlining the research method (qualitative content analyses of documents and expert interviews) and describing the case of the DSN and Kenya, I will present the main results and discuss with regard to their practical implications and theoretical added value.

Due to the world attention following Finland’s PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) success, Finland’s education export efforts accelerated over the past decades (Schatzh et al., 2017). One branch of education export activity are Finnish International Schools which have emerged in varied locations around the world, including: Vietnam, Qatar, Oman, Maldives and India. These schools are unique cultural and social mix, as they draw from the Finnish education system in various ways. However, each of these schools also teach through their local curriculum and employ local teaching staff. Also common to these schools is that they are fee-paying schools.

Finland International Schools are part of rapidly growing international school sector (Hayden, 2011) with four-fold increase from 1700 international schools up and running in year 2000 (ISC, 2015) to 7014 international schools operating in year 2014 (ICEF Monitor, 2014 as cited in Bunnell et al, 2016). The desire for the Finnish education is a new variation on the long trend of international or global curriculum represented most notably in the International Baccalaureate. The curriculum, pedagogy, networks and culture of the international school intends to provide its students with the skills to participate and move across an interconnected global world, through resources of international networks, connections, and transnational social capital, as well as the curriculum and examination processes (Howard & Maxwell, 2021a; 2021b). However, the epistemological roots of these curricula and ways of learning remain rooted in a European and Western orientation and knowledge base, displaying the continuance of a post-colonialist approach (Spivak, 2008).

The origins of the International school sector is undeniably anglo-centric, and English language is used extensively as the language of curriculum, teaching and learning in the international school sector (Bunnell, 2016; Bunnell et al, 2016). The language dimension is interesting also in relation to the Finnish international schools, as these schools use English as lingua franca, sandwiched between the local language spoken by the local teachers, students, and parents, and Finnish spoken by the Finnish teachers working in these schools. As such language creates a double layer of imported (colonial) influences: the first layer being the Finnish education system, and the second the English language in communities where English may not be the spoken language in the locality.

Based on online material from three different Finnish international schools operating in different countries in Asia this article examines how these schools conceptualise and articulate their “Finnishness” in their online publications. The following research questions guide this study:

According to the schools’ promotional material available to the public:

Q1 What do these schools deem as “Finnish” in the education they offer?

Q2 Who are the clientele of Finnish International schools?

In our quest to understand how these schools communicate their Finnishness to their local clientele we draw on postcolonial theory. More specifically Bhabha’s concept of the third space and cultural hybridity (1994) allows us to explore how a curriculum and pedagogical approaches travel from a western “high achieving” country context to majority world countries and the ways in which curriculum and pedagogy occupy a space that is a hybrid of Finnish culture and that of local culture.

In order to cope with complex social and economic transformation, both locally and globally, innovation and pedagogical change are necessary (Sancho-Gil et al., 2020). Along these lines, the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals highlight the importance of quality education across the globe. The application of technologies, methodologies and classroom dynamics focused on creative teaching (Jeffrey, 2006) allow for the design of collaborative and participatory proposals to favour these aspects (Vigo Arrazola, 2021). In this sense, interdisciplinarity facilitates the creation of didactic proposals in relation to the life and context of the students.

In the same way, in the processes of change and pedagogical innovation, it is necessary to generate scenarios that invite students to freely create activities that are relevant to students and that meet their interests and needs (Jeffrey, 2006). Educational contexts should promote a diversity of possibilities for expression and participation, give voice to and recognise the differences and identities of all people (Blasco-Serrano et al., 2019; Slee and Allan, 2001).

When these activities are accompanied by a participatory and collaborative methodology, with the possibility of decision-making in relation to the students' reality, where the teacher acts as a guide, the motivation and self-control of students' learning can increase significantly. A context of collaboration and exchange, and the joint creation of knowledge favours the reinforcement of people's personal and socio-cultural identity (Blasco-Serrano et al., 2019; García and Delgado, 2017; Vigo Arrazola, 2021). Along the same lines, it promotes respect for the rest of the members of the group (Dieste et al., 2019), as well as the feeling of belonging to the group. Dialogue and communication give children the opportunity to express their ideas and creativity, to engage in their learning and to achieve the proposed objectives (Freire, 1975). Thus, critical education, which seeks to educate citizens with the capacity for social and political participation through digital media, is a challenge.

This critical and reflective education becomes even more necessary in complex and vulnerable socio-political contexts in different territories of the planet, as is the case of the Sahrawi refugee camps. Since 1975, the Sahrawi population has been refugees in the Tindouf camps. After almost 50 years, they have created an education system that has succeeded in making almost the entire population literate, but which is still anchored in a rote and authoritarian teaching system. Methodologies that are decontextualised and removed from the lives and interests of students are causing high failure and dropout rates. These problems are of great concern to education policymakers and teachers in refugee camp schools. Consequently, this research, contextualised in the schools of the Sahrawi camps in Tindouf (Algeria) and framed within the Transforming Schools Project, focuses on the application of teaching innovation processes, with a focus on student-centred methodologies, to improve and transform educational processes in interaction with the immediate environment, taking advantage of the resources that offer the possibility of evolving, of transforming reality and the context (Sancho-Gil et al., 2020).

Therefore, the objective of this study is to improve the teaching competence of teachers in the Primary Schools of two schools in the camps, based on the critical analysis and reflection of their needs and their educational practices, in order to promote critical thinking and the capacity for reflection in their students. At the same time, we are trying to contribute to reducing school dropout and school failure rates.

My research project focuses on how the use of Finnish, Swedish and English, as well as other languages, is argued in the Finnish academia. I explore this discussion in application to the everyday practices, teaching, research, and knowledge production. Looking at the documents, public discussions, and interviews, I describe a multilayered picture of the field and symbolic power of languages (Bourdieu, 2003). Ideas about power, equality and linguistic rights along with the internationalized university practices and lingua franca complicate the discussion about languages. The question of how to manage the linguistic situation on the institutional level also involves an ethical dimension and multiple ways of looking at it.

My goal is to explicate the positions of different actors within the university environment and justifications they utilize to argue about the actual and desired use of Finnish, English, Swedish and other languages. This analysis advances the understanding of how internationalization includes or could include national language protection. Moreover, how national language protection is linked to national interests in education and internationalization. At the same time, there is a rise of neonationalism in higher education (Saarinen, 2020; Brøgger, 2020), and part of the discussion about language protection also takes place in this sphere.

There is a growing debate about languages in higher education, and their impact on national academic culture, internationalization and multilingualism. During the panel discussions at the Language Awareness Campaign (KITI) at the University of Helsinki, various participants claimed that either Finnish, Swedish or English are not used sufficiently within the university, and that this deficiency has a negative impact on the academic life. What the audience has agreed on, however, is that multilingual academia would be a fruitful academic environment, and should be promoted (KITI, 2017). This demonstrates that debates about the place of different languages in academia are going to continue.

Lindstedt (2013) argues that increased use of English in Finnish universities discriminates Finnish candidates in the recruitment process and administrative duties within the university. He adds that current coexistence of languages within the academia is prone to multiple problems in the future. Heimonen and Ylönen (2017) write about university staff’s ideological preference of the use of multiple languages instead of “English only”. However, along with these concerns, there are also numerous problematic situations that international students and scholars encounter due to the lack of information in English, lack of social circle and challenges of learning Finnish (Medvedeva, 2018). Yet, another perspective states that it is crucial for the international students to be able to speak Finnish in order to find employment and stay in Finland after graduation (Shumilova et al, 2012). The article that I am going to present focuses on the international students’ and scholars’ voices in this debate. The discussion ranges from language speaking and learning in the neoliberal sense, as a form of human capital, which makes it solely an individual responsibility (see, e.g. Kubota, 2016) to the understanding of the institutional politics as advancement of English.

Research questions:

(1). What kind of power is ascribed to different languages by a variety of actors in the field?

(2). What kind of value, ethical claims are communicated by different respondents?

(3). What kind of practices are considered as the most valuable or problematic by different participants?

