Conference Agenda

The Swiss Society for Research in Education SSRE was founded in 1975. As a Society, it belongs to the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAHS) and the European Educational Research Association (EERA).

It has around 550 members from all the scientific disciplines of relevance for educational research. The Society aims to strengthen educational research in a national and international scientific context and promote young scientific researchers. It holds an Annual Conference every year.

The members of the Society organize themselves in subject-based working groups, which make a significant contribution to the specialist discourse in science and society. They also serve to network education researchers, research institutes and regions. The working groups hold conferences with a national and international reach.

Theoretical and empirical educational research findings are published in German, French, Italian and English in the peer-reviewed, fully open access Swiss Journal for Educational Sciences (SJER). The SJER does not charge any Article Processing Charges (APCs) or Article Submission Charges (ASCs) and does allow the author(s) to hold the copyright without restrictions.

Date and Time:

https://www.sgbf.ch/en/sgbf/

SERA – Improving Education Through Research

For almost 50 years, the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) has championed the need for high-quality educational research in Scotland. From its early days in the mid-1970s, the fundamental tenets of SERA were to "(i)…disseminate research findings on as wide a basis as possible and (ii) to improve communication among those working in different areas of the research field" (Nisbet, 1984). 50 years on, we are proud that these tenets and the ways we have revised them for the current age. We would like to invite delegates to join us during the meet and greet and via our exhibition space to discuss our overall purpose of: ‘Working for the improvement of education through promoting and sustaining high-quality educational research’.

The SERA 2024 annual conference will be held in Scotland from the 20-22^nd November. Please join us there to continue conversations begun at ECER.

International, as well as Danish, research, show that many newly qualified teachers is in risk of leaving the profession within the first 5 years of practice (Christensen, 2019; Ingersoll & Strong, 2011). This is a problem, as the lack of teachers has a huge impact on the quality of teaching in schools. It may also be a problem for the newly qualified teacher if they resign as a result of having lost faith in their own abilities. It is paramount that this problem is addressed on many levels, including research.

To assign the newly qualified teacher a mentor, could be a way to support them. But since mentoring is often a poorly defined practice, there are many different and arbitrary ways of doing mentoring, and there tends to be a general understanding, that if you are a good teacher you are also a good mentor (Frederiksen et al., 2017; Olsen et al., 2020). This results in mentoring of variable quality, often with sole focus on socialization and teaching tips, and with the risk of conservatism and judgementoring (European Commission, 2010; A. Hobson & Malderez, 2013). Both international and Danish research finds, that when the mentor is properly trained and their role is well described, the quality of the mentoring increases (Frederiksen et al., 2017; A. J. Hobson et al., 2009; Howe, 2006; Lejonberg & Føinum, 2018; Wang et al., 2008). Still, there is little research on training programs for mentors for newly qualified teachers (Aspfors & Fransson, 2015; Frederiksen & Halse, 2022).

Good quality mentoring should provide opportunities for the newly qualified teachers’ professional development through systematic reflection of their challenges in practice and develop new ways of action (Helleve, 2017). It is central to focus on the newly qualified teachers own understanding of what kind of a teacher they are aiming for, and support their ability to qualify their own professional judgement (Grimen & Molander, 2008; Smith & Ulvik, 2018). But still, there are few countries that offer systematic mentor education programs (Aspfors & Fransson, 2015).

In Denmark there is no formal education program focusing on mentoring newly qualified teachers. The only mentor program there is within teacher education and schools is a mentoring program for mentoring student teachers, and this is not a highly sought program. As such, there are few formally educated mentors at all in the Danish schools (Frederiksen & Bonde, 2020).

This small pilot study takes offset in the argument that mentors for newly qualified teachers needs training to be able to mentor with professional development in mind. The study seeks to show how the mentors understand their mentor role and their mentoring before and after attending a mentor education course. The findings on mentor’s understanding of their role and responsibilities are relevant when developing mentor courses, both in a Danish and international context, especially since there is a general lack of research on this topic.

When practice teachers set out to teach in the primary school as a part of their educational training, they are confronted with collaborating schools that manage and perform the practicum period very differently. The schools have different approaches as to how their obligations regarding being an educational arena for practice teachers are met. The fact that teacher education takes place in multiple arenas with multiple cultures, can challenge the sense of educational coherence (Elstad, 2010; Hart, 2020; Valencia et al., 2009 in Ulvik, Eide, Helleve og Kvam, 2021). This variation and the fact that mentoring in many cases is taken care of by individual mentors (mentors are primary school in-service teachers, who undertake the responsibility of mentoring the pre-service teachers during practicum) may have an effect on the degree to which the pre-service teachers profit from the practicum (Hvalby & Thortveit, 2022). Other studies have shown that holistic and structured approaches are important factors when it comes to professional development in mentoring pre-service teachers during their practicum (Nesje, K. & Lejonberg, 2022).

The responsibility for educating new teachers is divided between the teacher education and the primary schools. Both institutions have the professional development of the pre-service teachers as a primary responsibility. During practicum the obligation of the schools is creating and facilitating a link between theory and practice. In a Danish context, the importance of connecting theory and practice is stated in a regulation from the Danish Ministry of Education, underpinning that the pre-service teacher must acquire theoretically founded practical skills in preparing, generating, performing and evaluating their lesson plans during their practicum (Bekendtgørelse om uddannelsen til professionsbachelor som lærer i folkeskolen, 2015).

This study aims to gain insights into the approaches to practicum of primary school management and thereby enable a specific understanding of:

• the distribution of responsibility at between the informants
• the specific tasks regarding the practicum
• the process of recruiting qualified coordinators and mentors
• the view on relations between theory and practice
• the view on mentoring skills
• how these factors may (or may not) affect the quality of the practicum.

In a Danish context, a study like this has not previously been undertaken.

The research question is as follows:
How does the school management and the coordinator of the practicum period interpret the obligation of being an educational arena for pre-service teachers?

I expect that the analysis will lead to an increased understanding of the opportunities in a strengthened collaboration between primary schools and teacher education. In 2020, The Danish center for social science research published a large literary review concerning teacher education in an international perspective. One of the finds stresses the need for a longer and better practicum period that is closely integrated with the activities of the teacher education (Foged, Nøhr & Slottved, 2020). The intent of creating a stronger link between the two parts is a main element of a recent political agreement concerning a new Danish teacher education. This agreement emphasizes strengthening the partnership and collaboration between the teacher education, the municipalities and the school principals (Ministry of higher Education and Science, 2022). A Norwegian study (Heggen and Thorsen, 2015) also points to the importance of school engagement in mentoring tasks. They ask to see a more legible culture and a commitment towards being a “practicum school” as an integrated and legitimizing part of the schools’ professional and developmental profile.

Although teachers reported participating in professional development experiences, most reported them to be unsatisfactory (Wei et al., 2009). While teachers tend to be dissatisfied with their professional development experiences, there is numerous research indicating criteria for effective teacher development. These features include teacher empowerment via self-improvement, advocating reflective practice, extending learning experiences, and participation in hands-on learning (Butler et al., 2004). There are also other models designed to enhance the professional learning model, such as those inspired by collaborative learning - team teaching learning.

The socio-constructivist theory of learning can conceptually outline the foundations of team teaching. This viewpoint holds that learners actively generate knowledge and that social interactions with others contribute to the development process (Loyens et al., 2007). Teachers learn in team teaching by participating in and engaging in a shared activity. They negotiate to mean and benefit from each other's knowledge and abilities by exchanging ideas, presenting alternative viewpoints, and accepting guidance. Therefore, they accomplish more than if they worked independently (Gardiner, 2010). Furthermore, during a team teaching activity, instructors function in what Vygotsky refers to as each other's zone of proximal growth. Teachers can achieve greater levels of performance by interacting with their peers or getting peer assistance (Walsh & Elmslie, 2005). What they do with assistance first, they will be able to accomplish alone later (Gardiner & Robinson, 2010).

Smith et al. (2020) reported that a range of professional learning objectives can be met through team teaching. This can help teachers learn and apply co-teaching practises, cooperate in a Professional Learning Community, jointly teach content-based material, teach across the curriculum, conduct a Lesson Study, and so on. Team teaching can also be applied to support teachers in integrating new curriculum, accomplishing school or district goals, becoming acquainted with new testing rules, or enriching work with Special Education or English Language Learner teachers. Also, team teaching could be employed as an onboarding approach for new instructors while engaging experienced teachers. Team teaching draws on various other excellent, largely improved professional development approaches, such as Lesson Study, learning laboratories, co-teaching, and contextual professional development. Professional cooperation and meaningful learning experiences are at the heart of reform teacher professional learning.

Despite team teaching is not an old concept and was promoted in the late 1950s and 1960s (Joyce, 2004), solo teaching persists as a method of instruction in schools today. It has only been employed in the special education domain (Bacharach et al., 2010). The aim of this review is to offer an overview of research on the subject of team teaching. This review is centred on the research question of different team-teaching models in the literature.

Research questions, objectives and theoretical framework

The transnational turn from content-oriented to competence-oriented curriculum making may have altered understandings of how to facilitate Bildung in public education (Hilt & Riese, 2021). In 2020, a comprehensive reform of the National Curriculum for Norway (Læreplanverket) was carried out intending to clarify, among other things, the connection between the Bildung-promoting task (danningsoppdrag) of public education and classroom teaching (Meld. St. 28 (2015-2016)). In the meantime, policymakers in Norway have argued for an increased presence of philosophy teaching in the national curriculum based on the idea that it facilitates Bildung (danning) (St.meld. nr. 30 (2003-2004); Meld.St. nr. 25 (2016-2017)).

This poster presentation is about the description of philosophy teaching and Bildung in the National Curriculum for Norway. How is the concept of Bildung and the teaching of philosophy discursively represented in the National Curriculum for Norway and what are their points of convergence?

Philosophy teaching can be placed on a continuum between two extremes, where one side stands for a ‘content-based’ and the other for a ‘method-based’ definition of philosophy (Bialystok, 2017). The content-based definition corresponds to what Godlovitch (2000) labels the “Proper Content view”. According to this view, philosophy is a field of knowledge with its own historical and thematic content (ontology, epistemology, antiquity, etc.). Meanwhile, the method-based definition corresponds to the “No Content view”, where philosophy is interpreted as a transdisciplinary modus operandi, useful for potentially any type of inquiry. Because these extremes either depict the content or the method as that which characterises philosophy as such, to favour the content-based definition (e.g., Bialystok, 2017; Biesta, 2011; Murris, 2016) or the method-based definition (e.g., Vansieleghem, 2013; Kienstra, Karskens & Imants, 2014) also means to favour different ways of incorporating philosophy in classroom teaching (Bialystok, 2017). Prior to the 2020 reform, both the Proper and No Content view of philosophy were present in pre-college teaching in the National Curriculum for Norway (see e.g., the national subject curriculum of ‘History and Philosophy’, ‘Religion and Ethics’ and ‘Knowledge of Christianity, Religion, Philosophies of life and Ethics’). Parts of the curriculum encouraged the use of philosophical questions, conversations, and ‘way of thinking’ in the teaching of school subjects, thus advocating philosophy teaching as a transdisciplinary method of inquiry. Other parts, however, also mentioned philosophers, philosophical traditions and texts, thus suggesting that philosophy has a content of its own to be taught. In other words, the role of the didactics of philosophy in Norway was multifaceted and prone to change.

The objective of analysing the relation between the teaching of philosophy and Bildung in the current National Curriculum for Norway is therefore threefold: to clarify what the representation of Bildung-promoting teaching in competence-oriented curriculum making is, what the National Curriculum for Norway is directing the didactics of philosophy towards and whether it reflects or stands as an alternative to transnational trends in education.

The study’s theoretical framework is based on a poststructural perspective on policy analysis known as “What’s the Problem Represented to be?” (WPR) (Bacchi & Goodwin, 2016). It presumes that unquestioned knowledge(s) (included about the nature of things, beings and the human subject) are generated in repeated heterogenous social practices and relations (Bacchi, 2016, p.109). ‘Knowledge’ is not truth, but that which is accepted as truth, thus being indissociable from ‘discourses’ understood as socially produced forms of knowledge that set limits to how we may understand the world (Bacchi, 2016, p.35). Policies can therefore be said to rely on unexamined assumptions to produce and represent the “problems” that they propose to solve.

Today's social and labor demands require demonstrating specific knowledge and skills in Higher Education prior to graduation. In VUCA societies, it is no longer sufficient to accredit certain training hours. Therefore, over the last decade, universities worldwide have attempted to replace time-based curriculum (Kelly & Columbus, 2016) with the competence-based curriculum (Echols et al., 2018; Gargallo López, 2017). In fact, since the late 1990s, the importance of mastering some knowledge, skills, and competences to remain in the labor market has grown. At that time, the OECD launched its DeSeCo project to define and select these key competences. A few years later, the European Commission adopted the OECD’s idea for member states, defining eight key competences and including "learning to learn" (LtL). Despite several years of attempting to incorporate LtL into the curriculum of educational systems, the EU continues to stress its importance (European Commission, 2018; Sala et al., 2020). This leads us to believe that the curriculum design of LtL is still a problem, and we wondered how study plans are being designed to incorporate this competence. We are particularly concerned about European universities, where an attempt has been made to adopt a competence-based curriculum since the Bologna process, sometimes with limited success (e.g., Chies et al., 2019).

Teaching to learn is a difficult task. To begin with, the academic community has encountered difficulties even in reaching an agreement on what this entails (Deakin Crick et al., 2014), although a recent study validated the content of a theoretical model on LtL (Garcia-Garcia et al., 2022; Gargallo López et al., 2020). Perhaps this is why our country, Spain, has lacked a firm commitment to transversal competences from the outset. Sánchez‐Elvira et al. (2011) analyzed the competences in the curriculum of Spanish universities after the Bologna reform and found that only some universities had a formal and shared set of transversal competences, such as LtL, which did not reach 20% of the training offer. Nearly 25% of the institutions did not even mention these competences, neither in the degrees nor in the subjects. Nevertheless, it is necessary to incorporate LtL in the curriculum so that teachers have a framework that facilitates teaching to learn in the classroom. Otherwise, it will not be credible to include LtL in the graduate profiles and, thus, to ensure that students know how to learn on their own after graduation to face the VUCA societies’ demands.

To date, few studies have analyzed the curriculum of Spanish universities using teaching programs (e.g., García-García et al., 2020; San Martín Gutiérrez et al., 2016), even though this is where the competences originate. For this reason, we have conducted a descriptive study using the teaching programs of two degrees (i.e., Pedagogy and Telecommunications), considering the LtL contents of the theoretical model of Gargallo López et al. (2020). The study addresses the following research questions (RQs).

RQ1. How frequently do LtL components appear in the Pedagogy and Telecommunication curriculum?

RQ2. Do LtL contents appear with the same frequency in the Pedagogy and Telecommunication curriculum?

RQ3. Are LtL contents more associated with transversal competences or those applied to a specific discipline?

The answer to these research questions helps us understand how Spanish curriculum designers have incorporated LtL in both degrees and its implications for curriculum design and educational practice in Higher Education.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education emphasizes interdisciplinary integrated learning oriented to real-world problem solving, which helps to cultivate students' inquiry ability, innovation ability, critical thinking and other core literacies required by future society, and is widely considered by the international community as the next generation of innovative education paradigm. The development of STEM education and the cultivation of STEM professionals are crucial for improving national core competitiveness, and countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Finland have launched national-level education policies and plans to increase investment in the construction of the STEM education field. Since 2016, when the Ministry of Education included the exploration of STEM education in the 13th Five-Year Plan of Education Informatization, STEM education has been flourishing in China.In recent years, STEM education research has been booming, and tracking and critiquing the latest international research results can help clarify the dynamic hotspots and future development directions of STEM education research. This study uses Citespace bibliometric software to examine the English-language STEM education literature from 2002 to 2022, and to sort out the current development of international STEM education research in order to better grasp the research hotspots and development directions of STEM education.

Similar to other post-communist countries, the education system of the Czech Republic is moving away from the concept of segregation towards inclusive education (IE). In 2016 the Amendment to the Education Act came into force (Education Act No. 561/2004), which significantly transformed the organizational, financial and content aspects of IE provided in Czech primary schools. While the rights of pupils with special educational needs to IE in common primary schools were significantly strengthened, a number of substantial changes in education were implemented, with teachers taking on most of the burden.

The attitudes of teachers towards IE along with teacher beliefs regarding their own efficacy to implement inclusive practices in the education of diverse students greatly influence the success of IE (Jordan, 2018). In the international context, a number of studies have shown these two constructs as very closely related (Saloviita, 2020). The professional literature points to the importance of validity and reliability in identifying these constructs, for which validated tools have been designed and implemented (Li & Cheung, 2021). In the Czech research context, various questionnaires as well as self-constructed scales have been used without strict specifications with regard to their theoretical foundations and psychometric properties. It may be said that the results from these Czech instruments do not fully reflect the range of issues related to teacher attitudes and self-efficacy in relation to IE. In the international context, standardized validated instruments have been regularly used to measure teacher attitudes and self-efficacy in relation to IE: in the measurement of attitudes the instruments “Attitudes Towards Inclusion” (AIS) as well as “Intention to Teach in Inclusive Classroom” (ITICS) (Sharma & Jacobs, 2016) are typically used, with the tool “Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices” (TEIP) (Sharma et al., 2012) commonly used to determine self-efficacy.

From an epistemological point of view, these three instruments reflect IE in a more holistic way, with an emphasis on socio-cultural perspectives regarding diversity as opposed to, for example, the approach of scales (e.g. Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale) that reflect IE through an emphasis on a medical paradigm (Oliver, 1990). The items of the three instruments under study in the present analysis are formulated in the form of statements. From a psychometric point of view, the original English version of the 8-item AIS questionnaire aims to identify attitudes reflecting beliefs (BI) and feelings (FI) regarding IE. In contrast, the 7-item ITICS questionnaire is aimed at identifying the teacher’s intention to implement inclusive measures, i.e. the tool determines attitudes towards curriculum change strengthening IE (Cch) and the intention to cooperate with experts (Cons). The 18-item TEIP questionnaire focuses on the assessment of the teacher’s own efficacy in relation to the implementation of procedures associated with IE, specifically in the area of: cooperation with experts (EC), management of disruptive student behavior (EMB), and implementation of IE (EII).

The three instruments, especially the TEIP, have been translated into several languages. The psychometric properties of the questionnaires have also been analyzed in a number of validation studies across individual countries and regions. Most of these studies have provided empirical evidence of the validity and reliability of questionnaires, demonstrating that the instruments work well in different socio-cultural contexts. The psychometric properties of the Czech version of the AIS, ITICS and TEIP, however, remain unknown.

In order to dependably and precisely apply in the Czech environment the above-mentioned scales in the identification of the attitudes and self-efficacy of primary school teachers in relation to IE, the aim of this study is to present information on (1) construct validity (factor structure), (2) reliability, and (3) measurement invariance of the Czech versions of the instruments.

In order to guarantee the human right to education in the sense of non-discriminatory and equal participation of all people in an inclusive education system, the assessment of effective individualised support measures is necessary (Art. 24 UNCRPD). Although European states have committed to developing an inclusive school system, they often maintain a well-established special education system based on labelling individual students as having special educational needs (SEN). In these situations, a tension can be observed between the provision of individual support and the potentially stigmatising and discriminatory effects of labelling students as having SEN. For example, the identification of SEN is still associated with a higher risk of exclusion from regular education (European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2020). Studies also point to classist, racist and ableist influences as a factor on the categorisation of SEN (e.g. Zhang & Katsiyannis, 2020, Berhanu 2008, Dyson 2008, Werning et al. 2008). Similarly, educational statistics surveys suggest that the identification of SEN is characterised by high contingency (Desforges & Lindsay, 2010; Klemm, 2018). For example, comparing school laws and regulations in the 16 German states, we counted at least 24 different assessment procedures (Gasterstädt, Kistner & Adl-Amini, 2020). Accordingly, identification and segregation rates, as well as rules governing SEN assessment procedures, vary widely at the state level. Although the SEN assessment procedure can be seen as a central fulcrum for the tension between the provision of individual support und potential discrimination, research in this area is scarce.
The poster will present the research project "InDiVers", which addresses SEN assessment procedures in Germany. The qualitative multilevel research design is based on Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin 1990) and Situational Analysis (Clarke, Friese & Washburn, 2018) (see methods section).

The project is informed by the assumption, that in order to change policy and practice towards inclusion and diversity, it is first necessary to understand the mechanisms of exclusion and the labelling processes that underpin them. Therefore, analysing the case of the assessment procedures in the German school system might also lead to a better understanding of exclusionary practices in school systems in other countries with established segregated special education systems. Thus, from a power-critical and anti-discriminatory perspective on diversity, our aim is to question the categorisation of SEN and the exclusions that go along with it, in order to be able to give impulses to address and include diversity in all aspects in the German school system in the next step.

The central questions of InDiVers are how the decision about, and legitimation of inclusion/exclusion are negotiated between different actors and how the underlying order of difference is (re)produced. The project also asks how the need for support for individual students is determined, which diagnostic procedures are used and how pedagogical “others” are constructed in these processes. While these questions are mainly addressed with a focus on individual cases, we also take into account the broader situation of assessment procedures at the level of the local education landscape in which these procedures are embedded. From this angle, we ask how regionally differentiated constellations of actors, e.g. professionals or guardians, cooperate and which positions appear to be particularly powerful. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of institutional discrimination (Gomolla & Radtke, 2009) and intersectionality (Riegel 2016), the project focuses on power and inequality relations in the structures of the institutions and organisations involved and the professionals working within them.

The poster will present our research design, give an insight into the initial findings, and take a closer look at our strategies for transferring our findings into practice.

Inclusion can be defined as “a process of systemic reform embodying changes and modifications in content, teaching methods, approaches, structures and strategies in education to overcome barriers with a vision serving to provide all students of the relevant age range with an equitable and participatory learning experience and environment that best corresponds to their requirements and preferences” [General Comment 4 adopted by CRPD-UN, 2016§6] (Graham, 2020:24). Inclusive education requires new thinking and practices, changes in the policies, perceptions, values, and principles in terms of schooling, curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment (Vlachou, 2004). Thus, it is inextricably linked to inclusive leadership which presupposes acceptance, respect, listening, clarifying language, being comfortable with diversity and ambiguity (Armstrong et al., 2011; MacRuairc et al., 2013).

