Conference Agenda

In 2024, EERA celebrates its 30^th anniversary. This makes ECER 2024 in Nicosia the ideal moment to look back at the previous conferences in order to get a grasp of the central topics that were addressed throughout the years. This is precisely the focus of this EERA session. The session starts with a presentation of the preliminary results of an empirical analysis of the ECER abstracts database identifying the most important topics that were addressed in the previous three decades. This is followed by a panel discussion in which is explored what this means for the field: Which topics have been dominating European educational research, what has been under-addressed so far, and where do we see promising and necessary pathways for the future?

This EERA session is part of an ongoing research project aimed at identifying the most important themes or research topics (both substantive and methodological) that have been addressed in the previous decennia of European Conferences on Educational Research. The aim is to create an overview of the very diverse work that has already been done in the field, in doing so offering an insight into which research topics dominate the field. The focus of the research project purposefully supersedes the level of the individual networks, using abstracts across the networks as a window into what European educational research these past years has been about.

The session pivots around the results of an empirical analysis of the ECER abstracts database. This is done through topic modelling, which is an automated content analysis technique for the analysis of large corpora (Arora et al., 2018). It is a powerful text mining technique that derives latent meaning from a body of text by investigating large patterns over multiple documents. This general approach is also called distant reading (Wiedemann, 2013). Topic modelling reduces the complexity of a corpus by finding topics, “collections of words that have a high probability of co-occurrence” within documents throughout the corpus (Jaworska & Nanda, 2018, p. 11). A topic model is then a model consisting of several “topics” that together represent the content of the corpus. Every topic has a weight that reflects its importance in the corpus. Taken together, this means that the topics this study identifies are collections of words that are repeatedly used together throughout the analyzed ECER abstracts, in this way representing the most important themes or topics that have been addressed at the conferences.

This symposium series, consisting of three consecutive symposia (3x90 min), is organised by the European network Ecologies of Teacher Induction and Mentoring in Europe (TIME) which has been organised as a network project of the Network 1 “Professional Learning and Development” of EERA since 2021. The aim of the network is to bring together researchers interested in supporting and mentoring new teachers during the induction phase. The network has organised various meetings of researchers to promote cooperation between researchers working on mentoring and induction practices, not only at the ECER conference, but also, for example, at the NERA conference. The network is also in the process of editing a European anthology of this research.

A variety of research and development work on induction and mentoring is explored as a part of teachers’ continuing professional learning and development within a broader ecosystem of educational practices. The research is based on the assumption that induction and mentoring are seen as part of teachers' ongoing professional learning and development and as part of a wider set of practices that can be called an ecosystem of professional development.

The Part 1 of this three-part symposium delves into the multifaceted landscape of teacher development practices across Romania, Moldova, Norway, and Armenia, offering a comprehensive examination of emerging trends and challenges of mentoring practices.

The first paper opens with an analysis of teacher mentoring and induction practices in Romania and Moldova, emphasizing the construction of these concepts in educational policy discourse. By scrutinizing 129 documents, including policy papers, research studies, and conference proceedings, the study reveals variations in implementation and interpretation. Employing the theory of practice architectures, the presenters unravel the non-linear dynamics of mentoring practices, highlighting geopolitical nuances and the impact on beginning teachers' participation.

The second paper discusses teacher education partnerships in Norway, highlighting the critical components for success: skilled leadership, professional learning, and a supporting infrastructure. While positively perceived, partnership models differ, necessitating a rethinking of the connection between campus courses and field experiences. Drawing on historical developments and recent initiatives, the presentation advocates for alignment between partnerships for local competence development and teacher education.

In the third paper, the exploration is extended to Norway's comprehensive revision of teacher education program, introducing a 5-year master-level qualification. The study reveals a research gap in understanding how their acquired research-based competence is acknowledged and supported by school leaders. The theoretical framework of practice architectures guides the analysis, emphasizing the need for informed preparation and inclusive practices during the induction phase. The paper advocates for increased collaboration between NQTs and school leaders.

The fourth paper shifts the focus to Armenia, exploring the conceptualization and practical frameworks of teacher induction and mentoring. The qualitative exploratory study unveils the unique landscape of mentoring practices, emphasizing its role in supporting continuing teachers new to the school. Amidst recent educational reforms, the study probes into the affordances and constraints for induction and mentoring, shedding light on the evolving policy discourses within the Armenian educational system.

We examined teacher mentoring and induction practices in Romania and Moldova, focusing on how these concepts are constructed in educational policy discourse. While both countries recognize mentoring and induction in their policies, variations exist in their implementation and interpretation. Our data set comprised 129 documents, 81 of which are from Romania and 48 from Moldova. Policy documents, research studies, conference proceedings, nationally implemented projects, and international reports are the several categories into which documents in our data set fall. The time frame under investigation is 2011– June 2023 for Romania and 2014– June 2023 for Moldova. Furthermore, we carried out several case studies, specifically concentrating on teacher mentorship and induction, and analyzed 11 thematic initiatives in Romania since 2011 and 4 projects in Moldova. To further our knowledge, we revisited interviews with starting teachers from previous studies (Mitescu-Lupu, 2012; Mitescu, 2014). The positions theory (Davies & Harré, 1990) and architecture of practice theory (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008) were employed in data analysis. Our findings indicate that Moldova views induction as a supportive service, while Romania sees it as supervision. Romania has re-examined mentoring to reshape it as a support strategy but struggles with its implementation. The questions we address in this presentation are: what explains the non-linearity of emerging mentoring and induction practices, and how does it impact beginning teachers’ participation in mentoring? We contend that geopolitical nuances are essential in understanding the relationship between mentoring practices and the conditions in the countries we looked at, where we found that policy alignment often lacks critique and serves political communication strategies. Policy discourse in Romania emphasizes European norms without critical engagement, while in Moldova, alignment reflects a shift away from post-Soviet affiliations. These practices shape teacher identities. Changing mentoring practices requires changing practice architectures (Kemmis et al., 2014). As policies alone prove insufficient to prompt immediate transformations of mentoring practices, we discuss a number of potentially recommendable directions of action, such as the open communication between policymakers, practitioners, and researchers; reassessment of knowledge production and circulation practices in education, along with identifying steps towards decolonizing and diversifying these practices; critically reflecting on conceptualizations of mentoring and induction all categories of participants in these practices operate with. We conclude that mentoring practices' effectiveness depends on the infrastructure of support, training, and communication. Long-term, sustained transformations are needed to support diverse participation and conceptualize changes in mentoring and induction practices in both countries.

Davies, B., & Harré, R. (1990). Positioning: The discursive production of selves. Journal for the theory of social behavior, 20 (1), 43-63. Kemmis, S. & Grootenboer, P. (2008). Situating praxis in practice: practice architectures and the cultural, social and material conditions for practice. In s. Kemmis & T.J. Smith (eds.) Enabling praxis: Challenges for education, pp. 37 -64. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Kemmis, S., Heikkinen, H. L., Fransson, G., Aspfors, J., & Edwards-Groves, C. (2014). Mentoring of new teachers as a contested practice: Supervision, support and collaborative self-development. Teaching and teacher education, 43, 154-164. Mitescu-Lupu, M. (2012) Învățare și profesionalizare în domeniul didactic, Editura Univ. Al.I.Cuza, Iași, România. Mitescu, M. (2014). A Synopsis on Teachers' Learning during Early Stages of Professional Practice. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 149, 595-601, DOI:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.08.233.

Sub-paper had to be withdrawn

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Norway undertook a comprehensive revision of its teacher education programs in 2017, introducing a 5-year master-level qualification for primary and secondary school teachers to address challenges in schools. These challenges included low student performance in core subjects and criticisms of teacher education for being fragmented and too general (Trippestad et al., 2017). The revised programs now emphasize subject specialization in three or four subjects and the development of teachers' research knowledge in scientific theories and methods. This shift aims to better prepare teachers for continuous professional development. However, a significant research gap exists regarding how Norwegian Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) with master's degrees experience leadership practices, posing a potential risk that their research-based competence may not be effectively utilized in educational settings. The current research question is whether and how the research-based competence acquired during teacher education is acknowledged and supported by school leaders for NQTs. The theoretical framework employed for analysis is the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008), emphasizing practices as social phenomena and highlighting three intersubjective spaces where participants interact: through language, in the material world's space-time, and in social relationships. Data collection involves two studies: 1. STEP Study: Conducted through semi-structured interviews (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2018) with eight principals in 2023, focusing on how principals perceive and support NQTs during their initial years of practice. 2. RELEMAST Study: Semi-structured interviews with 27 NQTs at intervals of one, two, three, and five years after completing a piloted master's level teacher education at UiT the Arctic University in Norway from 2015 to 2017. Specific guides developed for each year to capture changes in NQTs' experiences of using research-based knowledge during professional development and how it is received by their leadership. Data analysis follows the thematic approach (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Principals express positivity toward NQTs' new research-based competence but lack in-depth knowledge about it. While supportive of established traditions, they demonstrate a lack of initiative in utilizing this competence during the induction phase. Some NQTs themselves seem to contribute new knowledge to the schools. However, principals often maintain distant relationships with NQTs, delegating support to mentors or teams. There is a notable absence of arenas for NQTs to contribute their competence, indicating a gap in informing and preparing schools and principals for the arrival and inclusion of new NQTs and their unique competencies.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2018). Doing Interviews. Retrieved from http://digital.casalini.it/9781526426093 Kemmis, S., & Grootenboer, P. (2008). Situation praxis in practic. In S. Kemmis & T. J. Smith (Eds.), Enabling praxis: Challenges for education (pedagory, education and praxis) (pp. 37‐62). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Werler, T. (2017). Learning Sciences reconfiguring Authority in Teacher Education. In T. A. Trippestad, A. Swennen, & T. Werler (Eds.), The Struggle for Teacher Education. International Perspectives on Governance and Reforms (pp. 131-147). Bloomsbury Publising.

Generally, mentoring is seen as a supportive strategy for beginning teachers (Pennanen et al., 2015, European Commission, 2010). Mentoring has become the most popular form of teacher induction, impacting the interchangeable use of mentoring and induction (Ingersoll and Smith, 2004). However, the loose utilisation of these terms in the literature suggests a conceptual confusion about their employment. Hence, mentoring has been described as a poorly defined practice that is weakly conceptualised and theorised (Colley, 2003, Bozeman and Feeney, 2007). There is a growing literature that theorises mentoring as social practice (Kemmis, Heikkinen, et al., 2014), hence it is understood as a special kind of social practice that exists amid other social practices (Heikkinen, 2020). Within that understanding, I’ll introduce mentoring and induction practices by presenting their special characteristics and historical developments within the studied educational and political settings. In Armenia, mentoring is also seen as a means of supporting continuing teachers who are new to the school, not to the system. Moreover, mentoring and induction are not officially regulated by the relevant laws (UNICEF, 2022) but highly depend on individual school arrangements and regulations. In this study, I explore the notion of teacher induction and mentoring within the Armenian educational system to reveal the conceptualisation and practical frameworks that underpin induction and mentoring. In the framework of recent educational reforms in Armenia, there is a growing interest in induction and mentoring in policy discourses in the country, particularly within the context of SEN education, continuous teacher development, and teacher shortage. This is a qualitative exploratory study aiming to understand the state of mentoring and induction within the Armenian educational system, understand the conceptualisation of those two notions within various educational documents, and examine the affordances and constraints for induction and mentoring. To this end, I address the following research question: How are the concepts of induction and mentoring, their function and their relationship to teacher continuous professional learning and development conceptualised at the levels of policy and practice? Using the theory of practice architecture (Kemmis and Grootenboer, 2008) I will explore the specific material-economic, social-political and cultural-discursive arrangements to understand the internationally recognisable conceptualisations of mentoring and induction to be able to examine and explain conceptualisations of those two notions within Armenian educational landscape. The data for this analysis consists of policy documents, reviews of research literature and national/international reports documenting teachers’ participation and approaches to mentoring and induction.

Colley, H. (2003). “Engagement Mentoring for ‘Disaffected’ Youth: A New Model of Mentoring for Social Inclusion.” British Educational Research Journal 29 (4): 521–542. Heikkinen, H. L. T. (2020). Understanding mentoring within an ecosystem of practices. In K.-R. Olsen, E. M. Bjerkholt & H. L. T. Heikkinen (Eds.), New teachers in Nordic countries – ecologies of mentoring and induction (Ch. 1, pp. 27–47). Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk. Ingersoll, R. M., and T. M. Smith. (2004). “Do Teacher Induction and Mentoring Matter?” NASSP Bulletin88: 28 40.10.1177/019263650408863803 Kemmis, S. and Grootenboer, P. (2008). Situating praxis in practice: practice architectures and the cultural, social and material conditions for practice. In s. Kemmis & T.J. Smith (eds.) enabling praxis: Challenges for education (pp. 37 -64). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Kemmis, S., Heikkinen, H. L., Fransson, G., Aspfors, J., and Edwards-Groves, C. (2014). Mentoring of new teachers as a contested practice: Supervision, support and collaborative self-development. Teaching and teacher education, 43, 154-164 Pennanen, M., Bristol, L., Wilkinson, J., and Heikkinen, H.L.T (2015). What is ‘good’ mentoring? Understanding mentoring practices of teacher induction through case studies of Finland and Australia. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2015.1083045

Several decades of teacher effectiveness research show clear correlations between teachers' ability to adapt instruction to students' needs and students' learning gains. For teachers to develop this complex adaptive ability, however, at least 15 years of professional experience is often required (van den Hurk et al, 2016). At the same time, societal developments in the 21st century have resulted in teachers today encountering a highly diverging population of pupils, wherefore attempts to accelerate teachers' ability to adapt instruction to students' needs are considered urgent (Ibid.).

This study was carried out in Sweden, where operational responsibility for students’ schooling rests at the municipal level. Overall regulation is provided by the National Agency for Education (NAE) via curricula, grading criteria, and national tests, but local school professionals enjoy a high degree of freedom regarding the design of instruction and assessment. The last 15 years, however, the state has increasingly taken control of the substantive and methodological focus of instructional improvement efforts, by providing state grants to municipalities committing to work with national-scale teacher professional development (PD) programs in content areas designated by the state as particularly important. The most extensive efforts have been directed at mathematics and literacy instruction, with the expressed goal to strengthen Swedish teachers' ability to adapt instruction to students' varying needs. Within the national PD programs, teachers work according to a fixed cyclical model including text reading, testing given methods in the classroom, and discussing in 'collegial learning groups'. As these programs are linked to extra funding, their content and associated working methods have come to occupy a large part of Swedish teachers’ annually allocated PD time.

One of few research studies on the national programs' impact on students' results shows that the program aimed at mathematics instruction had a small but statistically significant impact on teachers' instructional practices but no effect for student achievement (Lindvall et al., 2022). Moreover, neither national grade statistics nor internationally comparative knowledge measurements show any increase in students' knowledge results to date (Skolverket, 2023). Thus, it can be questioned whether such efforts, given their enormous financial cost, are effective in raising teachers' ability to adapt instruction to students' needs. There is also concern that the dense flow of general solutions provided from school authorities risks reducing rather than strengthening teachers' agency and ability to analyse the needs of their own student base (Engström, 2022; Jahnke & Hirsh, 2021).

This study stems from a three-year R&D collaboration - involving three researchers and 170 teachers - initiated as a reaction to the development described above, where general prescriptions for instructional improvement are served top-down from school authorities. The collaboration’s overall design is grounded in the activity theoretical frameworks of Expansive learning and Transformative Agency by Double Stimulation (Engeström & Sannino, 2010; Sannino 2022; Vygotsky, 1997/1931). Since expansive learning implies that the collaboration taking place is about jointly learning ‘something not yet there’, the researchers' role is not to share a predetermined method for the participants to implement. Instead, double stimulation is regarded as a core mechanism to guide and strengthen the transformative agency of the actors working with the changes in practice. Hence, the role of researchers is to provide stimuli that evoke and contribute to maintaining a transformation process led and owned by the practitioners.

This study aims to contribute knowledge about teachers’ professional development through:

• Presenting a theory of action for teachers’ use of assessment information for needs-based instructional improvement that recognizes multidimensional professional knowledge and stimulates agentive action.
• Exploring how that theory is put into practice by teachers and what effects it potentially entails regarding students' and teachers' knowledge development.

Urban areas across Europe are characterized by increased diversity. This is reflected in the school populations in these areas with a high degree of heterogeneity and diverse learning needs (Smets & Struyven, 2020). Secondary school teachers are expected to adapt their teaching to the diverse educational needs of students through differentiated instruction (DI) (OECD, 2018; UNESCO, 2017). DI is seen as an important domain of educational quality and as an approach for providing equal educational opportunities for all learners (Brevik et al., 2017). According to Tomlinson and Imbeau (2010), the core of DI is the adaptation of learning content, process, product and effect in response to differences in learners' readiness, interests and learning profile. This involves teachers assuming different learning needs in their 1) lesson planning and preparation, 2) selecting materials, 3) lesson activities, 4) classroom organization, and 5) student evaluation and assessment (Prast et al., 2015). DI is included in teachers' competence requirements and part of the educational inspection framework. Most teachers recognize the different learning needs in the classroom and the need to adapt instruction, but few secondary school teachers actually put DI into practice (Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 2017). Letzel et al. (2023) found that teachers in upper secondary schools are more often than not low on the implementation of DI, and do not often implement DI. Several explanations are offered in the literature: Teachers indicate that they do not feel prepared to implement DI, that they lack knowledge and understanding of DI. They find differentiation too complex to incorporate into their teaching practice and doubt its feasibility (Gaitas & Alvas Martins, 2017; Whipple, 2012). Research shows that teacher professional development for teachers is warranted. Langelaan et al. (2024) identified characteristics of teacher programs for DI that were successful to some extent. They incorporated active learning, collaboration and reflection and were often longitudinal, comprehensive and addressed attitudes, knowledge and skills. Understanding of differentiation is cited as a prerequisite for being able to apply DI in practice and teachers' attitudes play a crucial role in their use of differentiated instructional practices (Wan, 2016). Educational innovation and improvement is generally seen as intricate: professional learning of teachers within the school is constantly influenced by the often complex school context in which it is implemented. Factors like the (national) curriculum, policies, various organizational factors, and numerous personal characteristics of teachers and students constantly interplay with school development processes. Dack (2019) found that knowledge about differentiation of candidates developed during a course and that participants integrated the newly acquired knowledge into their existing frameworks of knowledge about teaching and learning, which strengthened their beliefs about the importance of differentiation and their learning. At the same time, teachers are constantly trying to find coherence between their own personal frames of reference and those of the changing context during an innovation (Stollman et al. , 2022). As a result, educational innovations often turn out differently than they were intended by their developers. TPD programs for DI are often initiated and developed by external parties and facilitated by educational experts from outside the school (Dixon et al., 2014). Educational development and improvement driven by the school's own ambition may lead to more sustainable and lasting change (Geijsel et al., 2009). At the same time, the question arises whether schools have the resources, capacity and expertise needed . research question: how and to what extent does a school-led and school driven innovation for DI contribute to teachers conceptions, attitudes and classroom practices concerning differentiated instruction? The innovation was monitored during the course of one school year.

In a neoliberal society, individualistic and technical logics reduces professionals to consumers of development courses (Hardy, 2012). Principals’ professional learning has come to be about carrying through standardized methods on the initiation of school authorities (Aas & Blom, 2017). Such arrangements usually not lead to changes, due to difficulties of transferring content from one practice to another (Forssten Seiser & Söderström, 2022).

The aim of this study is to contribute with an empirical example of principals’ professional learning from a practice perspective, conceptualizing learning as the process of changing practices (Kemmis, 2021).

The theoretical framework used is the Theory of practice architectures (TPA) (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008) and Ecologies of practices (Kemmis et al., 2012). According to TPA a practice are made up of sayings, doings and relatings. Related to these, the practice architectures consist of three kinds of arrangements prefiguring the practice; Cultural-discursive arrangements - the sayings of a practice, mediated through language and discourses; Material-economic arrangements - resources as the physical environment, human and non-human entities, schedules, money and time ; Social-political arrangements- shaping how people relate to other people and to non-human objects, mediated in the social space as rules, hierarchies, solidarities and other relationships. Ecologies of practices takes a wider perspective to focus on how the practices are related to each other in the complex of educational practices.

Katz (2023) argues in his article ¿Quo vadis, América Latina? that local universities and vocational schools in Latin American should be particularly supported in order to promote the training of skilled workers such as engineers and technicians. After all, adequately trained specialists in highly technologised industries could help Latin America's economies to take advantage of opportunities in promising market segments. The argument of strengthening the vocational training system is nothing new. The World Bank report from 1990 already recommended investing in specific areas of vocational training. However, this meant less full-time school-based programmes, as these tended to be considered too expensive and inefficient (Haddad et al. 1990). Then and now, the focus is on vocational education and training programmes, which are partly carried out in companies and therefore have a stronger connection to the world of work than full-time school-based programmes (Álvarez-Galván 2015).

In this context, the transfer of dual training modalities from Germany is sometimes at the center of attention (Gessler/Fuchs/Pilz 2019). In the current discourse, these are addressed as a panacea against structural labour market and social problems (Álvarez-Galván 2015). In light of this, a bilateral agreement was concluded between the German and Costa Rican governments in 2016 at the level of international vocational education and training cooperation. Following the successful completion of the pilot phase of dual training programmes and corresponding adaptation measures to the regional characteristics, the so-called Educación y Formación Técnica Profesional Dual (EFTP Dual) was integrated into the existing VET system as a further option (Láscarez Smith/Baumann 2020).

Although, in particular, dual training programmes such as the EFTP Dual are considered to have enormous potential, certificates of initial vocational training - unlike in Germany - appear to have a low exchange value on the Costa Rican labour market. This phenomenon manifests itself particularly in unequally structured societies in the global South with weakened vocational education and training systems (Allais 2020). In view of this, a dichotomy can be observed between higher education and vocational education and training (Reichenbach 2021). On the one hand, there is the area of general and tertiary education. On the other hand, vocational education and training, which is often seen as a second-best choice at best compared to general and tertiary education (Clement 2014) and has always targeted vulnerable social groups in particular (Beirute Brealey 2018). The tendency towards negative social perceptions of vocational education and training and the resulting low exchange value of the corresponding certificates on the labour market are the focus of this study, which is why the following research questions are investigated:

What structures and recognition mechanisms of certification can be identified for Costa Rica and Germany in initial vocational education and training? How is the current examination process organised in Costa Rica and which instruments are used to measure performance? To what extent do Costa Rican stakeholders in initial vocational education and training see a need to reform the examination and certification system?

Vocational education and training (VET) is conceived by both the EU and OECD as a powerful integration tool to secure immigrants’ permanent work positions (European Commision, 2020; Jeon, 2019). Thus, several European countries have developed policy measures that target newly arrived immigrants’ entry into VET. For example, in Switzerland, access to VET is the main route towards refugees’ labour market integration, and in 2018 a pre-apprenticeship programme was introduced (Aerne & Bonoli, 2023). VET can contribute to labour market integration because it combines practical and work-based forms of learning with language learning, as well as receiving a recognised VET certification after completion that makes it easier to find employment matching the skills developed (Jørgensen, 2022). However, using VET as an integration tool can be challenging. At a system level, state regulations that make VET more inclusive may restrict necessary cooperation between central actors, such as employers and the state (Bonoli & Wilson, 2019). In addition, studies indicate that newly arrived immigrants face several challenges in their process of entering and completing VET. Among these challenges are insufficient information about the education system, problems of fulfilling the prerequisites for entering VET and lack of social networks and ethnic discrimination among employers that make it difficult to secure an apprenticeship contract (Beicht & Walden, 2019; Bonoli & Wilson, 2019; Bredgaard & Thomsen, 2018; Imdorf, 2017; Jeon, 2019).

There is a growing body of studies from various European countries about immigrants’ participation in VET. Within VET research, there has been identified a need for more evidence syntheses as there is a lack of review research (Gessler & Siemer, 2020). To our knowledge, an evidence synthesis about recently arrived immigrants in Europe and VET has not yet been conducted. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of European research literature about this interdisciplinary and dynamically evolving field. For this purpose, we apply a scoping review approach that entails to systematically retrieve and map the breadth of literature on a (particular) topic, field, concept, or issue (Munn et al., 2022). The approach is used to identify research clusters and research gaps that can inform the focus of future research (Levac et al., 2010).

The review will address the following research questions: 1) What are the key characteristics of the existing research? 2) What are the main objectives and challenges reported in the included studies? 3) What are the research gaps identified in the included studies?

Authors: Krisztina Nagy – Email: krisztinasari@gmail.com

Maria Kraiciné Dr. Szokoly - Email: szokoly.maria@ppk.elte.hu

Key words are: migrants, refugees, integration, trainings, language classes, good practices

Backround of the research: Modern migration has been a well-known phenomenon across Europe for years. According to Eurostat, 2.3 million immigrants arrived in the European Union from non-EU countries in 2021. This number was 1.5 million in 2013 and 2.5 million in 2018 (Eurostat, 2021).

The wave of migration with its social, economic, political and other consequences places a heavy burden on the affected countries, among other things, it strongly affects the institutions of public education in the case of children, vocational training in the case of adults, and adult education and training. For the time being, humanitarian issues are in the spotlight and little attention is paid to the adult education aspects of migration, to the situations that need to be solved from an andragogical point of view, and andragogical professional problems that arise, and what answers state, civil and church vocational and adult education institutions can give in each country. . How do they cope with the problems arising from language, cultural and religious differences and how, through what kind of training (catch-up, language, professional, etc.) can they integrate migrant workers with different qualifications into the labor market in a short time.

Goals of the research: the aim of the research is to describe, explain and compare the good practices and experiences of different countries heavily affected by migration. These countries are: Germany, Austria and Hungary. We review the migration background of these countries, as well as how various EU and individual country decisions affect the integration of migrants and refugees living in that country.

Target groups: the target groups of my research are refugee/migrant adults between the ages of 18 and 63 who have arrived from any country and have at least a basic education, including groups that are open to retraining and integration from a physical and mental point of view. I paid particular attention to women in this age group, who are usually at a disadvantage compared to men in terms of their integration and adult learning.

Key questions/objectives:

How does migration affect European adult education organizations?

Is there a uniform organizational/content/methodological EU recommendation for catch-up, language, professional and labor market training for immigrants?

Are there professionals prepared to train immigrants in each country?

In researching the topic, I share the results and experiences of german and austrian researchers, and I also talk about the results of the pilot research conducted with professionals dealing with migrant training in practice in Hungary

Hypotheses

1. Hypothesis: Several international organizations were established for the training of immigrants decades ago, and during the activities of these organizations, as well as the national organizations dealing with migration training in individual countries, many good training practices were realized.

2. Hypothesis: In the examined countries, specially trained specialists deal with the training of immigrants.

3. Hypothesis: In Hungary, the majority of specialists dealing with the integration of third-country nationals are unfamiliar with the concept of integration modules, and no domestic professional dialogue has yet started on its contents. Thus, questions related to the European integration modules, the good practices mentioned in them, and their applicability in Hungary have practically not been put on the agenda yet.

Examined organizations and programs:

• Bertelsmann Foundation's leadership training program
• Federal Office for Migration and Refugees
• Artemisszió Foundation
• Menedék Foundation
• Education and Training 2020
• Arrivo Berlin
• IOM- International Organization of Migration

In an era of globalization, driven by the prevailing neoliberal trend colleges and other higher VET institutions have predominantly focused on measuring their success through criteria such as research excellence and their ability to adapt to the ever-evolving demands of the job market. This development can also be witnessed in Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS), which were established in the mid-1990s.

However, this myopic approach often neglects other vital dimensions of their mission (Marginson, 2023). These institutions play a pivotal role not only in equipping individuals with job-specific skills but also in cultivating responsible citizenship and nurturing the capacity for lifelong learning. It is imperative to recognize that the diversity of post-secondary institutions are not only providers of human capital (Marginson, 2019) with curriculum shaped by labor market needs; rather, they should be esteemed as institutions dedicated to human development, community anchors, the promotion of the public good (Marginson & Yang, 2022), democratic education (Molnar, 2010), the cultivation of civil society and global citizenship (Franco, 2002) – specifically in the field of vocational education and training.

Particularly in countries such as Switzerland, with its coordinated market economy (Hall & Soskice, 2001), educational institutions focus strongly on imparting specific specialist knowledge and awarding corresponding diplomas that are in demand on the labor market. Recent Swiss studies looked mainly on the impact of UAS in regional labor market innovation and development (Lehnert et al, 2020; Pfister et. al., 2021; Schlegel et al., 2022). However, there are no studies examining the civic role of Universities of Applied Sciences or their role in promoting civic education.

This case study is part of an international comparative study on the civic role of post-secondary educational institutions, which focuses on German-speaking countries, the USA and Canada as well as a sample of East Asian educational systems (Kost, Mou & O’Shea, in prep.). The study examines the civic and democracy-promoting role played by such institutions in Switzerland. This includes, in particular, questions about the specific levels at which this is expressed (legal foundations, service contracts, mission statements, curricula, specific events and activities). As a sub-study of an international comparative study, in addition to the presentation of the results for Switzerland, a positioning of the results within the international context is provided, thus offering a variety of points of reference for colleagues from different countries.

VET has a rather heterogeneous reputation worldwide, which causes challenges for various countries. The negative reputation of VET is often associated with higher salaries of academic professions (Kopatz & Pilz, 2015) and social recognition (Bosch & Charest, 2009). This perception coincides with a growing shortage of skilled workers, especially on a mediate qualification level, which makes vocational training even more necessary. However, the challenges vary significantly between countries. This paper provides insights into the general reputation of the public Brazilian VET system and the perception of this system from the perspective of the Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology (FIs). Public and private institutions can provide VET qualifications in the Brazilian Educational System. Whilst upper secondary VET combines general and vocational subjects (including access to tertiary education), apprenticeships focus on 14–24-year-olds on a secondary education level, combining practical and theoretical parts (OECD, 2015). Both approaches offer professionalization towards a specific occupation. Compared to other OECD countries, VET participation in Brazil is low, whilst the upper secondary VET drop-out rate with 11% is high (OECD, 2023). This study aims to identify possible levers to bring the Federal VET system in Brazil closer to young adolescents and to identify acute challenges that cause young adolescents to decide against an educational pathway in the Federal VET system. The available data suggest that VET in general has a rather low reputation in Brazil (OECD, 2023) although there is a huge demand. Therefore, this paper aims to answer the following research questions:

• What is the current reputation of the public VET system in Brazil and what are the reasons for this situation?
• What are students’ aspirations for choosing public VET in Brazil?

To gain a better understanding of the factors influencing the relation between educational opportunities, both rational choice theory (individual level) and the skill ecosystem approach (system level) form the theoretical basis of this paper.

On an individual level, sociological rational choice theory (e.g. Arrow, 1973) is suitable for explaining social phenomena at the aggregate level in a structural-individualistic approach. The basic assumptions of these approaches form a theoretical reference point for the statements of the educational representatives in the interviews conducted within the scope of this explorative study. Rational choice theory posits that young individuals are expected to exhibit rational behaviour when making decisions related to their education. Consequently, they operate in a way that maximizes their utility based on their personal preferences, where action is considered utility-maximizing when individuals select from a range of potential courses of action the one that most effectively advances their desired objectives while incurring minimal costs (Green & Shapiro, 1999). However, young people are limited in their rational behaviour due to the lack of advanced information regarding the anticipated advantages of their educational choices (Arrow, 1973; Garibaldi, 2006; Jovanovic, 1979).

Alligning with a a systemic approach, the skill ecosystem approach offers a holistic understanding. Defined by Finegold (1999) and Brown (2022), this approach perceives educational choices and professionalization being influenced by the present ecosystem, leading to different (area-based) educational and economical pathways, forming a bridge between labour-market-centred demands and policy driven supply. The aim is to offer a holistic, diverse and adaptable approach with a focus on creating solutions to skill-related challenges considering global and local contexts. This approach provides a basis for explaining (regional) differences in terms of educational choice and qualification. Within this study, the focus referring to the skill ecosystem approach are institutional and political framework conditions. This comprises aspects such as legal regulations, governance forms and structures and their public perception, regulations and the negotiation of ethnic standards (Ostendorf, 2019).

International policy transfer in education per se and in Vocational Education and Training in particular has been a topic of interest across the world and across several disciplines (Phillips, 2008; Phillips & Ochs, 2004; Portnoi, 2016; Scott, Terano, Slee, Husbands & Wilkins, 2016; Steiner-Khamsi & Waldow, 2012). The term refers to the process of exchanging and adopting policy measures, reforms, strategies and ideas from one context to another (Dolowitz and Marsh, 2000; Li and Pilz, 2021), either with or without adaption to the new context. With respect to vocational education and training, the apprenticeship training in German-speaking countries has been a role model for many countries all over the world for decades and there were countless attempts to transfer at least elements of it to other regions and countries (e.g. Euler, 2013; Oeben and Klumpp, 2021). In the field of (labour-market related) adult education, policy transfer is less obvious though it was particularly international organizations which “borrowed” concepts of lifelong learning and learnt from one another as regards learning over the lifespan (e.g. Jarvis, 2014). Other examples of policy transfer in education refer to higher education and the Bologna, the learning outcomes orientation, qualifications frameworks or New Public Management tools (in terms of e.g. the use of monitoring or benchmarks in education).

However, there are few compendia that unite different international perspectives about the topic. Literature has tackled TVET in selected countries (Ertl, 2006), the transfer of the dual apprenticeship system to other countries (Gessler, Fuchs & Pilz, 2019; Pilz, 2017) or policy transfer in the field of skills development and skills regimes. There is a significant number of scientific publications that either address policy transfer (or policy learning or policy diffusion) in general or in fields different from education. Those that do address policy transfer in VET do hardy focus on international perspectives on VET development or they are not available in English.

Against this background, this contribution is based on an upcoming handbook on policy transfer in TVET and beyond seen from an international perspective. Approx. 60 scholars from all continents provided insights into policy transfer from a wide spectrum of international perspectives. They explore policy transfer in respect to learning, be it voluntary and purposeful, incidental and accidental or purposeful (Phillips and Schweisfurth, 2011). Also, the book addresses theoretical foundations of policy transfer, methodological approaches to policy transfer studies, skills development in light of the political economy, the impact of international policies, the influence on the politics of international organizations on policy learning across nations, historical reflections, cultural and anthropological perspectives, policy transfer from the global North to the global South as well as new trends in policy transfer. Geographically, the chapters span a wide range of countries including e.g. Cuba, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Ghana, India, Ireland, Northern Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, the USA, the United Arab Emirates or Vietnam.

Curriculum transformation is a global phenomenon that is responsive to various imperatives including institutional, national, global, political and disciplinary demands. In response to the most recent COVID-19 pandemic and the realisation of what was learnt through the national school curriculum that could not prepare learners, schools and parents for uncertain times, a review of curriculum reforms is, therefore, warranted. Drawing from a review of curriculum reforms within South Africa, this paper argues for a more responsive curriculum that resonates with the current and future needs of society complexified by 21^st century innovations, uncertainties and disruptions. Natural disasters, extreme climate conditions, political instabilities and the digital explosion are emerging as a new order globally. As such, education, in its broadest conceptualization must respond to the new order.

The current conceptualisation of the school curriculum within South Africa has not fundamentally changed across its four iterations of curriculum transformation since the introduction of outcomes based education. Taking a curriculum studies perspective to the curriculum reforms within South Africa where the curriculum is the object of inquiry, this paper also presents a critique, illuminating the sustained influence of the Tylor rationale and disciplinary boundedness that continues to shape curriculum reforms and argues that this continued path to curriculum reforms will continue to increase the gap between the social realities and future aspirations of society and curriculum reform policies.