This paper explores conditions for social upward mobility through education. The social reproduction within the educational system globally sustains an unequal society. Amongst the students within higher education, there is an overrepresentation of students with at least one parent with a high school degree. The phenomenon of social reproduction through education is global and existing also in countries such as Sweden where there is a high level of formal equality in education. Previous research provides much knowledge on the relation between social structures and education, providing explanations on the mechanisms leading to a preservation and reproduction of hierarchic social structures in school and through the education system. There is less research on the exceptions, what enables students of non-academic backgrounds to reach success in school and what motivates them to aim for higher education. The majority of such studies are retrospective, based on interviews with adults that have experienced upward social mobility through education.

As a part of a monographic PhD dissertation in which thirteen high performing Swedish youths whose parents have no higher education, share their life stories once a year during a three-year period, this paper provides an overview of some of the upcoming results as two thirds of the empirical data has been collected. The aim of the study is to gain knowledge about how these youths, who are structurally less likely to attain higher education, have achieved success in school and strive for higher education. The research question is: What enables school achievement and aims of attending higher education, amongst youths whose parents do not have experience of higher education?

The selection of these students is based on the criteria: they attend upper secondary school; they finished 9^th grade with high grades; their parents did not attend university; they strive for higher education. The interviews are unstructured life story interviews which are analysed both biographically and narratively, i.e., both what is told and how it is told. The research procedure follows the guidelines for Interpretative Grounded Theory according to Strauss. Theoretical concepts will be articulated based on the empirical data rather than using the data in order to verify or test already existing theories. Several theoretical frameworks have been studied as part of developing a theoretical sensitivity, frameworks that might be applicable to the results presented in this paper. However, the current research phase explores the contents of these interviews by letting them speak for themselves before applying already existing theories or framing a new substantial theory upon these life stories. The results provided here are not seen as ‘discovered’ nor ‘constructed’ but ‘interpreted’.

An overview of the results from the so far 25 interviews made with 13 youths, provides a picture of a diversity of sources for motivation, both between and within interviews. Frequently mentioned sources of motivation are the following: giftedness/ ability; vocation/ interest; making parents proud; expectations; a stable economy in the future; norms given by siblings or peers; caring for the mother in the future; teachers’ influence/ encouragement; avoiding their parents’ destiny and; escaping a situation.

A doctoral study was interrupted when Spivak stepped in to ask if the subaltern could speak (1992); what resulted was a productive undoing (Spivak, 2012) of the original research study in order to seek to understand how a research study conducted by a white, middle-class, Western doctoral student from a Western university, could be carried out in a more ethical and equitable way when researching in the Majority World.

The original research study intended to develop a rich, nuanced understanding of children’s play and early learning in the early childhood classes of an NGO run school in India while simultaneously problematizing the universal, uncritical application of dominant Western discourses and research to the lives of marginalised children living diverse childhoods. Combining Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory and Vygotsky’s socio-cultural historical theory, with postcolonial theory the study was designed to collect data by ethnographic observations in the school and wider society, along with participatory methods with the children, and interviews with teachers and parents. Three years in, after fieldwork had been completed, along came Spivak, demanding to be heard; prompting questions about voice, power, authority, agency, ethics, and equity. Was the voice of the researcher taking up space that wasn’t hers to take? Was her voice colonizing the research space?

After a process of hyper-self-reflexivity (Kapoor, 2004) and critical consciousness (hooks, 1989), the research study was productively undone which allowed for every choice that was made: the methodology, the theoretical framework, the research tools, the ethical approval application, as well as the research questions and motivations, to be seen as data that was plugged in (Jackson & Mazzei, 2012; 2013) to multiple theories and interdisciplinary perspectives to allow for an interrogation from a multi-perspective analysis. Post-colonial theories, de-colonial theories, anti-racist theories, and feminist theories were used for the plugging in process.

In this paper, key aspects of Bernstein’s theory will be analysed within the Icelandic context to determine whether his theory can be adapted and employed when researching socio-economic inequities in upper-secondary education in Iceland during the COVID‑19 pandemic and beyond (Bernstein, 1971/2009, 1973/2009, 1977/2009, 1990/2009). Theoretical ideas about educational inequity included in recent Icelandic research are dominated by Bourdieu’s (Bourdieu, 1990) argument that class is constituted by economic, cultural and social capital. While researchers have employed this theory to better understand the role of education in the creation of social inequalities within society, Bourdieu himself questioned whether education operates as a disruptive and emancipatory force in society since it is reflective of dominant groups and is, therefore, a social reproduction force. While Bourdieu has dominated the research field of socio-economic inequity in education in Iceland, Basil Bernstein tends to only be cited in passing.

Þórlindsson (1987) conducted an empirical test of Basil Bernstein’s socio-linguistic model in Icelandic surroundings around forty-five years ago. In his findings, he suggested that while there was a correlation between social class, family interaction, IQ and school performance within his dataset of 338 randomly selected 15‑year-old students in Reykjavik, important revisions should be made to Bernstein’s model, specifically his methods for measuring elaborated[1] and restricted codes. Bernstein defines codes as elaborating or restricted. The principles of elaborating and restricted codes involve access to meanings. In the case of restricted codes, meaning is symbolically condensed and restricted to those sharing common bodies of knowledge. In the case of elaborating codes, meaning is semantically expanded and exchanged with those not sharing the same body of knowledge. Þórlindsson’s test was premised upon Bernstein’s earlier papers (Bernstein, 1962a, 1962b, 1964, 1966, 1970) on restricted and elaborated linguistic codes being analysed using a syntactic approach. Later Bernstein developed a more semantic approach under the influence of Hasan and Halliday (Moore, 2013).

Prior to examining Bernstein’s work, it is important that researchers consider whether his ideas are applicable in the setting in which they are operating. Bernstein developed his theory in the latter part of the twentieth century in England, where the educational system and social environment were very different from what they are in contemporary Iceland, especially considering the unusual circumstances within educational settings resulting from the COVID‑19 pandemic.

The following questions should be asked before applying Bernstein’s ideas to contemporary Iceland:

• To what extent can Bernstein’s tools help to analyse the educational system during unconventional circumstances, such as home teaching and learning during school closures?
• Is Bernstein’s idea of classes, or social groups as he later referred to them, useful in educational research in contemporary Iceland?
• Are there any indications that would suggest access to pedagogic discourse is different for parents based on their socio-economic status?

[1] Bernstein later changed the term ‚elaborated code‘ to ‚elaborating code‘.

This presentation reflects an ongoing research project inquiring into the practice of educational psychologists and how such practice helps to bring about social justice. Based on Standish’s (2001) view of ethics as “that broader conception in which it is recognised that values permeate our lives” (487), this research seeks an understanding of educational psychology practice as constantly ethical, rather than seeing “the ethical com[ing] in, as it were, at points of conflict” (487). The research question that underpins this research presentation is: how do practicing educational psychologists construct social justice through their practices?

In past writing, we have argued that the structures which are aimed at supporting social justice often position educational psychologists who inhabit them, so that their thinking, being and doing are shaped by these systems. This is because structures tend to fix the meanings and implementations of the values they are created to support, such as social justice, as well as determine the educational psychologists’ identity and their function. This is also the case for other professionals and educators working within these structures, and also for those requiring the involvement of EPs and other professionals.

In such an environment, it is easy to forget that every thought, decision and stance is ethical, and can have an impact on promoting social justice. Practitioners are “lulled into a sweet sense of security” as established procedures and policies effectively replace thinking and reduce complexity in situations. In this presentation, through the use narratives, we argued that that EPs can interrupt the procedural flow and provide a dissenting voice which can ultimately lead to social justice in ways that the normal flow of procedure does not.

In this presentation we would like to frame this invitation for EPs to recognise their interruptions and dissensus (with what feels like the natural order of things) as ethical and just, although it can lead to discomfort in practice. We draw upon Jacques Derrida’s (1992) writing on aporia to distinguishes between law, as seen in procedures and prescribed practices, and that which spurs us to question them because of a specific situation. Derrida calls this questioning a reaching out for justice, as it “involves reinventing, rejustifying and reaffirming (or otherwise) that which is prescribed” (writing and aporia paper). Merely following the law or a rule is legal, it is procedural, whereas for a law to be just there must be ‘fresh judgement’ where the person thinks and evaluates again whether the procedure is the appropriate course of action in the specific circumstance.