Inclusive educational leadership leads to positive outcomes for the achievement of all students in inclusive schools (Donnelly et al., 2016; MacRuairc et al., 2013), “based upon alternative views of the world and the nature and form of schooling that will build that world” (Slee, 2011:25). In fact, committed school-principals introduce and embed through their values, the culture, policies, and practices that promote inclusive education at all levels (Graham, 2020; Lazaridou, 2019; Pregot, 2020). So, their values establish and influence school culture (Carrington, 1999), teachers’ attitudes and beliefs (Hess & Zamir, 2016), and therefore, play an important role in implementing and promoting inclusive education (Irvine et al., 2010). However, there has been little focus on the role of their values in promoting positive attitudes towards the education of disabled students and/or with s.e.n., and inclusive education in general (Hess & Zamir, 2016; Lazaridou, 2019; Pregot, 2020).

Attitudes constitute the readiness for action containing cognitive-emotional-behavioral elements (Bailey, 2004). School-principals’ attitudes shape teachers’ attitudes on various issues, as school-principals are the most basic link between the community and the school. In particular, the promotion of school-principals’ positive attitudes regarding the education of disabled students and/or with s.e.n., towards the whole educational community is essential for the effective education for all students (Bailey, 2004; Hess & Zamir, 2016; Lazaridou, 2019).

Values are conceptions of the desirable which influence one’s selection from available modes, means and ends of action (Begley, 2003). School principals’ values influence their attitudes (Bailey, 2004; Lazaridou, 2012) and by extension their educational practices (Irvine et al., 2010; Pregot, 2020) which shape the culture of the school unit (Carrington, 1999). Therefore, changing educational practices does not only require the acquisition of new skills or knowledge, but also the right values and positive attitudes towards inclusive education (Wakeman et al., 2006).

Both Greek and international research highlights school-principals’ attitudes towards the education of disabled students and/or with s.e.n., as a decisive factor in promoting their education (Bailey, 2004; Hess & Zamir, 2016). However, there is limited research regarding school-principals’ attitudes towards the education of disabled students and/or with s.e.n.. in Greece (Platsidou & Tsiolpidou, 2019). To the best of our knowledge, there is no prior research on the intercorrelations between school-principals’ values and attitudes regarding the inclusion of disabled students and/or with s.e.n. in primary and secondary education.

Considering the above, this paper focuses on the intercorrelations between the values of school-principals and their attitudes towards the education of disabled students and/or with s.e.n. in Greek regular schools. Specifically, it aims to examine the following questions:

1. Do school-principals’ values and attitudes regarding inclusive education show statistically significant differences depending on the demographic and professional information?
2. Can school-principals be classified into groups (clusters) according to their values?
3. Do school-principals’ attitudes regarding inclusive education show statistically significant differences depending on their value profiles?
4. To what extent school-principals’ values predict their attitudes?

Informed by the bioecological model (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions are an important space for the development of children where they learn, play and acquire knowledge together with other children. This applies to children from diverse backgrounds and with diverse abilities and needs, including children with disabilities. With the ratification of the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), many countries committed themselves to the implementation of an inclusive education system. One goal of inclusion is the equal participation of children with disabilities and it is assumed that inclusion in ECEC provides opportunities and benefits for children with and without disabilities (Odom et al., 2011). However, previous studies have shown that in schools as well as in ECEC institutions children with disabilities participate less in different activities and in interactions when compared to their peers without disabilities (Eriksson et al., 2007; Kuutti et al., 2021). What makes it difficult to compare these results is that the definitions of the term participation vary across studies, despite attempts to standardise it (Imms et al., 2015; Koster et al., 2009). The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) defines participation as “involvement in a life situation” (WHO, 2001, S. 10). In addition to that, Imms et al. (2015; 2017) developed the framework “family of participation-related constructs” (fPRC) and describe participation as a construct with two components: attendance and involvement. First studies have applied this framework (e.g. Åström & Almqvist, 2022), but there is still no clear answer to the question how participation can be operationalised in the context of ECEC. Moreover, methodological challenges remain when assessing participation and different understandings have led to various measures (Adair et al., 2018; Coster & Khetani, 2008).

The goal of the present work is to analyse how the participation of children with disabilities is defined and operationalised in the context of inclusive ECEC.

Reading difficulties have a relatively high prevalence among children (e.g., 6.49%, Moll et al., 2014). Due to their persistence, the difficulties are likely to remain throughout life, although in a milder form (Astrom et al., 2007; Psyridou et al., 2020). Given that reading ability is built upon different sub-skills, differentiated diagnostics (Ferrer et al., 2016) and adequate and evidence-based interventions (through long-term, individualized symptom-related training conducted over a more extended period; Ise et al., 2012) are required as early as possible. However, in addition to reading difficulties, comorbid social-emotional difficulties often occur (Hendren et al., 2018). It is for this reason of utmost importance to intervene early in life with a twofold intervention, addressing both reading and social-emotional difficulties (Boyes et al., 2020). In the intervention study within the Lubo-LRS project (University of Cologne, 2022), we aim to strengthen students with reading difficulties in this regard by addressing social-emotional challenges that may accompany their difficulties. Thus, reading training, provided to small groups of students with reading difficulties by project members, is combined with training in social-emotional skills provided to the whole class by the teachers.

As an extension of the intervention study, this poster presents a multiple baseline design of six second graders with reading difficulties. Thus, in addition to the pre-, post- and follow-up assessments, reading skills were measured twice a week using a curriculum-based measurement (CBM). The focus on these six children is particularly valuable because they face various individual circumstances (especially low reading skills, German as a second language, hearing impairment, social-emotional problems). Participants received a small-group reading intervention for seven months. In total, participants received 32 training sessions of respectively 50 minutes. The training was conducted twice a week during the first three months (10/2022 to 01/2023) and once per week in the following months (01/2023 to 05/2023).

The reading training was based on the evidence-based concept “Kieler Leseaufbau” (KLA; Dummer-Smoch & Hackethal, 2021) and associated materials. Since the children usually acquire letter knowledge during their first school year, our intervention focused on repeated reading of syllables, words, sentences, and brief texts. Various games and attractively designed materials were used. Each session was structured similarly: In the beginning, the content of the previous session and homework were repeated. Afterwards, new letters were introduced, writing exercises and reading games based on syllables or words were performed, and after ten sessions, short stories were read. Additionally, parents were encouraged to foster their children’s reading skills at home for five to ten minutes per day using the reading materials associated with the current session.

Both groups of three students received reading training from the same project member and social-emotional skills training with the whole class from their teacher (“Lubo aus dem All”; Hillenbrand et al., 2022). In addition, one of the two groups received a once-per-week small group training regarding social-emotional skills related to particular difficulties in reading (e.g., strengthening self-esteem and emotion regulation strategies).

The single case study illustrates the individual improvements in the students’ reading skills and enables more profound insights into promoting basic reading skills in children with reading difficulties. The following research question is addressed by exploratory analyses:

To what extent can improvement in reading skills be seen among individual students?

In addition, the following sub-questions will be answered:

-) How does reading development proceed individually during reading training?

-) What individual learning progresses in reading skills are evident, and how can differences be explained?

-) To what extent do differential effects of basic reading skills emerge in students who receive additional social-emotional training?

The aim of the paper is to present a part of the dissertation research focusing on the processes in inclusive education. Specifically, it answers through a case study design the research question: What teaching/learning process/activities do Finnish primary school teachers choose to ensure quality inclusive education? What steps in the teaching process lead to quality inclusive education?

The poster presents part of the initial results of a dissertation research on the nature of the primary school teacher in inclusive education. The presented part presents results focusing on teaching processes in Finnish schools, i.e. the notion of teaching/learning activities chosen by the teacher to ensure quality inclusive education. A case study design with observation and interview method with 10 Finnish primary school teachers was chosen for data collection. The results show the modesty of the Finnish teachers in their choice of teaching strategies, with independent work or group work with peer learning predominating, but with the help and cooperation of a number of teaching staff working in the classroom at the same time. Thus, the simplicity of the chosen forms and methods, with a high degree of differentiation and the involvement of a number of other teaching staff, seems to be essential to ensure quality inclusive education.

Inclusive education has been a high priority worldwide in recent decades and teachers need to be able to manage the increasing diversity of pupils and students in practice. Despite increased policy focus, there is often a lack of support for teachers in understanding and developing heterogeneous classrooms in more tangible and meaningful ways. Yet, the right instructional setting promotes opportunities for student learning and school success. It proves crucial to address the learning processes in heterogeneous classrooms, in what methods and teaching forms teachers use and whether they are supported in their work. Teachers often ask for a manual that shows them the exact steps to take in a heterogeneous classroom, but such a manual does not exist on a global scale. There is, however, research examining the relationship between selected teaching strategies and the quality of inclusive education (Forlin, 2010; Mitchell, 2013; Kratochvílová, 2015; Loreman, 2017). However, the aim of this paper is not to provide a search of this research or a detailed description of the educational processes leading to quality inclusive education. The aim is to present these processes in a Finnish primary school setting and to reflect on the development of a unified strategy.

Adolescence is characterized as a stage of human development in which individuals attain and develop the skills and competencies necessary for becoming productive and functioning adults (Barker, 2007). This critical point in human development is characterised by changes (such as physical and socio-emotional), as well as social and cognitive development (Slater & Bremner, 2017). Due to the mentioned changes and development undergone, adolescents can be at risk for mental health concerns (e.g., anxiety). WHO (2021) reports that one in seven adolescents aged between 10 and 19 experiences a mental health concern which is often left untreated. Thus, prevention programs offer opportunities for supporting the mental health of adolescents. By increasing their mental health literacy (Jorm, 2012) we can equip them with the knowledge of recognizing and properly responding to mental health issues in themselves and others. By developing effective prevention programs for adolescents we can mitigate at least some of the mental health issues that spill over from adolescence to adulthood, as for example many anxiety and depression-related disorders have their onset in adolescence (Gibb et al., 2010; Kim-Cohen et al., 2003). As adolescents are the most active users of digital devices (UNICEF, 2017) it is reasonable to focus on programs that can be accessed on digital devices (e.g., computers, smartphones) as this builds on their willingness to use such devices (Gibson & Trnka, 2020) and enable the development of interventions that are aligned with their habits.

The need for digital prevention programs that can be implemented independently of time, geographical or personnel restrictions has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (Kaess et al., 2021). For example, Ravens-Sieberer et al. (2022) found more mental health problems and higher anxiety in children and adolescents during the pandemic. Moreover, authors (e.g., Babbage et al., 2018; Kaess et al., 2021) agree that there is a clear need and value for such programs/interventions, but caution has to be put in place as digital resources for mental health are not always formally evaluated or evidence-based in their development (Domhardt et al., 2021; Torous et al., 2019).

In order to support the development of a digital mental health tool for adolescents, the present paper builds on a previously conducted systematic review (Wright et al., in press) and aims to provide recommendations for creating a digital tool for the mentioned age group. The tool is being developed as a part of the ongoing Erasmus project me_HeLi-D (Mental Health Literacy and Diversity. Enhancing Mental Health and Resilience through digital Resources for Youth). In line with the goals of the project, the following contribution focuses on existing mental health programs with a digital/online component that focuses on the mental health of adolescents (aged between 11 to 18 years) and the following domains of mental health: mindfulness, resilience, and help-seeking. We are particularly interested in the content, design, and activities of existing evidence-based programs in order to inform the development of our own digital program with recommendations that are based on findings and good practices from existing programs.

In the present paper, we aim to answer three research questions: 1) Which evidence-based mental health programs/interventions with a digital component have been shown to be effective in supporting the mental health of adolescents aged 11 to 18 years? 2) What were the contents of effective mental health programs/interventions? 3) How were effective mental health programs/interventions designed?

Feelings of association with a particular cultural group and consequently sense of belonging to it is one of the important factors in immigrant adaptation process which affects both sociocultural adaptation together with academic achievement and psychological adaptation (Phinney et al, 2001). School is usually the first socio-cultural institution in which students with migrant background are included. Consequently, school environment also provides these students with an introduction to host country’s social, political and cultural values and attitudes, which fosters their sense of belonging to wider host society. It can be concluded that sense of belonging to school is a precondition of (successful) adaptation of migrant students in school environment, which foretells the (successful) adaptation to wider society. Additionally, sense of belonging to school is connected to cognitive and psychosocial functioning (Aderman & Freeman, 2004). Namely, higher sense of belonging to school is connected to higher intrinsic motivation and higher academic achievement, which is linked to more favourable occupational possibilities. Thus, it can be concluded that sense of belonging to school plays an important role in successful adaptation of students with migrant background (Chui et al., 2012).

In order to determine the factors influencing the development of sense of belonging to school, El Zaatari and Maalouf (2022) argue that Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory can provide a comprehensive basis. The Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) views child development as a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment, from immediate settings of family and school to broad cultural values, laws, and customs. The Bronfenbrenner’s model puts the individual (student) and their characteristics (biological and dispositional), which affect the interactions with their environment (e.g. peers, parents, teachers, school as an institution etc.) in the center of the model. Student however exists in several systems of interconnected relationships, roles, activities and settings (Shelton, 2019). The first system – microsystem, focuses on students’ proximal relationships with their peers, family, teachers, friends. The second system is mesosystem which includes distal relationships, which include school climate, school policies, rules, practices etc. In this system students’ individual microsystems are interconnected and influence each other (Saab, 2009). Then exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem follow.

The main focus of this poster is to examine the differences in feeling of belonging to school and factors affecting it based on Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory on the individual, micro- and mesosystem level among Slovenian students with migrant background included in the PISA sample. The decision to only analyse the first two systems is based on the premise, that they are most influential to child’s development. Additionally, the poster compares Slovenian data to data from two other EU countries, namely Portugal and Hungary. The selection of these two countries was based on the Migrant Integration Policy Index assessment of responsiveness of the educational systems to the needs of immigrant children, where Portugal represents a highly responsive educational system and Hungary represents a non-responsive educational system.

Using the PISA 2018 data the paper firstly examines the differences in feeling of belonging as one of the prerequisites of successful adaptation of immigrant students (first- and second-generation) and then analyses and compares the individual factors, namely, resilience and cognitive flexibility/adaptablity, which are proved to be linked to positive and successful adaptation of migrants (Albuquerque & Bueno, 2020), and factors of micro- (teacher support in test language lesson, parental support) and mesosystems (discriminative school climate, disciplinary climate) which predict the feeling of belonging to school. The overall goal of the paper is to determine which individual and ecological system factors predict the feeling of belonging to school in the three chosen countries.

Cognitive aspects of school readiness upon entry to primary education is a strong predictor of later academic achievement (Duncan et al., 2007; Paro & Pianta, 2000). It is also found that young children from low socioeconomic status (SES) families lag behind their higher-SES peers in school readiness related skills, especially executive functions (that involves working memory, inhibition, and switching), which have a negative effect on their performance in school (Nayfeld et al., 2013; Hilferty et al., 2010). Empirical evidence showed that it is possible to support the development of these kind of abilities even in case of at-risk samples of children (Duncan et al., 2018; Takacs & Kassai, 2019), however, families living in poverty may have limited resources and knowledge about prevention and early intervention programs (Leseman & Slot, 2014; Lloyd, 2017). Thus, making these services accessible for at-risk samples is crucial but challenging. One of the most promising form of ensuring available interventions for these vulnerable families are home visiting programmes. These programmes can not only foster children’s cognitive skills directly but also nurture parenting skills of their caregivers, and improve their home environment (Corr et al., 2016; Welsh et al., 2014). The aim of the present study was to address these barriers and reduce inequality in school readiness by examining the feasibility and the effectiveness of a low-threshold early intervention for children living in poverty conducted by volunteer helpers. According to our hypotheses it is feasible to provide early intervention at children’s home even in an adverse environment. Additionally, we expect that, after a year of weekly intervention sessions, the intervention group will outperform the controls on school readiness related cognitive abilities like short-term memory and working memory skills.

While, in retrospect, the discourses on the necessity of media education and inclusion in schools were discussed separately for a long time, more and more initiatives, both in politics and academia, have been advocating the joint treatment of both topics in recent years. In its 2017 paper on education in the digital world, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (Kultusministerkonferenz) assigned schools in particular the task of enabling students to participate in society with the help of media education (cf. Kultusministerkonferenz 2017, p. 10).

The expert group on inclusive media education of the Society for Media Education and Communication Culture (Gesellschaft für Medienpädagogik und Kommunikationskultur e.V.) took up this petition in 2018 and emphasized that, in enabling the promotion of media skills, particular attention must be paid to people who are affected by experiences of marginalization (cf. Fachgruppe Inklusive Medienbildung 2018, pp. 1-2). In the international discourse, too, the need for digital inclusion has been mentioned for some time within the discussion about the digital divide and inequality. While the term was often equated with equal access to the Internet in particular (cf. Nemer 2015), the discourse increasingly addresses ideas for promoting social participation through the development of skills and competencies in the context of digital technologies and empowerment (cf. Reisdorf, Rhinesmith 2020, p. 134).

Similar ideas can be found in the Handbuch Inklusion und Medienbildung (Bosse, Schluchter, Zorn 2019) and are detailed and justified within the concept of Inclusive Media Education (2019). The theoretical basis of this concept is the understanding of education according to Benjamin Jörissen and Winfried Marotzki (2009), which describes it as a process not only of learning, but also of reflection and change (cf. Zorn, Schluchter, Bosse 2019, p. 23). However, there is no deeper theoretical discussion of Jörissen and Marotzki's understanding of (media) education in the context of inclusion. Instead, the focus of the article shifts to the media literacy discourse. This is justified by the fact that media literacy is not only seen as a prerequisite for the self-determined use of digital media, but also promotes education and individual opportunities (cf. ibid., p. 24). However, when looking at the current discourse around inclusive media education, it becomes apparent that this shift in focus carries the risk of shortening the potentials of inclusive media education (Kamin, Bartolles 2022). For example, recent reviews on the state of research in this field show that mainly the potentials of digital media as didactic tools for compensating deficits are discussed and researched (cf. Mertens et al. 2022; Quenzer-Alfred et. al., in press).

In addition, the fact that the concept of inclusive media education has not yet been grounded in educational theory shows that questions remain about the fit of Jörissen and Marotzki's understanding of media education in the context of inclusion. For example, the theory of structural media education (Strukturale Medienbildung) does address social negotiation processes, in that education is also understood as a question of participation opportunities and the ability to articulate and recognize articulations (cf. Jörissen, Marotzki 2009, p. 38). However, the focus remains primarily on the structural and material "Objektebene" (Marotzki 2007, p. 139) of digital media by examining medial structures for their educational potentials. An examination of the connection between (medial) articulations and the process of education remains on a rudimentary level. Thus, not only the question of the suitability of Jörissen's and Marotzki's understanding of education in the context of inclusive media education remains open, but also the question of the educational-theoretical foundation of the concept of inclusive media education in general.

Migratory flows are movements with a long history of research in the field of Social Sciences in general and in pedagogy in particular. In contrast, the phenomenon of return migration does not seem to have sufficient literary support, despite its economic, educational, social, cultural and demographic implications and consequences (Egea, Nieto, & Jiménez, 2002; Vilar et al., 2008).

The European population has traditionally been migrants, either within the EU borders or beyond them, leading some of the massive displacements that have taken place in past centuries. One fact to highlight is that, within the Spanish population, and specifically the Galicians, have led these migrations over time, normally directed towards the countries of South America or towards the European continent itself after the Second World War (Pujol, 2009). One characteristic of this group is that they conceived migration as a limited temporary displacement, which is why the idea of return was always a common aspect in their social imaginary.

However, at the end of the 20th century Europe, and particularly Spain and Galicia, went from being a territory in which there was more emigration to one in which immigration abounded (Santos Rego & Lorenzo, 2009; Vázquez, Pérez-Caramés & Contreras, 2018; Domínguez-Mujica, Rodríguez-Rodríguez, & Santana-Rivero, 2021), and in which, already in the 21st century, the phenomenon of return gained strength, especially in Galicia.

Thus, according to the IOM (2019), return, at the international level, can be understood as the movement of people who, after having left their usual place of residence across an international border, decide to return to their country of origin. However, it is important to note that within a person's migratory process, return does not necessarily mean the culmination of their migratory cycle (Arjona & Checha, 2005).

Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a significant return of emigrants, so that some Galician municipalities seem to be experiencing a sudden and accentuated population change, as their censuses are increasing considerably. This increase has consequences for the local community, so that it is possible to represent different changes in the social, cultural and educational spheres, among others. Moreover, it is necessary to point out that at present, returned migrants are a heterogeneous group (Egea & Rodríguez, 2002), with a predominance of young people and with "permanence projects" in and for the family environment (Santos Rego & Lorenzo, 2009).

It is understood, therefore, that political solutions must be considered in the public sphere with the aim of favouring, by all possible means, the inclusion of returnees, with a guaranteed minimum quality of life. It is logical, therefore, that there is a demand for far-reaching research on this issue, which is in no way incompatible with the design and activation of effective measures in the social, economic, cultural and educational fields (Egea et al., 2002).

For this reason, we pose the following research problem in the framework of a doctoral thesis in preparation: What effects does the phenomenon of return migration have at the socio-educational level in the Galician local administration?

The Dutch society is becoming increasingly more linguistically, culturally, ethnically and racially diverse (CBS, 2022). This trend is reflected in the primary school student population, with more students with varying cultural backgrounds, who differ in their habits and traditions at home or who speak another language at home than at school (CBS, 2022). When teachers are able to respond to varieties in students’ (family) cultures, (language) backgrounds, histories, experiences and educational needs, they can enrich their education through culturally relevant teaching (e.g., Banks, 2004; Delpit, 1995). To do so, teachers need knowledge about the background of their students, also called cultural knowledge. However, it seems to be unclear what is specifically understood by the content of cultural knowledge. The aim of this scoping review is to get more insight in the content and dimensions of cultural knowledge for primary school teachers.

To get an understanding of the knowledge that would count as ‘cultural knowledge’, frameworks such as Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) (Gay, 2010) can be helpful. According to Gay, teachers can use cultural knowledge about students to make learning meaningful. Cultural knowledge can relate to diverse contexts of children’s development. A theory that maps those contexts, is Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (1977). This theory identifies multiple levels of the surrounding environment, from immediate family settings to broad cultural values. The frameworks of CRT and ecological systems theory guided our search for specific descriptions of what can be meant by the concept of cultural knowledge.

