Conference Agenda

Introduction

Recently the participation in formal and non-formal teaching-learning settings has increased around the world (OECD, 2021). Organised teaching and learning also is a central issue in international adult education (AE) research (Rubenson & Elfert, 2014). Hence, it is astonishing that the quality of organised AE-courses has hardly been studied so far (for quality dimensions of Web-based AE see Harroff & Valentine, 2010). The Adult Education Survey, for instance, accounts for the quality of AE-courses via the participants’ subjective satisfaction. However, a more differentiated analysis of various quality aspects, which also includes the teachers’ perspective, has hardly been carried out so far.

This contrasts with classroom-research in schools, which is characterized by a large body of research on teaching quality. Various studies and theoretical frameworks consistently point towards three generic dimensions of teaching quality, namely classroom management, supportive climate, and cognitive activation (e.g., Klieme, Pauli, & Reusser, 2009). The three dimensions have been positively linked to student outcomes (e.g., Fauth et al., 2014) and measures have been administered in multiple assessments (e.g., the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), OECD, 2019 or the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), OECD, 2014).

Thus, this proposal aims to provide first evidence regarding the transferability of the teaching quality dimensions to the context of organised AE-courses with a focus on measurement and influencing factors. This is particularly relevant as initial studies investigate the quality of AE-Courses by drawing upon the three teaching quality dimensions (e.g., The German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), Blossfeld, Roßbach, & von Maurice, 2011). Considering the lack of validated measures, our first research question (RQ1) is: Can scales that have been developed to measure teaching quality in school classrooms be used to validly measure the quality of AE-courses?

To investigate the quality dimensions of AE-Courses one cannot disregard the teachers’ educational and occupational background. The teachers’ background is expected to influence the competence development, which in turn is expected to impact the teaching quality (Terhart, 2012). In Germany, for instance, AE is mainly characterized by a low regulation with hardly any systematic and institutionalized influence on the development of teachers’ competencies (Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung, 2022). Furthermore, teacher education research shows that a simple increase in experience does not necessarily go hand in hand with improved teaching quality. Rather, it is important to link the experience gained with existing knowledge and, above all, to reflect on it systematically (Hascher, 2005; Schön, 1983). Against this background, the course quality dimensions are expected to vary, which we address by the second research question (RQ2): Which characteristics of teachers’ background predict high quality of AE-courses?

In the past decade, teacher education research has developed various models to explain the development of teachers, their qualifications and their ability to act ethically and effectively ("professionalization") (Cramer, 2020). One of these models, the so-called competency-based approach (e.g., Bauer et al., 2010), focuses its attention on "competencies" that describe both "individual prerequisites of learners [and] their learning outcomes - achieved in the context of, in particular, institutionalized learning and educational processes" (König, 2020, p. 163). Competencies are "context-specific cognitive performance dispositions that functionally relate to situations and requirements in specific domains" (Klieme & Leutner, 2006, p. 879); this concept refers to "the cognitive abilities and skills available in individuals or learned by them to solve specific problems, as well as the associated motivational, volitional, and social readiness and skills to be able to use the problem solutions successfully and responsibly in variable situations" (Weinert, 2001, pp. 27), i.e., in addition to professional knowledge, to other job-related characteristics, such as values, attitudes and beliefs, motivational orientations, or self-regulation.

Competency-theoretical models are often invoked when examining the impact of teacher education on teacher qualifications and actions. In this context, teacher education is understood as a series of opportunities to learn (OTL; Klemenz, König & Schaper, 2019; Kunina-Habenicht et al., 2013) that are offered to students and that they have to actively use for their professional development (Fend, 1981; Helmke, Rindermann & Schrader, 2008).

OTL can be described according to different characteristics: while initially much attention was paid to the weight of different curricular contents (subject, subject didactics, education) and their influence on competence development (cf. Schmidt et al., 2011), currently different formats of teacher education (university courses versus internships) or task elements of teachers (lesson planning, performance assessment, etc.) are frequently examined (Klemenz, König & Schaper, 2019).

In the proposed paper, we will use data of the Linz Longitudinal Study of Teacher Education (L3; Weber et al., 2021), to ask how OTL experienced by students (in the secondary teacher education programme ‘Secondary General Education‘ in the region of Cluster Mitte/Upper Austria) are related to their learning outcomes (in terms of dimensions of professional competence). In particular, we will examine the following research questions:

1. Which OTL do secondary teacher education students experience in the central profession-related university courses and internships in the third year of their studies?

1a. Which of these OTL do students experience more frequently in university courses, which more frequently in internships?

2. What is the relationship between the OTL experienced and self-reported competence growth in various dimensions of professional competence?

2a. Is there a differential relationship between OTL experienced and self-reported competence growth in university courses as opposed to internships?

2b. Is there a differential relationship between various task-related types of OTL and self-reported competence growth in various dimensions of professional competence?

Our research focuses on gifted education as an often neglected dimension in teacher’s work. We highlight the necessity of acknowledging the gifted students as a learner group with special needs when differentiating teaching in inclusive classrooms. To achieve this, teachers need to develop a base of theoretical knowledge and a positive attitude for an in-depth understanding and meaningful educational responses towards the gifted (van Gerven, 2021). The nature of giftedness is a contested issue, but here, gifted are understood as those who are above their age peers in one or more subjects, show creativity and a tendency to immerse themselves in topics of interest (Renzulli & Reis, 2021).

World Council for Gifted and Talented Children (2021) has published global principles for professional learning in gifted education for improving teacher education globally. However, how giftedness is understood and reacted to are strongly conditioned not just by culture, socio-historical and socio-political realities, but also by organizational practices in educational institutions (Cross & Cross, 2021). Unpacking these aspects is important when planning the education of both the gifted students and their teachers. Our research is informed by sociocultural theories where meaning is seen as situated but not situation-bound (Ellis et al., 2010).

In our research, we ask:

1. How do pre-service and in-service teachers thinking about giftedness in an inclusive classroom differ when using the method of empathy-based stories as a data collection method?

2. How does this pre-service and in-service teachers’ thinking relate to evidence-based practices and recommendations in gifted education research?

Through examining our recent empirical research on pre-service and in-service teacher thinking on giftedness inclusive classrooms in five countries (Finland, Austria, Turkey, Philippines and Japan), we identify gaps between the participating teachers’ knowledge and latest research-based knowledge. “Teacher thinking” refers here to knowledge and concepts that teachers use to plan, interact with, and reflect on teaching; that are intertwined with teachers’ beliefs and attitudes (Levin, 2015); and that influence their pedagogical choices and actions.

We also consider the culturally situated differences in teacher thinking and discuss implications of our findings on teacher education in terms of curricular content, policies and teaching practices. For example our results suggest how in some contexts this could take the form of critically unpacking the teacher’s position as an authority or the one who knows the right answer to everyhing.

The self-study described here was inspired by an event during the COVID-19 pandemic, involving a high school student, a preservice teacher, the preservice teacher’s pedagogical instructor (PI), and a school counselor. This is how it unfolded: Lian (pseudo name) , a 10th-grade student, sent a WhatsApp text to Amy, her philosophy teacher, after a lesson taught via Zoom during the first COVID-19 lockdown. The lesson’s contents had aroused her anxiety. The teacher recognized suicidal hints in the text and sent me (her PI) a message, asking for advice. In turn, I called Rona, a senior educational counselor. She supported me over the phone and made suggestions. I passed these on to the teacher and guided her response to the child, we also involved the school’s counselor. This chain of support was empowering and hopeful despite its remote, non-face-to-face interaction.

In this self-study, I reflect critically on my response to the situation, the professional choices involved (prior and during the event), and the interpersonal contexts in which the situation occurred. With the help of a critical friend, I examine the particular challenges and new opportunities granted to this professional and personal chain of response and responsibility under the conditions of remote learning.

The theoretical background of the study is based on the growing awareness of social emotional learning (SEL) as central to teaching and learning (Walker & Weidenbenner, 2019).SEL has developed substantially in recent decades and is advocated by leading organizations (MGIEP, 2020). Additionally we hear of the importance of investing in the SEL competence of teachers during teacher training (Jennings & Frank 2015), however, it was found that SEL is still not getting enough attention in teacher education programs.

The COVID-19 crisis has deepened the need for emotional support for children and youths, with a worrying growth of depression, anxiety, and other expressions of emotional distress (Racine et al., 2021). At the same time, the educational circumstances have magnified educators’ challenge to express their own social emotional skills in class and to cultivate those skills among their students (Hadar et al., 2020). Yet this new reality has also created new opportunities to meet old objectives, as I show herein.

The school counselor is responsible mainly for students’ emotional well-being in school. A main duty is indirect support through guidance of “significant others” in students’ lives, mostly parents and teachers. Teachers and counselors see collaboration as an essential aspect of a counselor’s work (Gibbons et al., 2010, Slijepčević,& Zuković, 2021). However, cooperation is a complex issue, even in normal school routines (LaBoskey, 2004ewa et. Al. 2016) In the case studied here, I examine this challenge in light of two additional obstacles: remote learning and the work of a preservice teacher.

My research questions are: What can I learn from this case about my work and about the is and the ought of teacher-educators’ work, in guiding teacher-students during their practical training? How are these tasks affected by remote learning? What adjustments must be made to meet challenges and to enjoy opportunities under these conditions?

Digital platforms in education have experienced a considerable rise of interest in many different types of studies about distance learning and teaching; studies on the impact on teachers (Klapprofth et al. 2020; Yao 2021; Stachteas, Stachteas 2020; Marek et al. 2021), educational and digital inequalities (Oliviera et al. 2021; Gillis, Krull 2020; Dudová 2021), but also teachers’ work conditions (Mouralová, Hejzlarová 2022; Pirro et al. 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic drew the attention of social researchers as it caused sudden and, in the European context, unprecedented measures of protection against it. The conditions of social life changed from day to day, and individuals, groups, organisations and institutions had to change. This includes how teachers used social networks and how they functioned in virtual environments. Yet, little attention has been paid to the role of digital platforms in providing space for self-support/self-help for teachers´ communities (see Mouralová, Hejzlarová 2022).

The paper aims to fill in the blind spot and describe the dynamics of one particular (but immensely popular) Facebook public group gathering teachers in the Czech Republic called Ucitele + (Teachers +) and analyze the topics raised there in the first phase of the pandemic, in the period 2/2020 - 6/2020, in order to answer the following research questions: What sort of issues did the teachers raise in the Facebook group? How can we understand the selection of the issues in terms of particular roles a virtual platform can play - i. e., peer support, self-help, empowerment, micropolitics? Answering the questions enriches the scholarship focusing on teachers´ needs and the ways of covering their needs, not just during the times of pandemic.

Social media use increased enormously all over the world during COVID-19 as people searched for ‘just-in-time’ news, information, social connections, and support in their daily lives (Greenhow et al. 2021). Teachers’ professional peer grouping was no exception. Teachers needed the support of one another during the unprecedented change in their teaching lives. This was not possible anymore in the space of school staff rooms. A more instant, open and comprehensive source was searched. The teachers reached out for teaching support in the online ‘teaching staff room’. Facebook public peer group for teachers Ucitelé + was established in 2017, a few years before COVID-19 spread, but enlarged enormously during it. The more people reached out and joined, the more valuable the network was. The group gained prominence and power during COVID-19 and created micro-politics that managed to put a force on the policymakers. I draw upon Greenhow et al. (2021, p 1451), who researched teachers’ tweets in the US and Canada during that time and who argue that during the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers reached to social media for personal “just-in-time” professional development like other times; however, the importance of the utility of teachers’ questioning discourse in emerging situations as is the COVID-19 is crucial.