This presentation will use narratives constructed from research carried out with educational psychologists working in Scotland. International literature (see for example Shriberg et al. 2008; Schulze et al. 2019) indicates that educational psychologists contribute to understanding their role in supporting social justice within complex educational contexts. This presentation contributes to this international literature by introducing Derrida’s notion of aporia, as irresolvable internal contradiction for educational psychology practice, where often educational psychologists have that unsettling feeling of uncertainty, discomfort and self-doubt. Thus this presentation seeks to make strange what is familiar (Allan 2004) and is an acknowledgement that it is impossible to ever capture all in a system, method or law.

Beyond scholarly publications and communications, what do we do with our knowledge of crisis, disadvantage, or domination?

In this presentation, I reflect on my experience of (or attempt at) what Ernest Boyer referred to as the scholarship of engagement. The scholarship of engagement entails putting the power of our ideas and knowledge in service to pressing societal problems, including inequality, poverty, racism and sexism, and environmental crisis. For Boyer (1996), when we take the scholarship of engagement seriously, we use research and knowledge "in the search for answers to our most pressing social, civic, economic, and moral problems" (Boyer, 1996, p.11). One aspect of the scholarship of engagement is evidence-based advocacy. To advocate is to work on behalf of those on the margin of society. To scholarly advocate is to use robust evidence to push for changes in policy and practice. It aims at raising awareness about unjust inequalities in society, empowering people who live with disadvantages, and influencing policy actions.

This paper outlines three pillars of scholarly advocacy: empirical evidence, ethical expectations, and theoretical commitments.

Empirical Grounds

In a recently completed nationally funded project, I explored the educational experiences and attainment of refugee-background African youth in Australia. Data were generated through interviews with young people and equity practitioners at schools and universities, policy document reviews, and statistical information requests from government agencies. The study's findings highlight the group's policy invisibility, the low success rate in higher education, and the experience of racial Othering.

Ethical Expectations

Is it ethically acceptable to use refugee stories without any benefit to them? To answer this question, it is important to start with expectations of procedural ethics. Beyond the empirical evidence on persisting disadvantage of refugees, my advocacy work has also been guided by a desire to meet the ethical expectations regarding the fair distribution of research benefits. Echoing ethical principles outlined in the Belmont Report, the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research defines justice as one of the key principles that guide human studies. The National Statement underlines the importance of ensuring distributive and procedural justice in human research: "While benefit to humankind is an important result of research, it also matters that benefits of research are achieved through just means, are distributed fairly, and involve no unjust burdens" (NHMRC, ARC & UA, 2018, p.9). In other words, ethical research is not extractive; it does not extract data and run away with little or no commitment to the voices and benefits of the participants. Ethical research uses the stories of the participants to generate benefits to them. There might be many ways to ensure that the benefits of research are distributed fairly. In refugee research, I believe one way of ensuring fair and timely distribution of the benefits of research is through evidence-based advocacy work.

Theoretical Commitments

My research is also informed by a critical theory of society, which assumes that existing relations and power dynamics are not "givens to be verified" (Horkheimer, 1972, p.244) but social constructions that reflect the interests of powerful members of society. Accordingly, the role of the critical social researcher is to faithfully reflect reality from the situation and perspective of the disadvantaged. As Collier (1998) noted, "When it is just a set of false beliefs that enslaves, their replacement by true beliefs is liberation" (p. 461, emphasis in original). In essence, critical theory challenges what Bourdieu refers to as "a 'socially weightless' mode of thought that is so far removed from ordinary dynamics of oppression that ultimately its own validity and normative relevance is thrown into question" (McNay 2012, p.235). Put differently, a critical scholar cannot afford to be a 'disinterested expert' and should not assume the position of a neutral observer—taking a stance on issues is an unavoidable responsibility.

Situations of poverty have been rising in Europe for some time, with the risk of widening inequalities (digital divide, school dropout, employment). With the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation has only deteriorated (European Commission, 2021). Among the families most at risk from increased living costs and social exclusion are those of people from a migrant background. As reports from several European countries indicate (Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain – Eurochild 2022), young people from a migrant background are among those at greatest risk of poverty/social exclusion (alongside young Roma people and children of single-parent households – StC, 2021). In these groups, we find many of the traits that characterise at-risk families: large families, (under)employment in low-paying work, minority. Intersectional theory (Cho et al., 2013) posits that the presence of multiple forms of diversity amplifies the experience of exclusion and subordination faced by certain categories.

Alongside childcare, healthcare and housing, education and school are key battlegrounds in the fight against the increasing risk of social exclusion and poverty among youth. Indeed, “education is one of the key deliverables expected under the NRRP, in 2022/2023. The plan calls for comprehensive reforms and substantial investments to strengthen education and improve primary and secondary education outcomes” (Eurochild, 2022, 70).

While the EU’s Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan recognises the value of education in promoting inclusion (“everyone has the right to quality and inclusive education” – European Commission, 2021, 44) young people’s school experiences remain a “mixed bag”. The school is an arena for mutual recognition, empowerment, and capacitation, but also one in which students can experience discrimination, isolation, and negative forms of selection. With the perpetuation of cultural stereotypes that underpin hierarchical relationships between social groups, the socioeconomic inequalities of the outside world are frequently reproduced within the school system. Children from a migrant background, in particular, are overrepresented among school dropouts and under-achievers (Eurochild 2022, 52).

Students from minorities encounter numerous difficulties in Western education that are often comprehended through the lens of deficit thinking (Yosso, 2005). Students whose strengths differ from those recognised by the curriculum and in society are considered in terms of what they do not know, relative to the education system’s established standards (Levinson, 2011).

Deficit thinking provided a theoretical-scholarly underpinning to a compensatory (and assimilationist) approach to practice involving students from “different” social or cultural situations. In earlier days, in Europe, it was this compensatory approach that characterised the relationship between the school institution and students from a migratory background.

Despite the fact that, at a legislative-policy level, the compensatory mindset was superseded decades ago by an intercultural approach, day-to-day experiences of school and real-life socio-cultural contexts present a more complex, multi-faceted reality. Lacking training in the hidden dimensions of culture (Hall, 1990), well-meaning teachers often regard such students – with their “different” competences, socioeconomic status, and family background – as somehow “lacking”, and end up contributing to the reproduction of existing inequalities.

Drawing on authors working from a decolonial standpoint (Quijano, 1992; Dussel, 2000; Mignolo & Walsh, 2018), the present contribution seeks to set out a theoretical explanation of the academic difficulties faced by these students (author, 2022), and to re-examine the theoretical underpinning of the deficit thinking that characterises the encounter with students from minority and low-socioeconomic-status backgrounds across the Global West (see Anzaldua, 2012; Dei et al., 2000; Zoric, 2014).

Inspired by the concept of the “coloniality of knowledge” developed by Anibal Quijano (1992), which is central to the decolonial literature, is our guiding research question: is there a connection between the deficit-thinking approach to education and the "coloniality of knowledge"?

In this paper we present parts of our book about diversity of opinion in the classroom. The book is based on empirical examples from two qualitative studies of teachers and students in junior high and high schools in Norway. One of the studies investigates students’ understandings of and associations to prejudice and stereotypes tied to minority groups and identities in school, while the other explores teachers’ practices in working with awareness raising and prevention of prejudice. Norwegian schools are responsible to facilitate for diversity of opinions and to equip students to manage it (KD, 2017), and teachers have a central role in managing the school’s educational mission related to awareness of attitudes and values among students. The empirical material from the two studies, however, suggests that discomfort and uncertainty in relation to diversity of opinions in the classroom can affect teaching situations for both teachers and students. The teachers’ narratives appear to be closely linked to contextual factors and the social dynamics in the classroom, and their practices seem to largely be shaped by their own choices and assessment in each situation. In the students’ stories, on the other hand, discomfort and uncertainty related diversity of opinions are emphasized. Their uncertainty and discomfort seem linked to both specific educational topics as well as contextual factors and the social dynamics, which in turn can affect the possibilities of diversity of opinions in the classroom.

In what is referred to as the «pedagogy of discomfort» (Boler & Zembylas, 2003; Zembylas & Papamichael, 2017), discomfort is understood as a prerequisite for the development of critical thinking and democratic formation (Røthing, 2019). Against this background, discomfort plays a central role in our discussion of the empirical material, and we take as our starting point the following questions: In what ways can relational aspects in the classroom influence the possibilities for diversity of opinions in teaching situations? To discuss this, we will draw on perspectives on discomfort in the teaching (Boler & Zembylas, 2003; Zembylas & Papamichael, 2017) and the idea of ​​the classroom as a «safe space» for students (Arao & Clemens, 2013; Barrett, 2010; Flensner & von der Lippe, 2019; Callan, 2016).