In previous research, cultural knowledge has been described as knowledge of students and their characteristics, which means teacher’s understanding of the specific students they teach and includes their racial, ethnic, socio economic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds (e.g. Bialostok, 2019; Shiver et al., 2020; Lee, 2010), their out-of school experiences (e.g. Dunsmore, Ordoñez-Jasis, & Herrera, 2013), their home lives (e.g. Kenner & Ruby, 2013; Settlage, 2004), their communities (e.g. Ajayi, 2014; Flint & Jaggers, 2012) and their culture (e.g. Jackson, 2013). These descriptions of relevant domains still seem quite abstract and not very specifically described. This lack of clarity about the concept of cultural knowledge can make it difficult for schools and teachers to use this concept in their approach of students in multicultural settings. Also, there seems a lack of clarity regarding the domains that constitute to the concept of cultural knowledge. Different researchers use different scopes or perspectives of the concept of cultural knowledge, depending on their background and paradigm. As a result, the domains in one study are focused on ethnicity and in another study on out of school experiences or language. This may lead to questions regarding the full capturing of this concept in research and the scope of study findings.

More clarity about the scope as well as further operationalization of the domains that constitute to the concept of cultural knowledge may give teachers opportunities to enrich culturally responsive teaching. Therefore, the present scoping review intends to identify, organize and concretize domains of knowledge that constitute the concept of cultural knowledge and to identify knowledge gaps regarding the concept of cultural knowledge.

Over the last few years, many schools have begun to place value on emotional well-being. This has involved the implementation of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) actions. This has impacted positively on the health and well-being of individuals and the educational community.

The main objective of emotional education, as Bisquerra (2003) indicates, focuses on the development of emotional competences and the search for personal and social well-being. In relation to this, Brackett et al. (2015) highlight that "not having the skills to understand and manage emotions can be disruptive to optimal social and cognitive development" (p. 21). Beside this, SEL may contribute to the prevention of diseases that have a negative impact on our health and thus promote an emotional balance that helps to generate a state of well-being (Ortega, 2010; Piqueras et al., 2009).

In this regard, if social-emotional learning is developed in schools (Salzburg Global Seminar, 2018), these will be friendlier and safer, facilitating the creation of balanced learning environments, support community cohesion and increasing the capacity of citizens to adapt to a changing society. Furthermore, Viitaniemi (2020) and Reicher & Matischek-Jauk (2017) indicate that the development of emotional skills at school provides tools to prevent bullying and enables the improvement of the overall climate of the whole educational community.

Beside this, Social-Emotional Learning offers the possibility of providing adequate support to implement specific programmes such as conflict resolution, sexual education, health education or substance use prevention in an interrelated way (Elias et al., 2015; Greenberg et al., 2003).

The development of SEL reduces violence and aggressive behaviour, promotes resilience and serves as a basis for reducing health risk behaviours related to substance use such as tobacco or alcohol (Cohen, 2001; Fopiano & Haynes, 2001).

Moreover, as Aldrup et al. (2020) point out, teachers who are trained in emotional education have more suitable relationships with their students, a better understanding of their students' problems and fewer disruptive problems in class. According to Extremera & Fernández-Berrocal (2004), the development of these emotional competences will enable teachers to cope with work-related stress and burnout.

Concretely, the main objective of this study is to analyse the type of training in emotional education received by future Early Childhood and Primary Education teachers at a Spanish university. This will allow us to know how their academic development is going and to find out which competences (intrapersonal, interpersonal and complementary) are worked the most in their initial training. With this, the aim is to try to implement training proposals that will contribute to health and well-being.This work is part of a doctoral thesis wich is being supported by the Goverment of Spain through a pre-doctoral contract for “University Professor Training (FPU18/01858)”.

Bullying and victimization persist as severe problems with various short- and long-term consequences (e.g., Moore et al., 2017), especially during adolescence. Therefore, research on possible protective factors for bullying and victimization is still needed. One of them can be mindfulness as adolescents who are more mindful may be involved in bullying and/or victimization to a lesser extent (Liu et al., 2022; Riggs & Brown, 2017; Yuan & Liu, 2021), however, the relationship between mindfulness, bullying, and victimization was mostly mediated by other factors, such as impulsivity, moral disengagement, internalizing and externalizing problems (e.g., Georgiou et al., 2019, 2021).

Bullying can be identified throughout several existing definitions of bullying behaviour which share the following common features: the purpose of bullying is to harm, it lasts for longer periods, and there is a difference in power between the bully and the victim. In this direction, current definitions describe bullying as a goal-directed behaviour that harms another individual in the context of power imbalance (Volk et al., 2017). There are several types of bullying, such as physical bullying, verbal bullying, social bullying (Marsh et al., 2011) and cyberbullying (Slonje & Smith, 2008).

Mindfulness is a non-judgmental and accepting awareness of present events and experiences (Brown & Ryan, 2003). Contemporary theories broaden mindfulness conceptualization into perceiving mindfulness as an ability rather than a trait as it can be enhanced by practice (i.e., yoga, mindfulness training). Adolescents that are more mindful are better at decision-making, have higher self-control and self-regulation, are better at decision-making, have a more positive and less negative affect, and their anger feelings are reduced in comparison with their peers who have lower levels of mindfulness (Black et al., 2012; Franco et al., 2016; Riggs et al., 2015).

There is a growing body of evidence regarding the relationship between bullying, victimization, and mindfulness, however, the research is still scarce as the connection between them is not as clear as expected, especially concerning bullying. Mindfulness and bullying are mostly negatively connected (Georgiou et al., 2019). As for the association between mindfulness and victimization, more mindful children had a lower risk of being victims of bullying behaviour (Murray-Close et al., 2014). Regarding the relationship between mindfulness and cyberbullying, studies showed that lower levels of mindfulness are related to cyberbullying over time (Yuan & Liu, 2021).

Furthermore, several researchers (e.g., Liu et al., 2022) aimed to study mindfulness-based interventions as anti-bullying programs. Programs included several mindfulness activities, such as quieting the mind, moving mindfully, mindful attention, managing negative emotions and negative thinking, and acknowledgement of self and others (Liu et al., 2022; Schonert-Reichl & Lawlor, 2010). Results suggested that youth that was included in the training had lower bullying behaviour scores (Liu et al., 2022).

Truth be told, more research is needed in this area to more thoroughly understand the role of mindfulness when examining bullying behaviour, especially its subdomains as it is crucial to understand the protective factors in order to offer approppriate support for adolescents in need. Therefore, the aim of the present paper is to examine the relationship between mindfulness, different types of bullying and victimization (physical, verbal, social, cyber) by using structural equation modelling.

This presentation will address the mental health needs of children and youth in Bhutan as perceived by Bhutanese school counselors. School counseling is a profession slowly gaining momentum as it combines the important topic of children and youth mental health on the one hand and the school setting, a structure playing a central role in children’s development, on the other (Harris, 2013). Consequently, the field of global school counseling research is also becoming increasingly recognised as findings from individual countries can inform school counseling services in other countries (Salmon, 2016). Often referred to as the happiest country in the world, the Kingdom of Bhutan implemented its first 12, full-time school counselors in 2011. Today there are over 179 school counselors active across the kingdom’s nearly 600 schools (Ministry of Education, 2021) but very little is known about them. The growing mental health needs of Bhutanese children and youth exposed to evermore challenges such as substance abuse and rising unemployment (Chaudhuri, Dema, Wangmo, & Gautam, 2021; Dema et al., 2019; Ministry of Health, 2019; Pelden, 2016; Lorelle & Guth, 2013) together with a lack of psychiatric resources throughout the country (Sacra, 2017) and new challenges bought about by the COVID-19 pandemic (Namgyel & Milbert, 2021) underscore the importance of school counseling services in Bhutan. Bhutanese school counselors are at the forefront of the battle to protect Bhutanese students’ mental-health and well-being. That is why this study sought to understand the work of Bhutanese school counselors and the challenges they perceive to students’ mental health and well-being such as cultural factors that may be influencing help-seeking behavior. Specifically, this poster presentation will investigate the question: what are challenges to Bhutanese students’ mental health and well-being as perceived by Bhutanese school counselors? To this end, a mixed methods approach employing an on-line survey followed by on-line as well as in-person interviews of school counselors in Bhutan was carried out between November 2021 and September 2022. All 179 school counselors registered in Bhutan in 2021 were invited to participate in an online survey aimed at investigating their perceived roles, resources, and challenges. Responses were obtained from a representative sample of 162 school counselors of which 28 then participated in semi-structured interviews to obtain more in-depth and nuanced information. Because of the complexity of contemporary school counseling in Bhutan and the inherent interdependence of multi-level factors affecting school counseling (as evident from Bhutan’s published school counseling framework), this investigation was guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (EST) (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). This model is ideal for investigating school counseling services in Bhutan as it considers Bhutanese school counselors not as isolated persons but as entities existing within and affected by the school environment they work in and the different factors that constitute it such as the physical school environment, school colleagues, the school counseling policy enacted by the government and how all of the above change over time. In addition, to situate the study in Bhutan’s cultural context, this investigation was further guided by Bhutan’s unique economic and political philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) (Dakpa, Rabten, Rai, & Gurung, 2011). As such, Bronfenbrenner’s EST (1979) and the Kingdom of Bhutan’s famous GNH model were both used to guide data-analysis in order to understand the challenges to student’s mental-health including dynamic relations between the student, school system and wider community within Bhutan’s unique cultural context.

In a linguistically and culturally diversified Europe, the teaching, learning and assessment of foreign languages have gained attention over the last decades (European Commission, EACEA, & Eurydice, 2015). As a result, national tests in languages are currently administered in almost all European countries, and in a majority they carry high-stakes for students. The teaching and assessment of English as a foreign/second language (L2) has a particular position in Europe, where all but one of the countries administer national tests in L2 English for secondary students (European Commission et al., 2015). However, not even half of these countries include all four skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking) in national tests, and speaking is the least assessed language competence (European Commission et al., 2015). A plausible reason is the fact that speaking is the most difficult skill to assess in a reliable way (Alderson & Bachman, 2004), partly because raters need to consider numerous aspects simultaneously, and therefore, raters may pay attention to different aspects of speakers’ utterances (Bøhn, 2015). Moreover, the social situation in which a test is set affects assessment (Borger, 2019), making standardized testing of speaking particularly challenging. There is a gap in research regarding how raters of national and/or standardized tests orient to the challenges of assessing speaking when operationalizing assessment, something that could provide insight into raters’ assessment processes and in turn, how these can inform development of speaking tests.

In Sweden, which constitutes the empirical case for the present study, all students in grades 6 and 9 (12-13 and 15-16 years of age) take a national test in L2 English where students’ listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills are assessed. It is administered by the Swedish National Agency for Education but assessed by students’ own teachers. Speaking is included in part A, the National English Speaking Test (NEST). There is no specific rater training for teachers involved as raters of the NEST, but they are provided with extensive assessment guidelines from the Agency of Education. Despite these guidelines, teachers commonly construct their own note-taking document to use as a scoring template when assessing the NEST (Byman Frisén et al., 2021). Although scoring templates are recognized as mediators between the observed performances and the score awarded (McNamara, 1996), few studies have examined the role(s) they play in the assessment process. The aim of this study is to contribute to a clearer understanding of raters’ scoring processes when assessing L2 English speaking, as these emerge from raters’ reports of their note-taking practices in the assessment situation. Research questions adress how teachers take notes in the assessment situation, in what way they draw upon their notes when deciding the score, and reasons behind the creation and use of an own note-taking document.

The theoretical framework for the study is the Anthropological Theory of Didactics (ATD, Chevallard, 2007), and the idea of praxeologies that according to the theory need to be taken into account to examine ‘true’ knowledge (Chevallard, 2007, p. 133). Praxeologies consist of praxis and logos. Praxis is a type of task as well as the technique used to carry out the task, whereas logos is the logic behind using that particular technique for that particular task (the technology of the technique) as well as theory justifying the technology. Viewing note-taking documents as the technique used to carry out the task of assessing speaking in L2 English, the ATD framework is used in this study to analyze how teachers use this technique as well as analyzing the logos behind it – i.e., the discourse of why and how note-taking is beneficial for carrying out the task.

Schools in Kazakhstan witnessed the most profound changes to the national curriculum and in terms of assessment in order to meet international standards. As the deep educational reforms are implements in the classroom, a phased transition of classes from the grading system to criteria-based assessment was initiated for primary classes in the 2015-2016 academic year (MoES Strategic Plan for 2016; Fifth report, 2016). The assessment reformation was needed because, in the past, teachers evaluated students' knowledge using a 1 to 5-rated scale throughout compulsory schooling (OECD,2014). However, these grades did not provide a clear picture of the students’ true academic performance.

This shifting process began in the NIS (Nazarbayev Intellectual schools). The reason for this, according to ‘The State Programme of the Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020’ (MoES, 2010), was that the main tasks of NIS were to act as a platform for the introduction of new policies and the transfer teachers’ experience to mainstream schools. Thus, the criteria-based assessment was experienced between 2011-2016 in NIS (National Academy of Education. I. Altynsarina, 2015). From 2015, 30 pilot schools started implementing a new curriculum and criteria-based assessment, while OECD countries experienced this stage in 1980-90 (Irsaliyev et al., 2017). It was only eight years since implementation of criteria-based assessment. As a researcher I am interested to get teachers views on implementation of criteria-based assessment.

There are many purposes of FA in the classroom and the learning process in general. Students frequently have misconceptions about what are they learning, and also about the why they are learning something (White & Frederiksen, 1998). FA is its provision of quality feedback for learners, which allows the current level of students to be assessed and adequate instruction which outlines the next steps to be taken (Black et al., 2003). Thus, a main objective of FA is to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses and to inform students of their current level based on evidence, and then directing them as to how their learning needs can be met (ARG, 2002). In addition, Roskos and Neuman (2012) noted that FA helps teachers to be more conscious of the gaps in every students’ development. Teachers using FA are better able to meet the learning needs of their students, give constructive feedback, support independent learning, organize interactive assessments of students' attainments, adjust the teaching process, and find students’ weaknesses and strengths (OECD, 2014; Black &William, 1998). Hence, this positive interaction with students may only be achieved when the teacher believes in the advantages of FA. Thus, it is crucial to gain information about what do teachers think about FA. There is a gap in the literature about teachers’ perceptions of FA in Kazakhstan; I was only able to find a minimal amount of research in this context. Therefore, this study focusses on the teacher’s experience, perception, attitudes, and beliefs about FA. This study's first purpose is to gain a deeper understanding of the main opportunities and obstacles to implementing FA according to teachers' realities, whilst the second is to get teachers’ suggestions regarding the integration of FA.

Based on the purposes mentioned in the research scope and research value, two research questions have been generated to guide this study:

1) What do primary school teachers perceive as the opportunities and obstacles to using FA to support learning in their classrooms?

2) What recommendations would teachers give to improve support the use of formative FA in primary schools in Kazakhstan?

This qualitative research interviewed six primary school teachers from a Kazakhstani public school, and the data will be analysed through thematic analysis.

In the study I would like to present, the aim is to gain insight into teacher education students’ experience with the introduction of the use of escape rooms as a didactic tool in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Escape room is a new, game-based, didactic tool in school that may offer teacher education students new possibilities in the mathematics classroom. According to Nicholson (2015) escape rooms are live-action, team-based games in which the players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks to complete a mission in a limited amount of time. Within educational research we see a steady increase in the use of escape rooms as a didactic tool (e.g. Morell et al., 2020; Ouariachi & Wim, 2020; Taraldsen et al., 2020; Veldkamp et al., 2020), where most research articles refer to the use of escape rooms in teaching in higher education (Taraldsen et al., 2020; Veldkamp et al., 2020).

In addition, for instance Borasi and Finnegan (2010) and Van der Heijden et al. (2015) highlight the potential of teachers as change agents, and Taraldsen et al. (2020) identify this potential in the teacher education student’s position as well, because teacher education students may bring new ideas to the schools where they conduct their teaching practice as students and to the schools where they eventually work as teachers. One such idea is to use escape rooms for teaching and learning in mathematics. According to the theories of John Dewey (e.g. Dewey, 1916, 1938), experience may transfer into learning, which means that teacher education students in practice periods, and then as qualified teachers, may bring new ideas, didactic tools and possibilities to the practice field, based on what they learn during their teacher education. This is not just because they learn something specific about a didactic tool such as escape rooms, but also because, in general, they go through a significant kind of learning-based metamorphosis, from being an experienced pupil to becoming a new teacher, which may affect their beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning (e.g. Beijaard et al., 2000), and therefore what priorities to make in their teaching. Van Zoest et al. (1994) reveal that teacher education students in general have had quite traditional, experience-based beliefs about teaching and learning priorities in school mathematics when they enter a teacher education programme. Through their time at a teacher education programme the students may be introduced to, and influenced by, approaches and opinions regarding mathematics teaching and learning that may challenge their beliefs. Because of its well-documented novelty, the introduction to escape rooms offered the participating teacher education students one such belief-influencing opportunity.

Therefore, the introduction of escape rooms for use in mathematics to teacher education students may have two objectives. First, escape rooms are a new, game-based, didactic tool that offers teacher education students an example of non-traditional possibilities in the mathematics classroom. Second, the introduction may offer the opportunity to gain insight into teacher education students’ development as mathematics teachers and position as possible change agents for mathematics teaching in school, through well-grounded influence on their bildung (Hohr, 2011) as mathematics teachers. Hence, attention to these two objectives was given in my study through this research question:

How do teacher education students experience an introduction to the use of escape rooms as a didactic tool in the teaching and learning of mathematics?

An increased focus on equity and justice in education emerges from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, where the commitment is to provide inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels, as well as from other European and international documents (OECD, 2012, 2005; UNESCO, 2015). However, little is known about the specific field of learning assessment and about the possible enhancement for assessment processes when inspired by discourses about justice, equity and fairness.

The present contribution is part of a larger research project SHIFT (Shaping and Inspiring a Fair Thinking in assessment) that aims to investigate how to shift assessment practices toward equity and justice/fairness and how the assessment methods can meet the diversity of the students. Specifically in this contribution the aim is to explore how and when an assessment process or practice is fair/equitable from the students’ perspective.

Empirical and theoretical studies have highlighted the need to investigate the students’ insights about the introduction of the issue of justice in the assessment field. A review by Struyven et al. (2005) reveals that from university students’ points of view, assessment has a positive effect on their learning and is ‘fair’ when it: (1) relates to authentic tasks; (2) represents reasonable demands; (3) encourages them to apply knowledge to realistic contexts; (4) emphasizes the need to develop a range of skills; and (5) is perceived to have long-term benefits. Other studies with university students (Lizzio et al., 2007) show the contribution of some factors of fair assessment to the perception of a fair academic environment: the transparency and objectivity (‘Students are assessed on clear and objective criteria’) and the equity (‘Rules and procedures are applied consistently and fairly’) of the learning and assessment process.

Other relevant studies (Pepper and Pathak, 2008; Scott et al., 2014; Flores et al., 2015; Murillo & Hidalgo, 2017) show that students give great attention to some aspects when defining an assessment as fair: 1) explicitness in grading criteria, 2) frequent feedback, 3) assessment capacity to meet the characteristics of each student, 4) equality for all in terms of conditions and support, 5) participation in the assessment process, 6) focus on the effort and the progress (not just the results), 7) continuity and flexibility, 8) attention to aspects not strictly related to learning, such as their attitude, empathy, respect for peers, 9) learner-centred approach to assessment.

A study by Pitt and Winstone (2018) investigates the role of anonymous marking on university students’ perspectives about fairness by exploring whether students perceive anonymous marking as fairer than non-anonymous marking. Results revealed no significant difference according to whether or not marking was anonymous. The study suggests to seriously question whether transparency and equity require anonymous marking and to distinguish between anonymous grading and anonymous feedback (Whitelegg, 2002): whilst anonymous grading has clear advantages (such as removal of bias/prejudgement), the provision of feedback on an anonymous basis is potentially problematic because it disrupts the feedback loop by removing the individualisation of feedback comments, increasing the distance between staff and students. The specific aim of the presented research is to explore these issues with a group of students enrolled in teacher education programmes. Their perspectives and insights about how to shift assessment cultures and practices towards fairness are relevant given their path for becoming teachers in addition to the fact that reflecting upon the nature and the purposes of assessment is fundamental for the development of their professional identity.

With the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, societies worldwide faced the challenge of developing an inclusive education system that provides access to education for all children (UN, 2006). Teaching in increasingly diverse and heterogeneous classrooms requires a great deal of professional competence on the part of the teaching staff. A central aspect of being able to do justice to all children individually is the development of a distinctive didactic and diagnostic competence. In the DiPoSa project (Didaktisch diagnostische Potentiale des inklusionsorientierten Sachunterrichts), further education and training modules are being developed to help implement formative assessment as an everyday teacher activity and an elementary part of the teaching profession (Schroeder, Blumberg, Kottmann, Miller & Reh, 2021).

There are different approaches to pedagogical diagnostics that imply process- and product-oriented approaches. The different types of diagnosis have been applied in teaching practice and currently, in inclusive classrooms, it is mainly support diagnosis that is linked to an assumed improvement of the initial situation through adaptive support measures that is common (Heimlich & Kahlert, 2012). However, due to the important role of special needs education in Germany, support diagnosis also has the dual function of diagnosis and selection. The research work in the DiPoSa project is based on didactic diagnostics that are directly integrated into the classroom and are suitable for everyday use to accompany teaching-learning processes. This strength-oriented understanding of diagnostics in the heterogeneous classroom takes on a special significance when based on the increasing labelling of pupils with special educational needs in Germany in recent years, which is justified by the support-oriented diagnostics from the beginning and the political requirements (KMK, 2008; 2020).

The subject of science education, with its subject-immanent resource orientation, offers many opportunities to see diversity in the classroom as a chance to use many different potentials (Prengel, 2016). For this reason, the DiPoSa project is located in science education and offers the possibility to define a subject-specific understanding of diagnosis. Didactic diagnostics should enable teachers to support all children during lessons by designing the learning offer in such a way that it is adapted to the interests and needs of the children and problem definitions are reflected against this background (Liebers, Maier, Prengel & Schönknecht, 2013; Schönknecht & Maier, 2012 ¸ Schroeder, 2016). This form of formative assessment takes place in the didactic context of science education lessons and enables teachers to offer adaptive learning settings. In the IGEL study (2017), formative assessment was found to have positive effects on students' concept development, which is in line with previous study results that attribute a beneficial effect to the increased use of formative assessment (Decristan et al., 2017).

A special concern of the work in this project is the continuous iterative cooperation of science and practice in order to develop a training and further education offer for teachers that is suitable for practice and that promotes the development of a resource-oriented didactic diagnosis.

The teacher education in Denmark is an education that has been reformed again and again. In connection with the 2013 teacher training, admissions interviews were held with all applicants who have below 7.0 in upper secondary school average. The results of an evaluation study indicate that the admissions interviews have contributed to reducing the dropout from teacher training among students admitted via quota 2 (EVA, 2017). There is only motivation that says something with some certainty about the student teachers' dropout probability (EVA, 2017). Over time, there is a decreasing number of first-priority applicants for teacher training (apart from the year 2020), and there is a relatively high dropout rate from teacher training compared to other major professional training programs. It is therefore important to attract skilled and motivated students and to retain them in the education and in teaching.

