Conference Agenda

Finnish welfare state model is often characterized as ideal in terms of its universal basic services and social security benefits. In recent decades, however, universalistic welfare state model has been taken greater steps towards neoliberal idealization that emphasize efficiency and competitiveness, similarly altering the relationship between the state and citizenship. Hence, when destabilizing the traditional welfare structure, it has been particularly important to support individuals to take a greater responsibility of their life and behavior (Heiskala & Kantola 2010; Kananen 2012). Brunila and Ylöstalo (2020) have previously pointed that neoliberalization of Finnish welfare state is strongly linked to the rise of the therapeutic welfare policies, characterized as increasing intentions to activate, train and support individuals for he needs of labor market. Therapeutic culture refers here to a wider social change, where psychologizing discourses have spread into schools and families, institutions, and everyday life of individuals with profound effects on identity, personal and cultural discourses (Nehring et al 2015).

This presentation builds on an article in which I look at education for young people as a manifestation of therapeutic culture. By youth education I mean different kind of short-term trainings and mentoring programs that are targeted to young people deemed to be in challenging life situations. Common objective in these trainings is to remove psychological barriers that would otherwise prevent for participating in traditional education or working life (Mäkelä 2018; Mertanen et al 2020). In this sense, it is perhaps not surprising that therapeutic ideas and practices have become common and rather unquestioned in youth education aims as improving self-esteem, individual strength and capacity, happiness, and positivity via the psy-oriented vocabulary of mental health, emotions, and anxieties (Brunila 2020). Especially techniques adopted from broader therapy cultures, such as cognitive-behavioural therapies, are increasingly applied to education of young people as forms of coaching and mentoring.

In this paper, I focus on youth education in Finland as an emblematic manifestation of therapeutic culture by discursively analyzing training materials of two cases-studies. The first case is a worldwide resilience building programme targeting young people at risk of social exclusion, implemented in Finland and internationally. The second one is a psychological flexibility coaching in Finland in the context of national-wide youth guidance centers aiming towards increasing young people’s employability. Trainings were selected as they both draw back from the basic principles of third wave cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) framework focusing on challenging and changing cognitive distortions (such as thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes) and their associated behaviors to improve emotional regulation and develop personal coping strategies (Hayes and Hofmann, 2021; Kahl, Winter, Schweiger 2012). In both trainings, the techniques adopted from CBT promise the subject a better understanding of the self and possibility to become liberated from cognitive distortions and believes delimiting the possibilities to live life in its’ fullest. I wanted to examine these objectives further and detect how do these trainings delimit the rules of self formation. Inspired by Michael Foucault’s (1986) theoretical work on ‘technologies of the self’, I ask how do these trainings set rules for the subject’s self-transformation?

When being in class, learning, or having a test, pupils may feel a wide range of emotions. These emotions play an important role in learning, influencing learning behavior and performance. Learning can be defined as both a cognitive and affective process. During this process, any activity the pupil is engaged in, and any interaction with others, is likely to trigger one or several emotions (Orlova, Ebiner & Genoud, 2015). Therefore, many studies have been conducted to understand the role of emotions, both positive and negative, in school and particularly when learning. They have shown that the induction of pleasant emotions can, under certain conditions, improve learning by increasing pupils' interest as well as their involvement in the task they have to do. On the contrary, the induction of unpleasant emotions can delay, constrain learning, by decreasing pupils' interest and attention during learning (e.g., Cuisinier, Sanguin-Bruckert, Bruckert, & Clavel, 2010; Espinosa, 2018; Tornare, Cuisinier, Czajkowski & Pons, 2017 ). These results must take into consideration pupils' initial abilities and the type of tasks they are given (Tornare, Cuisinier, Czajkowski & Pons, 2017). Furthermore, a student "with a deficit in his understanding of emotions" would be "less available" for learning (Lafortune, Doudin, Pons & Hancock, 2004, p. 9, our translation).

However, few researches have focused on how these emotions experienced by a pupil remain in his memory (called autobiographical memory) and are likely to play a role in his current and future learning activities and processes. According to the control-value theory of achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006), one’s affective memories of prior learning influence his expectancy of success or failure and his intrinsic learning task value. Our memories can be either consciously activated when we share them or activated automatically, without being aware of it. A stimulus from our environment can bring back to our mind certain memories and their contents, including emotions (Conway, 2005). Besides, studies have shown that the conscious or unconscious activation of memory can influence short-term psychological well-being. Recalling a negative autobiographical memory can negatively affect mental well-being whereas positive effects can be seen when recalling a positive memory (Philippe & Bernard-Desrosiers, 2017).

At school, for example, we could use this memory to help pupils recall certain positive affective memories of learning, "to reactivate knowledge" by "reiterating the same solicitation and the same positive emotions with the pupil " as during the encoding of the initial learning (Delannoy et Lorant-Royer, 2007, p. 70). So far, most research on pupils’ emotions has been conducted in Mathematics, regarding -mostly- anxiety; while studies in other disciplines or regarding other emotions are rather scarce.