In my paper, I show the research in the specific situation of the Czech Republic. The schools in Czechia are very decentralised and separated. There is no professional chamber to unite all schools and teachers, although there are many small professional social networks which have limited support. Town councils govern Czech primary and lower secondary schools (in the Czech Republic, one institution). Still, upper secondary schools are governed by a county, making connections and cooperation across the school levels even more difficult. Social media networking is a logical consequence of the lack of support and networking across schools in the Czech Republic.

Teacher education is a place of tension: political, epistemological, pedagogical, relational, and personal. Successive reforms in teacher education bring new accommodation, to these tensions, changing not only what people do in educational institutions, but also who people are (Ball, 2015). The tensions in education are lived at an internal level: sensed in the body and felt in the heart of the teachers, influencing their practices and the meanings given to their experiences (Palmer, 2007). Mental health issues, professional dissatisfaction and turnover, erosion of democracy in schools, are ripple effects of unaddressed tensions (Lopes, 2001). Avoiding the tensions with rush, the need to get things fixed, elaborated spreadsheets, and by blaming the unnamed other, are the strategies of a performative culture. Bringing awareness and allowing time to turn toward, to go deep and to become closer is the call of a human culture. Humanization of education is not only a utopia. It is a call for agency in performative times. It is a call for silence in loud times. It is a call for collective care and freedom. Humanizing teacher education is a form of resisting education reform toward performativity and managerialism. This instrumental approach risks turning teacher education into a list of competence and knowledge achievements to be accomplished in the shortest time possible, losing sight of the depth and complexity of educational aims and purpose (Biesta, 2008) and compromising the development of professional agency (Biesta, 2015). Humanizing teacher education is about addressing the depth and complexity of becoming a teacher, including the emotional, relational, and ethical dimensions of teaching, as an explicit experiential and reflexive process that is part of the pathway of teacher education. Humanization refers to the process of awareness and reflexion toward becoming some(one) with some(body), as Esquirol (2021) suggests in his essay “Human more human”. It is an act of integrity and 'intimate resistance' (Esquirol, 2015) to the instrumental tendencies of neoliberalism, inviting the time and space to feel and find the who of teacher education. Humanization would be, in this sense, the movement of approaching, through awareness and reflection, the depth of the experience of becoming someone who is also a teacher. It recognises the need for teachers to become authors of their profession and citizens in their practices. To develop “good teachers” (Korthagen, 2004), there is a need to go beyond teacher performance and competence, addressing deeper dimensions of teacher identity and ethical purpose in a virtue-based approach to teacher education (Biesta, 2015), to develop educationally wise professionals. A mindfulness-based approach is a promising pathway to support teachers in this path. Firstly, as a strategy for social-emotional development, promoting teacher skills for emotional regulation and stress reduction (Emerson et al., 2017; Lomas et al., 2017); secondly, as means to bring teacher self as an object of education (Ergas, 2017), addressing the subjectivity and inner dispositions of the teacher as an explicit part of the curriculum; and thirdly, as an in-depth reflective process, supporting educational judgment and teacher agency (Ergas & Hadar, 2021).

This communication proposal is part of larger research project about humanizing teacher education. Exploring ways to develop a praxis for humanization in teacher education is the social and scientific contribution expected with this research. Approaching subjectivity as a place of care, struggle, and resistance in teachers’ daily life is the challenge that lies ahead.

Teacher effectiveness has become an increasing concern as education is viewed politically as a measure of social and economic capital, therefore, teacher effectiveness and by extension teacher education have become key areas of focus for policymakers worldwide (Rauschenberger et al. 2017). Despite career-long professional learning being a well-established feature in Scottish education, ITE programmes are still under pressure to produce “classroom ready teachers” (MacDonald and Rae, 2018 p841). Furthermore, they are criticised for failing to adequately prepare new teachers for the rigors of an increasingly complex teaching profession (ibid).

The transition from ITE into the teaching profession is acknowledged as a challenging and precarious time for new teachers. Faced with issues relating to workload, role conflict and behaviour management (Loughran et al., 2001), new teachers can experience what Veenman (1984) terms “reality shock” (p143). All new teachers in Scotland are supported during this transition through the Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS). This guarantees one year of paid employment for graduating teachers and provides structured support. Despite these features, concerns have been raised about the variability of support available during induction (Shanks, 2020).

A gap exists in the literature for qualitative research that brings together the learning experienced during the ITE, induction and post-induction phases. This study focussed on graduates of a physical education teacher education (PETE) programme within Scotland. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of new teachers during the early career phase and was guided by the question:

What are the lived experiences of PE teachers during ITE, induction and post-induction?

Phenomenology seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of experience (Van Manen, 2001), by gathering and interpreting accounts of lived experiences of a phenomenon (Vagle, 2018). This study employed hermeneutic phenomenology which focuses on concrete lived experiences and the meanings that we make of these experiences (Van Manen, 2014). The phenomenological principles of intentionality and the hermeneutic circle underpinned the design of this study.

Intentionality denotes the essential relationship between the conscious subject and the world (ibid). In this relationship between the subject and the object of consciousness is an active relationship in which consciousness is shaped by the object and the object is also shaped by consciousness (ibid). The purpose is to orient the participants to their lived experiences as they experienced them rather than how they have conceptualised them (Adams and Van Manen, 2017). During data collection, questions were asked in a way that engaged the participants with their pre-reflective experiences. Therefore, four existentials or phenomenological themes underpinned the data collection and analysis process. These principles are considered to belong to the fundamental structure of the lifeworld: lived space (spatiality), lived body (corporeality), lived time (temporality), and lived human relation (relationality) (Van Manen, 2014). To ensure that the data was experiential in nature, any data that did not relate to at least one of the existentials was disregarded during analysis (Sloan and Bowe, 2013).

The hermeneutic circle explains that individuals do not come to a phenomenon blankly, but start with vague preunderstandings and prejudices, and these are historically and culturally shaped (Gadamer, 1987). As a phenomenon is encountered, some of these preunderstandings will be challenged and others reinforced. Through the engagement with the phenomenon, the experiencer is transformed and will approach future engagements with new preunderstandings in an ongoing cycle (ibid). Therefore, understandings are dynamic and temporal (Dall 'Alba, 2004). As data was collected at two key stages, I acknowledged that the participants’ interpretations of their experiences would be dynamic, and this would be reflected in their new understandings of their ITE and induction experiences when they were revisited post-induction.

Digitally native” (Kirschner & De Bruyckere, 2017) and “technically proficient student teachers” (Almås et al., 2021) do not necessarily know how to use those technologies effectively for their own learning, and digital readiness does not per sé result in learning and target-aimed teaching with digital technologies. Due to the emergence of computers in schools, significant research interest has been invested in teachers’ knowledge of technology integration into teaching (Baier & Kunter, 2020; Scherer et al., 2018), cf. TPACK (Koehler et al., 2014; Koehler & Mishra, 2009). Conversely, less attention has been given to the self-regulated learning knowledge (Karlen et al., 2021) that student teachers build, nor the beliefs (Darmawan et al., 2020; Scherer et al., 2018; Vosniadou et al., 2020) that they hold towards digital self-regulated learning (Greene, 2021; Karlen et al., 2021). “Online Self-Regulated Learning” has been coined to describe the mode of e-learning in structured online learning scenarios, such as MOOCs and Learning Management Systems (LMS) of higher education institutions. However, the technological affordance in distance teaching and learning, as demonstrated by *emergency remote teaching* during the Covid19 pandemic, puts the emphasis on technologies rather than learning. Therefore, this project aims to explore the fundamentals of learning in, with, about, and even despite digital technologies. With “Digital Self-Regulated Learning” (DSRL), I aim to explore the intersection of self-regulated learning (Karlen et al., 2021; Panadero, 2017; Vosniadou et al., 2021) and digital technologies in the teaching profession, which is the domain-general and purposeful use for the teachers’ professional- learning and development. This idea links with Professional Digital Competence (Karlen et al., 2020), defined as a universal set of competences and knowledge that fosters digitality-related learning across all domains in the teaching profession and across the professional lifespan, beyond the integration of technologies into teaching. Additionally, because teachers have communicative obligations in school development processes that are also undergoing digitization, it is important to understand the principal functions of technologies in the context of sustainable school development (e.g., digital device decisions instead of simply tool application). Research on teacher professional development suggests that teachers must be capable of self-regulating their own learning with digital technologies as a prerequisite for fostering SRL skills in their students (Greene, 2021; Karlen et al., 2021; Almås et al., 2021). This is framed from a perspective of a teachers’ professional role and identity (Zimmer et al., 2021). Setting the term “digital” semantically apart from “online/e-learning” - wherein digital technologies function as a medium of transfer (i.e., utility) - opens the aim of the project to define digitality as a condition and digital technologies as learning objects (Knox, 2019; Stalder, 2021). This configurative systematic review (Zawacki-Richter et al., 2020) evaluates and synthesizes the current empirical results on student teachers’ knowledge of self- regulated learning with, and about, digital technologies, as well as their attitudes towards digital self-regulated professional learning (Darmawan et al., 2020; Scherer et al., 2018; Tondeur et al., 2016; Vosniadou et al., 2020) and answers the following two research questions:
1. What is the current empirical evidence on student teachers’ knowledge and attitudes towards digital self-regulated learning?
2. How are knowledge and attitudes measured and operationalized in the context of digital self-regulated learning?

Digitalization brings both benefits and challenges in almost every aspect of our lives. Though the benefits seem apparent, the challenges are mostly related to the gaps it creates between advantaged and disadvantaged communities. The term ‘digital divide’ is frequently used for comparisons of access to digital tools and internet, the value and need for a digital world, and corresponding skills needed in such a technologically rich life (Burns, 2022). These identified gaps call for changes in classroom practices.

In OECD’s recent report (2021), there were some highlights about diverse and innovative pedagogies to integrate technology in classrooms and some implications to teacher education. In Ireland, digital skills are identified as the core elements of initial teacher education in the policy document called ‘Ceim: Standards for Initial Teacher Education’ (Teaching Council, 2020).

Considering the diverse and innovative pedagogies that could be introduced into teacher education programmes, this research aims to explore the impact of a ‘Digital Leaders’ Placement Programme’ (DLPP) on Year 2 and Year 3 students’ teaching practices in an undergraduate programme in Ireland. Impact is determined through the development of students’ knowledge and skills as they relate to digital literacy and their intention to continue using digital technologies in teaching their STEM subjects following completion of the programme. The programme was designed as a second-year placement module, and it is independent of any subject specific methodologies. The Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge Framework (TPACK) by Koehler and Mishra (2005) will be used as the theoretical model to study the integration of technology as part of a teachers’ professional practices. The framework is rooted in Schulman’s (1986) Pedagogical Content Knowledge concept that represents the full body of knowledge including pedagogy and subject matter required for a teacher. Concerning the increasing use and importance of technology in learning and teaching, the extension of technology is inevitable in the current full body of teacher knowledge (De Rossi & Trevisan, 2018).