The paper is guided by the following research question: What might a responsive school curriculum be to prepare the learners for an uncertain world context and 21st century skills? Drawing on Michael Apple's (2018) notion of academising the political or polictising the academic, as a theoretical constructs in this paper, curriculum reforms within South Africa since democracy will be critiqued to illuminate the continuances and gaps for a responsive curriculum that will prepare the learners to respond to the immediate socio-economic needs of their lives and to respond to the technological advances that come to shape the way they become, interact in their spaces and beyond and prepare for the uncertain and disruptive future. The paper is also informed by theoretical constructs such as new materialism, entanglement, intra-action (Barad) and affordance (Deleuze) to understand how objects, matter and humans interact to explore new meanings and possibilities along the their (learners') learning journey that will prepare them for the uncertain future.

In recent decades, the dimension of emotions in teacher identity formation has gained increased scholarly attention, underscoring the significance of emotional experiences in shaping the process of identity development (Uitto et al., 2015). The Control-Value Theory, rooted in achievement emotions, has emerged as a prominent theoretical framework within this context (Pekrun, 2006; Pekrun & Perry, 2015). According to this theory, teacher identity, particularly within the classroom context, is intricately linked to an individual's values, perceived control over events, and the emotions elicited or experienced in response to those events. The classroom, as a dynamic and emotionally charged setting, serves as a crucible for the amalgamation of these factors. Positive emotions, such as joy and pride, reinforce a teacher's sense of efficacy and alignment with professional values, contributing to a positive teacher identity. Conversely, negative emotions, such as frustration or disappointment, can pose challenges to identity development, potentially leading to feelings of inadequacy or questioning of professional worth. Burnout, characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment, is a critical factor influencing teachers' emotional experiences and, consequently, their identity formation (Maslach & Leiter, 2016). Burnout often results from prolonged exposure to chronic workplace stressors, impacting teachers' emotional responses and overall professional identity. Teachers facing burnout may perceive a diminished control over their work environment, a misalignment with their values, and a cycle of negative emotions that exacerbate burnout. This synthesis of emotional experiences, values, and perceived control, coupled with the inclusion of burnout, highlights the complexity of teacher identity formation. The Control-Value Theory provides a robust framework for comprehending the interconnectedness of these factors. Furthermore, the incorporation of burnout underscores the practical challenges educators encounter, emphasizing the necessity for comprehensive strategies to support teachers' emotional well-being and foster a positive professional identity.

Study Goal

This study aims to investigate the working reality and the role of teachers in Kosovo, with a particular focus on the challenges associated with the implementation of the curriculum reform and the broader professional reform within the teaching profession in Kosovo, viewed through the lens of the social domain. For reference, the revised Kosovo curriculum for pre-university education has transitioned from a traditional emphasis on knowledge acquisition to a more contemporary approach centered around competence-based teaching and learning. This shift, as highlighted by Perolli-Shehu (2019), underscores the importance of focusing on the competencies essential for students' success in various aspects of life. Saqipi (2019) contends that the current training of teachers lacks adequate preparation for them to perform professionally as required. Specifically, teachers receive training in the techno-rational approach and the implementation of narrow curricula, but insufficient attention is given to supporting children in developing the competencies outlined in the Curriculum Framework.

Consequently, the objective of the actual study is to comprehend the emotions experienced by teachers during the implementation of curricular reforms and the burnout they may undergo. We seek to delve into the nuanced aspects of teachers' experiences, shedding light on the emotional dimensions during the reform processes and exploring the implications of burnout within this context. Through this exploration, we aim to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the socio-professional landscape of education in Kosovo and provide insights that can inform future educational policies and support mechanisms for teachers in the region.

Recent educational reforms in many countries herald the return to the centrality of the teacher at the heart of their implementation (Evans, 2022). In most cases, this renewed emphasis on teachers is explicitly tied to the internationalisation of policy agendas, with teachers primarily described as agents of change at the micro-practice level (Holloway, 2020). It is no surprise that much of teachers’ professional lives—what they purposefully do (agency) and how they see themselves and their roles as teachers (identity)—are often influenced by this constant interplay of local, national, and global policy contexts (Priestly et al., 2015). From a critical realist standpoint, dominant discourses such as those of Bhaskar (1975, 1989) and Archer (1995, 2000, 2012) suggest that in order to understand the complex lives of teachers and how teacher agency is exercised (or underplayed) at the grass-roots level, it is first central to have an understanding of how the mechanisms behind this interplay operate (Munby & Fullan, 2016; Wynn & Williams; 2012). The study seeks to answer the following question: how did teachers enact their agentive roles, facilitating individuals’ professional development while adapting to the needs of learners during curricular reform?

In recent years the social and political impact of various global crises has been at the centre of international (educational) discourse around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the most noteworthy recent events that had immense effects on social and educational structures, as well as living environments and self-perceptions of individuals. The societal and institutional responses to the crisis often aggravated an existing experience of uncertainty for those already at the margins of society. The project Cov_enable: Re-Imagining vulnerabilities in times of crises, funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF (project P 34641-G), has been researching the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on supported living arrangements and schools in Austria.

One of the main principles for COVID-19 response taken by policy and decision makers focused on the protection of groups assumed to be vulnerable or at-risk. Vulnerability, as a concept, has journeyed through varying terrains of understanding, always shaped by historically and socially contingent conditions. Mackenzie, Rogers, and Dodds (2014), by offering a foundational understanding of vulnerability, present a taxonomy of vulnerability consisting of inherent and situational/contextual vulnerability – both closely intertwined. Drawing on this foundational taxonomy, Luna (2019) offers a more granular framework for evaluating layers of vulnerability. Central to Luna's conceptualization is the distinction between the origin and manifestation of these vulnerabilities. While some layers remain dormant, others can act as catalysts, either birthing new vulnerabilities or amplifying existing ones.

Employing a qualitative, participatory, and longitudinal approach, the project tracks how concepts and notions of vulnerability move back, forth, in-between and through the macro (policy and media), meso (organizations), and micro (individuals) levels. A central aim of our efforts is to discern how these evolving discourses shape new practices in inclusive education and supported living arrangements. Moreover, it seeks to understand the implications of these practices on the lives of individuals with disabilities and mental illnesses, especially those initially deemed and labelled as particularly vulnerable.

The focus of this paper lies on supported living arrangements that support people with intellectual, psychiatric, physical or sensory impairments in a variety of settings. The paper portrays the entanglements of personal agencies and experiences, processes of subjectivations, institutional structures, and material realities of selected research participants during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper builds on papers presented at ECER 2020 and 2021, the former focussing on the first phase of a small-scale longitudinal study examining how current and former students on the Into Headship (IH) programme in Scotland supported their school communities during the first lockdown in the UK, with a particular emphasis on children and young people (C&YP) considered to be vulnerable through disability, poverty, being looked after or otherwise disadvantaged. The latter paper drew from the second phase of the study (see methods), drawing from the perspective of participants from the secondary sector (aged 11/12-17/18). This paper draws from the findings from the primary sector (aged 4/5-10/11) and a special school for children with severe and complex needs which shares a campus with a primary school.

The Incheon Declaration sought to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ (Sustainable Development Goal 4) [1]. Yet, even prior to the pandemic, the UNESCO Global Education and Monitoring Report [2] highlighted the dire circumstances of the 28 million children homeless and/or displaced due to conflict across the world and the 124 million children and adolescents not in schooling [3]. Likewise, the first global State of the World Report to focus on the mental health and wellbeing of C&YP drew attention to the disproportionate effects of the hardships experienced by the most disadvantaged C&YP and the fragility of support systems [4, 5].

Across the world, the pandemic has served to amplify and exacerbate these existing inequalities, particularly so for those who are marginalised through poverty, displacement and/or disability [6-9]. The disruption to health and social services in many countries and the failure to facilitate learning for disabled children, together with a lack of support networks, may have compounded mental health issues for C&YP so affected, putting pressure on family life and exposing them to greater risk of abuse and neglect [3,6]. The Health Behaviour in School Children report on Europe identified that adolescents from disadvantaged backgrounds were more likely to report negative effects of the pandemic in two thirds of countries/regions [7] whether or not they were in receipt of support from family, teachers, classmates or peers [8]. In the UK, a study published in Nov 2023 found that there were significant disparities in access to support services between children living in poverty and those living in more affluent areas, with the former more than twice as likely not to be in receipt of support from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services [9]. Thishighlights the key role that schools play as places of learning but also places of safety and belonging.

The quality of school leadership is an essential element in creating schools which are equitable, inclusive, and compassionate in their approach. This requires a focus on the whole school community and on responsive and adaptive leadership which has at its heart inclusive practice and social justice [10]. School leaders have had to navigate an unprecedented landscape of complex and rapid change and therefore the quality of headship preparation programmes becomes crucial in ensuring that prospective headteachers can rise to the challenge.

This small-scale empirical study focusses on Into Headship, a masters-level programme delivered within a single academic year in partnership with Education Scotland. Through examination of the ways in which IH students supported their school communities during and in the aftermath of lockdown, the study seeks to ascertain the degree to and ways in which engagement with the IH programme had prepared them to meet the challenges in order to inform the development of headship programmes globally.

Once we start talking in the classroom about the body and about how we live in our bodies, we’re automatically challenging the way power has orchestrated itself in that particular institutionalized space (hooks, 1994: 136-137).

Schools treat students’ bodies as an ‘absent presence’, that is, bodies are expected to fade in the background, as they are deemed 'disruptive' to learning. Nevertheless, not all bodies have the ‘ability’ to disappear, with some bodies appearing as ‘excessive’, including the disabled body (Mickalko, 2009).

This paper explores the lived experiences of young people with dwarfism of their secondary education in so-called inclusive schools in the United Kingdom. The research questions of the research were:

• How do young people with dwarfism experience and navigate different school spaces of their secondary schools?
• What are their experiences with their teaching assistants?
• What are the experiences with their class teachers?
• What are the experiences with their peers?

Drawing on phenomenological disability studies (Paterson & Hughes, 1999; Titchkosky & Michalko, 2012) and Leder's (1990) concept of 'dys-appearance' (which occurs when the body emerges problematically into direct consciousness), this paper looks into how the bodies of young people with dwarfism appeared as a ‘problem’ in secondary schools.In particular, it considers how the young people’s bodies (were made to) appear as ‘out of time’ and ‘out of place’ or how they dys-appeared in time and space.

Every year in Poland more and more school students are being diagnosed with disabilities, e.g. dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, etc. which results in the growing need to meet their diverse special educational needs (SEN). The changes in the situation of Polish SEN school students started in the late 1970s. Since then the public awareness of SEN students has been slowly growing and they have been granted support at school and in specialised centers. Unfortunately, the support granted by the law is not enough: at schools and universities, SEN students have no freedom of choice of the educational materials (i.e. textbooks/coursebooks) or teaching methods that would be the most suitable for them. The real change in the situation of SEN school students in Poland dates back to 2009 and the introduction of the new core curriculum (Regulation of the Ministry of National Education 2008). Since 2017, in theory, all school students have to be diagnosed in their first years at school so as to be given a chance of early professional support if needed (Pawlak-Kindler 2016).

SEN school students group is not homogeneous and consists of, i.e., mentally disabled, physically disabled ones, those with IQ lower than average, those with disabilities related to senses (sight, hearing, etc.), with speech problems, those different because of their language, increasing numbers of children with experience of exile and migration (Górak-Sosnowska, Markowska-Manista 2023), as well as gifted and talented ones (Zawadzka-Bartnik 2010, Bogdanowicz & Adryjanek 2005, Lewis & Doorlag 1987, Selikowitz 2012, Brzezińska 2014). In our research, we concentrate on two groups: children with a certificate of SEN on the example of dyslexics and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) ones and students without a certificate of SEN on the example of central auditory processing disorders (CAPD). Children from the certificate of SEN group are diagnosed and then given some institutional help, whereas the CAPD is not diagnosed and not given any support in Poland.

In our presentation, we will concentrate on our (scientific) protest (manifesto) against the indirect unequal treatment of some school students of different ages in the present Polish school system. Our research interest is related to research-based solidarity with and the fight for children human rights to sustainable and equal access to proper educational conditions (especially didactic materials and teaching methods and strategies) of school students with SEN who attend public schools in Poland. However, the problem is that the Polish educational system is based on the theory of integration, not inclusion, despite the fact that the issue of inclusive education is one of the priorities of contemporary educational policy. Integration can easily be done and manifested but inclusion is something those in need have to fight for (Zawadzka-Bartnik 2010). Usually, the fight is based only on passive resistance but with the help of our research findings, it can be materialise in the form of recommendations and implementation of inclusive approaches..

Our research questions were as follows:

- how big and diverse is the group of SEN school students who attend public schools in Poland?

- what kind of challenges are addressed by the representatives of SEN students and researchers dealing with this issue?

- what strategies and actions can be implemented to support them in looking for solutions of their problems?

Equity and inclusion have emerged as central pillars of the 2030 Agenda, highlighting the persistent unequal distribution of resources and opportunities (UNESCO, 2020). In response, many European governments are actively working to enhance the capacity of their education systems, striving to reach every learner and guarantee their full and effective participation, accessibility, attendance, and academic achievement. However, schools and education systems across Europe grapple with the formidable challenge of fostering an inclusive culture, establishing inclusive structures, and implementing inclusive practices (Booth & Ainscow, 2016). Notably, significant variations exist among European countries concerning the extent and quality of inclusion efforts.

Most often, the discussion around inclusion has centred on how teachers can promote inclusion of students with disabilities <…>. However, little is known about how students in inclusive classes perceive acceleration, despite the critical role that students play in the social inclusion of exceptional peers (Dare & Nowicki, 2018, p. 243).

In this presentation, we aim to share our research findings concerning the perspectives of students in Lithuanian comprehensive schools on the culture of inclusive education and the existing support systems. This presentation is part of a larger national research project (www.nsa.smm.lt/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/PPP_modelio_ekspertinis_vertinimas_2021m..pdf).

Although many Eastern European countries, including Lithuania, have made progress in shifting their focus from a disability perspective to a needs-based education approach for students with diverse educational needs (Law on Education, 2011, article 2/2415), it remains apparent that inclusive education demands an even more adaptable and responsive system to cater to the diverse and often complex needs of individual learners (Booth, Ainscow, 2016; European Agency, 2011; Alisauskiene & Harju-Luukainen, 2021).Formos viršus To enhance the processes of inclusion in school development, extensive research is underway across various countries. Research advocate for actively listening to the voices of students, asserting that incorporating their perspectives not only leads to more insightful educational research and practice but also fosters richer and more authentic results, ultimately boosting student engagement (Mansfield, Welton, Halx, 2012; Spörer et al, 2020). A crucial aspect of fostering inclusive schools involves establishing a secure, accepting, collaborative, and stimulating community. Inclusive education involves establishing learning environments that prioritize equitable treatment for all students, ensuring they feel valued and supported across diverse learning situations. According to Booth and Ainscow (2016), it is imperative that all students in the school have the opportunity to contribute to identifying barriers and resources. Students themselves should have a central role in informing thinking, policies and practices in education. While aligned with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the views of students are often notably absent from crucial discussions that directly impact them (Messiou, 2019). Hence, our aim was to reveal the perspectives of Lithuanian students concerning inclusive education and the corresponding support systems.

In 2018, Roger Slee offered the following proposition: Inclusive education isn’t dead, it just smells funny. His urgent message it that, after -and despite- many years of developing inclusive policies and practises, under its veil of benevolence the concept of inclusion in fact runs the risk of masking exclusionary practises, creating barriers to participation. This study explores the experiences of 17 students in upper-secondary vocational education and training (VET) in Norway, identified as vulnerable to exclusion, on their participation in the learning community throughout their educational careers. The study builds on a sociocultural framework that understands participation in social practises as learning (Säljö, 2016; Wenger, 1998). Florian, Black-Hawkins, and Rouse (2017) state that students’ opportunities to participate depend on pedagogical responses to diversity. Equitable and inclusive practises therefore aspire to support students’ participation through actively combatting barriers to participation (Florian, Black-Hawkins, and Rouse (2017).

The Nordic countries are strongly committed to socially just education with the aim to create inclusive societies that sustain democracy (Nevøy et al., 2014). In Norway, the inclusive notion of a School for All has been central to educational policies for decades. A main principle is that schools must develop inclusive learning communities that promote health, well-being and learning for all (Ministry of Education, 2017). Historically, the Norwegian educational system has been built on the principles of providing equal access and participation for all, independent of background. This has in the past few years been increasingly challenged by neo-liberal tendencies characterised by standardisation and market-orientated competition, with an emphasis on learning outcomes as a quality indicator (Thuen & Volckmar, 2020). Consequently, inequality in Norwegian society increases (Knudsen, 2021), and after a yearly decrease of young people aged 15-29 not in education, employment, or training, this tendency has been changing since 2015. Norwegian statistics currently show a clear increase within the last few years (Statistics Norway), reflecting overall European statistics (Eurostat, 2023). Since the 1970s, a social policy goal of the European Union has been to implement strategies to break the cycle of disadvantage and inequality (Bruin et al., 2023). Still, following Ainscow (2020), many young people leave upper-secondary education without qualifications, leaving them vulnerable to exclusion from the labour market and citizenship. In this European context, Norway has a comparatively high level of young people without upper-secondary qualification, primarily former students in VET (Ministry of Education, 2019).

Within an educational system based on inclusive values, the question of how did we get here? bears to mind. With reference to Allan (2009), the young people’s experiences embody an expertise that requires to be acknowledged as such. Hence, the study explores the following research question: What are VET-students’ experiences on participation in the learning community throughout their educational careers in Norway?

AAchieving a sustainable future requires equipping people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to adapt to an uncertain and complex world without losing sight of their well-being (UN, 2022). Digital technologies are presented as a common good that can support the achievement of SDG 4 - Education 2030 - and build a future beyond 2030 (UNESCO, 2016), which renders the combination of inclusive practices, digitalization and creativity into a key challenge for teachers in different education systems. Various publications have reported on the meaning and significance of policies along these lines (e.g. Eurydice, 2019). Previous research has shown the importance of economic, technological and educational rationalities for reconstructing conservative pedagogy and enabling the "transmission" (e.g. Sancho et al., 2020; Selwyn et al., 2017, 2022). With few exceptions, has reference been made to how policies are realised in practice in disadvantaged schools (e.g. Engel and Coll, 2022; Vigo, 2021). This paper attempts to do this. It aims to generate knowledge on how teachers can engage in their schools to address the challenges of uncertainty when making commitments toward transforming education for sustainability and equipping people with skills, attitudes, and values for their well-being in an uncertain future and complex world (UN, 2023). It addresses what teachers are doing in relation to these policies when they use digital media in schools identified as 'difficult' because of their high percentage of foreign population or their location in remote geographical areas and because of invisible global forces (Mizrav, 2023).
This paper invokes the voices of teachers who are working in segregated schools since they were positioned as ‘difficult’ because of the high percentage of abroad population or its location in remote geographic areas, using critical ethnography to present the experiences of teachers in five schools. According to Apple and Jungk(1990) we consider the relevance of knowing the experiences of teachers in order to reorganise and to actively participate in the reconstruction of these societies. However, according to the same author (2013) or Smyth et al. (2014) we can consider how people can actively participate in the reconstruction of these situations. There has sometimes been a move towards practices that recognise disadvantaged groups in order to create an education that responds to the short and long-term needs of black people that responds to the short- and long-term needs of the population in these schools (i.e. Beach and Vigo, 2020; Feito, 2020). It aims to generate knowledge on how teachers can engage in their schools to address the challenges of uncertainty when making commitments toward transforming education for sustainability and equipping people with skills, attitudes, and values for their well-being in an uncertain future and complex world (UN, 2023)

Sustainable Development Goal 4 highlights inclusion and equity as indicators of quality in education, with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) highlighted as an opportunity to advance educational inclusion (Pedró et al., 2019). While several studies within the field of educational technology have assessed the application of technology in vulnerable groups, students with SEN are still in a position of disadvantage (Cranmer, 2020; Trujillo, 2021). Studies show a need to incorporate a holistic pedagogical model based on Universal Design for Learning, providing accessibility and facilitating inclusion for all (Serrano et al., 2019). The opportunities of ICT in education are evident: the individualisation, the breaking down of barriers of time and space, and the permeability of technology that makes it possible to respond to the principles of UDL. However, it is evident that having ICT tools and technologies does not guarantee that the teachers will effectively use them or change their teaching practices (Pittman & Gaines, 2015). It is rather teacher competencies and beliefs that count (Almerich et al., 2016; Ertmer et al., 2012).

Digitalisation is a global priority, and, in this respect, competence frameworks have been developed from different continents, targeting both citizens at an initial stage and then teachers at all levels of education. In the European context, the DigComp framework in its different versions (Carretero et al., 2016; Vuorikari et al., 2022) has been extended and implemented as a reference model for teacher training in the design of school curricula and updating training plans. Later, the specific digital competence framework for teachers, DigCompEdu (Redecker, 2017), which was taken as a reference by governments for the adaptation of their policies and implementation plans, became the benchmark. Its accessibility has been facilitated by the development and publication of the Selfie for Teachers tool, which provides the educational community with an open and free instrument for the assessment of the perception of teachers' digital competence and is available in 29 languages (Economou, 2023).

The most relevant aspects of this framework focus on the digital competence of students and the practices that teachers and students carry out for the development of teaching-learning processes that respond to the principles of UDL. The DigCompEdu model (Redecker, 2017) presents six competence areas differentiated into: educators’ professional competences, pedagogical competences, and learners’ competences. It is competence 5, learner empowerment, that offers the greatest opportunity for vulnerable learners and students with SEN, as it focuses on personalisation, accessibility, inclusion, and active learner motivation.

In the Digital Education at School Report of the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (Eurydice, 2019), digital competence has been described as a priority area for individuals since its initial mention in European Recommendation in 2006 (European Parliament, 2006). A comparison among European countries was made in terms of curricula and approaches. The focus on special needs education related to digital competencies was embedded in the curricula of Belgium, Holland, Germany, Croatia, Austria, and Poland (Eurydice, 2019). A recent report indicates the need for access and participation for inclusion and focuses on teachers’ preparedness for learning environments (European Commission, 2023).

The aim of this study is to assess the use of ICT by teachers working with students with SEN, assess and compare their digital competencies in education, and identify predictors of their digital competency in education across three countries: Türkiye, Ireland, and the Basque Country.

Current global developments, such as migration movements, go hand in hand with increasing social heterogeneity (Mecheril/Rangger 2022). Dealing with heterogeneity in school , in the sense of a broad understanding of inclusion (Löser/Werning 2015), means enabling all pupils to learn the same subject regardless of their different learning needs and backgrounds (Werning 2020). While this heterogeneity is often seen as an opportunity for learning in school cultural development processes (Budde 2015), it also comes with challenges, especially for teachers. They must prepare lessons that are sensitive to heterogeneity, especially in subjects that require complex teaching and learning processes with a high degree of abstraction. This also includes science lessons with experimentation as a core method (Stinken-Rösner et al. 2023).

When experimenting, teachers have to choose between small-step instructions, which have little cognitive activating effect, or open task formats, which can be overwhelming for students (Kleinert et al. 2021). Incremental learning aids offer a central and established solution to this requirement (ibid.): They break down complex tasks into subtasks and provide hints and solutions for each step, which students can access independently. In combination with digital media, such as an app for the tablet, they also offer further possibilities for differentiation.

The use of tablets in the classroom is an internationally researched topic (Aufenanger/Bastian 2017; Zhang/Nouri 2018). Tablets, as well as other digital media, are proving to be significant for the development of teaching and are also seen as a significant opportunity for the success of inclusive teaching (Filk/Schaumburg 2021). The user competences of teachers and students with regard to digital media are diverse and multifaceted (Engel/Jörissen 2022) and the actual use of the media remains largely dependent on the respective individuals (Aufenanger 2017). For science lessons, it has been shown that digital media have the potential to break down barriers (Stinken-Rösner et al. 2023).

This is where our research comes in. We focus the use of an app for inclusive science classes with an ethnographic approach and a special focus on its inclusive and exclusive potential. For this Lesson observations and, interviews with teachers and pupils are carried out. Our research is situated within the joint research project "DiLernProfis" (Short for: Learning process oriented diagnostics and didactis - digital incremental scaffolds as a professionalization concept for adaptive teaching), funded by the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research). The goal of “DiLernprofis” is the development of a web app that enables teachers to create and use digital learning aids. These should allow all pupils to complete complex tasks, such as experimentation, independently. In line with a broad understanding of inclusion, the focus is not on a specific group of pupils, but on the entire learning group, which is defined as heterogeneous in terms of its composition. To this end, a teacher training program is carried out and a certified training concept developed on this basis (Löser et al. 2023). The findings of our sub-project are used to further develop the app as well as the teacher training.

This paper explores research with pre-service teachers in Scotland about their development of understandings of inclusion and curricular justice. Teachers require the appropriate skills and knowledge to teach diverse pupils, seeing individual differences as opportunities for enriching learning (Ainscow, 2020). Teacher education programmes are one space where interruptions to students’ deeply rooted assumptions about, for example, education, teaching and diversity are made possible. Teachers’ curriculum making work is complex and has been described as a ‘highly dynamic processes of interpretation, mediation, negotiation and translation, across multiple layers or sites of the education system’ (Priestley et al. 2021: 1). Pre-service teachers need educational experiences which help them navigate this complex work. Knowledge of learners, subject matter, curriculum goals and pedagogy (Darling-Hammond, 2006) have been identified as key foundations for curriculum work. Developing effective inclusive practice begins in the teachers’ professional preparation when pre-service teachers learn about key pedagogical approaches, reflect on their own beliefs about human differences, and develop inclusive practices that are maintained throughout their teaching careers (Rouse, 2010). Inclusive education is linked to a human rights-based approach (UNESCO, 2017) underpinned by the principle of social justice and teacher’s understandings of social justice will shape their pedagogical leadership (Forde and Torrence, 2017). To achieve curricular justice (Riddle et al., 2023), based on Fraser’s (2008) tripartite definition of social justice, commitment to ‘pupil-centred’ education’ needs to be accompanied by understandings of what and whose knowledge (Coker et al., 2024).

Our teacher education programme restructured the second school placement experience so each week students spend 3 days in school and 2 days within the university. This structure is envisioned to enable students to make richer theoretical connections to ongoing practice, whilst also affording opportunities to question their existing horizons of expectation. This is a space where interruptions to students’ assumptions and their practices can be foregrounded on a weekly basis. The Differences and Identity module, taught during this semester at the university, aims to give the opportunity for students to explore the research around inclusion and to begin to think about the relevance of this research to their own practice. Students undertake this module concurrently with the second school placement and it aims to enrich and contextualize student’s experience by giving students the tools and knowledge to think about their practice differently, in terms of inclusion. The module introduces students to the key theoretical debates in Inclusive education, the principal research, current policy and provokes discussion regarding inclusive pedagogy. The expectation is that students will use this new knowledge to reflect on their practice through this process of interruption, reflection, and supportive discussion, and it is these experiences that this research focuses on.

The study aims to address these research questions:

1. What are student teachers’ (pre-service teachers) understandings of inclusion and social justice before and after having studied a module on inclusion and attending a concurrent school placement.

1. To what extent has their understanding been developed after this module and attending a concurrent school placement.

The study will use Fraser’s framework of redistributive and relational social justice as heuristic through which issues of inclusion and exclusion will be discussed and linked curricular justice (Riddle et al., 2023; Dawson, 2017).

The purpose of this paper is to present the development and initial findings of a three-year funded project, entitled the Collaborative Storytelling for Disability Awareness (COSDIA) approach. This approach was conceptualized through a careful consideration of the gap in the literature regarding interdisciplinary approaches that consider disability awareness, particularly the intersection between online-offline environments of interaction, collaboration between disabled and non-disabled pre-service teachers, the co-creation of educational materials, and creative writing and digital storytelling. In effect, the study explores the use of collaborative storytelling, through digital and other forms, of pre-service teachers’ own stories and/or fairy tales about disability and aims to foster pre-service teachers’ disability awareness.

This presentation will include findings derived mainly from the first phase of the three-year project. In this first phase, the researchers conducted a thorough literature review documenting existing models in the use of storytelling and drama techniques for pre-service teachers’ training, as well as the representation of disability in the media. Researchers also completed an initial analysis of pre-service teachers’ views around disability and their learning needs around inclusive pedagogy and practice, which facilitated the development of the COSDIA approach. The first phase of the project was concluded through the development of a theoretical and pedagogical framework for the COSDIA approach, as well as the development of its curriculum comprised of seven modules. The development, presentation and delivery of the modules adopt an inclusive pedagogical framework, as the research team agrees that the project has the potential “to reduce educational inequality by enhancing learning opportunities for everyone” (Florian, 2015, p.5).

The research questions complement the research goals of the proposed project, and the research team investigates:

(1) pre-service teachers’ perceptions in relation to innovative learning approaches regarding disability awareness and inclusive education

(2) pre-service teachers’ needs in relation to innovative learning approaches regarding disability awareness and inclusive education

(3) the ways in which COSDIA’s approach can contribute to enhancing pre-service teachers’ disability awareness

(4) the potential opportunities and challenges of collaborative storytelling (collaboration between disabled and non-disabled people), through digital, and other forms, of pre-service teachers’ own stories and/or fairy tales about disability/inclusive education

Norway has traditionally put inclusive education high on the agenda in their schools related to both practice and laws (Maxwell & Bakke, 2019). New teacher education reforms in Norway focus on subject specialization and research-based knowledge (Jakhelln et al., 2019). Antonsen et al. (2020) confirm however that there is a gap between inclusive education and the general teacher community. New teacher education programmes inadequately prepare early career teachers (ECTs) to work inclusively with Tveitnes and Hvalby (2023) finding a lack of inclusive education is problematic for ECTs and their mentors. However, the Norwegian master-based education is supposed to educate ECTs with the ability to develop their competence, reflect and collaborate with others (Jakhelln et al., 2019).

A positive connection between ECTs and students is important for teaching (Hattie, 2008). Norwegian ECTs experience many classroom challenges particularly when handling a varied student and parent group (Antonsen et al., for review). Teachers’ relational work also requires the handling of a broader range of learners from skilled students to behavioral problems (Rudkjoebing et al., 2020) and also to address themes from social, personal or health education (Nic Gabhainn et al., 2010). There are similar calls in Norway for teaching about life mastery (Lauritzen et al., 2021) and abuse and sexual harassment (Goldschmidt-Gjerløw, 2022). Given that teachers have many and contradictory discursive demands and relational tasks to solve in work (Spicksley, 2022), a novel relational approach to inclusive and relational education may help them in carrying out work.

Relational thinking is an educational practice that equalizes learning and well-being (Dalkilic & Vadeboncoeur, 2016). Florian et al. (2017) highlight that a teacher’s ability to act relationally impacts developing a more inclusive pedagogy. A relational thinking and approach to special education and adapted education shifts the focus from instrumental thinking such as having clear recipes and solutions, to what Florian and colleagues suggest as "a more nuanced and relational way of considering how schools can respond to difference is needed." (Florian et al., 2017, p. 27). For teachers, a relational approach involves the ability to question their assumptions and increase their own insight into the relationship between their behaviour and underlying thoughts and feelings whilst simultaneously giving an understanding of the individual student’s perspective (Aspelin, 2014, p. 240). Relational thinking thus means that inclusive education should both contribute to and be the result of an education system that provides a reasonable opportunity for all children to be active agents in their own learning (Dalkilic & Vadeboncoeur, 2016). Previously, Amartya Sen’s (1985) Capability Approach was used in research on the integration of disabled people (Reindal, 2009) and inclusion and special education (Terzi, 2014). A capacity-based approach can engage children, teachers, and families in principle, and in practice recognize differences, rather than shortcomings. One disadvantage of relational thinking is that the term becomes somewhat ambiguous because of its links to social ideology, human values​, and principles of integration, inclusion, and normalization. However, a relational approach can lead to the development of policy and practice that clarifies the processes required to develop capabilities and appreciating functions and the types of resources required to generate relationally inclusive environments. There is therefore need to investigate how ECTs with a master-based teacher education can become agents for developing relational thinking in their practice to work with inclusion and relations in their teaching (Pantić & Florian, 2015). The research questions:

1) How do ECTs express their learning regarding aspects of inclusive and relational teaching in their first five years in practice?

2) How are aspects of relational thinking expressed by ECTs about their teaching practice in their first five years of practice?

"I try to get the best out of my students, but there are parents who have a hard time supporting their child. And when the child has ADHD, I find it difficult. What is my responsibility as a teacher, and what is the responsibility of other support services? I tend to take it on myself anyway and to direct the parents” (teacher).

It is of great social importance to optimize the developmental opportunities of children in vulnerable families. When home, school, and care are well connected, this has a positive effect on children's well-being, learning performance and behaviour (De Greef, 2019), and leads to more self-efficacy within parents who feel insecure about parenting (Hoover-Dempsey et al.,2005; Waanders et al.,2007). Parental self-efficacy is strongly correlated with positive parent and child psychological functioning, child adjustment, parenting competence and parenting satisfaction (Jones & Prinz, 2005). For those families living in difficult situations, enhancing parenting self-efficacy may serve as a potential mechanism by which to improve the well-being of parents and children (Ibid, 2005).

Therefore, professionals should consider parents as competent and knowledgeable caregivers regarding their children's needs (Minjarez et al.,2013), and as equal and capable decision-making partners in determining the best support for themselves and their children (Damen et al.,2018). It is part of the professional ethical standard of teachers and youth care professionals to recognize the importance of the role of parents as educators, regardless of how problematic parenting might be and how insecure parents might feel. It also is important to incorporate the views of children through an active participation agenda, in the fulfilment of children’s rights under the obligations of the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child.

The purpose of youth care and special education is to reduce children's problems, increase their well-being, ensure that they can return home, or get them on the right track. Ultimately, parents must regain control over the upbringing of their children (Weiss et al.,2012), while children should have a say in how they grow up (Boomkens et al.,2018). Consequently, it is not only the relationship between parents and professionals, their cooperation and joint decision-making (‘alliance’) that matters, but also how competent parents feel about their parenting and how children feel that they are heard and seen. This is why this study focuses on parents’ self-efficacy (regarding parenting competences) and on children's voice, in addition to the usual aspects of the alliance (bond, goal, task).

We conducted a questionnaire study (N=479) in a wide variety of institutions in the Netherlands to compare perceptions of parents, children, youth care professionals and special education teachers about cooperation within different contexts (outpatient assistance, residential care, and special education). Forty-five interviews were carried out to explore how this cooperation is experienced in practice. The theoretical framework of the study is based on alliance research (Hawley & Garland, 2008; Lamers et al.,2015), with an extra focus on parental self-efficacy and children's voice. The findings suggest that cooperation with parents is going well, but professionals find it difficult to support parents’ self-efficacy concerning parenting competences (both questionnaire and interview study). Also, when children's voice gets enough attention, this influences the relationship positively. The interviews show that parental self-efficacy is insufficiently and inadequately supported by almost all professionals. It is positive to conclude, however, that many professionals are able to ‘see past’ incompetent parenting styles and different values on growing up (children) and bringing up (parents). Each context (outpatient assistance, residential youth care, and special education) has its own challenges, which is outlined in this presentation.

