Conference Agenda

Increasing teacher and school leader shortages and, simultaneously, an increase of demands regarding student achievements and teacher quality force schools to invest in their ‘human capital’ (OECD, 2023). While this means a challenge in itself, due to all kinds of social, political, and economic problems (see also the call of proposals of ECER, 2024), the context wherein schools operate has become more and more complex and uncertain. For example, younger colleagues often have other job-expectations than their older counterparts (Skýpalová, 2023) causing challenges to retain them; more diversity in the classroom and the call for more equal chances among pupils force schools to formulate specific policies (Donlevy et al, 2015); uncertainty and instability in funding causes problems in policy implementation (Waslander, 20123); technological developments, such as AI, alter our conceptions of assignments and assessments, leading to curricular changes and professionalization needs.

While all these developments require learning and development of all educational professionals, simultaneously, they impact its facilitation, hence making it a ‘wicked issue’ (Runhaar, 2023). Wicked issues are ambivalent and cannot be ‘solved’ in the sense they disappear (Bore & Wright, 2009). In order to understand wicked issues, an ecological perspective is needed (Wielkiewicz e.a. 2005), meaning that the impact and interdependence of factors playing a role at different levels of the system at hand need to be acknowledged and that multiple theoretical perspectives as well as the views of different actors are included. But how to study these types of issues?

The papers of our symposium are all about learning and development in education, but focus on different types of professionals (e.g. school leaders and starting teachers) working in different types of schools (e.g. secondary or vocational schools) or other organizations (e.g. child centra, teacher education institutes). Professional learning is conceptualized in various ways (e.g. as induction or as collaborative learning) and multiple perspectives are taken into account. Taken together, the papers contain ingredients for studying complex issues from an ecological perspective. We aim to formulate practical recommendations for educational research by discussing the differences and similarities among the papers with the audience.

The symposium is supported by the The Netherlands Educational Research Association (VOR) (www.vorsite.nl).

The first presentation explores how induction can be embedded in schools’ HRM (human resources management), with HRM referring to all practices targeted at attracting, retaining, developing, and rewarding teachers in such a way that it results in optimal teacher and school performance (Runhaar, 2017). To this end, two studies, conducted in Dutch schools for secondary and vocational education and training are discussed. Background Too many starting teachers (STs) leave the profession too early due to a lack of support and guidance (Helms-Lorenz et al., 2013). This is problematic, giving the worldwide teacher shortages (OECD, 2023), hence schools implement induction-programs, i.e. practices aimed at improving and accelerating ST’s professional development and enculturation in schools (Green, 2015). Although induction programs appear effective (e.g. Harmsen et al., 2019), STs’ job-satisfaction and wellbeing is also influenced by, for example, recruitment and selection procedures, career opportunities and payment, and thus of good personnel policy (Kutsyuruba et al., 2019). Induction therefore should include other HRM-practices next to professional development and socialization (cf. Fantilli and McDougall, 2009). Methods Through an online reflection-instrument, called the ‘Startwijzer’, qualitative and quantitative data were gathered among different actors (i.e. STs, coaches, HRM professionals, team leaders, schoolleaders) in secondary and VET schools (n= 558 respondents, 96 reps. n=629 respondents in 41 schools). The instrument was developed in a nationwide program on improving induction funded by Dutch government. The Startwijzer is based on induction- and HRM-literature. With the AMO-Theory of Performance (Appelbaum et al., 2001)– which states that employee performance is a function of their abilities (A); their motivation (M) and the opportunities they are offered to exert their expertise (O) - as framework, 13 indicators of a smooth landing are formulated. Respondents indicate to what extent the indicators have been realised (1 = ‘not in order’, 2 = ‘doubt’ and 3 = ‘in order’) and provide an explanation for their scores. Outcomes Respondents’ ratings of the 13 indicators differed across secondary and vocational education schools and among schools within both sectors. Also ratings differed among actors. For example, in both sectors: if actors differed in how they evaluated indicators, school leaders and team leaders were mostly more positive than the other actors, while HRM-professionals tended to be less positive than others. The qualitative data show that a smooth landing can be enhanced by more and clear communication among actors and by formalizing issues such as performance appraisals

Appelbaum, E., Bailey, T., Berg, P., & Kalleberg, A. L., 2001. Do high performance work systems pay off? In:The transformation of work. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Fantilli, R. D. and McDougall, D. E. (2009). A study of novice teachers: Challenges and supports in the first years. Teaching and teacher education, 25(6), 814-825. Green, A. (2015). Teacher induction, identity, and pedagogy: hearing the voices of mature early career teachers from an industry background. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 43(1), 49-60. Harmsen, R., Helms‐Lorenz, M., Maulana, R. and van Veen, K. (2019). The longitudinal effects of induction on beginning teachers’ stress. British journal of educational psychology, 89(2), 259-287; Helms-Lorenz, M., Slof, B., & van de Grift, W. (2013). First year effects of induction arrangements on beginning teachers’ psychological processes. European journal of psychology of education, 28(4), 1265-1287 Kutsyuruba, B., Walker, K. D., & Godden, L. (2019). Contextual factors in early career teaching: A systematic review of international research on teacher induction and mentoring programs. Journal of Global Education and Research, 3(2), 85-123. OECD (2023). Education at a Glance 2023. Geneve: OECD Runhaar, P. (2017). How schools and teachers benefit from human resources management? Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 45(4), 639-656.

Strengthening school leadership to optimise school organization for student and school team needs is an ongoing challenge. Recognizing the need for stronger support for school leaders, the Flemish Government (Belgium) has supported two-year professionalization initiatives (PI) for school leaders within a collaborative network. The central premise of the PI was collective learning among school leaders, as previous research has shown that this is a powerful tool for school leaders (Orr & Orphanos, 2011). The research aim was to study these PI by mapping conditions (e.g., characteristics of PI, collaborative network, school leader, and school), learning processes, and results of PI (Merchie, et al., 2018). First, a literature review about school leader professionalisation and strong school leadership was conducted to identify which conditions and results were best studied. This review led to a research model for the study. This model presents several elements: 1) purpose of PI, 2) characteristics of PI, 3) characteristics of collaborative networks, 4) characteristics of school leaders and their context, and 5) indications of effects. To study these, survey data were collected from school leaders and PI organizers at the start (n=396) and end of the PI (n=269). Furthermore, a case study was conducted to analyse learning processes of school leaders in 4 purposefully selected collaborative networks using logbooks, focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis. The results show that the PI have led to positive effects in terms of participant satisfaction, changes in knowledge, skills, and attitudes, as well as changes in the practices of school leaders. The research makes observations that are important to consider in shaping future PI for school leaders. For instance, the process coach, associated with a collaborative network, plays a crucial role for indications of effects and the way in which the characteristics of the PI are perceived. How the process coach puts PI characteristics into practice influences how participants experience the program and its effects. Also, some characteristics play a larger role when considering indications of effects. Offering a coherent program, taking into account individual needs and prior knowledge, and providing opportunities to apply what has been learned appear to be crucial. Additionally, collaborative network characteristics play a role. More specifically, trust among school leaders within the network is essential for achieving collective learning. In line with previous research (Orr & Barber, 2007), the study concludes that characteristics of school leaders and schools play a limited role.

Merchie, E., Tuytens, M., Devos, G., & Vanderlinde, R. (2018). Evaluating teachers’ professional development initiatives : towards an extended evaluative framework. RESEARCH PAPERS IN EDUCATION, 33(2), 143–168. Orr, M.T., & Barber, M.E. (2009). Program evaluation in leadership preparation and related fields. In M. D. Young, G. M. Crow, J. Murphy, & R. T. Ogawa (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of school leaders (pp. 457- 498). New York, NY: Routledge Orr, M. T., & Orphanos, S. (2011). How graduate-level preparation influences the effectiveness of school leaders: A comparison of the outcomes of exemplary and conventional leadership preparation programs for principals. Educational Administration Quarterly, 47 (1), 18–70

With the increasing complexity of school leader's role (Beausaert et al., 2023), leadership development research becomes more urgent. Investing in professional development of principals is key in raising the quality of teaching and education (Rodriguez-Gomez et al., 2020). However, there is limited research on professional learning of these leaders (Lovett et al., 2015). Moreover, the notion of effective professional development of school leaders lacks clarity (Daniels et al., 2019), and comprehensive research addressing the reciprocity between professional development activities and school leaders’ daily activities in practice is lacking (Daniels et al., 2019). Thus, this paper aims to answer the following research question: How did design criteria and contents of a professional development programme, according to participants, contribute to the development of their inclusive leadership behaviour? To this end, we followed 17 school and childcare leaders collaborating in Dutch child centres for education and childcare, who participated in a dedicated professional development programme (PDP) on inclusive leadership. Inclusive leadership is a promising leadership approach in context where teams are diverse, such as interprofessional teams in education and health care (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006). Following the theoretical framework of Randel et al. (2018), inclusive leadership consists of two dimensions: facilitating belongingness and valuing uniqueness. We utilised qualitative data from observations and interviews, complemented by pre- and post-programme self-evaluations for a comprehensive analysis. Six distinct design criteria derived from the literature where tailored to developing inclusive leadership, which formed the basis for the programme that consisted of four sessions, spread over 5 months. The main finding suggests that participants' involvement in the professional development programme resulted in an augmented awareness of inclusive leadership which was manifested through the adoption of new behaviours or an increased application of inclusive leadership behaviours. Essential design criteria for this purpose, according to participants, included collective learning and participation in pairs, Organising collective learning is considered a crucial design criterion for PDPs tailored to school leaders, recognising that the role of a school leader is sometimes perceived as isolating (Service et al., 2018). Self-regulated learning through the use of learning logs and reflective interviews, was highly valued by the participants, particularly when learning logs and reflective interviews were combined. The non-parametrical Wilcoxon signed-rank test demonstrated a significant increase in two aspects of inclusive leadership. Furthermore, both in the pre-test and the post-test, it was evident that participants considered fostering belongingness to be more important than valuing uniqueness.

Beausaert, S., Froehlich, D. E., Riley, P., & Gallant, A. (2023). What about school principals’ well-being? The role of social capital. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 51(2), 405-421. Daniels, E., Hondeghem, A., & Dochy, F. (2019). A review on leadership and leadership development in educational settings. Educational Research Review, 27, 110-125. Lovett, S., Dempster, N., & Flückiger, B. (2015). Personal agency in leadership learning using an Australian heuristic. Professional Development in Education, 41(1), 127-143. Nembhard, I. M., & Edmondson, A. C. (2006). Making it safe: the effects of leader inclusiveness and professional status on psychological safety and improvement efforts in health care teams. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(7), 941-966. Randel, A. E., Galvin, B. M., Shore, L. M., Ehrhart, K. H., Chung, B. G., Dean, M. A., & Kedharnath, U. (2018). Inclusive leadership: Realizing positive outcomes through belongingness and being valued for uniqueness. Human Resource Management Review, 28(2), 190-203. Rodriguez-Gomez, D., Ion, G., Mercader, C., & López-Crespo, S. (2020). Factors promoting informal and formal learning strategies among school leaders. Studies in Continuing Education, 42(2), 240-255. Service, B., Dalgic, G. E., & Thornton, K. (2018). Benefits of a shadowing/mentoring intervention for New Zealand school principals. Professional Development in Education, 44(4), 507-520

A short presentation of the STEP project

The symposium is based on STEP, a research- and collaborative project that follows the first generation of students with a five-year master's education for primary school teachers in Norway during their last year of study and the first two years as teachers​.

The STEP project focuses on how to retain Early Career Teachers in schools, and builds on values such as equality, multi-perspectives, competences, and collaboration. The methodology is framed by Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) combined by the approach of research circles. We combine CHAT and Research Circles (RCs) to facilitate research- and experience-based dialogues for national and international policymaking.

Primary objective: STEP will develop research- and experience-based knowledge on transition from Master Initial Teacher Education (M-ITE) into the teacher profession.​

Secondary objectives:

• Identify student teachers’ expectations to the profession and school actors’ expectations to Early Career Teachers’ competence. ​
• Identify experiences of tension and recognition of Early Career Teachers’ competence in school. ​
• Ensure a continuum of professional learning for Early Career Teachers through induction and mentoring. ​

This multi-methodological project is funded by the Norwegian Research Association.

Different papers will introduce values, methodological perspectives and preliminary findings.

The papers are:

Paper 1: Partnership and Collaboration to Contribute to a Good Start to the Teaching Profession.

Paper 2: School Owners' Expectations to Early Career Teachers: Novices or Resource Persons?

Paper 3: School Employees' Experiences and Understanding of New Teachers' Research- and Development Competence

The shortages of qualified teachers, as well as the challenges in the recruitment and retention of teachers that we are facing in Norway as in the rest of Europe, reflect the imperative need to raise the attractiveness of the teaching profession and improve the retention of teachers in their profession. The main causes identified for leaving the teaching profession within the first years of practice are the feelings of isolation and the lack of support that many new teachers experiences when they start working. The partners in STEP represent different perspectives in a diverse educational community. Common to all of us is a desire to contribute to an attractive teaching profession. We believe there is potential in building a bridge between teacher training and the profession to make the transition as smooth as possible and that new teachers experience further professionalization in the profession from the very start. The novelty of STEP is the unique collaboration between researchers and stakeholders, the combination of research- and experienced based knowledge and the knowledge of policymaking in Norway and internationally. STEP aims to develop a model for collaboration between researchers and partners/stakeholders on research- and experience-based policymaking and thereby to facilitate dialogues on policymaking both nationally and internationally. In the Nordic countries, we have a long tradition of tripartite cooperation between authorities, employers, and trade unions to make good decisions. These experiences form an important background for the collaborative work in this project. The partners in STEP are together with other stakeholders now in a process to develop the national framework for mentoring new teachers in Norway. Contributing to research to develop these frameworks is also one of the aims in STEP. In this presentation we will highlight how cooperation between an employer organization, teacher union and student organization contribute to a more complex dialogue and understanding of both local, national, and international context and research. This diversity presents various legitimate interests which may cause tensions but also growth, different perspectives, and possibilities to understand complexity. We will also elaborate on what is distinctive about the teaching profession that makes professional mentoring of new teachers an important measure.

Aaltonen, Bäckström, Ernestam, Harsvik, Hauksson, Salmonsen, Salo, Wettendorff (2023). Teacher shortage in the Nordic countries. Comparing the current situation. NLS. DOI: teacher_shortage_nls-report_2023_final.pdf . Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101. Delhaxhe, Arlette, Birch, Peter, Piedrafita Tremosa, Sonia, Davydovskaia, Olg, Bourgeois, Ania, Balcon, Marie-Pascale (2018). Eurydice. DOI: Teaching careers in Europe - Publications Office of the EU (europa.eu) Olsen, K-R., Bjerkholt, E. & Heikkinen, H.L.T. (Eds.)(2020). New teachers in the Nordic Countries – Ecologies of mentoring and induction. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk open access. Shanks, R., Attard Tonna, M., Krøjgaard, F., Paaske, K., Robson, D., & Bjerkholt, E. (2020). A comparative study of mentoring for new teachers. Professional Development in Education. 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2020.1744684

This presentation is based on interviews with representatives of municipalities as school owners. The interviews were conducted in the spring of 2023 based on a semi-structured interview guide with the following questions: - In the autumn of 2022, the first cohort of the five-year master's education for primary school teachers started to work in schools. What expectations do you have in the short and long term (time interval of up to five years) to this new generation of schoolteachers compared with previous cohorts? - How can you, as a representative of the school owner, help to ensure that NQTs are offered mentoring and induction in line with the national principles and obligations for the supervision of NQTs? - Based on the induction schemes you have had in your municipality until now, what changes might be appropriate with regard to this new generation of teachers? - Which factors related to school culture and management at school level do you think have the greatest significance with regard to NQTs development and learning in the short and long term? - What role and significance do you think mentoring as a professional communication genre and learning strategy can have for the NQTs in the short and long term? The interviews have been transcribed and analyzed with reference to thematic analysis (Braun and Clark, 2006) and stepwise-deductive-inductive method (SDI) (Tjora, 2021). We will present the main findings from the survey. Our aim is to develop research- and experience-based knowledge when it comes to the further development and implementation of the National Framework for Mentoring and Induction for NQTs.

Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2018). Doing interviews (Vol. 2). Sage. Clarke, V., & Braun, V. (2017) Thematic analysis, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12:3, 297-298, DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2016.1262613 Olsen, Knut-Rune et al. (2022) Lærerstudenters forventninger til arbeidet som profesjonelle lærere i skolen, Skriftserien fra Universitetet i Sørøst-Norge, nr. 105 https://openarchive.usn.no/usn-xmlui/handle/11250/3028158 Olsen, K-R., Bjerkholt, E. & Heikkinen, H.L.T. (Eds.)(2020). New teachers in the Nordic Countries - Ecologies of mentoring and induction. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk open access Tjora, A. (2019) Qualitative Research as Stepwise-Deductive Induction. London: Routledge

Norway reformed its teacher education to a five-year master’s degree in 2017 and newly qualified teachers (NQTS) now graduate with research and development (R&D) competence. R&D competence aims to enable NQTs to use theories of science and research methodologies to evaluate and use research to develop themselves, their teaching, and the schools they work at (Toom et al., 2010). Schaefer et al. (2012) argue that we must change our focus from retaining NQTs, to sustaining them, and Kelchtermans (2017, p. 961) deconstruct the challenge of teacher attrition as “…the need to prevent good teachers from leaving the job for the wrong reasons”. Additionally, Bjørndal et al. (2020) found that NQTs from a piloted five-year teacher education experienced challenges in engaging in systematic research work due to workload and stress. The reform necessitates examining how the school support, develop, and apply NQTs’ R&D competence in their induction to professional life. I analyze semi-structured qualitative interviews (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2018) of eight NQTs, eight mentors, 16 colleagues, and seven principals from eight municipalities using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The theory of practice architectures (TPA) (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008) is used as an analytical lens. TPA posits that practices are social, situated, and shaped by three mutually influencing arrangements: the cultural-discursive, the material-economic, and the social-political (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008). By analyzing these arrangements and their accompanying sayings, doings, and relatings, I identify and describe the prevalent practices that prefigure the support, development, and application of NQTs’ R&D competence. In line with the theme of “Education in an Age of Uncertainty”, I expect to uncover discrepancies between the established traditions of school development and the evolution of the teacher education, where the schools have not been able to utilize and create a “niche” (Heikkinen, 2020) for the R&D competence of NQTs. The analysis is expected to clarify the diverse and contrasting perspectives among the school employees and the NQTs about the value of R&D competence in the teacher profession. This includes insights into sayings that reflect different attitudes towards the relevancy of R&D competence, doings consisting of practical actions the schools have or have not implemented for the support, development, and application of R&D competence, and relatings which highlight interpersonal dynamics between new and older teachers. Further this paper discusses how we can sustain NQTs by positioning them as valuable contributors.

Bjørndal, K. E. W., Antonsen, Y., & Jakhelln, R. (2020). FoU-kompetansen til nyutdannede grunnskolelærere – grunnlag for skoleutvikling? Acta Didactica Norden, 14(2), 1 - 20. https://doi.org/10.5617/adno.7917 Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2018). Doing Interviews. SAGE Publications Ltd. http://digital.casalini.it/9781526426093 Heikkinen, H. L. (2020). Understanding mentoring within an ecosystem of practices. New teachers in Nordic countries: ecologies of mentoring and induction. Kelchtermans, G. (2017). ‘Should I stay or should I go?’: unpacking teacher attrition/retention as an educational issue. Teachers and Teaching, 23(8), 961-977. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2017.1379793 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). Sense Publishers. Schaefer, L., Long, J. S., & Clandinin, D. J. (2012). Questioning the research on early career teacher attrition and retention. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 58(1), 106- 121. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.11575/ajer.v58i1.55559 Toom, A., Kynäslahti, H., Krokfors, L., Jyrhämä, R., Byman, R., Stenberg, K., Maaranen, K., & Kansanen, P. (2010). Experiences of a Research‐based Approach to Teacher Education: suggestions for future policies. European Journal of Education, 45(2), 331-344. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-3435.2010.01432.x

It is well known that communication with young children improve their reading and writing skills later in life. Reading books to children is an established routine in early childhood education. Other routines are using the circle time for communication about daily activities. In Sweden language support is highly emphasized very much due to different international testing results, such as PISA, PEARLS and others. A quick glance at the website by the Swedish National School Research Institute shows that all systematic research overviews are often directed towards students learning, e.g. focused on student’s learning to read in early years or on how to support children with another mother tongue e.g. language development and social inclusion (Skolforskningsinstitutet, n.y). In other words, very much is said on what to do, but seldom how to do it. This paper focuses on how through professional learning meetings, as part of a model of action research, early childhood teachers developed deeper understandings about their communication support with children in every-day ‘classroom’ situations. The theory of practice architectures (TPA) is used as a theoretical resource to understand the nature and conditions of promise and possibility that action research provides for learners and leaders of professional learning (Kemmis et al., 2014; Rönnerman et al., 2015).

It has been established that effective professional learning does not exclusively rely on intentional and planned development opportunities. In fact, formal and traditional kinds of training, such as courses, workshops and conferences are well represented in almost all education systems, however, other forms of continuing professional development are “emerging with activities that are more peer-based, collaborative, less structured, and focused on grass roots involvement” (Eurydice, 2015: 12). According to Evans (2019), professional development is not limited to intentional initiatives and opportunities, but rather occur as part of everyday working life, within normal working environments and contexts.

Professional development empowers teachers to take ownership of their learning and professional growth, fostering a sense of agency and efficacy in their roles as educators. Effective approaches to professional development, which may be defined as what happens when teachers attempt new practices and processes in their work (Saunders, 2014), implies teachers’ professional commitment to learning, professional autonomy, with an active and reflective attitude, in which they are both learners and teachers (Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995; Čepić et al., 2015). Reflection and research on teachers’ own teaching practice seem to be key aspects leading to continuous improvement in their professional practice.

A reflective teacher is someone who is able to reflect on their practice, question their assumptions and make informed decisions based on this. This reflection can take place during practice (reflection in action) or after practice (reflection on action) (Schön, 1992). Research seems to be closely connected with reflection, a concept that can be tied to the notion of teachers as researchers (Schön, 2000; Zeichner, 1993). Zeichner (2003) suggests that teachers should engage in research regarding their own practices as a means of professional development. By doing so, teachers enhance their skills and effectiveness, leading to an improved quality of learning for their students.

Nonetheless, the way teachers perceive research may be complex due to the different meanings and interpretations (Sousa et al., 2019). For example, there can be conceptions of research with an orientation toward external products where the intention is to produce an outcome and conceptions that are holistic and analytical with an orientation towards internal processes where the intention is to understand (Brew, 2003). Cain (2016) also delved into how teachers engage with research and identified two primary motives: intrinsic, driven by practical and professional needs like seeking solutions to teaching challenges, self-reflection, and knowledge enhancement; and extrinsic, including aspirations for career advancement, prompted by school leadership, or pursuit of further qualifications. According to Lopes et al. (2023, p.11) “research is related to knowledge about the practice and problem solving, but also with the empowerment of teachers’ ability to identify problems and interpret situations in the light of shared knowledge with the community of educational researchers. It corresponds to a ‘mature professionalism’, which is based on continuous professional development based on learning”.

Also, a distinctive feature of teachers' professional development is the fact that we refer to an occupational group whose professional status and working conditions vary from country to country, from context to context (Caena, 2014; Darling-Hammond, 2017). National specificity with regard to professional development and career regulation becomes an important variable when delving into studies related to the professional development of teachers.

Considering this background, this study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the professional development journey of Portuguese teachers in the last 50 years and to inform on the factors enabling or constraining this process, namely personal, social, political, and institutional contexts.

Educational Design Research (EDR) emerged as a teacher professional inquiry approach in the 1990s (McKenney & Reeves, 2019). It is a process that involves teachers and researchers collaborating to research teaching and learning for the purpose of improving both teaching practice and theoretical understandings through cycles of experimenting and refining (McKenney & Reeves, 2019). EDR has proven effective for teacher professional learning (PL) in many contexts (e.g., Dunn et al., 2019; Lim, 2022), but it is relatively new to China.

China has made significant strides in its curriculum and teaching reform by implementing the New National Curriculum Standard. This updated national document provides a comprehensive framework for curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. One of the most prominent concepts in this framework is large-unit teaching, which has become a trend and marks a significant change in teaching. As a result, there is a pressing need for an effective approach to help teachers learn how to design their lessons based on the large-unit concept as per the New National Curriculum Standard.

Accordingly, this study aims to research EDR in the Chinese context and examine whether it is an effective approach to help Chinese teachers adapt their lesson design to the trend of large unit design and the requirements of the New National Curriculum Standard. The goal is to bridge the literature gap and address the reality need for teacher professional learning in the Chinese context and other contexts within the broader global background of curriculum reform. The anticipated outcome of this study is to promote a better understanding of teacher professional learning and contribute to how EDR supports it in general.

A particular focus of this study is placed on understanding the characteristics and process of teacher change that occurs as a result of EDR and how the dynamic interplay of external and internal factors affects teacher learning in EDR. This focus formulates the research questions: (1) What changes in teacher teaching practice, knowledge, perspectives, and emotions occur during the different phases of teacher participation in EDR? (2) How does the dynamic interplay of external and internal factors affect teacher learning in EDR?

The first theoretical framework is the model of teacher professional growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002). It proposes that teacher change occurs naturally in a professional community dealing with four domains — external domain, personal domain, domain of practice, and domain of consequence, mediated by enactment and reflection. It resonates with EDR in that it involves teachers and researchers collaborating throughout the process to study teaching and learning in a specific subject area, for the purpose of improving both teaching practices and theoretical understandings through cycles of testing and refining. During the process, a single sequence or change network should capture dynamic changes across domains.

The second theoretical framework is teacher learning mechanisms by Sims et al. (2022) in their systematic review. They reviewed the conditions for teacher learning in professional development and proposed a series of teacher learning mechanisms targeted at developing teachers’ insights, goals, techniques, and practices (I/G/T/P). This provides a plausible framework for this study to examine what combinations of causally active components EDR involves. From the first framework, we already know the external factors and their interactions with teachers and their practice, but little about the working mechanisms. Therefore, this framework is used to explore how external factors connected with EDR interplay with teachers’ internal factors, thus influencing their learning.

The paper aims to analyse the professionalisation process of adult educators involved in the recognition of prior learning (RPL), in Portugal. The analysis presented is the result of the synthesis of the results obtained in a research within the scope of a doctoral degree in Education.

In Europe, the professionalisation of the adult education field has triggered a debate, mainly since 2000, and subsequently with the publication of the document Action Plan on Adult Learning: it is always a good time to learn by the European Commission in 2007 (Zarifis & Papadimitriou, 2015). This document sets out the control mechanisms to be implemented by the Member States in order to achieve greater efficiency in the development and monitoring of their adult education systems. In many European countries, the education of adult educators lacks regulation, and highlight the absence of qualification standards and a common competence framework (Bernhardsson & Lattke, 2012; Sava, 2011). In order to promote the professionalisation of adult educators, instruments have been developed at the European level. An example is the Curriculum globALE, a cross-cultural core curriculum for training adult educators (Lichtenberg, 2020). However, the professionalisation of adult education can lead to the homogenisation and standardisation of practices in a professional field that is characterised by diversity in terms of professionals, contexts of intervention and participants, which would lead to losses of diversity, complexity and richness of these practices (Lattke, 2014).

Professionalisation can be seen both as a precondition for representing a specialised practice, being linked to the knowledge acquired through education, and as being related to professional activity (Abbott, 1988; Evans, 2008; Przybylska, 2008; Roquet, 2012). Also, professionalisation can be analysed from different levels, namely macro, meso and micro level (Lattke, 2016; Roquet, 2012) or from the State and its institutions, organisations, adult educators, learners and their interactions (Egetenmeyer et al., 2019). The study of the professionalisation process at the macro level refers to the analysis of the recruitment of individuals who carry out a particular professional activity, to the extent of the specification of the required educational, professional and social competences, and to the construction of professional paths. The analysis of the professionalisation at the meso level refers to an institutional dimension linked to the socialisation of actors that occurs in the institutions where the training processes and professional activities take place. The analysis of the professionalisation at the micro level is linked to the individual dynamics of knowledge production resulting from on-the-job training and differentiated training and professional activities throughout life (Roquet, 2012). The analysis presented here is focused mainly on the micro level, taking into account the professionalisation model proposed by Roquet (2012). In this sense, we sought to analyse the professionalisation based on initial and continuing education of adult educators.

The adult education field is very diverse and complex, with no clear boundaries and no well-defined occupational profiles. To circumvent the complexity and diffuse nature of the field, research on adult educators usually focuses on certain subgroups or professional activities (Lattke, 2016). This paper analyses the professionalisation of adult educators involved in the RPL. This educational practice, integrated in public policies on adult education, began to be implemented in Portugal, in 2000, with the purpose of increasing the qualification of adults with a low level of schooling by valuing life experiences and knowledge acquired through informal and non-formal education (Cavaco et al., 2014).

This paper seeks to answer the following questions: How is initial and continuing education of adult educators who intervene in the recognition of prior learning characterised? How is professionalisation of these adult educators in Portugal characterised?

We investigate longitudinally how Norwegian early career teachers (ECTs) perceive their personal development of professional agency in professional communities after completing a piloted five-year research-based master teacher education for primary and secondary school. Agency, recognized as a crucial element in teacher learning and professional development (Pyhältö et al., 2015; Toom et al., 2017; Toom et al., 2021; Priestley et al., 2013), is related to actions that we do or achieve to initiate meaningful education (Priestley et al., 2015, p. 3). Priestley and colleagues elaborate that “teacher agency” is about how people act upon specific contexts or situations and that these actions are influenced “through the interplay of personal capacities and the resources, affordances and constraints of the environment by means of which individuals act” (2015, p. 19). Further, Eteläpelto et al. (2013) and Pyhältö et al. (2015) connect teacher learning in workplace to the development of professional agency. Pyhältö et al. (2015) elaborate how teacher learning, understood as professional agency in professional communities, includes elements such as skills, efficacy beliefs and motivational factors which also involve active strategies for seeking help and improvement of teaching practices.

Regarding the impact of context on ECTs’ agency, Priestley et al. (2015) underscore that performativity involves demands from both the school and ECTs to perform and generate achievements towards a specific outcome. Performativity has a double meaning, as it not only concerns ECTs having to perform but also involves performance pressure. External performativity often weakens teacher agency, with many teachers choosing to ‘go with the flow’ despite their dissatisfaction with it (Priestley et al., 2015, p. 125). Accordingly, Priestley et al. (2015) identify four key elements that ECTs need to balance their agency within their professional practice: their individual practical knowledge (pedagogical knowledge and responsibility), their clients (students and parents), their employer (the organisation) and the state (through steering documents, for example). Given the significance of collaboration in teachers' professional agency development, it is useful to refer to the concept of collective agency. Hökkä et al. (2017, p. 37) regard collective agency as ‘the capacity to reflect social contexts collaboratively, and to contribute to the transformations of culture and structures over time’. As such, collective agency comprises forms of collective action that contribute to the transformation of teachers’ practice of teaching and other professional tasks.

Biesta et al. (2015) call for more research on how contextual factors may promote or hinder the development of professional agency among teachers, while Toom et al. (2017) urge more investigation into the development of professional agency from teacher education into professional work.

Our main research questions are as follows:

1) How do ECTs perceive the development of agency in terms of motivation, self – efficacy and strategies for facilitating professional learning from completing teacher education through the first five years in the profession?

2) What individual, contextual, and systemic factors, as perceived by ECTs, promote or hinder the development of professional agency?

Networks hold a meeting during ECER. All interested are welcome.

The history of literature teaching and Portuguese teaching overlaps in Portugal due to the adoption of literary texts as resources in mother tongue classes since the emergence of the modern school in the 18th century. Portuguese became a teaching subject due to Pombaline legislation, which consolidated efforts to create and strengthen the idea of a nation-state. At this time, "Os Lusíadas" by Luís de Camões and other literary texts began to be used in classes of grammar and rhetoric of the mother tongue as models of good language and examples of national imagery, values and national pride.

Despite notable changes, the language and literature curricula approved through the following decades continued to reflect this nationalistic perspective, intensified during the non-democratic 'New State' years (1933 - 1974) (Magalhães, 2019). After the fall of the dictatorial regime and the democratic restoration in 1974, progressive theoretical currents (e.g. Critical Pedagogy, Sociolinguistics, Textual Linguistics, and Reception Theories) influenced isolated experiments to update the Portuguese and literature teaching. However, these new perspectives were subjected to the previous ones, already standardised (Duarte, 2013).

In attention to this retrospect, we would like to know how literature teaching has evolved, what place it has occupied and what functions it has played in Portuguese education during the last five decades of democracy. Considering that the variations in status and roles attributed to literary texts in school result from the combination of local sociopolitical tensions and global didactic-methodological trends (Cosson, 2020) and the leading role in regulating education always assumed by the State in Portugal (Duarte, 2013), we believe the analysis of official discourses about literature teaching, materialised in curricula and programs, could answer our questions.

Thus, in this paper, we aim to identify and analyse possible changes and continuities in the curricula that have guided literature teaching since 1974 in Portugal. To do this, we conducted a documentary analysis (Cohen et al., 2018) of official texts that approach literature teaching.

This year marks 35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, which became a symbol of the great post-Soviet and post-Cold War transformation of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This change also affected the curricula of CEE educational systems. Unfortunately, it has been obvious for some time that the course and results of the transformation in a number of countries do not correspond to the expectations that stood at the beginning (Ther, 2019). Even where educational transformation appears to be successful, its impact on different groups of pupils varies. Moreover, Terry (2023) argues that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine marks the end of the post-Soviet / post-Cold war period when Russia as hegemon used its soft power in its former empire. In February 2022 the world, or at least the post-socialist states of CEE and Central Asia, entered new uncharted waters. In this contribution, we therefore seek to describe the changes of curricula in post-Soviet space and beyond and possibly extrapolate it.

Tendencies to authoritarian rule are not limited to successor states of the Soviet Union or its former satelites.The new threats to freedom of education at all levels as a result of the erosion of democracy and the return of illiberal systems all over the world are still little thematized in the educational literature. Thus, the questions we ask about the Central and Eastern Europe today may be relevant for the other areas in the future. Therefore, from the point of view of both educational theory and practical policy, it is very important to analyze how return of illiberal and authoritarian regimes affect school curriculum. At the same time, there is a need to reflect on how educational research on and in countries under authoritarian rule can and should be done. Examining the development of curricula in nations or regions under populist and illiberal governments can, it is hoped, strengthen the resilience of school systems in democratic countries, as well as addressing the practical issues as schooling the pupils coming (perhaps as refugees) of from these areas, recognition of their certificates issued by internationally unrecognized governments, cooperation with researchers from such jurisdictions, etc.

In our study, we try to look back and look forward: How has the curriculum of CEE countries changed during the transition to liberal market society and what changes are being made in countries where different forms of illiberal governments have been (re)establised? As the content (especially history and social sciences) has received most attention (Khavenson & Carnoy, 2016), we ask some other research questions: What do curriculum making processes (Priestley et al., 2021) look like in countries with different outcomes of transformation? How has the structure of curriculum documents changed? How does the impact of transfrormation on different domains of knowledge differ? What are the similarities and differences in curriculum governance across the post-socialist space?