The use of technology in education has been a topic of interest for policymakers for many years, as is alleged to have significantly benefits for the learning experience for pupils. With the rapid implementation of digital technology in education in recent years, there has been a focus on the role of teacher qualifications in preparing students for a digital society and utilise the potential of a datafyed and digitised education system. In this regard teacher educators is commonly portrayed to play a critical role in preparing teacher students and in-service teacher use digital technology in classroom and ensuring that pupils can effectively digital technology to enhance their learn and acquire new skills.

In a relatively short period of time, the role of the teacher and concurrently teacher educator has undergone a dramatic change. The expectation placed on schools have increased, because concerns of digitalisation of society and the emphasis of the knowledge economy (Ball, 2017). In In Norway, the public debate have for a long time focused on impact of new digital technologies have had on all aspects of civil and professional society, and how schools must be able to prepare students for the digital professional lives (Engen, 2019). Teacher education is considered to have a duale role. Firstly, teacher education is expected to focus on the (pedagogical) use of digital tools. Secondly, teacher educators are supposed to teach student teachers how to foster pupils’ digital skills and digital responsibility while addressing digitalisation’s influences on society and culture, subjects’ contents, and educational practices (Nagel, 2021). The digitalisation of society and schools have been classified as transformation of epistemic and educational practices (Lund & Aagaard, 2020), and the need for teacher education to adapt and integrate digital competence in study programmes has been emphasised by several actors, including policymakers, researchers, school leaders, and teachers

The European Commission mapped out the education systems in Europe to identify the necessary competences regarding what digital competency teacher should know and be able to do (Bourgeois et al., 2019), and the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training published a qualification framework for the Professional Digital Competence (PDC) teacher (Kelentrić et al., 2017). These frameworks can be seen as declarations of political intentions for what ought to be taught in teacher education. However, although political and professional discussions have begun, there is no clear description of what teacher educators are expected to know and be able to do (Goodwin et al., 2014; Kelchtermans et al., 2018; Loughran & Hamilton, 2016) .
In this paper we explore structure and experience, mobilising the notion of dispositif as a heuristic device, as a permeable and fluid, strategic and technical. Over the course of this paper, we want to start piecing together a new way of conceptualising Professional Digital Competency for teacher education. By utilising Bailey (2013) conception of policy dispositif to conceive both Performative and dispositional ontology at different material sites, and across and between different scales of policy practice. These methodological and conceptual framework foregrounds analytics which understands policy as a contingent formation of diverse discursive and extra discursive elements, and policy institutions, practices and micro-settings as constituted by and enmeshed within multiple relations of power. In this way, institutional objects and micro-settings forming part of what Bailey (2013) describe as a macro-dispositif of policy. In the following we will fist develop how we understand the concept dispositif. Following this we will present Norwegian teacher education in respect reform and digitalisation. This will serve as a backdrop for the analysis and orient our use educational policy dispositif.

The status of teachers is a matter of concern in many countries. Local studies and international surveys indicate that the status of teachers and the teaching profession is in constant decline (e.g., Clarke, 2016; Stromquist, 2018). While the factors affecting this situation vary from country to country, the consequences are the same, whereby teaching becomes a secondary profession less favored by qualified young people. Therefore, it is no surprise that many education systems around the world have reported an ongoing acute shortage of teachers resulting from the difficulty in recruiting and retaining good teachers over time (OECD, 2018; 2020; Schleicher, 2012; UNESCO, 2022).

Covid-19 has made an immense impact on the education systems around the world (Reimers & Schleicher, 2020). School closures required teachers to rapidly adapt to remote teaching while catering to their students’ social and emotional needs. Switching to online learning allowed parents and the public to observe the work of teachers for the first time closely. While many appreciated the hard work of teachers and commended them for their contribution during this time of crisis, teachers were harshly criticized by the public and the media as lazy and scaremongers as well as voiceless and disrespected (Asbury & Kim, 2020). Since it has been argued that the economic and social shock presented by the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to reshape perceptions of individuals and organizations about work and occupations and result in both micro and macro shifts in the world of work (Kramer & Kramer, 2020), it remains to be investigated whether the Covid-19 period has changed public's perceptions towards the status of teachers and the teaching profession.

The status of teachers and the teaching profession can be examined from two perspectives: social esteem and social prestige (Hoyle, 2001). Social esteem refers to the value attached to the profession and to the qualities of the practitioners of this occupation. The profession’s value is influenced by how the public perceives its importance, necessity, and contribution to society and by how the public perceives the professional skills, virtues, and qualities of those engaged in this profession (Bahar et al., 2018; Hoyle, 2001).

Social prestige is defined as the public's perceptions of the relative position of an occupation in a hierarchy of occupations. The prestige, measured on a scale, is often influenced by external factors such as salary and work conditions, the difficulty of entering the profession, the possibilities for occupational progress and professional development, and the degree of autonomy given to the professionals (Ben-Peretz, 2009). Studies show that there tends to be a gap between the prevailing positive perception regarding the importance and contribution of the teaching profession versus the low social prestige of teachers compared to other professionals such as doctors, engineers, and lawyers (Hargreaves & Flutter, 2019).

The present study focuses on the status of teachers and the teaching profession during Covid-19 in the Israeli context. The status of Israeli teachers has been declining for many years. Despite several structural reforms in the employment conditions of teachers, their salaries, especially those of beginning teachers, remained low (Zerd, 2019). In an international survey of the Global Teacher Status Index (GTSI) which compared the status of teachers in 35 countries, Israel was ranked 34^th, one before the last (Dolton et al., 2018). The present study aimed to examine whether there has been a change due to the corona crisis in how the Israeli public perceives the status of teachers and the teaching profession – both social esteem and social prestige.

Educating students to be active agents in disrupting systematic inequalities in educational settings is paramount, and hotly debated in the teacher education literature (e.g., Cochran-Smith, 2020) with the inequalities highlighted by the pandemic bringing fresh calls for social justice to be fore-fronted in teacher education (Mikolai, Keenan & Kulu, 2020; Ellis, Steadman & Mao, 2020). In this paper we examine education students’ understandings of social justice in two cohorts, who started their course either just prior to or during the pandemic. Taking the above into account, this paper seeks to explore the following questions: (1) What are students’ lived experiences of social justice as they negotiate their placements and university teaching sessions during the pandemic and (2) How do these differ for students who started before and during the pandemic?
Teaching for social justice in any teacher education programme is a complex process. This is because as teacher educators, we socially construct our knowledge of the curriculum and our teaching practices to best meet the needs of our learners. The outcomes of our teacher education programmes therefore, cannot be known at the time of our curriculum design and delivery as our student teachers are also constructing their own meanings. A recent review highlighted the common themes of ‘equity-related advocacy’ and concerns with ‘justice’ as well as the importance of the particular social and political contexts at any particular moment in time (Cochran-Smith, 2020). With this in mind, we sought to investigate students’ perceptions not only of social justice, but also of their awareness of the social and political contexts in which social justice may be claimed, constructed and worked toward.

The Covid-19 pandemic has inevitably produced wide-reaching, global implications on practice, teaching and learning, and infrastructure within higher education settings (Farnell, Matijevic & Schmidt, 2021). This time has further highlighted inequalities present in schools and exacerbated long-standing structural and societal inequalities for everyone (Mikolai, et al., 2020). Bozkurt & Sharma (2021) viewed this time as a period for reflection and the potential for educational reform. Specifically, they suggest that this time would allow educators to critically evaluate much-used pedagogical process and provide an opportunity to disrupt traditional approaches to teaching. In turn, this would allow for a re-focus towards promoting equity, social justice, and person-centred focus in teaching to come. Others suggest that while educators cannot make systemic changes alone, they must now prioritise guaranteeing the rights and voices of all children and emphasising representation in their teaching (Tarabini, 2021).

These suggested directions for change are also beginning to be reflected directly in universities and schools. One teacher education program presented their re-framed approaches to teaching and learning as a response to the pandemic (Hill, Rosehar, St. Helene & Sadhra, 2020). The authors describe an active re-envisioning of their teacher education, with social justice at the centre. For example, focusing on dismantling systemic inequalities and racism, decolonising the curriculum and prioritising wellbeing and mental health in schools. Similarly, in a small-scale interview study with leaders in teacher education at universities in four regions of the world, staff were overwhelmingly in favour of changes and innovation (Ellis et al., 2020). Many participants made commitments to prioritising areas relating to social justice, however one further question was how to ensure this new stance was maintained in the following years. It is now crucial to build on our previous work (Jones, Eady and Craig, 2022) to understand if such changes following the Covid-19 pandemic have been carried forward and implemented, and to what extent changes arising from COVID-19 are reflected in the way that Education students themselves, talk about and consider social justice.

In recent decades, teacher trainings (TT) were studied with regard to their effectiveness and their contributions to school and classroom development. Large meta-analyses examined various characteristics of TT to identify best practices (cf. Harris & Sass, 2011). TT differ in their objectives and therefore can affect different areas. Lipowsky (2020) arranged these areas of influence hierarchically into a layered model: teachers’ reaction, teachers’ learning, teachers’ practice, student outcome and school development. However, the effectiveness of TT is not only influenced by the event itself, but takes place in a complex system which can be related to the utilization of learning opportunities model (Brühwiler et al., 2017). To what extend the different areas influence each other and interact remains a major research desideratum.

Teachers’ attitudes and beliefs move into focus when it comes to implementations in school. For both usage of digital media and technology the importance of teachers attitude and beliefs could be empirically proven (cf. Li et al., 2019). In both cases the attitudes relate directly to the innovation. However, some studies take a broader look at attitudes in the context of teachers’ technology and curriculum implementation, finding that both subject and surroundings shape teachers’ attitudes (cf. Mertala, 2019). When it comes to specific subject TT it remains unclear how teachers’ beliefs affect the implementation. We developed an evaluated TT which enables teachers to carry out standard methods of molecular biology and implement these in school, e.g. polymerase chain reaction (Nerdel & Schöppner, 2021). The methods are embedded in different models of curricular valid contexts to increase acceptance by teachers (Schöppner et al., 2022). In general the trainings’ realization was oriented at known implementation barriers and their reduction (cf. Gräsel, 2010). Subsequently, teachers can borrow the equipment free of charge. Some teachers implemented the training successfully into their classroom or even their school curriculum (Großbruchhaus et al., submitted). In theory the implementation barriers remain the same for all participating teachers. However, some implement the training right away and others don’t. This study aims at further insights into teachers’ reasoning.

Therefore, we interviewed 39 teachers of whom 20 implemented the training. We coded each interview with a category system based on existing research insights (cf. Gräsel, 2010). The emerging system contained seven main categories with several sub-categories. Subsequently, we analyzed each category inductively to reveal the subtleties of the arguments used.

We found huge differences in attitudes between the teacher groups who implemented and who didn’t. Identified differences include either the whole perception of or the given importance to a feature, which leads to distinguish argumentative patterns while using the same arguments. In this paper we focus on the two categories system features and values and beliefs.