Students' behavioural problems are one of the greatest challenges facing teachers. At the same time, they have far-reaching consequences: There is a close connection between "deviant behaviour" in school, academic performance and later delinquent behaviour in adult live. According to these authors, an important driver is the disciplinary practice of teachers: the stricter and harsher it is, the more likely it is that deviant behaviour will intensify (Amemiya et al. 2020) and academic performance will decline (Del Toro & Wang 2022). This fact deserves attention because the disciplinary practices of teachers can vary greatly with comparable student behaviour. Although the nature of the behaviour itself has an influence on disciplinary responses, this is also influenced by contextual characteristics such as class composition (Rocque & Paternoster 2011; Payne & Welch, 2010; Welch & Payne, 2018). Our main interest in the present study is the question of how student behaviour develops over time under the influence of teacher behaviour and student composition.

Empirical studies on this question are generally rare, especially for primary schools, and only relate to partial aspects of the question. The available studies allow the following assessment: a) Deviant behaviour is higher in schools with a less privileged student body than in schools with a privileged student body, and this gap widens over time. B) Harsh punishments such as exclusion from school and lessons or a referral to the principal by teachers increase with the proportion of students from non-privileged families, even when controlling for student behaviour (Payne & Welch, 2010; Welch & Payne, 2018; Roque & Paternoster 2011 and Kinsler 2011 for primary school). C) Aggressive student behaviour occurs more frequently when minor deviant behaviour has previously been punished by official documentation (Amemiya et al., 2020). However, Amemiya et al. (2020) did not investigate the contextual influences on this development. These results suggest that deviant student behaviour is increasing as a result of harsher disciplinary practices by teachers, especially in schools with non-privileged students compared to schools with privileged students. However, as yet there is a lack of empirical evidence for this.

For a theoretical approach labelling theory can be used. According to this approach, teachers have to interpret behaviour in order to classify it as a rule violation and react to it. Primary school teachers, for example, react very differently to deviant behaviour, even to serious violations of school rules (Psunder, 2005; Skiba, 1997), ranging from ignoring to mild and harsh punishments. Punishments carried out in the presence of classmates can take on the function of labels. This means that a punishment labels a pupil as "deviant" and the following interactions refer to this label. This can result in teachers imposing increasingly strict sanctions (Bowditch 1993) and pupils describing themselves as deviant (Chiricos et al., 2007) and being more likely to join deviant groups of pupils (Bernburg et al. 2006). These effects of labelling lead to an increase in deviant behaviour over time. Although not explicitly modelled theoretically in the labelling approach, labelling processes could occur more frequently in schools with a less privileged student body. Teachers might expect more intense deviant behaviour in these schools, see their (cultural) authority at risk and believe they have to assert it through harsh punishments (Payne & Welch, 2010; Welch & Payne, 2010; Rocque and Paternoster, 2011). With this in mind, we expect the following: Harsher disciplinary practice is more common in schools with low-privileged compared to schools with privileged student bodies for the same student behaviour, which subsequently leads to higher proportions of deviant behaviour by students in schools with low-privileged compared to schools with privileged student bodies.

The shortage of qualified educators has raised concerns all over Europe and beyond. In Finland, the most drastic shortage of qualified staff is among early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers (Työvoimabarometri 2022, Kosunen et al 2023). The earlier research suggests that socio-economic composition of areas influences the professional choices and turnover of qualified educators. For example, studies focused on teachers' work preferences in comprehensive education show that teachers prefer to work in affluent institutions (e.g. Ingersoll & May 2012). The paper examines whether this vicious cycle of segregation where teacher segregation and socio-economic segregation of the neighborhoods are associated, that has been identified in comprehensive education can be identified also in ECEC.

This paper investigates the segregation of educators in ECEC in Finland, focusing on the relationship between socio-spatial and institutional segregation. Socio-spatial segregation refers to the differentiation of residential areas in terms of their socio-economic composition (e.g., Boterman et al. 2019). In this paper, institutional segregation refers to differentiation between educational institutions, such as ECEC centres, in terms of the distribution of qualified and non-qualified educators. While socio-spatial and institutional segregation have been extensively studied in comprehensive education (e.g. Boterman et al. 2019; Kauppinen et al. 2020), research related to ECEC is limited.

We ask:

1. How are the qualified and non-qualified educators distributed accross ECEC centers?

2. Is there an association between institutional teacher segregation and the socio-economic composition of the neighbourhood?

The rapid digitalization of society over the past decades has fundamentally changed how children and adolescents socialize, study, and play. Subsequently, children and adolescents’ use of digital technologies has increased rapidly, facilitated by the ever-evolving mobile accessibility and computing power of new digital technologies. Further, the current cohorts of children also experienced key developmental and socialization stages during the COVID-19 pandemic which led children and adolescents, by circumstance and necessity, to engage in higher levels of digital engagement. Such marked and rapid increases in both access and use of digital technologies, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, has caused growing concerns in parents, researchers, educators, and clinicians alike as to what effects such technologies may have on children’s development and educational outcomes.

Overall, the current literature on the effects of digital use and child and adolescent educational outcomes is mixed. Some studies indicate that adolescent digital use, particularly texting, hampers children’s literacy outcomes (Kemp and Bushnell, 2011) and that early mobile phone ownership negatively impacts academic development (Dempsey et al., 2019). However, other studies found positive effects (Plester et al., 2008) or no associations (Verheijen, 2013). Some literature has examined the potential negative impacts of adolescent digital use on academic performance via cognitive functioning, including cognitive overload or multitasking (May and Elder, 2018), distraction and diminished attentional abilities (Ward et al., 2017), and memory and learning patterns (Loh and Kanai, 2016). Additionally, Lissak (2018) identified that the effects of digital use on academic performance may be indirectly channeled through reductions in sleep duration and quality, leading to problems of time displacement or sleep disruption.

As a whole, results on associations between digital use and academic and educational outcomes remains unclear, and further research on these associations with current cohorts of children remain essential to understand how today’s digital environments are affecting how children learn and develop. Further, while there have been a multitude of studies that have investigated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s educational outcomes (Coles et al, 2023), few studies have examined how effects of digital use on child outcomes differ from other cohorts of children who did not experience the pandemic during the critical stage of childhood and early adolescence.

This study crucially aims to address some of the above gaps in knowledge. This study utilizes high-quality multi-cohort data to examine 1) how children at different stages of development are using digital technologies and 2) how these children’s digital use is associated with perceived academic ability (from both children and teachers). To do so, we utilize the most recently collected wave from the Children’s School Lives (CSL) study collected in April 2023, when the participating cohorts of children were age 8 and age 12/13. Preliminary analyses include descriptive statistics and OLS regression modelling, however, further analyses will incorporate more diverse regression modelling, longitudinal models as well as standardized testing data (not yet available) to compare perceptions vs realities of chidlren's academic ability.

This study focuses on exploring teachers' media literacy (hereinafter, ML), including their competencies and practices of ML in the classrooms in Kazakhstan. In the 21st century children increasingly use digital tools and are exposed to different unfiltered media messages daily, wherein they have access to the Internet at home and communicate media messages regularly (Murray, 2021; OECD, 2020). The major concern is that a substantial number of children access media platforms in breach of age limitations and many of them actively use social media (Setyarini et al., 2023; Hill, 2022). This, in turn, requires teachers to develop ML competencies, so as to support their students’ ML who are largely susceptible to media influence (Reimers, 2009; Bystray et al., 2023). Studies also indicate that teachers’ ML competencies, socialisation and intercultural interaction are key to integrating ML into curriculum (Korona, 2020; Skantz-Åberg et al., 2022; Villacrez-Cuadros et al., 2023). Although the support for the development of teachers’ ML competencies has grown in the recent decade, few educators seem to use it in curricula development and lesson planning.

Teachers are identified as the most significant factor in enhancing students’ learning outcomes (Ingvarson et al., 2005). Teachers’ understanding of ML has a significant effect on the effectiveness of their teaching (Simons et al., 2017; Rohs et al., 2019; Saptono, 2022). Therefore, ML merits a place in teacher education, as it encourages an understanding of culture, connects educators, institutions, and society (Schwarz, 2001). In a similar vein, the studies highlight the importance of integrating language and ML into teacher education to facilitate socialisation and intercultural communication (Felini, 2014; Meehan et al., 2015; Schwarz, 2001).

Teachers’ ML competencies

The definition of media literacy as social phenomena focuses on technical, cognitive competencies and sociocultural pragmatics (Yeh & Swinehart, 2020). The technical competencies include functional skills as access, create, navigate, order, and distribute social media content (Daneels & Vanwynsberghe, 2017). Cognitive competencies refer to understanding, assessing, and critically analysing social media content for credibility and application (Daneels & Vanwynsberghe, 2017, Christ & Abreu, 2020). Socialcultural pragmatics provides awareness about social and cultural norms of behaviour, values, beliefs, language usage and discourses in media contexts (Yeh & Swinehart, 2020). Tandoc et al. (2021) claim that there could be four types of competencies such as technical, social, privacy related and informational in which social media literacy functions. Lately three themes were identified as teachers' perspectives of media literacy: assessing the validity of media messages, interacting with media, and safety issues (Von Gillern et al., 2024).

Teacher practices of ML

Inquiry is a strategy for implicitly teaching media literacy concepts that enables learners to “construct” new knowledge for themselves by adjusting new data with their prior knowledge (Brunner & Tally, 1999). This constructivist approach is complemented by media decoding, which means analysing and evaluating the messages conveyed by various forms of media (Scheibe & Rogow, 2011). Evidence-based practices are those which ensure high rates of proficiency and have a record of achievement that is valid and true (Gambrell et al., 2011). Critical inquiry is the core of constructivist media analysis, which means the ability to analyse media by asking key media literacy questions (Mason, 2016). Using the combination of inquiry and reflection is used extensively and is considered the basic way of integrating media literacy into any curriculum, constructivist media decoding strategy suggests the engaging acquisition of media literacy competencies (Scheibe & Rogow, 2011).

The aim of this study is to explore teachers’ media literacy in secondary schools in Kazakhstan. The study was structured around the following research questions:

1. What is the state of teachers' media literacy competencies?

2. How do teachers practise media literacy in their classrooms?

Digital infrastructure as a media environment must be understood as embedded in social processes and spatial structures. Considering measures aimed at digitalisation of schools at the knowledge and infrastructure level and practices teachers and pupils develop in building digitally enhanced environments in the classroom, questions about changes to teaching situations arise. Situational analysis (Clarke et al., 2022) allows research on the complexity of spatial-material and communicative-discursive networks. Taking digitally extended learning environments as an example, combinations of situation-analytical mappings prove helpful in depicting interactions of social actors and nonhuman actants (Clarke et al., 2022, p. 12) and their positioning in constructing teaching and learning situations.

Digital artifacts and their implementation and integration in classroom practices are at the core of recent discourses in education. Measures of saturating institutionalised pedagogical contexts (School, University) with digital technologies. In the European context the examples of Austria, Germany and Switzerland (BMBWF, 2018; Educa, 2021; KMK, 2021) show measures aiming at three levels:

• Expansion of digital infrastructure (equipping schools, school staff and pupils with digital devices) and its management (creation of administration units and platforms)
• Redefinition of new knowledge structures for teaching (competency frameworks, curriculum reforms)
• Restructuring of teaching through teacher training and further education regarding the use of digital teaching/learning materials and corresponding models of teaching and learning

This meets structural indicators of curriculum, teachers, assessment and a so-called “digital education ecosystem” (Eurydice, 2023) for digital change at the European level. Initiatives to digitalize institutionalized pedagogical spaces provide specific infrastructures. These infrastructures are inscribed with certain ways of acting and convey particular ways of knowledge construction into classroom situations. Also, digital devices like smartphones as always available technological artefacts shape everyday classroom practice not planned by administrative measures. The ways teachers engage with the learning environment and use options of providing and communicating the use of digital media could be planned (cf. Petko, 2020; Schmid et al., 2020). In this process, “a specific teaching and learning environment” (Petko, 2020, p. 115) is constructed. There is still little research on spontaneous situations that arise in the classroom without having planned the use of technical devices in advance.

Discourses of progress associated with digitalisation promote assumptions of teaching situations being “improved” by digital artifacts (Selwyn, 2022, p. 26f). The paper discusses how educational research may be inspired by Science and Technology Studies. Technical artifacts are analysed as part of knowledge construction (Wyatt, 2008) and teaching is understood as an institutionalized and professionalised “situation” (Terhart, 2009, p. 103) of normative character (Hollstein et al., 2016, p. 44) in the classroom as a socially and communicatively constructed space (Christmann, 2022; Knoblauch & Steets, 2022). The paper aims at developing an informed position by discussing technological determinism (Wyatt, 2008) and how it is enacted in the ways teachers select and position technology and technological artefacts in the classroom. Therefore, the guiding question of the paper is how digital artefacts are used in classroom situations and how they are situated as artefacts in the course of knowledge construction.

Interreligious and interfaith dialogue, as well as community action, are two areas of growing interest today, given that religious and cultural diversity is a worldwide reality that poses challenges to coexistence and social cohesion. Interreligious and interfaith dialogue refers to the process of communication and mutual understanding among individuals from different religious traditions and/or beliefs. On the other hand, community action refers to collaboration among community members to address challenges and improve the quality of community life.

From the review of academic literature, an underexplored relationship emerges between interreligious and interfaith dialogue and community action. This relationship is important because both initiatives aim to promote peace, justice, and harmony in society (Ibrahim et al., 2012; Orton, 2016). Through interreligious dialogue, prejudices and cultural barriers between different religions and communities can be reduced. This can help foster mutual cooperation and understanding, leading to increased community action and the resolution of common problems. Community action can also be a means to promote interreligious dialogue. When working together on community projects, people from different religions and cultures can learn about their similarities and differences, fostering greater understanding and mutual respect.

In many cases, interreligious and interfaith dialogue and community action have been used to address specific issues, such as poverty alleviation, promotion of education and training, or conflict resolution, both internationally and in Catalonia ̶ the context of our research. Additionally, interreligious and interfaith dialogue and community action can also be a way to address broader social and political challenges. For example, in some countries, religious organizations have worked together to address climate change (Fedorova, 2016; Purnomo, 2020).

However, we cannot ignore the obstacles in promoting interreligious and interfaith dialogue and community actions, as highlighted by research. One of the major challenges is the lack of understanding and tolerance that may arise between communities belonging to different religions and cultures (Abu-Nimer, 2001; Edwards, 2018; Farell, 2014; Miller, 2017; Pallavicini, 2016; Vila-Baños et al., 2018). This can hinder collaboration and joint work on community projects. There may also be mistrust and references to historical conflicts between different religious groups during interaction, making cooperation and community action difficult (Helskog, 2015; Kuppinger, 2019). Additionally, there may be challenges such as linguistic and cultural barriers that make communication difficult (Kruja, 2020; Mitri 1997), as well as logistical and institutional challenges in organizing joint community projects.

Despite these challenges, academic literature provides data on initiatives worldwide to promote interreligious dialogue as community action. In Catalonia, too, there are emerging studies in this regard, from both a broader social perspective (Freixa-Niella et al., 2022) and a more educational and formative perspective (Vilà-Baños et al., 2022). AUDIR (2023) identified up to twelve practices of interreligious and interfaith dialogue in our country in which there is a community action component. The preliminary results of our research have expanded this collection up to 37 existing good practices currently.

Hence, for potential becoming a tangible reality, rather than a mere theoretical construct, it is necessary to delineate the conditions that make it possible, encompassing personal, geographical, cultural, social, economic, political, and, notably, religious dimensions. This forms the crux of the research we present, which sets the overarching goal: "To comprehensively grasp the conditions that mold interreligious and interfaith dialogue into a good practice of community action fostering coexistence in Catalonia."

The preliminary stages of the research took place from October 2023 to January 2024, and were dedicated to the update of the landscape of interreligious and interfaith dialogue practices within Catalonia, as well as the formulation and validation of an indicator system designed to facilitate the identification of good practices among them.

Romanians, Serbians, and Turks make up the largest immigrant communities in Austria (Statistik Austria, 2023). Turkish people are often represented as the least integrated immigrant community throughout Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands (Wets, 2006). Second-generation Turkish youth have the lowest academic outcomes of any major immigrant community in Western Europe, with students experiencing lower academic outcomes in Germany and Austria, compared to France, Belgium, and the Netherlands (Crul & Vermeulen, 2004). In recognition of the academic disparities, this study seeks to examine how four teachers in an Austrian vocational school (Handelsschule), with a substantial Turkish origin student population, utilized culturally responsive teaching methods to support students.

Much of the initial Turkish immigration began in the 1960s as part of bilateral labor agreements with the Turkish government to address shortages in the workforce after WWII (Wets, 2006; Herzog-Punzenberger, 2003). Although the guestworker program in Austria ended in 1973, Turkish immigration increased in 1974 as guestworkers’ families arrived (Herzog-Punzenberger, 2003). In 2006, Austria had the highest achievement gap between Turkish origin students and native students, with a gap of 133 points between Turkish students and native students on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), compared to gaps of 114 points in Germany and 91 points in Switzerland (Buchmann & Parrado, 2006). In both Germany and Austria, Turkish origin students were in schools with higher student-teacher ratios and less resources, compared to native students (Song, 2011). In Austria, Turkish origin students were also disproportionally enrolled in special education programs (Herzog-Punzenberger, 2003). Analysis of 2006 PISA results demonstrated that home factors (i.e. number of books at home, language spoken, and parent level of education) accounted for 55% of the test score difference between native students and Turkish origin youth in Austria (Song, 2011).

It is clear that there is a dire need for teachers to shift pedagogical strategies to ensure that immigrant-origin students, particularly Turkish-origin students, feel a sense of belonging in the classroom and are effectively supported. Our primary research questions in this study are: What culturally responsive teaching practices are being used in Austrian schools? What barriers exist for teachers in implementing culturally responsive teaching practices?

In theorizing culturally relevant pedagogies, which originated within a U.S. context, we utilized Ladson-Billings’ (1995b) model, which includes three characteristics: “an ability to develop students academically, a willingness to nurture and support cultural competence, and the development of a sociopolitical consciousness” (p. 483). Recognizing that cultures are not static, Alim and Paris (2017) also proposed the concept of culturally sustaining pedagogies, which are those that support linguistic and cultural pluralism in schools. Within both definitions, the concept of critical consciousness, which is rooted in Freire’s (1970) concept of conscientização, played a central role. Culturally responsive teaching is “a way of teaching and learning that considers the social, emotional, cognitive, political, and cultural dimensions of every student” (Powell et. al., 2016).

Findings using the Culturally Responsive Instructional Observation Protocol (CRIOP), have demonstrated that students, who have teachers that score higher on a culturally responsive teaching scale, score higher in both Math and Reading assessments (Powell et. al., 2016). In Austria, a “pedagogy for foreigners” (Ausländerpädagogik) exists, but this has been perceived as a deficit-based model that does not effectively support integration (Seyfried, 2014). Culturally responsive pedagogical models have been proposed as one potential means of reducing the achievement gap between immigrant-origin and native students (Seyfried, 2014). We recognize that there are teachers who may be implementing these models, partially or in-full, even if they have not been provided with formal training in culturally responsive pedagogies, which led to the current research.

Over the decades intercultural encounters have been introduced in research and education inclusive of communication between humans and different communities. Dervin, Sude, Yang & Chen (2022) problematizes the dominant discourse on interculturality between East and West and the need for diverse languages to be introduced in the dialogue. This study explored the ways in which interculturality can provide means towars planetary justice and sustainable societies. In the future, intercultural dialogue should not be based on the humanistic assumptions of a solitary human self, separate and autonomous from the rest of the planetary system. This paper discusses opportunities to shift the language around interculturality incorporating interdisciplinary, social justice and planetary lense by using the metaphor of contact zone in between interculturality and sustainability towards more sustainable interculturality.

Utilizing the contact zone theory by Mary Louise Pratt (1991), this study explores the opportunity of interculturality to be understood as a dialogue and the encounters beyond Western intepretation of (inter)culture. Pratt’s (1991) theory of contact zone, in its traditional understanding, refers to the interculturality (her original term used was transculturation) as a social space, where people meet, clash, and struggle with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power (Pratt, 1991, 6). In her writings, Pratt mentioned a story of a letter addressed by an unknown but apparently literate Andean to King Philip III of Spain. The purpose of the letter was to guide the King to rule in a more respectful manner towards the indigenous Andeans. The story continues with a belief that the letter was never delivered to the King (ibid, 1991,6). This leads to the ongoing issue of today’s education – whose knowledge is taught at schools and whose (inter)culturality is recognized in the education policies when intercultural education theories rely mainly on western knowledge system.

For the longest, teaching interculturality, has been recognized as important based on global education policy frameworks (see for example the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Competency Framework, 2020 and The Council of Europe’s White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, 2008). As an example, Finnish national curriculum recognizes interculturality in a form of language and cultural diversity, to remind about the ethnic diversity in schools. Interculturality and sustainability both play a significant role in our increasingly interconnected and diverse world, with also increased tensions and crises. However, interculturality has not been much included to the sustainable development goals, namely to the Education for All SDG4 goal. Interculturality here refers to the interaction and dialogue that takes place in highly asymmetrical power relations, often centered on beliefs and values among individuals or groups from different ethnic, educational, socio-economic and geographical locations (see for example Dervin, 2015). Whereas sustainability focuses on the long-term well-being of both the environment and society, aiming to preserve resources and promote social equity between species. This study explored the intersection between interculturality and sustainability, their interdependence and the potential for positive synergies towards sustainable interculturality with the focus on planetary justice.

Public schools should be places where students from diverse backgrounds come together to strengthen their knowledge and skills to maximize their human potential and become active citizens in a vibrant democracy. However, U.S. educators are living in increasingly polarizing times where, as of January 2023, 18 states have passed legislation that bans or restricts how concepts, such as race and equity, are taught in schools, prohibiting complex discussions of systemic injustice (Schwartz, 2023). Book banning and rejecting courses that educate students about African American history (Kim, 2023; Limbong, 2022) reflect the pugnacious state of the current American public classroom. While restrictive legislation of this nature and to this degree may not be prominent across the globe, discussions of “woke education” are occurring in parts of Europe (Cammaerts, 2022). When laws prohibit important social, historical, and political discussions in classrooms in any country, democracy is threatened.

In the context of a heightened politically polarizing time in the US, it is imperative to understand how teachers committed to social justice education (SJE) navigate the complexity of their work. The purpose of our study is to examine the experiences of 17 justice-oriented educators within one school district in the state of New Hampshire, where a law banning the teaching of “divisive concepts” was passed in 2021, as they teach and lead in contentious times. The following research questions guide the study: 1) What supports teachers' commitment to socially just teaching when they encounter opposition to their work? 2) In what ways do these supports operate as protective factors for the teachers' personal and professional wellbeing? We deliberately use the term protective factors because there are forces (e.g., the law, hostility from the community) that threaten the integrity of their practice, and their students’ learning and wellbeing. This study addresses ECER’s conference theme in that it helps us to understand how educators enact SJE in a time of uncertainty, igniting hope and empowering other educators to take part in educating for greater justice.

We draw on the literature related to social justice education and social justice leadership (SJL) to inform the study. Chubbock and Zembylas (2008) define SJE as, “a teacher’s effort to transform policies and enact pedagogies that improve the learning and life opportunities of typically underserved students while equipping and empowering them to work for a more socially just society themselves” (p. 284). As Chubbock and Zembylas (2008) note the focus of SJE is to “improve the learning... of underserved students.” However, often overlooked is another vital part of SJE—the significance and necessity of SJE for privileged students to engender change (Swalwell, 2013). Challenging inequality in these communities must also be part of the larger SJE project (Author, 2021; Swalwell 2013). This is especially important to consider in the current study which takes place in a predominantly white and wealthy district. 

An extension of SJE is SJL, which is carried out by leaders who “make issues of race, class, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and other historically and currently marginalizing conditions in the United States central to their advocacy, leadership, practice, and vision” (Theoharis, 2007, p. 223). SJL is a pivotal piece in the educational equity project and goes beyond simply recognizing injustice to interrogating conditions that perpetuate marginalization and supporting justice-oriented change efforts in schools through policy and practice (Flores & Bagwell, 2021; Theoharis & Haddix, 2011).

The findings from this study indicate the kinds of support that bolstered educators’ determination and ability to persist in justice-oriented teaching. The findings offer guidance for educational leaders and educators who face similar challenges to their social justice commitments in communities across the globe.

In theories of group behavior, the concept of social identity is extremely useful because it describes individuals in terms of multiple hierarchical affiliations. Thanks to an almost unlimited capacity for rationalization, most humans cope well with multiple identities and loyalties in conflict situations. Alongside this, there are often situations in which the conflict is present and requires the person to bridge it and find a balance (Magen-Nagar & Steinberger, 2016).

Developmental psychologist Erik Erikson (1968) conceptualized an individual's identity as a multifaceted structure dynamically evolving and undergoing gradual changes over time. A crucial element within the components of one's identity is one’s professional identity (Popper-Giveon & Shayshon, 2017. Rodgers and Scott (2008) referred to the negotiation processes that take place in relation to professional identity. They posit that the identity structure is in a constant process of construction, development and changes while at the same time having a tendency to show coherence. They referred to identity as contextual, developing in relation to social, cultural, political and historical aspects, and during negotiations with the ‘other’.

Aligned with the process approach, these assumptions correspond to the perspective that characterizes individuals’ current identity state and delineates the state of their identity at a specific moment (Kroger & Marcia, 2011). The process approach posits that individuals actively seek information about themselves and their surroundings to inform decision-making and meaningful choices in life. These simultaneous processes entail a commitment to a sequence of choices and decisions among identity alternatives, all the while acquiring the necessary knowledge to evaluate these alternatives (Alsanafi & Noor, 2019; Steinberger, 2022).

Identity processes are accelerated in times of conflict. Thus, in a state of incompatibility, when individuals are exposed to central identity conflicts (Van der Gaag et al., 2020) they may feel their basic needs and values threatened. As a result, they may be prevented from considering identity alternatives. Frequent and significant conflict serves as a catalyst for change and action. Reinforcement for this exists in the theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1962; Harmon-Jones & Mills, 2019), according to which individuals naturally strive for balance. When a conflict disturbs the balance, individuals will be motivated to resolve it in order to reduce the discrepancy.

In this research we approach identity formation both from a process approach and a socio-cultural perspective that takes into account the contextual factors influencing identity formation. For example, Côté (2006) highlighted the development of a contextual approach as a central challenge in identity research. Theoretical models addressing identity development grapple with this challenge by acknowledging the psychosocial context in the formation of identity (Côté & Levine, 2014).

This study aimed to explore the process of identity formation among Arab Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) who aspired to teach in Jewish schools. The sample comprised 14 Arab PSTs undergoing training, engaged in a unique program called “Cross-Teach” that involved the retraining of Jewish academics to teach in Arab schools and vice versa. As part of the program, the PSTs participated in a one-day-a-week practicum in schools from the ‘other’ stream, presenting various identity conflict situations. The primary research questions focused on understanding the identity processes experienced by Arab PSTs during their training. This included examining the encountered identity conflicts, assessing whether these conflicts acted as catalysts for regrouping, and exploring the ways in which the PSTs navigated and integrated this complexity into their identity.

Linguicism is language-based racism (Dirim 2010). In its direct form, linguicism includes institutional and individual language bans, and in its more subtle forms, it extends to explicit or unspoken expectations on desired language use. Structurally, linguicism is closely interwoven with racial ideologies and often refers to racism-related marginalisation (Rosa 2019). This raciolinguistic connection is particularly evident in the devaluation of the languages of migrant multilingual persons. This is also expressed in the hierarchisation of languages and their speakers in schools (Knappik/Ayten 2020), which is reflected, among other things, in the different prestige of languages and in the contrasting treatment of foreign languages such as English and French in schools compared to so-called heritage languages such as Turkish or Polish. This hierarchy of languages is of great importance in schools, as it habitually frames the linguistic behaviour of all actors (Doğmuş 2022), which is particularly salient as schools are, at all times, linguistic spaces of teaching and learning. Teacher training itself also contributes to the reproduction of linguicism through the language-related "de_thematisation of migration society orders" (Shure 2021), the unequal assessment of linguistic competences and the creation of exclusions along the category of language (Knappik/Dirim/Döll 2013).

While experiences of racism by pupils, university students and teachers have been investigated more in recent years (Akbaba/Bello/Fereidooni 2022), experiences of linguicism of teachers have barely been explored yet. However, this topic is particularly urgent for teacher education:

• Experiences of racism in the professional environment have a severe impact on health (Madubuko 2020). Initial studies show that experiences of linguicism are particularly powerful in this context due to the importance of language for learning and teaching in schools (Ayten/Hägi-Mead 2023).
• Migrant multilingual teachers often experience a complex confrontation with expectations of loyalty directed at them, which are seen as achievable through the exclusive use of one national language only (Fereidooni 2016). They also experience “control attempts" (Mai 2020) related to the languages they use, and the often very painful devaluation of their other languages (Ayten/Hägi-Mead 2023).
• The forms in which internalised linguicism (based on the term "internalised racism", Bivens 2005) affects the professional self-image and professional actions of affected teachers have not yet been investigated. Initial insights into our data show a highly complex network of cross-referencing effects between professionalisation efforts and the risk of deprofessionalisation, which appears to manifest itself in reproductions of linguistic structures that are ultimately directed against the individual teachers themselves. This complex has not yet been investigated, nor are there any corresponding programmes for teacher training.

Our data indicate that pre-service teacher training in particular is an institution in which linguicism plays a decisive role in the development of the linguistic professional self-image.

Our data also show that experiences of linguicism play a major role in teachers' decisions to leave the profession. In view of the shortage of teachers and the educational policy hopes regarding teachers with a so-called migration background (Akbaba/Bräu/Zimmer 2013), this is a particularly great loss.

In order to better understand how teachers experience and internalise linguicism in schools, our guiding research question is:

How do teachers experience linguicism in schools and how do they interpret their experiences? A particular focus will be on exploring the phenomenon of internalised linguicism and its significance for the professionalisation of teachers.

Emotions have been gaining ground in educational discourses and practices since the beginning of the 21st century. A clear example of this is the growing importance given to Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in the globally structured educational agenda, as promoted fundamentally by International Organisations, especially since the pandemic caused by COVID-19 (Abramowski & Sorondo, 2022). SEL has been criticised for its underlying link to the production of subjects adapted to the needs of the labour market and the precarious conditions of life in neoliberal society, and for its contribution to the psychologisation and therapeutisation of education and of social problems in general (Bryan, 2022; Cabanas Díaz & González-Lamas, 2021). However, the proposals that advocate for a space to reflect, express and work with emotions in schools are not limited to SEL and come from heterogeneous political stances.

Hence, in this paper, we aim to examine the approach to emotions within the critical educational discourse on a transnational scale, including the education for social justice paradigm. Our goal is to describe the prominent place taken today by the emotional dimension in this discourse, and to analyse how and from what theoretical perspectives this new dimension is incorporated. Research questions guiding this inquiry include: which shifts in meaning can we observe in key critical pedagogy concepts, such as social-awareness and conscientization, justice or agency? What are the ethical and political implications of these changes? To answer these questions, we will draw a map of the meanings given to affect and emotions by critical educational discourse and of how these meanings are articulated with social justice and educational justice’s main concepts.

Our theoretical framework is based on socio-anthropological approaches to emotions (Illouz, 2014 and 2019; Leys, 2017; Lutz, 1986). From this starting point, we critique the current ubiquity of emotionalised language in contemporary educational projects, which we interpret as part of an epochal ethos that privileges emotional vocabulary and explanations over other registers (Sorondo & Abramowski, 2022). This pre-eminence given to emotion grants it with a new status of truth, with ontological, normative and epistemic value (Illouz, 2019). Thus, this cultural and discursive matrix –which began to take shape alongside the political, sexual and identity claims of the 1960s (Ehrenberg, 2000; Illouz, 2014)– operates today as a regime of truth that regulates how we think and act in the educational field. Indeed, we might be witnessing the naturalisation of a dominant discourse on emotions that installs certain meanings, imaginaries and routines of interaction in schools. This emotionalisation of education reinforces what other researchers have called the therapeutisation of education, to describe the installation of psychological and therapeutic ideas and practices as a way to interpret and intervene on social and educational problems –using, for instance, individual and depoliticised terms such as emotional vulnerabilities or psychological traumas– (Ecclestone & Brunila, 2015; Ecclestone & Hayes, 2009).

To conclude, our underlying interest is to examine how critical pedagogy is placing emotion at the centre of educational research, in order to assess which boundaries of the dominant emotional discourse are actually challenged and which are maintained and reinforced. In this regard, to focus on the critical educational research field is especially relevant in a context marked by the dominant SEL agenda. Considering emotions as a new normative discourse, formed by a system of privileged ideas and underpinned by power relations (Downing, 2023), is key to understanding and problematising current research trends, and the resulting policies and practices.

Poland has been seen as one of the examples of the growing authoritarian populism, with right-wing ideological beliefs constraining free speech, creating deep social divisions, and influencing education curricula. The process of transformation from the authoritarian communist regime to a more democratic system is still evident in a number of dimensions of Poland’s society, including education.

In education, the major reforms undertaken over the last three decades have changed the educational structures, institutions and processes, and established Poland’s schooling system as one of the highly effective. Poland may seem ‘successful’ when focusing on the measurement of its educational goal attainment (e.g. PISA or PIRLS) however there are indications of deep-rooted problems related to the forms of cultural capital promoted in schools which contribute to the reproduction of dominant cultural and economic values represented by ruling and powerful groups (Apple, 2004). It means that there is significant work to be done to understand conditions of the inequality and hegemony of the current system and enable “the creation and recreation of meaning and values” for all citizens in the democratic way (Apple, 2004, p. xxiv).

This is in the context of a specific status of education in Poland which is characterised by its ‘national’ significance - education has been seen in Poland as a bastion of national survival, especially during turbulent historical times. The subjects of history and Polish literature, in particular, have been regarded as significant instruments in preserving Polish values, language and identity. This is particularly important under the right-wing populist governments, governing Poland since 2015, which emphasise the growing threat to the Polish way of life using highly emotive language with a narrative inspired by past historical events, aiming to create an integrated national self-image which Pankowski (2010) calls Polonism.

This research, therefore, takes a detailed look into the socio-political themes and topics discussed in classrooms in Poland, especially in relation to ‘controversial’ topics, and how teachers deal with them. We analyse the ways teachers have been affected by the current political climate by focusing on teachers’ engagement in discussing difficult or controversial topics, and how intentional these conversations were.

Research into discussing controversial issues in the classrooms has attracted a lot of attention due to the growing social and political tensions evident in many countries, and the schools’ role in moderating discussions on public policy issues (Kello 2016; Dunn, Sondel & Baggett 2019; Cassar, Oosterheert & Meijer 2021; Sætra 2021). The role of the teacher in managing such conversations is crucial. Poland is an interesting case study for research on teacher practices and controversial issues in the classroom due to its complex domestic socio-political situation, as well as its continuously reforming education system. It becomes important to learn more about the mindset of practicing teachers, their attitudes and decision-making in relation to selecting and discussing difficult, and often controversial, topics in their classrooms. At a time of need for critical thinking skills and democratic debate, the transformation of pedagogical approaches, and the attitudes of teachers towards understanding and shaping of critical thinking and socially-engaged attitudes among students requires specific attention

On-going complexities and tensions in society, such as a divisive political climate and increasing diversity, have raised questions on how schools can foster a sense of belonging within the democratic polity. As a result, questions on the meaning of citizenship and citizenship education have received much attention in research, policy, and practice. Xenophobic discourses and anti-migrant rhetorics often lead to the exclusion and marginalization of minoritised people and position these ‘othered’ individuals outside the ‘imagined community’ despite having legal citizenship (Abu El-Haj, 2015; Schmitt, 2010). Multiple studies have illustrated the discrepancy between having legal citizenship and feelings of non-belonging and revealed that young people with migration backgrounds feel that they are often positioned as the ‘other’ (Fleischmann & Phalet, 2018). This suggests that the conditioned experiences of minoritised students can be linked with broader micro- and macro-political power structures. These structures also relate to the school’s cultural norms and power dynamics and thus affect the everyday experiences regarding citizenship and belonging of young people in school.