Supported by a comprehensive approach, our doctoral research -conducted in France- investigates affective memories of learning situations in two school subjects: Mathematics and French. To what extent do pupils' affective memories of learning influence the emotions they experience in class? To what extent do affective memories participate in the pupils’ school experience and their identity construction as pupils?

The updated Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020, came into effect in April 2021. The Scottish Government (2020) recognises that schools do not hold sole responsibility in shaping the choices of children and young people but do play a key role in supporting healthier dietary choices. Cotton et al (2020) consider teachers as key agents in promoting health and nutrition within schools. The SG's health promotion guidance for schools states that ‘there should be flexibility to allow teachers to promote aspects of health and wellbeing in a holistic way and to make innovative provision within food and health education which addresses current circumstances and meets pupils’ changing needs’ (SG, 2020:14). As part of incorporating these updated guidelines into an integrated masters Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme it seemed fitting to explore preservice teacher’s understanding of this guidance and of food and nutrition education as well as their perceived role in supporting pupils’ with health promoting behaviours.

Health justice is an individual’s moral entitlement to develop a capability to be healthy. Health as ‘meta-capability’ goes beyond the health care provision so that social architecture facilitates a healthy life to allow individuals to flourish (Venkatapuram, 2011). Sen (2001) posits that freedom should be the driver for development and that political frameworks should not define human goals and what is required for human dignity. Walker and Unterhalter (2007) note that although all individuals may be provided with the same information/ knowledge it does not necessarily result in the same educational outcomes for all. Therefore individuals should have opportunities/ freedoms to behave and live in a way they chose to- not just access to resources but an ability to purposefully utilise resources and gain from them in a meaningful way. Race (2006) describes reflection as a process to deepen learning and this process can be used to facilitate and enrich learning dialogues, where teachers and learners can identify what has been achieved and what development is required. According to Nussbaum (2011), if an organisation or system values human flourishing it will address ten core capabilities. Nussbaum's capabilities approach has been used as a theoretical framework for this study in which wellbeing is considered in terms of capabilities and functionings to explore how educators do and could support learners to ‘fulfil one's potential as a human being’ (Nussbaum, 2011). This research explores the question: what are preservice teachers’ understanding of food and nutrition education and their role in supporting pupils’ capabilities in adopting health promoting behaviours? This empirical research study was guided by an interpretivist paradigm based on what Guba and Lincoln (1994:107) describe as ‘epistemological assumptions’ in which knowledge is built through the qualitative study of participants' individual views and lived realities. It focuses on the perceptions and experiences of ITE students from the Master of Education Programme with Primary Teaching Qualification in the University of Glasgow (hereafter, UofG). Although this study took place in one ITE institution in Scotland, it is also relevant for other ITE educators in the UK, Europe and other global countries that have responsibility for supporting preservice teachers to understand their role in providing effective support in schools for pupils to develop health promoting behaviours through effective food and nutrition education. This study can also be used in developing health and wellbeing career long professional learning experiences for teachers.

Schools are most successful when they respond to the academic, social and emotional needs of students. The wellbeing principles influence not only the content of the curriculum, but also how teachers structure their teaching and learning and the opportunities they create for children to practice socialisation. Teachers are therefore key agents in delivering the wellbeing agenda. In this research, we present teachers’ experiences with and perceptions of a novel socioemotional learning programme utilising puppetry and storytelling. Specifically, we examined teachers’ perceived benefits of the programme to the children, the impact of the programme on their own knowledge and self-efficacy, and the evaluation of the programme as a professional development tool.

Health and wellbeing education has been recognised as a priority globally, with national and local initiatives promoting and embedding socioemotional learning (SEL) across the curricula (European Commission, 2018; UNESCO, 2021). There is unequivocal evidence that health and wellbeing education and education outcomes are synergistic (Bonell et al., 2014). SEL not only promotes individual wellbeing and reduces mental health difficulties, but is also positively related with school success, school attitudes, behaviours, and learning outcomes, ultimately preparing children for the challenges of the outside world and equipping them with skills and tools for engaged citizenship (European Commission, 2021). Schools have been recognised as key contexts for prompting health and wellbeing, as they offer a platform and safe space for socialisation and the development of key social and emotional competencies. However, little is known about how well-equipped and well-supported teachers feel in delivering the wellbeing education agenda.