This paper will describe in detail how action mapping was utilized as the curriculum development approach of the re-design of a core module of a Certificate of Teaching in Higher Education.

In the realm of curriculum design for "Teaching in Higher Education," the adoption of Cathy Moore's action-mapping model (Moore, 2017) has proven to be a transformative approach. This innovative model provides a structured and learner-centric framework for designing curricula that facilitate active and engaging learning experiences. At its core, action-mapping focuses on identifying tangible performance-based objectives, designing relevant activities to achieve those objectives, and integrating formative feedback for continuous improvement. This process is instrumental in aligning curriculum design with the practical needs and challenges that educators face in higher education settings.

The decision to opt for the action-mapping model over the more traditional ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) model in curriculum design for "Teaching in Higher Education" was driven by a desire to address the unique challenges and requirements of higher education settings. While ADDIE is a well-established and widely used model that provides a systematic approach to curriculum design, action-mapping offered a more agile and learner-centric approach that better suited the dynamic and complex needs of educators in this context (Lubbe et al., 2023).

Research aim/objectives

It all started in the autumn of 2021 when the authors co-taught the original version of the module called Foundations of Teaching in Higher Education. The de-briefing sessions that took place after the completion of the module identified gaps in content, raised concerns on the delivery method (peer teaching) and questioned the consistency and rigour of the teaching sessions. This led the authors to engage on an iterative process of re-curriculation to improve the module and selected action-mapping as their design approach.

Schools use a variety of disciplinary practices to manage student behaviour. In some countries, school suspensions and exclusions are promoted as ways of responding to unwanted student behaviours. However, data continually shows that such exclusionary practices are disproportionately used among particular groups, including boys, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, students with a disability and indigenous and ethnic minority students (eg Sullivan, et al., 2020; Timpson 2019). The heavy overrepresentation of vulnerable populations within the exclusionary statistics has raised concerns over their impact on the families of children and young people who are already educationally disadvantaged. Yet, very little research has examined the impact school exclusionary practices have on families.

Exclusionary school practices that impact on families of vulnerable groups of students in disproportionate ways are likely to contribute to ‘deep exclusion’ (Levitas et al., 2007), which refers to ‘exclusion across more than one domain or dimension of disadvantage, resulting in severe negative consequences for quality of life, well-being and future life chances’ (p. 29). In addition, the lens of intersectionality (e.g., age, class, gender, and race) reveals the layering effects produced by patterns of power, discrimination, and inequality, and illuminates how social categories interact to shape one’s experience of the world (Hill Collins & Bilge, 2020) and barriers to schooling (Townsend et al., 2020).

This symposium brings together research from three countries, Australia, England and Scotland, that investigated the impact that school suspensions and exclusions have on families of students who are excluded. A study conducted in England uses the concept of symbiotic harms, drawn from criminology and punishment theory, to examine the effects of school exclusion on families. A second study conducted in Scotland, draws on the Lundy Model of Participation to analyse parents’ views of the extent to which they felt informed about and understood what was happening when their children were excluded, and as to whether they were treated fairly. The third study conducted in Australia, examined families as policy receivers to understand the ways in which school suspension and exclusion policies are enacted and received and with what effects.

A key focus of this symposium is to apply a social justice perspective to school discipline and contribute to the dearth of knowledge on the logics and impact of school exclusionary practices across national jurisdictions. It will consider ways in which systems can provide a fairer education experience for all students, including the least advantaged (Connell, 1993).

Evidence of the negative effects of school exclusion for young people is growing (Madia et al. 2022; Obsuth et al. 2023), yet little research exists around the wider effects of school exclusion on the families of excluded pupils. A small number of studies have highlighted the impact of school exclusion on family dynamics, parental mental health and parental employment (eg Michelmore 2019), as well as parental identity as parents face feelings of shame and stigmatisation and share ‘the burden of exclusion with their child’ (Parker et al. 2016:146). Others have also pointed towards the classed, raced and gendered experiences of the school exclusion process and parent-professional interactions (Demie 2023). However, greater clarity in how we conceptualise and describe what happens to families of excluded pupils is needed. In this paper, we look beyond the boundaries of education to the field of criminology and punishment theory as a way to begin to think about the effects of school exclusion on the families of those who are excluded and illuminate the social and relational ramifications of school punishment (Garland 1990). In particular, we will draw on the concept of symbiotic harms developed by Condry and Minson (2021). The term symbiotic harms was originally devised as a way to explore the effects of imprisonment on families of prisoners and describes ‘negative effects that flow both ways through the interdependencies of intimate associations such as kin relationships’ (Condry & Minson 2021:548). Such harms are characterised as being relational, mutual, non-linear, agentic, and heterogeneous (Condry & Minson 2021). Drawing on data from nine parents and carers in England, collected as part of the Excluded Lives study: The Political Economies of School Exclusion and their Consequences, we will explore whether there is conceptual scope to extend the concept of symbiotic harms to study the effects of school exclusion on parents, carers and the families of those who are excluded.

Condry, R. & Minson, S. (2021). Conceptualizing the effects of imprisonment on families: Collateral consequences, secondary punishment, or symbiotic harms? Theoretical Criminology, 25(4), pp.540–558. Demie, F. (2023). Understanding the causes and consequences of school exclusions: Teachers, parents and schools' perspectives. Oxon: Routledge. Garland, D. (1990). Punishment and modern society: A study in social theory. Oxford: Clarendon. Madia, J. E., Obsuth, I., Thompson, I., Daniels, H. & Murray, A. L. (2022). Long-term labour market and economic consequences of school exclusions in England: Evidence from two counterfactual approaches. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(3), pp.801–816. Michelmore, O. (2019). Unfair results: Pupil and parent views on school exclusion. London: Coram. Obsuth, I., Madia, J. E., Murray, A. L., Thompson, I. & Daniels, H. (2023). The impact of school exclusion in childhood on health and well-being outcomes in adulthood: Estimating causal effects using inverse probability of treatment weighting. British Journal of Educational Psychology. Parker, C., Paget, A., Ford, T. & Gwernan-Jones, R. (2016) ‘.he was excluded for the kind of behaviour that we thought he needed support with...’ A qualitative analysis of the experiences and perspectives of parents whose children have been excluded from school, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 21(1), pp.133–151.

Very little is known about the views of parents of children excluded from school on the perceived fairness of the processes involved. This paper draws on data from key insights offered by parents in Scotland gathered as part of the larger Excluded Lives study and examines questions of fairness in detail. It borrows from the conceptual framework provided by the Lundy Model of Participation and its concerns about space, voice, audience and influence. It uses these principles to analyse these parents’ views and the extent to which they felt informed about and understood what was happening before, during and after a disciplinary exclusion/suspension; also the extent to which their views were sought and taken seriously in the decisions that were made; how they felt they were treated in terms of bias or discrimination; whether their child or young person’s best interests were considered as a primary consideration; whether they were given appropriate and accessible advice and guidance; and whether and to what extent they considered the outcome to be fair and how, if at all, that was linked to the process they experienced. These findings reveal a striking commonality of experience and raise a series of significant questions about rights, fairness and a sense of being heard but also an equally urgent set of concerns about what happens when children’s needs go unrecognized and/or unmet. Although the sample of parents in the Scottish context was small (N=7) and therefore claims to generalization are necessarily limited, the questions raised and the themes identified coalesce here to reinforce the urgency of a need for policy to invest much more focus and resource on building a new ethos of home-school collaboration overall, but particularly for children at risk of exclusion.

Lundy, L. (2022). The Lundy model of child participation. [Online]. Available at: [Accessed: 19.01.2024].

Little research has examined the ways in which the enactment of school discipline policies impacts families. More specifically, there is a dearth of research on how families experience school suspensions and exclusions as policy receivers (Ball, et al., 2012). This paper argues that the impact of suspension and exclusion policies on families is best understood in the context of wider structural and institutional inequalities that cause social exclusion (Alexiadou, 2005; Mills & Thompson, 2022). We shift the focus to the notion of intersectionality and multiple dimensions of ‘disadvantage’ (e.g., race, gender, and class) (Levitas et al., 2007). This paper draws on a larger critical policy study of school exclusionary practices in Australia. We conducted 15 case studies of families from diverse backgrounds and circumstances. We interviewed parents and, where feasible, their children. We conducted a thematic analysis to identify themes and used a narrative approach to examine each case in detail. In this paper, we present the experiences of one family to illustrate the ways in which policies are enacted and received and with what effects. The findings show that some families deal with complex circumstances across health, disability, employment, relationships, and cost of living. They struggle to engage with the ways in which school suspensions and exclusions policies are implemented by schools irrespective of these wider contextual issues. There is a feeling of powerlessness as policy is often ‘done to’ rather than ‘with them’. There is a sense of frustration and anger about how school suspensions and exclusions are ethically, educationally, and procedurally unfair. The case illustrates how some parents/carers resist the ways in which suspension and exclusion policies are enacted by ‘speaking back’ to dominant policy actors (e.g., principals, bureaucrats, and politicians) on behalf of their children. This kind of policy advocacy work or ‘politicking’ is exhausting and affects families in different ways, including: emotionally (e.g., frustration, anger, and time); financially (e.g., employment and housing); family relationships (e.g., siblings, parenting, and extended family); and educationally (e.g., access to schools, and alternative programs). This study has important implications for school discipline policy constructions more widely. It questions the purposes of school suspensions and exclusions and the extent to which they simply exacerbate forms of deep social exclusion. The paper concludes that the effects of school exclusionary practices are often long lasting and simply compound existing social and educational inequalities for some of society’s most disadvantaged and marginalised families.

Alexiadou, N. (2005). Social exclusion, and educational opportunity: The case of British education policies within a European Union context. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 3(1), 101–125. Levitas, R. A., Pantazis, C., Fahmy, E., Gordon, D., Lloyd, E., & Patsios, D. (2007). The multi-dimensional analysis of social exclusion. Bristol, UK: University of Bristol. Mills, M., & Thomson, P. (2022). English schooling and little e and big E exclusion: What’s equity go to do with it? Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 27(3), 185–198.

While inclusion is part of the international agenda (e.g., Sustainable Development Goal 4), it remains a challenge to ensure that all learners can access, participate, and succeed in education. Barriers to inclusion arise at various levels: teacher (e.g., teacher’s implicit view of learners; Sturm & Wagener 2021), school (e.g., school ethos; Kovač Cerović et al., 2016), and local and national levels (e.g., organisation of educational provision and policy; Jovanović et al., 2022). However, the response to the question “Why are we failing some learners?” depends on the context in which learners' education takes place. From a system perspective (Senge, 1990), obstacles to inclusive education are not isolated events but part of established patterns evolving over time, underpinned by system structures and assumptions that perpetuate the status quo. Therefore, to address these obstacles, we must understand the socio-cultural-historical context in which they emerge. Response measures should address not individual obstacles but the system as a whole. As Senge (1990) notes, "low leverage" activities aiming to bring large-scale changes may alter appearances but not functionality. While such initiatives may contribute, they often do not lead to changes in thinking and practice (Fullan, 1991).

The panel aims to discuss, from a cross-national perspective – Scotland, Serbia, and Germany – the various issues presented at different levels as obstacles to removing barriers for all learners to be included and participate in education. Empirical cases will be presented to illustrate the relationship between obstacles to inclusion and the specific context in which these obstacles emerge. Moreover, we will avoid the tendency to perceive inclusive education as uniform across and within national contexts, emphasising the importance of contextually situated research on inclusive education and dialogue between different (levels of) contexts.

For that the panel will aim to answer the following questions:

1. What barriers to inclusion are identified in the different contexts?
2. What steps can be taken to remove those barriers and progressively guarantee that all learners are able to access, participate and succeed in education?

We will illustrate the discussion along empircial data, that has been gathered in the three countries; starting from these, we will investigate in the different forms of context, in which “images of normal/deviant students” are generated.

At a time of global unrest and in the aftermath of the pandemic in what has been described as ‘an altered world’ [1], the challenges facing European nations and beyond in ensuring quality education for all seem insurmountable. A vehicle by which this can be achieved is inclusive education. However, how inclusive education is understood globally is highly contested and it is regarded as being socio-culturally and historically situated [2,3]. It is argued that the theory and practice of inclusive education lacks a tight conceptual focus, leading to ambivalence and confusion in its enactment [2] - ‘an enigma of ‘wicked proportions” [4]. In a critical systematic review of global inclusive education [5], an extensive range of understandings of what inclusive education constitutes emerge. For some, the problem is seen as residing within the contradictory interests and intentions within public policy [4]. Others position it in relation to paradigmatic wars [6,7]. It has even been argued that it is a redundant concept, Honkasita and Koutsokenis [3] making a case for the term ‘inclusion in education’ on the basis that the former is in danger of becoming an ‘empty signifier’.

Slee [8] highlights attempts to silence inclusive education through the colonisation of its language, arguing that the ‘structures and cultures of schooling reinforce privilege and exacerbate disadvantage’ (p.11). Rix [9] attests that the quest for certainty has led to the creation of bounded systems with the function and position of individuals proscribed by the system. Whilst many perceive exclusion and inclusion as dichotomous, Hansen [10] makes the case that inclusion can only be understood in relation to its ‘other’ – exclusion: ‘inclusion presupposes exclusion’ (p. 94). Mowat [7] builds on this argument to postulate that ‘inclusion and exclusion lie on a continuum with fluid and not static boundaries that are experienced differentially and contextually’ (p.39). It therefore follows that the imperative is to seek to understand the nature of these boundaries, the underlying philosophical and political ideologies and who and what determines them.

Commitments to inclusive education have been articulated in policy across the UK and Ireland, in the context of increasingly inclusive rhetoric in education policy globally over recent years. Knight, et al. [11] identify significant divergence in the articulation and portrayal of inclusive education policy within and across the four nations that constitute the United Kingdom. Within the context of educational reform, they raise issues around the enactment and implementation of policy from a practitioner perspective and comparability for researchers across the nations, particularly pertaining to issues of equity and injustice.

Building on a critical policy analysis of the articulation and portrayal of inclusive education policy across the four nations that constitute the United Kingdom [11], within each of which education is a devolved function of government, the paper seeks to understand how England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland articulate and portray their inclusive education policies and the political and ideological motivations and priorities that are apparent within these policies. The paper explores the commonalities and differences, challenges and tensions in public policy and its enactment across the five nations through a critical analysis of policy and reviews of policy, relating this to current research in the field. It constitutes:

Critical analysis of policy based around the questions of:

• How do the 5 nations articulate and portray their inclusive education policies?
• How are differing political and ideological motivations and priorities signposted and acknowledged in inclusive education policy in the 5 nations?

Examination of policy into practice (including reviews of current systems)

Identification of challenges and next steps.

The project Transnational Service Learning in the Context of Higher Education (THE) is a collaboration between the Faculty of Human Resources German Jordanian University in Madaba (Jordan) and the Faculty of Education, Universität Hamburg (UHH), Germany. Participants of each university (students, scientific assistants and professors) reflect on possibilities of inclusion in context of migration, flight and disability and focus on the technique of service learning during two 10-day stays in Amman and Hamburg and framing digitally held seminars. The DAAD-funded project started in March 2023 and was completed in December 2023 with the publication of a joint booklet.

The following questions were discussed: 1. How is inclusion due to refugee-migration and disability implemented in Jordan and Germany and what is the significance of in this field active NGOs? 2. To what extent can the service learning method be used to incorporate student engagement into curriculum planning in Higher Education?

The aim of the project is mutual understanding and perspective-taking as a starting point for reflecting on inclusion-promoting action-oriented measures in NGOs on the same topic.

Both Jordan and Germany are considered immigration countries that have taken in many people with refugee experience. While immigration to Germany in recent years has mainly been dominated by people from Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan, Jordan has taken in a large number of people with refugee experience from Syria and Iraq due to its geographical proximity. At the same time, around 50% of Jordan's population has Palestinian roots.

Those facts make clear that migration-related inclusion, even with regard to disability is from high relevance in both countries, what clarify, that students need to be sensitized intercultural and transcultural accordingly, for example through exchange projects such as THE.

Theoretical framework

Inclusive Education (IE) is both a recognized field in educational sciences and a key concept in global educational policies (Hernández-Torrano et al., 2022). It emerged as a critique of special education's reliance on medical deficit-based views, challenging the perception that any "deficits" or "pathologies" reside within individual students (Fulcher, 1989, p. 27). This approach individualises disability, framing individuals as "abnormal" or "tragic victims," aligning with medical perspectives (Qu, 2022, p. 1012). In contrast, IE, celebrating student diversity, attributes challenges to schools failing to meet students' needs (Andrews et al., 2021, p. 1510). Despite countries endorsing IE principles, policies often reflect a medical deficit-oriented stance, evident in practices like tying school funding to the number of students classified under specific psycho-medical deficit categories (Meijer & Watkins, 2019).

IE clashes with neoliberal reforms prioritising cost-efficiency. Influenced by international organisations, countries establish non-state schools, promote standardised tests, and school rankings (Bacon & Pomponio, 2023), turning schools into profit-driven entities. This shift, linked to exclusion, deepens educational disparities, transforming parental choice into a financial transaction, notably in wealthier countries (Slee, 2019, p. 916). The conflict between IE's goals and neoliberal emphasis on academic success creates tension in education (Andrews et al., 2021, p. 1518).

Recent reform towards inclusive education in Slovakia

The School Act (National Council of the Slovak Republic, 2008) incorporated the term “inclusive education” in a 2021 amendment, defining it as shared education and training based on equality and respect for individual needs. However, this inclusion appears more declarative than practical. A more substantial step towards IE occurred in the 2023 amendment (National Council of the Slovak Republic, 2023). This revision not only replaced "integration" with "inclusive education" but also introduced a nuanced three-tiered system of “support measures”: (1) “universal” (no diagnosis needed), (2) “targeted” (requires a diagnostic process by a school staff member or a counselling and prevention institution), and (3) “specialised” support measures (requires a diagnostic process by a counselling and prevention institution). This significant shift aimed to depart from the medical deficit model tied to students with special educational needs (SEN) towards providing comprehensive support. The amendment notably broadened the definition of SEN, now encompassing students without specific deficit labels, enabling them to receive support (universal and targeted support measures) based on the judgment of school staff, provided the school has the requisite financial resources. The Act on Financing Schools also introduced a new "allowance for support measures," distributing a lump sum to all schools based on total student numbers. Before, support staff allocation relied solely on external SEN diagnoses by counselling and prevention institutions.

Research questions and objectives

Utilising critical policy analysis (CPA), the analysis centres on the primary research question: What non-inclusive (or exclusionary) discourses manifest in Slovakia's current educational policies? This way, the main objective of the study is to highlight that, despite some progress of the country towards IE ideals by establishing the system of support measures in 2023, the policy documents related to the reform are still rooted in deficit (medical) discourse, expertocratic (professionalism) discourse, and neo-liberal (market) discourse.

In the field of inclusive education teachers’ attitudes constitute a central focus of research, in particular those of pre-service teachers (Schwab, 2018; Amor et al., 2019; Van Steen & Wilson, 2020). These studies generally focus on disability-related issues, such as teachers’ opinions, beliefs or even fears, as well as their propension to adopt certain types of differentiation strategies or to collaborate with colleagues to support students with special educational needs.

Research on discriminatory attitudes is fragmented around the three big "isms" (racism, sexism, and classism) (Gimez, 2001; Collins, 2019), while ableism, which entails all phenomena targeting (dis)ability, is still a neglected subject. With reference to discriminatory attitudes among teachers, studies are even rarer, especially those investigating possible implications of implicit attitudes and behaviors. Nevertheless, according to some studies teachers would daily act biased micro-interactions, such as differentiating communication, eye contact, tone of voice, and assessment procedures according to the individual characteristics of the pupils (e.g. skin color, height, weight, manifestation of behavioral problems, etc.) (e.g., Turetsky et al., 2021; Costa, Langher & Pirchio, 2021; Nutter et al., 2019), affecting negatively pupils’ learning and self-esteem, while favoring pupils' belonging to the majority group (e.g. Pin-Ten Cate & Glock, 2019).

On the other hand, according to international literature in the field, teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion might be modified through training (Lautenbach & Heyder, 2019) and interaction with or experience of pupils with disabilities (Guillemot, Lacroix & Nocus, 2022; de Boer, Pijl & Minnaert, 2020; Avramidis & Norwich, 2022).

These findings highlight the importance of teacher training, both pre-service and in-service.

On this background, our research had three main objectives:

1. To investigate the prevalence of discriminatory attitudes among teachers (ableism, classism, racism, and sexism).
2. To analyze the interconnection between the four discriminatory attitudes.
3. To investigate how ableist attitudes influence the propensity to adopt differentiation strategies in order to meet the needs of pupils with disability and other special educational needs.

For this reason, we developed and administered a questionnaire entailing validated scales on discriminatory attitudes (racism, sexism, classism and racism) and scales regarding teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive teaching (e.g. Ewing et al., 2017). The survey consisted of 23 questions, including items on socio-demographic such as gender, age, and educational background (i.e. teaching experience, participation in specific training courses related to inclusion, disabilities and special educational needs).

This study presents an ongoing research on initial teacher education for inclusive education in Chile, aiming to stimulate discussion about teacher education for inclusion in a highly standardised educational system driven by market forces. Previous research has shown that the Chilean system struggles to implement inclusive policies (Lopez et al., 2018) and that teachers' roles are limited by prescriptive mechanisms (Assaél et al., 2018). The results of this research are expected to contribute to the international debates about the challenges of teacher education in this topic in different contexts.

Inclusive education has become a crucial international project in recent decades (Ainscow et al., 2019). Due to its complexity, inclusive education requires collaboration among various educational stakeholders. Teachers are considered key actors in this process, and initial teacher education plays a central role (Li & Ruppar, 2021). However, despite the integration of inclusion into teacher education programs, literature shows that teachers still feel unprepared (Florian & Camedda, 2020).

International research on teacher education for inclusion points out various challenges to address. First, it has mainly focused on developing positive attitudes, knowledge and skills towards inclusion (Tristani & Basset-Gunter, 2020), and the comprehension of the contextual factors which influence teacher education is still needed (Pugash et al., 2020). Second, other authors underline the relevance of the knowledge needed for an inclusive pedagogy (Florian & Camedda, 2021), particularly in student teachers’ practicum at schools (Sharma, 2018). In that regard, a broad approach to studying teacher education for inclusion is critical.

The study conceptualises inclusive education from a social justice perspective (Waitoller, 2020), emphasising teacher education's role in understanding and addressing social injustice, reflecting on the school context and their teaching practice, and promoting transformative agency (Pantić & Florian, 2015). Additionally, the study considers student teachers' school experiences as part of subjectivity formation and production, where teachers redefine their identity through interaction with others (Larrosa, 2004). Hence, this research focuses on exploring the complexity of the experiences of inclusion and exclusion during the practicum that tension initial teacher education programs.

Accordingly, this paper will be guided by the following question: how do student teachers' experiences in practicum at schools affect their stance on inclusive education? Thus, the study seeks to characterize primary student teachers’ practicum experiences related to inclusion and exclusion and analyse their stance on inclusive education.

In the project "Inclusion - Thinking and Designing: Interactions between Inclusion-Related Attitudes and Pedagogical Actions of Primary School Teachers on Inclusion in a Social Context" (University of Hildesheim, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation), attitudes related to inclusion, experiences associated with inclusive schools, and changes in attitudes of teachers, parents, and children are being studied on a longitudinal basis. The project is based on a broad understanding of inclusion that encompasses all dimensions of heterogeneity and that every school should be an inclusive school. Following Hinz (2019), an inclusive school is one that adapts to the needs of the students and is thus thought of more broadly than inclusion. Thus, every school, whether with children with impairments or not, should be an inclusive school.

The ratification of the UNCRPD and the resulting new school laws in Germany have further broadened the scope of diversity in schools, bringing with it considerable didactic and educational challenges as well as far-reaching consequences for organizational and individual processes at all levels in the education sector: the education system, the school and the classroom (Fend 2008). The educational system level is challenged to create a structural framework for inclusive schooling that enables all children to attend a general education school. Changes at the school level result in the establishment of new patterns of interaction, especially between colleagues, parents and children. Finally, teaching must also be rethought: New forms of teaching and methods must be applied. In this way, diversity can become the norm. Teachers take on new roles in the classroom. In an inclusive classroom, they now see themselves as learning facilitators. This, in turn, can also bring about individual and socioemotional changes.

Teachers are thus of central importance in the inclusion process (Arndt & Werning 2018; Hattie & Zierer 2016). They are one of the most important - if not the most important - actors with whom inclusion stands and falls.

In addition to resources and pedagogical as well as didactical changes, teachers' attitudes are thus particularly relevant. Their attitudes (based on the expectation-value model according to Ajzen 1996) shape pedagogical action, which in turn is influenced by experience and can lead to changes in attitude. Thus, it can be assumed that attitudes (and their change) can be considered an important prerequisite, if not a condition for success, for the realization of school inclusion.

Previous studies indicate a fundamentally positive attitude of teachers towards teaching all children together (Werning, Mackowiak, Rothe & Müller). Furthermore, correlations between the attitude and the type of school as well as previous experiences can be identified (cf. Kullmann et al. 2014). However, a positive attitude is not synonymous with readiness for inclusive teaching. Furthermore, there is a research desideratum in the area of systematic longitudinal studies (Greve & Hauenschild 2017; Kullmann et al. 2014).

Results from the qualitative project part of the teachers are presented. 57 problem-centered interviews with elementary school teachers, special education teachers, and students were analyzed longitudinally using qualitative content analysis (Kuckartz 2018). The results indicate that teachers are characterized by different types of attitudes, which differ in manifold demands and expectations in the pedagogical context, cooperations as well as motivations. Longitudinal analysis also suggests that attitudes can change through teachers' experiences.

If attitudes can be changed through experience, it can be assumed that this has an influence on the pedagogical actions of teachers. The importance and role of teachers in the inclusion process is thus once again emphasized, opening up further research questions in the context of inclusion and the respective actors involved.

This Paper was accepted last year, but could not be presented.

Inclusive education is widely considered as the most preferred form of education for students accredited with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) around the world. One of the arguments for implementing inclusive educational policies concerns the social benefits that students with SEND gain through their interaction with their peers in regular education classes. However, such benefits might not always be achieved since students with SEN are often found to face significant difficulties in their interactions with peers (Bossaert et al., 2015). Indeed, the literature portrays students with SEND as less accepted, having fewer friendships and experiencing more loneliness in the classroom than their typically developing peers (Pijl & Frostad, 2010; Schwab et al, 2015). Moreover, the available studies also suggest that students with SEND develop a lower sense of belongingness to the school community (Dimitrellou & Hurry, 2018; Nepi, Facondini, Nucci, & Peru, 2013). This is especially alarming since developing a sense of belonging to the school is associated with both affective and academic outcomes (Osterman, 2000). For example, Anderman (2003) found that school belonging was associated with personal interest and intrinsic motivation for accomplishing school tasks, while Irvin et al. (2011) concluded that school belonging represented a strong predictive factor for academic success.

Although different theoretical models of school belonging can be found in the literature, the model proposed by Goodenow (1993) has received most research attention. According to this model, school belonging is a multifaceted construct defined as the feeling of being accepted, respected, included and supported by both teachers and peers, combined with a sense of participating in school activities and being valued within this community. Accordingly, school belonging is based on supportive and caring relationships with teachers, reciprocal and close friendships with peers, and meaningful participation in extracurricular and school-based activities (Bouchard & Berg, 2017).

Along similar lines, some researchers have focused on the examination of “school climate” which is considered to be a more holistic concept, which incorporates the notion of school belonging. According to Cohen, Mccabe, Michelli, and Pickeral (2009) school climate “…refers to the quality and characters of school life. School climate is based on patterns of people's experiences of school life and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures” (p. 180). Based on this theorizing, Schwab, Sharma and Loreman (2018) coined the term “inclusive school climate”, which incorporates all aspects of school climate mentioned in the relevant literature. To this end, they developed a scale eliciting students’ perceptions of their school climate with a view of evaluating the quality of existing inclusive arrangements.

The present study builds on this line of work by examining secondary education students’ perceptions of the climate in their classrooms with reference to inclusive education through the administration of a revised version of the Inclusion Climate Scale (ICS). In so doing, the perceptions of students identified as experiencing SEND were contrasted to those held by their typically achieving peers. We were also interested in determining the extent to which perceptions of school climate predict the students’ motivation for academic engagement.

Although inclusive education is a strong trend in education policy in many countries, there are different definitions and variations used. The Finnish 'Education for All' reform was completed in the late 1990s when the responsibility for the education of children with the most severe intellectual disabilities and children in reformatory school was moved from social services to the education system. From a legislative perspective, all comprehensive school pupils are in the same education system. The idea of a ‘least restrictive environment’ has been one of the guiding principles of basic education since 1970; nevertheless, totally inclusive schools are rare in Finland (Jahnukainen, 2015). The special education system is currently referred to as Learning and schooling support (Basic Education Act, 628/1998 Amendment 642/2010). Since 2011, the three levels of support have been general (Tier 1), intensified (Tier 2) and special (Tier 3) support. The support methods and tools are almost the same at all tier levels; however, the intensity of the provided support increases from one level to the next (Thuneberg et al., 2013).

Inclusive education is not defined in the Basic Education Act (BEA, 628/1998; Jahnukainen et al., 2023). The national core curriculum of basic education states that the development of basic education is guided by the inclusion principle (Finnish National Board of Education, FNBE, 2016). However, it doesn’t define the inclusion more precisely. This has led to municipal-level differences in ways of organising basic education (Hienonen 2020). Although the inclusion is a process that helps overcome barriers limiting the presence, participation and achievement of all learners (UNESCO, 2017), the Finnish public discussion has been focused almost only on whether pupils considered having special needs should be placed in a general education class or special class (Jahnukainen et al., 2023). Previous studies show that pupils with special educational needs (SEN) may perform better in general education classes (e.g., Kojac et al., 2018; Peetsma et al., 2001). Some studies have also shown neutral effects for general education class placement (Cole, Waldron, & Majd 2004; Fore et al., 2008; Hanushek et al., 2002; Ruijs, 2017).

The Finnish legislation (BEA 628/1998) allows different options for organising the education of pupils with SEN at Tier 3. The placement options can vary from full-time education in a general education class to full-time education in a special class or special school. In 2022, 9 percent of comprehensive school pupils in grades 1-6 received Tier 3 support, and 36 percent of these pupils studied most of the time (80-100%) in a general education class, 47 percent most of the time (81-100%) in a special class and 17 percent in both a general education class (20-79%) and special class (OSF 2023).

This sub-study is based on a four-year longitudinal study in which the pupils are followed from the 4th grade to the 6th grade. The main objective is to investigate the outcomes of the different placement options and the effect of class composition on pupils with SEN and their peers. In this sub-study we focus only on the pupils with SEN, and investigate, with the cross-sectional first round data, how the different placement options of pupils with SEN are related to pupils’ performance in mathematical reasoning and vocabulary tasks. The research questions are:

1. Did the pupils with SEN differ in their background factors across the different placement options?

2. Is there a relationship between the placement options for pupils with SEN and pupils background factors in mathematical reasoning scores?

3. Is there a relationship between the placement options for pupils with SEN and pupils background factors in vocabulary task scores?

The study aims to investigate the motivation to study among children living in multi-problematic contexts, characterized by a combination of economic and social issues, particularly those related to deviance and delinquency. The area of focus is a region in Campania, Southern Italy, known for the presence of the Camorra, an organized crime structure similar to the Mafia, involving children and families in its delinquent system (1) (2). In this research, motivation is conceptualized as a dynamic and relational force emerging from the interaction between the individual and their environment, and from their perception of the positive and negative valences of the context (3) (4). In a multi-problematic setting, the challenges can particularly generate a sense of fatalism in developing children, leading to low self-determination (5) and self-efficacy (6), factors that can significantly affect their motivation to study. The hypothesis of this research posits that although statistical data correlate school dropout rates with deprived and marginalized contexts (7), motivation is not necessarily dictated by the context. Instead, it might represent an autonomous area of development, with dropout rates being linked to other personal or social factors.It is conceivable that, living within a context governed by criminal logic, children and adolescents may begin to perceive education as less relevant or beneficial for their future. In this regard, the presence of negative role models—adults, family members, peer groups (8) (9)—that achieve success through illegal activities can distort the perception of the value of education. In an environment where organized crime is an everyday experience, children may be drawn to alternative pathways that seem to offer immediate success and rewards, at the expense of long-term investments such as those made in educational and instructional paths. This type of social pressure can be particularly persistent and significant during developmental years, also in terms of primary socialization processes: children interact with each other emulating the behavioral style of their adult role models. In light of these challenges, numerous multidisciplinary studies demonstrate the fruitful relationship between education and crime prevention, highlighting how systemic educational interventions statistically have an incidence in terms of reducing the number of minors recruited by criminal organizations (10). The research thus raises the question: Is it possible to identify a relationship between multi-problematic contexts and the motivation to study? What are the characteristics of an educational intervention capable of effectively supporting the motivation to study among children and adolescents living in such contexts? In line with these research questions, the objective is outlined as exploring the motivation of students from multi-problematic contexts; identifying the characteristics of an educational intervention that can impact the quality of motivation; and isolating potential elements of transferability to similar contexts.

International research on student dropout describes its complex nature. In the past, researchers have focused on identifying key characteristics of students who drop out, such as various social, contextual and psychiatric risk factors (Abebe et al., 2015; Ingul et al., 2012). Moreover, researchers have pointed to clear connections between a high degree of truancy and absenteeism among students in primary and lower secondary school and drop out in upper secondary school (Bakken, 2018; Gottfried, 2014). The dropout rate is typically higher among boys compared to girls, among students with minority backgrounds compared to students who belong to the majority culture in a school, and among students with disability compared to those without a disability (Doll et al., 2013) When students drop out of secondary education, there are substantial social and economic consequences that can persist throughout their lives. They are more likely to be unemployed, to become teenage parents, to become involved in the criminal justice system, and to suffer a lifetime of low wages (Ressa & Andrews, 2022). Moreover, school dropouts affect high-income as well as low-income countries (Levin & Belfield, 2007).

The papers in this symposium address research on educational practices in Norway, Spain and Latin-America that aim to provide equitable education by accommodating students’ needs, and thereby prevent dropout and retain students in the school system. Critical questions and comments from the discussant will facilitate discussions on research and practice across the involved countries which will have relevance for a wider audience. The first paper will provide an overview of the existing international research in this area that serves as a basis for the empirical contributions of symposium which explore how school actors (teachers, school leaders) enact policies and engage in collaborations with a range of stakeholders and public services to accommodate the needs of heterogenous student populations. Internationally, researchers describe dropout among students as a complex problem. Therefore, the symposium addresses multi-actor collaboration across levels, institutional boundaries and professions. The work of these actors falls within different regulations, legal statutes, knowledge bases and resources, administrative logics, and traditions. Such collaborative work can potentially address and solve complex problems in specific contexts, but it may also create tensions that require coordination. The papers describe different educational contexts in which the challenges of providing equitable education to heterogeneous student populations are addressed in different ways, reflecting different understandings of inclusion and equity.