Although recent research has made significant advances in demonstrating that citizenship is an experiential and negotiated social process in everyday life (Askins, 2016; Kallio et al., 2020), current understandings of citizenship in education are mainly based on adult-centred conceptions of what it means to be a citizen and often omit the feelings and experiences of young people themselves. Moreover, emotional attachments as part of feelings of belonging (i.e. feeling at ‘home’) and citizenship remain underexplored (Kenway & Youdell, 2011). However, emotions are often used to describe and give meaning to feelings of belonging or non-belonging and emphasize the ways young people experience their social world (Ho, 2009). They provide cues to understand the society and the social structures in which we operate (Barbalet, 2001). In this study, emotions are conceptualized, not as internal psychological states of the individual, but rather as social and cultural practices that lead to the formation of social identities, groups, and collectives (Ahmed, 2014).

As the existing body of literature has not fully explored the complex emotional attachments of young people regarding their citizenship and belonging (Jackson, 2016), this study will contribute to the field by its particular focus on the empirical exploration of young people’s emotional attachments and experiences of belonging within the school setting. Attention to the emotional dimensions of citizenship and belonging can advance critical views on why young people feel that they belong in different ways, as well as the way citizenship is enacted in education. Therefore, I centre the emotional experiences that give meaning to the social relationships and structures that shape the daily lives of young people building on literature from the sociology of emotions (e.g., Clark, 1990; Barbalet, 2001). The emotional politics of belonging within educational settings helps us then to understand how the boundaries of citizenship are constructed that determine who is considered a rightful member in particular places and how young people are encouraged to feel about themselves and others (Zembylas, 2014). The research question in this study is therefore as follows: How do young people construct themselves and others as citizens within an educational setting and what role do emotions play in these experiences of belonging?

Bullying can be defined as a specific form of aggressive behavior exhibited by an individual or a group towards another person, characterized by a perceived or observed power imbalance and persistence over time (Hellström, Thornberg & Espelage, 2021). Cyberbullying, as consensus suggests, refers to bullying occurring through online platforms or mobile devices (Campbell & Bauman, 2018), and we will adhere to this interpretation. Research indicates that exposure to bullying significantly contributes to children's mental health issues independent of other factors (Arsenault, 2018; Arseneault et al., 2010). Even though bullying is not satisfying the A-criterion, symptoms following exposure align with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (APA, 2013). Among the symptom groups highlighted in the DSM-5, the re-experience of the traumatic event, persistent avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, and ongoing symptoms of heightened arousal are often emphasized.

While evidence linking school bullying directly to causing PTSD is limited (Nielsen et al., 2015), a clear association between bullying and PTSD symptoms has been established. To further comprehend the relationship between school bullying and PTSD symptoms and/or diagnosis, our current systematic review and meta-analysis aim to investigate the extent of this association. This study serves as an update to the meta-analysis conducted by Nielsen et al. (2015), with specific modifications. Unlike Nielsen et al.'s study, our focus is solely on school bullying concerning the diagnosis of PTSD and/or PTSD symptoms. Additionally, we conducted a more comprehensive and systematic search of published peer-reviewed studies, without any time constraints.

Our primary research questions are as follows:

a) What is the degree of association between school bullying and PTSD symptoms among children and youth in primary and secondary schools?

b) Does the diagnosis of PTSD apply to the health consequences observed among individuals targeted by school bullying?

While there is a substantial body of research on cyberbullying in schools, that focuses on if and how cyberbullying and harassment can affect children’s and adolescents’ health and wellbeing, little is known about how school staff identify and deal with cyberbullying among boys and girls. In order to gain deeper insight about this challenging issue, the current study aims to examine how school staff identify the phenomenon of cyberbullying among gender groups (girls and boys) and which strategies they enact to prevent and deal with occurrences of cyberbullying among primary school pupils?

Cyberbullying is a complex phenomenon that takes place within a social ecology involving a wide range of factors: individual, family, societal, and school factors (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).The present study, accordingly, is informed by Bronfenbrenner (1979) social ecological model. The model is used as a conceptual framework to address how various factors, in different layers, inform and shape school strategies and interventions in preventing and dealing with cyberbullying among pupils.

The educational landscape in Europe faces a range of challenges, and this symposium proposal highlights affective issues in education such as students’ expectations, confidence, well-being, and student-reported instructional quality. The overall aim is to investigate how these factors vary across students and their relationship with student achievement. Four contributions from international scholars use data from the international assessments PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) to address these issues. We highlight the European perspective and draw on specific examples from more than 20 European and even more countries outside Europe.

While the majority of studies conducted with ILSA data focus on student achievement, there is also an affective component of school adjustment that should not be ignored. The first two papers take a comparative perspective focusing on student math confidence. Using the TIMSS 2019 data for 8th graders across 39 countries, the first contribution provides a cross-national analysis of math-specific affective aspects like confidence, enjoyment, and value in math education, focusing on gaps in gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and immigrant status. The second paper, focusing on the Nordic countries, provides another related student perspective on math confidence. This study, using TIMSS 2019 data for fourth graders, examines how students perceive the quality of their instruction and its relation to their mathematics confidence and achievement. It shows that clear and effective teaching are associated with students’ confidence in math.

The other two papers provide specific examples from North Macedonia and Slovenia. The contribution from Slovenia focuses on both cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes by exploring the role of students’ wellbeing in academic motivation and achievement. The PISA 2022 results showed that Slovenian students feel less well-being compared to their peers in other OECD countries, which corresponds with lower literacy skills. The research highlights the importance of positive relationships between teachers and students, emotional support, and a sense of belonging at school for academic success. These findings suggest that improving students’ overall well-being could greatly enhance their motivation and achievement in school. In North Macedonia, the PISA 2018 and 2022 results show many students struggling to reach basic levels in essential subjects. This problem is exacerbated by cuts in education funding, both in terms of GDP and government spending. The youth job market is particularly troubling, with high unemployment rates. This reflects a gap between what the education system teaches and what employers need. Despite these challenges, students in North Macedonia have high hopes for their education and careers, but there is a clear gap between these aspirations and their actual school performance. This contribution sheds light on the factors that can explain this misalignment between student achievement and career expectations.

The session consolidates research on a theme that often receives too little attention. Collectively, these studies show the complex relationship between education policies, student well-being, academic performance, and job market outcomes. In summary, tackling educational challenges requires a comprehensive approach that looks at both cognitive and non-cognitive factors. These factors are essential for preparing students to meet their goals and contribute positively to society. The session investigates these issues both comparatively and in relation to specific countries to provide lessons learned from the international assessments. It is divided into six parts: four presentations, a discussion by a renowned expert, and an open discussion.

Equity in education is defined as the guarantee that all students are provided with the opportunities to benefit from their educational system regardless of their gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and family background (OECD, 2014). In the last decades, investments have been made to identify and monitor educational gaps and to better understand the phenomenon of inequality across several groups, such as gender, SES, and immigrant background (e.g., Strello et al., 2023), and to identity the most urgent needs of intervention in diminishing educational inequality. However, these efforts have been predominantly based on achievement, although school adjustment is not defined only as achievement but instead as a child’s success in dealing with all struggles and tasks faced within the school environment (Ladd, 1989). Adding to the achievement components of schooling, there is also an affective component of school adjustment which, we argue, should not be ignored. Hence, the goal of this study is to give a cross-national overview of the affective gaps based on gender, SES, and immigrant status, by focusing on three indicators of math-specific affective adjustment – confidence, enjoyment, and value. We analyzed the TIMSS 2019 dataset for 8th-grade students in the math domain. Thirty-nine countries were considered, amounting to a total of 224.080 students. Using regression analysis, we estimated gaps throughout different groups – male versus female (i.e., gender), high SES vs. low SES, and native versus non-native (i.e., immigrant background), on three different math-related affective outcomes – confidence, enjoyment, and value, leading to a set of 9 regression analyses. Analyses were performed for each country considering student weights. Although not the focus of this investigation, achievement gaps were also assessed and controlled for. In what concerned gender, there seems to be a rather consistent affective gap benefitting boys, especially in their confidence towards mathematics, even when controlling for achievement. As for SES, results replicate those of achievement, in the sense that students with high SES score higher on math-related affective components of learning in the vast majority of countries – however, this gap diminishes significantly when controlling for achievement. Finally, when looking into immigrant status, results are rather mixed, especially for math confidence. As for enjoyment and math value, non-natives show a slight tendency for higher scores, and this tendency holds even while controlling for achievement. Detailed results, implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are presented and discussed in light of existing research, policies, and strategies regarding inequalities in education.

Ladd, G. W. (1989). Children’s social competence and social supports: Precursors of early school adjustment? In B. H. Schneider, J. Nadel., & R. Weissberg (Eds.), Social competence in development perspective (pp. 271-291). Amsterdam: Klumer Academic Publishers. OECD (2014). Excellence through equity: Giving every student the chance to succeed. Results from PISA 2012. OECD Publishing. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results-volume-II.pdf Strello, A., Strietholt, R., & Steinmann, I. (2023). Mind the gap… but which gap? The distinctions between social inequalities in student achievement. Social Indicators Research, 170, 399-425. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-023-03196-5

Existing research recognizes the significant role of teaching quality in influencing students' academic (mathematics achievement) and affective outcomes (e.g., mathematics confidence) (Hattie, 2009). Teaching quality can both enhance or diminish the impact of student background characteristics on cognitive achievement (Fauth et al., 2014; Hattie, 2009). Observing, quantifying, and accurately measuring differences in teaching quality presents theoretical and methodological challenges, which could potentially introduce bias and affect study validity (Nilsen et al., 2016). This underscores the need for more empirical research on the relationships between teaching quality and learning outcomes, particularly among primary school students where such research is still limited. This study aims to provide empirical evidence by comparing the relations between student-perceived instructional quality and mathematics achievement and confidence, and examining differences between classrooms in four Nordic countries. The Nordic context is chosen due to the similarities in culture, school systems, and resources among these countries, making it a suitable setting for this comparative analysis (Kavli, 2018). Utilizing data from the 2019 Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (Mullis & Martin, 2017), the study involves 15,839 fourth graders from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. It focuses on the relevance of student-perceived instructional quality (Kyriakides & Creemers, 2008) in relation to both cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes, as well as examining variations across classrooms. The concept of instructional quality in this research encompasses two main constructs: classroom management and instructional clarity. Classroom management involves teachers' structural-organizational activities to engage students in learning and establish a conducive learning environment, while instructional clarity pertains to the effectiveness of pedagogical techniques for clear instruction and support (Nilsen & Gustafsson, 2016). Employing Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MCFA) and Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling (MSEM), the study examines the relationships between instructional quality and two outcome variables: mathematics confidence and mathematics achievement. Considering the cultural and educational similarities across the Nordic countries, alongside their varied results in international large-scale assessments, the study is guided by two research questions: 1. What are the relations between student-perceived instructional quality (classroom management and instructional clarity) and students’ mathematics confidence and achievement in the Nordic context? 2. What are the relations to student background factors? The results indicate a positive relationship between instructional clarity and mathematics confidence at the student level across all four countries. At the classroom level, mathematics confidence is positively related to instructional clarity. Student background factors demonstrate weaker correlations with mathematics confidence than with mathematics achievement.

Fauth, B., Decristan, J., Rieser, S., Klieme, E., & Büttner, G. (2014). Student ratings of teaching quality in primary school: Dimensions and prediction of student outcomes. Learning and instruction, 29, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2013.07.001 Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge. Kavli, A.-B. (2018). TIMSS and PISA in the Nordic countries In N. C. o. Ministers (Ed.), Northern Lights on TIMSS and PISA 2018. Nordic Council of Ministers. https://www.norden.org/en/publication/northern-lights-timss-and-pisa-2018 Kyriakides, L., & Creemers, B. P. M. (2008). Using a multidimensional approach to measure the impact of classroom-level factors upon student achievement: a study testing the validity of the dynamic model. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 19(2), 183-205. https://doi.org/10.1080/09243450802047873 Mullis, I. V. S., & Martin, M. O. E. (2017). TIMSS 2019 Assessment Frameworks Retrieved from Boston College, TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center website: http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/timss2019/frameworks/ Nilsen, & Gustafsson (Eds.). (2016). Teacher Quality, instructional Quality and Student Outcomes: Relationships Across Countries, Cohorts and Time (Vol. 2). Springer Open. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41252-8. Nilsen, T., Gustafsson, J.-E., & Blömeke, S. (2016). Conceptual Framework and Methodology of This Report. In T. Nilsen & J.-E. Gustafsson (Eds.), Teacher Quality, Instructional Quality and Student Outcomes: Relationships Across Countries, Cohorts and Time. Springer Open.

Recently, the discourse surrounding the role of students’ well-being and its effects on learning motivation and academic achievement has gained more and more attention in the national and international research community and on the stakeholders’ level. Quality teacher-student relationships, social-emotional support from teachers, a sense of belonging at school, and achievement-related anxiety are often highlighted as important aspects of students’ well-being and have been confirmed in various studies (e.g. Barosso et al., 2020; Harding et al., 2019; Kozina, 2020; Shriver & Buffett, 2015) as significant predictors of both academic motivation and achievement. The latest PISA 2022 results for Slovenia show that, compared to their OECD peers, Slovenian 15-year-olds reported significantly below-average levels of all mentioned aspects of well-being. Since Slovenia also witnessed a significant decline in all three literacy domains in PISA 2022, the article fills the research gap in investigating the role of different aspects of students’ well-being in explaining students’ academic motivation and achievement. For the data analysis, we used the data from the PISA 2022 survey, which in Slovenia includes a representative sample of 6.721 students aged 15. From the 2022 questionnaire, we used separate scales addressing students’ well-being: perceived quality of teacher-student relationships, teacher support in mathematics class, sense of belonging at school, mathematics-related anxiety, and mathematics effort and persistency scale as an indicator of student’s academic motivation. For academic achievement, we used plausible values for all three PISA literacy domains scales. The internal consistency parameters and the multicollinearity between the variables were checked in the Slovenian sample. We used the linear regression procedure to analyse the size effects of different predictors when explaining students’ academic motivation and achievement using the statistical program IEA IDB Analyzer (Version 5.0.23), which, due to two-stage sampling in the PISA study, allows the use of individual students and sample weights. The results show that all four aspects of students’ well-being were confirmed as significant predictors of students’ academic motivation, with the highest effect sizes for the quality of teacher-student relationships and math-related anxiety. The results also showed that the quality of teacher-student relationships is the most significant predictor of academic achievement on all three PISA literacy scales. Following these findings, it is thus crucial to establish a system for strengthening the social-emotional competencies of Slovenian teachers and students and shift an education strategy to a more holistic approach that supports the strengthening of different aspects of students’ and teachers’ well-being.

Barosso, C., Ganley, C. M., McGraw, A., Geer, E., Hart, S. A., & Daucourt, M. (2020). A meta- analysis of the relation between math anxiety and math achievement. Psychological Bulletin 147(2), 134–168. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000307 Harding, S. et al. (2019). Is teachers’ mental health and wellbeing associated with students’ mental health and wellbeing? Journal of Affective Disorders, 242, 180–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.08.080 Kozina, A. (Ed.) (2020). Social, emotional and intercultural competencies for inclusive school environments across Europe: Relationships matter. Hamburg: Dr. Kovač. Shriver, T., & Buffett, J. (2015). The uncommon core. In J. A, Durlak, C. E. Domitrovich, R. P. Weissberg, & T. P. Gullota (Eds.). Handbook of social and emotional learning: Research and practice (pp. 15–16). New York, London: The Guilford Press.

North Macedonia has one of the highest proportions of students failing to demonstrate basic proficiency (Level 2) in all three domains of science, mathematics and reading among PISA-participating countries (52.2% in PISA 2018 testing; 57.4% in PISA-2022). Young citizens of North Macedonia continue to leave education with among the lowest learning outcomes in Europe. On the other hand, between 2018 and 2023, North Macedonia’s public spending on education as a percentage of GDP fell from 2.80% to 2.72%. The share of total government expenditure allocated to education also declined. While poverty rates have fallen in recent decades, low educational performance is limiting the employment and life opportunities of many individuals and impeding national development. The activity of youth in the labor market of North Macedonia is relatively low (46.7% in the first three quarters of 2022), either compared to the adults or their peers from the EU countries. One in four people over 15 are unemployed, compared to less than one in ten across OECD countries. Low activity of youth illustrates generally low employment probabilities in the country, and the difficulty of school-to-work transition, that can be attributed to (i) unwillingness of employers to bear the costs of on-the-job training of inexperienced youth (ii) skills mismatch between employer’s needs and skills produced by the education system, as well as (iii) the increasing tendency of youth to stay longer in formal education. Students’ academic performance on the PISA 2022 testing is not aligned with their expectations for further education and career. They hold ambitious expectations of future education, 72% of students expect to complete tertiary degree (34% expect to finish doctoral studies, ISCED 8). Students (83%) reported that they have a clear idea of their future job, and they expect to work in high-skill occupations, such as software developers, medical doctors, managing directors and chief executives. This research aims to define the factors that can explain this misalignment between education and career expectations within students’ academic performance. More specifically, data show that there are statistically significant differences in students’ education and career expectations when we compare them based on student’s academic achievement in math, science and reading, Index of economic, social, and cultural status, gender, and language of instruction (Macedonian and Albanian). Data from the research is further discussed with students in focus group discussions. Recommendations from the research will be shared with the state representatives responsible for the reforms in secondary education.

No references.

Flanders has a history of participating in International Large-Scale Assessment studies (ILSAs) like TIMSS, where it has often ranked highly. However, the last cycles of TIMSS have shown a gradual decline in the academic achievement of Flemish students. This has sparked a debate about the quality of education in Flanders. Between the TIMSS cycles of 2015 and 2019, Flemish students' achievement levels decreased by 14 points for mathematics and 11 points for science (Faddar et al., 2020).

Although ILSAs are crucial tools for policymakers to assess the quality of educational systems, their primary purpose is periodic benchmarking (Addey and Sellar, 2019). However, the decline found among Flemish students has prompted a deeper investigation and monitoring of the evolution of Flemish learning gains throughout the remaining two years of primary schooling, which goes beyond benchmarking. To this end, a longitudinal study based on TIMSS-2019 was set up in Flanders: TIMSS-repeat.

Using a longitudinal design, TIMSS-repeat retested students who participated in the TIMSS 2019 cycle in 2021, when most of the students were in the sixth grade of primary education. In total, 4.301 students, their teachers, and their school principals participated in TIMSS repeat. The main purpose of TIMSS-repeat was to investigate the learning gains of Flemish students during the last two years of primary school, allowing an inquiry into the connection between students' background characteristics and their learning gains for mathematics and science. Moreover, the specific timing of the data collection in May 2021, just after the school closures and quarantines due to COVID-19, allowed for additional information regarding the impact of COVID-19 to be collected. This enabled the investigation of COVID-19's impact on the learning gains in mathematics and science. The following research questions were central:

• What are the achievement gains for Flemish students in the last two years of primary education?
• What are the differential effects of student background characteristics on their achievement gains in the last two years of primary education?
• How did the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting school closures impact student achievement gains in Flanders?

The first and second questions aim to analyze how students in Flanders progress through the last years of primary school. With these questions, we aim to reveal how students’ learning gains increase and whether specific background characteristics facilitate or hamper student learning gains. In previous TIMSS studies, it was found that home language or students’ socioeconomic status is linked to their achievement (Faddar et al., 2020; IEA, 2020). The third question seeks to provide valuable information to both researchers and policymakers regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning and achievement. Not only does TIMSS-repeat in Flanders provide answers to these research questions, but it also aligns with the research goals of the TIMSS longitudinal study that is following the TIMSS 2023 cycle (The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), 2022).

TIMSS-repeat in Flanders provided a valuable but tentative insight into Flemish learning gains during the final grades of primary education in Flanders, characterized by one of the most impactful global events of our time. In this presentation, we will discuss the different steps taken to conduct the TIMSS-repeat study in Flanders and present our most important findings.

Metacognition or metacognitive skills refer to students’ “understanding and control of their own cognition” (Sternberg, 2007, p. 18). Metacognition or knowledge about thinking includes declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge (McCormick, 2003). Students who have well developed metacognitive skills tend to thrive academically. For example, research shows that systematic metacognitive monitoring leads to better understanding and academic performance (Zimmerman & Cleary, 2009). However, many studies in education report on low to medium associations between metacognition and academic achievement (Fleur et al., 2021; Winne & Azevedo, 2022).

Self-efficacy is another construct that relates to academic achievement across educational settings and age groups (DiBenedetto & Schunk, 2022). Self-efficacy refers to students’ beliefs that they can successfully tackle a task (Anderman & Wolters, 2008; Bandura, 2006). Students’ self-efficacy is related to their engagement with a task and the types of strategies they use (Bandura, 1994). Years of research indicate that self-efficacy relates to students’ learning, motivation, achievement, and self-regulated learning (DiBenedetto & Schunk, 2022). High self-efficacy is a strong predictor of students’ achievement and success (DiBenedetto & Schunk, 2022) and strongly relates to academic achievement for middle school students (Carpenter, 2007).

Available research studies suggest positive yet small correlations between metacognition and general and domain-specific self-efficacy (Cera et al., 2013; Ridlo & Lutfia, 2016). In addition, metacognitive scaffolding improved metacognitive awareness, academic self-efficacy, and learning achievement of biology students (Valencia-Valejo et al., 2019). Research evidence from other countries provides support in positive relationships among metacognition, self-efficacy, and academic achievement. However, it is not clear how these constructs relate to each other in other contexts such as Russia. Therefore, the goal of this study is to examine the role of metacognitive skills and self-efficacy in predicting middle school students’ academic results.

Theoretical framework

The role of metacognition and self-efficacy in students’ academic results in this study is examined through a Model of Self- and Socially Regulated Learning (Author). The model is organized around three broad areas: self-regulated learning (SRL; C–I, M–N), socially regulated learning (SoRL; A–B, J–N), and culture (O). Each area has its own set of processes contributing to the development of self-/socially regulated skills. Thus, SoRL includes instructional techniques (A–B) and formative assessment practices, such as feedback, which occur in classrooms (J–N). SRL includes the processes that activate student’s background knowledge and motivational beliefs, which lead to the choice of goals and strategies to do the task (C–I, M–N). Finally, culture (O) situates both types of processes within a socio-cultural context.

This model reflects the complexity of school classrooms and includes a number of variables. In this paper, however, the focus is on such components of SRL as metacognition and self-efficacy. For the purposes of this study, metacognition includes the processes of planning, progress monitoring, and reflection. According to Albert Bandura (2006), self-efficacy is domain-specific, which is why separate self-efficacy scales were developed for each of the domains. The main purpose of this study was to examine the role of metacognition and self-efficacy in predicting middle school students’ academic results. The study addresses the following research questions:

1. Are there differences in middle school students’ metacognitive skills, self-efficacy, and academic results by gender and grade?
2. Do metacognition and self-efficacy predict students’ academic results by subject domains?

The negative grading effect (NGE) is the decrement in grade outcomes associated with the process of being assessed and graded. By exploiting the natural experimental conditions resulting from the introduction or abolition of grades earlier in the school career, researchers have been able to contrast the outcomes of comparable groups of Swedish students with different grading backgrounds, i.e. whether they were previously graded or not. The effect has repeatedly been identified in students’ year 9 (age 15/16) grades, and seems to particularly affect low-ability students and boys (Facchinello, 2014; Klapp, Cliffordson, & Gustafsson, 2016; Clarke, Klapp, & Rosen, under review). Despite substantial reforms to the grading and assessment system, the effect persists and thus seems to have an enduring and robust impact on compulsory school students’ grades.
When investigating the effect, previous research has, however, tended to combine the results from multiple or all school subjects together, thus losing the possibility to identify detail and nuance in how the NGE may differentially impact individual school subjects. There is a strong imperative for investigating the NGE for individual subjects rather than using aggregated grades like SAT- or GPA-scores. As they are the primary means of student sorting to higher education and employment Swedish school grades have become increasingly high-stakes (Lundahl, Hultén, & Tveit, 2017) and may be driving student testing and grading anxiety, a factor known to affect test performance. Previous research indicates that students’ levels of test anxiety varies between subjects with the suggestion that there may even be subject-specific anxieties (e.g. mathematics anxiety (Mammarella, Donolato, Caviolo, & Giofrè, 2018)). Student self-efficacy beliefs also vary between subjects, with high self-efficacy thought to be a protective factor against test anxiety (Marsh, 1990; Mammarella, Donolato, Caviolo, & Giofrè, 2018). Different subjects are also taught by different teachers, have different content requiring different modes of thinking, and are likely to receive very different test feedback, another factor which impacts subjects differently (Azmat & Iriberri, 2010). These few examples suggest that the impact of being graded is dependent on several factors which vary from subject to subject, and supports the need to investigate the NGE for different subjects.
This research intends to replicate and extend previous research to investigate how the NGE manifests in different school subjects. By comparing the year 9 grade outcomes in different subjects of students who were either previously graded in year 6 or not it is hoped to establish how the NGE varies across different subjects. As with previous research, how factors such as gender, parental educational background, immigration status, and student’s cognitive ability affect the expression of the NGE will also be investigated.
The research is relevant also to wider audiences than just the Swedish education system. As the NGE has been shown to be robust across variations in the Swedish system it is reasonable to infer that it might exist in other the results of other countries, especially given that Sweden is not unique in using end of year grades for high-stakes purposes like admission to further education and employment.

The unprecedented level of technological interaction that educators and teachers have been forced to engage in as a consequence of the pandemic has altered educational practices and how they interact with children and their families. During the height of the pandemic, staff members exhibited a lack of understanding regarding appropriate technology utilisation. They often turned to unregulated social media platforms to share educational experiences and communicate with families as part of what is considered pedagogical documentation (Restiglian et al., 2023).

Pedagogical documentation has a significant historical background in Italy, dating back to the Reggio approach to education (Edwards, Gandini & Forman, 1998). Utilised primarily to record and recollect noteworthy occurrences and experiences, it also furnishes material to support the reflective practice of children and adults and facilitates the replication, comparability, transparency, and comprehensibility of educational practices (Biffi, 2019). By making the subjective and collaborative learning processes of both children and adults explicit, observable, and evaluable, documentation renders learning visible (Giudici, Rinaldi & Krechevsky, 2001).

After the pandemic, the academic staff endeavoured to reassess documentation, as well as their own professional conduct, in direct correlation with technological advancements. Nonetheless, this has contributed to a social situation in which many families' economic and cultural destitution has increased, resulting in a highly heterogeneous usage pattern that requires revised educational designs that require a paradigm shift relative to the employed tools. In regions with limited state intervention (via municipalities) and substantial variation in the quality of education provided—which is only partially regulated in all aspects—the present condition of nurseries is especially alarming. Lastly, in order to analyse an unconscious decision and a balanced application of technologies (especially social ones), knowledge of the European context is essential. Efforts are being undertaken to provide support for strategies about the ethical utilisation of AI and data, grounded in the AI Act and the GDPR (European Parliament, 2016; 2023). In order to safeguard the identities of European citizens and preserve digital sovereignty, European legislation endeavours to disclose the rationale behind the extraction of data and the psychosocial ramifications of algorithmic manipulation. With the exception of the ECEC system, therefore, circular and conscientious strategies must be implemented in all spheres of lifelong learning. Both the demographic changes taking place in the different Member States and the incorporation of this crucial developmental stage into the Lifelong Learning system contribute to the considerable emphasis on ECEC at the European level (2014) (European Document).

This dilemma is especially pronounced in nurseries in regions where the state's (via municipalities) authority is limited and where substantial variation exists in educational offerings that are only partially regulated by explicit and well-defined policies.

The critical significance of the professionalism exhibited by educators in tackling these concerns becomes evident. However, it is imperative that they are guided towards the arduous processes of societal transformation that we presently confront, given that the intricacy of technological and social progress often induces feelings of being overwhelmed (Raffaghelli, 2022).

Therefore, it appears crucial to prioritise transformative processes in continuing education and training by using a formative methodology that incorporates research and professional development. Our hypothesis is that this methodology contributes to shedding light on the inherent contradictions and tensions that emerge during the implementation of technology. As a secondary hypothesis we propose that technology could develop into an essential tool for facilitating documentation and, consequently, education for all parties involved (including parents, children, and toddlers). This is because technology is expanding its influence to an ever-increasing degree within the fabric of social reality.

Nowadays, classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse due to demographic changes and worldwide policy initiatives toward a more inclusive educational system. With these increasingly diversifying student populations contrasting with teaching professionals whose demographics haven’t changed as rapidly, coupled with “superficial and partial” attempts at integrating intercultural perspectives in teacher education programs; today’s teachers are inadequately prepared to teach these diverse populations. As such, teacher education is challenged to equip future teachers with global perspectives preparing them to teach in today’s globally interdependent world. To put it differently, teacher education institutions are struggling to realize an international dimension in their curricula (Brown, 2015) and to educate future teachers with intercultural competencies. As such, teacher education is being challenged to increase internationalization and “begin preparing future teachers for the globally interdependent world in which they will work and their students will live, by opening the world to students through international experience and integrating a global perspective throughout the curriculum” (Kissock & Richardson, 2010, p. 89). Realizing internationalization is even more challenging for teacher education institutions (Kissock & Richardson, 2010) because of national educational legislation and local internship regulations.

In this paper, we present a concrete initiative to realize such an international dimension in teacher education aimed at empowering student teachers for tomorrow; by integrating international experiences and global perspectives throughout the curriculum and to “make room for real collaboration to occur” (DelliCarpini, 2009). This concrete initiative is a 3 ECTS-course developed by the European University Network ENLIGHT. ENLIGHT is a European University alliance of ten comprehensive research-intensive universities from 10 European countries (Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland). All ENLIGHT teacher education institutions collaborate in the Teacher Education Network (TEN). This network has developed an international collaborative Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) to promote internationalisation in teacher education and to foster student teachers’ global citizenship competencies. BIPs are new Erasmus + formats for short-term mobility.

The BIP developed by the the ENLIGHT Teacher Education Network is structured around the principles of challenge-based education (CBE). CBE is an engaging multidisciplinary approach to teaching and learning that encourages students to leverage the technology and resources they use in their daily lives to solve real-world challenges (Gallagher & Savage, 2023; Nichols & Cator, 2008). Based on this approach, the ENLIGHT TEN BIP was called “Teaching for Global Citizenship in European Classrooms: a challenge-based approach”. A total of 45 student teachers and 11 PhD coaches from the ENLIGHT partner universities participated in the first edition of the BIP (2023). Students from these different institutions worked together in an online and physical component via innovative ways of teaching and learning, following the different phases of the CBE approach.

The BIP consisted of an online pre-programme in which students are introduced to the concept of global citizenship. Subsequently, students went through an online learning path. Moreover, students from the same university engaged in online group discussions and prepared a presentation of their local educational system and the challenges it faces. In a second phase, the participating student teachers and PhD coaches physically met at Ghent University and followed a 5-day on-campus programme with both a social and an academic focus. During this week, students gained insight into the concept of global citizenship through the method of CBE. Concretely, students participated in mixed group assignments, group presentations and workshops, attended guest lectures, and went to visit local schools that are currently facing issues of global citizenship. In a third and final phase, students reflected on their BIP-experience in both an online meeting and a report.

The development and application of artificial intelligence (AI) has empowered and accelerated the process of education and teaching transformation. Although prior studies have examined the forms of integrating AI into education, insights into the effective factors impacting pre-service teachers’ AI assisted instruction intention (AI-AII) are rather limited. Considering this gap, this study constructed a structural model among AI-AII, AI pedagogical content knowledge (AI-PCK), AI technological knowledge (AI-TK), performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), and facilitating conditions (FC). Data were collected from 1391 pre-service teachers in China. Results of the modeling effort indicate that the pre-service teachers’ AI-PCK, EE, PE, SI, and FC positively predict their AI-AII. However, pre-service teachers’ AI-TK had indirect effects on their AI-AII. These insights are important for educators and policymakers to consider in designing teacher education and professional development related to foster pre-service teachers’ behavioral intention to use AI in teaching.

The question of equality within school systems is being discussed with new fervour as social cohesion in European society seems under duress. This brings on the demand for changes in the training of teachers as they are seen as the body that can offer the most immediate remedy for discrimination within the school system, which can be a way to promote social equality within the whole of society. An up-to-date understanding of diversity and its consequences is paramount for teachers to tackle this task.

Looking at material collected during a course on “diversity in school” as part of a teacher training degree (Bachelor level), we tried to understand how students' perception of diversity is being influenced by the presentation and discussion of scientific findings on diversity and the consequences they should have for teachers' actions. The insights are used to draw conclusions on how to make the teaching of critical educational research more effective.

Dealing with diversity is an essential part of professionalization, which, however, poses multiple challenges for students' identities: becoming aware of being themselves a person with a diversified identity, and becoming competent in dealing with others' diversity through a so-called "glocal" competence that enables future teachers in diverse classrooms to negotiate, adapt, and collaborate in a super diverse environment while maintaining local attitudes (Madden, 2022).

Teacher training for dealing with diversity often targets an intersection between personality and future profession. Reflection on behavior towards students and the recognition of needs in them necessarily mean a confrontation with personal beliefs and traits. The training as a teacher, however, also has a dimension that transcends the individual level. Teachers and those studying to be such become a community of practice (abbr. CoP, Wenger, 1998) as they develop their skills and negotiate strategies together. The CoP develops into a social group with boundaries of membership and a social identity (Hornsey, 2008). Such a social identity can be described as a professional identity since it supersedes the boundaries of the members that physically meet and know each other to include ideas of what members of the teaching profession are like (Ashcraft, 2013).

For teachers, this means they accept the tacit knowledge of their ingroup as true to become full members of the CoP: they accept the narratives of the diversity discourse as it develops around schools through political documents and professional discourse. In the school system, this discourse often is built on a perception of reality that is no longer in tune with social realities: it still assumes students who are able-bodied, monolingual, and with only one, Christian-based middle-class culture as a background to be the majority, the benchmark of normality (Schmidt/Wächter, 2023). This has far-reaching consequences for teacher students. To be accepted into the CoP of teachers, they must subscribe to this perception of reality, which is at odds with the basis of much of the scientific findings they are presented with in training. Their peers expect them to react to situations in line with ingroup convictions, for example, with regard to labeling and consequent discrimination of student groups because of ingroup narratives. This produces a dissonance between professional training and practice.