When it comes to system features three main arguments are used: national curriculum, time and taught classes. However, the intercorrelations and perception of those vary. For instance, the division of the curriculum into subthemes opens flexibility to some teachers’ while others perceive the order as fixed arguing that the subtheme into which the training fits lays in an inappropriate time frame of the year for implementation. This perception differences influences other areas, e.g. corporation as teachers view the flexibility every teacher has as burden to never find the same time frame teaching that curriculum subtheme. All together the implementation barriers with their different weighting form a complex network of argumentative structure. This demonstrates the huge influence of attitudes on implementation of teaching innovation maybe even independent from the training itself. Future studies should examine to what extend their implementation procedure is influenced or shaped by teachers’ beliefs and attitudes beyond the trainings’ topic.

This paper examines findings from a large-scale Templeton World Charity Foundation-funded research project exploring primary and secondary beginning teachers' perspectives on science/religion encounters in classrooms in England. It considers the implications for practice within schools and universities engaged in initial teacher education (ITE).

Our research question is: What are the experiences of beginning secondary science teachers and beginning primary teachers in planning for and responding to science/religion encounters in the classroom? The paper intends to stimulate discussion on the implications of the research for ITE across Europe. We invite conference delegates to discuss how student teachers can best be prepared to plan for and manage encounters between science, religion and the broader humanities. Whilst there has been some focus on teachers' approaches to such encounters (Hall et al. (2014); Subedi, 2006; Mansour, 2015), little previous research addresses beginning teachers' experiences of science/religion encounters.

Science teachers across Europe face the challenge of engaging learners with diverse religious and non-religious beliefs and promoting science as a worthwhile career. Learners' religious beliefs and values can influence attitudes to science education and interpretations of scientific theories and evidence (Mansour, 2015), particularly aspects concerning life's origins. In an increasingly fragmented world, teachers need to respect learners' individuality whilst fostering open-mindedness, respect for evidence and the critical thinking skills required to investigate scientific theories. Teachers, however, may lack knowledge or even hold stereotypical views about religions other than their own (Subedi, 2006). Should learners perceive that science conflicts with or is independent of religion (Barbour, 2000), they may feel marginalised if their religious beliefs and values are compromised or are at odds with accepted science worldviews taught.

Unless teachers are sensitive to and acknowledge the different worldviews in the classroom, learners are left to make sense of the science-religion relationship. They face challenges in considering how their religious beliefs relate to science when tackling controversial issues concerning gender and evolution. There is a recognised need for teachers to challenge scientism amongst some learners, to ensure they understand the limits of scientific methods and do not disregard non-scientific ideas (Astley and Francis, 2010; Reiss, 2008). Engaging with beginning teachers' prior epistemological assumptions and presumptions during their ITE is crucial to support teachers in handling potentially sensitive science/religion encounters.

In England, religious education and science are statutory subjects in the school curriculum; The Religious Education Council of England and Wales (2013) promotes exploration of the ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and worldviews and suggest that learners should debate why some people consider science and religion to be incompatible. Although the Science National Curriculum emphasises the social and economic aspects of science (DfE, 2015), this is often delivered by the wider curriculum. Religious education teaching, however, differs across European countries and may not be taught at all. Despite such variations, ultimate issues relating to

morality, origins, sustainability and climate change can be taught across all European countries and will ultimately enable citizens of the future to make important lifestyle choices. Teachers need preparation to teach these topics and how to acknowledge moral and ethical issues in the science classroom.

Increased immigration across Europe, whether from Muslim countries or Eastern Europe, has contributed to more fundamental religious views and negative attitudes towards particular religious views, such as Islam (Subedi, 2006). Biesta et al. (2018) argue that religious literacy the responsibility of all curriculum teachers, not just Religious Education teachers. Religion, beliefs and values are part of human life, and science teachers need to engage learners with diverse worldviews in a respectful manner and promotes respect for religions and challenges stereotypical views.

The importance of out-of-school places of learning for education in Germany has been clearly highlighted since the first PISA results in 2001 (Deinet & Derecik, 2016). Numerous advantages are recognised for visiting an out-of-school place of learning. For example, it is an opportunity to awaken new motivation in students, to give them new ideas (Karpa et al., 2015) and to positively influence attitudes towards (unpopular) school subjects (Richter & Komorek, 2022); the unusual experiences can be helpful in this regard (Kleß, 2015). However, visiting an out-of-school place of learning also involves additional work compared to the established teaching settings in the classroom, as well as problems in evaluating students by the classical criteria (Sauerborn & Brühne, 2020). Further opportunities and challenges of out-of-school learning were summarised by Kindermann and Riegel (2015) and Kuske-Janßen et al. (2020)). Out-of-school places of learning are becoming increasingly popular because of the numerous advantages and opportunities they offer (Jäkel, 2021) and are increasingly gaining in importance (Deinet & Derecik, 2016).

The increasing combination of school and out-of-school places of learning represents a characteristic change of the modern school in Germany (Budde & Hummrich, 2016). According to Deinet and Derecik (2016), a comprehensive education can only take place in cooperation between the school and out-of-school partners. This is especially required for the teaching of science in primary schools (Blaseio, 2016). When visiting an out-of-school place of learning, subject competence as well as methodological competence, social competence and personal competence can be addressed (Sauerborn & Brühne, 2020). The attraction for the students is to leave the classroom and to step out of the usual school environment and everyday lessons (Karpa et al., 2015).

This could also be the case for teachers, but this still needs to be analysed. In general, studies on out-of-school places of learning deal almost exclusively with students and not with teachers (Kindermann & Riegel, 2015). Even fewer studies deal with future teachers. This study will change this situation. In addition to the attitudes and opinions of future primary school science teachers towards out-of-school learning places, their general definition of these places will also be identified. Out-of-school learning locations and out-of-school learning are not defined in a standardised way. Sauerborn and Brühne (2020) point out these definitional difficulties several times.

Previous quantitative research on teachers and teacher job satisfaction in the Republic of Ireland suggests teachers are satisfied with their jobs overall (Darmody and Smyth, 2010); however, an overwhelming majority of Ireland’s teachers are White Irish Catholic (Keane and Heinz, 2018) and come from middle class backgrounds (Keane and Heinz, 2015). Qualitative research from the Diversity in Initial Teacher Education (DITE) Project at the University of Galway has demonstrated that working class student teachers in Ireland felt, based on their own schooling experiences, that middle class teachers underestimated the academic abilities and career aspirations of students from lower social class backgrounds (Keane, Heinz and Lynch, 2018, 2020). Studies of job satisfaction among working class teachers in England (Maguire, 2005), and the United States (Benton, 2007; Jones, 2003; Lee, 2017; Mello, 2004) reported their feelings of not fitting in with their fellow teachers, difficulties communicating with pupils’ parents and some difficulty relating to pupils unless teaching in rural or low socioeconomic status schools. Furthermore, subsequent to the Irish Department of Education’s launch of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS)- designation for publicly funded schools in economically disadvantaged areas, DEIS teachers have reported issues in classroom management, and problematic encounters with working class parents in these schools (Burns and O’Sullivan, 2023). Earlier international research on teacher job satisfaction and burnout has noted significant correlations between teacher-pupil, teacher-parent, and teacher-colleague interactions and the teacher’s job satisfaction (Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2011; Spilt, et al., 2011; Decker, et al., 2007; Green, et al., 2007; Pianta, et al., 2006; Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler, 1995).

Pepe et al.’s nine-item internationally tested Teacher Job Satisfaction Scale (TJSS) (Pepe, et al., 2017; Chalghaf, et al., 2019) has demonstrated, across five different languages and eight countries, that teacher job satisfaction can be reliably constructed from the following three factors: 1) satisfaction with teacher-colleague relationships, 2) satisfaction with teacher-pupil relationships, and 3) satisfaction with teacher-parent/guardian relationships. The scale is comprised of three items per relationship type. In all studies, Cronbach’s alpha for the nine-item scale was not less than 0.79, with p = 0.01. Furthermore, multiple confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated above-satisfactory fit indices in all studies (Pepe, et al., 2017; Chalghaf, 2019).

Thus, it is posited that teacher job satisfaction is a formative construct (Nayak, 2022), which is greatly impacted by latent factors associated with teachers’ professional relationships and interactions with their colleagues, pupils, and their pupils’ parents/guardians. This view is supported by prior quantitative studies from America (Pianta, et al., 2006; Pianta, 2019), Belgium (März & Kelchtermans, 2019), Norway (Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2011), and India (Pamu, 2010), which demonstrated the positive correlations between pupils’ disruptive behaviours in the schools, difficulties with parents and teacher burnout and career dissatisfaction.

To date, no study has tested the TJSS in the Republic of Ireland; nor has any study incorporated teaching in a designated economically disadvantaged school environment as a potential mediator of job satisfaction. Hence, this paper’s main objective is to better understand how and to what extent relationships with pupils and their parents in DEIS schools may play a role in teacher’s ratings of their job satisfaction. Therefore, the main research questions are:

What are the levels of job satisfaction of teachers in Ireland as measured by Pepe et al.’s Teacher Job Satisfaction Scale?

To what extent does teaching in a DEIS-designated school impact scores on the TJSS?

Deliberation of empirical legitimation of educational systems in the western cultures and the meaning of human rights as a reference for justice in education in a democracy

Education is a state-structured institution that, in a democratic state, move between different structures for legitimation. Historically education has strong ties to the movement of enlightenment. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant made a strong testimony writing an essay in Berlinische Monatsschrift, December 1784, titled: ‘Answering the question: What is Enlightenment?’ The first sentence in his answer was: “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity” (Kant 1989, p 27). In his testimony Kant writes that most people of his time were satisfied following the guidance of the central societal institutions, the king, and the church. Kant, on the other hand, wanted people to do the work entailed in thinking themselves. He urges the reader through a formulation in Latin from the Roman poet Horace: “Sapere aude! Have the courage to use your own understanding” (Kant 1989, p. 27). This Kantian expression became a program for self-liberation through public discourse that is at work. The courage of the individual person to express her/his will public as reason, is the main resource for a democratic society. Education is, in this perspective, the public institution that builds democracy.

With the development of universal human rights, through the United Nations, the historicity of human rights ceases to exist. On the 10^th of December 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the international document named ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’. This document states the universal character of human rights, that human rights are rights for all human beings, everywhere, and for all time. From this moment on education was given a reference to two different sources for legitimation. First, the universal right to education. Second, the policy of education of the nation-state.

When a government, want to legitimate their program for education through a value-theoretical approach they understand value as an instrument for the state. Education becomes, in this perspective, like all other values, just a tool for the power of the state. Nation-states in Western culture often recognize education as an important instrument for the development of the value of the state in line with other value-systems like economics. What did I want to show with this? Mainly that nations legitimate their power to construct educational institutions, without any reference to their inhabitants’ rights. Teacher education is not different. However, teacher education is part of an academic community, with reference to the responsibility of academic autonomy. Teacher educators must think and act themselves and do this thinking and acting critically. Through education teacher students learn to teach. In these learning-acts teacher students, among other things, learn to assess and to decide, and keep pupils aware of, what is not acceptable behavior. This is acts of teaching that is in tension with the rights to education.