Since health and wellbeing education is fundamental for equipping learners for the challenges of the modern world and for realising equity and social justice, it is imperative that key stakeholders – teachers – are also equipped with skills and feel confident in teaching health and wellbeing, as well as feel supported in responding to the diverse needs of learners. Evidence from the literature, suggest significant gaps in professional development opportunities for teachers, in the areas of health and wellbeing education (Byrne et al., 2018; Otten et al., 2022). Confidence in the topic is often cited as a main barrier and challenge: teachers’ understanding of the value of health and wellbeing is crucial for a sustained impact. Professional development initiatives that promote health and wellbeing literacy amongst teachers, prove most effective and successful when contextualised, modelled and delivered in a collaborative, adaptive way (Otten et al., 2022). Supportive environment, climate of care, commitment from the leadership and a school ethos are also cited among the key factors influencing teachers identity as health and wellbeing promoters (Byrne et al., 2018; Spratt, 2016).

This research examined teachers’ experiences with and perspectives on an SEL programme utilising the power of puppetry and storytelling, focusing specifically on their evaluation of the programme as a teacher development tool. We focus on exploring the impact of the programme on teachers’ self-efficacy and the classroom environment. Teachers’ self-efficacy, which plays a significant role in their practice, influences their resilience, persistence and motivation (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2007), and is found to rely on both internal factors (e.g. knowledge, values, confidence) and environmental factors (community, leadership support). It is therefore imperative to evaluate the SEL intervention, with respect to these areas.

In recent years, many countries across the world have embarked on a quest to reinvent their national curricula, reflecting the global trend of policy-borrowing (Ball, 2016; Sinnema and Aitken, 2013). While these curricula retain unique characteristics, there are a number of commonalities that these reforms have been shown to share, viz. the emphasis on 21^st century skills, student-centred learning, and a greater emphasis on pedagogical approaches that are believed to improve student performance and granting teachers a more devolved role in curriculum-making. This study will focus on this latter aspect of curriculum reform, specifically the effect of these reforms on teacher agency (Priestley & Biesta, 2013).

The most recent major iteration of curriculum reform within the state of Georgia has been structured and implemented with a specific emphasis on these particular areas, which is an unprecedented occurrence in the history of education in this country (Silagadze, 2019; Li et al., 2019; Djakeli, 2019). Since Georgia is treading in uncharted waters with these changes, it remains uncertain as to the effects these structural shifts are having on the teaching profession and the extent to which they are fulfilling one of their stated objectives of enhancing teacher’s role in curriculum-making. This study aims to provide an in-depth evaluation of the ways in which the ongoing re-structurisation of the Georgian National Curriculum for Primary and Secondary schools enable or constrain teachers as curricular agents.

The central research question the thesis intends to answer is the following: Do the recent changes in the Georgian National Curriculum enable or constrain teacher agency?

The study also aims to answer the following subsidiary research questions:

- How does curriculum-making take place across different institutional sites in Georgia (from macro to nano)?

- How is teacher agency articulated in Georgia’s National Curriculum and associated texts?

- How do teachers perceive and exercise their agency in the classroom within the frames of the new National Curriculum?

- Overall, do the recent changes in the Georgian National Curriculum enable or constrain teacher agency?

The study will draw upon the conceptual lens developed by Priestley and Philippou (2018, p. 154) that regards curriculum-making as a complex series of processes taking place across multiple sites that intersect and interact with one another in ‘unpredictable and context-specific ways’, often leading to differential practices and realities ‘wherein power flows in non-linear ways, thus blurring boundaries between these multiple sites.’

This will enable a systemic understanding of curriculum-making as dynamic interactions ranging from individual pupils and teachers (nano) to the international layer (supra). Further, this conceptual framework will enable an in-depth examination of how different actors interact across multiple sites with a particular focus on teachers as curriculum makers and therefore as agentic practitioners within the context of the new National Curriculum. The study will rely on the ecological model of teacher agency consisting of three core dimensions: Iterational, projective and practical-evaluative (Biesta et al. 2015). The three-dimensional model will facilitate an understanding of how teacher agency is enabled and/or constrained by cultural, structural and material sources available in multiple sites of curriculum-making in Georgia. Further, the ecological approach to teacher agency will enable to explore how teachers interpret and execute the new curriculum in ways that may contradict policy goals, and if such actions result in a discrepancy between intended and actual outcomes, as well as unforeseen consequences.

With increasingly diverse international student profiles, higher education is challenged to enable educational relationships amidst complexity and intersectionality. The purpose of education in contemporary society has received concerted attention (Biesta, 2008, Deng, 2022, Noddings, 2013), focusing on human development and the expansion of both individual and collective capabilities. The question of how these “different combinations of human functionings by people, groups or both” (Deng, 2021: 1662) can be supported by curriculum is answered by a diverse range of voices, some cohering, many contesting.