Context: Understanding newly qualified teachers’ experiences of arrival into the profession is a well-established research concern in teacher professional learning discourse (Ingersoll and Strong 2011; Kearney 2014, 2015, 2021; Aspfors and Fransson 2015; Spooner-lane 2017; Reeves et al 2022; Shanks et al 2022). Such research has highlighted the complexity of this transition: for example (i) the tensions that newly qualified teachers [NQTs hereafter] may experience (Aspfors and Bondas 2013; Pillen et al 2013; Correa et al, 2015; Van der Wal et al 2019; Stenberg and Maaranen 2021; Kvam et al 2023), (ii) the stress associated with entering the profession (Gallant and Riley 2017; Kelchtermans 2017b; Schaefer and Clandinin 2019; Mc Carthy et al 2020; Schaefer et al 2021), (iii) the techniques used to navigate school micro-politics (Kelchtermans and Ballet 2002a, 2002b; Kvam et al 2023) and (iv) a variety of coping mechanisms that NQTs employ in response to the challenges of arrival in the profession (Mansfield et al 2014; Christensen et al 2018; Bjørndal et al 2022; Lindqvist et al 2022). In parallel, the need for supporting NQT professional learning/socialisation into the profession is a well-established international policy concern (OECD 2005, 2019a, 2019b, 2020; European Commission 2010; European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice 2021; Courtney et al 2023). Subsequently, and in most jurisdictions, NQT induction into the profession has become an established component of teacher education continu/pathways. Despite such widespread attention, there are emerging concerns regarding how NQTs are positioned within induction support structures (Corea et al 2015; Simmie et al 2017; Kelchtermans 2019; Kvam et al 2023). For example, Kelchtermans (2019, p. 86) makes the case that ‘deficit thinking’ in teacher induction/mentoring processes (i) positions the NQT as ‘incomplete and not fully competent’ and (ii) focuses on ‘individual’s weaknesses and shortcomings, rather than their strengths and potential’. To counter the potential for deficit thinking, Kelchtermans (2019, p. 87) argues that ‘the very idea of early career teachers and teacher induction needs to be re-thought, reconceptualised and revised’ and one of the mechanisms put forward for doing so is to acknowledge NQTs existing expertise and agency. We see that this is best approached by appraising NQT arrival in the profession as a form of ‘identity learning’ (Geijsel and Meijers 2006, p. 420) i.e., the ways NQTs navigate ‘the collective meaning-giving’ and ‘personal sense-making’ (Geijsel and Meijers 2006, p. 428) that accompanies the transition.

Aim: Using a Foucauldian framework (Foucault 1983, 1985; Clarke 2009), the aim of this paper therefore is to understanding how NQTs construct themselves in ethico-political terms i.e., how NQTs, both as person and teacher, construct the relationship that they have with themselves.

Conceptual Framework: Informed by Foucault (1983a, 1985) our understanding of the ethico-political is framed by his conceptualisation of both the ‘values and rules of action that are recommended to individuals through the intermediary of various prescriptive agencies’ (Foucault 1985, p. 25) and the enactment of ‘real behaviour’ by ‘individuals in relation to rules and values that are recommended to them’ (Foucault 1985, 25). As a fusion between the political and the personal, we understand ‘real behaviour’ as those ascendant discourses that steer how the NQT sees themselves and importantly, how they wish to be seen by others. This paper addresses the ethico-political identity of the NQT in terms (i) the ethical substance i.e., the ways that the NQT constitutes themselves (ii) the authority sources i.e., the attributed sources through which the the NQT comes to know their ethical substance (iii) self-practices i.e., the ethical work that the NQT undertakes to understand themselves vis-à-vis unfolding experiences and (iv) telos i.e., the mode of being the prospective teacher aspires toward.

This paper provides an analysis of teacher education policy across the UK and its closest European partner, Ireland and considers the extent to which it enables the enactment of teacher agency to support an enhanced teacher professionalism. Anderson (2010:541) defines agency as the teacher’s ‘capacity to make choices, take principled action, and enact change’. Biesta and Tedder (2006) adopt an ecological approach, suggesting that professional action is defined by the context within which the teacher finds themselves. Similarly, Molla and Nolan (2020) suggest that professional practice emerges from an interplay between systemic expectations, contexts and personal dispositions. To understand the link between agency and professionalism therefore, consideration must be given to the connections between the different variables which influence teachers’ lives.

Moving along a continuum from reflective, to prescriptive professionalism, the paper begins with a consideration of the contextual and policy variables in Ireland, North and South. In both jurisdictions, there is a strong regulatory requirement for entry to, and accreditation of teacher education programmes. In Ireland, the Teaching Council (TC) is responsible for the registration of teachers and the promotion of high standards in teaching. The TC’s Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education (2011) has been implemented through Cosán: Framework for Teachers’ Learning (2016a), Droichead: The Integrated Professional Induction Framework (2017) and Céim: Standards for Initial Teacher Education (2020), with professionalism as one of the guiding principles for each framework. Similarly, in Northern Ireland, the General Teaching Council (GTCNI) oversees the registration and professional development of teachers through its competence framework, Teaching: The Reflective Profession (GTCNI, 2007). More recently, there is also Learning Leaders: A Strategy for Teacher Professional Learning (DENI, 2016) which focuses on the promotion of leadership at all levels. Both jurisdictions also place a strong emphasis on the importance of ethics, values, and dispositions, and provide guidance and support to teachers in these areas.

Secondly, the paper explores how policy ideas travel across the organisational boundaries between the two devolved jurisdictions of Scotland and Wales. In particular, the paper focuses on curriculum reform and how government-appointed advisors act as intermediaries in the design and enactment of policy ideas (Hulme et al., 2020). Key policy documents from Scotland and Wales, including: Successful Futures (Donaldson, 2023); and Teaching Scotland’s Future (Donaldson, 2010) are analysed through the concepts of ‘spaces and time’ (McCann and Ward, 2013:10) to examine how such trans-national policy making is then experienced by teachers and teacher educators in the local context (Stone, 2004).

Finally, the paper turns to England where, there is considerable emphasis on policy initiatives associated with marketisation and a culture of entrepreneurialism; standards-based and outcomes-defined policy reforms and developments, underpinned by managerialist ideologies. Coupled with this, there has been increased technologies of governance, leading to ever tightening regulatory control and surveillance driven by a focus on accountability and professional standards alongside the provision of centralised curricula. A Market Review of Initial Teacher Training (DfE 2021) and the introduction of a Core Content Framework (DfE, 2019) has seen pre-service teacher education become narrowed, premised on ‘permitted’ pedagogies, practice, curriculum content, and the expectation of standardisation regarding what beginning teachers need to know and be able to do. This reductive form of teacher preparation leads to what we might call ‘pedagogies of the same, rather than pedagogies of difference’ (Lingard, 2007:248); neglecting the role that teachers, schools and universities play in designing assessments and curricula in response to student needs, and in respect of professional knowledge and expertise.

Around the globe, schools are facing growing teacher shortages (Ingersoll & Tran, 2023). Approximately 40% of teachers in the European Union will retire within the next few years, opening up numerous vacancies for qualified teaching staff that will urgently need to be filled (European Commission, 2015). To meet the need for teachers capable of providing high-quality instruction, schools are increasingly turning to student teachers—that is, teacher candidates who have not yet completed their teacher training programs and are not yet licensed—as part-time in-service teachers (Scheidig & Holmeier, 2022).

The multitude of demands inherent to the teaching profession—from dealing with classroom disruptions, inadequate teaching materials, and heterogeneous student populations to navigating relationships with parents and accomplishing administrative tasks—can be challenging for teachers and especially for student teachers (Brevik et al., 2018). In this respect, the phase of learning school practices can be considered decisive for the individual teaching career. During this phase, (novice) teachers may experience failures due to challenging situations in the classroom that can lead to decreased job satisfaction and a higher intention to leave the profession (Admiraal & Kittelsen Røberg, 2023).

According to the Job Demands-Ressources model, the challenges of the teaching profession, such as classroom disruptions, represent demands that are inherent to the job context (Hakanen et al., 2006). Job demands are positively associated with higher emotional exhaustion, job-related anxiety, and health complaints in teachers (see Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). The more demanding teachers perceive their workload to be, the more they need mental and physical resources to cope with these demands. These resources can be differentiated in job-related resources (e.g., social support from colleagues) and personal resources (e.g., high self-efficacy beliefs; Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). Job-related resources refer to “psychological or material resources that are provided to a focal individual by partners in some form of social relationship” and include social support from peers and colleagues (Jolly et al., 2021, p. 229). In this regard, mentor teachers play a crucial role in providing social support to novice teachers, who usually lack professional skills to cope with stressors (Richter et al., 2013). Personal resources, however, include individual self-efficacy beliefs (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). Teachers with higher levels of self-efficacy feel more confident in their ability to deal with challenging situations in the classroom, which may protect them from feeling overwhelmed by the high demands of the teaching profession (Klassen & Durksen, 2014).

To date, there has been no empirical research on the activities that student teachers carry out in schools. In particular, there is no evidence on how student teachers perceive the demands of their job, whether they receive social support from colleagues, or how they rate their self-efficacy beliefs. For this reason, the present study investigated the instructional activities of student teachers in schools and the relationship between instructional activities and work-related stress. Moreover, we examined the moderating effect of social support from colleagues and student teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in this relationship drawing on theoretical rationales from the JD-R model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017):

RQ1: Can student teachers be grouped according to their instructional activities in school?

RQ2: How do student teachers assess their social support, self-efficacy, and work-related stress?

RQ3: What is the relationship between student teachers’ instructional activities in schools and their work-related stress? Do self-efficacy and social support moderate this relationship?

The benefits of supporting new teachers through an induction phase are documented in decades of research literature and policy documents. There is a broad consensus that a period of induction is a necessary bridge between Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and employment in schools. In most European education systems, early career teachers (ECTs) that are new to the profession have access to a structured induction that usually lasts one year and it is mandatory in almost all of them (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency., 2021). However, teacher recruitment and retention is a major concern for many education policy makers, to the extent of being labelled a ‘crisis’ and ‘policy problem’ (Mifsud, 2023), and the prevailing narrative is that supporting teachers during the early stages of their career is crucial not only to enhance the quality of teaching but also to reduce exit from the profession (European Commission, 2017) (Kelchtermans, 2019) (Flores, 2019) (Kutsyuruba et al., 2022).

The dynamic forming and shifting of a teacher’s professional identity - their pedagogy, positionality in relation to others, and broader or longer aims for education in their career - is also a topic that researchers are currently paying close attention to (Smetana & Kushki, 2023). Socialisation (Kelchtermans & Ballet, 2002) and teacher identification are known as key influencing factors in the early years of teaching and beyond. Hence, ideas about these are shaping induction programmes and research on induction.

Researchers have also found a policy shift towards a commitment of school heads (principals) to become more directly involved in driving teachers’ practices and teaching processes in some systems, but this is not consistent across and within these systems (Costa et al., 2019). Studies demonstrate the interplay between direct and indirect support from the school head and teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction (Thomas et al., 2019, 2020).

A new pan-European project is determining how to effectively build the capacity of education employers, including, crucially, school heads, in order to improve and develop induction programmes within the varying complexities of different education systems and their teacher education provision. In order to identify what capacity-building might entail, the project is exploring the role of education employers in different systems in depth, asking the question, How can employers foster a new teacher’s meaningful sense of ‘being’ through pedagogical practice and ‘belonging’ to the school and wider professional community? The project is also considering the implications of new teachers entering schools from diverse teacher education and professional experiences, including migrating from other countries, and how third-party support and partnerships might usefully support new teacher induction as part of a complex ecosystem of teacher professional learning and development.

This paper will present initial findings and further problematic questions from the project, specifically drawing from a pan-European survey and complemented by discussion points from a project peer learning workshop that brought together stakeholders from 11 countries. Given the focus on teacher growth and on school and wider professional communities, we take an ecological theoretical perspective in response to the research problem and questions.

The proposed paper aims to analyse the current policies on teacher shortages in Austria by presenting and discussing its history, possible causes, and current policy measures. While the first part of the paper focusses on a policy analysis based on a media analysis and statistical data, the second part uses recent survey data to examine one of the measures to remedy the teacher shortage, namely the early teaching of not yet fully qualified student-teachers.

As in many European countries (Eurydice, 2021), acute teacher shortage is not a new, but an increasingly urgent challenge for the Austrian education system. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the teacher shortage was a topic of discussion in the media, however, no long-term strategy was developed (Lassnigg, 2022). In 2022, the pandemic and subsequent general labour shortage had exacerbated the situation (Huber & Lusnig, 2022), and the Austrian Ministry of Education launched a package of policies to counter teacher shortage. In its self-definition, this initiative is the ‘largest teacher offensive of the Second Republic’ and aims to redefine the teacher’s professional role and to shorten the bachelor’s phase of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) from eight to six semesters with increasing practical course content (BMBWF n.d.). While measures that were previously employed to compensate for fluctuating teacher supply—e.g. overtime work, restrictions on part-time employment, and re-employment of retired teachers—are being continued, an important aspect of this initiative is the attempt to attract ‘new target groups for the teaching profession’ (BMBWF n.d.). As a result, there are three groups of not fully qualified teachers working in Austrian schools:

(1) Special contracts allow vacancies to be filled by people for whom no prior qualifications are defined through special contracts limited to one year. As long as there is need, these contracts can be extended for one year at a time. While ‘special contracts’ have been a long-established legal option for reacting flexibly to teacher shortages, the obligation to fulfil a specified number of ECTS in professional development courses has recently been introduced, opening up the possibility of longer-term employment.

(2) ‘Career changer’ (Quereinsteiger): In the 2022 legislation, this term is used for programmes that enable graduates of a university degree course (with at least three years of professional experience) to qualify as teachers in a corresponding secondary school subject. As soon as their employment by a school has been settled, ‘career changers’ receive some professional training through a part-time course alongside their work.

(3) Teacher education students: While bachelor’s graduates of ITE courses are employed under normal contracts (but they have to complete their qualification through a teacher education master course within eight years), teacher education students are increasingly employed as teachers before completing their bachelor’s degree. While, in principle, authorities and teacher education institutions agree that employment should take place after completing four semesters at the earliest and with a reduced teaching commitment (max. 50%), in practice, these principles are not met in an increasing number of cases due to the pressing teacher shortage.

However, the latter measure carries the risk of addressing the challenge of the teacher shortage at the expense of the student–teachers’ well-being and future career, as doing classroom teaching and studying simultaneously may come with serious challenges. Thus, we use recent survey data to analyse more thoroughly possible consequences that may accompany a premature start in the teaching career. In particular, we will discuss the specific demands student–teachers encounter both in the job and in their studies as well as the resources they may draw on and the potential repercussions on their well-being and their professionalism.

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Topic: IDENTIFYING FACTORS OF ACADEMIC FAILURE TO REVERSE UNDERACHIVEMENT

Research questions:

- what are the factors affecting academic underachievement?

- what are the effective ways of reversing students' academic underachievement?

- what should be considered while providing an individual approach for a student to reverse underachievement?

Purpose: to identify the factors of an academic underachievement, to idenitfy the most effective practices to combat the academic failure of students and to identify the pecularities of a successful individual approach while reveresing academic achievement.

Theoretical Framework:

Recent studies conducted on the theory of motivation were based on the AOM (Achievement Orientation Model) theory introduced by Siegel and McCoach (2003a). The AOM theory is based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory, Weiner’s attribution theory, Eccles’ expectancy-value theory, person-environment fit theory, and Rotter’s locus of control theory (Siegle, McCoach & Roberts, 2017). According to AOM theory, students’ motivation in a combination of all three areas: student’s self-efficacy, goal – valuation, and environmental perception will positively result in student’s task engagement and academic achievement. Seigle et al., (2017) stressed that these three areas can be developed in different levels, but should not be missing at all since it negatively impacts on self-regulation as well as achievement (See Figure 1.).

Self-efficacy addresses a student’s belief to be skillful and capable to complete a task where a student might ask himself “Am I smart enough?” (Siegle, Rubensein & McCoach, 2020). Researchers agree that students with low self – efficacy tend to avoid task accomplishment, therefore, the higher self-efficacy students possess, the stronger task engagement they show (Rubenstein, Siegle, Reis, Mccoach, & Burton, 2012; Siegle et al., 2017; Siegle et al., 2020).

Environmental perception refers to a student's motivation or demotivation as a result of student’s interaction with peers, parents and teachers as well as the expectation from parents and teachers, and the scale of support a student gets from the outside world (Rubenstein et al., 2012). It is assumed that students get false perceptions and find themselves in an unsupportive environment assuming nobody believes in their success, therefore these students often lack or do not develop enough learning skills important to be academically productive (Ritchotte, Matthews & Flowers, 2014).

The worldwide teacher shortage has impacted rural communities more than urban and suburban communities (Ingersoll & Tran, 2023). When a qualified teacher is not available to teach a particular course, school principals are forced to assign unqualified people or under-qualified teachers to teach the course. If the teacher is fully trained and qualified to teach (e.g., Math), but is teaching a course outside of their training and qualifications (e.g., English), we say the teacher is teaching English out-of-field (OOF) and teaching Math in-field (du Plessis, 2015; Ingersoll, 1999; 2019). Teaching OOF is not a characteristic of the teacher, but a label that describes the misalignment between the teacher’s qualifications and the course to which they were assigned. If the teacher-of-record has no training and no license to teach, then we say the person is an Unprepared Instructor.

The American federal government changed the education laws in 2015 thereby giving states the right to define teacher qualifications as each saw fit. Prior to 2015, teaching OOF was illegal except under specific and limited conditions. Since 2015, Texas has allowed principals to freely assign teachers to courses for which they have no training, and schools are no longer required to inform parents and guardians that this is happening to their children.

Teaching OOF is harmful for student learning. Several studies have found that student learn less during a school year when taught OOF compared to similar students taught in-field (Author, 2023; Clotfelter, Ladd & Vigdor, 2010; Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2002). Teaching OOF has become an issue of educational equity, because Author (2020) found that particular demographic groups of students were significantly more likely to be taught OOF, including Black students, low-income students, and students living in rural communities.

Rural communities have seen a dramatic increase in the number of Unprepared Instructors, with 72% of new teachers hired in rural schools in 2022-23 being unprepared and unqualified to teach, up from only 18% in 2012-13 (Author, 2024). Our goal for this study was to examine changes in the rates of teachers teaching OOF before versus after the federal legislative changes, and to examine these OOF patterns for core secondary course subjects (e.g., English, Math, Biology).

Since the introduction and proliferation of learning management systems in K-12 schools, as part of the digital transformation in education, a huge amount of data (learning analytics) has become generally available for (re)designing and evaluating education, and for evidence-informed quality assurance (Brown & Malin, 2022). This quality assurance (QA) has become increasingly decentralized in many European countries, making schools responsible and accountable for their own quality. Schools have therefore been developing their own procedures and exploring their responsibilities in the context of QA, but the use of learning analytics (LA) data regarding learning processes often remains un(der)explored.

Up till now, LA have primarily proven their potential for QA in the context of higher education. In secondary schools, they are currently mainly used at the micro level, where they are being used by (individual) teachers to identify and tailor to learners’ specific needs. However, the potential use of LA at the school (management) level, or the ways in which schools or school teams can make optimal use of these data, remains an open and under-explored question (Ifenthaler, 2021) for researchers, practitioners and policy makers alike (Gašević et al. 2016). Moreover, there is a lack of capacity to work with these data for strategic planning and quality development in schools. Teaching staff, school leaders and middle managers are often wondering how to start off with learning analytics data in this regard, and often invoke questions from an ethical and privacy perspective. Next to these general questions, there is also the issue of competencies. Even if school staff would know how these data could inform them, there is a general lack of competencies and know-how on how to get started (Ifenthaler, Mah & Yin-Kim Yau, 2019).

The QUALAS (Quality Assurance with Learning Analytics in Schools) project therefore aims to build on the available knowledge on QA and LA to identify possibilities for enhancing the capacity of educational professionals in secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium), Ireland, Italy and Spain to make appropriate use of learning analytics for quality assurance. In order to achieve these aims, we first want to identify how LA and QA are currently being coupled and put into practice in secondary education in these different jurisdictions. Additionally, we investigate how the approaches in two of these jurisdictions (Flanders and Ireland) draw on and relate to policy and initiatives of QA and LA at a European level.

We start from European conceptualisations of quality assurance, including definitions provided by the European Commission (2018). We further rely on the distinctions drawn between external and internal evaluation, and between government-based and market-based accountability in education (Eurydice, 2015). Concerning LA, we draw on a publication by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre on the use of learning analytics and its action list for educational stakeholders (Ferguson et al., 2016), and on the European Union’s Digital Education Action Plan. These definitions and conceptualisations are subsequently compared to national (or regional) policy texts and other grey literature concerning QA and LA, in order to answer the following research questions:

1. How is QA defined and linked to LA in the different jurisdictions?
2. How do schools deal with learning analytics data? What are LA used for?
3. What strategies for capacity building in the use of LA (for QA) in schools exist/are successful?
4. What learning management systems are most common/popular in secondary schools and why?

Arguments for and against conceptions of teaching as a science or form of technicism have often focused on the relevance of experimental evidence and issue of purpose in education (Biesta, 2023). However, these debates have largely omitted an analysis of the wider socio-economic context in which education and teaching have been and continue to be significantly shaped and understood. This paper aims to provide this broader contextual analysis, explaining how a technicist logic in schooling and teaching emerged during the Industrial Revolution, how it is being repurposed in light of recent changes and predictions about the world of work, and the importance of reconceiving teaching as a form of artistry.

Systems of mass schooling first emerged in Western Europe following the initial phases of the Industrial Revolution. To meet the imperative of supplying a disciplined industrial workforce the purpose and curriculum of schools focused on preparing students for jobs (Kliebard, 1999). The establishment of mass schooling during the Industrial era led to the consolidation of certain institutional habits, norms, and eventually unspoken rules. By employing standardised ways of organising students into age-based groups, dividing knowledge into separate subjects, using self-contained classrooms with one teacher setting out tasks, and awarding grades as evidence of learning, a logic of schooling and teaching became taken for granted and functions without conscious awareness of it (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). This logic has remained broadly stable for over a century, with teaching innovations tending to fade out or become hybridised within existing structures (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). Sometimes referred to as technicism (Biesta, 2023), the prevailing logic of mass schooling and teaching tends toward the standardised production of specific learning outcomes.

As technologies have advanced and changes have occurred in the world of work, the technicist logic of schooling remains but is shifting focus. New conceptions of the world of work, including one termed the Fourth Industrial Revolution, highlight the growing capacity of artificial intelligence and mobile robotics technologies to perform increasing numbers of routine as well as non-routine job tasks (Frey & Osborne, 2017). Occupations containing more non-routine tasks requiring creativity, social intelligence, and other domain-general skills are thought to be less susceptible to automation (Frey & Osborne, 2017). Proposed educational responses to this predicted new work imperative place less emphasis on specific learning outcomes and instead aim to impart students with general skills and dispositions for learning itself (Doucet et al., 2018). Education policies are increasingly reflecting a repurposed technicist logic directed towards the production of general or meta-level learning outcomes, such as learning-to-learn (OECD, 2019).

Through the ongoing application of a technicist logic, creating conditions for standardisation and predictability, schools and teachers have encountered problems. Similar to the experience of factory workers on a fast moving assembly line, an automaticity and detachment from one’s craft quickly sets in (Shepard, 1977). Rather than fostering a highly conscious, imaginative engagement with the complex unfolding in the classroom, conditions in favour of automaticity leaves the teacher less flexible to respond to the ever-changing circumstances, distinct purposes, and diverse human subjects that characterise educational encounters. Moreover, an emphasis on evidence-based approaches in education policy creates counterproductive outcome expectations based on the misleading assumption that experimentally derived teaching approaches will reliably produce a desired learning outcome (Thomas, 2021). Rather than being an autonomous agent capable of professional judgement, the teacher becomes a technician who administers prescribed interventions (Biesta, 2023). To provide a conceptual remedy to these problems, a typology of artistry in teaching is proposed. This typology includes the art of imaginative observation, art of purposive evocation, art of relational accessibility, and art of contextualised judgement.

The last few decades have seen growing interest in the field of disciplinary aesthetics. Loosely, this can be defined as the ways in which aesthetic judgements, feelings and emotions are expressed or experienced in specific curriculum areas (Wickman et al., 2022). The development of disciplinary aesthetics can be seen as a component of a wider ‘affective turn’ in education: the growing recognition of the importance of affect and emotion as central to educational experience (Zembylas, 2021). The study of aesthetics, while historically rooted in those areas typically affiliated with ‘beauty’, primarily art, drama and the natural world (e.g. Ulrich, 1983), has expanded to explore a broad range of disciplinary subjects including mathematics and science (e.g. Wickman et al., 2022). However, there is currently no substantive research examining the aesthetics of learning about grammar.

Within the broad area of language, aesthetic theory has typically been preoccupied with the forms of or reactions to language: for example, the aesthetic engagement with literary works as a reader (e.g. Stockwell, 2009), or the language of literature in contrast to everyday language, either in general or in the works of ‘great writers’. Analyses also exist of the ways in which some languages or language groups use grammar for aesthetic purposes (e.g. Williams, 2019), and of the individual features of ‘beauty’ in words and/or sounds (e.g. Crystal, 1995). However, there is no work dealing specifically with the aesthetic dimensions of developing explicit knowledge of first language grammar, or of metalinguistic learning in general (which could be about first or other languages). In this paper we therefore consider this area of learning from a disciplinary aesthetics perspective.

Our interest in the aesthetic dimension of learning explicit grammar knowledge arose from our experiences teaching English grammar to student teachers who were preparing to deliver the National Curriculum (DfE, 2013) in primary schools in England. This curriculum contains a significant amount of explicit grammar terminology (e.g. fronted adverbial, prepositional phrase) which primary school teachers are required to teach to pupils aged 5-11. The inclusion of this terminology represented a fairly radical change to education in England after the decline of formal grammar education in the 1960s (Hudson and Walmsley, 2005), and our research initially explored how student teachers might respond to the challenge of mastering (and then teaching) a range of grammatical terms and related concepts that many of them had never encountered. What was most striking to us during this project was the fact that the students expressed strong emotional reactions when learning about the structure of their native grammar. Crucially, many of these reactions seemed to be of a distinctly aesthetic nature.

Within this paper, we speculate as to why the kind of learning that students engaged with within these grammar lessons, might lead to strong affective responses like those that we observed. We argue that explicit grammar learning has a particular potential to evoke aesthetic experience due to its role as a mediator between procedural and declarative knowledge. We suggest that by facilitating the transformation from knowhow to knowledge, grammar learning has the potential to generate cognitive consonance, experienced as an aesthetic-epistemic feeling of fittingness. The analysis draws parallels between the characteristics of grammar and the properties of entities more traditionally conceived to be aesthetic (such as art works and performances). We note that meta-linguistic labels (grammar terms), like art (Consoli, 2014), provide concrete tokens which facilitate virtual models, supporting the transition from ‘automatism’ to ‘conscious reflection’. We conclude by exploring the implications for the field of disciplinary aesthetics and for developing pedagogies which maximise the aesthetic potential of grammar.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many different changes in education. Outcomes of education have also been affected. IEA’s PIRLS2021 was the first of the large-scale international studies of education that measured 4th-graders’ reading literacy during and right after the pandemic. The results have brought surprises for many countries, for example, when compared with PIRLS2016, Finland has lost 17 score points (19 points since PIRLS2011) and there is also a decrease in average achievement scores for Latvia – a drop by 30 points since PIRLS2016. Some countries were not affected, for example, Ireland had gained 10 points since PIRLS2016 and 25 points since PIRLS2011; Lithuanian average achievement score had risen by 4 points since PIRLS2016 and 24 points since PIRLS2011 (Mullis et al., 2023). These four countries were selected for comparison because of their achievement characteristics – Finland was the top-performing EU country in PIRLS2011, and together with Ireland the top-performing countries from the EU in the PIRLS2016. In PIRLS2021 the roles in the international ranking table have changed - Ireland still being the first among EU countries, Latvia being the country with the largest achievement drop, Lithuania rising its achievement to the top 5 among EU countries, but Finland falling behind Lithuania.

The purpose of this study is to find out students’ personal, classroom, and home characteristics that differ between high and low-achieving students in all countries of comparison.

Previous studies have examined that student’s socioeconomic status (Eriksson et al., 2021; OECD, 2020a; Mullis et al., 2023) and intelligence (Roth et al., 2015; Kriegbaum et al., 2018) are the main factors influencing student’s achievement. Among the significant factors explaining achievement distribution often falls motivation (Mullis et al., 2023; Kriegbaum et al., 2018), attitude (Mullis et al., 2023), and confidence in reading or reading self-concept (Geske et al., 2021). It is common to address gender issues when researching reading achievement. There have been studies that claim that the gender gap in reading performance is present already upon students’ entry to school (Ferrer et al., 2015; Mesite, 2019). PIRLS and PISA studies provide evidence that girls outperform boys in reading in the majority of participating countries (OECD, 2020b; Mullis et al., 2023). At the same time – the gender effect on reading disabilities is questionable – some researchers conclude that males are more often diagnosed with reading disabilities (Berninger et al., 2008), but others argue that there are no differences (Shaywitz et al., 1990) or that females are just underdiagnosed (Limbrick et al., 2008; Quinn & Wagner, 2015).

Although PIRLS does not measure students’ intelligence or disabilities, other factors such as students’ personal, school, classroom, and home characteristics can be compared. The authors of this study compared the discrete values of following PIRLS2021 scales (Mullis et al., 2023):

- students’ sense of school belonging, bullying, engagement in reading lessons, and, disorderly behaviours in reading lessons as classroom factors,

- students like reading, students are confident in reading and performance in early literacy tasks as personal factors, and

- home resources for learning, socio-economic status, and parents like reading as students’ home factors.

The results of comparison showed the important role of the language students speak at home every day and their preschool education quality. On average only less than 2% of students who did not speak the language of test at home could perform at the advanced level. More than 90% of students in Ireland who performed at the advanced level before entering school recognized most letters in the alphabet very well, almost 60% of students could read a story and approximately 70% of students could write other words than their name.

Background and Objectives

The interplay between social background, educational attainment and life chances has long been an issue across Europe (d’Addio, 2007). Country-specific policy reform aimed at addressing inequities has largely failed to narrow educational gaps (Bénabou et al, 2009), which have become further entrenched by the socio-educational uncertainty engendered by national responses to Covid-19 (Blaskó et al, 2022). Social-reform policies have largely remained unchanged since the pandemic (Zancajo et al, 2022), causing concern for educational stakeholders who place equity at the heart of their practice.

However, there is cause for hope, where place-based approaches and local multi-disciplinary partnerships are developing in ways that prioritise equity in education. We refer to these approaches as research-practice partnerships (RPPs), a growing international movement (Coldwell et al, 2017; Farrell et al, 2022). RPPs tend to be situated within defined local contexts and grown through prolonged contact between school leaders, other educational stakeholders, local policymakers and researchers (Ainscow, 2023). Hence, they are well positioned to shape local enactments of national policy, and generate local policy endogenously, through sustainable relationships and mutual trust.

This paper presents an illustrative case of a developing RPP in NB, a defined area within a post-industrial town in the North of England. Poverty is high in NB, with 50% children living in low income families. It has therefore been identified as a site for a ‘cradle to career’ approach, emulating aspects of the Harlem Children’s Zone in the USA (Whitehurst & Croft, 2010) by ‘joining-up’ local service infrastructure in ways that holistically support local children’s educational journeys in their home, school and community contexts. The NB RPP is currently working with eight local schools, a multidisciplinary team, and multiple voluntary/community sector organisations.

Our objectives in presenting this case are to understand intra-/inter-organisational relationships within the complex socio-educational landscape of NB, and to evaluate to what extent, and how, these might need to be redefined for the future.

We argue that RPPs are well-positioned to reimagine community relationships in ways that cohesively unite community members, including families, schools and other education-related services and stakeholders. This entails blending local, endogenous knowledge of neighbourhoods and communities with researchers’ more exogenous knowledge. In so doing, we directly address the Network 14 call for contributions on school-community relationships, considering how RPPs can be initiated and sustained to foster the development of more inclusive communities, especially at a time of change and uncertainty.

Research Questions

• What are the educational opportunities and challenges in NB?
• How do local schools and education-related organisations work together within the NB cradle-to-career approach to address these educational opportunities and challenges?

Theoretical Framework

We draw upon Putnam’s (2000) conceptualisation of social capital as the ‘connections among individuals … social networks, and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them’ (p. 19). These connections can be (i) bonding: the connections between local residents or intra-organisational actors, or (ii) bridging: the connections across and between diverse community members and inter-organisational actors. Mulford (2007) further proposes that social relationships can be understood as a resource to forge local policy and practice pathways, where reform agendas are filtered and enacted through the active participation of stakeholders in the local socio-educational landscape. He introduces a third form of social capital, that of linking: a relational pathway that unites communities, institutions and wider professional bodies in the creation of local, regional and national policy and practice. This is exemplified by the RPP (see also Ainscow, 2015, p. 3). Taken together, bonding, bridging and linking social capital provide a lens through which to understand the complex dynamics of NB’s socio-educational landscape.

This paper examines academic performance at top grades in public examinations relative to the national average between Scottish state secondary schools mainly serving young people residing in remote communities. This examination allows me to explore:

(1) how academic performance in those schools compares to schools serving young people residing in more urban areas and

(2) whether academic performance in schools with significant proportions of learners experiencing socio-economic disadvantages is weaker.

School attainment in Scottish remote areas is lower than that observed in more urban areas (Lasselle & Johnson, 2021; Scottish government, 2021). These patterns are similar to those observed elsewhere in the UK, Europe, Australia or the United States of America (Echazarra and Radinger, 2019; Gagnon, 2022; Schmitt-Wilson and Byun, 2022; Schmitt-Wilson et al., 2018; Tomaszewski et al., 2020). They may explain why youth residing in these remote areas are less likely to progress to higher education.

This paper shows that these patterns characterising remote Scotland need nevertheless to be nuanced when secondary school statistics are considered. On the one hand, schools serving remote communities with similar socio-economic status, i.e. similar proportions of learners experiencing socio-economic disadvantages, may have large discrepancies in academic performance at top grades in public examinations relative to the national average. On the other hand, schools with similar academic performance may have different socio-economic status.

In its conclusion, the paper discusses why this contextualisation of academic performance in terms of learners’ location and schools’ socio-economic status is important for policymakers and communities in Scotland and elsewhere in Europe.

The phenomenon of platformization has emerged strongly, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting our daily lives in various facets, such as communication, interaction, education, and commerce, among others. Various scholars have characterized this scenario as a “platform society” (van Dijck et al., 2018) or “platform capitalism” (Srnicek, 2018). Regardless of the increasing interest in understanding the impact of digital platforms in different contexts, there are fewer studies that focus on how digital platforms have penetrated family practices. Consequently, there is a major amount of research on how young individuals use digital platforms, but relatively slight studies about family relationships and even less with an intergenerational perspective that involves the elderly.

The research project “PlatFAMs: Platforming Families – tracing digital transformations in everyday life across generations” aims to explore the integration of digital platforms into the daily routines and dynamics of contemporary families across five European countries (Norway, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Romania and Spain). Through an intergenerational approach, we select 20 families from each country (n= 100) to interview the three main generations (children, parents and grandparents).

The project focuses on three main topics: digital navigation -studying how different members of the family interact with various platforms to discern inter-generational differences and similarities-; digital negotiation -exploring relational dynamics within varied family structures- and digital future-making -investigating how participants develop imaginations of digital futures, within family and society level-.

Through the first stage of the project, we have conducted a scoping review (Erstad, Hegna, Livingstone, Negru-Subticica & Stoilova, in press) that identifies that the field of digital platforms and family life is specially focused on individual uses of social media but less explain the reconfiguration of relationships, agency and autonomy within families. These few studies focus on two different emerging themes related with the platformization of intimacy, belonging and care, on the one hand, and interdependency, vulnerability and power struggles, on the other hand.

The first corpus of literature suggests that digital technology might enable practices of care in contexts such as geographically dispersed families and it might complement rather than substitute face-to-face communication (Danielsbacka et al., 2022; Williams, 2011). It might even contribute to bridging the gap between older parents to understand the modern world (Thomas, 2020). Digital family practices such as negotiating and buying technology, sharing photos from joint family events or using Whatsapp as a transconnective space might also create a sense of family belonging (Palviainen & Kędra, 2020). At the same time, the literature points at concerns related with gender inequalities, social barriers experienced by the elderly and the overburden of the constant online presence (Neves et al., 2019).