In this paper we present findings from an analysis of existing research on strategies to prevent dropout and retain students in secondary education. More knowledge about key characteristics of studies in this field is important because research plays an important role both in the formulation of problems and solutions - both for policy, practice and further research. Our starting point is that "dropout" can be characterised as a policy concept that has gradually become a key element in the governance of secondary education. For this study, we do not take a specific perspective on dropout as our starting point. Instead, we use analytical perspectives on knowledge production (Gunter & Ribbins, 2003) to shed light on the relationship between research, policy, and practice. By categorising the research literature as conceptual, descriptive, humanistic, critical, evaluative or instrumental, we concentrate on both features of the concept and phenomenon under investigation, as well as the research methods and theoretical perspectives used to study the phenomenon. The typologies have been developed to analyse the production of knowledge related to complex phenomena and thus also consider the context in which the knowledge is produced. The articles that make up the data material in the article have been identified through searches inspired by systematic methods in international databases. The aim of the research review is not to provide an exhaustive overview of the research field, but to identify, present and analyse the main features of the field in terms of the disciplines involved, research design and findings (Prøitz, 2023). The research overview can best be described as a 'critical review' (Grant & Booth, 2009), since it aims to shed light on what is being studied, by whom, with which methods and perspectives, as well as the context of the studies. Findings show that research on dropout has mainly concentrated on what characterises students who drop out and the reasons why they do not complete upper secondary education, but that over time there have been contributions from several academic disciplines and with other methods that together contribute to increased knowledge about the complexity of the concept and the phenomenon. Moreover, the perspectives on knowledge production give us a picture of what kind of research dominates and what we may need more of, as well as what the context in which the studies were produced may mean for how we understand the phenomenon.

Grant, M.J. & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 26, 91-108 Gunter, H. & Ribbins, P. (2003). The Field of Educational Leadership: Studying Maps and Mapping Studies. British Journal of Educational Studies, 51, 254-281 Prøitz, T.S. (2023). Forskningsoversikter i utdanningsvitenskap. Fagbokforlaget.

Education is seen as a key to providing pupils with a basis to participate in society, and to ensure jobs. Young people, who do not complete their educations, will have difficulties entering the labour market (Arntzen and Grøgaard, 2012; Bäckman et al, 2015). Over the last 25 years, a range of national policies have been introduced to prevent dropout in upper secondary education. Previous research has shown key characteristics of the students who drop out and several studies have focused on the implementation of national policies. The purpose of the paper is to provide insights into the institutional work at school level to retain students in upper secondary schools. The paper addresses what characterizes the schools and the institutional and strategic work of the actors. The data are collected from six schools which are selected because of low degree of dropouts, which provide an opportunity to pay attention to promising practices. The theory of strategic work constitutes the analytical framework which allows us to delve into the balancing processes of recursiveness and adaptation with a strategy-as-practice approach. Building on Whittington (2006) enables us to explore strategic work from a micro-perspective based on interviews with school leaders and teachers about day-to-day activities, with attention to processes of institutionalized ways of doing things and adaptations that fit the local needs. The analysis explores strategy as situated accomplished activities, what people do rather than what organizations have (Whittington, 2006). Institutional work allows us to investigate actors` purposive actions through creating, maintaining and disrupting institutions (Lawrence & Suddaby, 2006 p. 215). The data have been subject to content analysis. Findings reveal that the schools seem to have an extensive space of maneuver. They have created their own organizational designs for how to retain the students which are complex and involves many actors who collaborate within and across several arenas. The analyses show efforts are made to prevent that the organizations are loosely coupled which is perceived to be a threat to dropout. The principals seem to be central agents in the construction of the designs and involvement of several actors with different professions who contribute to the tasks and responsibilities to strengthening the focus on retaining students. The analyses also reveal processes of recursiveness where the schools keep structures and practices that works, but also processes of adaptations where here-and now praxis and the recurring practices are critically examined and developed.

Coburn, C. E. (2004). Beyond decoupling: Rethinking the relationship between the institutional environment and the classroom. Sociology of Education, 77(3), 211–244. doi:10.1177/003804070407700302 Leithwood, K. & Seashore-Louis, K. (2012). Linking Leadership to Student Learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Lawrence, T. B., & Suddaby, R. (2006). Institutions and Institutional Work. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, T. B. Lawrence, & W. R. Nord (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Organization Studies. Sage. Røvik, K. A. (2016). Knowledge Transfer as Translation: Review and Elements of an InstrumentalTheory. International Journal of Management Reviews, 18, 290-310. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1111/ijmr.12097 Whittington, R. (2006). Completing the practice turn in strategy research. Organization Studies, 27(5), 613–634. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840606064101

This paper focuses on strategies deployed by a secondary school located in a very disadvantaged context to prevent absenteeism and early dropout of students. Diamantino School offers compulsory lower secondary education and is one of four secondary schools officially classified as ‘low-performing’ in Seville. Although about a quarter of the students requires special educational support, the school achieves better rates of promotion and graduation than the schools with similar socioeconomic and cultural index (SECI). Ainscow’s (2005) conceptualization of inclusion is applied as an analytical framework for the data analysis in the sense of a never-ending process of analysis of what works and what does not; the use of evidence of various forms to identify and remove barriers and then create or adapt new methodologies and organisational arrangements, focusing on ‘the presence, participation and achievement of all students’; and putting the emphasis on ‘those groups of learners who may be at risk of marginalisation, exclusion or underachievement’. The study has a qualitative case study design and the analysis draws on various data sources such as semi-structured interviews, key documents, and survey data that are triangulated to provide a rich account on school leaders’ and teachers’ perceptions and practices of inclusion. Findings show that the school implements a long list of strategies to promote inclusion of special-needs students, including: a reinforcement programme for core subjects in 4th grade; flexible groupings for the teaching of English; group split and double –even triple—teaching; support activities arranged with a long list of external collaborating entities; their own curricular adaptations in a large number of lessons; etc. Moreover, an important strategy to prevent absenteeism and dropout is the flexible grouping of students: students can change groups even within the same academic year, and the groups are not the same for all subjects. In addition, a group is split when there is a support teacher, or the group is maintained with two or even three teachers in the class. This job of periodically rearranging the groups is very demanding for the leadership team. For this purpose, the team analyses the learning trajectory of each pupil using multiple criteria and often interviews the family. In conclusion, this case study illustrates how a school has developed strategies to accommodate individual students’ needs in collective group settings.

Ainscow, M. (2005). Developing inclusive education systems: What are the levers for change? Journal of Educational Change, 6, 109-124. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10833-005-1298-4.

The paper presents the results from a two-phase study about the diversification of secondary education and the segmentation of education in Latin America. The focus of the study, carried out with the support of ECLAC during 2019 and 2021, were the dynamics of education’s segmentation in extended compulsory schooling settings. By analyzing the expansion of secondary education, this paper outlines historic and contemporary mechanisms that the State has used to extend compulsory schooling, albeit in ways that are segmented and which produce differential effects in terms of the schooling experience of adolescents and young people in the region. In its first phase, the study integrated an analysis of quantitative indicators in thirteen of the region’s countries with an analysis of the structures and institutional models of secondary school in six countries: Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico and Uruguay. The second phase examined the schooling experience of adolescents and young people in diversified structures. General and focus group interviews were conducted among a purposive sample of adolescents and young people regarding their access, trajectory and eventual (temporary or permanent) dropout. Overall, the study’s methodology combined a quantitative analysis of the main educational indicators of secondary education’s evolution in the region with a qualitative analysis of interviews to public officials and researchers (four per country) and to students (a purposive sample of 452 adolescents; 70-100 per country). By comparing the information, a matrix was developed to represent the forms of diversification of secondary education and its relation to educational segmentation. Classical categories were used for the analysis, such as educational segmentation (Ringer, 1979) to characterize the dual dynamic of inclusion and progressiveness (Author, 2017) in combination with more recent developments that allow for the analysis of the segmentation dynamics in the context of the extension of mandatory schooling. These developments include the notions of diversification and differentiation (Ojalehto et al., 2017). The main results indicate a particular form of compulsory secondary education expansion in the region under an extension-diversification pairing. This form of expansion creates at least three tensions: 1) between the laws and regulations intended to guarantee this extension and the actual outcomes for the educational trajectories, 2) between recent government efforts to sustain this extension and the persistence and/or creation of new educational segmentation mechanisms, and 3) between the perceived value of secondary education certification in social life and the relevance of the educational experience.

Acosta, F. (2017). Secondary Education Policies in Europe and Latin America: A Historical Comparative Analysis. In F. Acosta & S. Nogueira (eds), Educational Systems Towards 21st Century (pp. 21–44). Sense Publishers. Ojalehto, L., Kalalahti, M., Varjo, J & Kosunen, S. (2017). Differentiation and Diversification in Compulsory Education: A Conceptual Analysis. In K. Kantasalmi & G. Holm (eds), The State, Schooling, and Identity. Diversifying Education in Europe (pp. 125–148). Palgrave Macmillan. Ringer, F. (1979). Education and Society in Modern Europe. Indiana University Press. Ringer, F. (1990). On Segmentation in Modern European Education Systems: The Case of French Secondary Education 1865–1920. In D. Muller, F. Ringer & B. Simon (eds), The Rise of the Modern Educational System: Structural Change and Social Reproduction 1870–1920, (pp. 53–87). Cambridge University Press.

As digitalisation progresses, young people’s media use is increasing (Albert et al., 2019, Anderson, Faverio and Gottfried, 2023, Feierabend, S., Rathgeb, T., Kheremand, H., & Glöckler, 2023). The lives of young people today are increasingly mediatised and are shifting to social media platforms. Studies on media use show that young people also come into contact with negative topics such as hate speech on these platforms (Albert et al., 2019, Feierabend, S., Rathgeb, T., Kheremand, H., & Glöckler, 2022; Forsa, 2023). In this context, media education research focuses on questions about the perception and evaluation of hate speech (Albert et al., 2019, Feierabend, S., Rathgeb, T., Kheremand, H., & Glöckler, 2022) as well as the question of how educators can address hate speech in an educational context and help to prevent it (Marolla-Gajardo & Castellví-Mata, 2023, Seemann-Herz et al., 2022).

So far, we have little knowledge about who is engaging in digital hate and for what purpose, and what strategies might be helpful in dealing with the phenomenon. This is the starting point for the research work presented in this paper, which has generated valuable findings for media education research.

Eight interviews with feminist net activists were conducted using a qualitative research design. The research questions focused on the activists’ feminist self-image and their experiences with digital violence. The focus was on the question of whether they accept being silenced or whether they have developed strategies and resources that they can draw on when dealing with digital violence.

An exploration of the basic feminist attitude of the activists was carried out through theoretical references to feminist discourses such as the social construction of gender (Gildemeister & Wetterer, 1992; Goffman, 1977; Kessler & McKenna, 1978; Hagemann-White, 1984), deconstructionism (Derrida, 1987; Kahlert, 2000; Butler, 1991), queer theory (Hark, 2009; Jagose, 1996; Woltersdorf, 2003) and intersectional feminism (Crenshaw, 1989, 2013; Winker & Degele, 2009; Yuval-Davis, 2013). The descriptions and analyses of the haters were embedded in the discourse field of antifeminism (Lang & Peters, 2018; Planert 1998; Schutzbach, 2018), especially in current publications on antigenderism (Dağlar-Sezer, & Beaufaӱs, 2021; Ganz & Meßmer, 2015; Hark & Villa, 2015; Henninger & Birsl, 2020; Maurer, 2018; Schmincke, 2018). In order to pursue their goals as effectively as possible, coalitions and alliances are often formed between different groups (Blum, 2019; Lang & Peters, 2018; Strube, Perintfalvi, Hemet, Metze & Sahbaz, 2021).

The results of my study revealed that the haters are part of the anti-feminist spectrum and are characterised by racist, sexist and trans-hostile attitudes (Roß, forthcoming). Antifeminist actors are well organised and try to ban feminist voices from the digital space (Blum, 2019; Dafaure, 2022; Huang, 2023; Roß, forthcoming). Networking between groups is crucial to the effectiveness of antifeminist violence (Drüeke, 2016; Lang & Peters, 2018; Roß, forthcoming).

As the study participants all have displayed a queer and intersectional understanding of feminism, it can be assumed that this is relevant to the experience of anti-feminist hostility. It was found that the activists are particularly affected by digital hatred when they themselves are read as non-white and fall outside the heterosexual norm in terms of their gender identity or gender orientation (Roß, forthcoming).

When young people become victims of digital hatred due to their gender identity, gender orientation or ethnicity deviating from the “norm”, it is possible that organised antifeminists are behind the digital hostility. In contrast to the respondents in this study, who have developed numerous strategies for dealing with anti-feminist violence and have a feminist network to fall back on, young people are much more vulnerable.

What can we learn from research into memes as a pedagogical phenomenon in democratic or participatory contexts? The primary aim of this scoping review is to map the current knowledge about the pedagogical value of memes in participatory and democratic contexts. As secondary research question, the papers also asks what democratic and participatory understandings the field of research is grounded in.

According to Shifman (2014, pp. 39-42) memes are a form of communication between people or groups of people, often digital, and often consisting of visual or audiovisual media. Moreover, memes are commonly understood to be humoristic in nature; the humoristic aspect of memes has also been linked to democratic and participatory functions (Anderson & Keehn, 2020), and the possible value it may have for educators. This further raises the questions of whether we know more about the pedagogical value of memes in the context of democracy and participation, and how this research can be summarized and what gaps may exist in the literature.

Further theoretical perspectives can be found in Durham Peters (2020) philosophy of media, adopting the view that media is not only a tool for mediation in our different social systems, but a part of these systems themselves; the theory on memes can be expanded to define memes also as messages in themselves, meaning that they are part of our environment and carry meaning both by mediation of something and existing in themselves as part of the system.

Memes as a form of communication has in recent years become more widely researched. With perspectives ranging from memes as a political tool in specific elections (Ross & Rivers, 2019), to memes as form of identity formation in grassroots movements among marginalized groups (Burton, 2019), there is still a need to get an overview on memes as a pedagogical phenomenon in a democratic and participatory context. This paper shows the preliminary results of a sample of research in that context.

The need for this overview is based on the lack of reviews on this topic of research, particularly with regards to the pedagogical value of memes as a democratizing phenomenon. Apart from summarizing the current knowledge, another aim is to reflect upon the future of research on the topic, and what questions might need to be asked moving forward.

The paper is part of the authors Ph.d.-project.

In recent years, Open Educational Resources (OER) have gained recognition for their potential to enhance teacher education and general educational settings, as evidenced by studies such as Röwert & Kostrzewa (2021), and institutions like BMBF (2022) and UNESCO & Commonwealth of Learning (2019). While the term "Open Educational Practices" (OEP) often refers to activities involving OER, the concept, as pointed out by Bali et al. (2018) and Bellinger & Mayrberger (2020), encompasses a range of openness approaches that extend beyond or even operate independently of OER. This includes open pedagogical-participative learning scenarios using social media tools for collaborative knowledge creation. An understudied aspect in the OEP discourse is the challenges and side effects that student engagement can have.

This paper explores the challenges of OEP in addressing diversity issues, focusing on the 'Diversity goes Digital' project at TU Darmstadt as a case study. The project was initiated in response to an increase in discriminatory discourse in media spaces (Bünger and Czejkowska, 2020), where perceived differences from the dominant society (Attia et al., 2015) trigger hostility towards democratic values that educators strive to impart. This landscape includes debates on anti-genderism, rising right-wing populism and persistent racism. A key objective of the project - appropriate to the goals of Council of the European Union (2023) - was to contribute to diversity-oriented media education in teacher training and foster media literacy within a diverse, democratic society.

A central didactic approach was to enable students of teaching at vocational schools and high schools to engage in a product- and practice-oriented examination of societal orders of difference in the school context. This approach aimed to help them learn to critically examine themselves in relation to both analog and digital processes of 'doing difference' during lesson development. Furthermore, the focus was on ensuring that these future educators would neither ignore nor stigmatize the diversity of lifestyles in school practice, which is crucial for fostering an inclusive and reflective educational environment (FRA Report 2020). Therefore, students created explainer videos on topics such as heteronormativity and racism. Choosing video creation as an approach was based on its potential to engage students in simplifying complex subjects in an engaging and accurate manner (Wolf, 2015). This exercise was intended not only to help students better understand the concepts but also to develop effective communication skills essential for educators. However, these videos, shared on YouTube, faced significant right-wing populist backlash against both the students and educators.

After introducing the project, the presentation shifts focus to analyze the right-wing populist responses encountered. The leading questions are:

• Who is authoring the observed comments, and to what extent can a digital community and infrastructure be identified behind these coordinated responses?
• What disinformation strategies are evident in the patterns of comments that aim to problematize the topics of the videos and discredit the authors and educators?

The objective of this section is to highlight the potential reactions such educational projects might face, preparing stakeholders for similar challenges. This analysis contributes to supporting the European Union's perspective (2022) on tackling disinformation and promoting digital literacy through education and training.

Teaching in dynamic and ever changing migration and diversity contexts continues to be challenging. In particular, teachers are called upon to meet the following two educational objectives:

Firstly, equal educational chances should ideally be provided regardless of factors such as social, ethnic, national origin, religious conviction or gender. However, this is still far from reality (OECD, 2023). Although the causes for this inequity are complex, it is also undisputed that teachers are influential with their respective pedagogical orientations (e.g. Weitkämper, 2019 for an overview).

The second objective relates to the broad topic of social belonging and the corresponding social learning: All students should learn to live responsibly in a democratic, diverse society. The Swiss-German "Curriculum 21", for instance, stresses the need to learn mutual respect for a pluralistic, anti-discriminatory society and for social cohesion (D-EDK, 2016). Teachers are challenged in this respect, not only in terms of guiding their students' learning processes, but also in terms of self-reflecting and developing their own attitude.

Both of these concerns are based on the fundamental conviction that all students have equal rights to recognition, both in terms of educational opportunities and in terms of their social belonging (Mantel, 2022). In view of the great importance of these two objectives, the question arises as to how teachers can be effectively supported in their challenges. This, in turn, requires a better understanding of the guiding orientations teachers have and what limits or expands their scope of action.

Previous studies repeatedly show stereotyping and deficit orientations among teachers towards their students, particularly with reference to migration history, culture and/or language, sometimes intersectionally interwoven with socio-economic background and/or gender. In some studies, the differences between various pedagogical orientations have been worked out within the framework of typologies, however, often limited to a focus on teachers’ dealing with cultural difference, particularly what the German speaking area is concerned (see Leutwyler & Mantel, 2015 for an overview; Mantel, forthcoming). The presented study adds to the state of research with an attempt to describe the differences between teachers’ orientations in a rather general way, exploring new ways of looking at the underlying logics and including a deeper understanding of what these orientations are shaped by in terms of their life and professional history. Accordingly, this research is focussed on the following questions: (a) What are the pedagogical orientations among teachers in schools of the migration society, particularly with regard to questions of educational opportunities and questions of social belonging and the corresponding social learning? (b) In what ways are these orientations shaped by the teachers’ life and professional history?

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24^th February 2024, the European Union activated the temporary protection directive (EC, 2001). The directive is intended to establish “minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons from third countries who are unable to return to their country of origin”. Article 12 of the directive instructs that “Member States shall authorise . . . persons enjoying temporary protection to engage in employed or self-employed activities, subject to rules applicable to the profession, as well as in activities such as educational opportunities for adults, vocational training and practical workplace experience”. It is estimated that there are currently 4.2 million people from Ukraine living in the European Union, with Germany and Poland the main countries hosting these beneficiaries of temporary protection (Eurostat, 2023). While some attention has been given both to the educational experiences and challenges for Ukrainian children and young people as they attempt to continue schooling in new contexts, and to the experiences of schools and national systems of education as they seek to integrate these new learners, very little attention has been paid to the integration of Ukrainian educators into schools and education systems. The notable exception is the OECD work on “Teaching Opportunities and Support for Ukrainian Educators” (OECD, 2023). This short document provides a keen insight into the variety of ways in which certain member states of the European Union have sought to support Ukrainian teachers to restart their careers in a new jurisdiction. Short-term contracts as teachers are available in some countries, while other countries they are specifically seen as resources to address the educational and psycho-social needs of Ukrainian children and young people, sometimes in dedicated temporary education sites, or can be employed as teaching assistants. While there are many contextual differences with this population of teachers, it is evident that they share some of the same barriers that refugee and migrant teachers face more generally as they seek to continue their chosen career in a new jurisdiction. Miller (2008) claims that when states do not provide appropriate professional development support for such teachers, they fail to integrate them into the norms, customs and nuances of the local system which is “tantamount to professional neglect”. Female refugee teachers in Canada and the UK (Ratković and Pietka-Nykaza, 2016) argue that they shoulder the burden of integration, with few supporting mechanisms for enabling them to continue in their career. When this happens, they are less likely to succeed on their journey into teaching. Even when they have successfully commenced a teaching position, such teachers encounter a host of difficulties such as adjusting to new administrative regulations, teaching practices, new curriculum, diverse forms of assessment, differences in values and expectations, teacher status, classroom management and interaction with parents and communities (Bense, 2016; Carvatti et al., 2014; Collins and Reid, 2012). These experiences can lead to high levels of attrition among migrant and refugee teachers. Bridging programmes have been highly successful in supporting refugee teachers to integrate into teaching workforces (Schmidt and Schneider, 2016). There is a wide variety of models to the provision of such programmes, ranging from complete reaccreditation over one full academic year to short, two-day induction courses. The Migrant Teacher Project secured funding under the AMIF to support the integration of Ukrainian teachers in Ireland. They key element of this work was the provision of tailored teacher bridging programmes. Rooted in concepts of worker integration, this paper reports on participant evaluations from two versions of these bridging programmes.

My PhD study explored how a group of migrant preservice teachers experienced the phenomenon of intercultural education in the Learning Area of Languages within the Australian school context. The study aimed to understand both preservice teachers’ perceptions of the intercultural capability and its implementation in their teaching practice.

This study employed a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to explore the participating preservice teachers’ lived experiences of adopting an intercultural perspective in their classroom of Languages. Data were collected through individual in-depth interviews from a cohort of seven preservice teachers enrolled in a graduate Initial Teacher Education program and completing a qualification in teaching Languages at an Australian University in Victoria. By investigating preservice teachers’ interpretations of the intercultural capability; their experiences in the classroom of Languages (what they observed and how they acted during their teaching rounds and how they intend to act in the future); and their beliefs about the need for the development of the intercultural capability in their learners, it was possible to delve into the ways in which these prospective secondary school teachers of Languages engage with the intercultural project.

This study focuses solely on practitioners and explores their engagement (or lack thereof) with the intercultural project, based on the rationale that ‘no education policy can operate successfully without the commitment of teachers’ (Starkey 2007, p. 60).

This study posits that, for the intercultural project to succeed and become more than ‘good intentions’ (Gorski 2008, p. 516), there needs to be a move towards a more politically engaged approach (Tarozzi 2014). Teachers should see themselves as responsible for creating an inclusive and just society (see Crozet 2016).

This study follows a Critical Intercultural Communication Pedagogy framework (Atay & Trebing 2018; Sobre 2017) coupled with an ethical paradigm based on the work of the philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas (Bossio 2018; Ferri 2014; Ben-Ari & Strier 2010). Critical Pedagogy aims to transform society through education by locating the place of change in schools (Guilherme 2002), where the development of ‘critical cultural awareness’ should be fostered (Byram 2008). This aspect is essential for the success of intercultural education because it turns it into a broader social project. Crosbie (2014, p. 97) considers that this ‘quest for social transformation […] begins with a language-learning classroom in which students are encouraged to deal with cosmopolitan ideals, giving rise to a possible scenario where engagement with the world is shaped by social justice’.

The research findings, mainly deriving from individual in-depth interviews, indicate that both the critical and ethical paradigms appear as weak and uncertain, especially when it comes to translating ascribed meanings of the intercultural capability into the practice of teaching. This highlights the need for a strong theoretical (philosophical and epistemological) foundation for intercultural education to counteract neoliberal forces in the field. The critical turn in intercultural education scholarship is still far from being known and accepted outside the circle of those interested in it. In addition, the neo-social phenomenon in Australian education policy (Lingard, Sellar & Savage 2014) risks weakening the efforts made by critical intercultural communication scholars, since the social agenda is present in education policy. This ‘rejuvenated governmental interest in enabling healthy and positive social environments’, however, appears to exist ‘primarily for the sake of fostering greater economic productivity’ (Savage 2013, p. 187) instead of existing primarily for the benefit of all students, regardless of their linguistic, cultural, or socioeconomic background as proclaimed in the document underpinning the current Australian Curriculum. It is important to note that this well-documented and long-standing shift towards intercultural education is also typical to other countries, and its inception in Australian education policies mirrors developments internationally.

As lifelong learning (LLL) is a significant condition for employability, social inclusion and active citizenship, the European Council has been emphasizing the importance of adult learning for the last two decades (European Commission, 2001; 2016; 2019). While good-quality motivation and good-quality learning strategies are important determinants of continued learning in adulthood (European Commission, 2016; Lüftenegger et al., 2012), learning processes in adult education are an understudied terrain, especially among low-educated adults, who we can expect to be insufficiently developed in these learning skills.

Educational psychological research agrees that learning is a complex interplay of motivation, regulation and cognitive processing and, regardless of the age of the studied population, individual differences in learning quality exist (Vermunt & Donche, 2017). It can therefore be expected that also low-educated adults should not be considered a homogeneous group of learners, but learner profiles, differing in the quality of learning motivation and use of learning strategies, may be present. In person-oriented research, motivation and learning strategies have so far mainly been studied separately, rather than as an integrated whole. Yet literature points to the strong reciprocal relation between the two components, in which neither motivation nor learning strategies are the protagonist (e.g., Alexander, 2017). For this reason, the current study seeks to answer the question of which qualitatively different learner profiles exist among low-educated adults, based on learning motivation and learning strategies used, investigating both components, relative to each other.

Learning motivation is conceptualized in this study according to Deci and Ryan's (2000) Self-Determination Theory (SDT), in which quality is understood as the degree to which behaviour is self-determined. Amotivation is situated at the lower end of the SDT-continuum, which is the same as a lack of motivation. Next on the continuum are various forms of extrinsic motivation. The least self-determined form of extrinsic motivation is external regulation. This behaviour is initiated by external pressure, such as rewards or power. Introjected regulation refers to behaviour that is self-imposed, such as behaviour to avoid guilt or boost the ego. The third and most self-determined form of extrinsic motivation, is identified regulation. It refers to behaviour that is posed because the learner finds it valuable. At the very top of the continuum is intrinsic motivation which refers to behaviour that stems from inherent interest or pleasure.

The distinction in quality for the component of learning strategies is conceptualized according to the Learning Patterns Model (LPM)(Vermunt & Donche, 2017). Students tending toward a meaning-oriented learning pattern process learning content in a deep way, combined with a high degree of self-regulation strategies. Students with an application-oriented learning pattern prefer to make connections to concrete situations and prefer both self- and external regulation strategies. Students with a reproduction-oriented learning pattern process in a surface manner and prefer strong external regulation by the learning environment. Students can be identified lacking any regulation strategies and using few to none processing strategies and whom the model labels as the undirected learning pattern. The former two patterns are considered good-quality patterns, while the latter patterns are considered poor-quality learning.

Although both theories have a tradition of variable-oriented research, person-oriented studies have increasingly appeared to distinguish between individual quality. For each component of learning (motivation, regulation and processing strategies), typically, four profiles are found, differentiating between a high- versus low-quantity and a good- versus poor-quality profile (e.g., Cents-Boonstra et al., 2019; Shum et al., 2023). Based on the insights of earlier person-oriented research, we hypothesize learning profiles among low-educated adults to be distinct not only in terms of quality but also in terms of quantity.

When you enter the Southsea high school, you enter an open area called the “lounge”. The lounge is a place you pass through, but it also serves as a place to hang out, meet other students and to take a break and rest in the comfort of the sofas. Everybody knows and notices that the lounge is primarily populated by the racialized minoritized students. The white students hang out in the canteen. This resonates with Beverly Daniel Tatum’s classic and poignant question ‘Why are all the Black Kids sitting together in the cafeteria?’ (Tatum 1997). In this paper I wish to follow another but related question, investigating the internal logics and negotiations of the majoritized white students and the minoritized racialized students in how they make sense of the ways in which they can take up space in the high school - and in society in general.

I conceptualize racialization as an affective process (Ahmed 2012, Zembylas 2015, Manning 2023) of differentiation (Deleuze 1990, Massumi 2009) to understand the affective, spatial and embodied experience of standing out, blending in or passing as a racialized Other. Educational contexts and inclusion are seen as connected to how spaces are able to embody some bodies and not others as naturally belonging (Puwar 2004, Ahmed 2012).

Based on group interviews utilizing the creative methodology of identity mapping (Futch & Fine 2014, Jaffe-Walter & Khawaja 2022) with students from both the lounge and the canteen, I ask how they negotiate their sense of embodied and spatialized belonging in relation to each other and the spaces they can inhabit.

The analysis shows how the students are actively engaged in creating inclusive spaces for themselves within and beyond the high school in a political and societal backdrop where high schools with high numbers of racialized minoritized students are seen as “ghetto schools” and problematized as less successful schools in terms of achieving integration and social cohesion. This paper sheds light on how the students themselves negotiate a sense of social cohesion and community and how it links to their sense of belonging in school and, more generally, in society.

The intersection of education and immigration presents a multifaceted and dynamic landscape that significantly influences both individuals and societies. Schools serve as essential platforms, equipping immigrant students with the necessary linguistic, cultural, and academic skills. They play a crucial role in shaping a sense of belonging and civic engagement among immigrant youth. Despite these benefits, challenges such as language barriers and socio-economic disparities persist. Recognizing these challenges, inclusive educational policies are imperative to address the diverse needs of immigrant populations. Research into the impact of immigration on school systems is crucial for developing effective strategies and ensuring equitable educational opportunities for all. As global migration trends persist, understanding the interplay between schools and immigration is essential for building inclusive and culturally rich societies.

Within the framework of this research project, the school organizational practices related to the establishment of preparatory measures for newly immigrated students and their transition into regular classes in secondary education are examined. Concerning the development of schools and school culture, the study delves into questions regarding the extent to which the establishment of preparatory classes for newly immigrated children and adolescents entails structural changes towards intercultural openness in the school. It also investigates whether a school with already implemented measures for intercultural school development shows different ways of organizing the education of newly immigrated students. Factors such as the criteria underlying past decisions on organizing the education of newly immigrated students are considered, and the possible explanations for differing processes and routines in the school are explored (Herrmann 2017). This includes examining the orientation patterns and positionalities of school management and teachers regarding migration-related heterogeneity and diversity in general.

This research project also aims to investigate how teachers perceive dealing with diversity as a professional task. Secondly, it explores how appropriate conditions for this task can be achieved (Tillmann 2017). Understanding diversity as a pedagogical opportunity and enrichment as advocated by Trautmann and Wischer (2011) is a pedagogical attitude that has not yet been embraced by a majority of teachers (Solzbacher 2008).

This presentation delves into the life stories of individuals engaged in education within the context of prison life, focusing on experiences in both Ireland and Greece. Positioned within a broader project on the lived experience of prison education, this research draws theoretical inspiration from key concepts in recognition theory, identity formation, and critical adult education, rooted in the works of Axel Honneth (1996, 2003, 2012) and Paulo Freire (2000, 2005).

By interweaving these foundational theories, the overarching aim was to critically examine the multifaceted aspects of identity formation and the relationships created in the unique environment of prison education. Of particular interest is the lasting impact of these dynamics on individuals post-release. The theories of recognition and identity formation offer valuable insights into the development of self-awareness and the negotiation of identities within the prison education setting. Furthermore, critical adult education theories bring into sharp focus transformative learning, agency, and praxis, by viewing education as a means to address social inequalities and take action for social justice.

The central research question guiding this exploration is:

What are the significant events and milestones identified by individuals participating in prison education as learners in their narratives?

This question is approached through the lenses of recognition and transformation, employing the theories above to deepen our understanding of the complex interplay within the prison education environment.

Considering that all participants in both countries were early school leavers, examining key factors influencing early school leaving within the Irish context is essential. According to Tusla – the Child and Family Agency in Ireland (2007), some of these factors include:

a) Sense of belonging: Students who feel alienated and have reduced participation in school are more likely to drop out,

b) Attitude toward school: Beliefs and attitudes that students hold toward school significantly impact their likelihood of dropping out, more specifically, factors such as locus of control (feeling in control of one's actions and outcomes) and motivation to achieve are crucial predictors of dropout rates.

And c) Stressful life events: Increased levels of stress and the presence of stressors, such as financial difficulty, health problems, or early parenthood, can be associated with higher rates of early school leaving. These challenges can negatively impact a student's ability to cope with school demands, leading to disengagement.

Indeed, all these factors emerged in the participants’ narratives when reflecting on important events and milestones surrounding their re-engagement in education while serving their time.

Overall, this presentation contributes to the growing discourse on social justice and intercultural education by shedding light on the nuanced experiences of individuals in prison education, by presenting their voice and their stories the way they narrated them and providing insights on education for social justice.

While the idea that schools play a significant part in sustaining and promoting student wellbeing has a long history, the formulation of wellbeing as a specific and explicit goal of schooling is a relatively recent phenomenon (Carlsson, 2022; McLellan et al., 2022; Weare & Gray, 2003). A recent systematic review focusing on bibliometric and network analysis of the literature on wellbeing in school contexts during the period 1978–2018 points to a typical pattern of an emerging discipline, with an initial 15-year inception period followed by a 10-year consolidation period and then a decade of rapid exponential growth in the quantity of research (Hernández-Torrano, 2020).

The notion of school-based wellbeing is typically construed as ‘being well’, or as having an optimal psychological experience and functioning, positively associated with students’ motivation, learning and academic achievement (Adler 2017; Bücker et al. 2018; Suldo et al. 2011). A decade ago, Huebner and colleagues (2014) synthesised the evidence of the key school factors connected with students’ wellbeing and concluded that interpersonal interactions, students’ sense of security, opportunities for participation, and various organizational practices all contribute to wellbeing. Typically, the emphasis of research has been on examining the effects of wellbeing programmes on students’ academic outcomes or mental health (e.g. Barry et al. 2017; Daniele et al. 2022).

In contrast, in this systematic narrative literature review, we aimed to portray the broader spectrum of theoretical and empirical perspectives and ongoing debates related to wellbeing in primary and lower secondary schools (students aged 6-16 years). The review focused on the following questions: How is wellbeing in primary and lower secondary schools framed (conceptually) and addressed (methodologically) in the literature? What factors and dynamics within the school environment affect students’ school wellbeing? What characterises interventions /programmes/initiatives aimed at promoting students’ wellbeing at school? What are the perspectives on wellbeing of teachers and students?

This paper argues that the concern for students’ wellbeing should be seen as integral to the main objectives of teaching and education. Although student wellbeing has become an increasingly growing concern, and although it is often related to “whole-person” and “whole-school”-approaches, it is still treated mostly as a separate aspect of school life.Wellbeing is crucially important for students’ motivation and learning, across the curriculum, and achieving sufficient wellbeing is a fundamental life goal that calls for cross- and transcurricular teaching. Recent discussions of Bildung have tended to overlook or downplay the importance of subjective wellbeing, though the classical conception emphasizes that acquisition of skills and knowledge must be personally and emotionally satisfying; this is also supported by contemporary theories of flow, self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation. Drawing in part on recent research on the impact of the Covid 19-restrictions on students’ wellbeing, the paper also introduces the notion of wellbeing competence, distinguishing its different components and giving suggestions for how to foster it in the classroom.