Set against this increasingly global but contested curriculum landscape, this paper presents a re-envisioned interpretation of curriculum as encounter to examine how student collegiality as a peer-to-peer engagement process can be supported in undergraduate business programmes. Collegiality is recognised as one of the most enduring foundational premises of higher education (Burnes et al., 2014, Fielding, 1999) and espoused as a core value by academic professionals (Macfarlane, 2016). Despite widespread recognition of its importance, a lack of definitional clarity in extant literature remains, which in combination with the use of collegiality to cover a wide range of meanings and interpretations results in an almost mythical quality to the concept (Scoles et al., 2021).

This research extends Fielding’s (1999) radical collegiality as a communal educational practice linked to the development of democracy, thwarting traditional power relations where students are partners, not objects in their learning process. Curriculum as encounter thus provides a theoretical framework built on Greene’s (1993) observation that curriculum always emerges from the interplay between “conceptions of knowledge, conceptions of human beings and conceptions of social order”. Encounters imply conversations, complicated by many factors of the contextuality of time and place, individuality, prior knowledge, and interest or disinterest, of the respective interlocutors (Pinar, 2011). Reimagining curriculum as a lived experience allows the inclusive power of conversation to bring in previously silenced voices in an evolving way “never reaching a final conclusion, always incomplete, but richer and more densely woven” Greene (1993: 213).

Conceptions of knowledge and questions of why and whose knowledge are valuable remain critical in curriculum development, shaped by multiple influences (Priestley et al., 2021). Encounters offer potential to break with the mundane, to challenge perceived realities and inherent ideological and political influences in hierarchical structures of knowledge. Conceptions of human beings address the abstraction and indifference in curriculum in favour of personalisation to foster diversity and inclusion. The “scholarship of the self”, explained by Style (2014: 67) as students’ “lived experiences, stories and methods of meaning-making”, are integrated with objective academic knowledge through "respectful encounter". The sharing of personal stories and experiences through inner thought and open dialogue can enable deeper understanding and both subjective and social reconstruction (Pinar, 2011). Private and public learning are thus inseparable, where the self is not a fixed, separate, or predefined state but one that is continuously evolving, becoming intersubjective through dialogue and narrative. The individual is inherently linked as part of the collective, an amalgamation of “provinces of meaning” (Greene, 1977: 287). Conceptions of social order form the basis for more democratic education not alone in the recognition of difference but in the confrontation of systemic oppression or stereotyping where true citizenship agency is activated. This reflexive form of collective community that curriculum as encounter engenders, contributes to an always evolving democratic ideal. Encounters between students and curricular content leads to cultivation of capabilities and dispositions (Deng, 2017) while exchange of stories from different perspectives “bring something into being that is in-between” (Greene, 1993: 219). This milieu of interconnecting relationships holds potential to be transformational, a collective sense of becoming not just being, of envisioning the possible.

The aggravation of political conflicts in the context of the disproportion in the socio-economic development of the countries of the world led to a record forced migration of the population. The diversity of cultures and religions, the level of education and other personal characteristics of forced migrants, including their age characteristics - are all factors influencing the process of adaptation and socialization of migrants in host countries (UNESCO, 2022). Highly developed countries, and this is only 1/5 of the countries receiving forced migrants (UNHCR, 2022), are actively developing the concept of Lifelong Learning. According to the Lifelong learning opportunities for all: medium-term strategy 2022–2029 by UNESCO (UNESCO, 2022), mutual learning in a community should be a strategic objective for every local government.

During last 10 years the migrant’s integration policy in England has been aimed at "community cohesion”. At the same moment there were some arguments that multiculturalism has failed, and migrants who do not speak English or do not want to integrate have created "a kind of discomfort and disunity" in British communities. In contrast, the Scottish Government work on migrant integration and welcome them to become an equal part of society. Meanwhile, 2022 became a year of the highest net migration figure ever recorded - 10 million people came to Great Britain (Immigration Statistics, 2022). This increase has resulted in pressures being put on various services including Education (Hepburn, 2020).

The universities take an active position in attracting and training migrants in the age group 18-35 (Hillman N., 2022) and develop a number of initiatives which promote accessibility for displaced people, supporting inclusivity and providing a safe environment for refugees and asylum seekers (UofG, 2022). The local authorities provide language courses for migrants – English for Speakers of Other Languages (Draft Refugee Integration Strategy, 2022) and cooperate with volunteering organizations in local communities to increase the level of socialization of new commers.

At the same moment, 40+ age group has to go through the long lasting process of qualification recognition and goes to the labor market after ESOL courses with a potential decrease in social status doing sometimes unskilled work. The 65+ age group is forced to integrate to the new society through family learning (Future of an Ageing Population) and develop intergenerational learning which let them to overcome the situational and dispositional barriers in education (K. Patricia Cross's,2014)

The solution to the growing problem of declining general literacy levels of the population because of the migrants could be the excysting University of the Third Age (U3A). Supporting by the local authorities they could provide an equal footing with existing courses the acquisition of new qualifications by forced migrant and help them to become an equal part of the society.