The study we are presenting shows an experience in which the teacher shares with the students a class diary that is mostly composed of personal reflective processes that happen during the subject. The context in which this experience takes place is in the subject Educational Organisation, in the second year of the degree in pedagogy at the University of Malaga, in the first semester of the academic year 2022-2023. In this experience, 60 students and the four people who signed this paper participated, three of them being teachers of this subject, and the remaining person teaches the same group, but in another subject.

The main objective is to show students the role of the teacher in a more humanised and closer way in order to create a relationship of trust between teachers and students. Paraphrasing bell hooks (2022), in order to create an atmosphere of trust in the classroom it has been necessary to take the teacher out of his or her safety zone, this has been done by not being afraid to show and recognise his or her mistakes, insecurities and even feelings of vulnerability with respect to some topics and situations that arise in class. Following the idea of the same work by bell hooks, conflict situations are used as opportunities to create spaces for debate and critical thinking instead of treating conflicts as taboo situations that are ignored to avoid frustration.

The teacher, in this case, shares feelings of satisfaction, frustration, concerns, challenges, and even acknowledges mistakes in the approach to activities that turn out to be contrary to expectations. This generates class discussions in which a process of evolution in classroom interactions can be appreciated. The results of this experience, as well as its consequences, will be shared in the conclusions of this work.

Throughout the whole process, the role of authoritarian and oppressive power that teachers tend to have, and which is culturally acquired and promoted by both teachers and students, is taken into account, trying to generate a context where students are able to liberate themselves and to liberate the oppressors (Freire, 1970).

In order to face the transformation of this roll, in addition to trust, conflict and other bell hooks ideas mentioned above, we have taken into account the principles of dialogic learning of Ramón Flecha (2002), seeking in this way a democratisation of relationships as well as a context of debate that generates the construction of collective learning in an egalitarian way.

Another idea that has been important throughout the classroom process, as well as during the research, is the use of the biographical-narrative perspective. Speaking at this point only of the teaching-learning process (we will return to the biographical-narrative perspective in the section on research methods), first of all, students were asked to write an individual account of their educational experience until they reached university, and then this account was shared in small groups, creating a representation of their experiences that would then be shared with the whole class. Another activity carried out is a learning story with self-assessment, which consists of writing about their time in the subject, and reasoning what mark they deserve and why they deserve it. Perhaps it goes without saying that the diary itself is another activity based on the biographical-narrative perspective. In this way we use the biographical-narrative perspective as a space for the construction, reflection and analysis of previous and present experiences in order to build individual and collective learning during our passage through the subject (Rivas y Leite, 2013).

Montessori teacher education, or “training” - as it is usually referred to, seems to be an intriguing example of a precisely defined and unique methodology of professional development conducted by the organizations which do not belong to the academic world but they are rather private, non-state funded entities or non-for-profit NGOs. Montessori education is practiced on all continents, in 154 countries, and is one of the dominant “alternative” to traditional schooling with estimated 15763 schools around the world. Such popularity also means that that there is a global demand for teachers prepared for working in accordance with this approach. Additionally, the founder of the pedagogy Maria Montessori left very clear instructions on the preparation of the adult. In this context the education of future Montessori practitioners is both described in detail and – to a large extent – elitist and privatized. At the same time the Montessori courses “use” specific techniques and technologies to “train” the teachers, which might be an interesting “lens” through which teacher education as such can be analyzed. The main research question of the empirical project was: how do Montessori approach trainees experience their participation in the training programs?

Definitions are part of teachers’ subject matter knowledge (Delaney, 2012), and they have implications for curricular (Usiskin & Griffin, 2008) and pedagogical decisions (Zazkis & Leikin, 2008) that teachers make. Therefore, definitions play a key role in mathematics learning, teaching, and curriculum development. Teachers’ understanding of definitions gives us clues about their understanding of the concepts associated with them. Geometry is a field where definitions play a significant role and research has shown that teachers need additional support in this area (Clements & Sarama, 2011). Hence, research aiming to investigate teachers’ understanding of definitions in geometry is necessary. In this study, we focus on definitions of quadrilaterals, in particular trapeziums/trapezoids, and preservice teachers’ understanding and use of these definitions.

Quadrilaterals are rich constructs to study definitions. Quadrilaterals’ richness can be attributed to their being foundational in measurement, studying geometric properties as well as understanding the addition of complex numbers and vectors (Usiskin & Griffin, 2008). On the other hand, it is internationally recognised that defining and classifying quadrilaterals can be challenging for learners (e.g., pupils, preservice teachers) due to their reliance on prototypical shape images rather than definitions based on geometric properties (Fujita & Jones, 2007). This challenge influences preservice teachers (PTs), impacting their school practices (Jones et al., 2002). This study aims to explore PTs’ use of inclusive and exclusive definitions of quadrilaterals, using trapezium as a context. The research question we pursue is: What characterises preservice teachers’ use of inclusive and exclusive definitions of the trapezium in relation to other quadrilaterals?

Individuals interpret mathematical problem situations with their concept images and/or concept definitions. Concept images are “something non-verbal associated in our mind with the concept name […] a visual representation […] a collection of impressions or experiences” (Vinner, 2002, p.68), whereas concept definitions are the mathematical definitions of concepts specific to an individual. Furthermore, “referring to the formal definition is critical for a correct performance on given tasks ([…] identification of examples and non-examples of a given concept”) Vinner (2002, p.80). In making sense of PTs’ use of definitions, especially in geometry, we focused on two types of definitions: exclusive and inclusive (Usiskin & Griffin, 2008). Exclusive definitions of geometric figures are the definitions that lead individuals to understand those figures in isolation (e.g., rectangles are not part of the parallelogram set). In contrast, inclusive definitions allow the defined figures to include others (e.g., rectangles are part of the parallelogram set).

The use of inclusive definitions in teaching geometry is advantageous as it allows learners to better understand the interrelations among quadrilaterals (e.g., squares are part of the rectangle set) by focusing on how properties of one quadrilateral set satisfy the properties of another set. Interestingly, however, Usiskin and Griffin (2008) investigated mathematics textbooks published in the USA during the 1833-2008 period and found that only about 10% of these textbooks (n=8) used inclusive definitions and 90% (n=76) used exclusive definitions. Hence, if teachers align their teaching with the latter type of textbooks, they are more likely to miss the opportunity to help their pupils learn about the aforementioned interrelations when teaching geometry.

To what extent teachers are aware of different types of definitions and their advantages or disadvantages in teaching geometry is not known well in the research literature (Sinclair et al., 2016) even though it is valued universally. Our research focuses on PTs’ use of inclusive and exclusive definitions in the context of defining trapeziums. Although this study took place in Scotland, it will provide insights into teachers’ use of definitions that can inform mathematics education researchers in Europe and other countries.

This study aims to understand the relationships between mathematics anxiety, attitude, experience and choice of subject specialism among primary student teachers in the first year of their initial teacher training (ITT). During an ITT course at a London University, elements of anxiety and negative attitude surrounding mathematics were observed by tutors among trainee teachers. For example, some demonstrated a reluctance to actively participate in mathematics-related sessions or expressed concerns about their ability to teach mathematics, particularly with older and/or more able primary-aged students. Furthermore, at the end of the first year, students appeared to prefer other subjects to mathematics when they were required to select a subject specialism. Such observations are not unusual or new. Since the 1980s (Beilock et al., 2010; Cockcroft,1982; Ernest,1988; Hembree,1990), student teachers’ fear, anxiety, and negative attitudes towards mathematics have been highlighted as problematic with recommendations that training institutions should help students develop positive attitudes to and confidence in the subject (Cockcroft,1982).

To help prospective primary school practitioners develop positive attitudes and confidence during their ITT course, it is important to understand the learning experiences of students undertaking the course before their arrival on the ITT programme and their existing mathematics anxiety levels and attitudes to mathematics. During the programme, their attitude to mathematics as both teacher and learner may change; this research aims to critically analyse students’ experiences and mathematics anxiety. At the time of writing this, limited research exploring mathematics anxiety and the teaching of mathematics among primary student teachers is available; this research, therefore, seeks to contribute to understanding in this area.

Global interest in mathematics anxiety has been evident in the volume of research conducted and published over the last three decades. Such research often provides evidence that mathematics anxiety is associated with various negative cognitive and emotional outcomes (e.g. Ashcraft & Krause, 2007; Espino et al., 2017). Impact on cognitive outcomes is evidenced in low performance and achievement, mainly because anxiety interferes with the ability to maintain and manipulate information and resources within the mind, which is necessary for arriving at solutions in arithmetic calculations and problem-solving (Ashcraft & Krause, 2007). Emotionally, mathematics anxiety is associated with disliking and avoiding and possessing an unfavourable attitude towards mathematics, which, in turn, may impact achievement and eventually mathematical progress as well as career and course-related decisions that shape people’s future (Espino et al., 2017). Although most studies agree that there is no difference in the prevalence of mathematics anxiety between teachers and non-teachers (Barroso et al., (2021), there is evidence suggesting it is more prevalent among primary student teachers than in other sectors (Hembree, 1990). Research also indicates that formal mathematics instruction experiences influence this anxiety (Brady & Bowd, 2005). Generally, teachers anxious about mathematics have poor attitudes and perpetuate their anxiety and negative attitudes towards mathematics among their students (McAnallen, 2010). However, the relationships described above are not simple. Recent research, for example, suggests that the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance is not unidirectional but rather bidirectional. Mathematics anxiety has a negative impact on performance, but poor mathematics performance may also increase anxiety (Carey et al., 2017; Maloney, Risko, Ansari, & Fugelsang, 2011). These are important observations as an established bidirectional relationship that concerns performing or teaching mathematics will exacerbate any impact and adverse outcomes for both ends, turning it into a vicious cycle.

The importance and value of formative assessment for improving learning is widely accepted. This is true for student learning (Black & Wiliams, 2009) and for in-service teacher continued growth and development (Yorke, 2003). Formative assessment with teachers creates opportunities for teachers to explore student understanding (Yorke, 2003). Such opportunities are centred on the idea of teachers as reflective practitioners, enabling them to better tailor their own teaching practice to make progressive improvements (López-Pastor and Sicilia-Camacho, 2017). The bringing together of formative feedback and reflective practice is now well established as useful for teacher development, as is the use of video to support teacher reflection.

Video has been used in teacher education since the 1960s in a variety of ways. Examples include using video for lesson analysis (Santagata, 2014), for teacher professional development (Sherin, 2004), as a prompt for discussion between teachers (Borko et al., 2008), and to create professional learning communities (Sherin, 2004; van Es, 2012). Video can be viewed as both a ‘representation of practice’ and a powerful tool for the ‘decomposition of practice’, that is, breaking the teaching into parts to enable others or oneself to focus on particular elements (Grossman et al., 2009 p. 2064). A key enabler of video as a tool for reflection in teaching is that enables the educator to become more analytical in their reflections. It does so by removing the cognitive overload of ‘in-the-moment’ decision making (Rich & Hannafin, 2009) freeing the educator to reflect on the teaching and learning interactions. This confirms Girardet’s (2018) finding that video reflection can support the development of both the analytical and reflective abilities of teachers.