The second one involves a shift in power dynamics within families, which might enhance family communication, learning and enjoying creativity (Levinson & Barron, 2018), but also involve parents' concerns about being absent in their children’s digital lives or about higher usage of smartphones. Another relevant aspect is related with parental surveillance, but the few studies that have been implemented point that children might see intimate surveillance as a practice of care that involves feeling more security and comfort (De Leyn, et al., 2022).

The recently published annual national student survey in Norway reports alarming and steadily increasing rates of cyberbullying among students in primary and lower secondary schools. The largest percentage, 5.9% of students, report being cyberbullied (2-3 times a month, once a week, few times a week) via phone, iPad or PC in 5^th grade. Numbers vary between 4,6% to 5,1% in grades 6^th to 10^th (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2024). Increasing prevalence rates, paired with large socio-economic losses for the individual and for the society, makes cyberbullying an important research field for practitioners and researchers alike. The available research suggests the need for a holistic approach, involving all stakeholders in the school community, especially parents, as a means of addressing cyberbullying. Parents as primary caregivers are central in any cooperative efforts influencing a child’s development and well-being (Glavin, 2013). To the best of our knowledge, no study with the focus on parental views on the cooperative efforts has been conducted within European or Norwegian context. Thus, the main objective of the study is to extract insights regarding parents’ views and experiences concerning interdisciplinary and interagency cooperation to overcome cyberbullying in Norwegian schools.

The research shows that positive home-school relations, where parents have the chance to genuinely contribute to their child’s education, improve the child’s overall experience and learning outcomes (Drugli & Nordahl, 2016). In this way, parents and the school share the responsibility of raising children and teenagers in school age. The home-school collaboration is seen as crucial to the child’s positive social adjustment (Kim & Sheridan, 2015). In the following study, it will be assumed that all of the families do sincerely care about their offspring: they want to see them succeed, build positive relations to their peers, educators and wider community (Epstein, 2010). The primary goal of this study is to gain a better insight into parental views on how to best channel the cooperative efforts to prevent and combat cyberbullying, which has such a troubling impact on the lives of many adolescents. The research question guiding this inquiry is thus: What are the views and experiences with cooperation to prevent cyberbullying of parents whose children were involved in cyberbullying?

To answer the research question, 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted either in-person or online with parents of children enrolled in Norwegian primary or lower secondary school, as these are the ages where cyberbullying is most prevalent (Kowalski et al., 2012). Purposive sampling was employed, with the population including parents of children and adolescents involved in cases of cyberbullying. The interviews were carried out between November 2022 and January 2024 in either Norwegian, Polish or English. A reflexive thematic analysis was carried out, revealing four major themes: (1) home-school cooperation, (2) types of parental involvement and (3) aspects of cyberbullying affecting cooperation and (4) cooperative strategies to overcome cyberbullying. All the themes are encompassed within one main node: (I) parental views and experiences with cooperation. Careful ethical measures were undertaken to protect the informants’ rights. In the end, implications for researchers and practitioners were presented, to possibly inform a context-specific cyberbullying program in the future.

Topic. In an age "afflicted" by uncertainty (Morin, 2003, 2016, 2020), it is necessary to prepare new generations to manage this condition of precariousness and the challenges it poses (Bauman, 1994) in a realistic, responsible and constructive way. Among the main challenges, the challenge of AI technologies raises the greatest number of uncertainties because it represents, on the one hand, one of the most advanced opportunities for human development and, on the other hand, one of the greatest risks of dehumanization of existence (Floridi, 2014). It is therefore necessary to train new generations at an early stage to critically and creatively manage AI technologies (Authors, 2023) through effective educational experiences, developed in partnership among schools, families and communities. Within the most innovative educational experiences that is taking its first steps in primary school is the immersive experience in virtual educational environments (Clarke, Dede and Dieterle, 2008; Di Natale et al., 2020; Finestrone, Limone and Peconio, 2023).

Research Question. In line with the issues raised by the special call of Network 14, the research question is: What can be learned by children in/from the immersive experience in educational environments of a virtual type, to enable them to create a community capable of critically and creatively managing AI technologies?

Objectives. The research objectives are:

- to explore the ways in which the immersive experience fosters in children;

- the knowledge to manage AI technologies in a critical and creative way;

- competency in judgement;

- to identify an effective educational model to train children in critically and creatively managing AI technologies through immersive experiences.

Theoretical Framework. At the European level, the school’s commitment in recent decades to train new generations to an adequate digital competence (Media Literacy, Data Literacy, Explainability) (Panciroli and Rivoltella, 2023) is relevant. However, as reported by the most recent scientific research (Spiranec, Kos and George 2019; D'Ignazio and Bhargava, 2015; De la Higuera, 2019), this training presents some weaknesses:

- it is focused on the acquisition of technical skills,

- it is mainly implemented in technical-scientific fields (STEM),

- it is carried out especially in secondary schools.

Moreover, scientific research has not yet clearly focused on four further limitations of current European education to Digital Citizenship and Data Literacy in schools (Authors, in press):

- it does not form in a systematic way starting at least from primary school,

- it does not form a critical and realistic awareness not only of the limitations of AI technologies but also of the potential that a responsible use of technologies can have with respect to improving the quality of life,

- it does not propose educational practices that have proved effective for this purpose,

- it does not activate partnership processes among schools, families and communities.

Indeed, studies on the ethics of AI (Floridi, 2022) highlight the need for the human being to be able to critically and responsibly manage AI technologies and therefore be trained in this sense since childhood, through experiences implemented in partnership among school,. In addition, pedagogical studies and research draw attention to the fact that a critical and creative approach to the problem of new technologies cannot be formed through purely informative, notional, cognitive and technical experiences. It must rather be formed through aesthetic experiences. Among the many aesthetic experiences, one is indicated by the most recent studies of techno-aesthetics as particularly interesting: the immersive experience created on themes and with techniques of visual art and used within educational paths of aesthetic type (Diodato, 2022; Pinotti, 2021; Seo, 2011).

Our presentation focuses on the benefits and challenges of an international multidisciplinary research collaboration (Dusdal & Powell 2021) an Erasmus+ Key Action 2 program entitled “GlobalSense: Developing Global Sensitivity among Student-Teachers (in short, GlobalSense).” Our research group is multi-national, including members from Nantes University (France), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), Weingarten University of Education (Germany), Free University of Brussels (Belgium) and Temple University of Philadelphia (USA). It is also multi-disciplinary in its nature, bringing together experts in sociology, civic education, global education, and learning sciences.

The research question that led the study this presentation is based on is : What are the organizational, communicative and conceptual challenges faced by an international and multidisciplinary team when working together on a politically, socially and culturally loaded topic such as global citizenship education?

Background- The objective of GlobalSense is to enable future teachers to develop their understanding of global citizenship and enhance their pedagogical practices resulting from cross-national online interactions among future educators. The theoretical premise underlying this work was that (a) preparing teachers to promote global citizenship requires them to engage with socially and politically loaded subjects in a global context; (b). Since each nation has a unique history and context the encounter with student-teachers from different countries has a learning potential; and (c) Teachers’ training cannot be limited to the transmission of academic knowledge alone but should include the development of a pedagogical awareness of and sensitivity (Hansen, 2010).

Theoretical background - As early as in the 1980s scholars attempted to point to the motivations and costs of collaboration in research (Fox & Faver 1984). The collaboration in the case of the GlobalSense project is motivated by indirect benefit concerning external goals of a political, economic or cultural nature as well as direct benefits that enable addressing transnational or global problems (Georghiou 1998:620-622) such as Global Citizenship education. The impact of context being political, ethical and economical can affect the research process. First of all, language differences complicate aspects of a collaborative study. Diverse cultural settings present unique challenges in multinational collaboration (Hooper et al. 2005 in Freshwater et al 2006) and more evidently in social research focused on politically loaded issues such as the GlobalSense project. Dusdal & Powell’s (2021) qualitative comprehensive study found that among the benefits of scientific collaboration, interviewees mentioned: Broadening knowledge, conducting comparative research, multidisciplinarity advances thinking and facilitates development of theoretical approaches and methods, etc . The motivations could be career advancement, networking and time to do multidisciplinary work among others. The challenges researchers faced: Organization and structured management of work packages and tasks, team communications and language skills, contrasting cultural and organizational expectations and norms, contrasting styles of communication (exchange of information) and work, diverse theoretical and methodological strengths and weaknesses and so on (Dusdal & Powell 2021). Regarding organizational challenges, though much of the work related to international research collaboration can be accomplished by email, telephone conference and video-conference, the literature emphasises the importance of face-to-face meetings (Hooper et al., 2005 in Freshwater et al 2006). The role of diversity and respect can be accommodating differences in order to facilitate a consensus approach to decision-making (Freshwater et al 2006).

As we know, collaborative European projects are very interesting platforms for the exchange of knowledge and best practices, as well as strong opportunities to understand why other approaches and solutions may benefit different circumstances. But as anyone who has taken part in such projects knows, the very same characteristics that create these exceptionally fertile circumstances, at times also make it particularly difficult to continuously and sustainably deliver high quality products. This is especially the case when partners are new to each other or to the Erasmus protocols, and the different focus points or expectations between partners reach the level where they overshadow the gains of the exchange and significantly slow down the planned process or systematically lower the quality of what is produced. However, it is paramount to safeguard the quality of the final products because, even though professional international exchange and strengthening one’s skills in collaboration are important goals indeed, the goal to deliver strong work, such that it may raise all our practices, always remains at the forefront of our aims.

Here we share our experience with monitoring the quality of an ongoing Teacher Academy project for Erasmus+. We describe the start of the project, our development of the quality monitoring system fitting the circumstances and educational and collaborative principles, and our continuous safeguarding of quality. We reflect on the process and the outcomes (e.g. the quality reports).

To contextualize our approach, we want to bring your attention to the fact that when an Erasmus+ partnership is forged between various educational institutions in different countries, the proposal that is to bind their efforts has a central issue that serves to focus the proposal as well as the partnership. It is true that it serves, as quoted in the call for proposals for this conference, as a ‘glue’ for the various partners. However, such a partnership between educational institutions, always has another issue to deal with, regardless of the ideas in the proposal, and that is the inevitable difference between their educational practices, and possibly philosophies, and how these shape their goals and expectations for collaboration and co-creation. This is relevant insofar as the educational principles any institution practices in educating its students match the ones they use in their own learning and development, and when cooperating with other learners for said development. In short, if the various partners practice what they preach, and they preach different things, the cooperation inevitably faces an extra challenge, and a profound one to boot. Our team set out to turn this into an opportunity. We as educators in a teacher training program that is explicitly veered towards establishing lifelong learning skills in our teacher-trainees, advocate a strong alignment between our own educational practices and our approach to collaborative efforts to learn and build together within an Erasmus+ partnership, in line with the latter framework’s aims for the collaborations it wishes to foster (cf. key action 2 and 3 of the Erasmus+ program.

Faced with the fascinating opportunities this type of partnership entailed, we took some time to look more closely at the situation and performed desk research to acquaint ourselves with the general approach to Quality Assurance. We then decided to introduce an alternative approach based on our own educational philosophies and practices to help sustain motivation and keep management from overextending. We developed our method and introduced it at the first physical meeting, where we walked our partners through the designed method, asked for their consent, and then started up the process the same day to ensure ad hoc support.

It has been not widely analyzed how intense emotions (both positive and negative ones) maintained the Cold War situation between 1945 and 1990: between the Blocks and inside a country (an example of this attitude: Biess, 2020). The topic of this presentation is a blind spot in the history of Eastern European education, namely the role and feelings of teachers and principals during the collectivization. In a one-party socialist system, every state employee (including teachers, managers, local officials, cultural workers, etc.) had to function as a propagandist (Slapentokh, 1989, 106–107); regardless of his/her commitment, and attitudes. Proving loyalty to the official ideology and the requirement to take part in socialist development (industrialization, collectivization, transformation of the culture) might cause conflicts of conscience for teachers, especially in rural areas, where these intellectuals were closely related to their communities.

The context of educators’ activities in mass mobilization campaigns in socialist societies (like collectivization) has already been elaborated (e.g. Fitzpatrick, 1994; Kligman & Verdery, 2011), but the personal views of these participants are mostly missing. I am going to present these through a special case study, showing the final phase of the collectivization in Hungary, in the early months of 1960. Originally, the process of radical change in agriculture was considered to be a field of historical investigation. Historians traditionally focused on the Party regulations, local implementation, and the reactions of the farmers (from collaboration to resistance), meanwhile, the other actors who were involved, remained in the shadow. On the other hand, scholars from the history of education were not interested in that topic, as it seemed to be too far from the issues of schooling, and belongs to the terrain of economic and political history. These all concluded in a forgotten and sometimes tabooed story of the dominant presence of schoolteachers in the collectivization: even the participants did not want to speak about it, because the persuasion of the individual farmers might connect with psychological and physical pressure.

My preliminary statements were the following before the analysis:

1. Education, as a content and activity was subordinated to different ideological and political intentions until the first half of the 1960s in Hungary. Teachers had to fulfil the Party-given goals at that time, with limited professional competencies.
2. Teachers’ (and other social actors’) involvement was enforced and manipulated by the Party, to take the responsibility down to lower levels (Ö. Kovács, 2012): the local staff had to agitate their own families, relatives, pupils’ parents, and so on. In an all-round movement, everyone was a link in the chain.
3. The communist project about social transfiguration was evaluated as a modernization program (even nowadays), and in this progress, the state educationalizes the whole society (Świrek & Pospech, 2021). Teachers had to educate not just the children, but their parents as well – and sometimes the educators needed an education too (Welton, 2014).
4. Propaganda and agitation made parallel universes in this world, where ideology immensely infiltrated everyday reality.

There are two broader dimensions surrounding this theme: the roles, possibilities, and limitations of intellectuals in an authoritarian, totalitarian system (Tismaneanu & Iacob, 2019); and the utilizing emotions in the history of education (Sobe, 2012). In this presentation, I will first outline the socio-historical background of the concrete case, and then comes the analysis of the complex interactions between teachers and their environment in the winter of 1960.

The term Anthropocene, popularised by J.P. Crutzen, suggests that humankind has become a global geological force in its own right (Steffen et al., 2011). In the search for the origins of the Anthropocene, it is often associated with capitalism(Foster, Clark, York, 2010; Zalasiewicz, 2019), most notably the US hegemony (Foster, Clark, 2021). The question is even raised as to whether the Anthropocene should be called the Capitalocene (Moore, 2016). Marxist philosophy and the ecological policy of the Soviet Union are presented as a counterbalance to predatory capitalism towards nature. But even while admiring this policy, it is acknowledged that it has been ambivalent (Foster, 2015). As Bolotova notes, “The slogans on the conquest and subjection of nature were among the most important ideological frames of the Soviet state. The idea of human dominance over nature and the call for humans to subdue, modify and reconstruct a chaotic and meaningless nature in order to regulate natural processes supplemented the overarching goal of a total reconstruction of the social order, making for an intrinsic link between state policy and the ideology of conquering nature in the USSR” (2004, p. 107). But in its outward-looking propaganda, the Soviet Union positioned itself as the greatest defender of nature and a fighter against the capitalists destroying it. The aim of this presentation is to analyse which of the Soviet Union's narratives - the conquest of nature or the preservation of nature - was dominant in Soviet educational policy and school practice. Has attention been paid to the ecological problems of the Soviet Union itself: the Aral Sea's destruction, the rivers' diversion, the causes of desertification, destructive forms of timber exploitation, irrational mining practices, etc?

This paper explores how pedagogies of place can support an analysis of the connections between people, places, and communities by including pedagogical and ecological discourses in a specific time and space in Denmark - The Travelling High School Tvind in the 1970s.

Grünewald (2003) describes five "dimensions of place" that can shape the development of a socio-ecological, place-conscious education: (a) the perceptual, (b) the sociological, (c) the ideological, (d) the political and (e) the ecological. Warren (2000) states that human beings must (a) examine the impact of places on culture and identity, and (b) embrace our political roles.

The case study examines the educational ethos and the conceptualisation of pedagogical actions and the concept action competence.

Tvind began (1970) near the village of Ulfborg (2000 inhabitants) on Denmark's west coast by the North Sea. A small group of young teachers settled there to live collectively and with a shared economy when they set up a state-funded folk high school. They were pioneers in social development, education and sustainable environmental projects. (Today the Teachers' Group has hundreds of members in several countries). Tvind Folk High School became internationally known in the 70s through this construction. It proved to be significant not only for the wind turbine industry, but also for the wider environmental discourse. The case highlights a close and complex relationship between environmental activism, pedagogy and the development of agency.

Special emphasis was placed on developing international solidarity with the working class through direct experience. Young Danes were sent to Third World countries, thus turning the folk high school into an international, globalised forum for dealing with Third World problems and power. At that time Tvind's pedagogy was inspired by Maoism and its strong focus on manual labour and material production based on solidarity with the people.

Environmental problems have been on the agenda since the 1960s and 1970s. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is therefore a complex concept. The concept: Action competence is central to the field. It is defined as a personal capacity that encompasses more than the intellectual-cognitive domain and is a pedagogical and ethical challenge, as it involves the will to act. The concept is ideologically influenced by German critical theory (Oscar Negt (1964) (2019) (including inspiration from C. Wright Mills concept of sociological imagination) as well as W. Klafki (1983/1959).(Breiting et al, 2009).

The intention is to foster democratic and action-oriented citizens. It involves the whole personality, including many of the mental capacities and dispositions. (Mogensen, 1995). Ideland, M., clams the notion of action competence inscribes standards for what is to be thought and acted, experienced and felt.( Ideland, M, 2016.) ESD is discussed as a top-down directive promoting an indoctrinating education (Hasslöf, H. Ekborg, M and Malmberg, 2013) (Jickling, 2003) (Jickling and Wales, 2008) ( Ideland, M, 2016.) as action and behaviour change appear as imperatives within a sustainability discourse.

From a democratic perspective, the extent to which citizens see themselves as potential actors in societal development may be of paramount importance (Kollmuss, A (2002)).

If eco-politics requires a new political subject that can, among other things, realise the notion of freedom without abundance and integrate ecological materiality into a democratic and emancipatory politics, it is necessary to develop some common competences for action. (Charbonnier, P (2021). Scholars argue the need for a new ecological class directed against the production horizon to sustain the planet (Latour, B & Schultz, N. 2022).

Observation as a research method is useful when collecting data about teaching and learning. Classroom observation as a method can be defined as watching with a specific focus, where the researcher attempts to reflect on and understand the situation at hand. There are different observation methods, ranging from note taking (field notes), structured observation, and video observation. Wragg (2011) argues that observation is well-suited when we want to describe different learning situations and activities that take place in school and kindergarten. While observation as a method is well-suited to answer the “hows, whys and what fors” about learning and teaching, there are several concerns with regards to observation as a method for understanding classrooms.

First, in classroom observations, the choice of what the researcher zooms in on can be overwhelming (Jordan & Henderson, 1995). Consequently, an issue that can come up is that of “pre-analysis” (Jordan & Henderson, 1995) or pre-selection (Zuengler et al., 1998). In using a video camera for observation purposes, this may lead to what Zuengler and colleagues (1998) describe as camera or analyst eyes. One way of circumventing this is through having multiple cameras, thereby allowing for a broader data collection. On the other hand, video data is in itself rich, and having several cameras can result in collecting data for the sake of collecting data, which can be viewed as unethical (Blikstad-Balas, 2017). As such the discussion rests on whether the loss of detail can be balanced with drawing on broader observation data.

Secondly, an issue that needs to be addressed is that of intrusiveness and inhibition (Mifsud, 2012). Questions that need to be raised are whether the presence of the researcher acts as a behaviour inhibitor, thus diluting the data. As such, observation studies can never be free from the presence of the observer as long as they are within the classroom (Silverman, 2001).

Thirdly, the researcher comes encumbered with their own understanding of teaching and learning, both from their role as researcher as well as from previous experience in the classroom. This in turn might lead to several challenges, such as researcher bias. However, first-hand knowledge of the classroom does not automatically mean that the etic (objective/outsider account) - emic (subjective/insider account) is no longer valid. An issue that can be raised is therefore whether researchers avoid relying solely on observation data (Gall et al., 2007).

This leads to our final concern, namely that of replicability and generalisability have been issues that have been debated with regards to classroom observations (Cohen et al., 2018; Dalland et al., 2023) The use of videos was often hailed as a way of dealing with issues of replicability and generalisation, as videos enable the viewing and reviewing of data (Derry et al., 2010). However, as Zuengler and colleagues (1998) points out, using videos in data collection does not necessarily counterbalance issues of pre-analysing the classroom situation. As such, there is the need to address these challenges and discuss different methods for working around these issues. While seminal works (for example Derry et al., 2010, have over 1500 citations) raise several issues regarding classroom observation, these are mainly over 20 years old, and the classrooms of today are not the same as classrooms were two decades ago, and many classrooms also have a myriad of tools that are used by pupils and teachers. Therefore, there is the need to revisit these issues. This paper raises the following questions:

• What possibilities and challenges arise in classroom observations?
• What are the implications of different techniques of classroom observations?

A vital component in the functioning of an educational organisation has been of particular interest to researchers worldwide seeking to define and investigate it in more detail. Individual components and definitions related to organizational culture have been extensively discussed for years. Despite the great interest in this phenomenon, school culture and its particular constituent has not yet been fully explored, let alone in the light of systems thinking.

In this paper I attempt by approaching the phenomenon in the light of Niklas Luhmann's theory, to highlight the factors that make it a complex, multidimensional emergent phenomenon as well as its dimensions, so as to further understand the strong relationships between them. In particular, I attempt to develop a qualitative ethnographic way of investigating the phenomenon in the light of Luhmannian theory, thus helping to explore the phenomenon, to evaluate it and subsequently to develop a resilient school culture as a process of complex organisational transition and systemic change. Therefore, the results of the study will be presented regarding one of the three factors influencing the formation of the emerging phenomenon.

Having in mind the importance of the decision premises, the decision – making conditions allow the double monitoring of decision – making processes at the level of observable behaviour and its products, and at the level of the conditions, which are potentially the cause of undesirable outcomes. They amplify intra – system uncertainties and put them in a form that can be further processed in the system.

According to Luhmann, these decisions create conditions for an infinite number of other decisions (Luhmann, 2018). Therefore, they create preconditions for future decisions and could be called meta-decisions, as they influence other decisions. Following Luhmann's idea, three dimensions of decision premises can be distinguished that need to be taken into account in organizational theory (Luhmann, 2018, p. 222)

- Programs

- Structures/procedures,

- Personnel

The highly complex nature of the phenomenon dictates the need to explore it in depth and to record both quantitative and qualitative data in the context in which the school culture is developed. Its specificity as unique to each school unit suggests the need for the direct involvement of the researcher and the investigation of the developments taking place within the system. An ethnographic research methodological approach is required to understand the goals, challenges, motivations and factors that fuel and contribute to its development. In ethnography, the researcher becomes a participatory member in the participants' environment in order to understand the goals, cultures, and challenges that emerge.

Swedish ‘first teachers’ interpretation of their assignments at a school with challenges

This paper describes parts of my ongoing PhD dissertation work where I study the policy enactment of the Swedish ‘first teacher’ (‘förstelärare’) reform in practice. The first teacher reform (Prop. 2012/13:136) completed ten years as a reform initiative in 2023. The purpose of the reform is to make the teaching profession more attractive and ensure good teaching for students. In the last two decades, a range of policy initiatives designed to establish new teacher roles. These new ‘expert’ teachers are called förstelärare in Sweden, lærerspesialist in Norway and tutoropettajat in Finland (Grimm, 2023; Lorentzen, 2021; Utbildningsstyrelsen, 2020). Despite great interest of these ‘expert’ teachers in Nordic countries, the research about these roles is still in the making. In a review of previous research, there are few relevant studies that explore what they do in their everyday school practice, specifically in schools with special challenges.

The aim of the paper is to explore how five selected first teachers at a primary school in Sweden interpret their assignment and how they describe their everyday work at school.

As a theoretical frame, I use Bernstein's (2000) discourse analytical concepts of classification and framing, as well as recognition- and realization rules.

Many societies in the current era are characterized by the existence of significant ethnic, racial or religious diversity, and this turns them into multicultural or multinational societies (Tully, 2001). Israel is an example of a multicultural country that includes different national and cultural groups (Dahan, 2007). Societies that consider themselves multicultural place in the forefront the value of equal treatment of different cultures, recognition of heterogeneity and preservation of pluralism (Ezer, 2004, Schweid, 2000). The role of the state, in a society that considers itself liberal, is to enable the existence of the variety of cultures in the country, and the school is one of the places to ensure the necessary conditions for the continued existence of the variety of cultures that exist in society.

One of the challenges in a multicultural society is dealing with learning linguistic literacy skills in the various fields of knowledge and especially in the field of science. The development of scientific knowledge and scientific literacy are considered a central goal in Israel and the world (https://madan.education/review-daily/167/). The teachers in the various fields of knowledge are very literate in their field of knowledge but have not been trained enough to teach linguistic literacy (Cohen & Livant, 2011).

An analysis of the science textbooks shows that the science profession has unique literacy requirements. The examined chapters are characterized by short informative texts, syntactic, simplicity and a low linguistic level. Hardly any difficult or unfamiliar words and phrases that are not specific to the material being studied were found. The vocabulary reflects not only the main points of scientific language but actually the foundations of scientific work. The texts are rich in words such as: characteristics, features, phenomenon, principle, explanation, conclusion, proof. The scientific terms receive a lot of attention and are emphasized both through definitions and through lexical repetitions. (Cohen & Livant, 2011) The purpose of studying "scientific literacy" is to impart both scientific knowledge, that is, scientific content and ideas, and an understanding of the ways of investigating science and the nature of scientific explanation and scientific proof (Dragos & Mih, 2015).

The research has two main goals: (1) to examine perceptions of science teachers regarding linguistic skills and language skills and their importance in teaching science in multicultural schools. (2) to test the science teachers' literacy action strategies in language issues in general and the scientific language in particular when it comes to multicultural schools. These two goals will lead to the formulation of literate proposals and methods of action and will enable the formulation of an appropriate program for studying the subject of science in multicultural schools.

This presentation draws on findings from a three-year long project. Our on-going project “Voices of the future: collaborating with children and young people to re-imagine treescapes was funded across environmental science, arts and humanities and social science (NERC NE/V021370/1]. This project addresses the call for reconceptualising children’s participation in the construction of knowledge about their environments. With emphasis on active and experiential learning, it is argued that engaging children and their own embodied experiences in research would be helpful to re-imagine what environmental education could mean to them (Rousell and Cutter-Makenzie, 2020).

In our research, we have worked with children aged (7-8) in three different primary schools in the northwest of England. Children from Year 3 and 4 which is Key Stage (2) in Britain educational system, were involved as co-researchers to plan and do different activities related to trees in their schools. These activities took place inside the classrooms whilst thinking about trees and co-designing the new woodlands in the school playgrounds. Some of the activities also took place outside in the school playground including tree planting and measuring carbon sequestration in trees by measuring a tree diameter. On some afternoons, we also visited school forest (woodland area) in one of semi-rural schools to observe the role of trees in awarding children opportunities to learn from nature and trees.

In our experience of working with different groups of children in three different school settings, we see tree/child relations as something porous always connected, embedded, and embodied, dynamic and active (Murris and Osgood 2022). Childhood in our work is not considered as a universal phenomenon (Rautio and Jokinen 2015) but we see it in relations to children’s social and relational worlds, whilst looking at their relations with the natural environments.

In this presentation, we will include examples of creative outputs mainly created by children as part of their collaboration in the treescapes project. We will discuss how these child-led creative outputs offer us to have an expansive view of children’s engagement with treescapes. We will talk about the role of films created by children, creative forms of field notes that children recorded during research activities. We will also showcase examples of our planned research activities which will be developed as toolkits for teachers/practitioners for future use. By doing this, we aim to encourage teachers and practitioners to explore how stories portrayed in different data outputs provide a broader, expansive, and relatively different (not western and adult dominant) view of children engagement with treescapes.

The use of experiential collaborative learning (ECL) activities is growing in higher education (HE) across Europe. Not least as a response to the need of transdisciplinary approaches to solving complex societal and environmental problems. The university-wide compulsory course “Experts in Teamwork” (EiT) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), constitutes one example which has inspired other HE institutions (e.g. Nordplus, 2022 and ENHANCE, 2023). In EiT master level students work in project teams to increase their collaborative skills. They are expected to reflect on and develop their group process alongside the project work. Learning assistants (LA) support the students through group facilitation and receive support themselves from teaching assistants (TA) with training aimed at enhancing their interpersonal awareness. The focus of this paper is on how TAs experience increased intra- and intersubjective awareness as helpful when supporting the LAs.

In experiential collaborative learning contexts where students are expected to pay attention to interpersonal relations within a team, their thoughts, emotions, actions and reflections make up the source of mutual learning in the team (Kolb, 2014; Veine et al., 2020). From a psychoanalytic perspective, French (1997) argues that learning situations provoke anxiety by fundamentally exposing the learner to her own and others’ evaluations, and that this exposure anxiety may intensify in an experiential collaborative learning context. Students in such learning contexts will likely need support to be able to mitigate the possibly inhibiting effects anxiety has on learning (French, 1997; Schein, 1993).

One way of supporting groups’ learning, is through facilitation (Hogan, 2002). A facilitator may act as a container for a group’s anxiety, without stripping them of their autonomy (McClure, 2005). Literature on facilitation emphasizes the need for facilitators to have knowledge of their own emotions and defenses to better understand the behaviors and emotions of others (Andreasen et al., 2020; Hogan, 2005). We assume that the same self-understanding is of significance when facilitating in an experiential collaborative learning context. This perspective is, however, lacking in literature on experiential learning in HE.

In the case of EiT, some LAs experience that they are not sufficiently prepared for all aspects of their job, despite having received practical training in group facilitation (Veine et al., 2023). Their uncertainty may activate unconscious thoughts, feelings, and action patterns, making it hard for the TAs to relate to, and understand, the different ways LAs act and react as group facilitators. This challenge makes it relevant for the TAs to be more aware of unconscious responses.

Included in the TA training in EiT is a 3 full-day self-reflection seminar designed to increase the TAs’ awareness of self and others as well as build psychological safety among the TAs. We will present narratives based on the TAs’ understanding of the relevance of the self-reflection seminar to their task of supporting the LAs in EiT. Through thematic narrative analysis we explore their stories about the outcome of their training by asking:

• In what ways, if any, do the TAs experience the self-reflection seminar as contributing to a) enhanced understanding and awareness of themselves; b) increased awareness about their relations to others; and c) their capacity to fulfill their TA tasks?

This study contributes new knowledge on how TAs benefit from training aimed at increasing their understanding of themselves and others. This broadens the understanding of students as teachers, investigating the significance of exploring personal stories in an ECL context. Our study is a starting point for more research on the value of intra- and intersubjective awareness in the context of experiential collaborative learning.

This research study aims to investigate how the adolescent search for meaning in their lives can be facilitated through a narrative-hermeneutical-developmental pedagogical approach applied to humanistic subjects like Personal, Social and Career Development (PSCD), Media Literacy Education (MLE), and Religious Education (RE). In turn, such a search for meaning can potentially reduce significantly the uncertainty of adolescents into hope, and transform their vulnerability into strength and resilience that transpire from a sense of wellbeing, including spiritual wellbeing.

The narrative-hermeneutical approach to teaching and learning, that is being explored, seeks to nurture the re-configuration and re-imagination of life experiences, shared in a classroom context. The research is embedded in professional and pedagogical practice, employing a multimodal ethnographic approach that transpires from a hermeneutical ontology and epistemology. Moreover, it utilises individual experiences within various socio-cultural contexts that are offered by digital multimodality in both the final students’ productions and the process leading to them. Through its emphasis on the application of multimodality to students’ tasks and digital productions/artefacts created, the ethnographic approach taken makes the collection of rich data from a variety of sources and techniques possible: workshop seminars, focus groups, semi-structured in-depth interviews, and the student participants’ multimodal productions.

The research questions that this study will explore are the following:

• How can uncertainty and vulnerability during adolescence be transformed into a sense of hope and a source of strength and resilience, respectively, through educational spaces that provide opportunities for meaning-making?
• How can such a transformation occur through a narrative-hermeneutical-developmental approach to pedagogy that is facilitated by creative digital technologies?

The theoretical framework of this study will be inspired simulataneously by Paul Ricoeur's narrative-hermeneutical philosophical framework, Robert Kegan's model of adolescent development, and Charles Taylor's understanding of morality in education.

As this research study strives to achieve such aims and address such questions, it will also seek to explore cross-curricular initiatives that create educational spaces for various subjects to come together and address some of their learning outcomes more effectively. The results of this study can also, potentially, enlighten educators on how to make assessment for, of and as learning, more meaningful and conducive to deep critical reflection and self-reflexivity.

The Paper highlights the connection between Sigmund Freud and Franz Brentano, emphasizing Brentano's epistemological influence on Freud (Barclay, 1971; Jones, 1960; Schwediauer, 2005). This connection introduced Freud to empirical and analytical phenomenalism, which led to his early acknowledgment, as early as 1898, of phenomena existing 'beyond consciousness' (Freud, 1950). This concept is one of Freud's oldest theoretical foundations, describing the 'psychologically alive' as a dynamic event and a 'play of forces'. In Freud's ideas, one can find Brentano's theory of intentionality (Brentano, 1924), which also appears in the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl – a student of Brentano – as well as in the works of Alfred Adler and Viktor Frankl, a student of Adler (Frankl, 1938). Notably, Brentano's concept of intentionality is also present in Karl Bühler's theory of signs (Bühler, 1927), who critically and constructively engaged with Freud's theories. The article aims to elucidate these connections on the foundation of intentionality, including its application in semiotics, and explore the phenomenon of uncertainty, demonstrating its impact on various theories regarding unpredictability and unforeseeability through theoretical considerations.

Intentionality is the basis of a theory of psychic relations, particularly characterized by entanglements and conflicts, as evidenced in the theoretical approaches of Freud, Adler, Frankl, Husserl, and Bühler. Freud's concept of psychic phenomena and the methodology in research align closely with the methodologies proposed by his teacher Brentano (Barclay, 1959; Gay, 1989). Freud himself stated, "the true beginning of scientific activity consists rather in describing phenomena and then in proceeding to group, classify and correlate them" (Freud, 1915, p. 117), a method typical of Brentano's understanding of science.

Brentano's influence extends beyond phenomenology to Gestalt theory, providing insights into phenomena 'beyond consciousness' through uncertainties in perception, according to Bühler (1927). Brentano's approach is particularly noted for highlighting the phenomenon of 'intentionality' (Brentano, 1874, p. 306), encompassing actions like 'I am uncertain' and 'my uncertainty'. As Charlotte Bühler (1971, p. 380) notes, "Intentionality implies both a person's focusing on a subject [object] which means or signifies something to him as well as a person's directing himself toward this subject [object]". Brentano believed that for any meaningful guidance, it is essential to focus on those situations and experiences. Intentionality involves an emergence, a connection, and a fading away in real experiences grounded in imaginations and concepts, judgments, and emotional phenomena such as acts of will, sensations, and feelings. The article will explore the origins of intentionality and attempt to demonstrate its significance for various theories and their conception of Uncertainty.

Generative AI (GenAI) is a specific type of Artificial Intelligence that can create new content in the form of text, images, music, code, and various other forms of digital media by using machine learning or ‘training’. ChatGPT is an example of a GenAI application that has been trained on a vast amount of publicly available data. It was made freely available in November 2022, albeit with usage limitations. The launch sparked intense public interest, with initial speculation about what the effects might be for education, jobs, and for society in general.