Intergenerational learning (IGL) should offer a solution for societal problems in order to support lifelong and life-wide learning as well as maintain and build human and social capital simultaneously (FIM-New Learning, 2008). A change that involves sharing one’s skills and knowledge carries the opportunity for personal development, as teaching is always a form of learning (Vygotsky, 1997).

Some studies have emphasized the importance of learning activities between non-adjacent generations (Tambaum, 2021).

The talents and resources help to build community identity and decreases IGL estrangement as each party can recognize the other’s contributions to the community (Buffel.T., al., 2014).

The concept of IGL has not yet been developed enough to be included as an output of the community development strategies. However, the implementation of the IGL concept at the U3A level can bring them to help in the professional organization of intergenerational learning.

The very recent Dublin Declaration defines Global Education as "education that enables people to reflect critically on the world and their place in it" (GENE, 2022, p. 2). This is a fundamental education in an increasingly interconnected world, where the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and war in Europe are just some of the glaring examples of the challenges humanity is called upon to interface with. Awareness of the responsibility for active participation on the part of everyone is therefore more crucial than ever (UNESCO, 2014).

The research project aims at analysing the Italian context of Universal Civil Service Abroad (Servizio Civile Universale all’estero) as a non-formal learning context from the perspective of Global Citizenship Education (GCE). The Universal Civil Service Abroad (SCU) consists of an experience aimed at young people aged between 18 and 28 years to spend a year of their life abroad collaborating in an international cooperation project managed by NGOs. The SCU programme originated as an alternative to compulsory military service for those who exercised conscientious objection and has now assumed a voluntary nature (Fabbri et al., 2017).

The choice of this context for the research is motivated by the fact that the need to better understand the potential of non-formal educational contexts as places of GCE has been noted in the literature (Le Bourdon, 2018). Furthermore, the aforementioned Dublin Declaration (GENE, 2022, p. 2) contains an explicit reference to non-formal learning contexts as potentially rich educational settings for GCE.

The research aims to investigate possible elements of “global awareness” emerging from young adults during their SCU experience abroad.

The key concept of the research is that of "global awareness" and is intentionally not rigidly defined in advance. However, this does not mean that the choice of this term does not derive from a clear positioning with respect to the research perspective. In fact, the use of the term “global awareness” instead of “global competencies” brings with it a critical perspective of GCE that looks at the object by attempting to disrupt a view exclusively linked to a dominant thought (Andreotti et al., 2019; de Sousa Santos, 2008). Moreover, the research has its theoretical basis in the pedagogy of the oppressed of Freire, which highlights the need for a humanisation process linked to the conquest of freedom that is closely interconnected with responsibility and conscientization oriented towards a process of transformation of reality (Freire, 2000). From this perspective, GCE is therefore closely linked to the individual's reflexive-critical capacity to interpret reality aimed at an action of change.

In particular, the study is oriented towards capturing the emergence of GCE elements during the SCU experience abroad in the presence of significant situations. This viewpoint is anchored in the idea of the encounter between the subject "in" and "with" the world described by Biesta (2021). The scholar describes this encounter as a "call" that the world makes to the subject by means of the situations that the subject finds himself experiencing: the perspective is that of a world seen not only as a functional instrument to fulfil the subject's desires but rather as a world that "calls" and "asks" something of the subject through life situations. The subject is clearly free to respond or not to this 'call' of the world, but according to Biesta, it is precisely in this encounter that the subject makes with the world that he or she meets and understands what it means to exist.

Chinese international students’ negative feelings are often seen as their difficulties in fitting into the local context. From the perspective of host institutions, the notion of ‘transition’ is often underpinned by the discourse of ‘deficiency’ for Chinese international students lacking the necessary skills to manage their learning experience (Ploner, 2018). However, the discussion of the emotional experiences cannot be reduced to the claim of merely presenting the vulnerable subjects and talking about Chinese international students’ ‘deficiency’ when they enter into an unfamiliar educational context, but it rather a way to expand our understanding of emotions affects/effects and retheorize them when we deal with social difference. Also, it is critical to improve the pedagogical practices in classroom to prevent uncomfortable experiences from international students in the first hand, rather than suggesting them to seek for help after they have negative feelings.