In our research we bring together the elements of formative assessment, teacher reflection, and video as a tool for reflective practice to explore ways pre-service teachers (PSTs) can be supported to better understand their own practice (O’Keeffe & White, 2021, 2022). Girardet (2018), among others, reminds that video observation of teaching practices (observation of oneself or others) can support the development of analytical and reflective abilities. Detailed and systematic observation of specific practices of the teacher in classroom promotes the development of the so-called ‘professional vision’ (Goodwin, 1994), that is, the ability to notice and interpret significant features of classroom interactions.

While much video-reflection research to date has been conducted with ‘regular’ flat video, we use 360-degree video (Balzarettia et al, 2019). We argue that 360-degree video mediates the process of teacher reflection more effectively than regular video because it provides greater capacity for the user (pre-service or in-service teacher) to focus and re-focus their reflection as needed (by panning around the screen/recording) while watching back or reviewing a recording. 360-degree video allows PSTs to experience video-recorded lessons from an immersive 360-degree perspective, providing a greater understanding of the entire context in which an interaction or an action is situated. For example, an interaction mis-remembered or not observed can be reviewed from multiple perspectives after the event —nothing is ‘off-camera’.

Introduction and research question

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), as coined by Shulman (1986), pays attention to the way of thinking about teacher knowledge and making a school subject understandable to others. An important concept within the PCK community is the notion of Big Ideas, which involves recognising fundamental principles that underpin the subject. Loughran et al. (2004) emphasised the significance of identifying Big Ideas as a crucial component of articulating one’s PCK. Additionally, Hurst (2019) emphasised that teachers must not only grasp Big Ideas but also understand how these selected concepts interconnect. Furthermore, Chan et al. (2019) highlighted appropriate selection, connection, and coherence of Big Ideas as the first-ordered rubric for measuring the quality of PCK. This paper answers researchers’ calls for further exploration of the fundamental principles underlying the teaching of statistics (Watson et al., 2018). The research aim is to examine how preservice teachers (PTs) select and connect Big Ideas when designing a lesson sequence dedicated to statistics instruction in primary school.

According to Charles (2005), “A Big Idea is a statement of an idea that is central to the learning of mathematics, one that links numerous mathematical understandings into a coherent whole” (p. 10). This definition can be applied to the domain of statistics: A statistical Big Idea represents a statement of an idea central to learning statistics, and connects different statistical concepts and methods into a coherent structure. The findings in this paper are drawn from an ongoing multi-year educational design research aimed at supporting the development of PTs’ PCK in teaching statistical inference (Blomberg, 2022). One research question that has been explored refers to the impact of a reflection and planning tool on the outcome of the PTs’ lesson planning. In the search for potential design principles, I conjectured that predefining Big Ideas in the reflecting and planning tool would enhance the quality of the PTs’ outcomes, particularly regarding their understanding and interconnections of Big Ideas.

Conceptual framework

A recent addition to the PCK research field is the Refined Consensus Model (RCM), developed by Carlson et al. (2019). Unlike previous PCK theories, RCM embraces a more dynamic perspective that acknowledges multiple dimensions of PCK and the exchange of knowledge between these dimensions. Central aspects of teachers’ professional knowledge encompass collective, personal, and enacted PCK, and their interconnections with professional knowledge bases such as content knowledge, curricular knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge. For instance, enacted PCK encompasses activities like instructional planning, teaching, and reflection on teaching practices and student outcomes. To frame the present research and discern the elements under investigation, RCM has served as a background theory.

Within the discipline of statistics education, like the field of mathematics education, there is a noticeable range of perspectives regarding essential elements and ideas for statistical thinking and statistical literacy, and changes in practice are continually influencing them (Zieffler et al., 2018). In this study, I have employed a developed framework as a foreground theory to discern and characterise the outcomes of statistical Big Ideas among PTs. The framework is a combination of data modeling (Lehrer & Schauble, 2004) and informal statistical inference (ISI) (Makar & Rubin, 2009). The components of the statistical inference modeling framework (SI modeling) can be summarised as follows: (a) posing statistical questions within meaningful contexts, emphasising variability through real-world problems; (b) generating, selecting, and measuring attributes that exhibit variation in relation to the posed questions; (c) collecting first-hand data, prompting students to make decisions about investigation design; (d) representing, structuring and interpreting sample and sampling variability; and (e) engaging in informal inferences based on these processes and the interconnectedness of these ideas.

The presentation looks at anti-Semitism in schools. Specifically, the focus is on educational practices of teachers when they meet anti-Semitism in school.

Anti-Semitism is interpreted as a phenomenon of exclusion. It is thus diametrically opposed to the claim of recognising diversity. Anti-Semitism is a complex phenomenon, which is addressed in different forms and by different groups of actors (Koerrenz, 2021). Anti-Semitism can be explicated as a permanent and latent structure of hostility towards Jews. On the individual level, it can manifest itself as a form of emotional beliefs, on the cultural level in the form of myths, (conspiracy-) ideologies, stereotypes, and so on. On the practical level, these manifestations can lead to discrimination and political mobilisation against Jews, among other things (Benz, 2015). Contemporary anti-Semitic phenomena relate to the national state of Israel: these phenomena are constituted in certain political and religious collectivities (Taguief, 2004). Recent empirical research shows that there has been a Europe-wide increase in anti-Semitic incidents since 2001 (EUMC, 2004). These have their origins in developments in a globalised world (Holz, 2010): For example, the global financial crisis of 2008 is used to reactivate the image of so-called "Jewish financial elites" (Bergmann, 2016).

Anti-Semitism and its various manifestations also affect the learning venue school (Bevelander & Hjerm, 2015; Vogtländer & Voth, 2015; Greene & Kingsbury, 2017). Studies focus on Jewish young people affected by anti-Semitism. In addition, the extent to which anti-Semitism is represented among non-Jewish young people is taken into account (Mansel & Spaiser, 2013). In the context of "Holocaust education", adolescents are explicitly sensitised to anti-Semitism and its manifestations (Wetzel, 2019). In this context, analyses of textbooks and curricula (Kößler, 2006) also provide recommendations for schools that should lead to attitudes that promote democracy.

In addition, a discourse on the professionalism of educators in the context of anti-Semitism has been established (Gläser, Hentges & Meier, 2021). In particular, there are studies on how open youth work educators deal with anti-Semitism (Radvan, 2010 & 2011). In the context of schools, studies have been conducted that explore anti-Semitism among students and the relationship of teachers to anti-Semitism (Haynes, 2003; Fechler, 2006; Moulin, 2016; Thomas, 2016; Bernstein, 2020). Recently, Rüb was able to show that teachers at German schools attribute a high relevance to anti-Semitism. In this context, teachers show very different orientations of action by means of which they counter anti-Semitic statements by pupils: These orientations of actions range from trivialisation and externalisation to a historicising perspective of the anti-Semitic incident (2023, i.E.).

A desideratum exists with regard to the question of what educational practices teachers display when they encounter anti-Semitism at school. This study addresses this desideratum. It explores the educational practices of teachers in the context of anti-Semitism. Specifically, it focuses on the following questions: How do teachers exert educational influence on the development and behaviour of pupils in order to counteract anti-Semitism? How do teachers shape these educational processes? What concrete values do they try to instil in students to counter anti-Semitism? In which situations where anti-Semitism occurs do teachers take educational action?

The concept of Populism has been identified as a challenge to democracy, tolerance, and European values (Bugaric, 2020). This joint paper explores the context, curriculum and teaching methodologies related to addressing issues associated with the rise of populism in Europe.

The paper describes the interim findings of a research initiative hosted by CitEdEv, a pan-European research network, which is supported by the European Commission’s Jean Monet Programme. The research project team consists of researchers from the UK, Ireland, Greece and the Republic of North Macedonia. The larger research network brings together experts from 28 institutions from across 19 European countries concerned with and committed to developing all children’s and young people’s active citizenship in line with fundamental European values. The project seeks to make EU citizenship education relevant to a context in which many children and young people are anxious and concerned about their futures in the face of populism, xenophobia, divisive nationalism, discrimination, fake news and misinformation, as well as the challenge of radicalisation.

Schools are considered to play an important role as institutions educating young people about democratic principles and serve as niches for the development of civic engagement (Hüning, 2022). The broad conceptualisation of civic education is often used to describe ‘the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that children are expected to learn to be virtuous and civically productive members of society’ (Levinson, 2014, p.1). Echoing this year’s ECER conference theme (The Value of Diversity in Education and Educational Research) this timely research outlines the views and perspectives of educationalists working with young people in the classroom. As Biesta (2020) states 'education for democracy raises awareness of ourselves and others, how we act in society, our freedom and the limits that our living together poses to our own freedom’ (p.96).

Contribution to the European dimension – As part of the Jean Monet network this research project aims to contribute to the will operationalising of the Paris Declaration of March 17 2015 (Eurydice, 2016) agreed upon by EU Education Ministers and Commissioner Navracsics promoting citizenship and common values through education, which identified the ‘urgent need to cooperate and coordinate, to exchange experiences, and to ensure that the best ideas and practices can be shared throughout the European Union. Using the Paris objectives as a framework, CitEdEv will compare and contrast the definitions, perceptions and implementation of European values in formal and informal education settings and in their different national and institutional contexts and identify ways to enhance best practices.

The aim of the research is to view the initial findings in the context of international and pan-European trends. The research aims to include a comparative element taking in parallel research by the CitEdEV partners in a number of EU member and accession countries. The research will recognise that best practices must reflect the experiences and voices of all.

School-based civic education is given a crucial role in developing youths’ democratic competences (Galston 2001). A large body of research examined effects of civic education in general school education, whereas civic education at vocational schools is so far hardly investigated (Busse et al. 2022). In many European countries, vocational schools provide not only learning opportunities for trainees’ vocational education and training (VET) but also civic education. In Germany, the educational administration recently emphasized the need of a stronger civic education at vocational schools. In many German federal states, this emphasis resulted in educational tasks for vocational schools aimed at the promotion of students’ democratic competences by the whole school staff (e.g., Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of Lower Saxony 2021). Although all teachers at vocational schools are explicitly addressed by this task, those who specialized in civics or political science may have particular responsibilities.

So far, little is known about how civic education is conceptualized by the school staff at vocational schools. This is of particular importance as teachers’ education-related views influence how they teach (Reichert et al. 2021). Teachers’ views may affect the selected topics and classroom activities for students’ learning (e.g., Fives/Buehl 2012). Thus, this study assumes that what teachers think about the aims of civic education matters to their teaching (Martens/Gainous 2013). Given the missing empirical knowledge regarding vocational teachers’ views on civic education, this study investigates the following research question:

How does the school staff at vocational schools vary in their understanding of civic education?

Ukrainian education used to be part of the Soviet system and partly preserved its legacy with teacher-centered approaches and reproductive methods. Even after decades of independence, it was still knowledge-oriented and hardly connected with real-life experiences. It was evident that education did not prepare students for lifelong learning, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and other 21st-century skills; therefore, radical long-term reform was on the agenda and it started in 2016. The New Ukrainian School (NUS) Reform was planned at all levels for decades ahead and was driven by the idea that teachers were the primary agents of change.