With the 2013 reform of teacher training, a significant change followed in the relationship between vocational colleges and schools regarding the responsibility for student teachers' teaching practice. Until then, the teacher education program was responsible for the quality and quantity of the student teacher's practice, but after 2013 the school became an equal educational partner for the implementation of the student teacher's three practice modules. Since the reform, the schools have been obliged to draw up a plan, which the university of applied sciences must approve, for the content and structure of the student teacher's progress and results within the three modules, based on the modules' competence targets. The university of applied sciences' teachers supplement the guidance from the school's staff and participate in the investigation of student teachers' reflections on their practice module. However, available resources to ensure systematic contact between teacher educators from the vocational colleges and the schools' practice supervisors are not extensive.

This article focuses on study intensity. The use of time in higher education has in several countries become an increasingly important area in the debate about good education. The basis for the goal of increased study intensity is the desire for better teacher training (Goldhaber, 2019; Goldhaber, Liddle & Theobald, 2013). The quality of the teacher's work with teaching and guidance has a significant impact on student learning (Gansle, Noell & Burns, 2012; Chetty, Friedman & Rockoff, 2014). Spending time in study work is a prerequisite for dedicated learning in campus-based teaching. For this reason, we argue that study intensity is an important prerequisite for campus-based teaching to work well.

The purpose of this article is to investigate what kind of factors are statistically associated with study intensity in the campus-based part of teacher education. In this article, study intensity means the student teacher's time spent on teacher training and indicates the sum of the student's activities devoted to their studies: lectures/ group teaching/ guest lecture, dialogue-based teaching, study groups and individual study work. There is an obligation to attend the internship, but not in the campus teaching. The study intensity can therefore vary from student to student. We limit ourselves to some factors that are partly about the student teachers' motivation and self-discipline, but also about how the student teachers perceive the demands and the pressure that the study gives. The latter is connected with the fact that the development group points to a changed learning culture so that all students experience being met with high expectations (through formal requirements, more teaching hours and feedback, etc.).We assume that a student teacher's study intensity depends on the student teacher's internal factors - motivation and self-discipline - as well as how the student teacher perceives the demands made.

Lebanon is a socially and religiously diverse country, hence, Lebanese higher education is also diversified (Abouchedid & BouZeid, 2017). Universities are classified based on the higher education model they follow, such as the American and French models (El-Amine, 1997; BouJaoude, 2000; Ghaith, 2012). The differences in academic models can be ascribed to the philosophy of education that each model follows (Nauffal, 2009), and the curricula of each model are developed complementarily to the system they follow (Freiha, 1997).

The American-patterned universities offer undergraduate programs like those offered in the USA. They have a credit-point course system, focus on general education and elective courses (Freiha, 1997; “Education in Lebanon,” 2017), conduct assessment frequently, and have English as the language of instruction (Nauffal, 2009). The French-patterned universities use coefficients instead of credits, offer three- or four-year degrees, and provide early specialization (BouJaoude, 2000). While literature informs us of differences in higher education in general between the two models, this study will use the review of literature as a theoretical assumption to do a comparison in Teacher Education (TE) curricula between the two models. TE is offered by 15 universities in Lebanon (El-Mouhayar & BouJaoude, 2012). Teachers are required to receive three years of undergraduate education at the education department of any university to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education (“Education in Lebanon,” 2017).

The theory of Lee Shulman will be used as a framework. According to Shulman (1986), prospective teachers acquire different knowledge bases during their initial preparation. Content Knowledge (CK) is highly specialized knowledge and is acquired in formal learning environments (Shulman, 1987). Previously, it was thought that specific content was what a teacher needed to know to teach (Kind, 2009, as cited in Fernandez, 2014). However, practical knowledge should supplement theoretical knowledge, hence, Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) is also essential. PK is psychological knowledge, it is not subject-specific, and it includes skills that help teachers create effective learning environments (Voss et al., 2011, as cited in Kunter et al., 2013). Additionally, Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) has been conceptualized as the knowledge required by teachers to be able to transfer content to students (Kleickmann et al., 2012). PCK differentiates a pedagogue from an expert in content and is thus important for prospective teachers to acquire (Shulman, 1987). Technology Knowledge (TK) encompasses knowledge about various technologies such as computers, the Internet, and software applications (Koehler & Mishra, 2008, as cited in Öz, 2015). According to Jamieson-Proctor et al. (2010), TE programs should provide prospective teachers with TK to enable them to integrate technology into teaching. In 2006, Mishra & Koehler built on Shulman’s theory of PCK and introduced the concept of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) to describe the integration of technology into teaching (Schmidt et al., 2009).

This study aims to explore the perceived effectiveness of TE curricula in American and French-patterned universities in Lebanon as described by graduate teachers from both systems. Other aims are to describe the content of TE curricula, to examine the knowledge bases acquired, to identify similarities and differences in programs and challenges, and to propose reforms to improve quality of curricula.

The research questions are:

1. What is the attitude of schoolteachers who have graduated from American and French-patterned universities in Lebanon about the balance between theoretical and practical courses in their TE curricula?

2. How do schoolteachers from both systems evaluate the duration and quality of their practicum experience?

3. Which knowledge bases from Shulman’s theory are acquired by prospective teachers in both systems?

4. What reforms to TE curricula do schoolteachers from both systems suggest?

This research study aimed to improve the ability of students to prove concepts in nerve impulse generation and transmission topic using the model-based learning approach. The objectives of this research were to explain the neuron’s structure, and location and relate this with its functions and to describe how mechanoreceptors react to the stimulus pressure and how nerve impulses are transmitted along the PNS and CNS using the Modeling Based Learning approach (MbL).

This is a descriptive research study at Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Karaganda where two groups with a total of forty grade 11 Biology students were asked what they would expect from studying the human nervous system using the model-based learning approach. The students all indicated that they expected to gain a thorough understanding of the topic as well as broaden their perspective on its significance. They also hoped to increase their analytical reasoning and abilities to prove and connect concepts in nerve impulse transmission topic.

The learning process was done with the MbL approach for six lessons. During the first lesson, students learned the concepts about neuron’s structures, functions, and location in the human body from the handbook they usually use in biology class. They learned of the mechanoreceptors (Pacinian corpuscles) and their reaction to changing stimulus, and pressure. In the second lesson, they learned the initiation and transmission of the action potential in myelinated neurons and the connection between the structure and function of the cholinergic synapse. In the next three lessons, using the guidelines of the rubric, the students discussed, prepared, and presented their models on the transmission of nerve impulses in the human nervous system. In the last lesson, they answered the formative assessment questions and filled in the questionnaire. The other group was taught without the model-based approach and formative assessment given.

For the group that went through the model-based lessons, the results showed that fifteen students out of twenty (75 %) had 70 % or above marks on their work on the worksheet. For the group that did not study by model-based learning, the results showed that seven students out of twenty (35 %) had 70 % or above marks on their work on the formative assessment worksheet. This was an indication that this group of students could not answer questions that required them to prove the concepts of the neuron’s structures, functions, location; and nerve impulse transmission along the PNS and CNS.

According to the research study, the majority of the students’ capacity to prove concepts of the human nervous system was in a good category and above. Therefore, if the concept taught has a higher complexity than the lower complexity concept, MbL can allow a strong association between thinking level and the ability to verify concepts.

Some recommendations for Biology teachers, for example, must be creative in order to diversify instructional aids based on current scientific research and technology. For example, using animation and video or modeling-based learning to explain abstract and microscopic concepts. Stand-alone learning utilities allow students to study at their own pace either in or out of school hours and gain knowledge beyond the textbook content. This pedagogical technique should begin in preschool or elementary school. If necessary, the modeling-based learning technique can be repeated in the following classes with minimal customization.

The article sets the task of developing functional reading literacy among students in biology lessons through the performance of tasks to text material.

According to the results of PISA, we know of a certain lack of skills among students of schools in Kazakhstan. One of the main reasons for the low result of international research is the inability of students to work with the proposed information: to compare disparate fragments, correlate the general content with its concretization, purposefully search for missing information, etc. The application of the subject skills formed by schoolchildren is complicated by the fact that, solving problems, our students uncritically reproduce the usual, stereotypical ways of acting. When faced with tasks like PISA, schoolchildren, without analyzing the whole described situation on their own, reproduce the existing connections:

for examle, literary text – general reasoning, mathematical – an accurate, detailed solution.

The daily use of works with text material in biology lessons is of great importance for the development of functional reading literacy among students, which develops their skills to work with various types of texts. When performing test work, students begin to realize that reading in biology lessons will lead them to enjoy a properly completed task and create situations of success, lack of stress.

The article presents the results of an initial survey of students on the understanding of various types of texts and a survey on the achievement of exected results. The necessity of developing functional reading literacy for successful learning is also revealed. Samples of high-level tasks (analysis, synthesis and evaluation), tasks in the PISA format and various techniques of working with texts that were used in the lessons to achieve the goals. In the course of the study, different types of texts were also used, such as continuous texts, discontinuous texts. Diagrams, schemes, and graphs were used to interpret the data and apply this data when performing tasks of a high level of thinking according to Bloom's taxonomy.

In the modern world, the concept of literacy is changing and expanding, but it still remains associated with the understanding of a variety of texts. Along with printed books, a modern person can read electronic books, audiobooks are also very popular today, so the school should teach the student to work with various texts: "paper", electronic and sounding.

Chemistry is a science where, along with theoretical material, research skills and the ability to make calculations based on the data obtained are also formed. Laboratory work, organized in the form of mini-research, helps students develop practical skills in working with chemicals, teaches them how to safely handle certain substances at school and at home. By performing laboratory work, students gradually master such skills as how to properly handle laboratory equipment, chemical glassware, and measuring instruments to obtain accurate readings.

Performing experiments in chemistry lessons contributes to the formation of knowledge through observation, develops the skills and abilities of analyzing and formulating conclusions on the work done. The combination of these skills and abilities represents the stages of the experimental research method. According to L.Ya. Zorina, when performing an experiment, students learn to determine the purpose of the experiment, research problem, research hypothesis, experimental methodology, results analysis of the experiment, taking into account possible errors and draw conclusions [3].

Based on the works of A.I. Savenkov, general research skills and abilities can be understood as the following skills and abilities: to see problems; to ask questions; put forward hypotheses; define concepts; classify; compare; observe; conduct experiments and draw conclusions; establish causal relationships; structure the material work with text prove and defend their ideas[1].

Analysis and generalization of psychological and pedagogical literature allows A.I. Savenkov to highlight the principles of the formation of research skills and abilities of schoolchildren. The work on developing the skills and abilities needed for research should be carried out systematically and purposefully.

Dweck's research generally confirms that if students are told that learning ability and intelligence are improving, their grades increase. Although this does not work in all settings, Smith and Firth believe that it is worth shaping the students' concept of flexible, growing thinking and developing their positive "self-concepts"[2]. It's not a fact that this will affect the results directly, but it will certainly help the students feel more confident.

Low self-esteem leads to self-doubt, prevents students from taking on more complex and interesting tasks, makes them too nervous before tests and make mistakes due to excitement.

How to apply:

Explain that the brain is constantly changing physically when learning new things - skills and abilities can be developed;

motivate students to compare themselves not with others, but with their previous self;

it is reasonable to encourage - to praise for efforts, and not for personal qualities, and not just to cheer up, but in connection with progress.

According to the theory of psychologist Reinhard Pekrun, both positive and negative emotions are important: both can stimulate a person to learn.

Adult learning is part of the concept of continuous learning that takes place throughout life (Salleh et al., 2015).

The ongoing changes in education systems require support in order to move from traditional teaching in the local environment to a more international context. One of the initiatives supporting this educational approach is the Erasmus programme.

Personnel mobility is crucial, and it usually precedes student mobility so as to prepare the flow of students between higher education institutions, thereby ensuring the quality, attractiveness and competitiveness of educational programmes (Seidahmetov et al., 2014).

The main objectives of staff mobility are:

• expansion and enrichment of the range and content of the courses offered in the participating institutions;
• formation and strengthening of connections among higher education institutions;
• promote the exchange of pedagogical methods and experience;
• motivate students to participate in mobility schemes;
• enabling students, who do not have the opportunity to go abroad, to benefit from the foreign professors’ international experience of (internationalization at home);
• knowledge transfer infrastructure among higher education institutions and enterprises.

When choosing one of the 2 types of staff mobility (for teaching and for training), the main reasons are: development of skills and competences as part of professional development;· strengthening the cooperation with partner institutions and creating new networks;·increase the quality of services and teaching offered to students by the respective staff members (Jahnke, 2018).

Even though in recent years the proportion of staff international mobilities has tended to increase compared to student mobilities (Teichler, 2017), staff mobility has been analysed episodically and fragmentarily in the scientific literature (Valeeva & Amirova, 2016), provoking discussions about the measurement of its added value (Palma-Vasquez, Carrasco, & Tapia-Ladino, 2021). In general, the potential offered by the mobility paradigm in the context of higher education is huge and largely unrealized and it can open up new learning and educational opportunities nowadays (Chattara & Vijayaraghvan, 2021),

The future vision of Latvia education in 2027 is characterized by the transformation of the role of educational institutions, during which educational institutions will become as "learning organizations" and offer diverse learning opportunities, environments and approaches for adults; they are organizations with a high level of professional competence of management, teachers and academic staff, strategic vision, responsibility and autonomy; they are also organizations that actively cooperate (About Educational Development Guidelines 2021-2027, 2021), although studies emphasize stronger mobility impact on short-term and personal/professional development compared to long-term or institutional impact (Lam & Ferenc, 2021).

In the context of the research, the understanding of the competence of adult educators as "being able to act in relation to certain known, unknown and unpredictable situations" is relevant, which emphasizes action (Illeris, 2011, 33) and is often the point of convergence of the education of adult educators and the needs of schools (Gümüs , 2022).

Research shows that adult learners have high competence, partly due to the activities they get engaged in, including Erasmus mobilities (Salleh et al., 2015).

Competence includes three important aspects, which are knowledge (cognitive), attitude (affective) and skills (psychomotor), which are combined in order to solve certain tasks (UNIDO, 2002).

In the context of the research, the Iceberg competence model is relevant, which is based on three main aspects, namely knowledge, attitude and skills, adapting and modifying it to 5 areas of competence or competence domains: knowledge, skills, attitude and values, cooperation, as well as achievements (Salleh et al., 2015).

Research questions:

• What is the evaluation of the competences acquired by university teachers during Erasmus mobility?
• Are there any and what statistically significant differences exist there depending on the profile of university lecturers (teaching and training)?

Large Scale Assessment Data (LSA) is a rich source of data on educational achievement, educational inequalities and other socio-psychological indicators surrounding schooling and learning across the world (e.g. Mullis & Martin, 2017; OECD, 2019). Exemplary are the six PISA cycles between 2000 and 2015 which resulted in over 650 peer-reviewed articles in the English language only (Hopfenbeck et al. 2018, p.337). LSA studies have also been increasingly pooled to create quasi-longitudinal data (i.e. repeated cross-sections of representative student populations) or to track a cohort from primary to secondary school (e.g. by pooling PIRLS and PISA studies). These approaches extend the boundaries of cross-sectional data and allow for closer approximations of causal inference. Productive examples of this research include studies on the effect of educational systems and institutions (e.g. Hanushek & Woessmann, 2006; Teltemann & Schunck, 2020). LSA studies like PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS therefore provide increasing opportunities for secondary and quasi-longitudinal data analysis, covering various research areas.

Yet, the richness and complexity of LSA data can also be a challenge for researchers, since over 16 000 items have been collected in 24 studies over the last 25 years. Our research project aims at helping researchers find their way around the dense jungle of observed items and constructs in LSA studies.

Working with LSA is generally not trivial, since it involves complex sampling structures and (often) so-called plausible values as measures of student achievement. However, another factor is the diversity and sheer number of items which have been collected since the first TIMSS study in 1995. LSA studies provide items from the perspective of students, parents, teachers and principals which are collected by different questionnaires that can vary considerably within (e.g. PISA 2012 to 2015) and between studies (e.g. TIMSS-8 2015 and PISA 2015). According to our own estimations, the items collected by TIMSS, PIRLS and PISA between 1995 and 2019 sum up to roughly 16 000.

The amount of items but also the differences in questionnaires over time and across studies pose obstacles for researchers, especially those who are interested in pooling several cycles and/or studies. In our own experience, pooling several LSA studies is quite challenging partly, because it is unclear from the beginning when and how certain constructs were collected and whether they can be compared across studies. As a consequence, the rich potential of LSA data is still not fully exploited. The aim of our project is to provide a comprehensive database of all items covered in regular cycles of PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS since 1995. The resulting database would include the technical name of the items, the question text, answer categories, official scales, countries covered and rates of missingness.

Most importantly, however, our research attempts to connect similar and comparable items within and across studies in order to facilitate harmonization. This step creates an underlying network structure of our database, in which ties between single items indicate their resemblance to each other. By making our data publicly available, we hope to facilitate further research with LSA data in general and research with pooled (e.g. pseudo-longitudinal) LSA studies in particular.

We believe that such a database is an important contribution to educational research. Whereas several valuable contributions exist that facilitate the use of LSA’s complex sampling structure (e.g. Breit & Schreiner, 2016), plausible values (e.g. Breit & Schreiner, 2016) or survey weights (Jerrim et al., 2017), there is so far very limited help to find a way around the dense jungle of 16 000 LSA survey items.

Family-school partnerships in a multilingual context

Research indicates that cooperation between parents and school contributes to the academic and social-emotional development of children (Bakker et al., 2013; Epstein, 2020). Governments therefore encourage teachers to invest in family-school partnerships (De Bruïne et al., 2014). However, teachers feel ill-prepared to work together with parents (De Bruïne et al., 2014, 2018; Epstein & Sanders, 2006; Hannon & O’Donnell, 2021). Even more in the education of newcomer students, teachers experience many problems in the pursuit of family-school partnerships (FSP), such as the lack of a shared language, differences in school systems and upbringing and different expectations regarding mutual accessibility, availability and responsibilities.

Analyses of the difficulties that teachers experience in the pursuit of FSP in multilingual contexts reveal that teachers attribute challenges to linguistic, cultural, attitudinal, practical, socio-economic and political factors (Anthony-Newman, 2019; Bakker et al., 2013; Bouakaz, 2007). Researchers recommend teachers to adopt a personal approach (Bouakaz, 2007; Georgis et al., 2014), encourage parental input (Anthony-Newman, 2019) and adopt a responsive attitude to the home language and cultural backgrounds (Bakker et al., 2013; Georgis et al., 2014). However it is not entirely clear what this means concretely for action, nor what this promising approaches mean for teacher preparation.

Teacher training

Over the years several researchers have advocated for curriculum improvement in teacher education with attention to the importance of FSP, improving communication skills, school-wide approaches and policies, the role and attitude of teachers in entering into partnerships and building valuable relationships with parents based on equality (Epstein, 2020; De Bruïne et al., 2018; Hannon & O’Donnell, 2021; Kassenberg et al., 2016). Positive attitudes towards parents and the presence of well-developed communication skills would be crucial for teachers to enter into FSP (Esptein & Sanders, 2006). Nevertheless, the improvements are hardly applied due to an overcrowded curriculum (Mutton et al., 2018).

Meanwhile student teachers wish to learn how to build meaningful relationships with parents on the basis of equality and to improve their communication skills. They want to expand their competences ‘by gaining real-life experiences with parents, and by talking to and learning from more experienced teachers in service’ (De Bruïne et al., 2018, p. 392). In addition, by sharing good practice experiences, more information can be collected about practical tools, responsive training and support (Epstein, 2020).

Practical experiences appear to be an important resource in preparing student teachers. However, it is known that practical experiences alone do not necessarily improve learning. They become important to the learning process when meaning is given to them. By reflecting on practical experiences, they become learning experiences (Stappers et al., 2018). To achieve deeper learning experiences, it is recommended to reflect on positive experiences instead of negative ones (Korthagen, 2012).

Research question

Though research on FSP often focuses on what teachers in mainstream primary education need and on the problems experienced by teachers in multilingual contexts, little is known about how teachers can prepare for FSP in a multilingual context and what this means for their attitude and communication. Student teachers and researchers (De Bruïne et al., 2018; Epstein, 2020) indicate that practical experiences of experienced teachers can be a valuable resource. To find out how these learning experiences can contribute to the professionalization of teachers it is important to investigate how experienced teachers have developed in this.

Our study therefore focuses on the following research question: What are the learning experiences of experienced primary school teachers in the pursuit of family-school partnerships in a multilingual context with regard to their attitude and communication?

There is increasing evidence that the family plays a critical role in the development of students’ interests and career aspirations (e.g., Howard & Reynolds, 2008; Johnson & Hull, 2014). Within science education, researchers are showing that family engagement with science is linked to students’ perception of science as a future career (e.g., Author, 2021). To better understand how family engagement influences the career aspirations of youth, the present study examined factors that are related to parents’ perception of the future value of science. By understanding how parents’ perceptions of science, we can design and build more effective educational programs to enhance interest and engagement with science.

Researchers have shown that parent involvement in education and youth can contribute to higher school achievement (Lee, 1993; Sui-Chu & Willms, 1996), fewer behavioral problems at school (Lee, 1993), lower dropout rates (McNeal, 1999), higher grades in school (Muller, 1993) and enhanced aspirations to attend college (Cabrera, & La Nasa, 2000). Understanding the influences of the family on career interests and aspirations is particularly crucial in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) where there are significant discrepancies in course enrollment and career aspirations for many minority groups (National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2017). However, there is limited research that examines how family engagement and attitudes in STEM influence students’ interests (e.g., Aschbacher et al., 2010; Ferry et al, 2000; Gilmartin et al, 2006).

Archer et al., (2012) applied the concepts of science capital and family habitus (“the ways and settings in which families operate… [that] encompass[es] values and everyday practices” p. 886) to measure factors that were associated with youth science aspirations. They found that the attitudes of the parents were key to the formation of youth’s science career aspirations. A study by Maltese and Cooper (2017) reported that when parents were involved in STEM-related experiences, their children were more likely to choose a STEM field than students whose parents were not involved. The influence of parental beliefs and expectations on the development of interests and career aspirations is an understudied area and this study begins to fill this gap by proposing a new tool to assess parental experiences, expectations for their child, and science achievement value.

A recent study (Author, 2021) used expectancy value theory to examine factors that are influential in the career aspirations of youth. This study found exposure to STEM practitioners, tool access, and STEM experiences were associated with higher science achievement value and perceptions of family science achievement value. The study found evidence that a student’s perception of the value the family places on science was a key factor in determining interests and career goals. These findings led us to develop the assessment described here to measure parents’ science capital (access to experiences and science-related tools) and the family habitus for science (the degree to which the family sees science as something they do).