Shame and shaming underlie the lived, embodied and overseas experiences of inequality and exclusion, which seem to be veiled by the mainstream discourse of ‘inclusion’ in the higher education that locate the responsibility of overcoming barriers at the individual level (Burke, 2017). Archer (2003) argued that discourse of ‘inclusion’ implicitly requires that the person must fit into the dominant framework, or be excluded either through self-exclusion or through institutional exclusion. In other words, the discourse of ‘inclusion’ works as a form of symbolic violence to make those who are not familiar with the dominant education system feel excluded, and coerces them to transform themselves into ‘standardized’ personhood. For instance, this includes, becoming ‘adaptable’ to the western academic requirements of being critical and independent, and thus being recognized as a qualified pedagogical participant. Therefore, the discourse of ‘inclusion’ may unconsciously perpetuate the problematic deficit model of Chinese international students that they are often described as silent and passive learners, poor written and oral English, lack of critical thinking and emphasising memorisation (Zhu, 2016; Ye, 2018). Chinese international students are asked to ‘fit’ or ‘adapt’ into the UK educational norms, otherwise, they may feel aliened in the classroom. Experiences of shame may play out in ways that Chinese international students regard these academic deficiencies as their personal failures and simply not being the ‘right’ person to study in the UK, and even not ‘good’ enough to deserve the success.

Meanwhile, diversity is often constructed as a positive characteristic to improve the reputation of a university for its commitment to equity and wider participation, usually accompanied by the discourse of assimilation and acculturation (Burke, 2017). One the other hand, ‘difference’ is usually an unspeakable term in the wild education which may trigger anxieties connected to ‘non-traditional’ identities (Burke, 2017). However, the misrecognition and shame can always be hidden behind the ‘seeming to be’ unproblematic discourse of diversity. Diversity in the higher education should welcome different cultures, values, perspectives, dispositions, customs and learning habits, rather than ‘project all that is bad onto those who are different’ (Barnett, 2011, 673). Plenty of literature has presented the difficult and painful adaptation and acculturation process of international students that they need to ‘fit into’ the dominant framework. However, sometimes, these transitional processes may be triggered by a fear of difference which may lead to ‘punishments’. This ‘fear of difference’ can lead to the problematic judgements about students themselves and students from the same cultural background. They may feel inferior compared to those who are familiar with the UK educational system.

The aim of this explorative pilot study is to assess inclusiveness of didactic tools experimented in an Italian school, within a wider action research involving about fifteen teachers focused on giftedness in the national school context.

framework: To talk about inclusive education in Italy in 2023, there is the need to value the long path done to get to one school for all students. In 1977 with a National Law (L. 517, 4 Agosto 1977, n.d.) the public school welcomed all its students, without any differences based on backgrounds, languages, disabilities or any learning difficulties. This has meant opening wide doors to a pedagogical model that valued education more than curriculum, learning to grow up and develop the self. It is granted nowadays that it is possible to act self-competences within a group and not in loneliness (d’Alonzo, 2008). Integration at school meant a development of new interactions not only in class but also with several professions, psychiatrics and psychologists in the first place, and a development of new teachers, special need teachers, with prior attention to a child with disability but responsible also for the class development as the curricular teacher (d’Alonzo, 2008, 2019b; Ministero dell’Istruzione e del Merito, 2022).

To move a step forward towards inclusiveness it is important to look back and focus on milestones that helped Italian schools to become a model (Ianes et al., 2020). Italy started with the integration of students with disability in schools, children used to a different didactic and curriculum and a life project based on oneself. Special education started focusing on the person adding the element of a rich context, trying to fill in the feeling of membership. This need of being part of a group allowed the effort to support the research to find a room for each student within a class and every child in the world. This view is much wider than a simplified didactic to pass content. This process has faced several challenges generated by barriers due to stereotypes, prejudices, fear and impotence, just to mention a few.

On the side of giftedness education, some key elements have been highlighted as well. Specifically, background studies have been focused on differences with mainstream education and non-negotiables. Some criteria have been extracted by the work of Bruce M. Shore (Shore, 2000), Joyce VanTassel-Baska and Tamra Stambaugh (VanTassel-Baska, 2005; VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh, 2005). There is a need for attention to metacognition (as monitoring, evaluation and control of thinking strategies) and its connection to flexibility and accuracy (Shore, 2000). VanTassel-Baska and Stambaugh mention specifically “barriers” that could occur while addressing differentiation: «a) degree of differentiation required b) need to provide advanced learning opportunities beyond grade level, c) philosophical barriers and antipathy of many teachers towards the gifted learner and their needs, d) lack of understood services for the gifted population, and e) lack of services for gifted learners leading to greater neglect» (VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh, 2005, p. 212). To stimulate thinking skills, curriculums should reflect complexity, important issues and enough creativity to provoke a variety of feedbacks. Some methodology suggested are: problem/project based learning, the regular usage of rubrics to assess and, possibly, involving the competences within the educational community other than just the teacher (VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh, 2005).

There is a parallel journey between gifted education and special needs (referring to disabilities and learning difficulties) in mainstream education that let arise amongst several challenges a main one: heterogeneous classroom, several needs, different pace in learning and interests (d’Alonzo, 2019a; VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh, 2005).