Philanthropy and charity are increasingly positioned as efficient means to ‘solve’ a variety of public health and public education ‘crises’. This is a new type of neoliberal “social capitalism” (Ball, 2012, p. 66) where ‘new’ philanthropists (including individuals, ‘not-for-profits’, and corporations) collaborate and use business strategies to increasingly shape school-based solutions to public health imperatives. One such public health issue that has captured the interests of philanthrocapitalists is children’s mental health. This has resulted in a diverse range of mental health programmes and resources being implemented in schools across the globe, such as a mindfulness programme in New Zealand, resilience teaching resources in the United Kingdom, mental wellbeing tracking software in Australia, an app-based emotion education programme in Ireland, and numerous others forms of intervention and ‘education’.

In this paper I draw on Foucault’s (1991) notion of governmentality and Li’s (2007a) practices of assemblage to shed light how a number of organisations employ charity and philanthropy as a means to govern themselves and others. Specifically, I demonstrate how disparate organisations, including charities, local businesses, multinational corporations, social enterprises, government agencies, and philanthropic foundations, have been able to forge alignments through a shared interest in children’s mental health. This is a profitable process for those with the ‘will to improve’ (Li, 2007b), especially when these authorities are simultaneously able to (re)produce the notion of a mental health ‘crisis’ and propose their own solutions. However, even though these types of multi-sector partnerships are becoming commonplace in education and are seen to be a ‘win-win’ for multisector players, they may also be ‘dangerous’ for schools, public education, and democratic social change.

This paper demonstrates how the boundaries between multiple sectors continue to be re-drawn as new forms of governance, in particular philanthropic governance, re-shapes the provision of mental health programme in schools. This makes the work of charities and philanthropists highly visible (and acceptable, even desirable) in public education, while “surreptitiously embedding forms of privatization in education systems” (Srivastava & Baur, 2016, p. 434). As Bloom and Rhodes (2018) argue, “Philanthrocapitalism is about much more than the simple act of generosity it portrays itself as, instead involving the social inculcation of neoliberal values” (p. 192). The ‘gift’ of mental health programmes to schools represents new forms of ‘hidden’ and ‘creeping’ philanthropic privatisation in education (see Ball & Youdell, 2007; Powell, 2014) – yet another chapter in “the broader assault on public and critical education and the aspirations of a critical democracy” (Saltman, 2010, p. 13).

Digitalization has altered almost all areas of life and has increasingly been established in schools. The expected potentials are manifold with regard to affective variables such as increased motivation to learn, the optimization of learning processes and the improvement of students’ competencies (Voogt et al., 2018). However, research does not consistently show positive correlations between the use of digital media (e.g. different tools, purposes or frequencies) and increased outcomes. In addition, the phase of interruption of regular teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic is noteworthy, as digitalization has maintained teaching processes in many places during this time. Research on disruption of schooling has mainly shown a decline in competencies, and indicated that digitalization has not been able to help prevent a drop in competencies to the same extent in all countries (Di Pietro, 2023; Kennedy & Strietholt, 2023; König & Frey, 2022). Against this background, the papers of the symposium will examine the overarching question of what potential the use of digital media has in the classroom in an international comparison and which factors are relevant for its effectiveness.

The first presentation by Simon Skov Fougt and Katja Neubert will address the debates about digitization, especially in the Nordic countries after the latest results of PIRLS and PISA showing a decline in students’ competencies. In these rather digitized countries, the decline in the competencies measured could not be fully compensated for by digitization, which was the expectation on many sides. The paper discusses an explanatory approach based on PIRLS data with a special focus on Denmark amongst the Nordic countries to the question how digitalization can nevertheless be seen as a positively influencing factor on reading literacy in fourth grade during the pandemic.

The second contribution by Ramona Lorenz, Ulrich Ludewig and Nele McElvany will broaden the perspective to several European countries. Given inconsistent findings on the effects of digital media depending on the purpose of use and differences according to the socio-economic background of the students, the paper explores the question of how digital schoolwork is related to reading literacy in fourth grade and if differences between countries and between European regions can be found. With data form PIRLS 2021 a multi-group two level model with cross-level interaction shows that no systematic negative relations between digital reading and reading literacy can be found but some positive relations at specific levels or in specific countries appear. Regional differences will be discussed in depth.

The third contribution by Fazilat Siddiq and Ronny Scherer consistently provides insights in how digital media should be used in a purposeful way so that digitalization can have the desired effect on students` competencies. Even if education systems worldwide have integrated digitalization, there is still a huge need for teachers to gain a better understanding and professional knowledge for implementing digital media in a reasonable manner. A theory-driven and research-based teaching program was developed to support teachers in enhancing lower secondary students` 21st century skills. By means of thematic analysis and network analysis, learning experiences within this teaching program are examined. Important implications for digitalization in schools complete the contribution.

The symposium concludes with a comprehensive discussion and thorough appraisal of the three contributions by Rolf Strietholt.

PIRLS 2021 and PISA 2022 showed significant declines in Danish students’ reading competence (Fougt et al. 2023; Gissel 2023), as well as we internationally have seen the largest decline ever. One proven factor here is the covid 19-pandemic (Kennedy & Strietholt 2023); however the waste majority of the public debate in Denmark following PIRLS 2021 and PISA 2022 focuses on digitalization, also at governmental level. The Danish Minister for Culture argued to abandon digitalization in schools, our Prime Minister claimed that smartphones were the biggest threat towards our children, and The Minister for Education gave a public excuse for ‘the digital experiment’ in schools. Several opinions makers and some researchers argue for screen restrictions in education (eg. Ågård, 2021; Rashid et al. 2024). This paper challenges this standing point with the hypothesis that the waste digitalization of Danish schools and the habituation of teachers and students might have helped to prevent a larger decline in Danish students’ reading competence during the pandemic, as schools relatively easy could transfer to online teaching. The paper mainly draws on PIRLS data and focuses on the comparable Nordic Countries with the following research question: How can digitalization be seen as a positively influencing factor on students reading competence during the pandemic? In 2022, Denmark was world ranking no. 1 for the third successive time in the latest UN E-government survey on digitalization (UN 2022). PIRLS 2016-2021 data show that Danish schools have been more digitalized for a longer time compared to all other PIRLS participants, also the other Nordic countries. Both in PISA and PIRLS we see a minor decline in students’ reading competence in Denmark as compared to the other Nordic countries, and at the same time, Denmark was by far the most school-closed country within the Nordic countries during the pandemic. This paper discusses this explanatory approach, and it is also including development in SES and in spoken language at home as other possible explaining factors.

Fougt, S. S., Neubert, K., Kristensen, R. M., Gabrielsson, R., Molbæk, L., & Kjeldsen, C. C. (2023). Danske elevers læsekompetence i 4. klasse: Resultater af PIRLS-undersøgelsen 2021. Aarhus Universitetsforlag Gissel, S.T. (2023). PISA 2022 LÆSNING. Delrapport. VIVE https://www.uvm.dk/-/media/filer/uvm/int/231204-pisa-2022-laesning-pdf-ua.pdf Kennedy, A. I., & Strietholt, R. (2023). School Closure Policies and Student Reading Achievement: Evidence Across Countries. Rashid, I., Bro, K. B. & Brixtofte, M. (2024). Skærmsund. En fire-ugers guide til sundere skærmvaner. Gyldendal UN (2022). UNITED NATIONS E-GOVERNMENT SURVEY 2022. The Future of Digital Government. Department of Economic and Social Affairs https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2022

Reading literacy is an important foundation for educational achievement, social participation, and professional life. Digitalization is expanding to a considerable extent the reading opportunities that students have in their everyday lives, but also in the school context. The use of digital media is considered to have a wide range of potential benefits for learning. Nevertheless, research does not consistently point out positive effects of digital tools and e.g. has shown that digital reading, at least during leisure time, does not necessarily add to reading comprehension (Altamura et al., 2023). Other studies indicated a negative relation of the amount of daily use of digital devices with reading comprehension that could be compensated by a supportive use by the teachers within digital reading projects (Salmerón et al., 2022). Overall, international large-scale assessments show that in some countries more digital reading time in school is associated with higher reading literacy. In some education systems, however, a negative correlation is found (Lorenz et al., 2023). Furthermore, there is an ongoing discussion about the use of digital media for reading instruction and how it`s use differs between students with different socio-economic backgrounds. This discussion is driven from findings of particularly large learning deficits among children from low socio-economic backgrounds while learning digitally during the COVID-19 pandemic and on country level a larger gap between middle-income countries relative to high-income countries (Betthäuser et al., 2022). This leads to the question on digitization for school purposes in an international comparison: What relation of digital schoolwork with reading literacy can be found in fourth grade across European countries? Results indicate an overall positive association of the amount of digital schoolwork (finding and reading information; preparing reports and presentations) and reading literacy at the country level for all considered European countries in PIRLS 2021. Regional differences are that Northern European countries have both a higher level of digital reading for schoolwork and reading literacy, whereas Western European countries have a lower level of digital reading along with lower reading literacy. A multi-group two level model with cross-level interaction revealed effects at the class level, primarily in Eastern and Southern European countries. However, no effects at any level remain statistically significant after controlling for socioeconomic background and spoken language at home (other than test language). Results show no evidence in support of a negative association between digital schoolwork and reading literacy. Inequality between European regions will be discussed.

Altamura, L., Vargas, C., & Salmerón L. (2023). Do new forms of reading pay off? A meta-analysis on the relationship between leisure digital reading habits and text comprehension. Review of Educational Research. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543231216463 Betthäuser, B.A., Bach-Mortensen, A.M., & Engzell, P. (2022). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence on learning during the covid-19 pandemic. Nature Human Behaviour, 7(3), 375–385. Lorenz, R., Goldhammer, F. & Glondys, M. (2023). Digitalisierung in der Grundschule [Digitalization in elementary school]. In N. McElvany, R. Lorenz, A. Frey, F. Goldhammer, A. Schilcher & T. C. Stubbe (Hrsg.), IGLU 2021 – Lesekompetenz von Grundschulkindern im internationalen Vergleich und im Trend über 20 Jahre [PIRLS 2021 - Reading literacy of primary school children in an international comparison and trend over 20 years] (S. 197–214). Münster: Waxmann. Salmerón, L., Vargas, C., Delgado, P., & Baron, N. (2022). Relation between digital tool practices in the language arts classroom and reading comprehension scores. Reading and Writing, 36, 175–194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10295-1

In recent years, several countries have undergone major curriculum revisions, which has resulted in the inclusion of interdisciplinary competence areas such as digital competence, computational thinking, critical thinking, problem solving and collaborative learning into the compulsory K-12 curricula (Erstad & Siddiq, 2023). Such overarching competence areas are oftentimes labelled 21st century skills (Voogt & Roblin, 2012). Although the intentions in the curriculum are positive, there is currently little research-based knowledge about how such competences can be taught and assessed, and teachers report lack of access to professional development and teaching materials (Erstad & Siddiq, 2022; Kravik et al., 2022). To meet some of these challenges, the TEACH21st-project (Teaching and transfer effects of 21st century skills – collaborative problem solving in digital environments) was initiated in 2019 with the aim to develop teaching materials and practices that are knowledge- (theory-driven) and research-based. More specifically, applying a teacher design team approach (Becuwe et al., 2016) teachers, teacher educators, student teachers and researchers worked together to develop a teaching resource aimed at developing lower secondary students’ computational thinking and collaborative problem-solving competences. This program has been developed, piloted and revised through several iterations. The final teaching program includes materials (games, charts, tasks etc.) for the teachers and students, and practices (e.g., use of analogue and computer programming in combination to teach computational thinking, how to teach collaborative learning and use it as a pedagogical approach). The program consists of four modules that are built on the principles of: relevance (target learning goals in the curriculum); inclusion (all students should be able to participate independent of their previous knowledge, and provide adaptive teaching); engagement and activity (include engaging and fun tasks, involving physical activity and hands-on assignments); collaborative learning (students need to learn to collaborate and the tasks require positive dependence); and progression (the tasks move towards more advanced levels). Finally, this program has been conducted in 32 classes by their teachers (N=16) after attending a one-day professional development workshop. In this study, we will examine how the 9th grade students (N = 460) experience learning within this teaching program. The data consist of the students' reflection notes conducted after each of the four modules and observations (N = 24 classes). The data has been analyzed through a combination of thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2021) and network analysis (Epskamp et al., 2018). Results and implications will be discussed.

Becuwe, H., Tondeur, J., Pareja, R. N., Thys, J., & Castelein, E. (2016). Teacher design teams as a strategy for professional development: The role of the facilitator. Educational Research and Evaluation, 22(3-4). Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide. London: Sage Epskamp, S., Maris, G., Waldorp, L. J., & Borsboom, D. (2018). Network psychometrics. In The wiley handbook of psychometric testing (pp. 953–986). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118489772.ch30. Erstad, O., & Siddiq, F. (2023). Educational assessment of 21st century skills—novel initiatives, yet a lack of systemic transformation, Editor(s): Robert J Tierney, Fazal Rizvi, Kadriye Erkican, International Encyclopedia of Education (Fourth Edition), Elsevier, 2023, Pages 245-255, ISBN 9780128186299, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.09038-2. Kravik, R., Berg, T., & Siddiq, F. (2022). Teachers’ understanding of programming and computational thinking in primary education – A critical need for professional development. Acta Didactica Norden. https://doi.org/10.5617/adno.9194 Voogt, J., & Roblin, N.P., (2012). A comparative analysis of international frameworks for 21st century competences: implications for national curriculum policies. J. Curric. Stud. 44 (3), 299–321. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2012.668938

Value-added indicators are a more accurate method of assessing school performance since they eliminate more non-school factors (Meyer et al., 2017). Slovenian upper secondary schools in the General education track finishing with General Matura have been able to assess value-added measures and track changes over time since 2014. The two time points in question are achievement at the end of Grade 9, just before entering upper secondary schools, and achievement at General Matura examinations. Lower secondary schools can similarly check value-added between Grade 6 and Grade 9 (finishing grade) in different subjects since 2018. These measures are not part of any accountability scheme and are provided for schools’ self-evaluation purposes along with other achievement results.
Value added measures used by slovenian schools are calculated as average residual between actual and predicted students' achievement (Cankar, 2011). Usual method for calculation of predicted values is 'median method', where population is sorted on scores from time point 1 and divided into equal sized groups. Median scores on scores from time point 2 over all groups constitute a series of predicted values for midpoints of groups on timepoint 1. All other values are interpolated from those.
This method of calculating value-added proved robust and relatively straightforward for explaining to teachers and the general public. However, there are also indications that the calculations aren’t optimal. In this paper, we will address the issue of negative national average value-added measures. As a rule, the average value-added over all schools for a chosen year tends to be negative.

There can be many reasons, and within this presentation, we will explore the following research questions:

Could the observed negative average value be associated with school composition factors (primarily the size of the school)?
Could we associate negative average values with school background characteristics (for example, the average income of the school’s municipality)?
Could we associate negative average values with the implementation of the value-added measure (either the median method or some other step in computation)?
Since value-added models rely on differences between time points, which increases the measurement error (Papay et al., 2011), it is important to reduce additional sources of error and insights from this research might be useful to others in the field of value added models.

Teachers who use assessment for formative rather than summative purposes are more effective in promoting student learning outcomes (Chen et al., 2017; Kyriakides et al., 2020). Teachers appear to acknowledge the benefit of formative assessment. However, their assessment practice remains mainly summative oriented (Suurtamm & Koch, 2014; Wiliam, 2017). This can partly be attributed to the fact that teachers do not receive sufficient training in classroom assessment (DeLuca & Klinger, 2010). Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programs intended to improve assessment practice have so far provided mixed results regarding their impact on teachers’ assessment skills (Chen et al., 2017), whereas many studies do not provide any empirical evidence on the impact of student assessment TPD programs on student learning outcomes (Christoforidou & Kyriakides, 2021). In this context, this study aims to explore the impact of a TPD course in formative assessment on improving teachers’ assessment skills and through that on promoting student learning outcomes in mathematics (cognitive and meta-cognitive).

During the first phase of the study, a framework that enables the determination and measurement of classroom assessment skills was developed. This framework examines assessment looking at three main aspects. First, skills associated with the main phases of the assessment process are considered (Gardner et al., 2010; Wiliam et al., 2004): (i) appropriate assessment instruments are used to collect valid and reliable data; (ii) appropriate procedures in administering these instruments are followed; (iii) data emerging from assessment are recorded in an efficient way and without losing important information; (iv) assessment results are analysed, interpreted, and used in ways that can promote student learning; and (v) assessment results are reported to all intended users to help them take decisions on how to improve student learning outcomes. The second aspect of this framework has to do with the fact that assessment skills are defined and measured in relation to teachers’ ability to use the main assessment techniques. Specifically, the framework looks at assessment techniques by considering two important decisions affecting assessment technique selection: a) the mode of response and b) who performs the assessment. Finally, the third aspect of the framework refers to the five measurement dimensions suggested in the Dynamic Model of Educational Effectiveness (Kyriakides et al., 2020): frequency, focus, stage, quality and differentiation. These dimensions allow us to better describe the functioning of each characteristic of an effective teacher (Scheerens, 2016).

Based on the theoretical framework and its dimensions, a questionnaire measuring teachers’ skills in assessment was developed. A study provided support to the validity of the instrument. It was also found that assessment skills can be grouped into three stages of assessment behaviour. These stages were used to make decisions in relation to the content and design of the TPD course which was based on the main assumptions of the DA. First, the DA considers the importance of identifying specific needs and priorities for improvement of each teacher/group of teachers. Second, it is acknowledged that teachers should be actively involved in their professional development to better understand how and why the factors addressed have an impact on student learning. Third, the DA supports that the Advisory and Research Team has should support teachers in their efforts to develop and implement their action plans. Fourth, monitoring the implementation of teacher action plans in classroom settings is considered essential. This implies that teachers should continuously develop and improve their action plans based on the information collected through formative evaluation.

Teachers’ instruction is at the heart of education, and previous research has shown that teaching quality is important for students’ learning outcomes (e.g. Charalambous & Praetorius, 2020; Seidel & Shavelson, 2007). However, teaching is a two-way process, and less is known about how the composition of the classroom affects teaching quality (TQ). Do for instance high socio-economic (SES) classrooms receive different TQ than low-SES classrooms? To examine this, one would first need to establish whether a so-called compositional effect exists. Compositional effect refers to the effects of, for instance the classroom’s socio-economic status (SES) on student learning outcomes, over and above the effect of students’ individual SES (Van Ewijk & Sleegers, 2010).

Both compositional effects and unfair distribution of high-quality teachers have been found in previous studies in a number of countries (Gustafsson et al., 2018; Luschei & Jeong, 2018; Van Ewijk & Sleegers, 2010) However, in Norway, that for a long time was considered an egalitarian society (Buchholtz et al., 2020), there is a lack of such studies. At the same time, educational inequality has increased in Norway (Sandsør et al., 2021). Hence, the overarching aim of the present study is to examine whether a compositional effect exists, and how the composition of the classrooms affects TQ. We further aim to describe more in depth what characterizes the TQ in classrooms of different compositions in Oslo where the gaps between students are larger and there are more minority students than in the rest of Norway (Fløtten et al., 2023).

The following research questions were asked:

1) What is the effect of the classroom composition (in terms of SES and minority status) on students learning outcomes in science, over and above students’ individual SES and minority status (i.e. the compositional effect)? How does this differ between Oslo and the rest of Norway?

2) What is the effect of the classroom composition on TQ in science, and how does this differ between Oslo and the rest of Norway?

3) What characterizes TQ in science classrooms of different compositions in Oslo?

Theoretical framework for teaching quality.

We chose The Three Basic Dimensions (TBD) framework (Klieme et al., 2009; Praetorius et al., 2018) to conceptualize TQ as this framework is the most commonly used in Europe and by the international large-scale studies (Klieme & Nilsen, 2022). TQ is here defined as the type of instruction that predicts students learning outcomes, and includes the following three dimensions:

1) Classroom management refers to how teachers manage the classroom environment and includes, for instance, preventing undesirable behaviors and setting clear and consistent rules and expectations for student behavior.

2) Supportive teaching focuses on the teacher’s ability to support students both professionally and socio-emotionally, such as providing clear and comprehensive instruction and seeing and listening to every individual student.

3) Cognitive activation includes instruction that enables students to engage in higher-level cognitive thinking that promotes conceptual understanding. Such instruction is characterized by challenging and interactive learning.

The TBD is a generic framework used across subject domains. To address research question 3, and further investigate more in depth the subject-specific aspect of TQ in science, a fourth dimension from the framework Teacher Education and Development Study–Instruct (TEDS-Instruct, e.g. Schlesinger et al., 2018) was included. This framework was adapted to the Norwegian context and to the subject domain of science, and validated. The fourth dimension is called Educational structuring and refers to subject-specific aspects of instruction such as inquiry or dealing with students misconceptions in science.

The research problem of the study is undergraduate training and preparedness of social sciences teachers with a focus on philosophy. The main research objective is to analyze how future and beginning teachers of philosophy evaluate the benefits, content and sufficiency of their undergraduate training in the field of philosophy (as a partial social science discipline) in relation to their pedagogical practice. The paper is a partial output of the author's dissertation, where other objectives are to define key terms with regard to recently published professional theoretical and empirical studies from the Czech Republic and abroad. Furthermore, the aim is to map the form and content of undergraduate training at two types of faculties – education and philosophy, and to identify the variables that have an impact on the evaluation of the preparation. Additionally, undergraduate training is analysed from the point of view of developing desirable specific competencies. Last but not least, we synthesize recommendations to improve the training.

According to the OECD definition (2024), a teacher is a person whose profession involves imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes (i.e. competencies) to students that are specified in a formal curriculum. In the Czech environment, the teaching profession is defined legislatively by Act No. 563/2004 Coll., on Pedagogical staff. Unlike abroad, in the Czech Republic, the teaching profession cannot be considered a full profession because it still does not exhibit certain characteristics of a profession (e.g. the existence of a professional chamber, high social prestige and economic status, ...) (Gore & Morrison, 2001; Guerriero & Deligiannidi, 2017). Spilková et al. even describe Czech education policy as de-professionalising and de-qualifying, despite the fact that trends of increasing professionalisation of teaching can be observed worldwide (Spilková, 2016, 2023; Spilková & Štech, 2023).

Undergraduate training is understood as the first stage of the development of a teacher's professional career (Průcha, 2002) and is viewed as a process of developing professional competencies, which is in line with the document Competence Framework for Graduate Teachers (MŠMT, 2023). In the Czech Republic, future teachers are mainly prepared at pedagogical or philosophical faculties, and their (teachers of 2nd level of elementary school and grammar school) takes the form of a three-year Bachelor's degree and a two-year follow-up Master's degree. The goal of undergraduate training is to equip the graduate with pedagogical and professional knowledge and skills (European Commission, 2020), but going through a formal education process does not make a graduate a great teacher.

In this paper, we see student preparedness as a subjective perception or feeling. According to the authors Janišová & Strouhal (2023), being prepared for the teaching profession means being prepared for the change and variability that accompany teachers on a daily basis and can be viewed from different perspectives.

The research focuses both on students and their preparedness, but also on beginning philosophy teachers and their teaching. These are qualified teachers with a social sciences approbation with less than 3 years of experience teaching philosophy as a part of the school subject Basics of Social Sciences at grammar schools (Zhong, 2017; Chudý & Neumeister, 2014). Subject didactics of philosophy is only slowly developing in the Czech environment and foreign inspirations are very valuable (e.g. the competence-based approach by Tozzi or Tiedemann). Philosophy teaching in the Czech Republic takes place mostly in one year of studies at grammar schools and this issue is not a well-explored field in the world or in the Czech Republic, therefore we consider this study to be beneficial for both subject didactics of philosophy and subject didactics of social sciences, which is also not firmly anchored.

Teaching for creativity (TfC) is highlighted worldwide due to its crucial role in students’ learning motivation, creative performance, and academic achievement (Craft et al., 2008; Davies et al., 2013; Gajda et al., 2017). A line of research in the field of management has found that psychological capital (PsyCap) has a close relationship with individual creativity in many service settings (Huang & Luthans, 2015; Li & Wu, 2011; Rego et al., 2012; Sweetman et al., 2011). To date, few studies in education have explored whether and to what extent teachers’ PsyCap is related to their TfC behavior. To address the discussed research gaps, this study was designed to investigate the relationship between teachers’ PsyCap and their TfC behavior, by first examining the links between each of the four components of PsyCap—efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism—and teachers’ TfC, and then by analyzing the differences in these links between urban and rural teachers.

TfC emphasizes the development of creativity in students through their empowerment in the learning process. (Jeffrey & Craft, 2004; National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education, 1999).

Luthans (2002) defines PsyCap as “positively oriented human resources strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed for performance improvement” (p. 59). From this perspective, Luthans, Avolio, et al. (2007) advanced four positive psychological resources as constituting PsyCap: efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience.

The relationship between efficacy and TfC can be addressed in three ways. Based on the previous literature, we postulated a positive relationship between efficacy and TfC.

Conceptual work backed by empirical evidence indicates that hopeful individuals are apt to welcome creativity. Zhou and George (2003) argued that creativity-related performance at work requires a willingness to explore despite the possibility of failure. From this literature, we anticipated a positive association between hope and TfC among teachers.

Resilience is the ability to adapt to changing contexts and life stressors, to bounce back from failure, uncertainty, and adversity, and even to move beyond resilience to achieve success (Luthans, Youssef, et al., 2007; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). Given that failures and challenges are inherent in creative tasks (Amabile, 1983) as well as the cultivation of student creativity (Bereczki & Kárpáti, 2018), feeling at ease in abnormal situations and persevering despite failure are prerequisites of creativity-related behavior. We postulated that the positive association between resilience and creativity found in this literature would be also applicable to TfC.

Optimism refers to an individual’s generalized positive expectancy for, and attributions of, success (Scheier et al., 2001). Empirical studies have also found that optimism can enhance flexible cognition, trigger intrinsic motivation, and promote creative thinking and creativity-related performance (Fredrickson & Joiner, 2002; Sweetman et al., 2011). Based on the theory of optimism and the attendant empirical studies, we predicted that a positive association between optimism and TfC.

In China, due to community poverty, isolation, and distance from the centers of political, economic, and cultural life (Sargent & Hannum, 2005), rural teachers in under-resourced schools may exhibit different features of PsyCap and face distinct challenges in TfC. we predicted that the structural relationships between efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism to TfC are invariant across urban and rural teachers.

This research grew out of a change in pre-service teacher (PST) placement practice on one undergraduate Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme in the Republic of Ireland because of changes made during the Covid-19 pandemic and as a response to Teaching Council policy and guidance documentation (2020a; 2020b, 2021) during that period. The Year 1 PST placement experience over the period from 2020-2022, moved from a video-recorded microteaching experience (Allen and Ryan, 1969; Arsal, 2014) teaching students from a local school in the University setting, followed by a primary school placement, to an online synchronous peer teaching placement experience (Teaching Online Programme 1 - TOP1).

Post-Covid, the programme academic team re-evaluated the placement experience. Team research had found that while the TOP “offered …[a chance to build] knowledge in a safe environment where risks could be taken … with technology that might not be attempted in the classroom” (Doyle et al., 2021, p.61), it was also the case that “some student-teachers … missed the real encounter with pupils in the classroom” (Doyle et al, 2021, p.58). Considering these findings and research published in response to online teaching during Covid-19 (Donlon et al., 2022; Giner-Gomis et al., 2023; White and McSharry, 2021), the team designed and implemented a re-imagined form of PST placement practice in Year 1 of the academic year 2022-2023. The research question for this qualitative study asks: What is the process that led beginning pre-service teachers to the moment of embodiment in becoming a teacher? It is concerned with the threshold moment in the becoming of a PST as experienced in this re-imagined placement experience and how this might inform PST placement practice internationally. We acknowledge that there are many different types of PST experiences across the globe, however, this research will transfer to the becoming of a teacher whatever the format (Newman, 2023).

The conceptual framework for this study comes from the concept of becoming as suggested in the work of Deleuze and Guattari (2003). They define becoming as “a threshold, a middle, when things accelerate” (p.25). We will argue that year one of ITE is such a threshold or middle. There is no beginning with becoming, only middles and muddles (St Pierre, 2013) as the PST already has images and ideas of who and what a teacher might be. However, becoming is a process in which any given multiplicity “changes nature as it expands its connections” (Deleuze & Guattari, 2003). Sellers (2013) clarifies that becoming involves a dynamic process, through/with/in which an assemblage (PST) is constantly changing through connections it is making. ITE offers a variety of spaces for the pre-service teacher to make and expand these connections both on site in the university, online and in the classroom.

The concept of becoming offers the concepts of multiplicity and difference which are significant in this framework. They will help interrogate how the pre-service teacher becomes something new through the inter and intra-connections of these concepts. This understanding undercuts the importance of identity and being and disrupts the thinking of a human as stable and rational, who experiences change but remains the same person. It also undercuts the search for an “identity” for the pre-service teacher and points rather to process, movement, expansion, and confluence. Stagoll (2010) suggests “one’s self must be conceived as a constantly changing assemblage of forces, an epiphenomenon arising from chance confluences of languages, organisms, societies, expectations, laws and so on” (p.27). This study will map how teacher placement works for the first-year pre-service teacher and how it acts as a threshold for the initial embodiment of their becoming as teachers.

Global challenges and changes have an impact on education and increase the expectations of teachers. Supporting students with very different backgrounds, and navigating versatile learning environments require the teacher to be able to make evidence-based decisions in order to best support the learning of all students. In order to best prepare teachers to meet the demands of an ever more complex profession and ensure high quality teaching, teachers need strong theoretical knowledge and a good skill of transferring it into classroom practice. Student teachers often do not see the connection between evidence-based knowledge and its value for classroom practices (Knight, 2015), which might be the case due to their lack of transferring skills.

The contextual model of teacher competences (Blömeke et al., 2015) describes teacher competence as a multidimensional construct, which consists of three facets: teachers' disposition (professional knowledge and affective-motivational aspects), situation-specific skills (perception, interpretation, decision-making, i.e PID-skills) and performance in the classroom. These three facets are in interaction with each other, where dispositions affect PID-skills and the visible behaviour in the classroom is dependent on both two. In other words, teacher PID-skills are of great importance for high quality teaching (Stahnke & Blömeke, 2021) as they function like a bridge between the teacher's knowledge and the transfer of that knowledge to classroom practices.

Finding ways to support the development of teacher PID- skills is receiving more and more attention in the field of teacher education (e.g. Kleinknecht & Gröschner, 2016; Santagata et al., 2021). PID-skills are extensively researched in the field of mathematics and natural sciences (e.g. Alwast & Vorhölter, 2022; Santagata & Yeh, 2016). However, studies that focus on supporting the development of PID-skills in the context of need-supportive teaching are lacking, even though supporting student motivation and engagement are important questions for every teacher (e.g. Reeve & Cheon, 2021). Thus this research provides a novel perspective on developing PID-skills in teacher education. Previous research has shown a lower quality of teacher education students interpretation and decision-making skills (e.g. Alwast & Vorhölter, 2022; Georg & Poom-Valickis, 2023) referring to the inability to use theoretical knowledge in reasoning and decision-making. Student teachers primarily noticed aspects connected to teacher behavior, generalized and paid attention to less-important factors connected to need-supportive teaching, and had difficulties in basing their interpretations and decisions on theoretical foundations (Georg & Poom-Valickis, 2023). Therefore the goal of our current study was to discover ways to support the development of student teachers´ interpretation and decision-making skills in the context of need-supportive teaching using video-based discussions. Previous research has confirmed that classroom videos are a suitable means for this purpose (e.g. Prilop et al., 2021). However, merely video-based observations are not sufficient for supporting skill development effectively (Estapa & Amador, 2023). It is important to guarantee targeted opportunities to practice theoretical reasoning and make decisions thereof through video-observations or case-studies (Santagata & Yeh, 2016; Stürmer, Königs & Seidel, 2013) and pay explicit attention to learning how to direct one´s reasoning based on noticed events (Barnhart & van Es, 2015).

The study sought answers to the following research questions:

1. What are the levels of interpretation and decision-making skills before and after video-reflection activities in the lecture?

2. What are the connections between student interpretation and decision-making skills and their knowledge of need-supportive teaching strategies at the end of the course?

In uncertain times, teacher training is an important strategic initiative for overcoming challenges and actively shaping the future. In 2024, a reform of teacher training in Austria was announced, which, among other things, provides for better integration of practical elements into theoretical training. In addition to redesigning the curricula, it is therefore an important task to design courses that contextualise school practice more strongly in educational theory. This is where the study "OPENness for EDUcational Theories and socio-emotional COOPeration (OPEN EDU COOP)" comes in, by theoretically and empirically analysing central construct areas of the development and strengthening of professional action competence facets of teachers.

The construct areas of teacher professionalism selected for the study are openness towards educational theories, the associated positive emotions and the development of social skills. For this purpose, co-operative learning environments are developed and their effectiveness with regard to the construct areas addressed, is empirically investigated. The importance of openness towards educational science theories is emphasised for the theory-based reflection of practical school experiences (Hascher & Hagenauer, 2016; Gastager et al., 2022). Students with this openness have more sustainable learning experiences in the school placement (Donche & van Petegem, 2009). However, students tend to have negative attitudes towards educational theories and prefer to receive practical tips from mentors (Allen & Wright, 2014).

Positive emotions play a key role here, as they expand the thought-action repertoire, promote holistic thinking (Fredrickson, 2001) and can set in motion a positive spiral that leads to the development of personal resources (Kalchgruber et al., 2021). Several studies (Bach & Hagenauer, 2022; van Rooij et al., 2019; Hascher & Waber, 2020) confirm the positive effects of positive emotions on learning experiences in school internships.

Social competences are multi-perspective constructs which Kanning (2015) categorises as perceptive-cognitive, motivational-emotional or behavioural. Kiel et al. (2012) found in an empirical study that prospective teachers experience an increase in competence in the areas of leadership skills, independence, cooperation skills, situational behaviour and sense of responsibility during the course of their studies. Nevertheless, the majority of prospective teachers show moderate leadership, organisational orientation and little interest in cooperation with colleagues and parents of pupils (Mayr, 2012). Rothland (2010) analysed the development of social skills in the first phase of teacher training and found a need for development in the area of conflict skills and social skills among prospective male teachers, and for dealing with sensitivity to social frustration, particularly among female students. The students were less satisfied with their self-assertion and showed an increased tendency towards confrontation in social conflict situations. A sample of the Potsdam Teacher Study (Schaarschmidt & Kieschke, 2007) lead to the conclusion that a quarter of those surveyed showed deficits in the area of social-communicative skills and in their experience of social support. The researched findings illustrate the great potential of teacher training to promote and support students in expanding their social competences.

The didactic intervention of OPEN EDU COOP is based on the systematic use of cooperative elements in order to promote both social competences and the reflective examination of educational science theories in an emotionally positive way. The study thus aims to close previous research gaps regarding students' emotions when dealing with educational science theories. The central research question is derived from these theoretical considerations: What effects are achieved by a cooperative didactic course concept in the training of teacher students with regard to openness towards educational science theories, the associated positive emotions and the development of social competences?