While ChatGPT was not the first model made available (e.g. GPT-2), it is an advanced model that allows for sophisticated interactions, with the remarkable capability of replicating human-like natural language processing. However, it cannot understand language. It is trained to detect complex patterns and assimilate that information into existing information (Bozkurt, 2023; UNESCO, 2023). As GenAI continues its rapid growth, evolving and improving outputs, there has been a wide range of perspectives, from those who have embraced the technology, those who oppose the technology, and some who are both enthusiastic and/or cautious. Gallant-Torres (2023) identifies the opposing extremes as ‘technophiles who defend it without regard to its risk and technophobes who reject it without considering its benefits.’

Research is beginning to emerge about the affordances and challenges of GenAI use in education. New skills are evolving with the use of GenAI such as ‘prompt engineering’, which is defined as the ‘art of designing, writing and fine-tuning prompts’ to elicit the most accurate and relevant responses from GenAI applications (Eager & Brunton, 2023). There have been significant opportunities that have already been identified as being embraced in higher education settings, such as integrating technology to promote learner-AI collaboration (Tan, Chen & Chua, 2023), personalised feedback and adaptive learning pathways (Eager & Brunton, 2023), automating processes, innovations in teaching and assessment and creating a more inclusive environment (Adiguzel, 2023; Moya & Eaton, 2023). However, the scope and the extent to which these practices have been adopted remain unclear. There are also complex issues emerging, as Farrelly and Baker (2023) highlight that ‘we are already seeing that minority and marginalised students are being accused of breaching academic integrity rules …perpetuating an existing inequitable pattern’.

In 2021, UNESCO released ‘Recommendations on The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence’. The first statement highlights the importance of ‘the profound and dynamic positive and negative impacts of AI on societies, environment, ecosystems and human lives, including the human mind’ (UNESCO, 2021). The call for setting standards relating to AI technologies happened well before the launch of ChatGPT and the numerous other generative AI tools released since then. It is evident that GenAI has now been integrated into higher education settings (Ipek, 2023), amidst concerns about what the potential impacts could be on disciplinary knowledge and the assessment of key knowledge and skills. It is in this context that our research study aimed to examine the use of generative AI by academics and students in higher education, and their perceptions of the impact that the technology would have on teaching and learning.

The key research question is:

• What are the opportunities and challenges associated with using generative AI in higher education?

Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies have sparked discussions within higher education(Kramm & McKenna, 2023; Peters et al., 2023; Popenici, 2023). Among these tools, ChatGPT stands out for its capacity to generate text, provide personalized recommendations, and potentially improve student learning outcomes. However, concerns have been raised about the impact of such AI tools on higher education teaching and academic integrity(Blackie, 2024; Rawas, 2023). This study aims to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and education, with a specific focus on ChatGPT and its potential applications in higher education. More specifically, this paper seeks to investigate the possibilities of integrating ChatGPT into higher education courses with the goal of enhancing academic literacy and improving students' learning experiences. The study addresses two key objectives: (i) the integration of artificial intelligence tools, particularly ChatGPT, into higher education courses, and (ii) understanding the perceptions of students and their engagement with ChatGPT within the context of their academic activities.

Drawing inspiration from situated/sociocultural perspectives in learning and Gee's (2008) concept of a "mediating device," we explore how learners’ understanding and capabilities are transformed when engaging with ChatGPT. As Gee(2008) suggests, what learners can understand and accomplish with a mediating device differs significantly from what they can do without it. When individuals engage with mediating devices, knowledge becomes distributed—some is manifested in their minds, some in their coordination with tools, and some in the tools themselves. This perspective informs our exploration of the impact of ChatGPT as a mediating device in enhancing students' learning experiences and academic literacy.

The availability to the public of the Generative Artificial Intelligence tool ChatGPT has led to several reactions in society at different levels. Regarding higher education several challenges have arisen, especially in terms of ethics and evaluation, and its integration into teaching and research practices. In this study, we intend to explore mainly the issues related to the integration and ways of using ChatGPT in higher education, especially in initial teacher training, and the implications of this use for education policies and global citizenship.

With the rapid development and widespread accessibility of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI), it is paramount to understand its implications in various areas of society, in terms of knowledge creation and its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (UNESCO, 2021), notwithstanding the necessary epistemological reflection on its use (Figueiredo, 2023).

In higher education, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to completely transform teaching and learning (Rawas, 2023). The potential of ChatGPT shows remarkable benefits in teaching, research support, automated grading, administrative management, and human-computer interaction (Dempere et al., 2023). It can provide individualized recommendations to students, increase collaboration and communication, and further improve their learning outcomes (Rawas, 2023). However, have been identified ethical concerns and implementation issues about security in student assessment and plagiarism, misuse, and the possibility of misinformation, as well as wider social and economic impacts such as job displacement, the digital literacy gap, or decreased human interaction (Dempere et al., 2023; Rawas, 2023).

ChatGPT, as a Gen-AI tool, can help conversationally with writing, learning, solving and assessment, as an assistant for instructors and a virtual tutor for students (Lo, 2023). A literature review highlights measures relating to assessment methods and the necessary institutional policies. Rethinking assessment tasks to reduce the risk of plagiarism by requiring students to demonstrate their skills in real-time and in person, for example. Course content, learning outcomes and assessment methods can also be modified to circumvent ChatGPT, by using it to generate lesson topics, test and exam questions, homework, or product ideas (De Winter, 2023).

On the other hand, from a more constructive and training perspective, it will also be important to promote students' digital literacy in the use of Gen-AI tools. Teaching students about the risks of relying on AI-based technologies is important. These risks include hallucinations, which are false responses generated by AI, presented as facts, not explained by the training data (Dempere et al., 2023). For this reason, it is important to integrate these technologies responsibly, as a supplement to and not a replacement for human interaction (Fuchs, 2023), and there is a pressing need to regulate AI in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

As far as initial teacher training (ITT) is concerned, this phenomenon is even more relevant, since these students, as future teachers, will soon be training pupils in education systems. It requires teachers and students develop digital competences and literacies, with a strong focus on critical thinking and fact-checking strategies (Kasneci et al., 2023).

Studies of student satisfaction, dropout, failure, and disappointment with grading and examination events are plentiful. There are fewer corresponding studies of faculty, except for PhD students' experiences (McAlpine, Skakni, & Pyhältö, 2022). Higher education is characterized as an instrumental selection process designed to complete a meritocratic project of separating the wheat from the chaff, the talented from the untalented, and the promising from those who cannot expect an academic future. This process is a reflection of the competition that exists for a position or promotion in the academic world. If you succeed with your education and also qualify for an entry-level qualification for employment, there are still many who do not succeed in the competition for that one position at the institution where the applicant wants to build a career. Whether applying for a position in competition with others or for promotion based on merit criteria, there is excitement, anticipation, and, in some cases, desperation, shame, and disgust when applicants are rejected, and experience negative judgments and downward thumbs down. Students' assessment of teaching can be disheartening, and colleagues' unwillingness to understand or comply with decisions or agreed principles, just as a decree of rejection or crushing peer reviews can undermine employees' faith, hopes and dreams. For the person concerned, the experience of such crises is a process of depletion of ardour and enthusiasm, self-confidence and ambition - or it is part of a resilience-building experience base. When life in higher education institutions is portrayed in university self-presentations, it is almost without exception positive news, about careers flourishing, projects being won, and results being achieved. To some extent, critical journalism leads to pointing out injustices, crises, poor working environments, and intolerable conditions for individual academics. Stories about sexual harassment, unreasonable favouritism, unequal distribution and unfair conditions are the critical approach of trade union journals. Similarly, there is a large research literature on the experiences of students and staff during COVID-19.

To get through disappointments, rejections, and inhospitable mechanisms in higher education, resilience research shows that people who can be flexible and adaptable more easily take disappointments as part of the ordinary register of experience and remain resilient. They can dismantle challenges into manageable sub-tasks and continue undaunted (Robertson, Cooper, Sarkar, & Curran, 2015). They show the ability to develop emotional intelligence, which involves an ability to regulate their reactions to emotional fluctuations within themselves and from others, show coolness when crises occur, find support from significant others, and develop good relationships with others. Resilience is also linked to an ability to maintain oneself, both physically and mentally, balance work and private life and regulate one's feelings of stress, dimensions that are largely trainable. People with resilient traits are also diligent in maintaining supportive networks and anyone who can provide positive support through challenging times. The research literature shows that people who are characterized as resilient and satisfied in their profession are less likely to experience the challenges as exhausting (Castro, Labra, Bergheul, Ependa, & Bedoya Mejia, 2022).

Our research question is how employees in higher education develop this balance of well-being and ambition in light of the distinctive experiences each individual has with adversity and success, rejection and acceptance, and how support and perseverance are shaped through networks and as a result of individual characteristics. In our study, we want to shed light on the experience of being part of the academy's meritocratic theatrical game and what this can do to the individual in their encounter with themselves and others as a professional.

In this essay, we offer a temporal lens to open new ways of conceptualizing decarbonizing academic work. While there has been a growing literature on climate justice and higher education (HE), remaining undertheorized is the temporal aspects of decarbonizing academic work. While some have critically examined the role of HE in climate change, through interrogating its purpose, curricular reform, and the role of students and faculty in the current climate crisis (Grady-Benson & Sarathy, 2016; McCowan, 2023; Rae et al., 2022; Reyes-Garcia et al., 2022; Stein et al., 2023; Williams & Love, 2022), others have interrogated the climate change consequences of internationalization of HE (McCowan, 2023; Shields, 2019; Shields & Lu, 2023). Most of these discussions have taken place in the context of Global North, and rarely apply a temporal lens. We draw on our experiences and research on Bangladeshi academia, as an entry point to explore intersecting questions of climate politics, academic work, and a global South context for climate justice.

We argue that a temporal lens helps us illuminate the temporal politics underlying the possibilities and challenges of contemporary decarbonizing academic work globally. By temporal politics, we mean the inherent social-power relations, assumptions, and/or biases of social action (i.e., advocacy, decision-making), related to the way we make sense of, connect to, and experience time, that goes beyond, but also includes clock time. As such, we offer a temporal political reading of the common solutions offered in decarbonizing academic work, namely reconsidering a) aeromobility, b) digitization, and c) futurity.

We believe a temporal lens is pertinent in the debates about HE’s role in climate justice for several reasons. First, we echo Facer’s (2023) suggestion that we need to ask temporal questions in the climate crisis debates, such as: “Who is telling the time in this situation and how?... What are the histories and habits that shape my own temporal assumptions, where do these come from, and what sustains them?” (p. 64). As such, we can raise tough questions about how the problems and solutions towards climate change are embedded in dominant paradigms of knowledge (Stein et al., 2023), including time. Second, climate change is an unfolding temporal phenomenon, and not a singular event, which interconnects larger macros processes with the everyday, including academic life. Finally, incorporating a temporal lens further helps nuance the role of HE in the climate crisis by illuminating the ontological variance in framing the climate crisis, the inequities in Global North/South academic mobility, and the role of clock-time in academic work.

In 2022, the Swedish government funded a national academic development enhancement project. It was administered by the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR), who commissioned the Network for Academic Development Leaders (HPCF) to provide a comprehensive practice-oriented mapping of leadership of education in Swedish academia. The network brings together all 28 appointed leaders of Swedish academic development units, acting as a national node and strategic partner for educational development in higher education. HPCF appointed researchers from three of Sweden’s largest universities to lead the project, as well as a reference group with experts in the field of academic leadership from the Nordic countries.

It is a truism that research is valued higher than education within the sector, and HPCF concluded that discussions of leadership of education in Swedish academia are much too rare. Indeed, the fact that the mapping was to be carried out as part of an initiative to enhance academic development set the direction for the project, in line with its declared purpose to strengthen the strategic educational leadership of universities.

We, the researchers in the project, have extensive experience of leading academic development work, and take every opportunity of trying to contribute to positive change in education and quality. Mapping leadership of education in academia is an urgent and important task and when planning for the mapping project, we saw an opportunity to use our situated knowledge (Haraway 1988) of leadership and development to cultivate change at the same time as we conducted our study. So, how does one design a study that both generates knowledge and cultivates change in the institutions one studies while studying them?

We consider qualitative research on higher education, where researchers meet colleagues and students, also as a pedagogical process. As researchers in this context, we have a responsibility to be responsive – learn, reflect and develop our methods and approaches – both before and while conducting the research. Our understanding of our role during the research process is based on Donna Haraway’s (1988) concept of situated knowledge, which emphasizes the context-dependence of knowledge and challenges the idea of universal objectivity. When we meet our informants, we adopt a situated objectivity, in Haraway’s sense, where our perspective is grounded in the context while striving for a responsible investigative approach in relation to the people we meet.

In this paper, we present and analyze how different parts of the research process have been designed, providing opportunities for cultivating change, in addition to the potential development that may come from the knowledge collected for the mapping project itself. It is, therefore, primarily a methodological contribution, which we hope can create awareness and reflection among other researchers studying colleagues and practices within higher education.

Across the OECD countries, the proportion of young people who have attained a tertiary degree has increased by more than 20 percentage points to 47% over the past two decades (OECD, 2023). However, as participation in higher education (HE) continues to increase, concerns have been raised as to whether some groups of young people with certain characteristics may have benefited from HE expansion more than others (Montacute & Cullinane, 2023; Smith, 2018). Fair access to HE matters given that it is well established that graduates tend to earn higher average salaries in the labour market than their non-graduate counterparts (Britton et al., 2020; Eurostat, 2021). Furthermore, HE participation also appears to be positively associated with a number of favourable outcomes in later adulthood, such as longer life expectancy and greater civic engagement (Balaj et al., 2024; Brennan et al., 2013).

Research on patterns of access to HE in England in particular presents the opportunity to understand the impact of high university tuition fees, given that England is reported to have the highest tuition fees of any OECD country (OECD, 2021). Despite this, some international comparisons have suggested that England has performed well in enabling certain groups of disadvantaged students to access HE. For example, the UK as a whole was ranked in fifth place among the OECD countries with respect to access to HE for young people who have parents with lower levels of education (OECD, 2012). Whilst tuition fees in England appear to be exceptionally high, students are supported financially by a system of income-contingent loans. These can be used to finance the cost of HE and are only repaid by graduates who earn above a certain threshold (Murphy et al., 2019), potentially reducing the deterrent effect of high tuition fees.

Existing literature on access to HE in England has suggested that many inequalities in access to HE (such as those by socioeconomic background) can be largely explained by corresponding inequalities in attainment at the secondary education level (Crawford & Greaves, 2015; Croll & Attwood, 2013). This is in line with other international evidence on this issue, with the OECD reporting that 37% of all variance in disparities in access to HE by parental level of education (across the OECD countries) can be explained by inequalities in earlier schooling (OECD, 2012). However, some research suggests that some vulnerable groups (such as poorer students and those from ethnic minority backgrounds) may be disadvantaged in the HE admissions process, perhaps by being disadvantaged in the application process itself (Boliver, 2013; Jones, 2013).

The UK Government routinely collects data concerning the attainment and personal characteristics of all school pupils within state-funded schools in England and makes this data available to researchers via the National Pupil Database, which is believed to be one of the richest education datasets in the world (Department for Education, 2015). This study takes advantage the richness of administrative data available in England to explore the following research question:

• To what extent do the personal characteristics of English school pupils (such as parental income, gender and ethnicity) predict the likelihood of them progressing into higher education?

As well as considering absolute disparities in access to HE by different characteristics, there will also be consideration as to whether or not different inequalities in HE access can be explained by confounding variables such as disparities in attainment in secondary education. This will reveal the extent to which certain background characteristics may present a barrier to HE participation, within the context of one of the most expensive higher education systems in the world.

This paper centres on how first-in-family university graduate Roma (Gitano) and non-Roma Hungarians of working-class origin experience higher education-driven social mobility. We focus on their university years and their transition from education to work, and explore the structural, institutional and socio-cultural conditions that shape Roma and non-Roma young people’s distinctive mobility paths.

Most research projects on racialised ethnic minorities’ successful university attainment (e.g. Flecha et al., 2022; Gallego-Noche & Goenechea-Permisán, 2022; Gamella, 2011; Padilla-Carmona et al., 2020) take for granted the lineal, positive effect of education on social mobility, similar to the quantitative tradition of social mobility studies (Bukodi & Goldthorpe, 2019; Róbert, 2019). In contrast, our project – drawing on a recently developed perspective - goes further to study the link between higher education gains and social mobility chances for the racialised Gitano minority, and their non-racialised co-citizens from similar socio-economic and social contexts, through an intersectional comparison. This paper can be situated in the recent line of social mobility studies (e.g. Friedman, 2016; Mallman, 2018) Haga clic o pulse aquí para escribir texto. that investigate the individual, personal accounts of education-driven upwardly mobile people to understand the diverging outcomes and processes of their different mobility paths. So, we interpret social mobility using Bourdieu’s conceptual tools, particularly his concept of habitus, which connects both the structural and the individual levels. The individual experience of social mobility, and particularly the one driven by higher education, is a complex and often painful process, during which one must cope with misalignment between one’s primary habitus (embodied dispositions and tastes acquired in the family and [ethnic] community of origin) and a subsequent adopted habitus in the fields of education and initial professional career. There is a growing literature on the phenomenon of the dislocated and destabilised habitus – what Bourdieu (2004) called a ‘cleft habitus’ – in the case of the university students of lower-class origin. There has been relatively little exploration of how students reconcile shifts in the habitus they obtain in educational settings with their pre-existing, non-elite habitus (Abrahams & Ingram, 2013; Naudet, 2018; Wang, 2022). This paper contributes to understanding this reconciliation process. We aim to unpack how class-changers, in moving between the social milieu of their origin and their destination, occupy a unique position between two fields, what can be called a ‘third space’. Their social position is described as one of social navigators and ‘outsiders within’ who can play a bridging role between two social groupings or class fractions (Bourdieu, 1984). Contrasting the Higher Education experience of Roma with non-Roma first-generation graduates in Hungary, we draw attention to the different opportunities of reconciling conflicting class-related habitus along ethno-racial lines.

For this purpose, we use the concept of ‘Third Space’ (TS) to understand these young people’s experiences. TSs provide a privileged space for reflection and selfhood elaboration during mobility trajectories (Bhabha, 1994). Empirical research finds that there are salient differences between Roma and non-Roma, that is ethnic/racial minority and majority, in the ways they occupy or create ‘third spaces’ due to the specificities of the Roma community's mobility journey through higher education.

Although research has been burgeoning on the experience of nonelite students in elite settings, most scholars focus on the Ivy League or Oxbridge, neglecting some of the most prestigious universities in Europe. With past research mainly focused on initial entry to HE, little attention has been paid to postgraduate levels, which this study aims to remedy. Using interviews with a cohort of final-year doctoral students at a highly prestigious European graduate school, the paper specifically focuses on the social integration of Eastern European (EE) students who struggle to fit in among the elite-university-educated, mostly Western European student body. By considering "fitting in" as an interactional process, the paper aims to examine the experiences of EE students’ vis-a-vis their peers and faculty, and the ways in which this varies by social class.

Researchers have looked into the ways in which nonelite students felt excluded in elite HE settings, resulting in a growing body of scholarship investigating the experiences of working class, black, and ethnic minority students who successfully penetrated the class ceiling (see e.g. Friedman and Laurison 2019). Yet, scholars often studied race and class independently, with separate streams of scholarship tackling the ‘black student experience’ (e.g. Carter 2005) or the ‘working class experience’ (e.g. Reay et al. 2009). Although American scholarship was keen to place race at the centre stage, British scholars posited that ‘class differences are more apparent and significant than minority ethnic similarities’ (Ball et al., 2002). But with neither of these groups being monolithic, it is often the interaction of race/ethnicity and class that provokes ‘a sense of cultural alienation’ among nonelite students in elite settings (Torres 2009: 888).

Despite the EU enlargement occurring some decades ago, the increasing number of EE students studying at Western European (WE) universities has received limited attention. Overall, there has been negligible research specifically dedicated to EEs as a student group (see, e.g., Chankseliani 2016, Genova 2016, Ginnerskov-Dahlberg 2021, Marcu 2015), and, to my knowledge, none has delved into their social integration within elite settings. This study significantly contributes to the literature through the exploration of the experiences of EE students at an elite WE campus where all students share the same social milieu throughout their studies and all benefit from scholarships that enable them to access high quality education regardless of their social origin.

The international mobility of students plays a crucial role in the ongoing process of the internationalisation of higher education, garnering growing attention and interest (Bista et al., 2018). This phenomenon exhibits a significant and widespread presence of international students across diverse countries (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2021). In 2019, the enrolment of international students in higher education institutions reached 6.1 million, reflecting an annual growth rate of 5.5% from 1998 to 2019 (OECD, 2021). The trends, however, were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic (Kanwar & Carr, 2020). Nevertheless, the reopening of borders has offered hope for a potential reversal in the pandemic-induced decline. New Zealand, for instance, experienced a 33% decline in international enrolments between 2019 and 2021. However, international student visa applications soared from 7,710 in October 2022 to 43,541 by July 2023 (Education New Zealand, 2022; 2023). This trend mirrors a global pattern, supported by a significant increase in international student numbers in OECD countries (OECD, 2023).

Research on the experiences of international students is crucial for informing policies and practices (Deuchar, 2022). Yet, a challenge lies in defining the term 'international student.’ This definitional challenge not only presents a semantic hurdle but also complicates the development of targeted strategies to address their diverse needs. The prevailing definition focuses on individuals pursuing education outside their home countries, often emphasizing the geographical dimension and using criteria such as visas or national affiliations (Bista et al., 2018). Despite seemingly clear criteria, the term's inherent ambiguity persists, and interpretations may vary based on the specific context in which it is used (OECD, 2021).

A common tendency is to view international students as a uniform group, hindering effective university responses (Lausch et al., 2017). Advocates for a nuanced viewpoint argue that this simplification overlooks the complexities of the international student experience (Heng, 2019). Additionally, while existing research has explored the experiences of international students, their own viewpoints and narratives have received limited attention (Koo & Mathies, 2022). Language and ethnicity are often used to generalize the identity of international students (Tavares, 2021). Broad categorizations may not fully grasp how some students shape identities in new socio-cultural settings and fail to capture how personal characteristics and experiences influence their perception of self (Tian & Lowe, 2009). Furthermore, the dominant deficit-oriented view of international students, focused on challenges and generalizations, neglects their individual identities (Tavares, 2021).

This paper reports findings from a qualitative study using phenomenology to explore the experiences of 12 international undergraduate students at a university in Aotearoa New Zealand, delving into their perspectives on being 'international.' While focused on a specific university, the insights gained have important implications for policymakers globally, nationally, and institutionally. They guide the development of more informed and tailored strategies to enhance the overall international student experience.

The findings challenge the conventional notion that the label international student should exclusively define individuals based on visa status and shared characteristics. Instead, they emphasize the nuanced complexity of international students' experiences, questioning the tendency to homogenize this diverse group. It not only identifies elements contributing to a collective group identity but also recognizes those shaping individual identities. In doing so, the study illuminates the rich diversity within the international student community in higher education, emphasizing the significance of individual experiences and unique perspectives in shaping their sense of self.

Volunteering has played a key role in the historical development of communities. It is an act of civic engagement that involves pro-social, planned and long-term behaviours with the aim of altruistically benefiting other individuals or groups in a particular organisational setting (Penner, 2002).

In the university context, volunteering is formal due to its organisational characteristics, through programmes managed by higher education institutions (HEIs) through their services or departments in collaboration with non-profit organisations (United Nations Volunteers [UNV], 2015). In general, volunteering programmes make it possible to articulate processes of collaboration and reciprocity between students, institutions and social organisations that benefit all the actors involved (Haski-Leventhal et al., 2020). In view of the challenges posed by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, volunteering expands and mobilises the university community to provide an effective response to global challenges (United Nations, 2021).

The development of transversal competencies -called in research soft skills, transferable skills or generic competencies- has become a crucial factor for the employability and social inclusion of university students in the current context characterised by globalisation, digitalisation, social exclusion, unemployment and precariousness of European and especially Spanish youth (García-Álvarez et al., 2022). These can be defined as a "dynamic combination of cognitive and meta-cognitive, interpersonal, intellectual and practical skills" that "help people to adapt and behave positively so that they can deal effectively with the challenges of their professional and everyday life" (Haselberg et al., 2012, p. 67).

In European policies, volunteering is a recurring training strategy in search of more opportunities to promote young people's social participation and employability by developing competencies in a lifelong learning approach (European Parliament and Council of the European Union, 2021). In the same way, universities have added to their agendas, alongside volunteer, service-learning or entrepreneurial initiatives, work placements or internships for students to gain experience in real learning environments (Evans & Yusof, 2022; Holmes et al., 2021).

In this sense, the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE, 2021) has highlighted the need to keep working on the development of undergraduates' skills, not only through teaching projects, but also through other actions such as volunteer work. The aim is to improve their skills (upskilling) or acquire new skills (reskilling) for effective action in uncertain environments.

Reflecting the public interest of voluntary activities, the scientific literature contains numerous studies on the impact of such activities on participants' satisfaction, physical and mental wellbeing, self-awareness and self-reflection, altruism, intercultural competence, democratic participation, academic performance, moral development, social responsibility, employability, career development and higher levels of self-efficacy (Evans & Yusof, 2022; Haski-Leventhal et al., 2020; Holmes et al., 2021).

Overall, studies on the link between volunteering and the development of transversal competencies have focused on non-formal learning contexts, i.e. initiatives organised by non-profit organisations or other public or private institutions (cf. Santos Rego et al., 2018; Souto-Otero, 2016). As a result, there is less evidence that highlights the impact of these experiences from the management of university services (i.e. Khasanzyanova, 2017), particularly in the Spanish context.

In light of the above, this study aims to analyse the transversal competencies that students develop through their participation in volunteering programmes managed by higher education institutions in Spain. In this sense, the study addresses a main research question (RQ): What are the transversal competencies that students develop through their participation in volunteer activities managed by university services?

This research is the result of the specific collaboration agreement between the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Universitat de Girona and Fundación Mutua Madrileña for the development of the study "Volunteering and Social Participation in University Studies". Ref. (2022-CL060).

The global COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected education systems worldwide, leaving an enduring impact on students across diverse grade levels. Extensive literature, including reports from the World Economic Forum (WEF, November 14, 2022) and UNESCO (2021), underscores the widespread consequences of the pandemic, revealing significant learning losses at all educational stages. Notably, lower grades have experienced more substantial setbacks than higher education (HE), particularly in subjects like Mathematics and Reading.

The swift transition from traditional to online or hybrid learning formats, imperative for curbing the virus's spread, posed considerable challenges for students. The urgency of this shift, exemplified by Portugal's one-month adaptation period, emphasized the critical need for students' access to digital resources. Unfortunately, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds encountered heightened barriers, resulting in severe learning setbacks and diminished motivation.

A comprehensive literature review (Fricks, C. (2020), Garcia, E. & Weiss, E. (2020), UNESCO (2021), Dorn et al. (2021), Stark et al. (2022)) demonstrates the exacerbation of inequality in learning and access to Higher Education (HE) due to COVID-19.

This research builds upon prior studies exploring factors influencing academic achievement, dropout rates, and delays in HE enrollment, demonstrating how these factors vary with economic cycles. In this study, we aim to assess the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified these existing challenges. Additionally, we will evaluate the effectiveness of measures taken by the Portuguese government to address pandemic-induced learning losses by comparing academic performance trends from 2018 to 2022.

This paper provides research in the connected areas of initial teacher education, teaching and leadership to present an integrated snapshot of how teaching shortages are impacting all three sectors in interconnected ways.

There is currently an international crisis in the education workforce, exacerbated by Covid (Ovenden-Hope, 2022). Unprecedented teaching shortages are impacting all levels of the workforce including Initial Teacher Education (where numbers are declining and the pressure is on to attract and support new teachers); in the teaching workforce itself (where attrition and the difficulty of replacing teachers who leave is at an all-time high); and in school leadership (where principals are pressured to staff their schools in these challenging conditions). In a crisis-oriented context this ‘perfect storm’ creates a policy context of ramped-up panic and competition in teacher recruitment practices. A cross-sectoral approach is needed for government to develop education workforce policy based on research from all three sectors.

Recruiting and retaining enough teachers to meet school needs has been challenging governments for many years. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Sustainable Development Goal 4.c is to ‘substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers’ to support an equitable education system (Ovenden-Hope, 2022). In Victoria, Australia, advertised teaching vacancies peaked at 2,600 in mid-September 2023 and by December some schools in the State were reported as receiving no applications at all for advertised positions. These teaching shortages, reported similarly throughout Europe (Lindqvist, 2022; Worth, 2023) affect some schools much more than others, with poorer, diverse metropolitan schools, regional, rural and remote schools impacted much more. The impact and risk for historically disadvantaged school communities is much greater when there is an inconsistent or transient teacher workforce and the pressure on school leaders to solve a problem beyond their control has increased. Despite a wide range of government initiatives including financial incentives, mentoring, leadership pathways and more to address a ’crippling’ problem (Caudal, 2022; See et. al., 2020), workforce shortages persist.

In combining research on the impact of teaching shortages in teacher education, teaching and leadership we are working towards a more consolidated approach to finding policy solutions to teaching shortages. Our method, bringing together and comparing findings from three large research projects is unusual in aiming to strengthen collaborations between teacher educators, teachers and school leaders to better understand the phenomenon of education workforce shortages and to propose partnership-based solutions.

In Germany, the definition of special educational needs was developed by special education teachers by the end of 19^th century (Garz et al., 2022). Since then, the formal process of detecting and defining special educational needs has not changed significantly since the focus still remains on the characteristics of the pupil rather than on the characteristics of the teaching. In addition, special education has expanded both nationally and internationally, both in terms of professionals and schools: In Germany, the proportion of special needs pubils in each age group has risen from around1 % in 1900 up to now 8 % today (Dietze, 2019; Moser, 2023). This has been characterised as an “extension of the disability zone” (Felkendorff, 2003) as well as an effect of the “SEN industry” (Tomlinson, 2012), which continuously privileges dominant interests of stratification. Being labelled with special educational needs is closely linked to processes of social exclusion in mainstream classrooms as well as in special schools (Tomlinson, 2012, 267ff; Slee, 2019), understood as an ‘uneven distribution of opportunities‘. The empirical research project “FePrax” (funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research 2021-2024) therefore focuses on the justification of this labelling process. The project involves researchers from the Goethe-University Frankfurt, the Humboldt University in Berlin and the Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education and conducted 50 case studies of special educational appraisals and connected counseling interviews with parents in 2022 und 2023.

This study reflects on the role of education in contemporary society, the understanding of its relationship with democracy concept beneath neoliberal ideals, and its relationship with the teacher role in education. It begins with a reflection on two documents: i) David Hare’s playscript “Straight Line Crazy” (2022), within the character Robert Moses argues that “the cure for democracy is more democracy” (p.11) ii) and António Gedeão´s poem the “Philosopher´s Stone” (1955).

Democracy and public education are two concepts linked to every human being equal right to education. The use of it by political ideologies, imply changing their meaning to legitimate political actions, and the school role in contemporary society (Giroux, 2022; Biesta, 2022; Prange, 2004a).

Changes made by neoliberal ideologies, through the OECD, on education, puts public educational systems at risk: i) with education on the role to satisfy the social and economic needs, transforming the students in consumers; ii) with standardized pedagogical methodologies, and assessment systems to rank education quality and efficiency; iii) with curriculum being reduce to fit on the language of learning; iv) and teachers assuming the role of specialized instructors on learning (Biesta et al., 2015; Säfström & Biesta, 2023, Prange, 2004a).

Education theory and research has been developed to validate constructive theories, evidence, and effectiveness in education, through its technical and culture dimensions (Prange, 2004a), to legitimate the neoliberal ideology to transform education as a resource to anticipate the economic and technological future for society (Giroux, 2020; Biesta, 2006, 2007b; 2022, Säfström & Biesta, 2023).

However, theory and educational research, can be of prior importance if used to help teachers and other education professionals to critically understand the implications of their action and what is asked of them by policy makers. (Biesta, 2007; 2021). To act critically towards agency, teacher must be able to be teacher, not to act as technicians specialized in learning, doing what they are instructed to do (Biesta et. al., 2014; Giroux, 2020). They must put education on the move, not by eliminating the risk, but by bringing the world, and new knowledge to the students (Prange, 2004a; 2004b; Biesta, 2022). Education has the duty to resist the pedagogy of learning (Prange, 2004a), to fulfill its democratic dimension, defended by critical pedagogues as Freire (2021, 2023), Giroux (2022). Theory of Education must contribute to the beginning of a new paradigm education, that may reborn the intrinsic relational exchanges between society and education (Biesta, 2022; Säfström & Biesta, 2023) and develop a culture of critical conscious and emancipation as argued by Freire (2021, 2023).

This study purpose is to contribute to the theory of education with an epistemological and critical perspective of neoliberal versus critical pedagogy: Education servitude to society demands, or a humanist view for democratic and social participation through education of hope and emancipation, by studying the words used to legitimate ideologies: such as autocracy, being autocracy, or as autocracy through democracy.

This paper introduces the notion of ‘layers of recontextualisation’ to conceptualise complexities in the reshaping of the Global Inclusive Education Policy (GIEP), advocated and promulgated globally by UNESCO, according to contextual dynamics in Pakistan. GIEP concerns the 'ensemble' (Ball, 1993: p.14) of educational policies combating discrimination which are grounded in the Right to Education (United Nations, 1989). The term 'global' denotes the extent of these policies through endorsement by member states of the United Nations. We defined Inclusive Education (IE), as per UNESCO's (2019a) perspective on non-discrimination in education, as Education for All (EfA). Additionally, we assume an inherent link between social and educational inclusion (Felder, 2018). We present key findings that address our primary research question exploring the macro-level forces shaping GIEP in Pakistan following ratification by the Federal Government.

Our study established GIEP as situated in a tension between the structural-institutional image of states and their interpretative-plural practices. We demonstrate this using a 'collaborative' education reform initiative in Pakistan, involving the Government of Punjab and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID), called the Punjab Education Roadmap (PER), and two associated media packages. Through our analysis of in-depth interviews with elite policy actors we reveal the complex dynamics and disparate political agendas driving this reform effort.

While the PER set out to address Pakistan's educational challenges by improving school enrolments and reinforcing system accountability, our analysis exposes its entanglement in domestic and bilateral sociopolitical dimensions, including the War on Terror, aid accountability mechanisms, and local political intricacies rooted in political kinship, ultimately diluting the envisaged improvements. Our conclusion posits that GIEP is ensnared in three critical yet often overlooked layers: multilevel policy structures founded on societal divisions; patronage-based kinship networks; and the positioning of states within the international political economy.

Contrary to prevalent discourses framing educational exclusion as a mere 'policy-implementation gap,' we advocate for a nuanced understanding that considers the contextual complexities inherent in these layers of recontextualisation. By emphasising the entanglement of education policy within these layers, our analysis provides an alternative perspective to often oversimplified narratives of educational exclusion. Instead, we direct attention to the broader sociopolitical dynamics shaping state practices mediating education policy. In doing so, we contribute to a more comprehensive discourse on education exclusion, highlighting the multifaceted challenges associated with state-centric approaches in implementing global inclusive education policies. We stress the importance of a deeper understanding of the broader socio-political factors at play, challenging the perception of education policy as a purely 'technical' issue. Instead, we characterise the reshaping of GIEP in Pakistan as reflective of the politics of struggle, informality, and conflict in wider society, the outcome of which will unlikely reproduce the text of policy.