My research is trying to answer the question of how the education systems in different countries (Germany, Ireland, and England) are dealing with racism. Fueled by current events around the death of George Floyd and the resulting discussions around racism and structural/institutional racism, I decided to look a bit closer at how this might affect the education system. The PISA, TIMSS, and PMSS studies all showed drastic differences in achievement levels for children with an international family history compared to their native counterparts. Following that, I looked into the differences in the government documents that give guidance/advice and instructions to the education systems of these three countries, as well as the teacher training, and what the curriculum includes about racism and the different school curriculums. My research questions are:

* How are racism and discrimination in the documents of official organs inside the education system addressed, and do these documents include calls to action?
* What kind of pedagogical approach is found in the different curricula as well as in the teacher training on how racism is addressed?

The decision to look into Germany, Ireland, and England was made for different reasons. Firstly, they have very different results in the above-mentioned studies, where in England, for example, the children with an international family history perform in some areas even better than their British counterparts. Ireland has overall better results and in Germany, there seems to be a fundamental achievement gap.
The other reason why I am determined to this country constellation is the significantly different historic experiences these countries have made with racism and discrimination which makes them a very interesting subject to look into and see the different routes and developments that have taken place over time in these countries.

Racism is defined as a system that involves the whole society in which an unlawful categorization of people into groups based on their looks, ethnic belonging, or culture is taking place. Following this, that categorization is used to diminish this group and legitimize the creation of a hierarchy.
I will line out the historical development of racism and the historical events that have an impact on the countries and the way they approach racism. Further, I will evaluate how the concept of othering is relevant to the education system and how institutional racism might impact the educational results that children with an international family history are achieving.

My work will also touch on the topic of white fragility to discuss why there seems to be a reluctance to call out racism as an important and present topic in the education system. The choice of wording will also be part of my research, in which manner racism is addressed and how clear the messages go to the education system regarding racism.

Given the impact the teacher has on educational success, the analysis of the teacher education itself regarding the topic of racism and discrimination is imperative. Are new teachers prepared to deal with racism, and if so, how are they trained?

As per my definition of racism as a systematic issue that includes all of society, it is a meaningful topic in education, so determining how children are taught around this is of great importance for our development as a society. Given that institutional racism as such is not necessarily a conscious decision to discriminate against minority members but a result of structural regulations and small acts, it is also important to discuss the topic of bias in this context.

This paper is a part of the PhD project “Educational leadership and development processes at a study programme level”. The project aims to provide knowledge about study programme leaders' and students’ contributions to development processes in higher education (HE) and consists of three studies. This paper addresses study III in the project: “The student's voice in development processes in higher education: A qualitative study exploring how students experience involvement in development processes in health profession study programmes”.

Introduction

European guidelines for HE emphasises that students are crucial co-actors in shaping HE policy and practice (Borch, 2020; EHEA, 2015). Student involvement occurs at different organisational levels and comes in various forms. This study limits its focus to students’ involvement in development processes at the study programme level. More precisely, we (me as a PhD student and 3 supervisors) explore how students experience being involved in the development of the programme, including the various courses, the teaching and learning activities and ongoing educational development projects. Additionally, we examine how they experience student partnership with study programme leaders in these development processes.

Active participation and collaboration of students with study programme leaders and teaching staff in designing, implementing, and evaluating their education are essential for enhancing educational quality. Examples include developing comprehensive, coherent, and relevant programmes as well as increasing students' learning (Ashwin, 2014; Borch, 2020; EHEA, 2015; Ministry of Education and Research, 2017; Mulford et al., 2004; Stensaker et al., 2018). Previous research emphasises that study programme leaders play a key role in facilitating student involvement in such development processes, but it points out that there is a demand for more knowledge about how students experience being involved in these processes (Cahill et al., 2015; Frisk et al., 2021; Haugen et al., 2023; Stensaker et al., 2018). Additionally, gaining insight into how students experience collaboration with study programme leaders in such processes is required (Stensaker et al., 2018), as it can provide valuable perspectives for enhancing student learning, fostering inclusive environments, and developing high-quality study programmes (Gravett & Winstone, 2022; Lygo-Baker et al., 2019; Trowler, 2010).

The current paper explores how students participate in developing Norwegian health profession study programmes. Norwegian HE is internationally relevant, as it has undergone quality reforms in recent years as part of the Bologna Process, similar to other European countries (Stensaker et al., 2018). All study programmes in Norwegian HE conform to general European quality assurance principles and credit measurement systems (Elken and Stensaker, 2018; Tellmann et al., 2021; EHEA, 2015). Moreover, student involvement in development processes in health profession study programmes is interesting because these programmes admit varying numbers of students, ranging from 25 to 600, and have close ties to the field of practice and national/international networks (Tellmann et al., 2021). We assume that knowledge from the current study can be transferable to study programmes in general since health profession study programmes adhere to standard European HE guidelines (EHEA, 2015).

Given this introduction, this paper aims to describe and explore how students experience involvement in development processes in health profession study programmes. The following research question is addressed: How do students experience involvement in development processes in their health profession study programmes?