This paper explores school attitudes to child poverty in England and interrogates these through a wider European frame. Often, research about education uses the term ‘schools’ but means ‘teachers’. However, whilst the attitudes of the teachers matter, so too do the attitudes of others within the school community. The attitudes to poverty of teaching assistants, senior leaders, lunchtime supervisors and governors have a profound effect on how children and families living in poverty experience school life.

Despite a body of scholarly research suggesting poverty is not a simple concept but is messy, complex and complicated, revealing itself as amorphous and highly contextualised (Gorski, 2017; Emery, et al, 2022), discourses associated with poverty in education have been historically packaged into neat and simplified solutions to overcome gaps in attainment in order to ‘fix the problem’ of poverty, see for example the work done by the OECD.(Salinas,2018). Addressing poverty and social inequalities has long been the responsibility of schools, as ‘engines of social mobility’ (Gibb, 2016), accountable for the success of students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds as part of a contemporary, common-sense aim of education, based on meritocratic narratives of the last twenty-five years (Owens and St Croix, 2020).

For schools, extant education policy responses, linked to crude indicators of poverty, such as Free School Meals (FSM) in England, have been associated with individualised interventions and overcoming barriers to learning for a seemingly homogenised group of pupils. Concomitantly, levels of accountability and the ‘standards agenda’ have fixated schools work on attainment, progress and an ability ‘to deliver’ within an increasingly apparent performance culture (Ball et al, 2012). The contemporary education policy, therefore, with its onus on progress and commitment to attainment no matter the economic status of pupils, does not acknowledge the larger, societal barriers that might affect those living in poverty nor recognise potential deficit views and myths associated with a broad, decontextualised ‘culture of poverty’ (Gorski, 2017). For too long, reductive education policy responses to poverty have made invisible the deeper histories, stories, emotions and relationships the child resides in (Emery et al, 2022).

Research, mostly from America (Ullucci and Howard, 2015) but also emerging in England (Hayes et al, 2017) and Europe (Strbova, 2012), tells us that this ‘culture of poverty’ ideology has shaped schools and teachers’ attitudes towards pupils living in poverty. Yet in reality, outside of the USA, we have little to no knowledge of what these attitudes are beyond broad brushstrokes. Certainly, in England, beyond the work of Simpson et al (2017), there is a paucity of either tools or data regarding school attitudes. Commensurately, we need to gain a clear understanding of what attitudes are held by those working within schools in England towards children living in poverty.

Adopting a critical frame and building on the thinking of Gorski (2017), we consider three, interrelated questions: How are social mobility discourses reflected in schools' attitudes to poverty? What do these attitudes say about the contemporary, professional identity of staff? To what extent can social mobility, as the normative education poverty discourse, be considered ‘cruel optimism’ (Berlant, 2010)?

One of the main goals in education is to provide just educational opportunities for all learners with inclusion and equity as leading principles (UNESCO, 2017). This complex agenda is not yet sufficiently considered in education policy documents (e.g., Gross, Francesconi & Agostini, 2021; Kelly, Hofbauer & Gross, 2021) and in educational practice. Besides this, one of the challenges - also of Education for Sustainable Development - is to link ecological with social justice. A diversity-sensitive pedagogy aims at developing a culture of acceptance of heterogeneity and of democratic equity of people with different life experiences. Thus, diversity-sensitive educational institutions strive for inclusion, equity (Ainscow, 2020) and reflexivity, and recognise and work against disadvantages that derive from intersections of categories (Holzbrecher, 2017). Within the goal number 4 of the 17 SDGs (Ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all; UN, 2015) the current efforts to jointly consider and implement Education for Sustainable Development and inclusive education emerge and focus on participatory processes (Rieckmann & Stoltenberg, 2011, p. 117). Learners are thus asked to actively engage in issues of social and ecological justice and to develop corresponding problem-solving strategies, social and personal competences to sensitise, shape and further develop social spaces.

This paper presents first results of a study in a public school in Chemnitz, Saxony (Germany) that highlights its diversity-sensitive and inclusive approach. The school offers forms of open and across age group teaching, in which students learn from grade 1 to 10 in all-day classes.

The aims of the project, on that this paper is based on, are to:

a) study official national, regional, local and institutional policies and documents on social and ecological justice.

a) observe everyday pedagogical practice and explore inclusive and sustainable practices of educational actors.

c) to recognise not only adults (teachers, school leaders and educational administrators) but also learners as actors in the production of knowledge.

In this regard, the questions to be addressed are:

a) To what extent do learners have the opportunity to shape and transform their reality and future in an inclusive and sustainable way?

b) What theoretical and practical knowledge, problem-solving strategies and competences for social and ecological justice do students acquire?

One of the general objectives of intercultural education is to contribute to the valorisation of both the universal aspect of human nature – as is expressed in the Declaration of Human Rights - and the particularity of cultures, in order to overcome prejudice and promote cultural diversity (UNESCO 2006). This balance between universal and particular, however, is implicitly precarious: as was pointed out by the anthropologist Gerd Baumann in "The multicultural riddle", multiple drives are at play in the multicultural society, at times claiming universal rights and, at others, those of a specific group. In the school context, the greatest constraint of intercultural education practice is the risk of falling into a culturalist representation of cultures, where, by trying to valorise both the universality of human beings and the diversity of cultures, the latter is often predominant. The result is often excessive emphasis on the differences between cultures, while the cultures themselves are unintentionally represented as separate from each other. Such risks can indeed be explained in terms of diversity belonging to the paradigm of difference.

The aim of the paper is to point out that the exploration of similarities among cultures, instead, reveals that cultures are not rigidly separate entities, but include overlapping areas, spaces in-between that make boundaries blurred (Bhatti and Kimmich, 2018). There are many concrete elements of cultures showing similarities between each another, such as handcrafts, bread baking, folk tales, or play practices. The latter, for example, enable us to emphasise the universality of the experience of play, while also highlighting the huge variety of games, expression of cultural diversities. In other words, they attain a representation of cultures that attest to unity through diversity. To recall a metaphor by Wittgenstein – who referred to games as examples for his concept of family resemblances - games represent “the fibres” that “run through the whole thread” holding together the experience of play of children and adults in the world (Wittgenstein, 1968).

In the effort to answer the research question of how to foster cultural diversity, the study resulted in the emergence of a model for the intercultural encounter suggesting that the emergence of similarities should occur in an initial moment, prior to and indispensable for the appreciation of diversities (Berti 2023). This claim is substantiated by the fact that the search for similarity involves a necessary attitude towards exploring relationships among two or more objects. In turn, it is in the discovery of these relationships that nearness emerges (Bhatti and Kimmich, 2018). Still, to look at relationships and not so much at objects themselves is a method of inquiry that requires change at an epistemological level (Bateson, 1979). In this context, a turn in intercultural education towards the exploration of cultural education practices based on similarity is seen here as a necessary shift to enhance the appreciation of cultural diversity and support intercultural dialogue.

In the last few decades, globalization has affected almost all public policies, including education. Its implications are evident in the increasing endeavours of national education systems to raise global citizens who will be able to deal with the challenges of the modern globalized world (Majewska, 2022). Sälzer and Roczen (2018) explain that while, as a concept, global competence has been used in common language for several decades (e.g. Lambert, 1994), it is a relatively young scientific construct and is mostly studied in the Western context (e.g. Boix Mansilla & Jackson, 2013). Skinner (2012) adds that very little academic research has yet been carried out in the field of global education in Slovenia nor in the wider Central Eastern European region. Šterman Ivančič and Štremfel (2022) reveal that PISA 2018 presents the first assessment of students’ global competencies in Slovenia. The student questionnaire items covered students’ attitudes and dispositions regarding their: awareness of global issues; self-efficacy regarding global issues; interest in learning about other cultures; respect for people from other cultures; ability to understand the perspectives of others; cognitive adaptability; attitudes towards immigrants; awareness of intercultural communication; global-mindedness; and teachers’ discriminatory behaviour (OECD, 2020). The first results of the PISA 2018 data showed that, compared to their peers in OECD countries, Slovenian students reported somewhat lower levels of global competencies and as such indicate the need for further research in this area. This is especially important since the research also shows that student participation in global education programmes is positively associated with a range of learning outcomes, including academic achievement. There has been found positive associations with students' academic achievement, regardless of their individual background (gender, ethnicity, SES) (Ahmed and Mohammed, 2022) and positive associations of participation in global learning programmes with students' personal development, autonomy and sensitivity towards people from other cultures (Klump and Nelson, 2005).