Research Question

In the previous studies described above we developed and validated assessments (NextGen Scientist Survey) to measure expectancy value factors for elementary and middle school youth (Author 2020; 2021). The present study builds on these assessments with the development of a new parallel version that investigates these factors with parents. The research question explored in this study was: What is the factorial structure of the NextGen Scientist Survey- Parents? Being able to assess the expectancy value factors for parents and youth can inform the field about how parent’s values and expectations are related to those held by their children. Furthermore, this assessment documents science capital and family habitus variables that can contribute to expectancy values.

According to research, parent involvement is important for the development of children (Bakker, Denessen, Dennissen, & Oolbekkink-Marchand, 2013). Teachers must therefore be prepared during training for cooperation with parents and increasing parental involvement in order to know how they can give pupils optimal opportunities through parental involvement. What competences do they need for this and to what extent is parental involvement a theme in primary school teacher training? Several (mainly American) studies indicate that teachers are insufficiently prepared for working with parents (Ferrara & Ferrar, 2010; Caspe, Lopez, Chu & Weiss, 2011; Evans, 2012; Lindberg, 2014). Three studies on the Dutch situation paint a comparable picture (Bakker, Denessen, Kerkhof & Kloppenburg, 2009; De Bruïne et al, 2014; Willemse, Vloeberghs, De Bruïne & Van Eynde, 2016). Preparation for parental involvement appears to be largely dependent on the preferences of individual teacher educators (De Bruïne et al, 2014).

In my PhD research at the University of Groningen I am looking for the competences teachers need to be able to collaborate with parents and to increase parental involvement. This concerns competencies that emerge from previous empirical research, but also competencies that are found in focus group interviews among teachers and parents. I my PhD research I compare the competencies I found with curricula of various teacher training colleges in the Netherlands. In a poster presentation at the Emerging Researchers' Conference, I focus on the competencies that teachers and parents believe are needed. These competencies have been distilled from focus group interviews with teachers and parents. These interviews provide insight into the expertise required for parent involvement from the perspective of teachers and parents, but also in the experiences of teachers and parents.

Professionals need increasingly to be able to address complex issues through collaboration blending diverse forms of knowledge in responsive and pro-active professional behaviour (Barnett & Bengtsen, 2017; Griffioen, 2019; Markauskaite & Goodyear, 2017, p. 41). Higher education responds to these attributes by offering students in bachelor programmes the opportunity to learn in living labs and other rich learning environments, furthermore called ‘labs’ (Rogers et al., 2021; Schipper, Vos, & Wallner, 2022). Though many variants exist, labs focused on student learning commonly share that they offer realistic, authentic tasks, multidisciplinarity, and social interactions (Admiraal et al., 2019). Given the complexity of multiple actors shaping the learning processes of students in labs, constructive alignment of professional, pedagogical and assessment practices in labs (PPAP-in-lab) require careful design (Biggs, 1996). Moreover, the framing of learning activities in labs is relatively weak; students’ roles are more diverse and less prescribed in specific actions than in common activities in classrooms (Barnett & Coate, p. 34). This agility required from the students requires teachers to model this agility in their pedagogy (McLaughlan & Lodge, 2019). Following this, learning in labs requires engaging uncertainty and shifting and paying attention as the interactions take shape over time (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2020). Generally, teachers and others in labs focused on learning state to struggle to guide students to the intended learning outcomes (Griffioen & van Heijningen, in review; Helleman, Majoor, Smit, & Walraven, 2019; Huber et al., 2020). Therefore, it remains unclear what guidance practices students need in the provided highly complex, real-life learning situations.

Markauskaite and Goodyear (2017, p. 210) offer a helpful framework based on three narratives that are part of a higher professional education context: a professional discourse following professional practice; a pedagogical discourse encompassing assignments designed for learning; and an accountability discourse designed for assessment. The question is what role each of these narratives play in the design of scaffolding practices that can guide students successfully through the afore described complex learning environments.

An initial answer to this question will be given through a two year education innovation project awarded by the Dutch Ministry of Education that started in September 2022 and sets out to deliver well-founded professional, pedagogical, and assessment practices for labs (PPAP-in-lab) in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Building on current knowledge on the social learning spaces that labs offer (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2020), literature on learning, curriculum design and student partnership (e.g. Bovill et al., 2016; de Kleijn, 2021), on individual functioning and development (Dweck, 2017) and on lab examples from local and international higher education practices (e.g. Cremers, 2016; McLaughlan & Lodge, 2019) design principles and a guideline for designing and implementing PPAP-in-Lab that will allow transformative learning will be developed.

1.0 Introduction

Blended Learning (BL) has been defined by several authors in different ways. The most frequently used definitions are those that refer to the blend of online and offline learning. Several authors describe BL as a combination or integration of the strengths of traditional face-to-face instruction (e.g., live instruction and classroom interaction) and computer-mediated instruction or online teaching (e.g., technologically mediated interactions between students, teachers and learning resources). The traditional structure is a teacher-centred approach, where the teacher is actively involved in teaching, while students listen and follow the teacher's instruction (Sankar et al., 2022), while online learning is learning related to the internet using computer devices, gadgets. Garrison and Kanuka, (2004); Graham, (2006); Osguthorpe and Graham, (2003); Watson, (2008); Voci and Young, (2001), were among the first set of people to use the word BL defined it as the type of learning that combines more traditional methods of teaching (such as instructor-led classes held in a physical classroom) with Internet-delivered content that is learner-driven and self-paced. Some researchers have also noted that blended learning is used to describe other blends, such as combining different instructional methods, pedagogical approaches, and technologies, although these blends are not aligned with influential blended learning definitions (Hrastinski, 2019; Graham, 2013).

BL is becoming increasingly popular as a means of accommodating an increasingly varied student population while also adding value to the learning environment using online teaching materials (Humairah and Asbah, 2019). However, there is still disagreement on the meaning of BL, as a result, diverse understandings of the word have emerged among higher education teachers.

BL has evolved over many years, and different institutions have provided varied descriptions of it. Today, BL is considered the most effective and most popular mode of instruction adopted by educational institutions due to its perceived effectiveness in providing flexible, timely and continuous learning (Bond, (2021), Rasheed et al., (2020). With recent challenges in education, such as the impact of the pandemic and the inclusion of displaced learners from Ukraine in Member States, blended learning has gained more urgency in Europe; As a result, this study will advance researchers' and educators' understanding of how BL can promote a more resilient, responsive, and inclusive education and contribute to knowledge on effective blended learning policy and practise.

Finding efficient and adaptable delivery methods has been strongly supported in higher education to give all students easier access to high-quality learning opportunities than is achievable with just standard on-campus programmes (Hodges et al., 2020). Today, BL is suggested as one option to fulfil both student learning and organisational needs in higher education. The benefits of both traditional and e-learning methods are combined in a BL environment, including the benefits of face-to-face interaction. Face-to-face learning environments offer the social connection necessary for learning, whilst e-learning environments provide the flexibility and efficacy that cannot be obtained in a classroom setting. One major issue that has constrained the acceptance of BL is the adoption of a unified definition by all teachers and researchers. As part of the literature review for a doctoral thesis, the authors seek to analyse the existing definitions of `blended learning to improve our understanding of the concept and the key elements needed to define the concept. Therefore, the aim of this research is to do a literature review of the different definitions several researchers have created for BL over the course of three decades and critic the definitions based on the researchers understanding of BL.

The increasingly sophisticated production and dissemination of fake news and disinformation in online environments poses an increasing threat to social and democratic structures. Several contemporary developments around the world highlighted the importance of teaching and learning about disinformation already at a young age in school. The popularity of social media, the facilitated access to digital information, the diversification in the use of ICT-supported tools and the ease of spreading and consuming information, requires an urgent strengthening of pupil’s digital competencies (Loveless & Williamson, 2013; Burnett & Merchant, 2011).

The term disinformation (or fake news) is used, when “false information is knowingly shared to cause harm” (Wardle & Derakhshan, 2017, 5). Recognising disinformation is particularly difficult for young people, as online information is trusted more than traditional media and disinformation is made increasingly trustworthy by emotionalising it (Buchner, 2023). Studies show that young people are more willing to share content if it aligns with their interests, regardless of its truthfulness. Further, the appearance of newsworthy information ensures that information will be shared with other young people, regardless of the nature of the content (Herrero-Diz et al., 2020). This emphasises the necessity that young people should be able to use the internet confidently, ask questions, find needed information, critically evaluate this information, combine information from different sources and share the gained knowledge with others (Loos et al., 2018).

Therefore, pupils need educational offers that promote both digital competencies and critical awareness of fake news (Buchner, 2023). Since the skills and knowledge required for educational interventions span a range of areas, the term multiliteracy is helpful as an "umbrella term encompassing concepts such as media literacy, visual literacy and advertising literacy" (Kangas & Rasi, 2021, 3). Further, to address meaningful educational activities, pedagogical approaches are needed that allow pupils to develop their multiliteracy competencies in authentic ways.

For this reason, this research proposes using a phenomenon-based learning approach to address counteracting disinformation and to support the development of multiliteracies in secondary schools. Phenomenon-based learning is said to train a diversity of required multiliteracies (Kangas & Rasi, 2021) as well as to build resilience to disinformation. The model focuses on learners investigating and solving problems using their own research questions. Phenomenon-based learning suggests that pupils seek information independently, evaluate and compare sources of information and summarise their findings creatively using digital tools. Pupils learn the basics of digital competencies in interdisciplinary project lessons together with different subject teachers. Teachers are seen as facilitators that encourage their pupils (Lonka, 2018). Phenomenon-based learning has potential to increase the diversity of pedagogical approaches through transdisciplinary subject teaching as well as to support teachers to address specific needs of individual pupils with varying prior knowledge.

According to the results of the previous step of this PhD project, the training of pupils’ multiliteracies should be implemented with a cross-curricular, mandatory and reoccurring approach, so that these skills can be supported in all subjects, starting from the pupils’ age of 10 (Fasching & Schubatzky, 2022). In the current phase of the research, the implementation of phenomenon-based learning is accompanied and evaluated to test the practicality in secondary schools and to incorporate the teachers' feedback into the further development of the concept. In a future step, feedback from pupils will also be considered for a potential implementation in the curriculum of basic digital education in Austria.

The leading research question of this presentation is, how suitable seems 'phenomenon-based learning of multiliteracy against disinformation' for teachers in practical implementation in Austrian’s secondary schools?

The rapid advancement of technology and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to an increase in the use of online education. However, this has resulted in issues such as decreased attention and academic performance among learners (Chen, Jiao, & Hu, 2021; Munastiwi & Puryono, 2021; Purwanto, 2020). Despite these challenges, online education is now a necessity for personalized learning in the future. Therefore, the aim of this study is to measure and evaluate students' learning progress using objective biometric data, in order to develop an online education feedback system to support students' learning. Especially, the purpose of this study is to confirm whether there is a difference in cognitive load depending on the achievement of online education using eye blink frequency and duration.

Cognitive load refers to the sum of mental activities that affect working memory in processing information (Sweller, 1988). For something to be learned, information must be processed in working memory. The problem between the amount of information that working memory can process and the information is called cognitive load (Kim & Kim, 2004). It can be divided into three types: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. Cognitive load theory suggests that if the cognitive load exceeds an individual's processing capacity, it may lead to poor learning outcomes and decreased motivation. Therefore, it is important to consider cognitive load when designing instructional materials and activities, in order to help learners process and retain information more effectively (Lee, 2017).

Self-report questionnaires and interviews were mainly used to measure cognitive load. However, there is a way to objectively measure cognitive load based on physiological responses (Park, Kim, & Jo, 2019). In particular, Abdurrahman et al. (2021) emphasized the importance of physiological monitoring to measure mental workload during learning transfer. Coral (2016) confirmed the increasing relationship between eye-related measurement variables and cognitive load. It was explained that the higher the eye blink duration and blink frequency, the greater the cognitive load. The research question of this study is, can the difference in cognitive load according to the achievement group be known through eye blink frequency and duration in the online learning environment?

We provided 73 university students with educational content on Korean grammar, and eye tracking was conducted. There was no difference in the pre-test results on Korean grammar between the control and experimental groups. Eye blink frequency and duration were measured using gaze points GP3 HD Eye Tracker (150 Hz) and self-reported survey. Based on the post-test average score, the gaze tracking data and self-reported data was analyzed by dividing the group into high-achievement and low-achievement groups. The post-test in the 10-point test had an average score of 5.521. Based on this, 33 students were placed in the high-achievement group and 40 students were placed in the low-achievement group.

As a result, the difference in cognitive load by the self-report questionnaire was not significant. But eye blink frequency was higher in the lower achievement group than in the high- achievement group, but it was not significant. Eye blink duration was longer in the lower- achievement group than in the high- achievement group and had a significant difference.

In this study, it was confirmed whether this measurement is meaningful to objectively measure learners' cognitive load based on eye blink frequency and duration. It was confirmed that the longer the blinking duration, the greater the cognitive load, and it was verified that the eye-tracking data could be meaningfully used to prepare a support plan for online learning. Through this, it was suggested that a system be developed so that the instructor can immediately recognize the learner's cognitive load status and give feedback even in real-time online education.

Future skills or 21st century skills (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009) are discussed both nationally in a Swedish context, and international, and skills such as creativity and innovation, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking become increasingly central when discussing school issues. Both future skills and digital capabilities are highlighted as necessary for citizens in a future society and legitimacy in various policy documents (Davidsen & Vanderlinde, 2016). In Sweden has a revised curriculum with clearly outlined requirements regarding digitization implementation, both in terms of teaching strategy and the infrastructure of artifacts in the classroom. To respond to new policy writings, more and more schools are investing in 1:1, which means that every student and teachers have access to their own computer or tablet. By implementing digital tools in education, however, the student-centered teaching is reinforced (Holmberg, 2018), which also tends to lead to a form of pedagogy where students learn from each other and collaborate through various collaborative and communicative methods. Against the background of the agenda set out in policy the teaching profession is expected to change its teaching based on ICT, that the digital the strategies must enable a form of learning that would not be conceivable without ICT (Holmberg, Fransson & Fors, 2018) and therefore create increased added value in teaching. Overall, this requires greater flexibility in the teaching environment. In addition, the demands on primary school teachers to know themselves are increasing familiar with various digital tools and resources to develop innovative learning environments where both a new teaching role, new strategies and new knowledge may be needed in teaching (Willermark, 2018).

New pedagogical ideas, working methods and student views have a great influence on the school's architecture, as well view of the school's mission, which contributes to working away from a more traditional one teaching (Dovey & Fisher, 2014). Martin (2002, cited in Bøjer, 2019) believes that the classroom layout reflects the pedagogical practice in the room. For example, it came out more teacher-centered the teaching from an arrangement where the students sit in rows or in the shape of a horseshoe, while it learner-centred takes place in more flexible environments. ICT and a more digitized teaching can be seen as a change agent where you go from more teacher-centered teaching to more student-centered (Holmberg, 2018).

The purpose of the study is to investigate how teachers say they
design their teaching to promote students’ collaborative work through digital units in school years 1–6 and through the teachers’ statements see what influencing factors, abilities, subject content, and technology support a design of digital teaching for the benefit of collaboration and student-to-student interaction in digital arenas.

Previous research in the subject has been based on student collaboration and digital learning environments; then have one investigated design and students' collaborative learning with a focus on collaborating face-to-face. This means that the students sit next to each other, around the digital and collaborate on different tasks (Davidsen & Vanderlinde, 2016). In my survey, the questions partly refer to side-by-side cooperation but above all on teachers' design for collaboration where students collaborate and communicate through the tablet or the computer. Considering this reasoning, it becomes appropriate to examine how teachers report using technology to support students' work with future key competencies, such as collaboration and communication, where the digital unit in a 1:1-systems can promote added value and new opportunities. At the same time, one should examine the methods and didactic choices that the teachers say they use in the pedagogical practice.

To implement a new educational reform policy - known as 'Education Informatization 2.0' - the Chinese Ministry of Education has asked teachers to upload "technology-based classroom practice recording" to the teacher training platform and other online public platforms as digital educational resources, also form part of their training assignments and performance evaluations (MoE, 2019). The current plan of China is to use technology to change education from an exam-driven and reactive teaching approach to an innovative and interactive approach. In terms of technology for educational change, teachers are considered the most important agent affecting the result, as they have agency in determining how learning tools are used as part of their educational practice (Biesta et al., 2015). Although teacher agency in the traditional classroom has been increasingly discussed in studies, how teachers excise their agency in the field of the digital world, which holds a particular set of educational tastes, beliefs, and rules of practice (Feenberg, 1991), has not been questioned so far. Teacher agency could be evidenced in teaching practices and the transformation of practices is one of the objectives of educational change (Riveros et al., 2012). Therefore, it is necessary to understand teacher agency in the digital age by exploring how technology affects the role of teachers, not only in terms of what they do in practice but also in terms of the conditions that influence their practice in a given context. This study aims to explore how teachers excise their agency in rural settings and how teacher agency is affected by digital technology.

This work focuses on the teaching and assessment of the learning-to-learn (LTL) competence in university degrees, and its results come from a three-year research project ^[1]. LTL is a key competence for lifelong learning in the European education systems (EU, 2006 & 2018). The definition of LTL relies mainly on the scientific literature on Strategic Learning (Weinsten, 1988) and Self-Regulated Learning (Pintrich, 2004; Zimmerman, 2002).

At the beginning, the researchers included three dimensions to explain how students ‘learn to learn’: cognitive (skills, strategies and techniques related to information processing), metacognitive (awareness and management of the learning processes) and affective-motivational (self-concept, motivation, etc.) (Hoskins & Fredriksson, 2008).

Later, a fourth dimension was added: the social/relational dimension, rooted in the social-cognitive theory (Thoutenhoofd & Pirrie, 2013). These ideas clearly influenced the current proposal of the EU (2018), who has renamed LTL as ‘personal, social and learning to learn competence’ (Caena, 2019; European Comission et al., 2020).

Based on a literature review, our research team developed a model on LTL, including these four dimensions and we added an ethical dimension (Gargallo et al. 2020). The student has to learn respecting ethical codes and contributing to create an increasingly equitable society (OECD, 2005; Cortina, 2013; Buxarrais & Conceiçao, 2017).

The objective of the European Union was for the students to achieve an adequate mastery of LTL at the end of compulsory schooling. However, it is not proved that university students handle it with an adequate skill, and they need specific training (Cameron and Rideout, 2020; Viejo and Ortega-Ruiz, 2018).

That’s why we are developing an intervention model to teach this competence, which can be useful for European researchers and university professors. We are trying to test functional proposals to teach the competence, integrated into the teaching of university degree subjects. To do this, we defend a “constructive alignment” (Biggs, 2005), in which competences, contents, learning outcomes, and teaching and assessment procedures are aligned to achieve learning of quality.

In this way, the learning tasks to teach the competence can be used as assessment procedures, from a perspective of authentic tasks and authentic assessment: learning projects, problem solving, case studies, portfolios, etc. Furthermore, organized, and systematic observation will be a good procedure to assess the achievement of LTL.

Then, we developed the curricular design of LTL, specifying dimensions and sub-dimensions to work on, in the different subjects of the university degrees and in their academic years. We also concretized assessable learning results, contents and teaching and assessment procedures, and made the necessary materials.

Later, we are applying the training proposals organized in the previous phase, in two universities of Valencia (Spain) in different degrees (Education, Medicine, Engineering, and Architecture), and collecting evidence to assess the possible success achieved.

In this work, we present the results of the training proposals developed in the previous phase, in one of the subjects of the Education area. This is a first test to validate our proposal, specifically in the Theory of Education subject, which is taught in the 1st year of the Pedagogy degree at the University of Valencia.

[1] ‘The learning to learn competence in the university, its design and curriculum development. a model of intervention and its application in university degrees’ Project PID2021-123523NB-I00, funded by the MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF A way of making Europe.

During the last decades, the number of non-traditional students (NTS) at European Universities has grown significantly (Hauschildt et al., 2021). There are different ways to define NTS – in our poster presentation we take one possible definition of Schuetze and Slowey and define NTS as first-in-family students whose parents did not graduate in higher education (Schuezte and Slowey, 2002). Numbers for this specific group of students vary across Europe and the actual share of first-in-family students – respectively NTS – ranges between approx. 20 % (Norway) and 70 % (Turkey), in Austria approximately 60 % of the students are first-in-family students (Unger et al., 2020). Despite this development, there are still barriers to and in university based on social inequality (Zaussinger et al., 2016). Not only is the access to university but also student attrition affected by social inequality. NTS also have a higher dropout risk than students with a more privileged background – in an economic, social and cultural sense (Lehmann, 2007; Gury 2009; Quinn, 2013; Nairz‑Wirth and Feldmann, 2018; Cessna et al., 2018). Independent from the distinction between non-traditional and traditional students, the matter of student attrition and dropout is socially relevant as well as for education policy. European universities already report of high dropout rates – in Austria, the average dropout rate is estimated between 30 % and 50 % – depending on the calculation method (Vossensteyn et al., 2015; Unger et al. 2020) as well. Dropping out from university is connected to high costs, a lack of innovation, a lack of skilled labor as well as a loss of competitiveness and diversity (Thaler and Unger, 2014; Nairz-Wirth and Feldmann, 2018). Geisinger and Raman (2013) for example point out that potential students with a diverse background are needed to solve societal problems of inequality and the challenges of sustainability. Furthermore, one of the European Union’s stated goals is to achieve greater equality in educational opportunities, which also makes it necessary to reduce dropout rates (European Union, 2013; European Commission, 2015). Due to the above stated developments universities face a growing pressure to implement measures that prevent student attrition (Thaler/Unger 2014; Bornkessel, 2018) – especially focusing on the needs of NTS (Cessna et al., 2018).

Therefore, universities implement different measures in order to prevent student dropout and longer duration of studies. The poster illustrates the results of a best practice study and delivers options and suggestions for problem solving strategies, organizational innovations and knowledge networking at different levels. Based on theoretical concepts and an extensive literature review, principles, types and categories of measures were developed that can prevent student dropout and improve study success. Scientifically proved and internationally approved measures are outreach programs (collaborations between schools and university), summer courses, transition programs, mentoring, tutoring, learning communities, service learning and research-based learning and teaching during the first semesters.