Theoretical perspectivesThis study utilises an inductive analysis approach, where theoretical perspectives will be selected after analysing the data thoroughly. We will then use these perspectives to explore and discuss our findings.

In this research, we compared the effectiveness of different learning platforms to provide effective online learning feedback for 7th and 8th grade physics students. One of the most difficult tasks is to test the ability of students to solve problems during online learning. Therefore, we conducted a study using the effectiveness of several of the most convenient and accessible to everyone in order to control the student's work when performing group, pair and individual work and give him effective feedback.

The importance of applying the act in feedback

Most of us think that mistakes are bad and are evidence of major failures. To maximize our academic achievement, we should ask "How can we make the most of all our mistakes?".

In modern times, the accurate functioning of feedback is a necessary condition for an effective learning process. When studying the research of scientists on this issue^[8], we identified some aspects, defined as, in particular, feedback - this is a tool that gives an idea of ​​how the learning process works, informs the teacher about the achievements and problems of students, allows you to achieve the goal and solve educational problems.

John Hattie believes that feedback is a source of information to determine the level of student performance, to fill the cognitive potential and determine the next steps in action; In a study by Juve (2004), this creates a result between action and result. Dinnen (2011) suggests that feedback is a way to help the other person consider changes in their actions and learn about their impact on others

^[9]

. More precisely, feedback is a method of examining the effect and outcome of student information

^[10]

. Bill Gates - The power of feedback is enormous because this mission produces effective results. It is emphasized that effective feedback is more important than learning itself. Scientific papers describe such characteristics of feedback as purposefulness, constructiveness, usefulness, timeliness, clarity and reliability

^[8]

. The purpose means that feedback should be given taking into account the individual abilities and interests of students, it should increase the value and significance of self-assessment, and not reduce it

^[11]

.

• Constructiveness: in case of feedback it is necessary to express one's position on the information heard without judging the person;
• usefulness: the information provided in the feedback form should help solve problems;
• timeliness: the sooner the feedback, the better;
• clarity: this should be done in specific, unambiguous phrases;
• Reliability: the information provided by the feedback should be reliable and reflect the real situation of the case^[1].

Speaking about the features of effective feedback, one cannot fail to mention such tasks as monitoring and evaluation, stimulation, development, confirmation of the past, and the formation of responsibility in the student. Stages of behavior change - resistance, emotional anger, implementation, acceptance of a new model. We do not notice some feedback errors, for example, embellishment, taking into account the advantages of the past, combination with demand, subjectivism, negative emotional background, assumptions.

By resilience we are referring to an individual's ability to bounce back despite the adversities to which they are exposed, by analogy to what we mean by the resilience of physical materials recovering from shock or breakage. If in psychology the concept of psychological resilience is used with the meaning of

“positive adaptation, or the ability to maintain or regain mental health, despite experiencing adversity” (Herrman, et al., 2011, p. 259), in educational sciences, we define academic or educational resilience as “the heightened likelihood of success in school and other life accomplishments despite environmental adversities brought about by early traits, con[1]ditions, and experiences” (Wang, Haertal, & Walberg, 1994, p. 46).

Internationally, the importance of resilience in the training and development of learners and in lifelong learning is increasingly highlighted. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has introduced resilience education as a key policy direction for education in 2021 (OECD, 2021) and the World Economic Forum has included resilience in its list of 10 key competences for 2025 (World Economic Forum, 2020).

Martin & Marsh (2006) developed the a 5-C theoretical model of academic resilience, which describe the main protective factors (personal resources) that students may use in order to overcome the difficulties that occur in the learning procces. These predictors of educational resilience are: confidence (self-efficacy), coordination (planning), control, composure (low anxiety), and commitment (persistence). Based on this model, we aim to develop a short and simple scale assessing resilience at the classroom level. This tool can be useful for teachers to evaluate and reflect on the level of resilience of the educational climate.

Usually, educational climate is characterised as positive or negative (Hamlin, 2021), even though it involves multiple dimentions referring to "the relational, social, psychological, affective, intellectual, cultural, and moral environment that characterizes educational activity" (Bocos, Răduț-Taciu, & Stan, 2016, p. 207). Doll et al. (2010) developed the ClassMaps Survey, that is a tool for describing the learning environment from the perspective of students. The items of the scale target the 5 factors that describe a positive educational climate: teacher-student relationship, peer relationship, academic efficacy, self determination, behavioral self-control (Doll, 2013). The second objective of our research is to verify if the students' perceptions of the educational climate correspond to teachers' perceptions of it.

Lastly, when we are reffering to resilient classroom, an important role is played by the teacher-student and peer relationships that are established. Therefore, we decided to investigate whether is the quality of the teacher-student relationship or the quantity (time spent together) that matter the most in building up resilient classrooms?