Considering these findings, this study aims to investigate the associations between the global competence of Slovenian students and their achievement on PISA literacy scales. This is important since the results from past PISA cycles in Slovenia show that there are significant differences in the achievement of students according to different groups, especially between students that attend different educational programmes. For example, the difference in average reading achievement between students in secondary general and vocational education programmes of medium duration is 159 points (Šterman Ivančič, 2022), which is equivalent to 2 PISA levels of reading literacy, and as such represents a great concern. For this reason, the research questions we aim to address in this study, are i) are there significant differences in the global competences of Slovenian students according to the educational programme; ii) are global competences a significant predictor of PISA achievement on reading, mathematics and science literacy scales; and iii) which dimensions of global competences that are the most significant predictors of PISA reading, mathematics and science literacy.

Taking into consideration the OECD PISA 2018 results and their contextualisation in Slovenia, the article with its original empirical scientific contribution fills the research gap in the field and provides an understanding of the role of students’ global competence in fostering students’ academic achievement and the possibility of reducing the achievement gap between students from different educational tracks.

Self-efficacy is considered a predictor for success in later life, as it is related to academic success and political participation (Hoskins et al., 2016; Solhaug, 2006; Vansteenkiste et al., 2006). It is also known that students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, who are overrepresented in (pre)vocational tracks, have lower self-efficacy compared to their peers from higher socio-economic backgrounds (e.g., Schulz et al., 2018; Sohl and Arensmeier, 2015). Differences in self-efficacy can thus play an important role in the reproduction of educational and civic inequalities (Hoskins et al., 2016; Badou et al., 2021).

Research has established that education programs can help strengthen students’ self-efficacy beliefs. Citizenship education (CE hereafter) scholars, for example, have shown how CE-programs have impacted citizenship efficacy beliefs (Beaumont, 2010; Levy, 2018; Kahne & Westheimer 2006). In her study into the political efficacy of high school students in the US, Beaumont (2010) identified four pathways of political learning that can spur hopeful and realistic political efficacy beliefs: (1) skill-building political mastery experiences (2); models of political efficacy and involvement; (3) social encouragement, supportive relationships and networks, and inclusion in political community; and (4) empowering and resilient political outlooks.

While scholars in the Netherlands, where this research is situated, have shed light on the self-efficacy of students in secondary and higher education, little is known about the self-efficacy of students in tertiary vocational education (VET hereafter) in the Netherlands. Moreover, at the start of our practice-oriented research project in 2019, there were no research-informed experiential CE-programs that specifically supported the development of vocational students’ political self-efficacy. Also, little is known about the interrelatedness of students’ self-efficacy in different domains.

To address these voids, this study examines the self-efficacy of VET-students from one large VET-institute (16.000 students) related to study, work, and politics, and the impact of a 10-week CE-program ‘Making a Difference’ (MADE hereafter) on students’ political efficacy, as well as on their self-efficacy related to study and work. Inspired by Beaumont’s (2010) four pathways to teaching political efficacy, students participating in MADE work together in small groups selecting, examining a societal issue that they are concerned about, organize a first action and present their project in class and for a larger audience. While a 10-weeks program is a rather short period of time to generate a substantial impact, this study does give an indication of what a single program can(not) do. In addition, the study also addresses differential effects of the program in relation to students’ background characteristics.

As half of the students in EU countries attend VET, and students with a migration background are overrepresented in VET (Elffers, 2011), insight into students’ self-efficacy and the impact of a CE-program targeting political efficacy are of interest to a broad range of scholars and practitioners involved in furthering educational and political equality in European countries.

The following questions are addressed:

1) What is the self-efficacy of tertiary vocational students related to study, work and politics and does it vary across student groups related to background characteristics?

2) How does the MADE-program impact vocational students’ self-efficacy related to study, work and politics and does its impact vary across students’ background characteristics and students’ appreciation of MADE?

3) What are the experiences of students with MADE, what strengths and weaknesses of the prototype MAD- program do they identify, and how do they appreciate having a political efficacy-oriented CE-program in the curriculum?

Moral education/education in values is a topic discussed in the scope of Philosophy and of Education Sciences, namely in studies on curriculum and didactics, varying its orientation according to the adopted foundations, both of ethical order and referring to psychological research on moral development.

In the Portuguese case, a general orientation has been defined through the National Strategy for Education for Citizenship in 2017, and a set of mandatory and transversal themes has been established that clearly fall within the sphere of values, but without explicit reference to moral education or development. The proposed framework is the Whole-school Approach, although there are different curricular situations depending on the level of schooling, namely the curricular subject “Citizenship and Development".

Given this reality, the research question is: "What components of morality do children (10-12) develop through the subject of Citizenship and Development?"

The research is based on Rest's integrative model of moral development. While named neo-kohlberguian (Rest et al, 2000), Rest model of moral development is rather different from Kohlberg approach. Faced with the question "What processes or functions must have occurred in order for an individual to perform a moral act?" (Rest, 1986, p. 3), Rest identified four components (Rest, 1979; 1986), each of which corresponds to a different psychological process, being moral behavior the result of these different processes and not just the logical or affective consequence of a single process, as follows: moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral motivation and moral action, each of which can be studied separately. By moral sensitivity, is meant that the person is aware of the moral dimension of the situation and so s/he’s able to interpret the situation in terms of how his/her actions will affect the welfare of others. Moral judgment is the ability to formulate possible moral courses of action and to formulate a plan of action that applies a moral standard or ideal in that specific situation. Moral motivation is the capacity to decide for one course of action by evaluating if it serves moral values. Moral action is the ability to accomplish what one has decided to do, by identifying and validly overcoming obstacles and difficulties. (Rest, 1984; 1986) Several studies have been made on moral judgement of college students and professional groups by Rest and his research group, namely using the DIT (Defining Issues Test) (Rest, 1979; 1987). Based on this integrative model, between 1998 and 2002, the Department of Education of the University of Minnesota (Narvaez et al., 2004) developed the community voices and character education project (CVCE), a moral education project addressed to children from 10 to 12 years old, in collaboration with middle school teachers. The project addresses some important questions that are present in the Portuguese context. In fact, as said above, “citizenship education aims to contribute to the education of responsible, autonomous, supportive people, who know and exercise their rights and duties in dialogue and respect for others, with a democratic, pluralistic, critical and creative spirit, with reference to the values of human rights” (Working Group on Citizenship Education, 2017; p. 3). In view of the above, this communication intends to present the results of a project in the Portuguese context, which aimed to adapt and apply the community voices and character education project (CVCE).

More than half a year past the beginning of the war in Ukraine, tensions in the education system are increasing, the lack of staff and resources for integrating refugee students pose great challenges – on a daily basis. This article provides insights into a quantitative sub-study (N=1158) of the School-Barometer based on the experiences of German teachers and school principals in managing the Russia-Ukraine war at school and the incoming students from Ukraine. Consequences of the war touch many areas of life, far beyond Ukrainian and Russian national borders. Thus, schools in German speaking countries were challenged to deal with the war on two levels: 1) thematically with resulting questions in classroom, concerns and fears of all involved in school and 2) with integrating students and teachers from Ukraine seeking protection in these countries. Hence, our study aims to present and discuss the experiences of school staff concerning both, the arrival of refugees and dealing with the topic of peace and war in the classroom.

Wishes, ideas, and experiences of school employees in dealing with the war in these two dimensions were published in Author et al. (2022) based on the qualitative research data, a compilation of online resources was provided, too. Anderegg (2022) developed a checklist for school principals concerning the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war for schools. A guide for teachers on how to deal with the Russian war in Ukraine was also designed by Berens (2022).