The Capability Approach, developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and based on Aristotelian ethics, provides a theoretical framework for the discussion of fundamental social (in)equality and (in)justice. At its core is the question of the interaction between people's abilities and the resources available to them. To emphasise this analytically, a distinction is made between functionings and capabilities: „Functionings are people’s beings and doings whereas capabilities are the real or effective opportunities to achieve functionings“ (Potsi 2018: 243). This focus makes the Capability Approach particularly interesting for educational issues and is suitable with regard to transfer to school, teaching research and teacher training. With the central distinction between "functionings" (abilities) and "capabilities" (opportunities for realisation) this approach goes beyond the functional perspective of the widespread approaches widely used in the field of education, because it not only considers the internal-personal conditions of individuals (competences), but also the external-social conditions through which the potentials of learners can be turned into real possibilities (= capabilities).

Accordingly, pedagogical action according to the Capability Approach means "paying careful attention to pedagogical and content-related issues and considering how lesson content and the nature of interactions in the classroom (for example, the role assigned to critical thinking and the ability to imagine things of different kinds in everyday teaching) realise the goals inherent in the approach" (Nussbaum 2015: 155). It should also be questioned which dimensions of school life (from the organisational structure to the concrete teaching activities, the spatial design and the work with parents) can be critically examined and further developed in this respect. Such considerations should already be an integral part of the knowledge and reflection canon in the training of prospective teachers in order to be able to guarantee a school education aimed at the realisation opportunities of the pupils and the necessary willingness of the teachers to do so.

In order to explore the potential of the Capability Approach in the context of teacher training, a working group at the University College for Teacher Training Vienna/Krems is working on the question of how prospective teachers can be explicitly and systematically familiarised with this topic and thus be prepared for equity-sensitive pedagogical practice.

In the presentation, the main theoretical features of the Capability Approach will be addressed and related to questions of educational equity in schools. Based on that, the work of the working group and first insights will be introduced. In concrete terms, this means the potential benefits for teacher education, implication for a curriculum as well as teaching material that is currently in progress.

The moral nature of teaching and teachers’ ethical responsibilities have been explored for decades (Schjetne et al., 2016). Nevertheless, the implementation of teacher morality remains challenging in practice. Teachers’ insufficient understandings of teacher morality has been identified as a significant contributing factor to this issue. For instance, many teachers rely on formal codes of professional ethics as the basis for understanding teacher morality. But this approach tends to be far from adequate when it comes to complex educational activities in practice (Campbell, 2008).

Pre-service teachers are prone to be confused under such circumstances due of their limited practical educational experiences. Their perceptions of teacher morality heavily depend on what they have been taught. However, despite the inclusion of moral education in teacher education programmes worldwide, there is a lack of emphasis on the extent to which pre-service teachers are able to internalise and construct their personal understandings of teacher morality. Teacher educators tend to impart moral norms and theories relevant to the teaching profession, with relatively little attention to the cultivation of individual values and the resolution of ethical dilemmas (Willemse, Lunenberg, & Korthagen, 2005; Pantić & Wubbels, 2008).

Therefore, there is need for exploring innovative approaches that can foster the development of pre-service teachers’ perceptions of teacher morality. Embodied pedagogy has emerged as an effective approach to enhancing learning. It emphasizes the integration of learners’ body, cognition and context, providing a new approach to developing pre-service teachers’ perceptions of teacher morality (Nguyen & Larson, 2015; Liu et al., 2022). Previous research has also revealed the impact of embodied experiences, such as physical actions, tactile sensations, and visual stimuli on cognitive activities relevant to morality (Schaefer et al., 2014, 2015; Gan, Fang, & Ge, 2016). However, most of the studies on incorporating embodied pedagogy into teacher education are theoretical studies, and there remains a lack of empirical evidence collected from educational practice. Therefore, this study aims to explore how do pre-service teachers’ perceptions of teacher morality develop through embodied pedagogy.

The conceptual framework is constructed based on embodied cognitive theory and conceptual metaphor theory. Embodied cognitive theory emphasizes the integral role of body in cognitive processes, suggesting that our cognition is shaped by our bodily experiences within certain contexts (Wilson, 2002). Conceptual metaphor theory conceptualises cognition as a “mapping” process from a familiar and concrete “source domain” to an unfamiliar and abstract “target domain” (Lakoff, 2006).

According to this conceptual framework, embodied pedagogy is interpreted as a transformative process where pre-service teachers actively engage their bodies in classroom activities, and therefore construct new understandings of teacher morality. They participate in various activities and gain direct embodied experiences, i.e., concrete source domain. Then teachers gradually go through the mapping process under the guidance of teacher educators, including connecting their present embodied experiences with past and future educational practices, as well as combining concrete activities with abstract theories. Consquently, they reach deeper and more comprehensive understandings of teacher morality, i.e., abstract target domain. Their perceptions of teacher morality are characterised through two dimensions: one focuses on the abstract concepts of moral values that the teaching profession requires, while the other involves teachers’ moral behaviours in educational practice.

This research was conducted in a course on teacher morality where embodied pedagogy was utilised at B University in China. The study participants involve all the nine pre-service teachers enrolled in this course. Multiple qualitative data collection methods were employed, including classroom observations, focus group interviews, teachers’ written assignments and reflective reports. The data was analysed and compared to gain insights into the development of pre-service teachers’ perceptions of teacher morality through embodied pedagogy.

This paper investigated whether there were variations in career choice motivations of Israeli teacher education students depending on their religious background. Given the division in society and the education system, the question arose whether religion might have a so far overlooked influence on the motives for choosing the teacher profession.

The FIT-Choice framework served as a theoretical framework for the study. Motives were analysed looking at group differences by religion in the motivations for entering the teaching profession. While most motives were homogenous among religious groups in Israel, some exhibited significant differences affiliated to religious values.

This indicates that by ignoring religious affiliation, voices of underrepresented groups might be silenced resp. not respected in their special views. This leads to conclusions for dealing with underrepresented (religious) groups within teacher education settings in ways that help to attract and retain them for the teacher profession.

Objectives and purposes

The project from which this paper originated compared the career choice motives of future teachers from different countries, among them Israel. The Israeli cooperation partners decided to swap a descriptive item asking for the nationality of participants with one that asked to which religious group they belonged.

As religion and the feeling of national belonging are reported to be strongly combined in Israel (Breit and Wolff, 2012) the initial oversight of religion's role in the international project may have been attributed to cultural bias. We took the chance of the unplanned coincidence and argued in line with Suryani et al. (2016) that it might be important to take religion into account as additional information for countries where religion plays a significant role in society. This could pose an opportunity to give a voice to specific religious groups within the Israeli education system which might have been underrepresented so far.

Theoretical framework

In 2009, the Israeli population (7.55 million people) was made up of 74.5% Jewish, 20.3% Arab (Muslim, Christian or Druze) and 4.2% classified as ‘other’ (Breit and Wolff, 2012).

Furthermore, religious affiliation encompasses more than mere religious beliefs in Israel as it stretches out into the educational system, where segregation takes place as there are different schools for different religious groups (ibid.).

Breit and Wolff (2012) address the fact that there is a systemic difference in PISA and TIMMS performance when comparing Hebrew and Arab schools (ibid.). The Hebrew schools perform better than the national average and the nationwide exams show a significant better performance of Hebrew than Arab schools as well. Thus, the authors call Israel a “divided society with divided schools”.

There are hints of systemic differences within the group of teachers in existing research as well: Garra-Alloush et al. (2021) addressed the question of career choice motives among female Arab students of EFL (English as a foreign language) in Israel. The authors combined the affiliation to a religious group with career choice motives in Israel by using FIT choice (Watt and Richardson, 2007) as a theoretical framework.

The FIT- choice framework describes “factors influencing teaching as a career choice” (Watt and Richardson, 2007) and was validated first for Australian universities. It is based on the expectancy-value-model by Eccles et al. (2000) and differentiates between extrinsic and intrinsic higher-order factors. It has been widely used and validated in many countries, making it suitable to compare countries (Suryani et al., 2016). Suryani (ibid.) added in her Indonesian FIT-choice-study religious influences as an important factor to be considered (ibid, p. 180).

Helping early career teachers to develop professional competencies has been a central aim of developing a Multi-Provider Professional Practice Model in Rural/Regional Victoria, Australia. A component of this learning program sought to reassure teachers that they already possessed strong skills and that what they were experiencing in schools was normal for early career teachers. The shortage of teachers in rural and low socioeconomic schools (SES) in Victoria, Australia is a pressing issue affecting the quality of education.

The recent wave of teacher shortages exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on schools and teachers with more teachers leaving the profession than ever before. It has been recognised that partnerships between universities, local communities and government can impact teacher education and recruitment and strengthening these partnerships provides a strong basis for improving rural student outcomes. Since many were the only early career teacher in their school, they had nothing to compare their experience to. Too often this made them feel isolated and unsure of their capabilities.

Our strengths-based mentoring approach sought to show early career teachers the benefits of interacting within communities of practice alongside peers at the same point in their career journey. This contrasted with other professional learning they had experienced, which they believed mostly provided generic teaching strategies or presenting methods to get the most from interactions with their more experienced mentors. For many participants, this professional learning provided a rare opportunity for them to connect with teachers at the same stage in their professional journey.

In many cases, teachers made it clear they found this experience transformational in terms of their perception of their professional identity. Not least because it showed they were not alone. Another key strength of the program was that it provided a space for participants to interact and discuss a key problem of practice they had been experiencing with their fellow early career teachers. These problems of practice were generated by the teachers themselves.

The teachers were asked to engage with the problem and explore the motives, influences, and perspectives that enable and constrain early career teachers' capacities. Teachers noted the commonalities encountered by early career teachers in rural schools around relationships, community, social justice, resources and well-being. Many pointed out that they felt uncomfortable raising these concerns with staff at their schools, as it might highlight their lack of experience and skills.

As such, the exercise highlighted the benefits of a community of practice by the experience itself. This community of practice engaged with the experiences, constraints and enablers that contributed to understanding the unique circumstances faced by teachers in these remote settings, specifically in the development of capable teachers who could sustain working in rural and low SES schools, addressing the critical issue of teacher shortages in these areas.

Curriculum reforms are demanding in terms of implementation since they require changes in many aspects that might challenge the existing beliefs and subjective realities deeply embedded in an individual and organizational context (Fullan, 2015; Tikkanen et al., 2020).

Teachers are the foremost implementers of curriculum reform and their direct engagement with and enactment of the curriculum significantly shapes the outcomes of reform. According to Fullan (2015), curriculum implementation is the vehicle through which desired objectives are achieved, and for the new curriculum to yield results, it must be effectively translated into classroom practices. Furthermore, Fullan (2015) emphasizes that for the successful implementation of educational reform, a minimum of three dimensions of change should be addressed: materials, teaching approaches, and beliefs. Teachers' experiences with curriculum implementation can affect their efficacy beliefs during the implementation stage (Agormedah et al., 2022; Bennet, 2007). On the other side, the teachers' perceived self-efficacy can influence the way teachers will interact with the new curriculum (Barni, Danioni & Benevene, 2019; Gouëdard et al., 2020; Putwain & Embse, 2019). These studies emphasize the need for a holistic approach to understanding and supporting teachers during educational reforms. Teachers often make critical decisions regarding change early in the implementation process, potentially relying on limited information. Given that teachers can have notable concerns about curriculum reforms, failure to address these concerns could potentially influence how the change is implemented, thereby impacting the self-efficacy of teachers. According to Gordon et al. (2023), the successful execution of educational reforms significantly relies on the teacher's self-efficacy. Bandura's self-efficacy theory (1977), highlights that self-efficacy is crucial for teachers and has a direct impact on the quality of education. Teachers with high self-efficacy contribute positively to the educational environment, fostering resilience, adaptability, and a commitment to continuous improvement.

Aim of the study

This study investigates the intricate relationship between teachers' perceived challenges in the implementation of curriculum reform and their self-efficacy in teaching. Centered on uncovering the intricate dynamics of variables, the research seeks to identify specific challenges posed by curriculum reform and understand the connection of these challenges with teachers' beliefs and demographic factors such as gender, educational background, and teaching experience. Furthermore, this study investigates teachers' perspectives on the most effective approaches for enhancing motivation and fostering commitment to the new curriculum, as well as for promoting their self-efficacy beliefs.

Research questions that guide this study are:

- To what extent do teachers perceive the success of implementing the new curriculum in their school context?

- Is there a statistically significant relationship between teacher self-efficacy and the perception of teachers regarding the implementation of curriculum reforms?

- To what extent do individual characteristics, such as gender, teaching experience and educational background, mediate the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and their perception regarding the implementation of curriculum reforms?

- What insights can teachers provide regarding the strategies and practices they find most effective in enhancing motivation, cultivating commitment to the new curriculum, and fostering their own self-efficacy beliefs?

When teachers teach classes for which they are not licensed, they are teaching out of field (OOF) (du Plessis, 2015; Ingersoll, 1999; 2019). Out of field teaching is not a characteristic of the teacher but a description of the misalignment of a teacher’s qualifications and the subject they teach. It should be noted that out-of-field teaching is not due to a lack of academic degree or training on the part of teachers but instead represents a mismatch between teachers’ fields of training and their teaching assignments.

When students take classes from teachers OOF, they show less academic growth and are less successful (Clotfelter, Ladd & Vigdor, 2010; Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2002). This is an equity issue because the likelihood of being taught by a teacher OOF is higher for students of color and Emergent Bilinguals as well as those located in urban and rural schools (Beswick, Fraser, & Crowley, 2016; Nixon et al, 2017). In addition, teachers teaching OOF have been shown to have lower satisfaction rates and higher attrition rates (Donaldson & Johnson, 2010). There is growing concern about the negative effects of teachers teaching OOF across all subject areas and most parts of the globe (Hobbs & Porsch, 2022). In the USA, teaching OOF has been a challenge for decades, but rates have increased dramatically since the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) became law in 2015 (Author, 2020). While one goal of ESSA was to provide increased local control by providing more flexibility on teacher qualifications, the result has been more teachers teaching outside of their areas of expertise.

This phenomenon of teaching OOF is not new and impacts a wide range of students and subjects. Ingersoll found that one-fifth of all students in English, grades 7-12, were taught by a teacher who did not have at least a minor in English or English-related field (Ingersoll, 1998). While many think Math and Science are the fields primarily impacted by teachers who teach OOF, more English classes in Texas, USA, are taught by teachers assigned OOF than any other subject (Author, 2020). In addition, most prior studies have been limited because they used only one type of data (quant or qual), they used national assessment data that were not linked directly to the curriculum teachers were teaching, or they used state assessment data with small samples.

In this study, we overcame some of these limitations by using a mixed methods approach where step one utilized quantitative statewide English language arts (ELA) assessment data that were linked directly to the English curricula that teachers were required to teach to identify successful teachers assigned OOF in secondary English. Once these successful English teachers were identified, step two included qualitative methods where teachers were interviewed, and their pedagogical approaches analyzed in order to find more details contributing to their students’ success. In this study we seek to answer the question, “What factors contribute to secondary ELA teachers’ success when assigned to teach at least one course OOF?”

Individual teachers' academic optimism (TAO) is an important teacher characteristic that influences student achievement. Academically optimistic teachers believe they can make a difference, build trusting relationships with students and parents, and focus on learning (Woolfolk Hoy et al., 2008). Research confirms a strong correlation with student achievement, even after controlling for background variables such as SES and migration (Ates & Unal, 2021). At the same time, TAO is inherently malleable; pessimistic teachers can become optimistic (Hoy, 2012). Despite the essential importance of TAO, the academic community has so far had limited success in grasping how TAO is formed, how it evolves and – crucially – how it can be influenced. Therefore, understanding how teachers attribute their level of academic optimism to certain causes is an important step in expanding the knowledge base on TAO, as this can offer more insight into the mechanisms at play in creating academically optimistic teachers.

Using attribution theory, we try to capture how teachers explain high or low levels of TAO. Attribution theory states that the perceived causes of past events determine what will happen in the future (Weiner, 2010). Depending on the underlying properties of causes (locus, stability, and controllability) that teachers attribute to their degree of academic optimism, causal attributions shape teachers' affective reactions, expectations, and behaviour (Tõeväli & Kikas, 2016). In other words, teachers who attribute internally and believe they exert control over student learning are more likely to take responsibility compared to teachers who attribute causes externally, uncontrollably, and stable (Wang et al., 2015). To promote favourable attribution patterns, it is therefore important to understand those causal attribution processes (Suter et al., 2022). Consequently, knowledge about the causes teachers name for high or low levels of academic optimism creates opportunities for understanding the development of TAO.

In addition, this study examines the role of students' disadvantaged background and schools' level of academic optimism (SAO) regarding these attributions. After all, teachers' attribution process is not independent of the social (school) context (Murray et al., 2020). Previous research has already shown that school composition influences teachers' attribution processes regarding their students’ success or failure (Riley & Ungerleider, 2012). Despite good intentions, a common attribution error is over-reliance on information based on stereotypes (Reyna, 2008). These stereotypes lead to failure being internally, uncontrollably, and stably attributed to the student, negatively affecting expectations for future success. Because teachers can influence students through their attributions (Georgiou, 2008), it is important to know whether causes for high or low levels of TAO are attributed differently according to school composition. At the same time, we examine whether the degree of school-level academic optimism can be related to those attributional processes. School academic optimism (SAO) is a characteristic of the collectively shared school culture and is reflected in the degree of collective efficacy, the trust the team has in students and parents and the way a school-wide focus on learning exists (Hoy, 2012). As the degree of SAO influences normative culture and behaviour in schools (Wu & Lin, 2018), we also expect an influence on the mode of attribution. Schools with high levels of SAO believe they can make a difference, but whether this also trickles down into the way teachers attribute TAO is unknown. While that information could offer more insight into how schools can create an academically optimistic culture. This all leads to the following research questions: (1) How do teachers attribute causes for high or low levels of TAO? And (2) what role do the number of disadvantaged students and the level of SAO play in making these attributions?

Globalisation has led to increasing diversity in school contexts, in terms of students' backgrounds and nationalities, cultures and languages (Rijkschroeff et al., 2005). This new reality poses unprecedented challenges to schools, in their attempt to achieve equity through teaching-learning environments, to improve contextualised, multicultural settings and student-centred strategies. It is also necessary to consider the perennial social and economic inequality structure, which continues to generate inequalities in academic achievement (Broer et al., 2019). Socioeconomic inequalities are evident in most European cities, segregation is increasing, and the gap between upper and lower classes is widening (Musterd et al., 2017). There is a clear danger that education may reflect this imbalance and once again become a platform for reproducing economic and social inequalities. To counter this tendency, schools are increasingly expected to innovate, to develop effective strategies and methods, and to redesign organisational changes. All these efforts aim at transforming diversity into an asset, increasing students' motivation and engagement in learning, and empowering the whole student community in the acquisition of knowledge.

What we intend to bring to this presentation is a qualitative case study, conducted in two elementary schools in Portugal, that addresses how teachers and other members of the educational community regard interventions that are being implemented, for targeted, disenfranchised, groups of students. The selected schools depict a variety of socio-economic, ethnic and immigrant backgrounds. They face a number of challenges, dealing with low SES groups, as well as a wide range of new immigration arrivals, that present linguistic differences. These interventions, which aim at reducing both long-standing and recent inequalities, are described, analysed, and evaluated by the research participants.

Early leaving from education and training (ELET) in the European Union has been a critical objective for the improvement of equity and quality of education systems in the region, at least since the Lisbon European Council (2000), in March 2000, defined the so-called Lisbon Strategy, with the objective for 2010 of making Europe the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with better and sustainable jobs and greater social cohesion, in which the reduction of ELET was established as an objective. This has been repeated throughout the subsequent education and training strategies that have been published.

Reducing dropout remains a priority, however, the scientific literature is beginning to point to a gap in understanding how we can facilitate the return of those who have left education or training and subsequently return (Gilles & Misfud, 2016; Guerrero-Puerta, 2022; Psifidou et al., 2021). Awareness of this process can contribute to a broader integration of the school-work trajectories of young people and, at the same time, broaden the possibilities of support and accompaniment for those who decide to return (Nouwen and Clycq, 2019).

In this framework, and due to the scientific literature is very diverse, we propose -as the main objective of the study- to analyze relevant research on the topic in order to present a thematic map of the state of the art on early leaving education and training.

In its 30th year, the European Association of Educational Research (EERA) unites more than 40 national associations and encompasses around 30 various networks that cluster focal themes. The annual European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) draws the participation of more than 2,000 researchers, facilitating international exchange and academic socialization. This event plays a pivotal role in advancing the concept of a "European Educational Research Space" emphasizing the culturally specific intellectual and social practices of research (Lawn, 2002; Lawn & Keiner, 2006), while acknowledging the diversity arising from national frameworks, distinct disciplinary perspectives, and a wide array of theoretical and methodological approaches (Keiner, 2006; Knaupp et al., 2014). The rich diversity of ECER submissions is fundamental to the analysis of developments and various topics within educational research.

On the occasion of EERA’s 30th anniversary, we aim to put the ECER submissions at the centre of the research workshop, delving into the potentials and limitations of this corpus and presenting insights into the evolution of ECER based on these submissions. The corpus is based on a data dump provided by the EERA office and consists of more than 35,000 submissions in various presentation formats delivered to the ECER from 1998 to 2024. While this corpus offers intriguing insights into geographical, topical, network-related and temporal aspects, continued enrichment and cleansing are imperative.

Five short papers deal with the ECER submission corpus from different perspectives:

The first paper describes in detail the ECER submission corpus, outlining necessary cleansing and enrichment, and presenting basic data, including networks and geographical aspects. Further, it discusses the feasibility of establishing an open and continuously updated corpus. The second presentation explores the potentials of natural language processing methods such as topic modelling (Griffiths & Steyvers, 2004) to identify underlying themes and the topical structure of large and heterogeneous corpora. By addressing the lack of content indexing of the submissions, it focuses these questions: Which key topics can be identified from the contributions to the ECER conferences in terms of (a) their subject of research, and (b) their applied methods? How are these topics distributed across (a) the ECER networks, (b) the affiliation countries of the first author and (c) time? The third presentation adopts a detailed network perspective to the corpus. Network 10, teacher education research, analyses submissions in the long term based on bibliographic data and the generated topics, theories and methods used of the network. Since teacher education is embedded in inherently regionally anchored forms of institutionalisation, it is interesting to examine how submissions create a European communication space and how it can be characterised. The fourth paper takes a critically-engaged perspective by discussing translations and national framings of main terms of European Educational Research. The fifth contribution invites to discuss the potentials and limits of the data sources regarding knowledge production at the ECER to analyse new practices, partnerships of research, cross-national work and new subjects.

These five papers, each presenting a unique perspective, serve as the starting point for a lively discussion of the benefits of the corpus and potential outcomes.

The argument I intend to present at ECER relates to the pedagogical significance of post-truth, primarily in terms of the construction of political subjects. In the following I intend to argue that post-truth is one of the most powerful and dangerous pedagogical invention shaping our contemporary political status quo. What I find particularly significant is that in order to be addressed as a conceptual and political problem we must abandon defining it in opposition to ‘factual truth’ within the classical understanding of the term (as correspondence).

Epistemological and ontological perspectives I employ in order to discuss the relationship between post-truth and the question of the development of political subjectivities, relate to post-structural notions of truth (Deleuze 1991, 1994) and to regimes of truth (Rancière 1991; Deleuze, Guattari 1994), as well as the conceptualisations of 'the political' and 'politics' that permeate the political writings of Hannah Arendt and Jacques Rancière (Arendt 1998, 2005, 2006; Ranciere 1999, 2007). Within such a theoretical constellation, truth appears as a phenomenon that cannot be expressed by the explanatory order of language, and hence, it is unable to be transmitted in some direct way; its relation to 'facts' and 'reality' requires constant translation, interpretation and mediation through individual and intersubjective experience. 'The political' - is understood as a necessary ontological condition for forming practices of living together, for constitution of human freedom, and for the creation of a community of citizens - different and yet equal, for politics itself. Such a theoretical background leads me to emphasise the two key concepts around which the presentation is organised: post-truth and political subjectivity.

Post-truth is a fairly vague and ambiguous category. From the perspective of 'non-binary', post-structural epistemologies, it seems difficult to radically contrast the concept of post-truth with the idea of so-called 'factual truth'. Instead of arguing that the essence of post-truth is constituted by a simple negation of the classical notion of truth (where we are dealing with an assumption of a 'truthfulness' of thinking and being (cf. Allen 1993,15), I focus on understanding post-truth in terms of a linguistic construct involving a form of ‘co-created fiction in which the distinction between truth and falsehood has become irrelevant’ (Kalpokas 2019). Moreover, I argue that the social and pedagogical means of transmitting both truth and post-truth refer to 'an explanatory form of social order that involves an absolute confidence in the linguistic accessibility of facts, opinions, feelings, ideas, logics and narratives' (Bingham, Biesta, Rancière 2010, 122). Thus, post-truth, along with 'truth', is located within the epistemology of clarity and certainty that goes along with the imaginary of a fully transparent language that in its arbitrariness imposes explicit meanings and narrows down the human capacity of critique. At this point I want to stress that similar epistemological connotations underlie Arendt's concept of the political lie - a lie that 'never comes into conflict with reason' (Arendt 1973).

The question of political subjectivity is understood here in terms of political potentiality: natality, i.e. the ability to re-create the common world and to initiate political action. It is also deeply connected to human freedom and its capacity for ethical judgement. In the light of Arendt's political writings, there is an inextricable and mutual connection between the social experience of living in a community - including open communication under conditions of diversity - and the formation of political subjectivities of its citizens.

One aspect of our times is how finely balanced we are between dictatorship and democracy. Commentators are keen to find a method of renewing democratic processes. Naim (2022) suggested autocrats gain and maintain power through the exercise of ‘3Ps’, populism, polarisation, and post-truth. While recognizing the significance of the ‘3P’ tools used by authoritarians the language used in relation to the 3Ps is contested. Authoritarian challenges presented as the 3Ps are not necessarily new. In the 1920s John Dewey noted the rise of nationalism, unfettered power, and rapid technological change, he argued we can only change the world for the better on the basis of verifiable knowledge that results in action taken in association with others (Dewey 1929:3). A similar view is presented in Toulmin (2001) who argued that we need to continuously experiment and re-evaluate experience as it evolves across time. Temporal factors underpin critical realist theories of social change and social reproduction such as Archer’s (1995) morphogenetic approach. These philosophical and social theories directly address contemporary issues and analyze the processes of social change. This paper explores the role of education in democratic change and re-asserts a need for critical thinking, deliberation and systematic verification of knowledge that changes over time. We argue it is time to re-visit ideas of Dewey’s (1915,1929) to strengthen peoples’ capability to verify the warrants for assertions.

Citizen assemblies have been held up as response to the ‘3Ps’ of popularism, polarisation and post-truth (Naim 2002:237) and (Stewart 2023). We argue that new forms of representation such as citizen assemblies require an education that enables people to verify and assess evidence that inform decision making. How can we enable citizens to make better judgements of evidence? Dewey asserted the need for education to prepare people for democratic participation. Dewey argued this was achieved through systematic assessment of evidence and testing theory in practice. Is there a need to reassert a theory of knowledge and action for the 21^st century? That is, to consider the verification of information and warrants that underpin assertions. The paper will argue that Dewey’s, Toulmin’s and Archer’s accounts of social change can be used to build democratic capability that enables verification evidence which provides for warranted assertions in times of rapid social change.

In connection with what has been described as a turn towards “a post-critical educational philosophy” (Hodgson/Vlieghe/Zamojski 2018) several philosophers of education have in recent years aimed at reaffirming the value of “education to be for education’s sake (rather than for extrinsic goals such as global citizenship)” (ibid.). Rather than wanting to imply that education is apolitical, this shift is defended as itself a necessary political move in the context of contemporary educational research and theory. We agree that there is a problematic tendency of instrumentalizing education for political and economic gain, and that the intrinsic value of education is a worthy aim in its own right. However, we argue that a more fine-grained and nuanced analysis is necessary in order to be able to distinguish between different political takes on education, as well as to sharpen the discussion of the consequences of different ways of understanding politics, philosophy and education, as well as their relationship with each other. We argue that not all ways in which education is described, analyzed or conceived of in political terms are equally problematic cases of instrumentalization and that there lies an immense danger in such over-generalization. We suggest distinguishing between instrumentalization and reification in order to avoid that a call for “education for education’s sake” turns into a naïve gesture of strengthening tendencies of the status quo which contribute to increasing social inequality and injustice. Particularly, we want to show which preconditions are necessary so that affirmatively focusing on the educational in education does not contribute to further covering over current injustices rather than providing us with the language to describe and, also in affirmative ways, position ourselves differently in relation to the political aims of education we consider worthy.

Internationally, rural education leaders recognise the need to be attentive to their local and global context to lead effectively in and for their ever-changing communities (Brown et al., 2021; Wildy et al., 2014). While issues like the climate crisis, increased migration, and the pandemic are global, they manifest uniquely in every school-community. This paper considers a series of case studies from various contexts, in different types of rural areas, from different education and political systems to develop an adaptable toolkit for rural education leaders to become ‘place-serving leaders’ through these uncertain times.

The paper adds to the international body of knowledge regarding the two fields of ‘rurality’ and ‘educational leadership’. It builds on the field of inquiry into the significance of ‘adding the rural’ (Green, 2013) to all aspects of education, furthering the collective work by education researchers worldwide (Green & Corbett, 2013; Gristy et al.,2020; Roberts & Fuqua, 2021; White & Corbett 2014; White & Downey, 2021) keen to consider the impacts rurality has on aspects of teaching, education, and research. Continuing this work is necessary as it sharpens the understanding of those who live beyond the metropolis, for all.

We have taken an inclusive, collaborative definition of ‘leadership’, coining the term ‘leading rurally’ as an agentive stance to leadership in relation to what it might mean in, for and with rural contexts. To lead rurally is to be a ‘place-serving leader’, one who considers ‘place’ to be an active, equal partner. Considering place as an actor, highlights its many seasons and changing climate (physically, socially, and politically). Recognising place as sociologically, geographically, and politically contested is important for leaders in navigating these spaces; place-serving leaders need to understand and view their roles within these diverse socio-geo-political places.

We explore two contexts (US and Australia) to provide insights for the wider rural education research community. While the US and Australia have differences regarding rural education, there are important similarities impacting what it means to ‘lead rurally’, creating important insights for broader international applicability. Both contexts have experienced population shifts and decline in nonmetropolitan areas shaped by global economic and technological changes, increased population mobility, the globalisation of production, limited rural labour market demand, and aging rural populations (White & Downey, 2021). Demographic changes have serious consequences for the survival of rural schools, for example, as enrolments decline, they face pressure to close or consolidate, and/or they become more culturally diverse (Brown et al., 2021; Deunk & Maslowski, 2020; Gristy et al., 2020; Tieken & Auldridge-Reveles, 2019). Like many countries, the US and Australia have challenges in staffing rural schools and students often experience fewer opportunities for further education and career opportunities (Alexander, 2022; Gristy et al., 2020; White & Downey, 2021). The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of “leading rurally” through the stories of those who engage in this work providing insights, challenges, and innovations for others to consider.

Rural leaders are witnessing and learning to navigate the increasing political and ideological divides occurring in rural contexts. As tensions are played out publicly in hyperlocal places, effective leaders need to be able to hold such tensions and listen to diverse perspectives, honouring different views and ways of being. Working collectively across many alliances and considering insider-outsider positionality are some of the strategies discussed to overcome such tensions. While the stories are American and Australian, we contend that the insights and strategies proposed are useful worldwide since they are shaped by their local versions of global challenges faced in many contexts – which are well-documented and pervasive internationally (Gristy et al., 2020; White & Downey, 2021).

Across Europe many small schools have been closed or amalgamated and there has been a move from schools being in local small settlements to larger centres (Ribchester & Edwards, 1999). This movement has been influenced by many sociocultural factors, including the physical geography, historical influences, and characteristics of population (Kucerova, Meyer and Trshorsch,2020) The demand for education is dictated by population size, age structure and demographics (Barakat,2015). This brings uncertainty and issues regarding the sustainability of small rural schools.

Scottish Education has seen similar trends. The 32 Local Authorities in Scotland are responsible for the education pattern in each of their areas. The Local Authorities are required to deliver the services within a financial package, and this has seen greater uncertainty for communities as the pressure on the budgets escalates. Whilst there are statutory legal requirements for school closures within the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (Scottish Government, 2014) there continues to be uncertainty about the future of small rural schools. Scotland is currently going through a period of review of Education which has also caused a great deal of uncertainty.

In this difficult landscape it is important to understand the pressures for headteachers and leaders of small rural schools. Leadership is crucial. The researchers were involved in delivering a national programme (In Headship) for newly appointed headteachers in rural areas and were keen to ensure that the programme met the needs of small school leaders: to support school leadership during a time of uncertainty and provide hope and sustainability for the future.

Within the Scottish context the importance of landscape, flexibility and sustainability were key to ensuring the development of the national programme for rural school leaders enabled “people to live well and create a world worth living in” (Edwards-Groves et al. 2020, p 126)

The researchers asked the question: What did the national leadership programme require to meet the needs of small schools in a time of uncertainty?

They undertook collaborative action research with local authority employers and programme participants (Coghlan and Brannick, 2014), drawing on their wider work with leaders in small rural schools, to examine practice and to remodel the programme to provide support for sustainable leadership. The reflective analysis presented here is framed through the conceptual work of Bottery (2016) where leadership sustainability and unsustainability links to world sustainability and unsustainability.

Leadership sustainability is key for rural schools across Europe and is linked to the notion of preserving something that is valued. It is therefore appropriate to explore uncertainty for leaders within rural schools not only through the lens of sustainability of the school in the community but also through what is valued and brings hope for the future. The Brundtland Report (1987, P. 8) defines sustainability as “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”. This reflects not only on the sustainability of the natural environment but also of the human world.

My paper unveils social tensions in the field of education as it explores the relationship of family memory and children’s history learning about the troubled events of 1974 in Cyprus. It explores how memories and beliefs of those who survived the traumatic events of 1974 in Cyprus are remembered and used to build self-narratives for communicating them to the younger generation. It shows that these survivors demand their own voice when talking about 1974 and are unwilling to let the state claim ownership of the past. It reveals that participants in my study see politics as a barrier to having an authentic representation of the past and undertake initiatives to help their children draw links between the troubled past and present. They regard the history textbook as vehicle transferring the State’s approach to 1974 and teachers as the public servants to distribute this official narrative and claim their own share when talking about the past. In this context, they undertake initiatives enabling them to link their past to their children’s present such as storytelling, witnessing funerals of missing persons and visiting places with certain meanings for their family histories. These memory-sites stage adults’ stories and are appreciated as enabling youngsters to inherit the family history and values while acknowledging their positionality in society.

Based on data derived from the research I conducted for my doctoral thesis and supported by empirical research from the settings of Cyprus and especially of Northern Ireland, where the most salient research related to my research objectives is found, this paper seeks to answer these two research questions:

1. How do family members of students approach official memory as this is mediated to their children at school?
2. To what extent, how and why do family members convey their memories and knowledge about the past to their children?

Memory and narrative permeate this research as theoretical concepts for understanding how the past influences the memories and beliefs of people and how they remember the past, construct self-narratives, and mediate these to their youngsters.