Primary school was the first to welcome the change and to encounter challenges. New Primary Education standards came into use, requiring dramatic changes in approaches to teaching and learning with inquiry-based learning, cooperative and collaborative learning, and problem and project-based learning as its main drivers. In the Standards, we do not find the terms “playful pedagogies” and "learning through play." Still, they are implicitly communicated through the attention to their characteristics and the skills to develop: “the ability to express one's own opinion orally and in writing, critical and systematic thinking, creativity, initiative, the ability to logically justify a position, the ability to constructively manage emotions, assess risks, make decisions, solve problems, and cooperate with others” (Cabinet of Ministers, 2018, p. 3).

Achieving all the ambitious plans is impossible without “motivated teachers who enjoy the freedom of creativity and professional development” (Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, 2017, p. 7). The scope of work with primary school teachers included many offline and online courses, exchanging ideas, and learning from Ukrainian and international partners.

Learning Through Play at School is a partnership between the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the LEGO Foundation. The Ukraine Educational Research Association (UERA) implements the research study in-country. This study is part of the larger research project involving 30 Ukrainian teachers participating in a two-year professional learning program to support their understanding of playful learning and their implementation of playful pedagogies in the classroom.

To be successful, professional learning programs designed to promote teacher change need to consider not only what teachers do but also how teachers’ existing beliefs may influence the process of professional learning. The relationship between teacher beliefs and teacher practice is undeniably complex and has been the subject of considerable attention in the research literature for several decades. Broadly speaking, teacher beliefs act as filters for interpreting new information and experiences, frames for defining problems or situations, and guides when deciding on what actions to take (Fives & Buehl, 2011). In relation to pedagogical reform initiatives, teacher beliefs have the potential to influence what the teacher chooses to focus on and how they interpret it, what they perceive is required of them, and their decision-making when it comes to taking action. As part of a two-year professional development program focusing on playful learning at school, this study explored the initial beliefs held by participating teachers in relation to the reform agenda and the concept of playful learning at the start of the program and answered the research question: What are challenges and enablers in introducing Learning Through Play at Ukrainian School?

Understanding the contributing factors to (un)successful interventions is vital for designing/adapting a Teacher Professional Development Programme that develops teachers’ positive views, skills, and knowledge regarding playful pedagogies.

Inclusion and digitization are key issues in the professionalization of teachers. The heterogeneity of students in inclusive classes brings different needs of learners. Consequently, instruction needs concepts that enable all students to participate, especially in science classes and its specific processes and procedures such as inquiry learning. Inquiry learning is an active method of learning that involves posing questions, problems, or scenarios and scientific methods such as conducting experiments. Many barriers can arise in this complex process (Baur, 2018; Stinken-Rösner & Abels, 2021). The use of digital media can enable access and avoid barriers through multimedia design (Kerres, 2018). In order to effectively use digital media to promote inquiry learning and reduce barriers, teachers need professional knowledge and competencies. The TPACK model describes teachers' professional knowledge as the interplay of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Besides professional knowledge, there are other factors that influence teaching actions. These include attitudes, motivation, and self-regulation (Baumert & Kunter, 2006). Looking more closely at attitudes, it appears that positive attitudes, along with high self-efficacy expectations, are an important predictor of planned behaviour (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010). For example, teachers with positive attitudes toward inclusion teach more effectively for all students (Jordan et al., 2009). Positive attitudes and high self-efficacy are also shown to be predictors of inclusive teaching (Sharma & Jacobs, 2016). Furthermore, participation in courses on inclusion is shown to have a positive impact on attitudes toward inclusion (Sharma, 2012; Miesera & Gebhardt, 2018; Miesera & Will, 2017). In the topic area of digitalization, teachers' attitudes are also shown to be crucial for its use in the classroom (Eickelmann & Vennemann, 2017). All these findings indicate that attitudes and self-efficacy expectations are important factors for the implementation of both inclusive teaching and the use of digital media. However, in order to apply these general statements about inclusive teaching and media use to subject-specific issues such as inquiry learning, the topics must be considered in conjunction with each other. The aim of the study is to train teachers specifically for the use of digital media in heterogeneous classes in biology education. On the one hand, the question arises whether the targeted transfer of knowledge about the areas of inclusion and digitization in an intervention has an effect on the professional knowledge of the teachers in the TPACK domains. On the other hand, the attitudes of the teachers towards the topics of inclusion and digitization are to be investigated. This leads to the question which correlations exist between the self-assessment in the TPACK domains and the attitudes towards inclusion and digitization.

This study proposes a new framework and verifies its propositions on how teacher self-efficacy (TSE) grows. Bandura (1977) proposed four sources of self-efficacy, including performance accomplishment, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Most of the studies on the sources of TSE proceeded from the four-sources theory (Morris, Usher, & Chen, 2017; Usher & Pajares, 2008). However, the results of these studies remain empirically and theoretically unsatisfactory. We argue that the four-sources theory needs to be refined since there are overlaps and internal relations among the four sources. This is because Bandura did not differentiate the concepts of actions, outcomes, and the interpretation of outcomes in the selection of words describing the four sources.

The new framework clearly differentiate and definde actions, outcomes, and the interpretation of outcomes, specifically considering the characteristics of teaching activities. The framework is derived from social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997), attribution theory (Weiner, 1985), and locus of control theory (Rotter, 1966). We define actions as goal-directed behaviors. Regarding TSE, it refers to any behavior with goals of improving teaching capability. Teaching-related actions include teaching, observing others teaching, reading materials on teaching, and listening to lectures on teaching. Outcomes are the consequences of actions (Bandura, 1997, p. 22; 2001, p. 6). We argue that outcomes are objective information that teachers derive from their actions. As a consequence of teaching-related actions, resultant, evaluative, knowledge, physical, and physiological outcomes are produced. Physical and knowledge information play an intermediary role, evaluative and physiological information play a supplementary role, and resultant information plays the final role in the growth of TSE. The interpretation of outcome information is the process that teachers attach meaning to this information.

The formation of TSE is a cognitive processing of information. Teachers combine various outcome information and make a judgment on their teaching capability. We argue that it takes three steps to reach a judgment of self-efficacy. These are goal comparison, attribution of discrepancy, and self-efficacy appraisal. The formation of TSE goes as this: Teachers take teaching-related actions, and “action will produce certain outcomes” (Bandura, 1977, p. 193), teachers process outcome information to form self-efficacy, which motivates them to take actions again (Bandura, 1988, 1997). The process above repeats until TSE is stabilized.

The first implication of the framework is that we should focus on outcome information, especially resultant information. Existing studies show that TSE is associated with students’ orderly behavior (Lee, Dedrick, & Smith, 1991; Newmann, Rutter, & Smith, 1989), student engagement (Depaepe & König, 2018; Guo, Justice, Sawyer, & Tompkins, 2011), student achievement (Guskey, 1987; Klassen & Tze, 2014). Second, we argue that the level of correspondence between TSE and resultant information in terms of teaching tasks is related to the strength of the relationship between the two. Third, many external factors influence educational goal attainment and TSE, including student abilities (Guskey, 1987; Raudenbush, Rowan, & Cheong, 1992), teaching resources (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2007), distributed and instructional leadership (Fackler & Malmberg, 2016; Liu, Bellibaş, & Gümüş, 2021).

We test the propositions using the Teaching and Learning International Survey 2018 (TALIS2018) data, which include most of the European countries (OECD, 2019). First, we choose the resultant information on students’ cognitive activation, teacher-student relation, and disciplinary climate. Second, we choose class autonomy as an external factor to demonstrate its impact on TSE. Third, TALIS provides information on TSE in classroom management, instruction, and student engagement, we test whether the level of correspondence between TSE and resultant information in terms of teaching tasks is related to the strength of the relationship between the two. Forth, we test the generality of relationships mentioned above across countries.

Strategies and methods for effective learning are a rarely disputed topic in tertiary education. One of the core questions of contemporary teacher training is how to transform teacher candidates’ traditional and non-professional views which are highly influenced by their preceding educational experiences (Bruner, 1996, Falus, 2004). It is essential to map their current views in order to be able to increase the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process (Gibbs and Simpson, 2004-5). Scientific observations suggest that examples set during teacher candidates’ traineeship and the experiences of their first year in service leads them back to traditional assessment views (Falus, 2004). This phenomenon can cause a troublesome situation since the teacher candidates in present-day tertiary education should soon become the educators of the generation alpha. That generation prefers active and experience-based learning, demands to be participant and controller of the teaching-learning process instead of playing the role of a passive agent in the assessment committed with traditional methods (Oblinger, 2005). The change in learners’ personality was monitored by the top researchers who induced a rapid paradigm-shift with their works. It was established that traditional evaluation methods are not able to motivate students (Black and Wiliam, 1998), and at the same time positive effects of formative assessment was revealed (Wiggins and McTighe, 1998). Besides the necessity of emotional and personal involvement (Nicol and MacFarlane-Dick, 2006), the importance of clear goals and continuous supervision were also exposed (Hattie and Timperley, 2007). This evolution has been in parallel with the Hungarian tendency which put an emphasis on the modernization of the pedagogical practice and evaluation after the Millennium leading to the introduction of competency-based educational projects, text-based assessment, and a postgraduate course to train experts of pedagogical assessment (Csapó, 2015). Despite the positive results, initiatives were being cancelled; however, the inevitable nature of the issue thematized it again after some year. Based on teacher-thinking researches it is reasonable to assume that outside innovation is not viable without inner support and change in teachers’ views. In order to be able to support this transformation, teacher training institutions and services should be aware of their clients’ views.

In the context of increasingly diverse classrooms, a current challenge in school education is to avoid intra-system exclusions stemming from differing expectations and opportunities that are presented to different groups of students (UNESCO, 2020; Valdés-Morales et al., 2019). This is particularly critical in relation to girls and boys in situations of socio-educational vulnerability, understood as a situation of psychosocial and economic risk that makes the relationship between student and school precarious. This reality constitutes a priority educational challenge in Latin America and in Europe after the various waves of migration over the last ten years, not only because of its quantitative scope but also because there is a strong correlation between the socio-educational vulnerability of students and their academic results (González et al., 2015; UNESCO, 2016).

Faced with this situation, an inclusive approach is required, which, although understood as a systemic and multifactorial process, places teachers in a privileged position to support each child; that is, to believe that everyone can learn, and to individualize and calibrate methodologies, of educational curriculum and propose relevant, responsive, and transformative pedagogies for their students (Macura et al., 2019; Paris & Alim, 2017). Despite this, the literature is consistent in pointing out that teacher training in Chile and in european countries such as Spain and Portugal is still far from what is required to practice in schools with that diversity, including vulnerable or also called "challenging" schools (Apablaza, 2014; Chapman, 2008; Gairín-Sallán et al., 2019; González et al., 2015). That means that teaching for social justice, inclusion, and diversity of students is scarcely included in the training of teachers, and if it is, it is heterogeneous and insufficient in relation to groups called "vulnerable" (Liebner & Schmaltz, 2021; Ruffinelli, 2014; Venegas, 2013).