Our study aims to present and discuss the experiences of school staff concerning the arrival of refugees and dealing with the topic of peace and war in the classroom.

RQ.: What are the experiences of teachers and school principals in Germany with arriving refugee students from Ukraine and the topic of war and peace in the classroom?

More than ten months after the crisis in Ukraine escalated, the situation remains dire for children and their families. The conflict in Ukraine has caused the fastest and largest displacement of people in Europe since World War II.

According to the International Children's Fund UNICEF as of December, 2022, the total number of refugees fleeing Ukraine reached nearly 16 million people including 1.2 million children, are currently abroad. These children are a part of the potential of Ukraine. It is especially important for every child, who was forced to flee from Ukraine because of the war, to have a sustainable and convenient education in a protective country. It is also equally important that a child adapts to the country's educational institutions and at the same time does not deviate from Ukrainian educational standards, and continues to study relevant subjects.

European schools have opened their doors to Ukrainian externally displaced children in order to help adjusting to local communities and enter their education system. An increasing number of French classrooms has opened doors for Ukrainian families and their children, but while French education faced urgent reaction for the refugee flow some schools lacked tools and effective practices for refugee and migrant inclusive education.

The literature on topic of refugee integration in local school classrooms traditionally distinguishes two aspects:

- On the one hand, the literature describe teachers readiness to work in multicultural classroom. The key factor then, in creating successful classroom communities, is teachers who are able to identify the specialized needs of refugee children and who are culturally responsive to the needs of refugee children in their classrooms (Candappa, 2000; Olsen, 2006; Goodwin, 2002).

- On the other hand, strategic studies how do refugee students find the inspiration and demonstrate strong resilience, positive future expectations, and high motivation at school (e.g., Bartlett et al., 2017; Blanchet-Cohen et al., 2017; Oppedal et al., 2017; Pastoor, 2015; Peterson et al., 2017; Shakya et al., 2010). Some authers debate whether the refugee experience may have an impact on education (Cerna, 2019, see also Ferede, 2010; Lynnebakke et al., 2020). Or how refugee students, influenced by their past experience in their home countries, feel disconnected to a sense of community within their own ethnic group, in the local communities to which they have been resettled, and within the local school communities in which they have been enrolled (Hernandez, Denton, & Macartney, 2009; Boyson & Short, 2003).

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine forced many people to flee their home and search for protection in neighboring European countries. While European countries have already taken many actions to address refugee learners’ educational needs, equal attention needs to be paid to their psychosocial needs.

To meet the challenges stated above, we launched the project under the title "Schooling of refugee children in the French education system" aims to study the schooling and adaptation of Ukrainian children in French schools.

This project was focused on describing a typical refugee school child who sustained external displacement during the war in Ukraine. We planned to discover the challenges and perspectives for adaptation of Ukrainian children in French schools. The objectives of the project were aimed at taking actions:

- to accumulate statistics on how many Ukrainian refugees of the school-age are there in France and how many of them attend schools;

- to make a comprehensible comparison of the school systems and school standards of Ukraine and France

- to provide qualitative research and collect empirical data to analyze the huddles and conveniences of the life of a refugee school children in time of war in Ukraine.

Recent years have witnessed a broad range of natural disasters adding to the existing disadvantages faced by many young people in Australia. These included bush fires, floods and the Covid-19 global pandemic. In the Australian context, Quay et al (2020) argued, these tragic events have had effects that have not been equal. Beyond the individual impacts for young people such as increased isolation, worry and uncertainty compounded during periods of school closures (Mulholland & O’Toole, 2021), international contributions highlight how such events contribute to escalating experiences of violence, abuse and trauma for many young people (Save the Children, 2020). For children already living with disadvantage and potentially vulnerability, such circumstances have likely ‘exacerbated pre-existing inequalities, increasing the economic, social and psychological pressures on children’ (Mulholland & O’Toole, 2021, p. 329). As such, understanding how best to support young people experiencing vulnerability and social injustices through educational interventions has become critically vital (Drane, Vernon & O’Shea, 2021). Contextual and localised examples of how to achieve this in practice are less evident in the literature.

This paper reports on a project designed to explore the potential of an outdoor adventure program for children aged 6-12 years recruited from areas of identified disadvantage in Victoria, Australia. Specifically, children from schools located in bushfire-impacted locations and regions identified as below the average Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) benchmark of 1000 were purposefully invited to attend. The short, three-to-four-day program sought to provide opportunities that challenge young people to take risks and learn new skills through outdoor experiences otherwise unattainable or not readily available to them. These include swimming with sea mammals, rock climbing and other otherwise ‘risky’ activities under the supervision of highly qualified staff. The research into the effectiveness of the program generated data from multiple sources including direct observations, surveys, interviews and student drawings and written feedback. Participants stressed notions of ‘overcoming fear’ and of ‘meeting the challenges’ they faced as influential, often labelling these as ‘life-changing’ experiences that made them believe they would be more likely to try new things in the future. Central to the nature of the experience had been the non-judgemental encouragement and scaffolded pedagogies employed by program staff that supported young people to tackle challenges fostering courage and confidence. The data collected from students, teachers, program staff and educational researchers supports the thesis that such experiences are likely to provide students with lasting and multiple benefits, now and into their futures.

Many participants spoke of an activity they were asked to perform that they initially perceived to be beyond their capabilities. These activities had been purposefully included in the program to challenge children’s self-belief in their own abilities. Nevertheless, a near constant refrain from the participants was that they were supported into challenging themselves to take risks in trying activities, trusting in the support of the program staff. This encouragement was done with care, rather than by placing the child in a position where they felt pressured to participate. As such, the children understood that if they had agreed to participate that the achievement was their own, and based on their own, improved self-belief.

The change in attitude many of these children experienced surprised even themselves. This led to an increased preparedness to attempt activities or to try new foods. This change in attitude was often noted by their teachers. As such, the power of outdoor education when provided by expert, qualified and dedicated staff proved highly impactful upon the lives of these young people, providing them with a means to reappraise their understanding of their own limitations and abilities.

One of the foundational arguments for literary study has been the promise of literature to change lives and offer students new ways of seeing themselves, their communities, and the future. The three papers in this panel engage with English literary pedagogy and ‘literary linking’ (McLean Davies, Truman, and Buzacott, 2021) methodology to consider how literary texts can be activated to address pressing contemporary concerns globally including the climate crisis, environmental racisms, and gender equality.

Recent years have seen global wildfires and floods, a international #MeToo movements highlighting ongoing violence against women and girls in schools and beyond. The three papers in this symposium investigate how literature may be mobilized in diverse settings including contemporary classrooms and the street to activate discussions around these crises and beyond. The papers engage with a variety of literature including Indigenous Australia literature (paper 1); texts that center issues of consent, particularly those written by women and non-binary authors (paper 2); and children’s literature on climate justice (paper 3).

Methodology

Each of the symposium’s research projects engages with literary linking methodology which asks teachers to reimagine the potential and purpose of literature through animating the relations between texts, contemporary social issues, and critical theory. Literary linking as a methodology goes beyond notions of a text-based intertextuality and considers teachers’, researchers’, and students’ situated understanding of their own pedagogical spaces, and intersectional contexts and environmental concerns as vital in the creation of literary understanding in contemporary life.

Significance

The three papers in this panel draw from interdisciplinary scholarship in the fields of affect theory, feminism, anti-colonialism, speculative fiction, and embodied learning in combination with empirical research in schools and the community to demonstrate the affordances of engaging with literature to make sense of a world in crisis.

Structure: The panelists will attend in person from Australia and the UK. Each will give a 20 minute paper followed by a discussion.