In past decades, a big number of research (e.g., Hanington et al., 2012; Reupert & Maybery, 2016; Vrolijk et al., 2023; Yamamoto & Keogh, 2018; Yang & Williams, 2021) related to both maternal and paternal depressive symptoms have been applied to examine their associations with not only child factors (child behavior, child development, child wellbeing etc.,) but also many other family functions (marital conflict, parenting practices, parenting self-efficacy etc.,). Likewise, child behavior, mainly behavior problems have been widely studied to broaden understanding of the related influence and interventions (Guajardo et al., 2009; Linville et al., 2010; Tømmerås et al., 2018). However, positive aspects, for example, to what extent child prosocial and parental wellbeing are associated with each other, have not gained enough attention (Gross et al., 2008; Putnick et al., 2018). Besides, there are rather a few studies examining the reciprocal associations between child behavior and parental wellbeing, compared with much previous unidirectional research (Davis & Qi, 2022); let alone extensive studies in investigating longitudinal effects between child behavior and both parents’ mental health systematically in the family context (Gross et al., 2008).

In previous literature, the family has been widely believed as a crucial context in promoting both children and parents’ inclusive wellbeing. Because factors of family members in the family context, such as child behavior, child development, child wellbeing, parental competence, and parental wellbeing etc., are intertwined with each other intensively. (Blair et al., 2014; Berryhill, 2016; Bodenmann et al., 2008; Farmer & Lee, 2011; MacKinnon et al., 2018; Turner et al., 1987). In particular, many family system theorists (Beavers & Hampson, 2000; Bowen, 1966; Bronfenbrenner, 1977, 1979; Cox & Paley, 1997,2003) suggested that the family should be studied as systems to better understanding family function like family members’ development, wellbeing, and relationships. Extending the previous literature, we examine longitudinal associations between parental depressive symptoms and child behavior at three timepoints across pre-school age (4 and 6 years old) to school age (9-years-old) including both maternal and paternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems (both externalizing and internalizing behaviors) and adaptive skills. In addition, we add an important methodological advancement, the usage of RI-CLPM model which distinguish between- and within- person variances to provide accurate results and correct interpretation of the correlations across age.

The aims of the current study were twofold:
1. Are the development of child’s behavior (externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior and adaptive skills) and parental depressive symptoms associated at the between-person level? That is, do parents with higher depressive symptoms also have children with more behavior problems/less adaptive behavior and vice versa?

2. Do child’s behavior (externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior and adaptive skills) and parental depressive symptoms predict one another at the within-person level? That is, do increased parental depressive symptoms at the subsequent time point predict increased behavior problems/less adaptive behavior and vice versa?

Hopefully, our multi-group, multi-level, and multi-time spots models may provide a better understanding of family dynamics, contextual influences, and bring together researchers, practitioners, policymakers to discuss some broader implications of possible intervention and prevention at various levels to support both child and parental well-being.

Background

Early intervention and close cooperation with parents is crucial to prevent serious mental health problems in children with selective mutism (SM) (Omdal, 2008). Without any guidance from professionals with SM expertise, parents and professionals are potential risk factors for the child’s progress (Omdal, 2014). This paper considers the innovation process in a parent guidance group with nine SM families phasing-in an authoritative parenting style (Baumrind, 1991; Snyder et al., 2013; Wentzel, 2002) in interactions with their SM child.

Aim and conceptual framework

The SM child’s constant withdrawal from speech interferes with learning and social communication and gets more and more ingrained the longer it lasts (Omdal, 2007). Previous research suggests that SM parents tend to overprotect the SM child (Omdal, 2014; Omdal & Galloway, 2008). Thus, this group of children may have few coping experiences in the environment. We started a parent guidance group with nine families having a child with SM in 2017, holding six meetings where parents exchanged experiences and received guidance from the researcher. This study investigates the possibilities and challenges in parents’ implementation of an authoritative parenting style. Authoritative parents prevent over-dependency in interactions with their child (Baumrind, 1991; Snyder et al., 2013; Wentzel, 2002). Egan’s skilled-helper model (Egan, 2014) was used as a framework in the parent guidance. The model is organized in three steps: (1) the current picture; (2) the preferred picture; and (3) the way forward. Participants are encouraged to be active during the entire process of implementing goals, decisions, and actions towards a changed situation. Continuous evaluation throughout the process is necessary to reach valued outcomes. The study questions whether Egan’s skilled-helper model is adequate in phasing-in the principles of the innovation. Fullan (2016) emphasizes that a strong collective orientation strengthens participants’ motivation for change. Thus, an effective collaborative culture and common learning processes among parents and parents and teachers might increase capacity (Hargreaves et al., 2018; Leithwood, 2019).

Violence against children transcends boundaries of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, educational background, and socioeconomic status, remaining widespread despite global efforts for recognition, elimination, and prevention (WHO, 2019). Consent and prevention education, as emphasised in the Australian Human Rights Commission's 2017-2018 report, should be introduced early to counteract a culture of (sexual) assault through violence, targeted incapacitation, or coercion.

School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV), well-documented globally, necessitates early preventive measures, highlighting the importance of educators developing competencies to recognize and intervene in SRGBV situations (UNESCO and UN Women, 2016; UNESCO and UNGEI, 2023). The Gender Equality Strategy for 2020-2025 underscores gender-based violence as a significant challenge rooted in gender inequality, emphasizing prevention through early education and collaboration with men and boys in various fields (UN Women).

The concept of 'consent' is defined as respecting one another’s boundaries to be and feel safe, develop healthy relationships, and preserve dignity, requiring respect, communication, freedom, and equality (Casby & Lyons, 2019). Educating children about consent from a young age is crucial for fostering better relationships and instilling an understanding that individuals have the right to decide what happens to their bodies (Quealy-Gainer, 2020). Consent education extends to online interactions and relationships, addressing cyberbullying, a pervasive issue affecting a growing number of young adults (Trucco, et al., 2020; Subaramaniam et al., 2022). Moreover, several studies highlight the importance of educating children about consent as a preventive measure against abuse (Rizos, 2022).
According to the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (2010) and the Plan of Action for the Fourth Phase of the World Programme on Human Rights Education (2022), Human Rights Education (HRE) is a lifelong process promoting knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours for a universal culture of human rights.

Universities play a vital role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through knowledge generation, sharing and cooperation with other sectors (SDG 17) (Seth, 2023). Nevertheless, to address the global challenge of climate change, considerably larger partnerships with a variety of stakeholders outside of higher education are necessary (Ho et al., 2023). School-university partnerships are perceived to be able to close the gap between theory and practice (Green et al., 2020; Passy et al., 2018). Research shows many positive outcomes of schools' active engagement in research such as practice transformation and social change (Goodnough, 2011). Partnerships between universities and museums can offer opportunities for children from a wide range of backgrounds to cross boundaries and experience other times, places and cultures (Wright, 2020).

We recently completed our 3-year Erasmus+ project ‘UPPScale - University Practice Partnerships: sustaining collaboration across learning environment’, where we investigated partnerships between HEIs and schools, early years settings and community groups. This led to the development of a set of Principles of Collaboration Across Boundaries to encourage effective partnership, in line with SDG 17.16 (UN General Assembly, 2015). As part of the project, we completed six Transnational Partnership Projects (TPPs) – one of them about ‘Place-based learning in the school surroundings’ with partners from Belgium, Czech Republic and England. Within this TPP, two groups of children in Belgium and the Czech Republic conducted their own place-based learning projects. Following the TPP, the English partners invited families and children to explore a local museum through the child-led approach.

Supported by SDG 4.7 (UN General Assembly, 2015), children have the right for suitable and supportive education. Their voices and stands should be respected and hope for the future provided. In our research project, we advocate for children to be seen as capable members of society and explore ways to enable their right to be heard and their ‘views ... given due weight’ (UN General Assembly, 1989, p. 5). Investing in children and innovative learning approaches can prepare them to be future citizens that actively engaged in a sustainable society. Every child should have the chance to participate in real-world projects that span national and international borders and involve a variety of stakeholders (Ho et al., 2023 ).

Place-based learning gives children a sense of their own agency and collective capacity (Smith, 2007), even at young age (Boyd, 2019). It helps to develop a stronger connection to the community, enhances appreciation for the natural world, and increases the commitment to be an active, contributing citizen (Sobel, 2004). With the place-based learning approach, learners are more autonomous. That means they get involved in their own learning agenda as they choose an area of their interest, the way to approach it, and they construct personally meaningful artifacts that are representations of their learning (Grant, 2002). The approach can also be used across the curriculum (Beames et al., 2012) and outside of institutional learning structures. Museums and galleries are ‘valuable places for learning with rich contexts and experiences for making sense of the world’ (Wright, 2020, p. 743).

Our original TPP explored how place-based learning projects can be conducted with children in the Early Years and Primary school. Following the TPP, we explored how the place-based learning approach could be used by families and stakeholders in the wider community in a local museum. We also aimed to illustrate ways place-based learning projects can be scaffolded to empower teachers and museum educators to adapt this approach into their practice and engage in cross-sectoral partnerships.

Introduction

UNESCO has been promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) since 1992. The Sustainable Development Goals represent a guide for society toward being more accessible for social development, human dignity, and demanding justice at all stages (Emas 2015). The role of education is crucial for altering behaviors and promoting analytical thinking toward a more sustainable society (Kopnina, 2015; Frantz and Mayer, 2014). Throughout their education, students develop the abilities in a multidisciplinary manner to understand the paths to sustainability that have financial, environmental, and social components.

During the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), American students and students from the Netherlands were given a safe environment to explore real issues in various contexts. According to the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA, 2014), a safe environment is a crucial tool in the development of appropriate professional behavior.

For four years, we have been working on our COIL between The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) and Penn State University Scranton Campus (Penn- State). The courses were matched based on the similarity of course content. The Penn State Scranton students were enrolled in a Child Maltreatment Course. The students from THUAS were pursuing the Minor in Global Perspectives on Child Rearing and Family Support. During the development, evaluation and adjusting of this module we have been aware that one of the elements of education’s sustainable development is the use of innovative teaching methods (Kopnina 2015) and interactive education (Ghilardi-Lopes et al. 2013). The use of interactive education encourages students to apply what they have learned and to have a deeper understanding of how individual actions have implications.

Through the instruction we gave our students during this COIL, we ensured that students understood how sustainable living, gender equality and human rights are connected. The aim of this collaboration was a deeper understanding of global citizenship, respect for cultural diversity, and culture's role in advancing sustainability (United Nations, 2015). We were aware of the fact that behavior change is one of the traits of Education for Sustainable Development. This collaboration prepared our students to be more conscious, responsible citizens who can incorporate what they have learned into their future actions as a professional.

The students researched a non-governmental organization (NGO) in the US and in the Netherlands with an active role in advocacy of Children’s Rights. This was done via a review of current support/programs in their respective NGO’s in the US and the Netherlands. The students had to compare the two NGO’s based on how the image of a child in a country influences the work of the NGO’s with respect to SDG’s. Additionally, the students had to make clear correlations between the images on Child-Rearing, the rights of the child and to link them to sustainable development goals (SDG’s).

This review aims to synthesize empirical research evidence on student’s use of ChatGPT in higher education, emphasizing pedagogical possibilities and addressing emerging threats and challenges. Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT) swiftly gained prominence as an open-access tool in higher education since its introduction in November 2022. It has rapidly become widely used across various domains, including higher education. The use of ChatGPT is still an emerging area, with a surge in studies reflecting its widespread adoption. As higher education institutions grapple with the integration of ChatGPT, concerns and opportunities abound. This review focuses on understanding the impact dimensions on students' use of ChatGPT, particularly considering the evolving landscape of their learning processes.

While ChatGPT use is a relatively new practice, research into it is an emerging area for researchers. However, there are still several studies that have been published in such a short time, because of the substantial use of it across the world and in every domain of life including higher education institutions by teachers, students, and administrators. In our systematic review, we examine the impact dimensions on students’ use mainly because of the increasing concerns about how they use it and how this might influence their learning. Initial studies have also explored potential benefits of ChatGPT in language learning within higher education contexts (Baskara,2023). While educational technologies driven by artificial intelligence (AI) are progressively used to automate and provide support for various learning activities (Cavalcanti et al., 2021;), recent research has focused on the impact of ChatGPT, identifying challenges and opportunities in learning, but they have not examined this within the higher education sector (Lo, 2023).

The ongoing debate surrounding ChatGPT's use in higher education presents varying perspectives. These concerns and benefits create different perspectives where some argue for its use freely and suggest that graders need to create more critical assigned tasks that require personalized and contextualized examples and justifications which may not directly be generated by ChatGPT, while others argue against its use or its use with caution by students (Tlili et al., 2023). Also, many higher education institutions have started to apply restrictions or ban ChatGPT’s use by students in their updated policy documents. On the other hand, a review of media news articles on how ChatGPT use can disrupt students’ learning and teaching in universities also revealed that the sentiment in media news is on more into the negative discourse than a positive one, hence highlighting the public discussions and university responses on such controversies about academic integrity (Sullivan et al., 2023). There are also those who believe we need to add new components in the process of assessment including verbal exams where students demonstrate their verbal ability to present the assignment that they generate (Rudolph et al., 2023).

There are several issues that emerge in the first year of the use of ChatGPT reported and discussed in the published research. However, despite the increasing body of research on ChatGPT in higher education, there is no systematic review that provides a comprehensive overview of what research has found. Therefore, it is timely to present a consolidated overview of the impact dimensions of the ChatGPT’s use and the potential implications for higher education. More specifically, in this review, we sought answers to the following research questions:

RQ 1: What are the defining characteristics of empirical research on ChatGPT in higher education?

RQ 2: What pedagogical possibilities and insights can we gain from the students’ use of ChatGPT in the context of higher education?

Recently, the advent of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) has sparked significant interest and debate in the field of education. GAI technologies, characterized by their ability to generate new content and provide personalized learning experiences, are reshaping educational paradigms (Dai et al., 2023). These technologies, including advanced language models and adaptive learning systems, offer unique opportunities and challenges for teaching and learning processes (Lo, 2023).

Despite the growing interest of GAI as educational tools, there is a lack of research focusing on teachers' perceptions and beliefs about using these technologies in educational settings. In a study conducted by Kaplan-Rakowski et al. (2023), the authors found that, in general, teachers hold favorable views toward the use of GAI in educational settings, irrespective of their individual teaching methodologies. The study revealed a correlation between the frequency of GAI usage by teachers and the positivity of their attitudes towards it. Similar results were found in a recent report with Spanish teachers and families (GAD3, 2024). Moreover, younger teachers hold a more positive view concerning the use of GAI in educational contexts than older ones.

In another study conducted by Al-Mughairi and Bhaskar (2024), the factors affecting the adoption AI techniques in higher education were explored. Applying a thematic analysis, the authors found both encouraging and inhibiting factors for the adoption of GAI in educational settings. In particular, four key themes that drive teachers to integrate ChatGPT into their educational practices were identified: 1) The pursuit of innovative educational technologies, 2) Customization of teaching and learning experiences, 3) Efficiency in terms of time management, and 4) Opportunities for professional growth. Conversely, five factors that pose as barriers to adopting ChatGPT were found: 1) Concerns about the tool's reliability and accuracy, 2) A decrease in human-to-human interaction, 3) Issues related to privacy and data security, 4) The absence of adequate support from educational institutions, and 5) The risk of becoming overly dependent on ChatGPT.

Teachers' beliefs play a crucial role in the adoption and effective integration of new technologies in teaching practices. Although there is a growing body of research in this regard, there is still a lack of evidence analyzing these views under theoretical lenses (i.e. to what extent are these beliefs more teacher or student-centred?). Understanding these beliefs is essential for developing strategies that support teachers in navigating the challenges posed by GAI and leveraging its benefits effectively.

Purpose of Study

This study aims to fill this gap by exploring Spanish teachers' beliefs about the use of Generative AI in educational contexts. To this end, we have developed a comprehensive questionnaire comprising 38 items, designed to explore what teachers think about how GAI could affect four dimensions of teaching/learning practices: (1) the kind of learning processes activated by students (more content o process centred) (2) the type of information management performed by students, (3) the evaluation processes designed by teachers and (4) the changes in teachers’ roles and identity as a consequence of the introduction of GAI.

The objective is to validate this instrument and collect data from Spanish teachers, providing insights that could inform the development of pedagogical strategies and technological tools that align with teachers' perspectives and educational goals.

Five key ideas exist in the area of Artificial Intelligence: Perception, Representation and Reasoning, Learning, Natural Interaction and Societal Impact. This research project aims to consider the contribution (positive and negative) of AI in the field of education and address the ‘readiness’ of Teacher Education to utilise AI as a tool for supporting student teachers’ development in teaching and learning.

It is acknowledged that Generative-AI (GAI), such as ChatGPT, lacks the ability to provide criticality, depth and accuracy needed for Masters level writing on PME and PGCE programmes, however as a tool for providing formative feedback or acting as an ‘intelligent tutoring system’, AI could offer exciting opportunities in terms of supportive, personalised, ‘just-in-time’ assistance to student teachers if they were taught properly in how to use generative-AI tools. However this goal requires student teachers to be confident and comfortable in the ethical and effective use of AI. Luckin et al. (2022) refer to “AI Readiness” as the journey that students (and faculty) must take to move from a lack of understanding about the nature of AI and its potential, to comprehending AI’s capabilities and shortcomings, with an awareness of the ethical, social and legal implications of engaging with such a complex technology (Harvard Business Review, 2023). This research study addresses DigiComp 2.2 – the European Digital Competence Framework (Vuorikari et al., 2022) - which was updated in 2022 to include a competence focusing on knowledge, skills and attitudes related to citizens interacting with AI systems, as opposed to technical knowledge about AI itself.

● What are student teachers’ attitudes towards AI and GAI?

● What is the connection between AI anxiety and learning motivation?

● What AI is currently be utilised for educational purposes?

This symposium is concerned with crises in educational policy and rhetoric, both contemporary and historical. Education policy is defined broadly and can refer to political and/or public debates about schools, policy documents or political decisions that lead or have led to changes in schools and education. In the symposium we aim to identify motives, typical sites of thought, key patterns of argumentation and language use in different political regimes. We will also focus on practices that emerge from political rhetoric about education. Persuasion in education policy also involves control of the political process, exclusion or inclusion of parties in the design of governance, organisation and institutions for long-term and systematic influence.
Crisis, on the other hand, often denotes an important moment when decisive change is imminent. A crisis can typically be a decisive moment in a narrative, with great potential for an undesirable outcome. The German historical theorist Reinhart Koselleck combines crisis, critique and fantasy. Critique expresses the possibility that things could have been different. Moreover, criticism involves having or acquiring a historical consciousness through the imagination. The study of political crises, therefore, involves the study of political imagination, the critiques that emerge, the judgments and political outcomes that result from new political judgments.

Geography was included as a mandatory and independent discipline in the Norwegian school system in late 19th century. At that time, geography served as a deliberate tool in crafting a distinct national narrative for a country that had yet to attain full independence and lacked the storied history of its European counterparts. Geography was a school subject until the 1970s when a radical curricula reform merged subjects and constructed new interdisciplinary subjects for primary and secondary schools. In general (at least for secondary school), geography was one third of the subject social studies; history and civics being the two other disciplines. This paper explores the evolution of geography content within the social sciences framework, tracing its negotiation and adaptation to contemporary policies and educational philosophies across four educational reforms since the 1970s. The focus is twofold: firstly, to elucidate the shifts in geography content influenced by political ideas and policies (national and international). Secondly, the study employs a analysis, drawing upon various conceptual frameworks of geographical thinking such as contextualization, scale and multiscale-thinking, relational thinking, spatial variation analysis, diverse perspective consideration, holistic and integrated thinking, meaningful creation, and the use of geographical imaginaries (Jackson 2006, Eidsvik 2022, Smith 2023). The paper applies these conceptual lenses to categorize the content of geography in different curricula iterations, emphasizing a particular focus on dissecting the alterations introduced in the most recent curriculum in 2020. By doing so, this research contributes to understand the interplay between educational reforms, political landscapes, and evolving paradigms of geographical thinking within the Norwegian education system. Conclusion: Fragmentation of geographical content and learning in education is highly problematic. The geography discipline has a substantial potential for holistic system thinking, combining knowledge, values, and skills from a different knowledge system. This is of paramount importance in an educational future compass where interdisciplinarity is highlighted as one of the main keys for a more sustainable future (ie UNESCO and OECD educational compasses). Reduction of geography as a discipline in schools and in teacher education is a step in the wrong direction in the quest for a more holistic and improved way to address the sustainability crisis through education.

Eidsvik, E. (2022). Geografisk danning og utdanning for berekraftig utvikling. I Geografididakikk for klasserommet. R. Mikkelsen og P. J. Sætre (red.). Oslo, Cappelen Damm Akademisk: 81-111. Jackson, Peter (2006) Thinking Geographically, Geography, 91:3, 199-204, DOI: 10.1080/00167487.2006.12094167 Smith, J. S. (2023). Thinking geographically. I Teaching Human Geography. Theories and Practice in Thinking Geographically. E. H. Fouberg og J. S. Smith (red.). Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing: 11-38.

Sub-paper had to be withdrawn.

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On July 22nd, 2011 a car bomb exploded in the government quarter in Oslo, Norway, killing eight people and injuring hundreds. The responsible terrorist then drove to Utøya, a small island about an hour drive from Oslo. There, he shot and killed 69 people, most of whom were participants at the annual labor youth party’s (AUF) summer camp. In the immediate aftermath, and in the years that have followed, different, and in part contradictory, narratives describing and explaining the terrorist attacks have emerged, the dominating one being that this was an attack on the Norwegian democracy. Consequently, the best way to heal and to prevent similar attacks in the future is to protect and strengthen democratic values within the Norwegian population. Today, Utøya is a site of commemoration and education, as well as a social center for the youth labor party. Since 2016 thousands of Norwegian secondary and upper secondary students have visited the island to learn about the July 22nd terrorist attacks, to commemorate the victims, and to participate in educational activities aimed to strengthen their democratic agency. Both within the Norwegian social science curriculum, as well as the different public narratives, knowledge about the terrorist attacks of July 22nd, 2011 is considered important to prevent radicalization, extremism and terrorism. However, studies on school trips to former concentration camps in Poland and Germany question whether it is possible to learn about, and visit, sites of past atrocities as a means to empower students as democratic citizens. This paper will study students’ reflections written shortly before, and a while after, visiting Utøya. Using a narrative analysis, I will explore students’ historical consciousness through the research question: In what way to students negotiate past, present, and future in their understanding of the July 22nd, 2011, terror attacks, and Utøya as a site of trauma, commemoration and education? As the educational activities they participate in is framed within the narrative context of empowering democratic citizens, the paper explores how the students place themselves as actors within this context.

None references included

Drug addict juvenile offenders are a particular group of young people in educational systems, especially for the actions taken in the social rehabilitation facilities. Managing minors educational resistance is the special aim of the work with youth. Their attitude toward education is shaped by the environmental habitus: poor resources, troubles and conflicts with local social service, masculinist toughness in relations or looking for excitements in everyday relations (Willis, 1997). Due to the specific nature of the 'minor' youth group, the educational process is complex. This results from their sociocultural experiences, shaped by socialization in the area of the underclass: origin from poor backgrounds and inheritance of a para criminal habitus leading to social exclusion.

An additional educational challenge is the traumatic experiences of minors staying in social rehabilitation (total) institutions. Experiencing detention, the use of sanctions by the staff or para prison model of organization of the treatments in many countries cause youth from such institutions to have a sense of social exclusion and injustice. The research took into account in particular the social justice context specific to the research area, which is an ethnoreligious monolith and the source of social inequalities is primarily socioeconomic status (residence in the countryside or poor districts, inheritance of poverty, instability of employment and housing conditions) (Szafraniec, 2015).

As a result, minors' educational strategies place them in sociocultural resistance, denial of education, and inclusive practices. The attitudes presented by minors, therefore, constitute a particular educational challenge in the spirit of social justice, which is intended not only to minimize risk factors (resulting in future reoffending) but, above all, to implement solutions for social justice: a sense of equality rights, minimizing the effects of discrimination based on origin, equal opportunities, but also respect for their rights and those of others. Social justice perceived in this way (following the Convention of the Rights of Child , UN Sustainable Developmental Goals or Tokyo Rules) aims at readaptation and reintegration with the open environment (society), minimizing the risk of exclusion and marginalization, which are carried out in conditions of detention resulting in limited contact with the open environment.

The research is part of the ethnographic study of youth detention institutions according to M. Interbitzin proposal (2006). The author studied the location and appearance of the facility and dealt with the description of everyday life from the perspective of minors and staff, as well as the specificity of the relationship between them. She also paid attention to the readaptation process, analyzing the return of pupils to the open environment. In the presented project, an in-depth study of place and everyday life by this approach additionally aimed to analyze the journey of a minor in an institution from the first days of isolation to reentry, with particular emphasis on educational practices and activities to build a sense of social justice.

The field research aimed to learn, through the methods of institutional ethnography Nichols, (2017), how relationships are shaped between minors and staff, enabling their inclusive presence in the social space.

We included the research problem in the question: How are educational practices implemented in a juvenile detention institution (taking into account the assumptions of social justice)? A detention centre for minors is a place that has been stigmatized in the social and educational discourse, where educational and therapeutic interactions with minors are carried out in conditions of isolation. A paradoxical problem is working with minors in conditions of isolation, i.e. power relations, which is aimed at their social inclusion.

Our world has changed dramatically. We collectively experienced the COVID 19 pandemic, which drastically changed our lives and seriously impacted social, health and economic issues. Simultaneously, western lifestyle and the globalized economy cause massive environmental pollution and create climate change that threatens life on our planet. At the same time as we destroy the basis for human survival, we witness the erosion of established conventions for peace in Europe, as Putin’s regime carries out massive war crimes, cruelly killing innocent Ukrainians, and threating the world with nuclear war. Likewise, the reemergence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict threatens stability across the Middle East and there is no end in sight. The current man-made catastrophes have in common that they unfold unprecedented destructive power, which shake the social structures of our communal coexistence (Heinlein & Dimbath 2020). This results in comprehensive social upheavals, social shifts, and dislocations, which leads us to fundamentally question our sense of integrity and trust in the security and continuity of our lifeworld. The social fragility and vulnerability of our everyday life circumstances require coping strategies to deal with crises, the occurring unpredictability, and increased contingency of our future horizons. What are the consequences of increased contingency for us as individuals and as members of a global community? We have to deal with potential risks of man-made disasters and consequent destruction as an expression of a future which cannot be controlled in full, and have to accept disasters as a constitutive part of our living conditions. Such conditions require us to develop social and biographical resilience in order to handle both known unknowns and unknown unknowns of our future horizons and develop our ability to attend to upcoming challenges of humanity (Bröckling 2008).

This paper explores social responses to man-made disaster, with a specific focus on the Russian military invasion into Ukrainian territory, and the threat of a nuclear war. The exploration aims to highlight different strategies of dealing with the emotions of complete bewilderment, powerlessness, sadness and anger in view of war and tragedy in Ukraine. In particular, the analysis focuses on tweets and interactions of different hashtag and thread discussions on the online platform X (former Twitter) which are related to the Russian full-scale invasion. The comparative analysis of these online discussions explores social interaction and exchange of opinions, created images and expressed feelings, as well as strategies to overcome bewilderment and powerlessness in order to gain agency. Furthermore, the analysis is accompanied by an auto-ethnographic perspective, where the critical reflection and analysis of my online experiences as a researcher are at the center. In general terms we can say that social media and other internet-based platforms are intertwined with our political life and the formation of opinions. They play an important role in allowing people to design, consume and share information and news. But at the same time social platforms and new media are increasingly perceived as conducive to the creation of ideological “echo-chambers” eroding the space for public dialogue. Hence, they are seen as fostering polarisation, radicalisation, de-politicisation, spreading misinformation and subject to manipulation. Having this in mind the exploration pays specific attention to the formation of opinions, the development of critical media literacy and the related dynamics of social interaction.

In a rapidly changing world, it is not only the higher education system that is facing an era of uncertainty, characterised by recent geopolitical issues, social divisions, a significant increase in knowledge and a growing scepticism towards science (Gassmann et al., 2023, p. 1). In this context, recently developed new digital technologies such as generative artificial intelligence [GenAI] has unquestionably marked a noteworthy historical occurrence, offering the potential to transform the entire higher education sector (Bannister et al., 2023, p. 402; Gassmann et al., 2023). GenAI can be seen as a technology that enables industrial systems and devices to learn independently, process information and make decisions without human intervention (Quy et al., 2023, pp. 4–5). In contrast to other AI techniques, GenAI can also generate new and original content such as text, images, videos, audio, and 3D models (Escotet, 2023, p. 3). The potential benefits and hopes that these new applications could offer for enhancing education and research are considerable, but the growth also leads to new ethical considerations and potential risks that especially higher education institutions will need to address in the future (Meyer et al., 2023, p. 1; Zawacki-Richter et al., 2019, pp. 1–2). Despite the rapid progress and increasing attention given to these new technologies in higher education, recent reviews have raised concerns about the low number of authors from education departments involved in research on them, underscoring the need for pedagogical research and research perspectives on these technological advances (Zawacki-Richter et al., 2019, p. 22). Existing research on GenAI in higher education often focuses on academic integrity, institutional regulations, plagiarism concerns in specific applications, the benefits of using AI for educational innovation or students' attitudes toward AI. However, only a few studies have explicitly examined the use of GenAI as a methodology in research. As a result, this aspect is highlighted as an area for future research (Bannister et al., 2023).

Building on this need, we present a recently in the context of higher educational research created, innovative approach to improve data collection and data analysis methods, integrating conventional and generative AI-assisted web-crawling techniques based on natural language models. Large Language Models [LLM] are a specific Natural Language Processing technology, trained on large text datasets derived from public and licensed third-party sources and are capable of producing human-like speech and performing a range of language processing tasks (Alqahtani et al., 2023). The project, in which we developed the method, aims to investigate patterns of social inequalities during the so-called postdoc phase, which is understood as the transitional phase from completing a doctorate to obtaining a first professorship (Krawietz et al., 2013; Roman, 2022). The analysis is based on specific data points extracted from the online profiles of all professors working in departments of Educational Science or Human Medicine at German state universities. These data include information about gender, age, number and type of career transitions, post-doctoral qualifications, and publication activity during the postdoc phase among a total sample size of N=7.204 professors. Until now, manual methods have been used to tackle the problem of different websites not having a standardised data display structure (Baader et al., 2017; Lutter et al., 2022). However, these manual methods are resource-intensive, time-consuming and error-prone. Our new AI-powered web crawling approach allows for the automated extraction and organization of crucial information from websites for research purposes. By this, our approach offers several advantages, primarily through its ability to automate processes and make them more efficient. Automation enables the collection of specific information from a variety of online sources, reducing time and effort while improving accuracy and efficiency.

The heutagogy approach aims to overcome the crisis in Western world education and to change the contemporary education system, which faces Western society's multicultural, heterogeneous, dynamic, and evolving diversity. This is true for higher education institutions, where the prevailing teaching-learning paradigm no longer meets the learners' needs and society's demands. At the center of these requirements are self-management abilities, reflective and critical thinking, digital literacy, innovation, problem-solving, and collaboration and communication abilities (Blaschke, 2021).

Heutagogy, or self-directed learning, is an approach to learning and inquiry in which learners conduct self-inquiry. They determine what to study and explore in each content area. They decide how to do this, what sources of information they will base themselves on, what the results of their research will be, and how these will be presented to others. The learners wander between human knowledge spaces and Internet knowledge spaces when the purpose of this wandering movement is to satisfy their curiosity and bring them to understand the object of their research. Also, the learners are central partners in evaluating the research they have carried out themselves. They are the ones who determine whether and to what extent they have achieved the learning objectives (Glassner & Back, 2020; Hase & Kenyon, 2000).

The Self-inquiry journey of the heutagogy learners is integrally accompanied by self-thought, reflective and critical writing about the progress of their research, their attitude to their study, and teamwork within which the questions that interest them are investigated (Blaschke & Hase, 2021). The Heutagogy changes the known and accepted education orders.

In this study and investigation, the teachers or lecturers are no longer the primary sources of knowledge. Their traditional role changes, and they become mentors and advisors. Learning through heutagogy is no longer subject to a linear and uniform curriculum "imposed from above," to know and predetermined patterns, or exclusive reliance on academic information sources. The ways of learning are diverse, and there is no one way of knowledge suitable for all learners. Learning and reflection about learning bring learners to an understanding of their preferred learning style. This understanding will help them to continue learning throughout their lives, satisfy their curiosity, and strengthen their autonomy to choose what to learn and how (Moore, 2020; Blaschke, 2021).

Teacher training colleges are an effective anchor in the development of the teacher's professional personality and the formation of his image as an educator who knows how to integrate students from different cultures in a multicultural environment not out of paternalism of a majority group, but out of social solidarity, eradicating the feeling of foreignness and hostility and implementing teaching methods that mobilize personal capital (Butler & Milley, 2020; Ratnam, 2020).

The study presents insights regarding possible achievements, challenges, and changes required when implementing the heutagogy approach in two colleges of education in the center and one in south Israel.

The diversity in the number, age, education, and academic abilities of the students in each course, as well as the unique characteristics of the colleges and the differences in their disciplinary affiliations, allow for observing the heutagogy approach from a broad perspective.

Research questions:

1. How do the students and teacher-teachers who participated in these courses perceive the heutagogy approach?

2. What are the challenges your teachers faced in these courses?

3. What are the characteristics of the change required in teacher training so that it will be possible to incorporate learning in the way of heutagogy?

In the postdigital globalized society, the digital realm seamlessly intertwines with our analog lives, becoming an integral extension of our lifeworld, reminiscent of Negroponte's foresight that "like air and drinking water, the digital will be noticed just by its absence and not its presence" (Negroponte 1998). This hyperdigitalization has significantly impacted the way we perceive and engage in learning, calling for innovative educational design (Bolten 2024). The need for a transformation in education is also linked to the “time of complexity” (Ceruti, 2018), in which we live. It requires citizens who can constructively cope with various challenges and create new, sustainable cultures. In this historical context, education takes on the imperative role of being transformative, offering an experience that goes beyond imparting knowledge and actively shaping individuals with the capacity to consciously transform the reality they live in (UN 2015).

This ignite talk aims to provide insights into two innovative learning environments that leverage digitalization to promote intercultural dialogic learning, placing learners, their diversity, equal rights, and their lifeworld at the center (Author 2022).

The first format is a multilingual platform fostering peer-learning (buddy system) and experiential learning; the second is a simulation game that brings students from different countries together and promotes their collaboration.

Drawing from previous experiences with this format, I expect the ignite talk to facilitate a sharp focus on how these learning environments successfully transform education into an intercultural, transformative experience. It allows for concise highlighting of the core characteristics that led to their success as well its weaknesses.

This paper examines three interventions in three professional programmes in higher education in Europe. The aim of the study is to evaluate the implementation of three learning scenarios that use authentic learning theory to improve professional competence and students’ employability skills. The data come from an Erasmus+ project involving three countries and 120 students. A design-based research approach is used for the first iteration of interventions. The results show how the authentic learning framework was realised in the three contexts and which elements of the framework were challenging. The key findings are that authenticity is not realised in one element of the model in isolation, but through the interaction between several elements, and that some elements of the theoretical model are crucial for realising others.