The current labour market presents ever-increasing challenges to people entering the workforce, leading to more flexible, but also unpredictable and undefined employment prospects (Savickas, 2013). Holding a degree is no longer a passport to employment (ILO, 2017), and therefore Higher Education institutions, as part of their social responsibility (Brown & Cloke, 2009), are called to intervene, fostering students’ career resources and better equipping them to face those challenges. This is particularly relevant since career resources have shown to be susceptible to being intentionally promoted (Monteiro et al., 2023; Soares et al., 2022).

Distance interventions in the career development context are a particularly interesting way of trying to promote such career resources (Bimrose et al., 2015; Kettunen et al., 2013; Pordelan & Hosseinian, 2022). Distance interventions are particularly adept at reaching diverse publics, and, thus, promoting equity and inclusion by reaching audiences that tend to be excluded from face-to-face interventions, such as working students, adult students, and students with disabilities or learning difficulties, among others. Therefore, they present an opportunity for the inclusion of vulnerable groups, not only in the intervention programmes themselves but also in the labour market.

This poster presents a distance intervention designed to promote career resources, developed and implemented in Portugal, in two public Universities (one based on face-to-face education, and another on distance education) – the Boost 4 Career programme. In the poster, we present the project’s background, structure, and pedagogical approach.

Career resources can be defined as “anything that helps an individual attain his or her career goals” (Hirschi, 2018, p. 4). Such career resources are not limited to individual traits, such as knowledge, motivation, and skills, but encompass an environmental dimension, acknowledging that career development does not happen in a void, but is intrinsically connected with the contexts where individuals develop (Haenggli & Hirschi, 2020).

The Boost 4 Career programme aims to help HE students with diverse characteristics to (a) explore the working contexts where they may wish to enter, and the competencies they will need to succeed at their job and throughout their career; (b) to inform them about the opportunities their HE institutions and the surrounding environment have at their disposal to provide them with knowledge and foster competencies’ development, and; (c) to reflect on their experiences and their competencies, their needs, and mostly, the career trajectory they want to pursue. Based on the diagnosis of needs (Seabra, et al., 2022), the programme focuses on career exploration, job market knowledge, occupational expertise, soft skills, continuous learning, organizational career support, networking, career clarity, and career confidence. Each week includes individual and shared activities and was developed to include the possibility of choice, in line with the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2009). The pedagogical model used is based on the Virtual Pedagogical Model of the Universidade Aberta (Portugal) (Pereira et al., 2007).

A recent trend in funding programmes of the German Ministry of Education and Research in the last decade was to promote multi-institutional higher education networks aiming on the maintenance and further development of higher education quality. Current challenges such as digitalisation and diversity were addressed and innovative solutions fostered. Change processes were initiated by e.g. establishing further education programmes for lecturers or developing teaching materials or infrastructures. Funding was provided for professional support staff and discipline-based educational development. Funded projects open new opportunities for higher education institutions but also come alongside with challenging conditions like start-up or time-limited funding for specific project applications and additional staff members that are employed on time-restricted contracts. Many funded higher education networks do not survive the end of the funding period which often comes alongside with the loss of experienced staff, of established innovative solutions and of practical institutional knowledge. This arises questions about the factors that influence the success or the failure of such networks.

Regarding these general conditions, it is necessary to assume that different organisational logics of action (e.g. educational orientation at the project level, strategic logics of action at the governance level) must be balanced so that conducive structures for the further development of teaching and learning can be established. How this is achieved in the collaborative work of management and staff member from several higher education institutions has not been investigated sufficiently so far.

In a collaborative research project, we aim to clarify the conditions for successful cooperation in such multi-institutional higher education networks and to provide knowledge about promising actor- and governance-constellations for future initiatives and projects. We focus on formalised bodies, in which several higher education institutions hold membership.

Our understanding of educational quality is derived from the idea of Bildung. From this perspective higher education should be oriented towards universalistic values of the common good. Educational quality, thus, is social value-based and it is related to democratic citizenship. This educational theoretical stance allows to derive general goals of higher education: Student’s development of academic identity and personality; education for maturity and solidarity; and reflection skills necessary for scientific communication, for taking social responsibility and a commitment to democracy (cf. Merkt, 2021, pp. 93-96). Such an education cannot be decreed from above and cannot be sufficiently be expressed in performance indicators. We therefore ask: How can multi-institutional projects contribute to foster educational quality in higher education?

Drawing on the educational-governance-approach (Altrichter, 2018, 2010), we analyse multi-institutional higher education networks’ effort to contribute to an organisational learning process for improved teaching and learning conditions. Such processes are explained from the perspective of negotiating different logics of action in specific actor constellations in the multi-level system of educational organisations: Organisational and teaching development processes are analysed in terms of the extent to which the objectives and logics of action of different actors (e.g. administrative staff, third-space professionals, lecturers and students) take part in negotiating and making decisions that frame the conditions of teaching and learning.

• To what extent do education-oriented logics of action prevail in negotiation processes and become established?
• What strategies and considerations do leaders and staff members pursue with/in their projects?

In recent years many universities have expanded tremendously due to massification and widening participation (Hovdhaugen, 2009). This has led to an increasingly diverse student cohort across disciplines. Although more students than ever enrol in HE, a large number of students terminate their studies prematurely. In particular the dropout rate in HE within the first year of study is about 30% across many countries and disciplines (Berka & Marek, 2021). This tendency is especially a problem within STEM subjects (Ulriksen et al., 2010).

Why do students leave early? What issues discourage students from continuing to study beyond the personal? This poster presents an original and ongoing investigation of the possible connection between dropout and curriculum construction in Higher Education (HE). The study presents an organisational perspective on dropout. We are interested in how the structure and construction of education and curricula influence the student's integration and sense of belonging and ultimately influences the decision to stay or leave. This perspective contributes to new insights and knowledge of how the institutional framework influences student experience.

The research question that guides this study is:

• How can curriculum construction during the first and second semesters support the goal of reducing dropout rates in the first year of study?

To investigate these questions, this study uses a broad range of retention- and first year theory as the theoretical framework. A large part of the research in this theoretical field shows that dropout results from individual opportunities, characteristics, and educational structure. In this field, there is a tendency to focus on the perspective of the individual and their experience rather than the institutional range of possibilities (Qvortrup & Lykkegaard, 2022; Tinto, 2012).

Two overarching themes in the literature – structure and phases – have been chosen as frameworks for the analysis and the two will be further described in the following.

The structure of dropout:

Much of the literature on dropout and retention studies the interaction between the individual and the institution. In other words, the interplay, counterplay and encounter between students' individual characteristics, including their social and academic opportunities and limitations, and the institutional framework are examined (Briggs et al., 2012). Tinto’s 'Institutional Departure Model' (Tinto, 1993) is often used as a framework for the structure of possible influences on dropout. The model contains a series of possible factors that influence the student's social and academic integration. The influence of the institution, the norms of the academic system and the structural conditions of education are seen as significant factors in several studies (Braxton et al., 2000; Schaeper, 2020; Ulriksen et al., 2010), also, within the STEM subjects (Deeken et al., 2020; Ulriksen & Gregersen, 2022).

The phases of dropout:

It has been demonstrated that the decision to drop out is a process influenced by several factors over time (Braxton et al., 2000; Tinto, 1988; Ulriksen et al., 2010). Heublein (2014) describes the decision-making process as divided into three phases. The first phase is the background variables; the second phase is the student’s study experience, which leads to the third phase, where the actual decision to leave or not to leave is made (Heublein, 2014). Similar findings can be found in a study by Berka and Marek (2021), who argue that background variables have the most significant importance for dropout within the first year, after which other things, such as grades, become more relevant, and thereby they point to the fact that the dropout factors change over time (Berka & Marek, 2021).

Nowadays, universities need to dialog with society, to offer responses to the main problems of humanity, and to face the social and environmental crisis. Their role cannot be depleted in the conventional tasks of a Higher Education institution, focused on the coordination of teaching programs and research lines (Santos Rego et al., 2015). They have the obligation to reflect on their civic mission, being able to change and improve their surrounding environment and contributing to a more inclusive society.

The adaptation to the European Higher Education Area was a good opportunity for reflection, renewal and improvement for universities. This is how the introduction of methodologies such as service-learning, centered on the student and which strengthen the social dimension of university education, is promoted. Service-learning is defined as an educational purpose that combines the traditional processes of learning with a community service in a single project in which students learn meanwhile they work on real needs of their community with the objective of solving them (Puig et al., 2007).

Traditionally, research has focused on studying the impact of this methodology on students, in terms of improvements in learning and development of skills (Santos Rego et al., 2021). Despite the importance of the community in this process, we lack solid research on the impact of service-learning on the community and how this relationship may have affected the university (Redondo and Fuentes, 2020).

It is therefore appropriate to study the impact of service-learning on organizations and their users (Shek et al., 2021), along with the way in which this theoretical impact could favor the learning and innovation processes in the university. In this case we acknowledge the concept of 'reciprocity' as a basic principle for the inclusion of this methodology in the university context. Reciprocity means adherence to the principles of respect, trust, genuine commitment, balance of power, shared resources, and clear communication between universities and community agents (Jacoby, 2015). The aim is to promote, using service-learning as a pedagogical strategy, the relationships of exchange and mutual benefit between Academia and social actors (Asghar and Rowe, 2017).

There are works that confirmed the benefits for the community derived from its involvement in service-learning courses, and in which the exchange of knowledge and meeting the needs of entities or groups were the main focal points (Nduna, 2007; Van Rensburg et al., 2019). However, the way in which the content of the project is perceived, the quality of the project provider, and the benefits received are predictors of the overall satisfaction of the recipients and the community (Shek et al., 2021).

Despite the relevance of the issue, one cannot state that research attention has been lavish (Butin, 2003; Ward and Wolf-Wendel, 2000). According to Reeb and Folger (2013), the studies that focused on this area showed serious limitations, especially from a methodological point of view, since the results obtained were based solely on the impressions of community members, teachers or students.

In this paper we present the design of an extensive research carried out by researchers from nine Spanish and three foreign universities. These are the main objectives:

• Analyze the reciprocity between the university and the community as an element to improve quality of the service-learning projects, which conditions their impact on the entities, their users and the university.
• Study the possibilities of service-learning as a methodological approach capable of contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the 2030 Agenda in community organizations and in the university.

This paper is framed in 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).

This research study will be an in-depth exploration of practitioners’ processes to illustrate broader lessons that could be learned for higher education institutions wanting to diversify their curricula to provide lifelong and life-wide learning opportunities. This research project will critically explore three diversely designed curricula at one Adult Continuing Education Department (ACE) of a university in Ireland. The participants and researcher will create a visual artifact (concept map) outlining the individual and subjective curriculum design processes of each of the three participants (Novak, 1998). This collaborative method aims to make explicit the dynamic and complex praxiological endeavour of curriculum design for adult education practitioners in the higher education context. It will also provide a visual representation of the meaning making that was co-constructed between the research participant and the researcher during this case study.

Research Questions:

• What are practitioner/educators’ perceptions of course or curriculum design for lifelong learning?
• What are the critical elements in course or curriculum design in lifelong learning environments?
• What are the important theories, topics, skills and/or activities for lifelong learning design?
• What, according to practitioners, is ‘good practice’ in curriculum design?

Conceptual Framework:

Life-wide learning recognizes that people inhabit a number of different learning spaces, with the lifelong journey providing the learner with a variety of experiences (Jackson, 2011). This learning embraces all forms and types of learning and curriculum is driven by learner interest, needs, and intrinsic values. The exploration of the practitioners and researchers processes and assumptions will be framed within the concept of life-wide learning.

Topic, objective and conceptual framework

Students in higher professionals education are being prepared for high level professional practice. Research among university students has shown that one of the prerogatives for this transformation is that students are aware of this need to transform and that they are willing to transform interacting with powerful bodies of knowledge (Ashwin et al., 2014). However, in higher professional education interactions are provided with professional knowledge, theoretical knowledge and professional practice to develop their professionalism. Professionalism is a prerogative to be able to function as a professional. ‘Professionalism’ is here defined as a functional integration of professional knowledge (including embodied knowledge), professional identity and the capability to act professionally (Barnett, 2009; Griffioen, 2019; Guile, 2014). It has been suggested that for a student, each step taken requests a transformation and therefore a rebalancing of knowledge, identity and action (Trede et al., 2012; Young & Muller, 2014).

Several studies consider separate aspects of this trajectory, such as the student’s step from high school to college (Scanlon et al., 2007), or the transition from study to professional life in relation to professional identity and professional practice (Tomlinson & Jackson, 2021). (Barnett et al., 2001) conceptualize knowledge, action and self to describe their balance higher education curricula, theorizing a similar process, although ‘action’ is here related to the action needed for learning by the student within the educational system. While the assumption is that bachelor students in professional education develop all three areas while becoming professionals (Griffioen, 2019), how the three notions that comprise professionalism develop in relation with each other in students has however not yet been studied. This poster presents the first two measurements in a four year bachelor trajectory, indicating how students’ professionalism changes in the first study year.

Research question

How does the self-preceived professionalism (knowledge, identity and action) of bachelor students in professional higher education change during their studies? What influences their perceptions over time?

This work presents the designs of two methodological proposals for the teaching and assessment of the learning-to-learn (LTL) competence in university degrees, in the context of a research project[1] focused on the development of an intervention model for its teaching and learning.

In previous investigations, our research group elaborated a model to define the LTL skill, considering its four dimensions according to literature: cognitive, metacognitive, affective-motivational and social/relational (Hoskins & Fredriksson, 2008) (Thoutenhoofd & Pirrie, 2013), and including a fifth dimension related to ethics (Gargallo et al. 2020). This dimension refers to responsibility and honesty in learning; being guided by civic and moral values, developing one's potential while respecting others and contributing to the creation of a fairer and more equitable society.

Despite the relevance of LTL competence for the students’ personal and professional development (OCDE, 2015; EU, 2006 & 2018), it has not been included, at least explicitly, among the generic competences for university degrees, although there are many that can be considered as part of it, such as collaborative work, planning, organisation and time management, autonomous and self-regulated learning, effective management of information and communication processes, among others. Nevertheless, the transversal and dynamic characteristics of this skill are the main difficulties that hinder the application of appropriate teaching and learning approaches aimed at its development and assessment in the educational context.

The implementation of active methodologies consisting of authentic tasks in which students take part in their own learning process and face real situations, such as problem solving, projects, portfolios or case studies, stands out among other more passive methodological proposals, facilitating the learning of the competence (Fernández, 2006). In previous experiences, case study methodology has provided a favourable learning environment for the development and assessment of LTL competence with the aim of providing learners with a better understanding of optimal learning strategies (Osete and García, 2020).

At the current stage of the research, different strategies for teaching and learning some of the specific dimensions and sub-dimensions of this skill are being developed and implemented. Given the wide range of dimensions and sub-dimensions of the learning to learn competence (21 in total), in these first experiences it was decided to limit the study to two sub-dimensions. Specifically, we present here the methodological proposal for the development of the specific sub-dimension of problem solving from the metacognitive dimension and the sub-dimension of ICT usage from the cognitive dimension. These will be tested in a first-year undergraduate course of the degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from the Faculty of Fine Arts and in a second-year subject of the degree in Public Works Engineering from the School of Civil Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de València.

The implementation of these designs will constitute a first experimental approach for the validation of the methodological proposal and the achievement of the necessary adjustments in the teaching process for the development of the competence in further educational experiences.

[1] ‘The learning to learn competence in the university, its design and curriculum development. a model of intervention and its application in university degrees’ Project PID2021-123523NB-I00, funded by the MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF A way of making Europe.

This study aims to describe how a learner centred and transformative education may be implemented when using flipped classroom practices. There are different conceptions about flipped classroom that can include particular pedagogical activities or resources A key idea is centred on the flipped concept, meaning “that events that have traditionally taken place inside the classroom now take place outside the classroom and vice versa” (Lage, Platt & Treglia, 2020). The change in teacher and students’ roles from a teacher centred pedagogy to a learner centred and active pedagogy can also be considered a charactheristic of the flipped classroom. In this scope, one can say that flipped classroonm fits the paradigm change that characterize contemporary education, from a pedagogical model centred on teaching and teachers, on information giving, a banking education, to a lifelong pedagogical model, that focus on the student as participants in knowledge creation, and thus education as transformative. Flipped classroom can include particular pedagogical activities implemented or resources used, in particular, that highlight the use of videos as a key resource. Lundin, Bergviken Rensfeldt, Hillman, Lantz-Andersson, & Peterson (2018) referred that ‘the flipped classroom is a new pedagogical method, which employs asynchronous video lectures and practice problems as homework, and active, group-based problem solving activities in the classroom. The use of videos and technological resources, althgouhg controversial, are is also mentioned in other definitons, for instance “the flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed ‘in the flipped learning model, teachers shift direct learning out of the large group learning space and move it into the individual learning space, with the help of one of several technologies. Teachers record and narrate screencasts of work they do on their computer desktops, create videos of themselves teaching, or curate video lessons from internet sites (Hamdan, McKnight, McKnight & Arfstrom, 2013).

The transition from higher education to the world of work has become a prominent research topic over the last two decades. As a result of the Bologna process, and the European integration, the universities have tended to be more responsive to the labour market needs (Hrubos, 2010). In Hungary, the graduates’ post-study career, and the various aspects of their labour market performance are essential indicators in order to monitor and evaluate the higher education institutions. The most significant step was achieved in 2005 when the national government launched the Graduate Tracking System (GTS). After some considerable improvements, the integration of various (mainly administrative) databases (e.g., tax data, higher education data) has become the central element of this national-level system (Nyüsti & Veroszta, 2013). The tracking of international graduates leaving Hungary after their study is not possible, though. Therefore, and due to the missing empirical studies, little knowledge existed about international graduates’ careers. This gap has been filled by the practice-oriented research conducted among international graduates having completed their full-time studies under the framework of Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship programme (SH) in Hungary.

The conceptual framework guided the research is mainly based on the concept of employability. Drawing on the broader employability literature, the research focuses on questions of employment obtainment, satisfaction, personal and employability skills (Cai, 2013; Pham & Jackson, 2020). The other theoretical approach was the implementation science in order to better understand and evaluate the implementation of a scholarship programme (Nilsen, 2015).

The physical environment in Swedish Early Childhood Education (ECE) is considered a crucial factor to how children develop and learn (Westberg, 2019). Although Swedish preschool is integrated within the education system there are generally little to no distinctions made between education, care, and play. Instead, all activities are considered a part of preschool education (Sheridan and Williams, 2018). Thus, the environment and material play an important part for the governing of preschool activities.

There is a variety of research on environment and material factors in early childhood education from a wide range of research fields. For example, on how material and environments are used in preschool and how material aspects influence education (Barnett, 2015; Odegard, 2021; Åström et al, 2020; Änggård, 2011). As well as how the physical environment forms limits or possibilities for how children can become and act (Eriksson Bergström, 2013; Nordin-Hultman, 2004). In summary, previous research show that childhood materials and environments are constructed in different ways and given different meanings in relation to a variety of discourses, discourses that not only influence how early childhood spaces are designed but also how children are viewed and governed.

Inspired by Foucault’s (1977) genealogical perspective the contribution of this paper is to examine the power relations embedded in the discursive practices of creating a ‘good educational environment’ by looking at discourses on ECE environment and material in 140 texts published in a Swedish preschool teacher trade journal between 1969-2022. In Foucault's spirit, the empirical material is not limited to one type of material, but in addition to the journal Förskolan, the analysis includes policy documents from the same period. The approach is an attempt, through discourse analysis of both contemporary and historical material, to show how discursive practices shape and reshape the norms and ideals of ‘good’ learning environments. The analysis is structured around two main questions:

(1) What are the discursive practices that constructs the dominant discourse on ‘the good learning environment’?

(2) How do these discourses on good learning environment and material coincide or compete with other practices/discourses, historically or outside of ECE?

Inspired by Foucault’s genealogical perspective, this study engages with the history of the present, which means that it is a study of contemporary practices from a historical and power-analytical perspective (Axelsson and Qvarsebo, 2017; Foucault, 1977). Genealogy as a method make use of historical events to crystallize a critique of contemporary phenomena that have become naturalized and taken for granted. It is not about searching for the true origins of things. Rather, this study aims to show how discourses on environment and material are shaped and reshaped. The goal here is to show how ‘something’ – in this case, the discursive practices of environment and material in ECE – can be understood as a configuration of power and knowledge with particular orientations and consequences (Beronius, 1991; Foucault, 1977). The consequences in this case, come down to how children are perceived and how their lives are directed. The concept of power-relations (Foucault, 1982; 2017) is informative in this study to understand how the discursive practices on environment and material in preschools shape how ‘problems’ are articulated and understood given the discourse at a specific time and context. And by extension, how these discourses shape or direct children’s actions in the present or the future.

In 2004, Slovenia became a member of the European Union (EU), thereby fully entering into joint European cooperation in the field of education. This is primarily based on the open method of coordination (OMC), consisting of different policy instruments (common goals, benchmarks, indicators, peer learning, comparative reports), by which member states are supported and triggered to develop their educational system in a certain, European, way. Since 2000, this cooperation is organised within the so-called ten-year strategic frameworks of European cooperation in education and training (E&T 2010, E&T 2020, E&T 2030). At the end of the I&U 2010, the European Commission pointed out that the data on how the OMC is being implemented in member states are deficient and missing and the scientific debates (e.g. Alexiadou & Lange, 2015) exposed the need for in-depth empirical research in the field. At the end of E&T 2020, the emerging European education area is facing similar challenges - a lack of studies that would explain the ways in which member states pursue European goals in the field of education (European Commission, 2019). Although the OMC since 2000, when it was formally introduced in the educational sector with the Lisbon strategy (European Council, 2000), has lost its visibility in EU policy documents, as well as attention in scientific debates, Gornitzka (2018) explains the education sector upheld its governance arrangements. The question of its implementation in member states and the strength of Europeanizing national educational systems, therefore, remains actual, especially in times, when the European Education Area is to be established by 2025 (Council of the EU, 2021).

Objective, research question

The main aim of this paper is to explicate the Europeanization of the Slovenian educational space in the last two decades, namely, by in-depth comparative empirical insight into the implementation of the E&T 2010 and E&T 2020 strategic frameworks. The paper, therefore, addresses the research gap in the field, by providing an innovative in-depth longitudinal research framework of the OMC implementation in the last two decades in the particular member state. The research question, the paper address is: “How the OMC and its changing governance arrangements have influenced the development of Slovenian educational space in the last two decades?”