This paper focuses on speculative climate fiction as a transdisciplinary method for highlighting injustices in the present and imagining different climate and technological futures. I investigate an in-school research project that took place in Australia where year 9 English students engaged with the text Terra Nullius by Aboriginal author Claire Coleman. The project used ‘literary linking’ (Truman, Mclean Davies & Buzacott, 2021) to investigate themes of climate change, settler colonialism through cross-curricular collaboration between English literature and STEM. Australia, like the rest of the planet, is in a climate crisis. The past several years have seen extreme weather events including bushfires, flooding, and drought across the continent. Concomitantly, the crisis of settler colonialism continues in Australia, as highlighted in Coleman’s allegorical climate fiction which although set in a speculative future, incriminates the factual past. As an example of speculative climate fiction, Coleman’s text highlights the potential of narrative as a pedagogical and social tool for predicting, critiquing, and building a different world. Considering the material effects of stories in creating worlds aligns Indigenous scholars (Dillion, 2012) who argue for the power of narrative in shaping experience, critiquing the present, and positing different futures. Specifically, Indigenous climate fictions provide the opportunity for critical reflection on aspects of how our world currently is and where we might end up if we continue along certain paths (Whyte, 2018). These critical reflections then offer a chance for further speculative thinking which asks what needs to be done in the present to arrive at an alternative future. Data sources for the paper will include an engagement with climate fiction narratives, and discussion of an experimental cross-curricular project between English literary education and STEM, in a contemporary year 9 classroom in Australia. Students consider the power of narrative for thinking about climate, settler colonialism, and proposing different futures in times of crisis.

Dillion, G. (2012). Walking the Clouds (G. Dillion (ed.)). Arizona University Press. Truman, S. E., McLean Davies, L., & Buzacott, L. (2021). Disrupting intertextual power networks: challenging literature in schools. Discourse, 0(0), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2021.1910929 Whyte, K. P. (2018). Indigenous science (fiction) for the Anthropocene: Ancestral dystopias and fantasies of climate change crises. Environment & Planning E: Nature & Space, 1(1/2), 224.

Linking Literature and consent education: literate practices in crisis times This paper takes up the concept and method of “literary linking” (Mclean Davies et al 2020; Truman et al 2021) to explore the intersections of the teaching of literature and consent education in L1 contexts. It reports on a research project--undertaken in partnership with the Stella Prize for Australian women and non- binary writers--which developed a framework to support conversations about consent in Australian English classrooms. This framework was developed in an interdisciplinary collaboration with experts in respectful relationships education and the inductive and iterative close analysis of 50 texts set for study in secondary English classrooms. Background and questions As a result of the continued, gendered abuse of power in public, institutional and private spaces, parents and students have called for greater time spent on consent education in schools. While usually the remit of health and wellbeing curriculum area,issues of ethics and relationships are also implicitly the mainstay of L1 education, through the study of literature and texts. Thus, it is timely to consider how issues of consent might be productively addressed in secondary English and what this means for our understanding of the nature of literary study. Theoretical framework: Drawing on Green’s notion of a “literary literacy” (2002), concepts of relational literacies (McLean Davies et al 2021), and “relational reading” (Graham, 2014), the paper will offer insight into the ways that literary linking as a pedagogy enables consent discourses to be contextualised within broader discussions of relationality and sustainability. Accordingly it will show that raising these issues in L1 expands our conceptualization of the possibilities of a “Literary literacy” in times of global crisis.

Graham, M. (2014). Aboriginal Notions of Relationality and Positionalism. In Global Discourse: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Current Affairs and Applied Contemporary Thought. 4 (1), 17-22. Green, B. 2002. “A Literacy Project of Our Own?” English in Australia 134 (July): 25–32. McLean Davies, L & Buzacott, L. (2021). “Rethinking Literature, Knowledge and Justice: Selecting ‘Difficult’ Stories for Study in School English.” Pedagogy, Culture & Society. 1 (15). https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1977981.

The paper draws on a three-year project exploring children and young people’s embodied relationship to treescapes (that is, spaces where trees are). We draw on our experiences of using story crafting as a method (Karlsson, 2009) to attend to children’s narratives as sites, where the discursive, the social, and the material/physical intertwine. We particularly are interested in the embodied experiences of treescapes with children in and outside the school context in the North of England. Our focus here was on the ways in which a story could develop provocations and inquiries with the children that led to further thinking about storying in a world threatened by climate change. We apply “critical literacy” (Vasquez 2014) as a framework to provide children a space for engaging in critical discussions around the themes of hope, trees, and environmental change. We read a story to the children who then responded with small stories of hope and drawings. The story was called ‘The Tree of Hope’ which involved a child, Khadra, finding out how to re-plant her home space, which had been a desert. The children in the school were re-planting their playground and finding out why trees were important in the climate crisis. When we told the story new possibilities and stories of hope emerged (Ojala 2012). Through this, we trouble assumptions about who knows what and how in environmental education (Trott and Weinberg, 2020) challenging adult-designed naturalised curriculum practices. Linking literacies through the story created an emergent space of practice that offered a structure in which to work with hope as a method (Kraftl 2008).

Karlsson, L. 2009. To construct a bridge of sharing between child and adult culture with the Storycrafting method. In: Ruismäki H and Ruokonen I (eds) Arts Contact Points between Cultures. Department of Applied Sciences of Education. Research Report 312. Helsinki: University of Helsinki, pp. 117–128. Kraftl, P. 2008. Young People, Hope, and Childhood-Hope. Space and Culture, 11(2), 81–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331208315930 Ojala, M. 2012. “Hope and Climate Change: The Importance of Hope for Environmental Engagement among Young People.” Environmental Education Research, 18 (5), 625–642. doi:10.1080/13504622.2011.637157. Vasquez, V.M. 2014. Negotiating Critical Literacies with Young Children. Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group: New York. Trott, C. D., Weinberg, A. E. 2020. "Science Education for Sustainability: Strengthening Children’s Science Engagement through Climate Change Learning and Action", Sustainability, 12 (16), pp.1-24. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166400

Service-learning (SL), particularly in its critical, transformative, and reciprocal form, has been described as one of the most effective methods of engaging university students in community-oriented scholarship, fostering the development of critical inquiry, understanding of needs assessment, and deep reflection on inequality (Coffey & Arnold 2022). In general, service-learning combines community service experiences with academic requirements and not only has an impact on academic learning; it also contributes to personal development by providing opportunities for critical reflection and analysis of one's own biased schemas (Rodríguez-Izquierdo 2021), building an activist mindset (Coffey & Arnold 2022) and cultivating a social justice stance (Shiller 2022).

In order to ensure the impact of service-learning for social justice in this way, a number of precautions need to be taken, and in particular the limitations imposed, for example, by the neoliberal constitution of universities (Clifford 2017) need to be considered. The symposium, therefore, brings together four service-learning projects from three different European countries to compare their contexts and to identify both challenges and opportunities in each case. In doing so, theoretical considerations and empirical findings from Austria, Germany and Spain will also address research desiderata, with the first two presentations from Spain, one focusing on the underrepresented voices of community partner organisations (Doran, Rhinesmith & Arena 2021) and the second linking service learning to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations 2015). The following two presentations will continue the discussion on socially and educationally relevant and topical issues that can be addressed through service-learning, such as inclusion (see the third presentation from Austria) and forced migration (see the fourth presentation from Germany as well as Fißmer, Rosen & tom Dieck 2023; Rosen in preparation).

What the four papers have in common is that service-learning is seen as an activating, student-centred method in higher education didactics that can contribute to improving the quality of higher education teaching and students' academic commitment (Rodríguez-Izquierdo 2020), as well as enabling the development of university faculty in the direction of social justice (Rodríguez-Izquierdo 2017).

Traditionally, the empirical evidence to assess programs and practices that lead to relevant and sustainable levels of partnership between higher education institutions and the community is limited although relationships are a central and defining dimension of SL experiences. Literature, instead, is abundant on evaluating other components of Service Learning (SL) (e.g., curriculum, achievement, competencies), and weakened programs of reciprocity and community engagement. Researchers know that “What is measured is important and recognized”. Improving understanding of what it means to engage and foster such partnerships can be a critical element in strengthening SL practices and institutionalizing it in higher education institutions and in the community at large. This understanding can enable administrators and faculty to evaluate several partnership-building processes, as well as facilitate the advancement and testing of theory related to the establishment, development, and sustainability of collaborative networks. Using the Butin´s framework (2005), this paper focuses on the evaluation of the impact of SL projects on the quality of the partnership perceived by the stakeholders. More specifically, the paper presents a case study based on a program implemented between the University Pablo de Olavide (UPO) and a primary school located in “Polígono Sur” (Seville, Spain) with a high percentage of gypsy population. The data collection process was mixed and consisted of face-to-face interviews guided by a questionnaire and a scale completed individually by the respondents. The study confirms that when partnership teams take time to evaluate their efforts, they demonstrate a seriousness of purpose that leads to more equitable outreach and more goal-linked engagement activities that contribute to programs which are at least mutually beneficial and transformative. Based on this work, a conceptual framework, an analytical tool, and an assessment instrument are discussed to better understand how stakeholders and university authorities could capitalize on the transformative potential of SL and the engagement between universities and collaborating entities.