An additional complexity facing the challenge of teachers' professionalization for educational justice is that it is based on beliefs, judgments, and knowledge from various sources of socialization. For example, Levi and He (2008) quantified that 48% of these beliefs of the role came from the school and family experience; 15% would originate in the courses, readings, and theories exposed in university classes; and 37% of that beliefs came from experience in practicum. Also, in relation to these sources of influence, Debreli (2016) highlights the predominance of beliefs from "common sense" knowledge about groups that make up society, their roles, and the factors that allow a good education. Therefore, without a reflexive approach, it would tend to reproduce in the professional role the stereotypes that exist in the culture on groups, for example, according to the socioeconomic categories individuals are associated with.

To better guide these formative processes, this research sought to investigate future teachers' beliefs and perceptions about school contexts at the extremes of the socioeconomic continuum. To do this, pedagogical students' perceptions, and training needs after participating in a practicum in schools of high and low socioeconomic levels were compared.

For some time, mathematics education research has focused on relating mathematical literacy to students’ everyday lives (e.g., Bolstad, 2020; Freudenthal, 1973). Haara (2018) suggests that one way of combining the development of mathematical literacy and relevance for students is through pedagogical entrepreneurship. Pedagogical entrepreneurship is action-oriented teaching and learning in a social context, where the student is active in the learning process and where personal features, abilities, knowledge, and skills provide the foundation and direction for the learning processes. Such an approach entails the use of teaching methods that give students authority and activate learning awareness. It requires working methods that improve students’ creative abilities and beliefs about their own skills, provide a basis for seeing opportunities around them, and motivate them to become development stakeholders in the community (Haara & Jenssen, 2019). A focus on entrepreneurial learning, thus, requires priorities regarding both processes and products in school subjects, which in turn means that a learning environment that emphasizes authenticity and student activity is considered fundamental.

Haara et al. (2017) noted that researchers have concluded that specific attempts to work directly with mathematical literacy through mathematics alone does not work, and that it seems that teaching for mathematical literacy calls for something else than traditional mathematics teaching. Haara (2018) showed that problem-solving features, problem relevance, and student activity are recognized as valuable for the development of mathematical literacy, and that these could be emphasized through a pedagogical entrepreneurship approach. Smith and Stein (2018) provide further support for the influence of creativity and tolerance for ambiguity in school mathematics, through emphasis on problem solving and teaching based on problem-solving approaches.

However, despite thorough work within the mathematics education research community to put emphasis on mathematical modelling and unravel how this may be done with young students (e.g. Gravemeijer, 1999), this remains an issue in need of attention. According to Erbas et al. (2014), a mathematical model “is used to understand and interpret complex systems in nature” (p. 1622). When applying a modelling process in the teaching of mathematics, the underlying assumption is that students can learn fundamental mathematical concepts meaningfully during the modelling process in which they need the concepts while addressing a real-life problem-solving situation (Lesh & Doerr, 2003). Based on previous research it seems clear that emphasis on both mathematical literacy and mathematical modelling is better with a touch of relevance and real-world problem relation than with traditional word problems or quasi-real problems (Vos, 2018).

The purpose of this study is to respond to the calls regarding mathematical modelling (Blum (2002) and Erbas et al. (2014)) and mathematical literacy (Sfard (2014) and Bolstad (2020)), and to present and discuss how pedagogical entrepreneurship and mathematical modelling may be combined to pave the way for the further development of mathematical literacy in upper primary school. The area of statistics is used in this study as an example to illustrate the possibilities for such a combined effort, and the research question asked is therefore: How can pedagogical entrepreneurship and mathematical modelling combine to pave the way for learning statistics in upper primary school? Addressing this question provides the opportunity to discuss the possibilities for students’ development of mathematical literacy, with emphasis on pedagogical entrepreneurship and mathematical modelling.

The concept of equations and inequalities have a significant place in mathematics (Bazzini & Tsamir, 2002; 2004). They are intertwined in various mathematical subjects such as algebra, analysis, and linear programming (Bazzini & Tsamir, 2004; Tsamir & Almog, 2000), and many concepts of geometry are based on inequalities (Kaplan & Acil, 2015), in addition, equations, and inequalities provide a complementary perspective to each other (Tsamir & Almog, 2000). Equations and inequalities are involved in problem-solving techniques (Altun et al., 2007), abstraction, and mathematical modeling that simulates real-life situations (Karataş & Güven, 2010). It is recommended that students learn to depict cases involving equations and inequalities and how to solve equivalent expressions, equations, and inequalities by inferring their meaning (NCTM, 2000). However, it is claimed that students’ conceptual representations of the algebraic expression and equation lack completeness and accurateness, students at all levels frequently struggle with the concept of inequality, find it extremely difficult to interpret inequality solutions, and students who make more mistakes in these concepts exhibit low mathematical understanding (Stewart, 2016). Students encounter a variety of challenges when they attempt to solve equations and inequalities, such as an inadequate understanding of the role of the equals and inequality signs (Almog & Ilany, 2012; Blanco & Garrote, 2007; Knuth et al. 2006), a lack of understanding of the symbolic representation of variables and coefficients in an equation (Kilpatrick & Izsak, 2008), and changing the direction of the inequality when multiplying by the negative number (Cortes & Pfaff, 2000). According to Bazzini and Tsamir (2001), students who discovered inequalities with traditional methods (by doing algorithmically memorized steps) had difficulty when presented with non-traditional tasks. Moreover, Tsamir and Bazzini (2004) found that students think that inequalities should result in inequalities/intervals, and solving the inequalities and equations requires the same process. It is suggested that to address these challenges, solution processes of equation and inequality should not be introduced directly and quickly, that the symbols used be clearly differentiated and have meaning for the students, that the differences between the concepts of equation and inequality be made clear, and that every-day, visual-geometric and algebraic language should be used interchangeably (Blanco & Garrote, 2007; Bazzini & Tsamir, 2002).

The existing research emphasizes the difficulties students have with equation and inequality concepts. Most of the studies are based on cognitive perspectives, and some of them explore classroom interaction through sociocultural perspectives. In this study, we focus on the equation and inequalities in the classroom discourse to analyze the understanding of learners and teachers. Our study uses a commognitive perspective because it highlights the interaction in a natural classroom setting and enables us to analyze the exploration of learners and teachers. we adopted a methodological lens that Nachlieli & Tabach (2019) provide for ritual-enabling and exploration-requiring opportunities to learn. We interpreted explorative-requiring opportunities to learn as explorative participation and analyzed data on how (procedure) and when (initiation and closure) explorative participation was actualized. We aim to explore the characterization of explorative participation of prospective mathematics teachers and lecturers on equation and inequality concepts in the context of classroom discourse. We address the following question: How do the characterization of explorative participation of prospective mathematics teachers and lecturers on equation and inequality concepts in the context of classroom discourse?

Becoming a teacher is a potentially bumpy road covered with various turbulences. When student teachers begin their teacher education, they already possess a strong image in becoming a certain teacher (cf. Izadinia, 2013). Having had thousands of hours of apprenticeship of observation, student teachers hold beliefs and ideals about teaching, studying, and learning, and about the teaching profession. Thus, it is not surprising that they are faced with struggles, dilemmas, doubts, contradictions and uncertainty, both personally and professionally, when they integrate into teacher education (cf. Pillen et. al., 2013)

This case study illustrates the complex construction of teacher identity by following the four-year journey of one student teacher in qualifying as a primary-school teacher in Finland. The study exemplifies how Nora (pseudonym) negotiated her developing teacher identity through various turbulences of struggle and doubt. We followed her teacher identity construction from a perspective of dialogical self theory in which identity is seen to consist of the self with different I-positions that are expressed through their own voices (Hermans & Kempen, 1993). The positions are linked to an individual’s experiences and social relationships. I-positions may be internal or external. The internal I-position comprises the individual’s perceptions of him/herself, for example I as a person, I as a foreigner, I as a student teacher, I as a friend, I as a worrier and I as an idealist (cf. Coombs, 2018). External I-positions are the internalized voices of others, for example, my teachers, my relatives, and so on. In addition, the generalized other by Mead stresses social groups, rules and conventions regarding external voices (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011, p. 314). Each I-position is driven by its own intentions and they do not have to be harmonious, but may instead be contradictory (cf. Akkerman & Van Eijick 2013). This approach is fruitful especially when the struggles of a teacher’s work is considered: the multiple I-positions allow us to see diverse and different perspectives (Leijen, Kullasepp, & Toompalu, 2018).

Although various studies relating to student teachers’ teacher identity development have been conducted over the years, the aim of this case study is to dive deeper into this complex phenomenon. The research question of our study was: How does Nora negotiate her teacher identity through her struggles and doubts during her four years of teacher education?

This article studies the Teacher Professional Identity (TPI) in teachers working in schools where children and youth recover from interrupted educational trajectories in Chile. Specifically, the article focuses on teachers working in second-chance schools, exploring their motivations for entering and staying in the teaching profession, their beliefs about teaching and learning, and their satisfaction with their current job.

TPI has been broadly studied, but not in the context of second-chance schools. Neither in Europe nor Chile has this topic been deeply studied. Therefore, this article configures an opportunity to advance this line of research on both sides of the Atlantic.

I use different concepts around TPI in the world of second-chance schools. The first characteristic is the emotional and affective dimension of identity. Meo & Tarabini's (2020) research in two schools in the cities of Barcelona and Buenos Aires identifies the "ethics of care" as one of the three central elements of IPD in these schools. The ethics of caregiving involves making meaningful connections between adults and students, emphasizing care for the relationship and a sense of responsibility for the other. This element is related to the emotional and affective components of the person. A similar finding is presented by Te Riele et al. (2017) study in three re-entry schools in Australia. McGregor & Mills' (2014) study of teacher motivations in re-entry schools in Britain and Australia also shows that teachers helped their students meet a wide range of basic human needs. Finally, the study by Thomas et al. (2020) in the state of Tasmania in Australia explores the characteristics that re-entry school principals observe in their school teachers. In coherence with the studies already mentioned, this study indicates the ability of teachers to create and maintain safe and supportive environments for students, in addition to having strong interpersonal and communication skills (Thomas et al., 2020).

A second prominent element is a centrality in human relationships. Meo & Tarabini (2020) point out the emphasis of teachers on personalizing teaching by relieving students of their individuality in terms of their context and learning characteristics. Te Riele et al. (2017) highlight an effort by teachers to generate personal connections with students, for example, taking care to recognize the student in all its dimensions and to generate relationships that do not "patronize." Along the same lines, Morgan's (2014, 2017) research in 5 re-entry schools in Queensland (Australia) explored the characteristics of "being and becoming" a teacher in this type of school.

Finally, a third element is an emphasis on collective work. The study by Meo & Tarabini (2020) indicates that teachers conceived teaching as a collective effort, where it was crucial to work with others to cope with the complexity and demands of this type of school. In turn, Te Riele et al. (2017) also point out that teachers had a sense of working with others who were "on the same page." Teachers created a "work culture" that promoted companionship and emotional support. This dimension also included a sense of solidarity towards students, seeking to practice with a perspective of addressing structural inequalities. Finally, McGregor & Mills (2014) highlight the "sense of community" as a critical element in teaching.