Conceptual and theoretical framework

In the paper, we study OMC in the field of education policy and its influence on member states (e.g. Slovenia) within a theoretical framework that presents the combination of theoretical postulates of the concept of a new mode of governance as the outcome-oriented governance, governance of comparisons, governance of problems and governance of knowledge (e.g. Altrichter, 2010; Grek, 2010), theory of policy learning (e.g. Radaelli, 2008) and the concept of evidence-based policy-making (e.g. Pellegrini & Vivanet, 2021). In the paper, we use a complex multilevel framework of analysis, which serves us for the explanation of conditions under which OMC triggers member states to reach EU goals and therefore initiate the convergence of the European educational space and establishment of the European Education Area by 2025. In that way we explicate a combination of ideational and organizational pressures, stimulating member states to adapt their own ideas and organizational structures in order to attain common EU goals (Bórras & Radaelli, 2011).

To date, the impacts of arts and culture on society - whether positive or negative - have been intensively discussed and reflected in the economic, political and educational fields (e.g. through deliberations for cultural policy on funding culture projects, political and educational agenda on promoting culture and arts education) (Belfiore, 2008; Gilmore & Abigail, 2014; Winner et al., 2013). Among these initiatives, educational ones ofttimes emphasise the positive impacts of -arts and culture on schooling, which, to some extent, reflect the impact the government hopes to have on arts education (Commission et al., 2012; Sabol, 2013). Educational policy, arguably, is one of the important initiatives to respond to governmental demands (Henry et al., 1997) for arts education. For instance, the New European Culture Agenda (2016) envision that arts education can develop critical appreciation, persevere cultural diversity, foster creativity, et cetera, which shows the EU’s eagerness to promote cohesion through the arts and cultural education.

Coincidentally, the most recent educational reform in China and the ensuing improvement in policy demonstrate the growing importance of arts education but also the expectations of the government. The policy background of this rejuvenation can be traced back to 2014, whereafter a series of arts education policies (2014，2015，2020) were issued by China’s central authority. In those policies, the arts education is assumed as an essential path to achieve the fundamental goal of China’s general education, which comprises Lide Shuren [Enhance morality, Foster talents]. In addition to the policy, the Chinese government also provide guidelines for enhancing arts educational practices in the policy documents (2020). Together the policies and interpretative documents manifest that arts education has reached an unprecedented height and ushered in great development opportunities in China (Xu, 2018). In this regard, an in-depth examination of the policy is imperative for a better understanding of the status of arts education in China and the governmental expectations represented therein.

The focus of the previous research, in China, is more on the diachronic evolution (Li, 2019; Sun & Xu, 2022), descriptive interpretation (Yan, 2015) and implementation (Zhao, 2019) of the arts education policy. Meanwhile, western scholars have reconsidered arts education in broader educational shifts (Sabol, 2013) and adopted diverse approaches (e.g. the cultural policy analysis framework (Shaw, 2018), critical policy analysis (Kos, 2017)) to question the advocacy and examine the discursive practice present in the arts education policy texts (Logsdon, 2013). However, a critical appraisal of the current policies is yet to be conducted in China.

In this paper, the overarching goal has been to understand the principles and the functions of China’s arts education constructed in the top policies and explore the governmental demands and discursive practice. The authors, therefore, applied a critical discourse-analytical reading of the three-arts education policy(2014,2015,2020).These three top policies are deemed the most authoritative policy in the current decade, providing us with the representative and widely used government discourse on arts education. Unpacking the policy discourse and the hidden cultural and power logic, we aim to make an empirical contribution to the research on arts education policy in China.

Globally, the question of how everyday school life is transformed towards more equal and democratic practices is receiving increasing attention in research, practice, and public debate. Often, such discussion aims to raise ways in which schools can facilitate such transformation from the perspective of local and situated practices (e.g., Fairchild, 2019; Leppänen, 2020). Thus, it is not surprising that the concept of micropolitics ─ the fluid, heterogeneous, and non-linear processes of everyday life ─ forms part of many of the studies concerned with these processes.

In this study, we draw on the concept of micropolitics as discussed by Felix Guattari (1984, 2009). Earlier research on Guattari’s micropolitics has built a vital understanding of how fluid (i.e., molecular) sides of everyday life can open our, perhaps sometimes restrictive, macro structures and make visible that everyday life is not that schematic. Our actions are not predetermined by some pre-existing reality, but rather, everyday life is constructed by multiple actions which make mundane life un-predictable (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Guattari, 2009). However, although in his writings Guattari in general emphasized the importance of everyday molecular movement (see, for example, Guattari and Rolnik, 2009), he did not consider molecular movements as inherently transgressive or liberatory actions undermining molar entities. Therefore, in this study we engage with Guattari’s (1984, 2009) writings in which he talks about two forces that produce micropolitics, the molar and the molecular. ‘Molar’ here refers to the stable sides of everyday life (i.e., structures, laws, regulations, etc.). By comparison, ‘molecular’ refers to the force that gains its movement from heterogeneous actions in everyday life. These include, for example, all aspects of school days that cannot be predicted beforehand. What we specifically aim to emphasize is that both of these sides exist at the same time, and they can only be realised in relation to each other (Guattari, 1984, 2009).

Placing special emphasis on acknowledging both of these sides as a part of the construction of everyday life, we build on theoretical perspectives that consider reality as relational and dynamic (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Guattari, 2009). Moreover, sensitizing ourselves to details does not offer universal facts. Instead, such a perspective helps us to focus on the wider connections between details, allowing processes hiding in mundanity to become visible (Decuypere, 2019). Thus, the purpose is to recognize issues that call for a response (Haraway, 2016). To better understand how this mundane everyday school life is constructed, we ask: How are the two forces, molar and molecular, realised in mundane school practices?

Scientists, in general, and researchers and university teachers, in particular, should have precise information and knowledge about the origins of their disciplinary field. This idea reminds us of Aristotle's argument that we understand a subject best when we see it grow from its origins (Metaphysics, Book I, Chapter I, p. 12). Specifically, he said: "seeking first to understand the causes of the entities that surround us .... in the search for their causes, they advanced to that one".

In the case of Mathematics Education, different authors (Kilpatrick, 1998, 2020; Artigue & Blomhøj, 2013; Fiorentini & Lorenzato, 2015) have described how, during the last two centuries, research in this field has focused on analysing what mathematics was developed in schools and how it was taught and what learning (usefulness) resulted from it. Parallel to this scientific development, Kilpatrick (1998) raised the problems inherent in this work; in particular, the constitution of a group of people who identified themselves as researchers in mathematics education and focused their efforts on defining them and instituting their own research methods. During this period, figures such as Augustin Cauchy, responsible for the reorganisation and foundation of the field of mathematical analysis at the beginning of the 19th century, Ulysse Dini, from the University of Pisa, who wrote the first modern treatise on functions of a real variable, or Emile Borel who, from his collection of works on the theory of functions, developed some twenty volumes that gave the international mathematical community access to the most recent developments in research in this field (Artigue, 2020). Belhoste (1998), for his part, states that the constitution and institutionalisation of the mathematical community in countries such as Germany, France and Italy is largely due to the development of educational institutions focused on the teaching of this discipline.

These and many other examples from the scientific literature describe in great detail the origins of the development of the scientific community of mathematics education; however, we have not found any bibliographical evidence on the origins of research in mathematics education through doctoral theses or dissertations in this scientific field.

As we know, doctoral theses have a long history from the Middle Ages to present-day universities, but the recovery of the first European theses on this field of study -their reading and analysis- is a hard and complex exercise in documentary archaeology. Institutional repositories and databases are sources in which to search for doctoral theses and master's theses; some have indexed dissertations (we speak of dissertations, as a general term, with two variants: doctoral theses and master's theses) from more than 200 years ago. Databases in this respect are: the Spanish database Catalog-CISNE, the British Library-Ethos: e-thesis, the German Deustsche Nationalbibliothek or the Belgian Dial. UCLovaine. Other European dissertation databases are more recent, dating from the mid-20th century, such as the French TEL-These en ligne or the Dutch NARCIS.

For all these reasons, the present study focuses on identifying and analysing the origins of university research in Mathematics Education. Following a documentary archaeology exercise, a total of 23 European doctoral and master's theses in the field of mathematics education, defended more than one hundred years ago (1854-1917), have been located. They are thus centuries-old dissertations and indicative of the origins of university research in this field. In this way, this work is a first step towards understanding and illuminating the field of mathematics education from its beginnings and, by extension, as a study of the history of science geographically limited to Europe.

This research considers the use of one of the strategies of the concept-based learning, which allows students to absorb knowledge in a universal way, on the subject of mathematics when teaching secondary school students with this method and its features.

According to the traditional two-dimensional model of the curriculum, the content of knowledge is presented within certain topics that contain data. The given data usually form the student's ability to know and understand. It is observed that students in this type of model usually study factual information mostly and are not able to answer questions of the high order thinking types for analysis and evaluation (Medwell, J. & Wray, D., 2020). The acquired knowledge remains in the state of individually isolated data without logical relation between facts and conclusions. This does not contribute to the revitalization and development of deep-level mental activity of an individual.

Meanwhile, conceptual learning assumes not a simple comprehension of knowledge through teacher delivering but full immersion and skills focused curriculum (Erickson L., 2017). According to Wiggins and McTighe (1998), "A concept is a principle or conception of a broad-minded, long-term character that transcends the context of origin, time period, and material content." Based on the given definitions, the acquired knowledge should not be limited to a certain level, the knowledge should be used in a variable manner, on a wide scale.

Unlike a two-dimensional curriculum based on facts and skills, concept-based learning is based on big ideas (Murphy, 2017), not just subject content. And the ideas that arise from knowledge are wide-ranging, interconnected and interdisciplinary. For example, through concept-based learning, students can explore the big idea of ​​"change," from patterns in mathematics to civilizations in social studies to life cycles in science. They become critical thinkers, develop the ability to solve problems creatively.

According to the results of the monitoring of knowledge, conducted at the beginning of the academic year, it was found that students struggle in performing tasks that require higher order thinking skills. The rate of completion of tasks assigned to mathematical modeling, which requires analytical skills, was 47%, while the level of completion of tasks requiring data collection and processing was 68%. The results of monitoring showed that although students have a tendency to perform calculations based on theoretical knowledge but analysis, evaluation and drawing conclusions are difficult for them.

This made the relevance of this research to study and draw conclusions on how the use of comparison and contrast strategy contributes to the ability of middle school students to connect individual facts and the formation of inference skills.

In this context, teaching through concept-based approach a teacher needs effective strategies to develop thinking skills of students. One of such strategies is a compare and contrast method that is aimed at drawing conclusions on the case studies by distinguishing similar situations and contrasting phenomena between two or more concepts.

The purpose of the study is to determine the impact of the comparison and contrast strategy of teaching on the basis of concepts on the formation of high-order skills of middle school students.

We also aimed to identify the difficulties that arise when using this strategy for students of this age to further find the best solutions on them.

Research questions:

- To what extent does the compare and contrast strategy affect the development of students’ high-order thinking skills on Maths lessons?

- What are the possible difficulties students may face when learning through the strategy and method?

This research is qualitative as the main method was to study five focused groups of students of grade seven (84 students in total).

The term "teacher leadership" has been used frequently in educational settings in international contexts. Teacher leadership suggests a common dedication to interdisciplinary professional collaboration and to fulfilling the needs of learners. It seems however that the concept is generally more used and researched in Western and developed countries. Even though teacher leadership is seemingly well understood, as indicated in policy documents and development activities, there does not seem to be a common understanding regarding what teacher leadership is, how it is used or if it can be used to enhance teaching and learning (Webber et al., 2023). Despite extensive reviews that have indicated some of the attributes of teacher leadership (Wenner & Campbell, 2017; York-Barr & Duke, 2004), there is still no clear-cut definition of exactly what teacher leadership entail across about the diversity in different cultural contexts. The specific cultural context in a country will have an influence on the manifestation and conceptualisation of teacher leadership. In this regard Hallinger (2018, p. 11) refers to the influence of different contexts, including the “natural culture context, economic context and political context”, which goes much wider than the local context of the school.

Research done on and about teacher leadership emphasised the lack of clarity in how teacher leadership is defined. There also seems to be a lack of research on teacher leadership in non-Western and developing countries. In this regard Fierro-Evans and Fortoul-Olivier (2021) indicated an absence of discourses on teacher leadership in Latin America, including Mexico and Colombia and Grant (2019) acknowledged the scarcity of research about teacher leadership in Africa’s emerging democracies. Previous studies and literature reviews provided a strong base for the establishment of an international research project, the International Study of Teacher Leadership (ISTL). The International Study of Teacher Leadership (www.mru.ca/istl) was a response to the calls for additional cross-cultural studies of how teacher leadership is understood and manifested (Webber et al. 2023).

Researchers representing 12 universities in 12 countries with diverse cultural contexts formed a research team to do research on the conceptualisation, understanding, manifestation and enactment of teacher leadership in these diverse cultural contexts. The members of ISTL come from diverse cultural backgrounds and included representation of Western as well as non-Western countries including developed and developing countries. The purpose of the study was to contribute to the wider understanding of teacher leadership and of how professional development and university programs might contribute to teacher leadership knowledge and skill development. The study was directed by the main question: How is teacher leadership conceptualised and enacted and what are the implications for educational stakeholders?

There are four central concepts that add to a better understanding of teacher leadership, namely “formal and informal dimensions, influence of teacher leadership on school culture, teacher leadership as professional development, and teacher leadership as part of school improvement” (Webber, 2018, p. 4). Teacher leadership includes both formal and informal dimensions of the practice of this leadership theory in schools. There are numerous ways that teacher leaders influence without appointments to formal leadership roles. The right conditions need to exist within the school for teacher leadership to thrive, implicating a specific school culture. Positive school cultures in which instructional improvement is possible are environments where change can take place. It is important that teachers with leadership potential have opportunities to learn how to influence in positive and productive ways. There are a wide range of teacher leader development strategies that can help formal and informal leaders assume responsibility and accountability for student learning. Teacher leadership can and should contribute to improved teaching and learning practices and lead to sustained school improvement.

International developments in didactic research provide new approaches to understand the breadth and depth of teaching as a professional activity including its scientific base (Ligozat & Almqvist, 2018). Examples are didactic models and modelling (Sjöström, 2018; Wickman et al., 2018), comparative didactics across school subjects and the idea of a general subject didactics (Vollmer, 2021). Common are the efforts these approaches show to provide synthesis of didactic research as well as to contribute to the professional language shared between teachers and researchers. These overarching efforts are shared by the project reported in this study. The study is part of a national investment on practice-based research. In this two-year collaborative project between academia, preschool and school, the focus is on the teaching of science in a school area with a high degree of multiculturalism. The purpose of the project is to, in collaboration between preschool, school and university, develop subject didactic models, useful for teaching in preschool and in biology, physics and chemistry during the early years of primary school.

The project uses activity theory (Engeström, 1987, 2005, 2011) as an overall theoretical framework. Activity theory describes relations between different actors, actions and outcomes in developmental work processes. The theory shares a socio-cultural perspective and describes human activities shaped by historical and cultural contexts in terms of activity systems. The activity system shows actions that are made possible with the help of tools, rule systems and the division of labor included. An analysis based on activity systems, oscillates between using a longer historical time perspective on an entire system, and using a shorter time perspective on targeted actions of individual actors. Outcomes from this project are three subject specific didactic models; one focusing children’s interest with natural objects, one focusing work with multimodal and semiotic spaces for developing children’s’ language competences, and one focusing the use of mind maps and concept maps in the early years of school. They are understood as embedded in a meaningful context of activity for the participants. Moreover, the ambition to unite preschool - school within the same project gives rise to resistance in all three activities - preschool - school - teacher education. The project makes visible contradictions between activities, roles and difficulties in delimiting and defining natural science content, and actions initiated in relation to this by various actors.

International crises and developments in European societies, have brought renewed awareness, that value education for democracy in schools is crucial for democratic societies. Therefore, the curricula in several European countries strengthened topics of democracy education. Teachers’ competencies and beliefs form an important variable in the actual realisation of these objectives. Empirical studies show that future primary school teachers need a better understanding and teaching methods of democratic principles and values learning to cope with rapid social changes, the emergence of new social and individual needs, especially with regard to diversity and tensions in primary school. This is why universities of initial teacher education can offer opportunities for creating these competencies by means of active professional interchange and guided experiences of trans-national understanding (Kolb, 1984).

To address these challenges, the joint Erasmus+ project ValiDE - Values in democracy education - enhancing competencies and beliefs of teacher students through a joint study program (KA220-HED - Cooperation partnerships in higher education) was initiated in three partner universities. Partners are the University of Education Weingarten (Germany), the University of Agder (Norway) and the Pedagogical University of Krakow (Poland). The project implements a joint exchange study program within the framework of teacher training at these universities, which focuses on reflection and discussion of democratic values in a tri-national group of teacher students. The participants also collaboratively elaborate teaching scenarios on democratic values education. The project will be matter of two research questions: (1) What national curricular differences in values education can be found? (2) In what respect do the students show changes in beliefs, attitudes and competencies regarding values education in due course of the exchange program?

The core idea of ValiDE is mainly based on an international exchange to foster competencies and beliefs. Every year a fix group of teacher students from Poland, Norway and Germany stays at each of the participating universities for one week and receive input, visit schools and work on didactical tasks. The teacher students also take part in workshops of three NGOs, one in each country to deepen their experience in different perspectives of democratic values. The NGOs add special competencies in the fields of democracy education, human rights education and ethical/interreligious education. With this approach, the project ValiDE responds to needs in the areas of: (A) student teacher mobility: teacher education for democracy needs partners from outside the own cultural community. It calls for experience of language barriers and own cultural difference and for tasks to collaborate in transnational groups. (B) placing democracy learning and dealing with democratic values in the everyday classroom of diverse social reality and the need of fostering teachers’ competencies in this area.

The poster shows how the intervention and the research design are conceived and reports the pilot study’s preliminary findings about students' goals and expectations at the beginning of the exchange.

This study investigated second/foreign language writing anxiety among Kazakhstani EFL teachers. After implementing the new educational policy regarding trilingual education, English is taught as a foreign language and used as a medium of instruction in secondary education of Kazakhstan. As EFL teachers are non-native speakers of English, they can be prone to anxiety in language classroom, especially in the context of writing due to its productive and complex nature.

Writing anxiety refers to a person’s predisposition to avoid writing tasks. It is specific to written communication and characterized as an individual’s tendency to avoid the situations and environment that may involve writing followed by its evaluation (Daly, 1978), due to the constant feeling that they are either not ready to write or not good at writing (Jawas, 2019, p.714).

Anxiety in foreign language classroom is commonly related to second language learners. However, the global practice demonstrates that non-native language teachers are also exposed to anxiety in the EFL classroom. In other words, despite being advanced users of English, it is common for teachers to feel writing anxiety. A number of studies have examined the relationship between teachers’ writing anxiety and their teaching practices in L1 contexts (Gere, Schuessler and Abbott, 1984; Bizzaro & Toler (1986). Research shows that a teacher plays a crucial role in shaping students’ attitudes towards writing (Palmquist and Young, 1992) and anxiety confronted by teachers might adversely affect not only teaching process but learning process as well (Aydin, 2021). Teachers’ writing anxiety have debilitative impact on their teaching behaviors, including, for instance, ineffective instructional strategies and anxiety- generating responses to students’ work (Ada and Campoy, 2004). Furthermore, teachers' writing anxiety may be reflected on the way how teachers assess learners’ written work (Claypool, 1980, cited in Atay and Kurt, 2006, p.102).

Due to the dynamic nature of language, non-native English teachers remain learners of the target language. As a result, English teachers may encounter stressful working conditions caused by language-related anxiety in the classroom, which are detrimental to the overall language teaching and learning processes (Horwitz, 1996; Aydin 2016). Some teachers, however, are prone to feel uncomfortable discussing their worries about language anxiety since it may be considered to be unprofessional among their peers.

A variety of factors such as English proficiency, the lack of educational resources and teacher- student relationship contribute to teacher anxiety, which might cause negative effects on teachers’ self-confidence, classroom behavior and teaching approaches(Horwitz, 1996; Roger and Suzuki, 2014; Aydin, 2016). Horwitz (1996) claimed that non-native English teachers experience language anxiety in foreign language classroom because they still remain language learners. However, Aydın (2016) argues that language anxiety in the teaching context cannot be considered the same phenomenon as the learners’ anxiety and thus anxiety among teachers is an important variable to consider. Yet research on L2 language anxiety was mainly conducted in the learning context, but studies focusing foreign language anxiety among teachers, and moreover the ones considering foreign language writing anxiety of language teachers remain in paucity.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the experience of second language writing anxiety(SLWA) among English teachers and explore the range of factors leading to SLWA that might influence their teaching and consequently their students’ academic performance of writing skills as well.

1.5 Research questions

1. What are the possible factors causing second language writing anxiety among English teachers in the classroom?

2. What are the teachers’ beliefs about the effect of their second language writing anxiety on their teaching practice and students’ learning process?

This study examined the multiplicity of professional identity perspectives that beginning visuals arts teachers carry with them into schools in order to gain a better understanding of how interacting identity perspectives catalyse their teacher identity formation. During teacher education, visual arts teachers are routinely asked to frame their professional goals and actions using the discourses of artists and educators. This familiarity with thinking and talking about professional practice from two distinct professional identity positions makes them an interesting case for examining teacher identity as the dynamic interaction of multiple identities (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011). Framing teacher identity formation as ‘multivoiced’ moves a teacher’s focus away from monitoring accrual of predetermined cognitive and behavioural assets towards an engagement with the process of identifying themselves as being a teacher (Arvaja, 2016). Rots, Kelchtermans and Aelterman (2012) suggest that this self-identification connects a teacher’s personal interpretive framework to their professional development. Without it, a teacher may find it difficult to cope with the more person-centred facets of being a teacher such as norms, emotions and social interactions (Rots et al. 2012; p.9). However, Akkerman and Meijer (2011) pointed out the limitations of dichotomising teacher identity as ‘professional versus personal identity’, arguing instead for a dialogical approach. Dialogism places the individual and society in dynamic relationship whereby dialogue, in the self, or with others, catalyses interaction between different perspectives, or identity positions, on experienced or imagined phenomena (Gillespie & Cornish, 2010; Hermans and Gieser, 2011). Identity formation can therefore be perceived as a process of positioning different perspectives, or ‘voices’, in reaction to or anticipation of, internal and external dialogic cues (Arvaja, 2017; Aveling, Gillespie & Cornish, 2015). Disagreement and dissonance are not uncommon as some voiced perspectives dominate and others recede, but not necessarily in concordance with the context they emerge in (Gillespie & Cornish, 2010).