Butin, D. W. (ed.) (2005). Service-learning in higher education: Critical issues and directions. Palgrave Macmillan.

SL and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) run interconnected. If we go deeper into the analysis of this relationship, three of them seem inherent to this methodology, since all the projects are affected by them, with more or less intensity, presumably, due to the very nature of the SL: quality education, since the SL is guided by the principles of inclusive, equitable and quality education; Alliances to achieve the goals, not in vain one of the basic requirements of the methodology is networking; and Reduction of inequalities, considering that one of its aims is social justice and seeking the common good. In addition, all SL projects specifically involve one or more SDGs. Our objective in this paper is to demonstrate, based on some evidence of the research project “The impact of the university in the community through Service-Learning projects. A study focused on reciprocity (SL(C))” (PID2021-122827OB-I00), the link between SL and these three SDGs in the framework of higher education. Universities know, or should know, that they cannot remain on the sidelines of rapid and profound changes and that, therefore, they must face global challenges without delay. In this scenario, its leadership through innovation, open and connected to the great social challenges, will be crucial. They must dialogue with society, to try to offer effective responses to the main problems of humanity, and the social and environmental crisis that we are experiencing. Moreover, it is urgent to define a framework for sustained reflection on their civic mission, so that they can be at the forefront of programs and projects capable of changing and improving their surrounding environment and contributing to a more inclusive society. For some time now, committed sectors of civil society have been calling for a more involved university in and with the community. What is required is to train a more critical and responsible citizenry, in addition to working to lessen, at least, existing injustices and inequalities, while continuing to strive in favor of the common good. In short, the university cannot reduce its great task to the training of technically competent professionals. They have to perform as prepared people in their respective fields of activity, but without the capacity for critical analysis, nor the skills to make appropriate decisions to their environment, and without the degree of sensitivity and social awareness that current circumstances demand, they may not become more than managers of a failed society.

United Nations (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/9814.

The need for social commitment and social responsibility among the European youth is stated explicitly by policy documents, research, and strategic plans (EUROSTAT, 2019). To support the improvement of these skills, service-learning is addressed as one of the methods. The integration of service-learning into to school curriculum as a methodology can help engage students in activities where they learn about community needs and develop civic responsibilities (Furco, 2009; Seifert, Zentner & Nagy, 2012). The development of such competencies would promote interpersonal skills and raise awareness about underserved groups and how to respond to the diverse needs of society. The service component of service learning can help develop connections with the world outside the school. Students can experience a sense of agency through helping, supporting or advocating for a community-based cause. Service-learning has favorable outcomes in terms of overcoming the gap between practice and the wish for inclusiveness. The integration of service-learning projects into the school curriculum engages students in service to the marginalized groups of the community such as the disabled, elderly or refugees but at the same time, it can develop a feeling of inclusiveness. Students encounter the diversity of the population in real-life situations. Turning schools into inclusive communities requires creating possibilities where students can develop feelings of belonging and contentment with achievement (Lavery, Chambers & Cain, 2018). However, the integration of service-learning as a methodology into the school curriculum and achieving the development of civic competencies through it requires teachers on board. Planning, implementing or assessing service-learning projects within the school cannot be achieved without teachers who believe in the necessity of it. Developing skills and competencies that guarantee the required professional and personal development is an important task for universities, especially for teacher education departments. In this study, a study with teacher candidates who study inclusive education as a subject will be presented. By using the journey maps method, teacher candidates reflect on their experiences with service-learning projects that they planned and implemented within their practice teaching. They evaluate the inclusiveness that can be achieved through service-learning projects, which also demonstrate their readiness to integrate service-learning into their teaching and how to make use of it to promote inclusiveness.

EUROSTAT (2019). Young people and social inclusion. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Young_people_-_social_inclusion Furco, A. (2009). Die Rolle von Service Learning im Aufbau einer gesellschaftlich engagierten Universität. In K. Altenschmidt, J. Miller, & W. Stark (Eds.), Raus aus dem Elfenbeinturm? Entwicklungen in Service Learning und bürgerschaftlichem Engagement an deutschen Hochschulen (pp. 47–59). Weinheim & Basel: Beltz Verlag. Lavery, S., Chambers, D. & Cain, G. (2018). Service-learning: enhancing inclusive education. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited. Seifert, A., Zentner, S. & Nagy, F. (2012). Praxisbuch Service-Learning – Lernen durch Engagement an Schulen. Weinheim & Basel: Beltz Verlag.

In Germany, empirical research has revealed an increase in civil society engagement in 2015. This is also the case in other European countries (Rea, Martiniello, Mazzola, & Meuleman, 2019). In particular, new organisational forms of engagement have been developed, such as "Ankommenspatenschaften” [arrival sponsorships] (Schüler 2020), which are strictly limited in time and considered low threshold in order to mobilise new, previously unreached volunteers. However, it is not only the low sustainability of these short-term engagements that migration researchers are questioning, but also the risk of perpetuating or even reinforcing hierarchical relationships (Bygballe Jensen & Kirchner 2020; Maestri & Monforte 2020). The problem of power imbalances is also evident in 'traditional' community service learning (Mitchell 2008): Without drawing attention “to root causes of social problems” service-learning can involve students in the community in ways that “perpetuate inequality” and reinforce “an ‘us-them’ dichotomy” (ibid., p. 51). In particular, service-learning in the context of forced migration risks perpetuating white privilege and institutionalised racism (Endres & Gould 2009, p. 419). Participating students then tend, for example, to individualise and trivialise structural problems (Gomez 2016, p. 21). Considering this justified criticism of service-learning, we have developed a seminar for university students of Intercultural Education that is based on the concept of critical service-learning (Mitchell 2008). In our paper, we present this seminar, which has been running since 2018 at two different universities in Germany (Cologne and Kaiserlautern-Landau) and with different cooperation partners from the refugee support sector (Fißmer, Rosen & tom Dieck 2023). Furthermore, we focus on the experiences of the participating students and conduct a grounded theory analysis (Charmaz 2014) of their written portfolios for this purpose (for an analysis of peer interviews with these students, see Fißmer, Rosen & tom Dieck 2023). The explorative findings show, that on the one hand, the students feel partially disempowered in the face of the asylum regime. On the other hand, moments of self-efficacy can also be found, especially among the participating students who themselves have a family history of (forced) migration. We discuss these findings in relation to the adaptation of the seminar concept and the differences between process and solidarity vs. products and reciprocity, in order to deepen an understanding of service-learning that is more explicitly oriented towards social justice (Clifford 2017).

Bygballe Jensen, L.S., & Kirchner, L.M. (2020). Acts of Volunteering for Refugees. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 10(4), 26–40. Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing Grounded Theory. Sage. Clifford, J. (2017). Talking About Service-Learning. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 21(4), 1-13. Endres, D., & Gould, M. (2009). I am also in the position to use my whiteness to help them out. The communication of whiteness in service learning. Western Journal of Communication, 73(4), 418-436. Fißmer, J., Rosen, L., & tom Dieck, F. (2023). Freiwilligenarbeit in der Flucht*Migrationsgesellschaft. In T. Sturm et al. (ed). Erziehungswissenschaftliche Grundbegriffe im Spiegel der Inklusionsforschung. Barbara Budrich, 119-138. Gomez, M. L. (2016). The Promise and Limits of Service Learning. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 6(1), 19-32. Maestri, G., & Monforte, P. (2020). Who Deserves Compassion? The Moral and Emotional Dilemmas of Volunteering in the ‘Refugee Crisis’. Sociology, 54(5), 920–935. Mitchell, T. (2008). Traditional vs. critical service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 14(2), 50–65. Rea, A. et al. (2019). The Refugee Reception Crisis in Europe. Éditions de l’Université de Bruxelles. Schüler, B. (2020). Ankommenspatenschaften. In F. Gesemann et al. (Hrsg.). Engagement für Integration und Teilhabe in der Einwanderungsgesellschaft. Springer, 287–305.