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, marked by a heightened focus on social responsibility and sustainability, management education stands at a crucial juncture (Tahmassebi and Najmi, 2023). Addressing the conference theme, “Education in an Age of Uncertainty: memory and hope for the future,” this paper introduces an innovative approach to conceptualise and categorise Responsible Management Education (RME) by adapting the ‘About/For/Through’ (AFT) framework from Entrepreneurship Education. Following the principles outlined by O’Connor (2013) in “A Conceptual Framework for Entrepreneurship Education Policy: Meeting Government and Economic Purposes” and integrating insights from Lozano et al.’s (2013) “Conceptions of Responsible Management Education,” this adaptation aims to provide a multi-dimensional lens for analysing and structuring RME initiatives, thereby enhancing their efficacy and alignment with global sustainable development goals.

RME, in the context of rapidly changing societal expectations (Laasch and Conaway, 2015; Tahmassebi and Najmi, 2023), confronts the challenge of developing educational strategies that are both practically relevant and theoretically robust. The existing literature on RME, while diverse, often lacks a unified framework for systematic classification and assessment (Nonet at al., 2016), hindering the effective design and evaluation of RME programmes by educational institutions and policymakers. The AFT framework, with its proven success in Entrepreneurship Education as detailed by Fayolle and Gailly (2008) and its potential adaptability to RME emerges as a suitable tool, offering a structured approach to navigate these uncertainties. It categorises education into three dimensions: ‘For’ emphasises practical skills, ‘About’ focuses on theoretical knowledge, and ‘Through’ involves experiential learning and personal development.

Reviewing the current state of RME underscores the need for a structured framework that captures the multidisciplinary nature of responsible management. The AFT framework’s versatility lies in encompassing RME’s diverse facets, including ethical decision-making, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and stakeholder engagement. In this regard, the ‘About’ dimension is foundational, offering a deep understanding of theories related to responsible management. The ‘For’ dimension translates this knowledge into competencies for responsible management practices. The ‘Through’ dimension, perhaps the most innovative, emphasises transformative learning via methods like service-learning and community engagement, aligning with the conference theme by fostering a future-oriented approach in management education.

This paper asserts that this tripartite framework can serve as a valuable tool for educators and institutions in designing, implementing, and evaluating RME initiatives. It aids in identifying current programme strengths and weaknesses and provides guidance for future development. Moreover, it fosters a nuanced understanding of integrating RME across different educational levels, in line with broader sustainability and ethical leadership goals in business education as emphasised in the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative. This adaptation of the AFT framework promises significant contributions to RME’s evolution, providing a coherent, adaptable, and impactful structure for educators and policymakers.

Recent technological advancements have significantly impacted higher education, expanded access, and created new learning opportunities. This transformation is reflected in the changing demographics of university students, as seen in the consistently rising enrolment numbers and the emergence of more diverse student groups (EUROSTUDENT, 2018; Ólafsdóttir & Jónasson, 2017).
As a result, the task of designing courses that effectively meet the needs of all students has become more challenging. Recognizing the crucial role of engagement and motivation in student success, it has become evident that designing courses to address the expectations and needs of a diverse student body at the university level is a complex process. In this context, actively involving students in the course design process has been identified as a key factor in enhancing their interest and promoting success in learning (Bovill & Woolmer, 2019; Cook-Sather et al., 2014; Jones, 2009; 2018; 2019).
Curriculum serves as the foundational structure for educational experiences, encompassing the entire educational planning spectrum, from design to implementation and program evaluation. The intended curriculum sets educational goals and content, acting as a guide for student learning. The translation from intended to attained curriculum is influenced by instructional methods, interactions, and the learning environment, with student participation crucial in bridging this gap (Bovill & Woolmer, 2019; Thijs & van den Akker, 2009). 
Cook-Sather et al., (2014) have developed a ladder of active student participation in curriculum design, which delineates levels of student involvement, ranging from passive reception to active collaboration. They argue that empowering students along this ladder fosters motivation, a sense of ownership, and enhances the likelihood of achieving the intended curriculum (Cook-Sather et al., 2014). The implemented curriculum reflects the dynamic interplay between educators, students, and the learning context, where active student participation contributes to co-creating knowledge and enriching the educational experience (Cook-Sather et al., 2014). 

In conjunction with the Ladder, the MUSIC model of motivation identifies five key elements—eMpowerment, Usefulness, Success, Interest, and Caring—that collectively contribute to a motivational learning experience. Thus, by incorporating these elements into course design and teaching practices, educators can enhance student motivation (Jones, 2009; 2018; 2019). 

Addressing these aspects of curriculum design and implementation calls for teachers’ continuous development of academic knowledge and teaching skills. The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) ideology integrates teaching and research, providing a framework to cultivate these competencies (Gurung and Swartz, 2013). Thus, SoTL assists higher education teachers in meeting the increasing demands of teaching quality for diverse student groups (Ólafsdóttir & Geirsdóttir, 2022).  SoTL encompasses concepts, research, and knowledge defining professional teaching, involving theoretical framework development, reflective practices, and dialogues with colleagues and students about teaching and learning (Boyer, 1990; Groccia, 2023; Potter & Kustra, 2011). 
The study presented here focused on student participation in curriculum development in higher education and used the MUSIC model of motivation as a conceptual framework when analyzing the data collected from the students participating in the study. Its primary aim was to explore students' experiences of being actively involved as curriculum co-creators in three courses on the digitalization of education, part of a teacher education study program in a public university in Iceland. The central question guiding the research was: How do students perceive being actively included as co-creators of the curriculum, and how does this perception relate to the foundational principles of the MUSIC model of motivation? 

The study aligns with international trends in research on learning and teaching development in higher education, emphasizing the active involvement of students in the curriculum design process. It contributes to the understanding of how collaboration between students and teachers positively impacts the quality of education. 

Higher education institutions are increasingly developing professional development (PD) programs for university academics as part of an increased international focus on teaching and learning (Hundey et al., 2020). In this regard, research has called for approaches addressing theories of social learning, experiential learning and collaborative learning for professional growth (Laksov, 2022). In the same manner Mentorship in PD is equally gaining attention (Ince, 2017, Cree-Green et al., 2020). Despite recognition of its benefits, the literature has not conclusively defined the theoretical foundations, duration, or approaches and outcomes of optimal mentorship in PD (Hallman et al., 2020). While several studies have discussed mentorship for early career academics (ECAs), few have been embedded in a context of institutionalized approaches focusing on pedagogical development, and most studies are based on small sample sizes or conducted with no subsequent empirical analysis (Hundey et al., 2020; Pleschova & McAlpine, 2015). Recent literature has thus called for further research to explore mentorship using diverse methodologies, larger samples, and longer-term studies (Pleschova & McAlpine, 2015).

In the higher education literature, several terms such as mentoring, coaching, tutoring, facilitating, and supervising refer to a similar goal of supporting inexperienced educators. Rather than trying to distinguish between these concepts, we find that they all share a common set of imbedded beliefs and practices. Thus, this study adopts the operationalized definition of mentoring used in Pleschova and McAlpine (2015), which emphasises long-term cooperation between teachers and colleagues with more teaching experience and expertise with the aim of educational development and the enhancement of teachers’ pedagogic practice.

The study took place at a Danish University, that provides an institutionalized long-term (12 month) PD program for ECAs. The program is multi-tiered, based on social constructivist theories of adult learning, and follows principles of problem and project-based learning. It comprises participant-centred workshops, collaborative teamwork, individual project work, and mentorship. Uniquely, it employs a collaborative approach to mentorship through a two-mentor setup: a subject mentor from the mentees’ close environment, and a pedagogical mentor from the Centre for Teaching and Learning. While the pedagogical mentor supports the ECA by providing generic pedagogical knowledge, the subject mentor provides support regarding discipline-related teaching and interaction within the immediate work environment (the study program or department). Considering the unique structure of mentorship, this study explores how both mentors perceive their roles by drawing on their experiences, guided by the research question:

What are the views of mentors—both subject-focused and pedagogy-focused—on their role of supporting ECAs in a long-term academic development program?

Conceptual framework

Recent literature calls for a systems-thinking approach to supporting academics’ professional learning (Arnesson & Albinsson, 2017; Hundey et al., 2020; Hallman et al., 2020; Ince, 2017). On this basis, this study conceptualizes the mentor’s role as a situated, contextualized, erratic, enacted, and practiced along three interrelated dimensions: the mentor’s individual characteristics, dynamic relations through collaboration, and contextual interaction.

The individual characteristics dimension describes the congruence between values and practices (Ince 2017).

The relational dimension focus on how mentors engage with relationship dynamics in groups. Relationship-oriented mentoring is increasingly being reported as an effective PD approach, underlining mutual respect and reciprocal learning (Arnesson & Albinsson, 2017).

The contextual dimension involves mentors’ constant interactions with their environment. Mentorship is recognized as a sustainable resource for ECAs with mentors coordinating organizational activities and supporting community building, facilitating a common language, and building cultures of trust (Laksov 2022).

The proposed framework serves as a conceptual foundation driving the research design and the process of exploring mentors’ subjective views.

Introduction

Global competence is essential for equipping future citizens to effectively participate in sustainable development activities and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (OECD, 2019). Recognizing the importance of fostering responsible action towards sustainable development, modern higher education institutions are increasingly incorporating it into their educational agendas(Auld & Morris, 2019). Traditionally, higher institutions have focused on providing specialized,professionally-oriented majors meet the professional skill demands of students (Huang & Chen, 2013). However, developing courses oriented towards fostering students’ global competence, which demand interdisciplinary approaches and embrace diversity, poses a significant challenge (Mossman, 2018). While there is extensive literature on developing global competence among university students, most of it is based on Western contexts, with limited research and practice reflecting an oriental perspective. This gap highlights the need for a more inclusive and diverse exploration that incorporates Eastern educational contexts and practices, offering a broader, more balanced insights into how to foster undergraduates’ global competence effectively.

Research objective

This paper introduced an exploratory action research study focused on identifying university-level course design strategies that could substantially elevate the global competence of students from diverse cultural backgrounds. The objective of this research is to explore the pedagogical ways in which the student learning goal of developing global competence can be diffused effectively into the SDG-focused courses. By doing this, this study hopes to offer both theoretical and practical insights into the understanding on the instructional design of university courses, which with a specific focus on addressing undergraduates’ learning needs on global competence.

Theoretical framework:

Global competence emerged as a concept in the context of globalization to address the needs of international cooperation. At the end of the 20th century, the concept of global competence was first introduced from the perspective of enhancing international understanding (CIEE, 2014). Since then, academic discourse on global competence has intensified, with scholars proposing theoretical frameworks to elucidate it. For instance,Olson and Kroeger (Olson & Kroeger, 2001) divided global competence into three dimensions: knowledge, attitudes, and skills.Subsequently, Asia Society suggested adding a dimension of behavioral capability to these three dimensions. Later, the OECD proposed a framework for assessing students’ global competence in its 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).It defines global competence as a multidimensional lifelong learning goal, encompassing an individual’s capacity to examine local, global, and intercultural issues; to understand and appreciate different perspectives and worldviews; to respect others and interact effectively; and to take responsible action for collective well-being.

The 'Integrated Course Design' model, is a globally recognized framework in the field of instructional design, and widely adopted by educators (Fink, 2005; Branch & Dousay, 2015). This model encompasses three key design elements: (1) Learning Goals, which are the expected student learning outcomes; (2) Teaching and Learning Activities; and (3) Feedback/Assessment. The latter involves both students and teachers using appropriate evaluation methods to ascertain whether the anticipated learning objectives have been met. This includes teachers gathering feedback on student learning outcomes, as well as students receiving feedback based on the teacher's feedback. These elements create a closed loop and establish a mutually supportive relationship.

This study references the conceptualization of global competence as proposed by the OECD and employed the 'Integrated Course Design' model as a focused theoretical framework to guide the instructional design in this study. global competence is adopted as one of the learning objectives, integrated with subject-specific goals within the framework of course designs. The design of teaching activities is meticulously structured around the the four dimensions of global competence. Throughout the instructional process, formative assessments are utilized as the evidences for evaluating the course design.

From a perspective of social responsibility, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) cannot remain on the sidelines of the profound changes which are taking place on the planet, such as poverty, inequality, climate change and environmental degradation, among others. Consequently, HEIs have a pivotal role in promoting The United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Social Transformation (UN, 2019) with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as universities have the ethical duty to train committed citizens, with social awareness and capacity for critical analysis to make appropriate decisions and clearly provide pathways to achieve a better future (Rodríguez-Izquierdo and Lorenzo Moledo, 2023).

In this sense, Service Learning (SL) is anchored in the strategic projects of many universities internationally, committed to enhance students’ academic learning, social responsibility, and citizenship skills, while developing community capacity through service (Rodríguez-Izquierdo, 2021). It is specifically this experiential learning and its ethic and civic dimensions that render SL as a suitable approach to work in the same direction as the SDGs (Rodríguez-Izquierdo, 2023; Ruiz-Corbella and García-Gutiérrez, 2023; Sotelino-Losada et al. 2023). It is worth noting that the SL approach seems to go against the present neoliberal, performative, market driven culture of HE based on other types of indicators such as the labour market and the ranking systems.

This paper seeks to identify and examine the scientific literature (2015–2023) on the interconnectedness between SL and the SDGs in HEIs, to provide knowledge of the state of the art and the advances that have been made in this field. The specific questions that guided the study were defined as follows: How interest in this topic has evolved? What is being researched about SL and SDGs? How do researchers approach the topic? What are the contributions of SL towards the development of SDGs in HEIs? Further, the study will expand the existing literature in sustainability education and provide insights into the impact on the expansion of SDGs through the implementation of SL courses in HE.

The freedom of learning and the possibility for students to access a much wider educational offer are key elements for reshaping the European higher education landscape. Students are more mobile than ever, and new formats for teaching and learning readdress the need to rethink how academic curriculum is designed and developed. New tendencies and innovative approaches to education, such as micro-credentials, embedded mobility, digital credentialing, and flexible learning pathways open the way for true ‘universities without walls’ (EUA, 2021) across Europe. The global academic community is constantly changing; cooperation among universities grew in the past 20 years, facing a significant increase in student mobility, in Europe mainly due to Erasmus+ funding and mobility schemes and other Bologna Process tools (de Wit & Hunter, 2015, p. 1). Moreover, European universities intensified cooperation not only with partners from other European countries, but at an international level also, with partner from other continents (Claeys-Kulik, 2020, p. 10).

In such a global educational context, universities and policy makers can ask whether the increase in mobility can represent a tool for designing new curricular models, creating new educational programmes in which mobility and cultural exchanges become functional components and in which all graduates become international students. Such an approach could be done through academic degrees and programmes where mobility is embedded in the curriculum, in the shape of small mobility windows (up to one semester), taking advantage of new mobility schemes such as the Blended Intensive Programmes (European Commission, 2022, p. 49) or modular approaches, such as the ones proposed by some European Universities Alliances (Iucu et al., 2022, p. 26), based on a `micro-credentials philosophy`.

While setting up such a process can require significant changes in legislation, funding, pedagogical design, and administrative practices, the real impact of these changes need to be addressed to the potential beneficiaries, the students. In fact, the importance and relevance of physical mobility has been several times mentioned by students, stating the “physical mobility should be accessible to all students, and should not exclude certain groups” (ESU, 2020, p. 2), emphasising that reaching the 50% mobile students need to remain a constant desiderate of higher education policies across Europe.

In this regard, our research aims at understanding what is the students’ perception on embedded mobility in higher education programmes. The research proposes an exploratory analysis on how students view mobility as part of their educational pathway and possible downsides of transforming mobility as an opportunity to mobility as a necessary experience. Motivations for studying abroad by European exchange students have been addressed in a range of studies (Bryntesson et al., 2018; European Commission, 2017; Hovdhaugen & Wiers-Jenssen, 2021; Krzaklewska, 2008; Lesjak et al., 2015; Maiworm & Teichler, 2002; Murphy-Lejeune, 2002), the present research aiming to see, on top of motivational aspects, if differences appear when changing the scope of mobility and its relation with the degree. Different types of students will be included in the research, both junior students prior any mobility experience during their academic studies, as well as students who already participated in different mobility opportunities during their studies. Also, the research will focus on understanding what students value most in a mobility experience, to understand what aspects need to be intensified further in developing new mobility models and opportunities for higher education students.

In the context of globalization, the concept of "internationalization of higher education" is a broad and evolving phenomenon with diverse interpretations (De Wit & Altbach, 2021). At the institutional level, it involves integrating international, cross-cultural, or global dimensions into the purposes, functions, and implementation processes of higher education. This integration aims to enhance the quality of student education and the research output of academic staff, serving as a strategic approach and practice for academic systems, institutions, and individuals in the globalized academic environment worldwide, including in the European educational context (Altbach & Knight, 2007; De Wit, Hunter, Howard, & Egron-Polak, 2015; Knight, 2003; Knight & De Wit, 2018). Moreover, internationalization also helps institutions improve efficiency and aids government, stakeholders, and higher education units in understanding institutional performance (Mandinach & Gummer, 2013). On a personal level, internationalization contributes to cultivating the global competitiveness and employability of local students, providing opportunities for cross-cultural communication and a global perspective.

The International Association of Universities (IAU) (2006) defines the internationalization of higher education as a process that combines transnational and cross-cultural perspectives, atmospheres, and functions within higher education. This involves internal and external changes within universities, encompassing the implementation of policies through bottom-up and top-down approaches and shifts in institutional policy orientations. Over the past 25 years, internationalization is considered a strategic response to the inevitable impact of globalization on higher education, transforming from a marginal micro-level element into a mainstream global factor (Knight & De Wit, 2018). This evolution has shifted the concept from national-level international, cross-cultural, and global dimensions to factors within higher education, such as the diversity of educators and students' nationalities, research quality, and the quality of student education. Internationally renowned university rankings, such as THE (Times Higher Education) and QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), also include "internationalization" as one of the evaluation criteria. This makes internationalization a crucial part of the development of higher education institutions.

Current institutional research in Taiwan covers academic, student, and administrative aspects. In the main educational data bases, “(Higher Education) Course Information website (CIW)”, “Information Platform for College and University Institute Research (IPCUIR)”, “Academic Statistics Database of Ministry of Science and Technology (ASDMST)”, and “Scopus”, the wide-ranging scope of institutional research topics, including student admission, performance during the study period, post-graduation performance, and related administrative or university environmental aspects is evident. However, the previous research has touched upon international exchange aspects, yet there has been a lack of an investigation for the link between domestic education databases and internationalization indicators, and the exploration into the internationalization models of higher education applying existing national-level education database resources. Hence, the present research aims to consolidate diverse dimensions and manifestations of internationalization from existing research, to integrate data from different cross-institutional databases and explore relevant variables in internationalization of higher education institutes, and to establish a broader evaluation model for internationalization.

Based on above, the research questions are:

1. Through the integration of cross-platform database indicators and linking with relevant internationalization indicators from sources like THE and QS, what variables are pertinent to internationalization of higher education institutes?

2. What are including in the evaluation model for internationalization constructed based on the cross-platform database?

This paper maps and questions the discursive limits of current debates about student migration in postcolonial global context and the challenges this poses on the definition and self-fashioning of the university as autonomous, inclusive and open to new kinds of students (Derrida, 2002). The standpoint for the mapping and questioning of discourses and the genealogical critique of the institution of the university is from the positionality of those whose lives have been mostly affected by intersecting axes of migration and race, namely, migrant students’ precarious lives. It is argued that despite their seeming discontinuity, the discourse of unconditional endorsement of global student mobility, on the one hand, and the harsh critique on institutional/educational policies and practices, on the other hand, both participate and interlock in rendering invisible or inconsequential the kinds of racialization and securitization they produce or reproduce (Stein & Andreotti, 2017)

Student mobility across state borders is not a new phenomenon. What transforms, and not just increases, student mobility is large-scale processes that invested in the attractiveness of European higher education and repositioned it within, (a) the global economy of educational and psychic life of power (Butler, 1997) in a precarious world, and (b) the globalization of scapes of (post)modernity (Appadurai, 1990) within and across which student migration takes place.

Attracting the most talented foreign students has been perceived by receiving countries as beneficial for both the governments and educational institutions. However, beneficial aspects have not been accepted without cautioning voices. The scholarly conversation about the risks involved in the growing numbers of migrant students is usually bound by concerns about the commodification of higher education and the decline and compromise of the quality of the education provided. On the one hand, those against the entrepreneurial character of higher education express their concerns about the weakening role of higher education as a public good and the undermining of its democratic character (Brown, 2015; Giroux, 2003). On the other hand, even those who, despite and beyond market rationalities, acknowledge the positive effects of student mobility and higher education internationalization for students, institutions and societies, they stressed from early on that this would backfire and warned of “unintended consequences” and “worrisome trends” (Knight, 2012). Cautionary discourse revolves around “diploma mills” and “sham students”. Diploma mills, as a by-product of the growing demand for university degrees and implicitly associated with less privileged and mostly migrant students, are considered a threat that needs to be combated. What is at risk is not only the quality of education but also the excellence and earned entitlement of those “who have worked hard for years to obtain their degrees” (Odou & Ogar, 2022). This seeming deregulation of quality and equality (among the excellent) is alleviated through new lines and borders, such as the line between highly appreciated ‘genuine’ students, and unwelcomed ‘bogus’ students. The latter are perceived to abuse student visa in order to secure entrance to and residency in the country of studies, sidestepping the reach of immigration policies and compromising the very integrity of the universities (Brooks, 2018).

As argued in the paper, academic discourse on migrant students, despite its discontinuities and even fundamentally opposing views on the marketization of higher education, reenacts the colonial zero-point perspective to the world (Mignolo, 2010) and reproduces an elitist conception of the institution of the university. Failing to consider the racialization and precarization of migrant students through migration control apparatuses, but also the politics and epistemologies of resilience migrant students develop, we fail to grasp the complexities and the im/possibilities embedded in the ways migrant students navigate through and transform the landscapes of European higher education.

This study examines university teachers’ notions of knowledge and knowers in higher classical music education during a curriculum renewal process in a Finnish higher education context.

Knowledge in music has been distinguished between theory and technique already from Greek philosophers such as Aristotle (McPhail, 2022). This divide is still visible in music education. It is also claimed that higher music education has been based on the conceptions of craftsmanship and artistic skill (Moberg & Georgii-Hemming, 2019). More recently, the process of academization has raised the question of knowledge and knowledge practices in higher music education especially in the European context (Johansson & Georgii-Hemming, 2021). It is argued the traditional knowledge of music is not enough in the future society (Gaunt & Westerlund, 2021; López-Íñiguez & Bennett, 2020), the future of classical musicians is unclear and employment conditions are changing (Moberg & Georgii-Hemming, 2019). Higher music education institutions are asked to redefine their work and consider “how they engage with students in changing societies” (Gaunt & Westerlund, 2021).

Knowledge of craft in classical music is traditionally taught and learnt in master-apprentice relationship that is a hierarchical relationship between a master and student (Angelo et al., 2019; Gaunt, 2011). In this process, a student acquires some of the master’s knowledge and skills and becomes part of the musical community (Angelo et al., 2019). It is argued the tradition is based on imitation and reproduction as ideals (Georgii-Hemming et al., 2020). Consequently, the individuals involved in the learning process, both the ‘master’ and the student, hold a distinct significance in the acquisition of knowledge practices within the realm of arts. In arts education students are deeply engaged with the context where the knowledge is processed (Shay & Stayn, 2015). It is described that knowledge in the arts exists in individuals, communities, networks, bodies, objects (Orr & Shreeve, 2018) and in tools and materials (Addison, 2014; Sennett, 2008).

In this study, we approach curriculum renewal as a process where knowledge practices are negotiated in the academic community (see e.g., Annala, 2022; Bovill & Woolmer, 2019). This context enables us to explore the underlying conceptions of knowledge and knowers in the contemporary higher music education. The research questions are: What is viewed as legitimate educational knowledge in higher music education? How the relationships between knowledge and knowers are depicted?

The theoretical and methodological framework in the study is based on Karl Maton’s (2014) Legitimate Code Theory (LCT). Maton continued Bernstein’s (1996) theory of knowledge structures. It describes a way of developing and producing knowledge. In the humanities and arts, the knowledge structure is said to be horizontal. Knowledge is described as a series of parallel but strongly delimited approaches. Knowledge develops by adding a new approach alongside existing ones. However, according to McPhail (2022), knowledge in music theory is hierarchical which means the concepts must be obtained in successive order, but, on the other hand, approaches to composition and performance in music are more horizontal. Maton (2014) claims that focusing only on knowledge and the knowledge structure may simplify and overlook the strengths of some fields. Attention should also be paid to knowers and knower structure. Although knowledge structure is horizontal in the arts, knower structure is claimed to be hierarchical. Hierarchically structured knowers are organized in relation to the ideal knower. Therefore, in this study we build on the so-called Specialization code in the LCT theory (Maton 2014), which includes both knowledge and knower structures as analytical perspectives.

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework

Research on generic skills has been taking on increased importance in higher education over the last decade (Tuononen et al., 2022; Van Damme & Zahner, 2022). Generic skills refer to universal expert skills applied across different disciplines and contexts of jobs (Tuononen et al., 2022). These skills together with domain-specific knowledge enable students to draw on their field-specific knowledge in a variety of situations (Ursin et al., 2021). There is no one definitive list of generic skills; instead, this is a unifying term under which sets of skills belong. While remarkable variation in concepts and operationalization of generic skills have been found (Braun et al., 2012; El Soufi & See, 2019; Tuononen et al., 2022), researchers have acknowledged the importance of learning generic skills in the context of higher education. For example, there is evidence that generic skills are related to adjustment and adaptation to higher education (Kleemola et al., 2022; Van der Zanden et al., 2019) and progress in studies and study success (Tuononen & Parpala, 2021). Additionally, earlier research has suggested that a student’s background—both educational and socioeconomic—has a strong influence on the level of generic skills (Arum & Roksa, 2011; Kleemola et al., 2022; Ursin et al., 2021).

Since generic skills research is mainly conducted using self-assessments, the research field has stressed the need for more performance-based research (Tuononen et al., 2022). Performance-based assessment aims to evoke authentic performance, covering aspects of generic skills through situations that resemble the real world (Hyytinen et al., 2023; Van Damme & Zahner, 2022). Previous research on performance-based assessment has shown that test-taking effort and engagement have a substantial impact on test performance (Hyytinen et al., 2023; Liu et al., 2016).

Objectives

Generic skills of higher education students have been assessed through the CLA+ (Collegiate Learning Assessment) in a number of countries, including the United States (where it is used extensively) and Finland. CLA+ is a performance-based assessment of generic skills such as critical thinking and written communication, directed particularly to higher education students. The assessment is accompanied by a survey of students’ demographic background, attitudes, and fields of studies.

Comparisons of the assessment results of entering and exiting higher education students in Finland and the US have shown that while students from both countries exhibited learning gains in generic skills (i.e., there was a significant difference in the overall gain of these skills between entering and exiting students), this overall gain was clearly larger among the American students (Ursin et al., 2021). The purpose of this study is to further investigate a reason behind this finding. We consider variables measuring students’ effort and engagement in the CLA+ as well as sociodemographic variables such as students’ gender and parental level of education, and whether students’ primary home language is the same as the instructional language of the institution.

This research attempts to answer two questions:

1. In what way are the overall gains in generic skills between the entering and exiting students different in the two countries?
2. Are there background variables that can explain the possible difference in gain between the two countries?

This symposium will highlight the role of European policy elites (experts, consultants, advisers, etc.) by showing that they wield significant power and legitimacy in shaping educational reforms during last decades at global level, while at the same time its illustrates the social and political features of these reforming groups and networks in national spaces. By charaterising these European elite groups and networks by their positions within the State and/or International Organizations, the symposium will display the circulation of ideas and knowledge, beliefs and assumptions, between individuals and groups, but also their relations of dependence as well as their technocratic and/or ideological connivance that shape a doctrinal puzzle.

Often referred to as neo-liberalism versus welfarism, these ideas, discourses, and prescriptions are more a complex combination of personal experience, adoption of scientific and expert statements, formulation of values or principles of justice, but also political expediency in front of public opinion and interest group pressures. Far from considering educational reforms and decision-making as linear, sequential, or incremental processes, the symposium will emphasize authoritarian, sometimes nationalistic stances, but also uncertain dimension of power facing the uncertainty and complexity inherent to policy-making at global scale. It will underly the incoherence and cognitive dissonance of decision-making, the tacit and shared knowledge on which justifications are based, or the story-telling that legitimizes changes in political rhetoric

Therefore, the symposium will help to better understand ongoing and endogenous transformations of the educative State, in characterizing interactions within national, European and global elites, but also their resources and capacities for action in framing public action programmes and delivering political discourses, through games of competition and rivalry, according to specific professional, administrative, managerial cultures and ethics.

Beyond mapping national, Europaen and global links, which demonstrate also some affinities and proximities between these elites, the symposium also will intent to characterize the more or less structured, more or less formal policy networks that shape the European reformist agenda in education through recommendations and prescriptions leading to lasting and relatively irreversible changes in policy-making.

Based on the comparison between several European countries, bringing together different authors specialized in education policies, the symposium will seek to answer the following questions

- How do these elites exercise their power, their authority, by mobilising different resources and capacities to influence the decision-making process?

- How are these elites structured in networks or groups, epistemic communities or coalition of causes, in relationships that facilitate the sharing of knowledge, ideas, representations and beliefs on educational policies at national and global level?

- What is the role of cognition, values, beliefs, representations and the strategy in these alliance games and power relationships? What is the impact of public action instruments and their interpretation (laws, indicators, data, etc.)?

- How is it possible to characterize the type of proximity or affinity maintained by these elites within State, in other institutions or networks, or in International Organizations?

From a methodological perspective, policy makers will be chosen for their membership in a ministerial cabinet, as heads of a ministerial directorate or as experts/advisers for the Ministry of Education, or for their relationships with global networks and organisations, etc. Whenever possible, their socio-professional career and their various positions in education or elsewhere will be established. Analyses would developed from the study of different expert groups, national conferences, representative institutions, and parliamentary hearings in which this elite has intervened with important effects on implementing reforms.

The key insight from state-of-the-art literature on global governance in education is that it is necessary to study the interactions and overlaps between international, national, and local contexts and the entanglements of a host of actors to acquire an adequate understanding of education policy (Robertson 2018). From this starting point the paper addresses the following research question: How can we understand the role and significance of the knowledge brokers and infrastructure facilitating movement between global and national policy-making arenas? Using Denmark as an analytical case, it is the purpose of this paper to explore the complex intermeshing and interactions between and among knowledge brokers operating in the infrastructural space between the OECD and the Danish Ministry of Education in the period 2001 when a new right-wing government took office and up until today. More specifically, the paper investigates the formal and informal, institutionalized and not institutionalized connections and channels between the OECD and Denmark in the development of education politics and policy. For instance, since 2017, the OECD has increased its support for strengthening the analytical capacity of National Centres and Ministries of Education more generally, as well as that of municipalities and other education stakeholders at the national level, through its PISA Lead Analysts programme (Auld et al., 2020). A constructive angle to explore in this connection are also the shifting consortia tasked with conducting the PISA surveys which perform the boundary work that goes on between the organizations, the national political arenas, and sometimes even in the public debates and news landscape. Theoretically, the paper conceptualizes knowledge brokers as ‘key intermediaries who facilitate the exchange of knowledge between individuals or organizations (…)’ (Weber & Yanovitzky, 2021, p. 1), but also as motivated agents that are themselves changed by their brokerage activities, at the same time as they seek to change others. Such a framework improves analytical purchase on knowledge brokerage beyond the current research paradigms, revealing the purposeful mobilization by international organizations inside what can best be conceptualized as a multi-level governing complex that changes over time (Ydesen 2019). Empirically, the chapter draws on interviews with knowledge brokers operating in the OECD-Denmark space as well as archival documents harvested in the Danish National Archives and the OECD archive in Paris.

Elfert, M., & Ydesen, C. (2023). Global governance of education: The historical and contemporary entanglements of UNESCO, the OECD and the World Bank. Educational Governance Research Series (Series Eds. S. Carney & L. Moos). Dordrecht: Springer. Reder, T. J., & Ydesen, C. (2022). Policy Borrowing and Evidence in Danish Education Policy Preparation: The Case of the Public School Reform of 2013. In B. Karseth, K. Sivesind, & G. Steiner-Khamsi (eds.), Evidence and Expertise in Nordic Education Policy (pp. 77–114). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91959-7_4 Weber, M. S., & Yanovitzky (2021). Knowledge brokers, networks, and the policymaking process. In M.S. Weber & I. Yanovitzky (Eds.), Networks, knowledge brokers and the public policymaking process (pp. 1-25). Palgrave. Ydesen, C. (2021) Globalization and Localization in the Shaping of the Danish Public Education System – Discursive Struggles in Four Historical Educational Reforms, In: Zhao, W. & Tröhler, D. Globalization and Localization: A Euro-Asia Dialogue on 21st-Century Competency-Based Curriculum Reforms, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 85-109, Ydesen, C., Kauko, J., & Magnúsdóttir, B. R. (2022). The OECD and the Field of Knowledge Brokers in Danish, Finnish, and Icelandic Education Policy. I B. Karseth,

This presentation examines the intervention of political-administrative elites in the conception and implementation of national education policies and programs. The study addresses the involvement of high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Education, policymakers, and experts from national higher education institutions and international organizations; and the focus is on their participation in developing and implementing a national pilot program that has served as the main instrument for a policy aimed at promoting curricular differentiation in Portuguese schools. The significance of this program, known as the "Project for Curricular Autonomy and Flexibility in Primary and Secondary Education," lies in its consistent implementation and generalization during recent years under the current government. The pilot program took place in 2017 and 2018 under the auspices of the Directorate-General for Education (DGE), the central organization responsible for implementing policies related to the pedagogical and didactic components of education, as well as providing technical support for policy formulation. Key actors involved in the program include high-ranking officials of the DGE, members of the cabinet of the Secretary of State for Education, a specialized committee (a body of national consultants from the academy with conception and monitoring roles), two national experts on curriculum studies, OECD officers, and members of the Working Group on Schools, which is part of the EU's European Education Area strategic framework. Therefore, we will present these elites at work, focusing on their interdependencies throughout the creation and implementation of the pilot program. It analyses two dimensions: the social dimension, which captures the actors' social characteristics, status and professional trajectories, their formal roles, and their political strategies, i.e., how they construct their power relations by mobilizing different resources to influence decision-making and implementation processes; and the cognitive dimension, which examines the main categories they use to make sense of the education sector and the role of knowledge and beliefs in shaping educational policies. Main methods include documental analysis and interviews with key actors. Additionally, tacit knowledge from authors generated from involvement in the project or created from experience in central management bodies will be mobilized.

Carvalho, L. M., Costa, E., & Sant’Ovaia, C. (2020). Depicting the faces of results-oriented regulatory processes in Portugal: National testing in policy texts. European Educational Research Journal, 19(2), 125-141. Carvalho, L. M., & Viseu, S. (2023). New philanthropy in education in Portugal: fabricating social inclusion as policy, knowledge and practice. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 1-13. Viseu, S., & Carvalho, L. M. (2021). Policy networks, philanthropy, and education governance in Portugal: the raise of intermediary actors. Foro de Educación, 19(1), 81-104.