This paper has relevance for scholars interested in policy mobilities and the politics of education policy and governance in countries beyond the global North. It also offers insights of broader relevance to scholars studying education policies, especially those aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG4) in countries in receipt of ‘ Official Development Assistance’ (ODA) from ‘donor’ nations.

The importance of host-country language skills for educational success and socioeconomic mobility for migrant children is well documented. This research has mostly focused on immigrant students. The focus on return migrant children or “invisible outsiders” (Hoffmann, 2023) is more recent. Research indicates that, on average, students of return migrant background are likely to be at educational disadvantage compared to other groups of students (Hoffmann, 2023). Yet, the situation appears to vary from country to country and children with access to better resources appear to do well academically.

Proficiency of language of instruction is a prerequisite for educational success. Difficulties with the language of instruction contributes to lesser or negative educational outcomes for return migrant children (Kienzler et al., 2019; Zevulun et al., 2021). While research on older children and young people has found that difficulties in learning the language of the host country can have a noticeable impact on newly arrived young people's integration into their new school (Olliff & Couch, 2005; Sanagavarapu, 2010), there are studies and theories that challenge this and argue that there is no clear correlation between language acquisition and wellbeing at school. Apart from a lack of vocabulary and an accent, even more subtle nuances in communication can also hamper language proficiency – irony, humour and rhetorical questions in cultural and social contexts can all contribute to discomfort and stress, which only subsides when the speech patterns and pragmatic-rhetorical aspects of the language have been acquired (Zilka, 2021).

As an example of the way that host countries address migrant integration challenges, the struggles of migrant children in UK schools are in the process of being mitigated with targeted interventions. Thus, the informal role that schools play in helping migrant families to fit in needs to be recognised and local authorities need to provide adequate financial support to schools to hire dedicated EAL (English as an Additional Language) teachers or support staff where appropriate (Manzoni & Rolfe, 2019, p. 61). Initial familiarisation with the new family by the school is important so that each child's need for a tailor-made learning and support programme can be assessed from the start of their school career.

Building on these findings our research will explore education policy models that exist to support the learning of the local language of instruction among foreign-born or raised return migrant children. What are the experiences of return migrant families and their children navigating school under the existing language-of-instruction acquisition model? The current paper seeks to answer these questions. First, it compares how education policies in countries with a track record of return migration such as Finland, Estonia and Latvia support language learning among return migrant children. Second, it offers a bottom-up perspective of return families within the existing language-of-instruction acquisition support model in Latvia. The experiences of returnee children in school settings, particularly in the context of inclusive education, is an under-researched area and this study will, therefore, offer new insights and contribute to migration debates on return migration.

We are now witnessing a global change that has developed gradually over the past 30 years, leading to more privatisation and commercialisation within public schools. Public education is in its “purest form” built upon social contracts involving the state or government, citizens, and their surrounding communities (Hogan & Thomson, 2021). In Italy and Norway, which form the comparison in this paper, the position of public schools is strong, with more than 90% of the total number of students enrolled. However, changes are evident, among other things, through the increase in “experts” who influence and often take over limited parts of the teaching in schools when the schools do not experience having the capacity to meet their demands. As a result, the complexity of the relationships within the public school system increases in new ways, in policymaking and the educational debate.

On this background, the first research questions for this paper are: What kind of private and non-governmental actors are involved in lower and upper secondary education in Norway and Italy, and how do they operate? Our next question is: Which factors are essential regarding the involvement of private and commercial actors in the public school system?

This paper, which represents work in progress, contributes to the literature by examining public schools´ experiences with private and non-governmental actors´ involvement in Norway and Italy. We combine data from qualitative interviews, organisations’ web pages, policy documents, and statistics. There is a lack of knowledge within this area in Norway. Italy shares similarities with Norway concerning the state-centred education governance and high numbers of public schools. However, the countries also have significant contrasts both regarding welfare system and relations with the EU. By comparing privatisation and commercialisation in the two countries, we aim to identify incremental changes concerning “the public” of public education and illuminate questions for further research.

We find similarities between the countries when it comes to increasing privatization and commercialization in public education. The similarities are represented, for example, by what the external provisions are about, how the private actors seek access to the schools, how the schools receive the external actors, how decisions are made to involve external parties, what criteria the school uses to sort out who they want to collaborate with, how the schools legitimize the collaboration, and how they integrate external offers into their practice. However, there are differences regarding forms of funding, such as when external offers are free for the schools. There are also differences in the extent to which the offer is seen as limited to the school or whether it is intended to impact the local community. The first has to do with the fact that Italy is a member of the EU and has large foundations that advertise funds for educational purposes, while in Norway, there appear to be many but smaller foundations that offer funding for the activities of external actors. The second has to do with the type of welfare state. In Italy, a southern European welfare state, the relationship between school, family and local community is seen as a closer unit than in Norway, a Scandinavian welfare state, where the school is seen as a unit more separated from family and local communities.

As part of marketization and privatization tendencies the last decades have provided several new pedagogical concepts, all of which seem to attract a growing interest. In the Invoice project, funded by The Swedish research council, we applied a follow the money approach (cf. Ball 2012) by collecting and following up 1,000 invoices registered on continuous professional development (CPD) accounts for teachers in three Swedish municipalities. The invoice material revealed a number of popular pedagogical concepts; Universal Design for Learning (UDL), DT (Differentiated Teaching), CP (Clarifying Pedagogy), and LRPE (Learning Readiness Physical Education). The acronymic character can be seen as an alignment to medical programs and as such lending legitimacy and giving an impression of established approaches.

In our presentation, we pay particular attention to the above mentioned UDL. The concept was launched and promoted by the American organization CAST which presents itself as a ‘a non-profit education research and development organization that created the Universal Design for Learning framework and UDL Guidelines’. According to the organization itself the concept has reached far globally.

The ambition of policy making is high; there are 130 hits of the word ‘policy’ (referring to books, podcasts, and other material) on the webpage. One illustrative text example is:

In 2006, CAST joined with several organizations to form the National UDL Task Force, an interdisciplinary coalition that advocates support for UDL in federal, state, and local policy. The Task Force has successfully advocated for the inclusion of UDL in the federal Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 and in various policy directives from the US Department of Education.

As far as Sweden is concerned, the concept has been recommended by two powerful, Swedish policy actors; The National Agency for Education and The National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools, SPSM. The latter advocated the concept in connection to a large national effort on special educational needs.

The presentation explores how the concept of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) constructs (1) problems related to education and (2) how these problems should be addressed. The study is based on critical discourse analysis, a theoretical and methodological approach introduced by Norman Fairclough where a discourse bears reference to a ‘way of signifying experience from a particular perspective’ (1995, p. 135). The ‘critical’ refers to injustices and power which is supposed to be revealed by a close look at linguistic features in certain texts.

In the last two decades, in Europe and beyond, there have been systematic efforts from national governments to reset the relationship between the state and contemporary schooling (Rönnberg et al. 2022, Alexiadou et al 2023; Winton 2022). These have often revolved around the management of schools and teachers (see Keddie et al. 2023; Traianou and Jones 2019). Teachers’ working practices and identities have been reformed – through the effects, for instance, of commercially produced standardised curricula packages such as the ‘scripted’ curriculum (see Fitz & Nikolaidis 2020) which are used widely in Charter schools or materials produced by Swedish school companies and are used by all teachers in their schools (see Alexiadou et al. 2023). The effects of standardised curricula on teachers’ agency have only recently begun to be explored but it has already been noted for instance, that teachers who operate within a highly structured pedagogical environment characterised by a given curriculum and a set of dominant discourses around values and teaching practices tend to understand their own agency as constrained (ibid.).

The focus of this paper in on England, where publicly funded, privately managed ‘academies’ grouped in 'trusts' have become the most common form of school organisation (Greany and Higham 2018). Post-2010 governments have been trying to generalise this model of ‘academy chain’'- characterised by willingness on the part of chains to align themselves with government objectives and to present this as an ideal enactment of a private-public relationship, combining managerial dynamism with an ethos of the common good. The rapid development of online resources during and after the pandemic (Bormann et al 2021; Cone et al 2021; Grek and Landri 2021) has to an important extent been the work of schools or academy trusts. The Oak National Academy (Oak), initiated by a loose network of people who occupied pivotal positions in edu-businesses, academy trust management, and policy-making working with the Department of Education (DfE), emerged in 2020 (see Peruzzo, Ball & Grimaldi 2022). Since 2023, Oak has received further funding by the DfE to become one of a series of large-scale interlinked projects designed to encourage among schools a standardised approach to curriculum and pedagogy. Oak promises to reduce workload and thereby increase teacher retention and well-being. Besides Oak, the other two important government projects are the Ofsted's research reviews of curriculum subjects and the reorganisation of teacher education around a common curriculum – both, like Oak, developed since 2019. These projects aim to bridge the widening ‘attainment gap’ between children of different social classes and to reshape teachers’ work through the creation of a new ‘evidence-based’ knowledge, on which their teaching should be grounded.

The focus of this paper is on the implications of standardised curricula, Oak in particular, for teacher agency. The paper is part of a wider research project aimed to: a) develop understanding of the relationship between standardised curricula, particularly OAK, and the formation of a new education state and b) to explore Oak’s reception and enactment among teachers and leaders in English schools. The paper addresses the second question. We draw on theoretical work that defines those dimensions of agency that are relevant to teachers and their work environment and frames agency through an ecological approach (Biesta et al., 2015). Teacher agency is always situated in the structures and contexts that give rise to it and within which it is embedded (Biesta & Tedder, 2007). In this body of work, agency is not a property, i.e. “not something that people have”, but “something that people do” (Biesta et al., 2015: 626). It is enacted through practice, achieved in, and through, specific contexts.

Motivation and research question

Mathematical problem posing, the process of interpreting concrete or abstract situations and formulating them as meaningful mathematical problems (Stoyanova & Ellerton, 1996), is a form of authentic mathematical inquiry and creation recognised as important for students’ learning by educators and curriculum frameworks internationally (e.g., Chinese Ministry of Education, 2022; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], 2000). Further to being important in its own right, problem posing has been associated with improved competence in mathematical creative thinking, a key transferrable skill for life and work, and mathematical problem solving, which is problem posing’s twin activity central to virtually all mathematics curricula internationally (Shriki, 2013; Wang et al., 2022).

Recognising problem posing’s importance, researchers designed and implemented problem-posing interventions, albeit with mixed results. In a systematic review of 39 problem-posing intervention studies and a meta-analysis of 26 of them (Zhang et al., under review a&b), we synthesised key intervention components and measured their relative or combined effect on students’ problem-posing competence. Thus, we gained insights into what works best, for whom, and under what conditions. Yet, those promising components were not all integrated into the same intervention, nor was the impact of such an intervention explored on all of the following: problem posing, problem solving, and creative thinking.

Based on best knowledge in the literature about problem posing interventions (Zhang et al., under review a&b), we designed a new problem posing intervention aiming to enhance secondary students’ mathematical problem-posing and problem-solving competences and creative thinking, incorporating the components with the most evidence of impact in the literature. In this paper, we report findings about the effectiveness of the intervention to achieve its intended learning outcomes, by addressing the following research question:

To what extent does the developed problem-posing intervention, implemented in secondary school classrooms, enhance students’ mathematical problem-posing competence, problem-solving competence, and creative thinking?

The problem-posing intervention

We developed the problem-posing intervention using our findings from a systematic review and a meta-analysis of interventions published between 1990 and 2021 that aimed at fostering participants’ mathematical problem-posing competence (Zhang et al., under review a&b). We identified three categories of intervention components from the review (ibid): activity-based practice that engaged participants in experiencing problem posing (e.g., overview of what problem posing is–WPP, discussion of what “good” problems are–WGP), method-based assistance that helped participants pose problems (e.g., use of strategies involved in problem posing–SPP, use of problem posing examples–PPE), and environment-based support that guided interaction among participants and the teacher (e.g., interactive learning environment–ILE). The results of our meta-analysis showed that the problem-posing interventions had a significant and positive impact on participants’ mathematical problem-posing competence (g=0.72, p<.001). Particularly, the effect sizes of interventions that incorporated method-based assistance or environment-based support were on average 84% or 83% higher than those of interventions without such kinds of intervention components, respectively.

Based on these findings, our designed intervention, in the form of annotated lesson plans for delivery by the teachers, incorporated all three categories of intervention components, including the following five specific components that we found to be particularly promising: WPP, WGP, SPP, PPE, and ILE. The intervention duration was 220 minutes and is aimed for 13-to-15-year-olds who tend not to be occupied by high-stakes assessments. Also, these students tend to be at a critical juncture in their schooling when the intervention can better equip them for further mathematical studies. Finally, the intervention is not meant to be treated as extracurricular due to its intended impact on the recognised, key learning goals of mathematical problem solving and creativity.

The pedagogical landscape of elementary mathematics education is significantly influenced by the type and quality of problems presented in the classroom. Traditional methodologies, which often emphasize rote learning and procedural mastery, fall short of fostering critical thinking and inquiry, essential components for cultivating mathematical proficiency (Henningsen & Stein, 1997). Recognizing this, the literature advocates a paradigm shift toward integrating problem solving and reasoning as fundamental aspects of mathematics education, thereby enriching students' learning experiences and enhancing their conceptual understanding (e.g., Miranda & Mamede, 2022; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), 2000; Van de Walle et al., 2010).

Problem solving, as described by the NCTM (2000), should not be an isolated segment of the curriculum but an integral part of mathematics learning, integrated into the core of education. NCTM (2000) further notes that problem solving highlights mathematical engagement. In addition, the cognitive and metacognitive dimensions of problem solving underscore the importance of engaging with problems in ways that go beyond mere computation. Jonassen (2000) articulates that the significance of a problem derives from its potential to contribute to “societal, cultural, or intellectual” domains, which requires a solver's engagement in mental representation and manipulation of the problem space (p. 65). This perspective is complemented by Lester and Kehle's definition, which emphasizes problem solving as an active engagement process “using prior knowledge and experience” (cf. Santos-Trigo, 2007, p. 525).

Problem-posing, similar to problem-solving, is an integral part of this pedagogical development. It is recognized as a sophisticated mathematical activity that promotes creativity, flexibility, and deeper understanding (Silver, 1994). It is defined as the ability to formulate, reformulate, and explore problems based on existing mathematical situations or concepts. It could be described as “one of the highest forms of mathematical knowing and a sure path to gain status in the world of mathematics” (Crespo, 2015, p. 494). NCTM (2000) also points out that students need “to create engaging problems by drawing inspiration from various scenarios encompassing mathematical and non-mathematical contexts” (p. 258). In light of these considerations, this study explores the interplay between problem solving and problem posing in the context of mathematics education for preservice elementary teachers. Specifically, it seeks to examine the nature and quality of problems posed by preservice teachers, the challenges they face in the problem-posing process, and how their problem-solving skills influence their ability to generate meaningful mathematical problems. Through a comprehensive analysis of pre-service teachers' engagement with problem solving and problem posing, this research aims to contribute to how to support the pre-service teachers' skills and the interplay between them to create better learning environments for their students by improving their teaching strategies.

In 1989, two remarkable frameworks came into being that would come to have a significant impact on children’s lives. The first was the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The second was when the computer scientist Tim Berners Lee invented a system for organising and accessing information on the internet, the World Wide Web. Both frameworks changed children’s lives significantly, one intentionally, the other unintentionally. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was designed for children, without children (Freeman, 2020). The World Wide Web was created for adults by adults, without children in mind, but now “one in three internet users is a child” (Livingstone, Carr & Byrne, 2016). Thirty-five years on, the debate on children’s rights in relation to the digital and education, should be more dynamic and questioning than ever, as artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies bring new considerations, challenges, and opportunities to the discussion.

Today’s children are born in an era of technology. They have never experienced a world without the digital, and they bring a newness, a natality, with their participation in the digital that no other generation has brought to education. It is crucial for adults to seriously consider the new opportunities emerging from children’s lived experiences in the digital age (Third et al, 2019). Taking into consideration the unique aspects of the new generation’s digital experiences, teachers need to shift away from viewing knowledge as linear (Graham and Fitzgerald, 2010) and their role as the primary source of information. Education for the digital needs to be an earnest participatory dialogue between the teacher and the children. The significance and complexity of the digital in children’s lives finds acknowledgement in the recent UNCRC General Comment No. 25 (2021) on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment. It recognises the value of the views of children in informing policy and practice. It highlights the urgency of analysing the digital environment from a child’s perspective, through the lens of children’s rights, within a local context, to gather valuable information and understanding.

This paper explores how children’s rights education in relation to the digital environment can be conceived, by listening to children’s views through the lens of children’s rights, in a world of ever-changing, adult-centric, digital technology. The main research questions of the paper are:

1) How are intergenerational relationships formed, and informed, in educating for the digital environment?

2) How are the rôles of educators and learners negotiated in children’s rights education?

3) How can education respect and develop the views of the younger child in learning for participation in the digital environment?

4) What supports are needed from adults in children’s rights education?

The answers to these questions can provide a systematic approach for children’s rights education to open entry points for digital environment education that address the complexities of the digital divide and digital literacy between the generations. This research listens to the views of younger children. It gives due weight to the opinions and expressions of ten-year-old urban primary school children, at risk of educational disadvantage, in Ireland. Its framework is founded on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989), following the Lundy Model of Child Participation (2007). As Lundy states there, can be no “watering down” of listening to children and giving their views due weight. This research dives deep into the experiences of younger children of the digital environment and examines how the UNCRC can provide a lexicon to express their views, appropriate to an educational setting.

The research reported in this paper examined the effect of an NGO school program aiming to strengthen schools’ work with children’s rights.

Children’s human rights is a complex area for schools to handle, and human rights is conceived as a difficult matter to teach. National direction in curricula is often lacking (Bron & Thijs, 2011; Leung et al. 2011). Research has shown that many teachers feel that they lack sufficient knowledge about children’s human rights and that teaching material is scarce (Rinaldi, 2017; Tibbitts & Kirschsläger, 2010). To get guidance, schools and teachers may turn to actors outside the school, such as NGOs, perceived as experts in human and child rights issues.

Previous evaluations of such school programs for children’s rights have shown promising effects, for example, improvements on school climate, relations, behaviour, and children's influence (Covell, 2010; Sebba & Robinson, 2010; Halås Torbjörnsen, 2020), but also raised some concerns, for example, a tendency to focus on responsibilities rather than rights and doubts about how durable the positive effects are (Sebba & Robinson, 2010; Howe & Covell, 2010; Dunhill, 2019). The evidence presented for a correlation between learning about rights and the claimed positive effects is relatively weak, according to Jerome and colleagues (Jerome et al., 2015). The authors argue that most studies have focused more on implementation processes than outcomes. They also highlight methodological weaknesses in some studies: low response rates in surveys and few interviews in interview studies, mainly drawing on teachers’ views and views of students selected by teachers to participate. The knowledge available about how school programs for children’s rights affect schools is accordingly disparate and insecure.

One of the children’s rights programs available for schools is offered by UNICEF. The program was developed by UNICEF UK, and named Rights Respecting Schools Award. The program was brought to Sweden and modified by UNICEF Sweden to align with Swedish national school culture. It was also renamed to Rights-based school. Since its start in 2010, the Swedish version of the program has spread and is now used in about 30 Swedish schools.

Commissioned by UNICEF Sweden, we have undertaken a large-scale evaluation research project to elucidate how well the program works to strengthen schools’ work with children’s rights. The evaluation was designed to identify how Rights-based school affects students' and teachers' knowledge, experiences and views, and whether differences can be found when compared with students and teachers in schools that do not use any program. The following questions guided the evaluation.

1. How does using Rights-based school affect:

• students’ knowledge about children’s rights,
• students’ experiences of student influence,
• teachers’ work with children’s rights,
• teachers’ views on student influence?

2. Are there any differences in these aspects compared with schools that do not use a program?

Research indicates that planning is an essential element contributing to improve organizational performance, outcomes and processes in schools (Bickmore, Roberts & Gonzalez & 2021; Caputo & Rastelli, 2014; Fernandez, 2011; Huber & Conway, 2015; Strunk et al 2016; Meyers & VanGronigen, 2019; Mintrop, 2016; VanGronigen & Meyers, 2020), especially in educational systems that are data-driven, results-oriented, where accountability is a trend (Caputo & Rastelli, 2014; Mintrop & McLellan, 2002). Typically, the process of improvement planning culminates in a yearly “school improvement plan” (SIPs) led by principals and their teams. SIPs are comprehensive documents that help to establish priorities, goals, strategies, actions, indicators and results, among other elements (Férnandez, 2011). Some studies have shown a correlation between the quality of SIPs and student learning outcomes (Fernández, 2011; Strunk et al 2016), thus careful planning is key to obtain positive changes. Unfortunately, there is evidence that SIPs are not well-designed suggesting an unwillingness or inability of school teams to engage fully in a meaningful planning process (Meyers & VanGronigen, 2019, p.274). A significant challenge is moving from a perception of SIPs as a bureaucratic and administrative tool for documentation, essentially perceived as an external accountability demand, to an authentic plan responding to real improvement needs and organizational learning (Meyers & Vangronigen, 2019; VanGronigen & Meyers, 2020).

Following the international trend, Chile has implemented SIPs as a national educational policy since 2014. Based in a continuous improvement cycle, The Ministry of Education mandates schools to design and implement a four year-long SIP. This cycle is composed of two phases: a first strategic phase and then an annual phase. The following steps contain the continuous improvement cycle in Chile: (1) Analysis of the educational project and developing a self-assessment process, (2) Planning goals and objectives strategically, (3) Planning annual strategies and actions (4) implementation and (4) evaluation. Schools submit their plans to an online platform to be checked by their school district. This traditional approach of school improvement may not create a sense of urgency required for schools who need to improve quickly (Mintrop, 2016; VanGronigen & Meyers, 2020). An alternative and complementary approach for improving more rapidly to the constant environmental changes is the short-cycle planning. This approach builds confidence, increases collective efficacy and allows to gauge progress and assess outcomes (VanGronigen & Meyers, 2017).

Using the short-cycle planning approach, this research presents perceptions of 19 schools in 6 different districts in designing, implementing and evaluating the first short-cycle plan during 2023.This qualitative study addresses the following research questions: How do participants compare yearlong improvement planning to short-cycle approach? How do participants perceive short-cycle plans as a approach to improve with sense of urgency?

Neoliberal imperatives have arguably driven education policies in England and Europe (Wilkins et al., 2019: Grimaldi et al., 2016) over the past four decades, leading to the depoliticisation (Flinders and Woods, 2015) and radical marketisation of the sector (Ball, 2021). The creation of an education marketplace purposely fuels competition between providers, positioning parents and communities as consumers and schools are corporatised entities (Gunter, 2018). Successive British and European governments (Gunter et al., 2016) have proactively adopted dominant private sector methods and practices transforming the operations in the education system to become more like businesses; a process coined by Ball and Youdell (2007:13) as ’endogenous privatisation’. As such, the utilisation of ‘brand’ has arguably become a distinguishing indicator which establishes positionality and thus, positions the organisation advantageously in the field. Significantly, Simon et al. (2021) have postulated brand advantage, or positioning, in the edu-business world is crucial, securing status in what they deem as a hierarchical system of MATs. Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) are groups of publicly funded, independent schools (Wilkins, 2016) and are comparable to Charter Schools in the USA or Friskolor in Sweden (Simkins et al., 2019). The more prestigious brands are privileged or positioned in the high-stakes play of school acquisition and the promotion of their brand to potential consumers or clients. Subsequently, risk mitigation strategies are needed to maintain and gain brand market advantage, but also brand protection in the performative, marketised and choice-focused context of education (Courtney et al., 2018).

A growing national and international distrust in the functioning of public services such as education (Wilkins and Gobby, 2022), combined with governments driven to achieve political and economic goals, determines the need for governments to perceive and manage risk to their own brand. Disintermediation (Lubienski, 2014), where power and influence are withdrawn from the traditional meso-layer of education, has responsibilised this new private middle tier of educational leadership and governance for the risk and responsibility of the sector, and brand advantage. This has facilitated an extension of central control in new spaces, removed from local or federal government influence and controlled at a distance (Wilkins and Gobby, 2022). The resultant hegemony of managerialism and New Public Management (NPM) (Gunter et al., 2016), and corporatisation, which has removed decision-making from representative institutions to corporately controlled entities (Gunter 2018), have transformed the management and governance practices of schools (Newman, 2001). The professionalisation of education leadership and school governance, a neoliberal political rationality and a new middle tier have signified a democratic deficit raising questions over stakeholder representation (Connolly et al., 2017) and the accountability of school governance, to be responsive to community and parental needs (Woods and Simkins, 2014).

This research explores the relationship between MAT brand objectives, brand advantage and subsequent risk mitigation strategies employed by educational leadership in England. Specifically, the Co-operative Academies Trust’s (CAT), sponsored by The Co-op Group, model of school governance, and the tension between democratic practices, co-operative values and brand advantage are illuminated. Democracy is one of six values determined by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) a significant feature of a co-operative enterprise to which CAT is committed to. The research explored how the CAT engaged with parents and community groups in an area of deprivation, to secure authentic decision-making partnerships based on ICA values, specifically democracy. As such, given its association with the Co-op Group brand, the CAT makes for a significant case to investigate as an alternative in the marketised context of education in England and internationally, given the Euro-prevalence of neoliberal contexts of education and interest in democratically engaging educational leadership internationally (Caravantes and Lombardo, 2024; Scuola Democratica, 2024).

This paper focuses on an empirically grounded insight into the experience of leading an educational organisation in complexity. A case study of executive leadership in an English Multi Academy Trust (MAT) is used to illustrate the nature of the complexity leaders experience in that context. Qualitative and Social Network data are combined to characterise the experience of complexity and significant features of leaders’ responses and some conceptual tools are introduced.

Drawing on a complexity perspective that starts with the experiences of people in organisations, the implications of the perspective for conceptualising leadership and designing an empirical study are presented. The methodological approach is explained followed by presentation and discussion of data to illuminate the experience of complexity and relevance of the perspective adopted.

The argument is made initially for a complexity perspective drawing on the principles of complex responsive processes of relating (Stacey, Griffin & Shaw, 2000), recognising that starting with leaders’ experiences in organisations means understanding them to be participants in processes rather than actors on systems (ibid). The experience of complexity thus involves paradox, ambiguity, ambivalence and uncertainty, which are all also features of a social process of sensemaking (Weick, 2005).

The complexity perspective adopted leads to a conceptualization of leadership that is understood as influence (Northouse, 2021), but is relational (Eacott, 2018) arising in human relationships whether they are direct, indirect or mediated. Leadership is also considered as plural (Denis et al 2012), having multiple loci which may be dyadic, group, collective or contextual (Hernandez, 2011). It follows that to explore leadership of, for example, educational improvement in a MAT, it is necessary to study the enactment of practices and the processes of relating taking place.

A case study of an English MAT comprising seven schools led by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is introduced and the methodological approach to the single embedded case study (Yin, 2017) is described. Qualitative data is presented revealing practices and underlying thinking frames on which leaders drew as they talked about enacting educational improvement. The qualitative data is combined with social network data that reveals the socially constructed networks of relationships relevant to leadership in which a core group of people, identified by the CEO, perceived themselves to be embedded.

The empirical data is discussed in terms of the sensemaking processes taking place, their dynamic patterning, what is revealed about the emergent nature of executive leadership in the trust and the experience of complexity. The paper concludes by highlighting some significant conclusions and the value of embracing a complexity perspective to fully understand current realities and future possibilities.

This paper is situated in a larger research project concerned with how principals deal with controversial issues in their everyday practice. One early finding is that resistance to change is perceived as controversial issue by many principals (Rantala, forthcoming). In this paper I seek to deepen knowledge about the resistance from employees that principals meet and how they deal with it.

Having to change is inevitable. As society changes, schools and preschools also need to change to meet the demands which is placed on children and pupils both during and after their time in school. The principal, as a change leader, has the responsibility over and an important role in the improvement work that must take place (SFS, 2010:800; Timperley, 2011), but leading change work is no easy task (Holmes, Clement & Albright, 2013; Starr, 2011). Leading change involves dealing with resistance (Dolph, 2017; Starr, 2011) and resistance is always in relation to power (Foucault, 2002).

There is a vast body of research that describes how leaders carry out or should carry out change work (e.g. Fullan, 2015; Hargreaves et.al., 2010; Kotter, 2014). Research has also focus on strategies that principals need to adapt to enable change management to lead to change (e.g. Shaked and Schechter, 2017; Soini, Pietarinen & Pyhältö, 2016; Wang, 2018). But it also emerges, in research, that change leadership is complex and that the strategies even can collide (e.g. Homes, Clement & Albright, 2013).

Previous research on teachers' resistance to change has focused on resistance to specific changes, for example change in the curriculum (Kazakbaeva, 2021), resistance against educational reforms, for example introduction of in-service teacher certification (Choi, 2017) or quality assurance policies (Terhart, 2013). These studies show how resistance can arise when there is a lack of support and resources to create understanding for the change initiative (Kazakbaeva, 2021). Resistance can be expressed implicitly and that there can be prestige in the fact that the change initiative must succeed (Chio, 2017; Terhart, 2013). Research shows four factors that influence human resistance, self-interest, different values, low tolerance and lack of trust (Kotter & Schlesinger, 2013).

There are knowledge gaps in research regarding teacher's resistance to change in relation to principal's strategies, which is done in this paper. The aim is to study principals’ and deputy principals´ leadership of change, by analyzing principals’ and deputy principals ‘description of employee’s resistance and their strategies to handle it in school development work. This is then discussed in relation to power techniques.

Amundsdotter et.al. (2015) and Linghag et.al. (2016) describes, anchored in Foucault’s theory of power techniques (2002; 2003; 2008), three different techniques, repressive, pastoral and regulated. They use these concepts both to describe employees' resistance and the principals' strategies for dealing with it. Amundsdotter et.al. and Linghag et.al. describes repressive resistance as clear and direct resistance, pastoral resistance takes more subtle expressions or is masked in other forms, e.g. lack of time or resources, and regulated resistance is about placing responsibility on others. Repressive strategies are for example when principals refer to laws or governing documents, blaming individuals, threats reporting or raising to a higher instance, pastoral strategies refer to offering help and guidance, demonstrating benefits, inspiring and motivating and regulatory strategies refer to building the change into the organization by emphasizing that it is a shared responsibility, reminding of the mission and what different roles entail. In this paper this concept is used to both to categorize and analyze the principals' and deputy principals' descriptions of employees' resistance to change and to categorize and analyze their descriptions of strategies they use to deal with the resistance.

The purpose of the study referenced in this presentation is to identify and describe local school responses to principal turnover. The rationale for examining this phenomenon rests on general knowledge about the importance of school leadership (e.g. Bush, 2020; Louis, 2015; Nihlfors & Johansson, 2013; Ärlestig et al., 2016), and previous (mainly international) research on school-level effects of principal turnover. The latter typically relates to declining student achievement (Bartanen et al., 2019; Béteille et al., 2012; Miller, 2013), disrupted teaching and school developmental processes (Pietsch et al., 2020; Wills, 2016), and excess expenditure due to the high cost of replacing the departing incumbent (Superville, 2014). The recruiting process may, in turn, add stress to the organisation and thus contribute to the decline in student achievement.

However, many of the reported negative consequences are “downstream effects”, i.e. they occur due to a previous event, or series of previous events. What these events are, and how they are shaped by and shape various practices, and practice conditioning arrangements within the local school organisation are less clear, since the practices that produce these effects have not received significant attention in previous research. Subsequently, knowledge about the complexity of practices and practice arrangements that link the incident of principal turnover to the stipulated consequences remains weak (Thelin & Lund, 2023). This lack of knowledge is problematic, since ‘it is not principal turnover per se that is the problem’ (Fullan, 2004, p. 31), but rather the discontinuity it creates in the organisation, and how that, in turn, affects the various educational practices on which schools are dependent for their performance. Therefore, in the presented study in this paper, attention is directed towards the discontinuity that arises when there is a shift in the principal leadership position. The research is fuelled by the following overarching questions: What happens in schools when there is a shift in the principal leadership position? When and for whom is it a problem or an opportunity? In our search for answers to these questions, the focus will be placed on qualitative changes in educational practice and practice conditioning arrangements (Kemmis et al., 2014).

The analysis of the data, which comprised 497 unique free-text answers drawn from a survey targeting staff and parents/guardians with experience of principal turnover, suggests that principal turnover is a ‘critical incident’ (Cook & Tripp, 1994) and a practice-changing event in the local school organisation. The preliminary findings of the study suggest that principal turnover is critical to local school organisations. It disrupts the ‘the flow of practice’ (Lok & de Rond, 2013, p. 186; cf. Yanow & Tsoukas, 2009), and changes practices as well as practice conditioning arrangements and practice architectures (Kemmis et al., 2014).

In this study we seek to illuminate the ‘happeningness’ (Schatzki, 2002) of local school organisations during times of principal turnover, and thereby provide knowledge that is of importance for the development of more robust and sustainable school organisations; in this case, schools that are less sensitive to principal turnover, e.g. better suited to prevent and deal with its negative consequences and make use of its possibilities. In an age of uncertainty and global change, the need for more robust and sustainable schools is palpable.

Methodologically speaking, educational leadership and management research has been largely underpinned by standardized surveys when carrying out quantitative research and interviews for qualitative research. Beyond these “classic” approaches, other methods, such as observations have been employed to varying degrees of popularity. Among the observational methods, shadowing has been frequently utilized to study the various facets of school principals, though less frequently than in management studies (Bøe et al., 2017; Hughes, 2019). The origins of shadowing in the educational setting are often attributed to Henry Mintzberg and Harry F. Wolcott. Wolcott conducted what he called “the ethnographic study of a school principal”, consisting of “enumeration, participant observation and interviewing” (Wolcott, 1970, p. 116). He followed a school principal for two years, which quickly earned him the nickname “The Shadow” (Wolcott, 2014). Although he himself did not use the term “shadowing” at the time of his study, his approach was labeled as such by other scholars soon after Wolcott published his research.

Numerous criticisms and advantages of shadowing can be found in the literature. With reference to more structured shadowing variants, some researchers have criticized structured observation in educational leadership research for failing to adequately capture the complex and multifaceted activities of school principals (Gronn, 1982). Representatives of a more qualitative understanding countered similar criticisms by arguing that shadowing in an open, flexible variant is actually suited for capturing complex activities because it allows for focusing on the simultaneity of events in different settings, as well as the nonsimultaneity of experiences and growing number of actions and processes (Czarniawska, 2014). Other criticisms often leveled at qualitatively and quantitatively oriented variants of shadowing are “the high level of resourcing needed and the time it takes to undertake such studies” (Earley & Bubb, 2013, p. 20).

Additionally, ethical aspects can pose a challenge when using shadowing. As that shadowing involves the direct observations of people in their (professional) daily lives, its immersive as well as intimate and relational character needs to be considered (Bøe et al., 2017). Ethical aspects are noticeable here at different levels: First, shadowing can build intimacy and trust between the observer and observed person, which Czarniawska (2007) describes as “a peculiar twosome” (p.10). Second, shadowing always has an impact on the associated institution and its members, such as the school whose school leader is followed (Johnson, 2014), especially if the consent of all persons encountered was not obtained, or they may not have all been informed beforehand, requiring the researcher to “make ethical judgements in the moment” (Ferguson, 2016, p. 23). In this context, it is also important to consider issues of data protection or the involvement of third parties who might unknowingly participate in the research, such as parents.

The present contribution seeks to address the issues raised and continue the reflection on shadowing by analyzing the objectives and parameters of shadowing studies, definitions of shadowing, identified merits and pitfalls, and ethical considerations.