A focus on dialogic relationship, on being understood, resonates through visual art teachers’ descriptions of their experience of working in schools. Some visual arts teachers report a profound sense of isolation or ‘speaking a different language’ than the school community (Cohen-Evron, 2002; Adams, 2007). In contrast, they often highlight the importance of the safe atmosphere they create in class and their personal connection to their students (Määttä & Uusiautti, 2013). Arts teachers feel at ease asking students to express their inner world, including feelings, because they believe this is a key component of creative pedagogy and a condition that must be met if students are going to produce original work (Hall & Thomson, 2016). At the level of professional status, however, they often experience disappointment, or even feel guilt because they have not pursued, or managed to maintain, ‘making art’ next to their ‘job’ as a teacher (Blair & Fitch, 2015; Scheib, 2006).

In contrast to these multivoiced narratives told by art teachers, research on art teacher professional identity tends to conclude by highlighting the simple dichotomy: artist identity v teacher identity (for examples, see Thornton, 2010; Unrath et al., 2013); or propose strategies to ‘manage’ the two identities through prioritisation, separation or balancing (Hatfield, Montana & Deffenbaugh, 2006). The catalytic potential of having multiple professional identity perspectives that appear, or are framed as conflicting is rarely considered. The present research seeks to transcend the tendency in arts education research to reduce art teacher identity to a simple dichotomy while contributing to a broader understanding of professional teacher identity formation as a dynamic, multivoiced process.

The central question of this study was:

What do visual arts teachers’ self-dialogues about teaching the arts in a secondary school reveal about the dialogical character of early-career professional identity formation?

Definitions

Outdoor Learning (OL) refers to extensive educational activities whose intent is to enhance the external environment with all its composition as an education tool (Coppola, et al., 2021). In their contribution, Sutherland and Legge (2016) state OL essentially occurs outdoors, as such, issues on environmental justice emerge with use of external environment to achieve outdoor learning.

Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) points to a distinctive group of pupils who may possess additional learning needs directly associated to a disability or a difficulty in general such as pupils with mental ill-health, visual or hearing impairment, orthopaedically disabled, behaviour disorders, learning difficulties etcetera (Buli-Holmberg and Jeyaprathaban, 2016).

Current developments and challenges in OL and CSPMLD literature

An initial discovery indicated that few scholars have researched the advantages of OL linked to the wellbeing and development of pupils with complex, severe, profound, multiple learning disabilities (CSPMLD) in a primary school or how it is embedded within the school curricular (Guardino, 2019). This study seeks to contribute theoretical and empirical evidence to this particularly understudied field.

Recently, a high number of children are growing up detached from the outdoors than any earlier generation spending more time inside buildings (Harvey et al., 2020; Waite, 2020; National Physical Activity Plan 2018). However, Hass et al. (2021) and Michalakis et al. (2020) contradict this notion stating that connection with outdoors, as seen in the COVID-19 pandemic, can still be achieved using technologies such as augmented reality (AR). OL is still under-researched in the context of special schools in primary schools as most research is on early years or standard mainstream primary schools (Waite, 2020).

Effects of Outdoor Learning on pupils with CSPMLD

Extant literature discovered positive effects such as improved wellbeing, independence with children who participated in OL (Harvey et al., 2020; Coppola et al. (2021)). In their contribution, Guardino et al. (2019) suggests not only is OL beneficial for pupils, but teachers benefitted too. My position on this proposed study, is to investigate if similar effects exist among pupils with CSPMLD and classroom staff. I aim to explore availability of opportunities to embed OL in schools’ curriculum and the quality of outdoor spaces.

In contrast, Joy et al. (2015) argues that since pupils with CSPMLD face unique risks in OL, inappropriate risk assessments might result in OL being more harmful.

Despite existing literature evidence on OL, several scholars and policy makers are postulating that OL has been marginalised from mainstream curriculum-based school (Mann et al., 2021). This research will investigate how OL is used in selected special schools’ context.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework for this study will come out of the systematic literature review process. Preliminary results highlight Activity Based Learning (ABL) grounded on experiential learning to offer pedagogical explanations for outdoor learning (Sutherland and Legge, 2016); prevalent theories such as, biophilia hypothesis, proposes that individuals possess an inborn tendency to interact with outdoors, leading to acquire cognitive and emotional satisfaction (Wilson, 1984 as quoted by Harvey et al., 2020; Becker et al., 2017).

Research objectives and draft research questions

The main question is: How do special schools embed outdoor learning for pupils with CSPMLD?

1. The primary aim of this study is to explore how OL is being implemented in selected special schools in an East Anglia urban setting whose pupils have CSPMLD.

1. The secondary aim will explore the experiences and whether participation in OL influences the mental wellbeing, and communication, social, and independence skills of pupils with CSPMLD

The current study represents the results of the Systematic Review on returns on immigrant caregivers’ multilingual competence and aims to integrate the human capital theory perspective regarding multilingual competence in the healthcare sector. The purpose of this Systematic Review is to investigate what kind of returns: monetary (positive/ negative), and non-monetary (positive/ negative) immigrant nurses could receive on their multilingual competence. The scope of the systematic review is on the international body of research with a special emphasis on the implications for Germany as an immigration context.

Healthcare is a labor market sector with close customer contact where successful communication is essential to adequate and effective treatment. Due to steady immigration into Germany, the number of people with migration background needing healthcare is increasing (Marquardt, Delkic & Motzek, 2016). At the same time, a demographic change in the German population leads to a severe shortage of care workers, and recruiting foreign nurses is one of the strategies to deal with this problem (Merda, 2012). Concerning care workers’ on-the-job language practices, preliminary studies revealed that multilingual immigrant care workers use their heritage language in communication with immigrant patients and act as intermediaries with other medical staff, what could contribute to better treatment in everyday care (Elderkin-Thompsona, Silver & Waitzkin, 2001; Ali & Johnson, 2017).

The multilingualism of migrant care workers is mostly researched from a linguistic perspective concerning multilingual practices in everyday working life. According to these studies, multilingual care workers use their language skills intensively: in different types of care (e. g., inpatient and outpatient care, neonatal care, emergency services, elderly care); short-term in everyday care situations; on unforeseeable occasions or in acute situations (Meyer, 2010; Lundin, Hadziabdic & Hjelm, 2018; Patriksson, Nilsson, Wigert, 2022).

From research on the advantages of bilinguals in the labor market, it is known that immigrant employers can benefit from their multilingualism in the labor market, especially if there is a demand for multilingual communication (Damari et al., 2017). According to Chiswick and Miller (2007) as well as Isphording (2014), language skills of multilingual workers are considered as human capital that could provide returns on the labor market. However, it is still unclear, whether multilingual caregivers have returns from multilingual competence in the care sector. The current study addresses this research gap and investigates the multilingual competence of migrant care workers from the perspective of human capital theory (Becker, 1964).

The current study aims to present a systematic review to enable an overview of monetary and non-monetary returns to the multilingual competence of migrant care workers. The systematic review focuses on the following research questions: What are empirical findings about returns on multilingual competence of immigrant care workers? Under what conditions can migrant care workers get positive returns from their multilingualism?

1. Conceptual Framework

Studying abroad requires adjustment to the new environment (Brisset et al., 2010). Adjustment is a complex concept related to the dynamic process of matching between the individual and the environment (Ramsay et al., 2007). Ward and Searle (1991) proposed that cross-cultural adjustment can be divided into two domains: psychological (emotion) and sociocultural (behaviour) (Schwartz et al., 2010). Most studies have focused on sociocultural adjustment, while relatively few studies have focused on psychological adjustment. It is stressful for international students to adapt to the foreign language environment (Vande Berg et al., 2012). Students may experience foreign language anxiety(FLA) when they do not understand what is being said or are unable to easily form the desired response in the foreign language (Horwitz et al., 1986). FLA is an inevitable phenomenon in the foreign language learning process. It is thought to exist primarily in productive skills, especially in speaking.

In this study, the focus is on one country that uses the target language (English) -- the United Kingdom, this study focuses on the anxiety of speaking English as a foreign or second language. While many previous studies have studied FLA in classroom settings, this study attempts to transfer FLA research to outside-classroom settings. It has been suggested that living in an environment where the target language is also the language of everyday life and communication may influence anxiety and psychological adjustment processes.

Each of the concepts in this study will be well explained by the following theories：

• Foreign language anxiety: The Affective Filtering Hypothesis (Krashen, 1981) suggests that heightened anxiety reduces information intake.
• Psychological adjustment: The Stress and Coping Theory (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) emphasizes, in part, emotional aspects and examines sojourners' well-being and satisfaction with cross-cultural experiences.
• Personality: The Five Factor Model (Costa & McCrae, 1992) postulates personality to consist of five broad dimensions along which most people can be described: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism.

2. Objectives and Research Questions of Project

The goal is to provide new insights into psychological adjustment trajectories and English-speaking anxiety, which is a contribution to the student sojourn literature.

Main questions

• What are the patterns and dynamics of international student sojourners' English-speaking anxiety and psychological adjustment over time as students’ progress on their pre-sessional course and their Master’s degree course?
• How does psychological adjustment relate to English speaking anxiety, and to success on the course?
• What are possible person and situation factors that affect students’ psychological adjustment and English-speaking anxiety?

Sub-questions

• How do age, gender, discipline, personality, prior overseas experience, and English language proficiency relate to English speaking anxiety and psychological adjustment?
• What are the specific situation features or characteristics that trigger English speaking anxiety and psychological adjustment difficulties among international student sojourners over the pre-sessional course?
• What coping strategies do students have when they encounter English speaking anxiety and psychological adjustment difficulties?

Both institutionalization and deinstitutionalization processes are a reality for organizations and movements (Schröder 2015; Wolff 2020). Social movements can be read in their public transformation, in their emancipatory curiosity, as well as in their varied approaches to solutions, which oscillate constantly between these poles. According to this interpretation, social movements primarily portray public spaces as places that encourage people to join together in spite of their differences. In order to facilitate mutual listening, negotiation, critique, and agreement as well as working on shared issues and potential solutions, social movements offer venues for people from various origins, languages, and ages (Schröder 2018). From such a viewpoint, it can be assumed that diversity serves as a foundation for social movements as well as a means of creating organizational and learning processes that help challenge the status quo (Simpson & den Hond, 2022). In light of this, this research project investigates the extent to which diversity, which serves as the foundation of social movements, also influences the (organizational) learning of social movements and, in addition, the degree to which diversity is utilized by social movements as a tactic to achieve their objectives.

Retaining teachers is a challenge facing education systems worldwide (European Commission, 2021). The importance of teacher retention is underscored by staffing difficulties at the school-level due to teachers’ turnover rate. High levels of teacher turnover poses social, financial, and educational problems to schools (Sorensen & Ladd, 2020). Moreover, studies have shown that schools with a large proportion of students from a lower socioeconomic background are disproportionately affected by teacher turnover (Allen et al., 2017). Schools that face continuous retention difficulties are commonly referred to as “hard-to-staff schools” in the literature (Opfer, 2011), and teacher turnover at these schools is mainly driven by challenging work environments, which makes it difficult for teachers to teach and prevents effective student learning (Glazer, 2021; Simon & Johnson, 2015). Studies examining how teacher retention can be facilitated in these hard-to-staff schools have identified resilience as a key resource that can counteract the challenges that teachers in these school face (Whipp & Geronime, 2017). Although this area of the literature continues to receive attention, most of the studies are conducted in an American context. In Sweden, the focus of the current study, schools situated in socioeconomically disadvantages areas face turnover rates as high as 40% (Helmersson, 2018).Therefore, stopping the revolving door of teachers coming and going from these schools is a key part of pursuing educational equity and school effectiveness.

This study is part of a doctoral research project and aims to contribute to this research area by presenting a positive deviant case: a Swedish hard-to-staff school that has had a low teacher turnover rate over time. The term positive deviance is used to illustrate how teacher retention at this school deviates from what one would expect to see in a school of a similar profile (Mertens et al., 2016). As such, this positive deviant case can be viewed as an exception to the rule – a champion of stability – which is of great interest as it can provide insights into potential mechanisms that can facilitate teacher retention in hard-to-staff schools. We explore this positive deviant case by examining the factors contributing to teacher retention at the school. In line with research showing that teacher shortages are particularly problematic in specific subjects and for specific types of schools (Cowan et al., 2016), we add further nuance to our inquiry by focusing on “at-risk” teachers i.e., teachers certified to teach in subjects known to have high staffing difficulties in Sweden. By doing so, we aim to provide unique insights that can advance the understanding of teacher retention in hard-to-staff schools in Sweden. Additionally, exploring this positive deviant case within the highly decentralised market-based education system found in Sweden provides us with the opportunity to make a unique contribution to the teacher retention literature.

Gender educational gap is among the most debated topics in the field of educational studies. International standardized tests such as PISA and TIMSS highlight that in several countries girls outperform boys in reading whereas the latter get higher scores in mathematics (OECD, 2015). For what concerns grades, certain authors underline that in reading, mathematics and science boys who perform equally as well as girls get a lower grade and this less favourable treatment disappears when non cognitive skills are considered (Cornwell et al., 2013). Indeed, there is evidence that teachers’ grading practices do not only reflect the objective level of skills achieved by students, but also the perceived students’ effort, motivation, and even their behaviour (Bowers, 2011) and girls, which are more often reported to possess better social skills and to be more conscientious (Perander et al., 2020), self-disciplined (Duckworth and Seligman, 2006) and engaged in class activities (Van Houtte, 2020) would be rewarded with higher grades (Cornwell et al., 2013). Other authors have found no evidence of discrimination against boys (Hinerrich et al., 2010), whereas other studies have put into evidence teachers’ gender-stereotyped belief about math ability according to which boys are more logical than girls and the latter are less mathematically inclined (Tomasetto, 2019; Giberti, 2019). This belief on one side leads to girls’ underconfidence in mathematics and to their failure in achieving their full potential (Carlana, 2019), on the other side it can create a sort of positive discrimination in favours of girls as teachers would over-assess them to encourage them in a discipline in which they are considered weaker (Terrier, 2020).

This contribution is aimed at examining whether girls attending the last year of the primary school in the Swiss canton of Ticino are given a different grade in mathematics than boys with the same mathematical skills. Skills are, in this case, measured by a score obtained in a math standardized test administered to the whole population cohort (ca. 3,000 pupils) in the school year 2020/21. Grading biases can be traditionally studied by means of a systematic comparison between grades delivered by teachers and the results in standardized tests for the same year of schooling that measure students' objective skills (Hoge & Colardaci, 1989).

Ticino is a particularly interesting area to investigate as, differently from most of the cantons, which adopt a selective school system, it is characterized by a relatively comprehensive school system in which tracking is postponed to the 8th grade (and limited to two subjects, German and mathematics). Despite a later and less pronounced curricular differentiation is normally associated with a lower gender segregation in higher education (Imdorf et al., 2015) and despite the smaller educational gap compared to the other cantons, a remarkable horizontal segregation, which is clearly visible both in the upper secondary schools (in the high school and in vocational training) and in tertiary education, distinguishes Ticino (Zanolla, in press). As it is known horizontal segregation in education leads to an underrepresentation of women in the most rewarding scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) occupations (Herbaut & Barone, 2021). Teachers ‘assessments might have a part of responsibility as, as literature has widely shown, grades affect students’ motivation, self-concept and effort in education and influence their subsequent educational choices and outcomes (Carlana, 2019).

Mathematical abilities are indispensable for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, there are challenges for the develop and assurance of high ability levels. Due to demographic reasons, we see a growing emergence of heterogeneous students (UNHCR, 2019). To this end, studies still show differences due to gender (Cascella, 2020a), socioeconomic status (SES; Bodovski et al., 2020) and to migration background (Cascella, 2020a) in mathematics achievement. These differences lead to inequality of educational opportunities and outcomes which predicts continuing inequality of social opportunities. Therefore, it is still important for the education policy to examine these factors (Boudon, 1974).

To disentangle interdependencies between different factors contributing to inequality, we applied an intersectional approach as proposed in Cascella (2020a) to address heterogeneity of students and social inequalities in education. Effects of intersectionality of different social identities becomes important in educational research and helps to understand these counteracting variables. The model of intersectionality describes multiple characteristics of a person which function in isolation. While Crenshaw (1989) introduced intersectionality as grounded in Black feminist and critical race theories, Harris and Patton (2019) describe it as a traveling theory in different academic disciplines.

Regarding differences with respect to the heterogeneity of students, there is still an ongoing discussion about the gender gap across different countries. Some studies show higher scores for male than for female students in mathematics and the opposite pattern in language proficiency assessments (Matteucci & Mignani, 2021). Other studies show that even though the gender gap still persists, equality increases. In some countries we even find no or a reversed gap (Meinck & Brese, 2019). Generally, we observe an underrepresentation of women working in STEM fields (Steot & Geary, 2018).

Differences in mathematics achievement are also connected to migration background and are mostly explained by language proficiency (Prediger et al., 2018). Research in English speaking countries shows an effect of reading proficiency on mathematics and science performance (Noble et al., 2014). We offer an intersectional approach to investigate challenges regarding mathematics achievement as described in the following studies:

(a) Female Black and Latina schoolchildren show lower attainment values in mathematical motivational beliefs as compared to their male peers (Hsieh, 2021).

(b) “Girls’ disadvantage in mathematics increases, thus suggesting that such a disadvantage is mediated by girls’ reading skills, higher than boys’ reading skills” (Cascella, 2020a, p. 137).

(c) Regarding mathematical achievement, boys benefit more from high SES than girls (Cascella, 2020b).

In our research we focus on data from Austria, a country which experiences an emergence of heterogeneity in schools. In Austria, mathematical achievement is based on an ability model which shows some similarities to other European countries (KMK, 2003) and which consists of four mathematical action-related abilities [MARA] (representing & modelling, calculating & operating, interpretation, reasoning & justification), which vary in terms of complexity (BIFIE, 2013).

Based on the Austrian ability model and research about the relationship between reading skills and mathematics (Cascella, 2020a; Prediger et al., 2018) we assume a difference between more language-complex (interpretation, reasoning & justification) and less language-complex abilities (representing & modelling, calculating & operating). Therefore, we use an intersectional approach framework with a focus on mathematical achievement in our population-based study. We investigate how gender, migration background and SES affect MARA as well as the differences in interaction effects of gender, migration background and SES on MARA with respect to the level of language complexity of the MARA?

Hall described adolescence as a "genetic period of storm and stress" (Hall 1972). Submersed in this storm and stress, adolescents gradually open their view to the world and go on a search for a more intimate experience of their peers in their community. That is to say, romantic involvement (RI) typically starts and increases in adolescence (Furman 1999). Simone de Beauvoir regards the young woman's process through adolescence as centred on "awaiting Man". (Simone 1956). In fact, Adolescent Romantic Love has been a popular theme in literature and is an integral part of our daily life.

In China, however, Adolescent Romantic Love is a sensitive issue and is commonly forbidden in most schools. Few adults take this issue into discussion with their up growing children. Even so, boys and girls inevitably have yet frequent encounters with Adolescent Romantic Love. Without formal emotional education and the guidance from teachers or parents, some severe problems arise for Chinese young adolescents when pursuing intimate relationships, such as being trapped into in depression emotions. The challenge facing women is extra daunting. For once adolescents' romantic relationship has been discovered, girls are usually perceived as the ones most deserving blame (most at fault). In previous studies, little attention has been paid to the experience of love by female adolescents, which has caught my attention. The first questions that come to mind are about the real romantic experience of girls in adolescence, and what it means for female adolescents’ personal growth?
This study attempts to inquire into their individual experiences and explore the possible relationships between adolescent romantic love and their personal growth in China’s context. Following are the sub-questions: 1) What is the female experience in adolescence? 2) What is the interactive situational mechanisms of adolescent love and how adolescent girls act when they are involved in romantic love? 3) What impact does adolescent romantic
love have on female adolescents’ expressions, social interaction, and academic growth?

This study aims to contribute to the field of primary education and inclusive practices by discussing when and how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender plus (LGBT+) education is being taught and what primary school teachers need to feel confident in teaching LGBT+ content.

Despite changes in the English National Curriculum, the LGBT+ community and associated laws in the UK, it is still not compulsory for LGBT+ content to be taught in English primary schools. This can cause conflict for school leaders and teachers in deciding how and when to teach LGBT+ education and an inconsistent approach regarding LGBT+ content and teaching (DfE, 2019a, p.15; Glazzard and Stones, 2020, p.2). This discordance raises issues regarding what should and should not be taught in primary schools, from the perspectives of both teachers and parents; the matter of an LGBT+ inclusive curriculum is becoming a controversial topic.

This poster will explore the year group in which teachers feel LGBT+ education should first be taught, the areas that impact teachers’ confidence, and the most effective strategies that can be used to deliver content. This study employed an online survey of primary school teachers in England and semi structured interviews to evaluate the overarching question of why, how, and when LGBT+ content could be taught in primary schools.

The Ukrainian Educational Research Association (UERA), established in 2015, stands as a non-governmental organisation with approximately 500 members. Through annual conferences and dynamic online discussions, UERA serves as a vibrant hub for scholarly exchange. Committed to advancing knowledge, UERA provides financial support to both individual and group research projects. In 2023, ten impactful projects have been supported by the European Educational Research Association.

UERA's influence extends through its transformative seasonal schools that unite members from diverse regions, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and idea sharing. In challenging times marked by the full-scale war, UERA serves as a source of firsthand information and offers guidance to members facing vulnerabilities.

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The Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) is a voluntary, non-political body, dedicated to the advancement of educational research in Ireland. This link will bring you to the ESAI website: http://esai.ie/about-esai/

A primary aim of the ESAI is to ensure, as far as possible, that educational discourse in Ireland remains grounded in perspectives which are adequately acquainted with the evidence from the various disciplines of educational research and that educational policy-making at all levels remains similarly informed by arguments which are educationally sound.

Its various events provide a public forum where research findings are presented, educational ideas are voiced, and a richer understanding of educational practice is promoted. Irish Educational Studies (IES) is the official journal of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland. It is listed in the Thompson Reuters Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)™, and its international profile continues to grow with a current Impact Factor of 1.7. This link will bring you to the IES website page: http://esai.ie/journal/

The ESAI Annual Conference 2024 will be held in Maynooth University on April 4^th to 6^th, inclusive. The call for papers will open on September 8^th 2023 until October 31^st. See here for an overview of our last annual conference: http://esai.ie/esai-annual-conference-2023-a-review/

The ESAI supports a network of Special Interest Groups which are listed on this link: http://esai.ie/sigs/ It has a dedicated Early Career Researcher (ECR) strand at its annual conference and an annual award for the best ECR paper.

• The ESAI is affiliated with the European Educational Research Association and has close links with SERA, NERA, BERA and AERA.
• Membership of the ESAI is open to all those with a research interest in education.
• The ESAI is a CLG, Company Limited by Guarantee

Wednesday 23 August, 12:00 - 13:30