Since the mid-2010s, an education policy agenda emerged in curricula across the world projecting the need to teach computer programming in schools. This chapter discusses the insertion of programming into the Swedish compulsory curriculum and argues that this change was shaped and promoted by an assemblage of external actors and their political configurations in municipal, national and international policy spaces. To frame the context of this study, an overview of the Swedish context and the emergence of the programming agenda is going to be presented. Through network ethnography analysis, actors are identified and their interpersonal links are mapped. This allows for a discussion of how the Swedish programming agenda was governed by a politico-administrative elite which features an assemblage of diverse actors. Programming was promoted by governmental and inter-governmental agencies, national and multinational corporations, as well as for-profit and non-profit organizations. These promotions occurred in schools serving their own aspirations and interests by, among other things, forming alliances, sharing their beliefs via public media and mobilizing a variety of resources. The findings demonstrate both the networks and relationships between the members of the political-administrative elite, as well as the discourses that shaped and justified the formulation of the programming agenda within the context of Sweden. These findings highlight the role of private actors in particular, and their influence in education policymaking processes, while illustrating the positions they hold within the policymaking field.

Ball, S. J. (2015). What is policy? 21 years later: reflections on the possibilities of policy research. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 36(3), 306–313. Ball, S. J., & Junemann, C. (2012). Networks, new governance and education [Electronic resource]. Policy. Ball, S. J., & Youdell, D. (2008). Hidd Barnett, M., & Finnemore, M. (2004). Rules for the World: International Organizations in Global Politics. Cornell University Press; JSTOR.

The discourses on digital transition discourses have a prominent position in the political agendas of both transnational and national governance institutions. For instance, the European Commission and the European Council, emphasise the role of digital transition as a key driver of Europe's social and economic development and essential to ensuring better jobs (European Commission, 2018, 2020; European Council, 2019).

The importance, intensity and reach of the digital transition into all sectors of society has led to it being called the fourth Industrial Revolution (Lima, 2021) or technological revolution. According to António Magalhães (2021), education has been incorporating digitalisation into teaching and learning processes and the CoViD-19 pandemic has accentuated the discourse on the need of this, making it urgent. The pandemic has thus served as a catalyst for a political agenda that was already underway, "placing the digitalisation of education and the development of digital skills at the heart of the education policy agenda" (Magalhães, 2021). By digitalisation of education, we mean the "configuration of teaching and learning, their materials and their methods and techniques in digital language" (Magalhães, 2021, p. 6). This configuration has led to changes in education, educational relations and forms of governance of education which, according to Ben Williamson (2016), should currently be understood as the digital governance of education. This is precisely the subject of our work.

The purpose of this paper is to present a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on the digital governance of education, developed as part of an ongoing doctoral project entitled "public education policies in a context of digital transition", which aims to study the mandates addressed to the Portuguese education system, specifically compulsory education, by the digital transition discourses delivered by transnational and national institutions. We identified educational governance as one of the dimensions to be studied when analysing these mandates.

The digitalisation of education governance processes accentuates a political grammar of public administration - New Public Management - characterised by the adoption of performance measurement strategies and the promotion of markets to take over the provision of public services. It is an approach to the governance of public services that, , according to Radhika Gorur (2020) or Jenny Ozga (2016),is dominated by the emphasis on numbers.. This perspective of governance, combined with the efficiency and precision of digitalisation, enables the collection and provision of information in the form of data, thereby informing the governance decisions of the state., constituting what Foucault (1991) calls "governmentality".

The advance of the digital in the governance of educational systems favours the emergence of a new technological industry that is leading the most significant changes in educational policies and, consequently, in the ways of learning and teaching in the classroom. Geo Saura (2021) argues that, in the continuity of forms of governance marked by the growing influence of transnational actors and the opening up of the state to service providers and the private sector, governance is carried out through political networks of digital governance. These networks are made up of political actors, software, digital technologies and large technology companies, which play an important role in shaping and developing education policies.

Despite its increasing prominence, the digital governance of education has been little studied (Williamson, 2016). This SLR aims to report on the scientific literature produced in this field, seeking to systematise knowledge and open up possibilities for discussion in the less studied dimensions.

In 2023, the Swedish government submitted a policy proposal for a National Professional Program (NPP) for principals, teachers and preschool teachers. The purpose of the reform was to develop teaching quality, strengthen the attractiveness of these professions and increase equity for students in Swedish education (Prop. 2022/23:54).

The NPP follows the international trend of evidence-based practice with policy techniques, such as certification standards for teachers and teacher proficiency (Holloway & Larsen Hedegaard, 2021) which also applies for school leaders (Møller, 2009). Pettersson (2008) points to how new actors, such as transnational institutions and regimes, have come to play a central role in exerting pressure to increase the national reform agenda, and how these affect Swedish national politics. During the 21st century, international organisations such as OECD, have influenced educational systems, and PISA has taken on an increasingly prominent position as an authoritative measurement of knowledge, functioning as a regulatory mechanism (Lingard et al., 2013). The driving role of the OECD is viewed as a consequence of the neoliberal ideology rooted in the 1980s (Baltzer, 2020).

Around the globe, a crisis discourse has emerged, which legitimises educational reforms (Nordin, 2014). Based on the declining performance of Swedish students in PISA 2012, the OECD (2015;216) recommended a comprehensive and system-wide national school improvement strategy in Sweden. One aim was to improve the attractiveness of teaching and school leadership, and professionalism was highlighted as a central concept, characteristic of high-performing countries.

The OECD (2015) also pointed to insufficient coherence in Sweden’s recent career reform efforts: There is a lack of clarity in responsibilities of education priorities at various levels of administration as well as varying capacity at local level. Further, they draw attention to an imbalance between accountability and local autonomy. OECD’s concrete policy recommendations were to design a career structure including national professional standards.

In line with the OECD:s recommendations, the Swedish government suggests introducing a national structure for professional development in Sweden, as well as a national qualification system for teachers and school leaders. This implies a continuous professional development (CPD) of teachers and school leaders, which will increasingly become a state concern (Prop. 2022/23:54, 2022/23:UbU13), contrary to the system from 1991 where local authorities have been responsible.

From an international perspective, the Swedish case is an example of transnational policy trends, carried by powerful agents such as OECD, including key elements of what Ball (2003) refers to as policy technologies and performativity. Professionals’ in-service training can be considered as part of state regulation, producing new professional roles and subjectivities.

By the NPP, professional performance and excellence, but also the life-long learning discourse, has been put high on the Swedish political agenda, as in many other countries. This can be seen as a part of an accountability regime that keeps a constant gaze on teacher performance, and also the life-long learning discourse (Heffernan, 2016; Rizvi & Lingard, 2009).

The aim of the present study is to visualise the discourses underlying the proposed policy. We will critically examine the intentions and the effects of the NPP policy. The study is inspired by Bacchi’s (2009) Foucault-influenced analytic strategy. Drawing on Bacchi’s methodological framework, ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ (WPR), the following research questions guide our study:

- What problem representations can be identified in the policy proposal of a National Professional Program?

- What presuppositions or assumptions underpin these problem representations and how have they come about?

- What effects for Swedish school leaders are produced by problematizing the policy proposal of a Swedish National Professional Program for principals, teachers and preschool teachers?

France and Germany are among the European countries where a pupil's performance at school depends most on his or her social background. According to the 2023 PISA international survey, the difference in performance on mathematics tests between the most socially advantaged and the most socially disadvantaged students was 113 points in France and 111 points in Germany, both well above the OECD average of 93 points(OECD, 2023b, 2023a).

Numerous measures have been taken in Germany and France to address the 'big problem' of the strong correlation between social background and educational outcomes. The European Eurydice report on equity in education distinguishes several types of policy aimed at reducing this correlation(Eurydice, 2020).These are: support measures, which grant aid to socially disadvantaged schools and pupils; stratification policies, which modify the structure of the education system by reforming the number of secondary school streams, for example ; and, finally, standardisation policies, which determine the standards set in the school system, such as the level of autonomy of schools and the type of diplomas awarded.

I focus on two recent support policies: Schule macht stark (school makes you strong) (SchuMaS) developed in Germany in 2019 and Les contrats locaux d'accompagnement (local support contracts) (CLA) launched in France in 2020. These policies share an experimental format with an implementation in a limited number of schools (with option to be extended) and a limited budget. I am intrigued by the deliberately restricted format of these two policies. I want to explore the relationship that these 'small' policies have with other measures in France and Germany that also tackle the 'big' problem of social inequalities in education.

I ask the question: to what extent are SchuMaS and CLA bringing about change in the way social inequalities in education are dealt with in France and Germany?

To answer this question, I choose a neo-institutionalist approach(Scott, 2014). The institution I am interested in here is 'addressing social inequalities in education'. In France, the treatment of social inequalities in education is essentially thought of in terms of support policies. For the past forty years, the French have sought to reduce the impact of social origin on school results mostly by granting additional resources to schools with a high proportion of socially disadvantaged pupils (Heurdier, 2023). In Germany, the treatment of social inequalities is essentially thought of in terms of stratification policies. Debates about the advantages of a tiered school system drew the attention of politicians and impacted their approach to tackling social inequalities (Maaz, 2020). The German way of addressing social inequalities in education has traditionally focused on (de-)stratification measures. These two different ways of looking at the same problem inside Europe make the Franco-German comparison particularly relevant.

I put forward two hypotheses: H1 (self-reinforcement mechanisms)(Mahoney, 2000): CLA and SchuMaS do not break with the policies that developed before them. They confirm the path dependence of the way social inequalities are tackled in France and Germany. The ‘smallness’ of the policies would be a sign that they are being launched for political reasons, to give the impression that measures are being taken to combat social inequalities in education, but without really changing what was being done before. They would be "small" measures taken on the surface to avoid changing the education system in depth.

H2 (layering)(Mahoney & Thelen, 2010): CLA and SchuMaS bring about a gradual institutional change and are deployed alongside or on top of the other measures dealing with social inequalities in France and Germany. The restricted operating mode would make it possible to introduce innovation without making a sudden political break.

Provide a clear outline of your research question and your theoretical framework. Bear in mind that

the European/international dimension is vital to the success of your submission.

up to 600 words

Topic: Standardisation, Diversity and Decolonisation: Enactment of Global Policies around Teaching Quality in Different Nations.

Research Question: How are teacher educators dealing with the tensions between different policy discourses which standardise quality teaching and the uncertainties which arose in struggles to decolonise curricula and pedagogies in universities?

Objectives: To develop theoretical and methodological resources to explore the enactment of global policies around quality teaching on teacher education programs and practices. The theoretical resources will include concepts from disciplinary fields such as decolonial studies (Critical Indigenous Studies, Asia as Method, Colonial Matrix of Power), as well as critical policy studies drawing on post-Foucauldian and post-Bernsteinian scholarship.

Conceptual Framework: The neoliberal educational scenarios projected by international organisations such as the OECD, World Bank and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has ‘led to a new way of thinking about how schools, technical colleges, universities and educational systems should be governed’ (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010, p. 117). National governments and the bureaucratic administrative state are no longer the only source of policy authority when it comes to teacher education. Increasingly international organisations, such as the OECD (2005, 2018), with their assemblage of measurement instruments, survey tools, online professional engagement videos, databases, and platforms govern teachers’ work and determine what constitutes ‘quality’ of teachers, teaching, and teacher education programs (Singh et al., 2021). Globalising discourses operate both hierarchically and heterarchically (Ball, 2016). Hierarchically, national governments may take the brunt of negative evaluation arising from publication of comparative test scores. Heterarchical effects mean that school leaders, class teachers and teacher educators can also be attacked directly through various media, including social media platforms. Moreover, the teaching workforce (including teacher educators) are held accountable and responsible for improving student performance outcomes and directed through the bureaucratic arms of the state to reform curriculum and pedagogies accordingly. The purposes of education are reconfigured in narrow instrumentalist terms, and so is the work of teachers and teacher educators, leading to the deprofessionalisation of the teaching workforce (see Robertson & Sorenson, 2018). At the same time, there are fewer people enrolling in teacher education programs and retention of teachers, particularly in schools situated in high poverty, culturally and linguistically diverse contexts is difficult. Moreover, there are increasing calls to decolonise university curriculum, which at a basic performative level, equates to a demand for more diversity in the teacher education workforce and inclusion of research by non-white scholars. In this symposium, each of the papers deals with the contradictory issues of standardisation and decolonisation of teacher education programs. The former aims to create uniform standards or norms, the latter seeks recognition for increasing cultural and linguistic diversity within nation states, and reconciliation for ongoing colonial injustices.

Reforms in initial teacher education in Australia have been driven by several interconnected global trends in education: standardisation, measurement, and processes of accountability. An increasing emphasis on standardisation in the global education reform movement (GERM) has led to the development and enactment of teacher professional standards, benchmark standards for literacy and numeracy, and national curriculum standards (Singh et al., 2021). Standardisation has been coupled with another trend, that of a growing determination to measure outcomes and to create publication league tables based on such measurements. We propose that these global policy trends, initiated by policy agencies such as the OECD, are a continuation of the colonial project of education. In this paper we outline key debates and intellectual trajectories that have shaped the field of decoloniality studies in education for the purposes of synthesising these concepts with the discipline of critical global policy studies. Decoloniality has been linked to the triad modernity /coloniality/decoloniality, which Mignolo and Walsh (2018) describe as the colonial matrix of power (CMP). The CMP commenced with the project of European expansion and imperialism, often described as modernity from the 1500s onwards, and was integrally connected to colonialisation of other lands and peoples. Despite the different trajectories of scholarship within decolonial studies, emanating from different disciplinary fields and geographic spaces, we identify the following key concerns within this corpus: (1) L/land, Lore, and Country and Relationality of Epistemology-Ontology-Axiology (see Tuck & Yang, 2012; Moreton-Robinson, 2020); (2) Situated Strategic Universalisms as Movements of Solidarity (Haraway, 1988; Kapoor & Zalloua, 2022); and (3) Anti-Racism including projects around Racisms/Sexisms against the resurgence of white supremacy (Garba & Sorentino, 2020; Le Grange, 2023). We suggest that a threshold of disciplinary knowledge around the above three concerns is central to any decolonising project in teacher education (Moodie, 2019). Such a project calls for the deconstruction and reconstruction of disciplinary knowledges, and the inclusion of marginalised voices and knowledges from the global South. We ask - what contributions can decoloniality studies make to the critical policy studies literature on quality teaching, standardisation and measurement, all core to the OECD’s policies and part of the global education reform movement? We review literature in decoloniality studies to outline key debates and emergent concepts relating to teacher education. In addition, we illustrate how we have made use of decoloniality concepts in our own teacher education program work in Australia.

Garba, T., & Sorentino, S.-M. (2020). Slavery is a Metaphor: A Critical Commentary on Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang’s “Decolonization is Not a Metaphor”. Antipode, 52(3), 764-782 Haraway, D. (1988). Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575-599. https://doi.org/10.2307/3178066 Kapoor, I., & Zalloua, Z. (2022). Universal politics. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197607619.003.0001 Le Grange, L. (2023). Decolonisation and anti-racism: Challenges and opportunities for (teacher) education. The Curriculum Journal, 34, 8–21. https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.193 Majavu, M. (2023). Toppling the Racist Anglo-Saxon Politics of Cecil Rhodes. In B. Mignolo, W., & Walsh, C. (2018). On Decoloniality. Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Duke University Press. Moodie, N. (2019). Learning about knowledge: threshold concepts for Indigenous studies in education. The Australian Educational Researcher, 46(5), 735-749. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-019-00309-3 Moreton-Robinson, A. (2020). Incommensurable sovereignties. Indigenous ontology matters. In B. Hokowhitu, A. Moreton-Robinson, L. Tuhiwai-Smith, C. Andersen, & S. Larkin (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Critical Indigenous Studies (pp. 257-269). Routledge. Singh, P., Hoyte, F., Heimans, S., & Exley, B. (2021). Teacher Quality and Teacher Education: A Critical Policy Analysis of International and Australian Policies.. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 46(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2021v46n4.1 Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonisation is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1(1), 1-40.

This paper explores the potential to teacher education, of drawing lines between professional discretion, ethics of care and inclusion as a decolonial (indigenous) practice (Gaudry & Lorenz, 2018). In the face of accountability demands, increasing diversity, and teachers expressing powerlessness, professional discretion is challenged. Inclusion understood as decentring of dominant knowledges and world views and prioritizing experiences of marginalised groups may, reveal a potential for, and possibly contribute to, change through disrupting existing power structures. The context: Norwegian teacher education has been described as existing in a field of tension between policy and research (Brevik & Fosse 2016), and between responsibility and accountability (Smith 2018). A revised national curriculum was issued in 2017, emphasising a research-based foundation and expanding the length to include a masters’ degree. The teaching profession is, despite a comparably soft version of control, similarly described as positioned between accountability and autonomy (Lennert da Silva & Mølstad 2020), and professional ethics as mired in paradox of choice between two ethical positions of which one protests the accountability system but offers no support for action, and the other offers guidance in action whilst accepting the system (Afdal & Afdal 2019). Teachers’ professional discretion (no: “skjønn”), described as making good choice in the face of uncertainty, is seen as developed in the nexus between theory and experience emphasising the intertwining of differing knowledges and contextual sensitivity (Grimen & Molander 2008), though in practice to a lesser extent found to emphasise value-based reasoning (Suzen 2024). Recent developments in initial teacher training prioritizing scientific knowledge, can be expected to prioritize research to experience and structural demands to ethical reflection. Through a document analysis of current policy documents on, and a recent evaluation of, teacher education, we uncover the understandings of, and conditions for promoting professional discretion in teacher education in a Norwegian context. Our preliminary results suggest a lack of emphasis on experiences, values, or world views within teachers' education in Norway, and professional competence as based on scientific knowledge. We discuss the findings considering research on decolonial movements in Norwegian teacher education. Building on bell hooks ideas about theory, love and dialogue (hooks 2014) we then explore the potential of a predominant ethics of care (Afdal & Afdal 2019) as a site of resistance, providing an opening to a wider set of epistemologies and counter-hegemonic ideas promoting thinking against the grain.

Afdal, H. W., & Afdal, G. (2019). The making of professional values in the age of accountability. European Educational Research Journal, 18(1), 105-124. Brevik, L.M., & Fosse, B.O. (2016). Lærerutdanning i det 21. år hundre – Tradisjoner, Utfordringer, Endringer [Teacher education in the 21st century. Traditions, challenges, and changes]. Acta Didactica Norge, 10(2), 1-10. Gaudry, A., & Lorenz, D. (2018). Indigenization as inclusion, reconciliation, and decolonization: navigating the different visions for indigenizing the Canadian Academy. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 14(3), 218-227. hooks, b. (2014). Teaching to transgress. Routledge. Lennert da Silva, A. L., & Mølstad, C. E. (2020). Teacher autonomy and teacher agency: A comparative study in Brazilian and Norwegian lower secondary education. The Curriculum Journal, 31(1), 115-131. Grimen, H. & Molander, A. (2008). Profesjon og skjønn [Professions and professional discretion]. In: Profesjonsstudier, 179–196. Universitetsforlaget. Smith, K. (2018). Accountability in Teacher Education in Norway: A Case of Mistrust and Trust. In: Wyatt-Smith, C., Adie, L. (eds) Innovation and Accountability in Teacher Education. Teacher Education, Learning Innovation and Accountability. Springer, Suzen, E. (2024). Vurdering for å lære - en skjønnsmessig vurdering som gir føringer for lærerprofesjonalitet. [Assesment for learning - a discretionary assessment that provides guidance for teacher professionalism] I: T. Werler og H. Sæverot (red). Pedagogiske handlinger. Fagbokforlaget

Quality teaching in school education has increasingly become central policy topic of the European Union (EU) stressing quality and equity in education and training, while it is closely linked to high-quality competences for in service and future teachers (Sarakinioti & Tsatsaroni, 2015). In 2020 (European Commission, 2020), teacher education policy for quality and inclusive, digital and green education was planned to be supported by Erasmus+Teacher Academies. The 27 Teacher Academies competitively funded today offer a range of collaboration, capacity building, network and learning activities, modules and toolkits for teachers and student teachers (Galvin et al., 2024). The paper problematises the emerging mode of transnational governance of partnerships among schools, teacher education institutions, universities, NGOs, etc in the framework of Erasmus+Teachers Academies, questioning the changes it introduces in the broad field of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Europe. The analysis adopts a topological genealogy approach that focuses on governing practices unfolding through the spatial/temporal operation of continuity and change, repetition, and difference in the emerging relations of transnational European governance of Erasmus+Teachers Academies and their productive effects for ITE (Martin & Secor, 2014, Decuypere & Lewis, 2023). A starting point of the topological approach is that “the spatiotemporal scales are not considered as being nested in one another (e.g., past-present-future as linearly and chronologically unfolding; micro-meso-macro as differing in size and scope), but rather in ‘the agential enfolding of different scales through one another'” (Barad 2007, 245, in Decuypere & Lewis, 2023, 4). Bernstein’s theoretical idea that social space and time are demarcated by symbolic and material boundaries which, as ‘tacit metaphors’, define the inside/outside, now/then, near/far, us/them regulating the knowledge/ power and control relations in different sites of practice (2000: 206), informs the topological analysis of the 27 Academies. The analysis conceives of Teacher Academies as governmental space(s) in/ through/ as change for ITE (Decuypere & Lewis, 2023). The paper describes the processes of stabilization of Teacher Academies’ policy/pedagogic interventions- how they “are being produced, enacted, facilitated and sustained” and what kinds of instruments, infrastructures etc, they utilise (“relations in change”). Also, it discusses the productive effects and standardisations of these interventions in/on the field of ITE (“relations through changes”). Finally, it reflects on the entire educational-infrastructural assemblage of Erasmus+Teachers Academies, whether they are becoming a “prototype” in the field of European ITE and about their footprint on teachers/ teacher educators’ work and professionalism (ibid, Robertson & Sorensen, 2018).

Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: Theory, research, critique. Revised edition. Rowman & Littlefield. Decuypere, M. & Lewis, S. (2023) Topological genealogy: a methodology to research transnational digital governance in/through/as change, Journal of Education Policy, 38:1, 23-45, DOI: 10.1080/02680939.2021.1995629 European Commission. (2020). COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on achieving the European Education Area by 2025. COM(2020) 625 final Galvin, C., Madalinska-Michalak, J. & Revyakina, E. (2024). The European Union Erasmus+ Teacher Academies Action. Complementing and Supplementing European Teacher Education and Teacher Education Research? In V. Symeonidis, (2024) (Ed) Enhancing the Value of Teacher Education Research. Implications for Policy and Practice (170-197). Brill. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Martin, L. & Secor. A. J. 2014. “Towards a Post-mathematical Topology.” Progress in Human Geography 38 (3): 420–438. doi:10.1177/0309132513508209. Robertson, S.L., & Sorensen, T. (2018). Global transformations of the state, governance and teachers’ labour: Putting Bernstein’s conceptual grammar to work. European Educational Research Journal, 17(4), 470-488. https://doi:10.1177/1474904117724573 Sarakinioti, A. & Tsatsaroni, A. (2015). European education policy initiatives and teacher education curriculum reforms in Greece. Education Inquiry (EDUI), 6(3): 259-288. http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/edui.v6.28421

What does the decolonial turn mean to a postcolonial policy context like Cyprus and Hong Kong? In recent times, there has been a plethora of literature in the English-using scholarly community, on the need to decolonise curriculum, knowledge, and research. This sentiment is prevalent and widely shared amongst scholars, particularly in the West. Decoloniality has intersected with important research themes such as race, gender, climate justice, Indigenous studies, to name just a few common examples. In this paper, I offer a slightly different angle on the decolonial turn and what it might mean and be practised differently, based on a partial perspective from/in Hong Kong. I outline three tasks which constitute what I call difficult decoloniality: 1) the need to problematise existing research discourse about Hong Kong education policy studies published in flagship academic journals in the West; 2) the demand for a language of description to scratch beneath the surface of complex problems underlying politics and policy of education in non-Western context; and 3) a faithful and subversive extension of sociological theory that goes beyond the Western hermeneutical horizons. I draw on a couple of research articles published in Western journals and recent policy changes in relation to teacher professionalism in post-2019 Hong Kong, to illustrate these three points. While sociological knowledge produced by/in the West such as the ‘classics’ by Durkheim, Marx, and Weber has long been subjected to criticism by decolonial scholars, I focus instead on the fecundity of descriptions that theoretical enterprises and valid concerns expressed by sociologists such as Basil Bernstein, have enabled. More specifically, I turn to recent policy instruments related to teacher quality such as Professional Standards for Teachers of Hong Kong, Guidelines on Teachers’ Professional Conduct, and Guidelines for Handling School Complaints, all of which are connected to the post-2019 political crisis and complex problems such as teacher bashing, doxxing, online abuse, complaints against schoolteachers. Contrary to prevalent literature in the West on terrors of performativity and ambivalence arising from policy enactment, I argue that it is equally important to address what these policy instruments have done and enabled. In other words, two issues arise from the decolonial perspective on an Asian policy context: 1) the importance of historicity and contextuality in which theory produced in the West might speak otherwise; and 2) social and epistemic conditions under which a theory from the West is still rendered valid in the postcolonial context.

Ball, Stephen J., Meg Maguire, and Annette Braun. 2012. How Schools Do Policy: Policy Enactments in Secondary Schools. Oxford: Routledge. Bernstein, Basil. 2000. Pedagogy, Symbolic Control, and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. Rev. Critical Perspectives on Literacy and Education. New York City, NY: Rowman & Littlefield. Bhambra, Gurminder K. 2016. “Postcolonial Reflections on Sociology.” Sociology 50 (5): 960–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038516647683. Carusi, F. Tony, Peter Rawlins, and Karen Ashton. 2018. “The Ontological Politics of Evidence and Policy Enablement.” Journal of Education Policy 33 (3): 343–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2017.1376118. Chen, Kuan-Hsing. 2010. Asia as Method: Toward Deimperialization. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Mignolo, Walter D, and Catherine E Walsh. 2018. On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Singh, Parlo. 2015. “Performativity and Pedagogising Knowledge: Globalising Educational Policy Formation, Dissemination and Enactment.” Journal of Education Policy 30 (3): 363–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2014.961968. ———. 2017. “Pedagogic Governance: Theorising with/after Bernstein.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 38 (2): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2015.1081052. Takayama, Keita, Arathi Sriprakash, and Raewyn Connell. 2017. “Toward a Postcolonial Comparative and International Education.” Comparative Education Review 61 (S1): S1–24. https://doi.org/10.1086/690455.

Issues in mathematics education are wide-ranging, with the subject often perceived as hard, formulaic, and consisting of a series of unrelated abstract concepts, with a strong focus on assessment (Bray & Tangney, 2017). Historically an over-reliance on skills and procedures has led to a lack of mathematical fluency and conceptual understanding, with problem solving viewed as little more than worded calculations (Schoenfeld, 2016). The main drivers of reforms in mathematics curriculum internationally focus on efforts to address these issues by, at least in part, giving greater considerations to the student at the centre of the learning. Maths students should be supported to develop a positive disposition towards the subject, by highlighting connections between the different mathematical strands (NCCA, 2017) and teaching for robust understanding (Schoenfeld, 2017) to ensure maths becomes more relevant for school and society in general.

Recent iterations of maths education reforms continue to show that changing how we teach mathematics is difficult, teachers struggle to find time to engage with reform or create new resources and as a result tend to rely heavily on textbooks (O’Meara & Milinkovic, 2023). Although various technological advances have been heralded as a “silver bullet” that will solve the issues with student engagement with mathematics, take-up and implementation of such resources by teachers has often remained at the periphery (Bennison & Goos, 2010). Many reasons have been cited as barriers to teacher uptake of new technological developments, including systemic issues such as class-size, timetabling and cost (Bray & Tangney, 2017), as well as access and logistical problems. However, another pressing issue, is a need for professional development (PD) for teachers (OECD, 2015).

There is consistent evidence indicating that a sustained and experiential approach to PD is essential to support teacher change (Desimone, 2011). It is essential that practitioners are provided with opportunities to develop their own understanding of the value and relevance of any proposed change, as well as to recognise the impact that it might have on their practice and on student outcomes (Kärkkäinen, 2012).

The latest technological advancement that is predicted to have a significant impact on our societies and futures is generative AI (GenAI). Many questions have arisen about its potential impact on education, which are speculated to be both positive and negative (Giannini, 2023). While there are ethical concerns about the black box nature around the understanding of the AI processes, and the veracity of the information which it provides (Kaplan-Rakowski et al., 2023), there are also significant fears around cheating and plagiarism. However, when used appropriately, GenAI offers many opportunities, with UNESCO suggesting it can be used for activities ranging from idea generation to a reflection aid (Sabzalieva & Valentini, 2023). Of relevance to this work is the potential for GenAI to support teachers in the generation of, and reflection upon, lesson plans and resources that address the issues in mathematics education highlighted above. Hence the “two birds” reference in title – teachers are learning how to engage with GenAI while creating lessons which aim to meet the goals of curriculum reform. However, in order to support this, appropriate PD must be provided.

Constructivism and constructionism are the theoretical frameworks that underpins this research, acknowledging an approach in which both the technology and the user are constructing knowledge (Ackermann E., 2001). As part of a wider PD engagement with schools experiential GenAI workshops are being designed and delivered. The workshops support teachers through an immersive, iterative experience, to create and reflect upon lesson ideas, lesson plans and rich learning experiences, that give context and purpose to their lessons.

The generation and use of digital data and analyses in education comes with promises and opportunities, especially where digital materials allow use of Learning Analytics (LA) as a tool in Data-Based Decision-Making (DBDM). LA implies, analysing educational data to understand and optimise learning and learning environments (Siemens & Baker, 2012). In this paper we discuss LA as “a sophisticated form of data driven decision making” (Mandinach & Abrams, 2022, p. 196) as we explore how LA is used to support mathematics teaching and learning with digital materials in classroom practice. Data driven decision making or DBDM has been defined by Schildkamp and Kuiper (2010) as “systematically analyzing existing data sources within the school, applying outcomes of analyses to innovate teaching, curricula, and school performance, and, implementing (e.g., genuine improvement actions) and evaluating these innovations” (p. 482). DBDM is a key for the interpretation of LA, and can use any form of data, but in this review, the term DBDM is restricted to digital data. Using LA as a tool for DBDM could streamline data, making it more readily interpretable. However, questions remain about how usage can translate into practice (Mandinach & Abrams, 2022).

Quality of technology integration is not merely about technology use, but also about pedagogical use (Ottestad & Guðmundsdottir, 2018), about transformation and amplification of teaching as well as learning through use of technology (Consoli, Desiron & Cattaneo, 2023). LA within Digital Learning Material (DLM) can offer learners adaptive functions seamlessly embedded in DLMs or, provide learners (and teachers) compiled student assessments in relation to learning goals extracted from learning activities (Wise, Zhao & Hausknecht, 2014). The role of the teacher in student learning is clearly of central importance (Hattie & Yates, 2013; Yackel & Cobb, 1996), and teachers have a key responsibility to make digital technology a recourse in teaching to support student learning (Scherer, Siddiq & Tondeur, 2019).

This paper present findings from an exploratory systematic scoping review which was conducted regarding the use and impact of LA and DBDM in classroom practice to outline aspects related to Digital Learning Material (DLM), teacher usage, and student learning in the context of K-12 mathematics education.

A scoping review was deemed most appropriate since it can be performed even if there is limited number of published primary research (Gough, Oliver & Thomas, 2017), fitting new research areas such as LA, as it provides “a technique to ‘map’ relevant literature in the field of interest” (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005, p. 20), as well as combine different kinds of evidence (Gough, et al., 2017).

Rooted in the transdisciplinary approach to research as outlined by Darbellay (2015) that aims to include interested parties’ viewpoints, understandings and knowledge throughout the research process, our symposium draws upon the work of Moody (in press), which foregrounds the significance of children’s participatory roles as co-researchers, recognizing them as agentic and knowledgeable stakeholders in research processes. It emphasizes that children’s participation in research is an ethical choice that acknowledges their agency and rights, thus aligning with the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly articles 12 and 13, which assert children’s rights to be heard and express their opinions freely​​.

A project by Moody et al. (2021) exemplifies how children can enrich research with their expertise, especially regarding their experiences of school journeys. This illustrated the potential of transdisciplinary research to yield original contributions to our understanding of childhood and children’s rights. Their work emphasized the need for research that genuinely reflects the lived experiences of children, viewing them as active social agents.

James (2007) highlights issues of representation, authenticity, and the diversity of children’s experiences, stressing that children's voices in research should not merely confirm established views but rather offer fresh, authentic perspectives based on their unique social roles​​​​. The model of “children’s research advisory groups” (‘CRAG’) (Lundy et al., 2011) emphasizes how their active involvement in addressing concepts and analyzing data enhances the validity and applicability of research findings. Gillett-Swan (2018) supports this view, arguing that including children’s insights in data analysis processes fortifies the quality of results.

Incorporating insights from a recent systematic review of research with and by children (Bakhtiar et al., 2023), our symposium will explore the nuanced roles of children in research, reflecting a shift towards recognizing their agency and expertise. This aligns with Thomas's (2021) arguments, which advocate for the validity and necessity of child-led research within the broader scope of childhood studies. Our symposium proposes to extend the concept of CRAGs by embedding it within a transdisciplinary framework, emphasizing how they can be designed and implemented. While participatory approaches have been a cornerstone of children’s rights research, transdisciplinarity offers a broader, more cohesive strategy, treating participatory methods as a subset of its inclusive philosophy which fosters integration of children’s voices into research and policymaking, ensuring their perspectives are not merely included but are instrumental in shaping outcomes.

Our sessions will highlight how children can influence research questions and designs, refining methodological tools and engaging in data analysis, thereby actively participating in the co-creation of knowledge​​. However, we will not shy away from discussing the challenges, such as power differentials, the complexities of adult facilitation, and achieving genuine participation. We will delve into the roles and ethical elements regarding varied questions like: How can researchers strike a balance between encouraging participation and respecting a child’s choice not to engage, particularly in settings like schools where the concept of voluntariness may be blurred, while being mindful of the different levels of understanding and competence across varying ages?

During this symposium, we will also discuss the challenges and opportunities inherent in these approaches, considering the diversity of European contexts through experiences from Switzerland, Germany, and the UK. Each presentation within this symposium will concentrate on methodological aspects of participatory research, from conception to implementation, in educational contexts. By uniting the theoretical and practical dimensions, we aspire to create a transdisciplinary space where children’s voices are not just included but are instrumental in shaping the research paradigm and where specific limitations arise.

This doctoral study, grounded in the principles of children’s rights in education, investigates the role of children as co-researchers in exploring the school climate within alternative educational settings. Building on Moody’s (2019) emphasis on involving children in rights-respecting educational environments, this study explores alternative schools as examined by Zerika et al. (2022), revealing environments that adapt curricula to the interests of children and incorporate practices like class and/or school councils, reflecting an indirect approach to fostering child agency. These settings prioritize children’s holistic development, intertwining socialization and learning as key elements of educational experience. The research adopts a case-based, comparative approach across three alternative schools in French-speaking Switzerland, employing multi-informant and multi-method strategies to capture the dynamic nature of school climate, as suggested by Wang & Degol (2016). This includes observations, interviews with teachers, headmasters, and parents, and participatory activities with children (4 to 12). Emphasis is placed on the children’s perspectives on school climate, as elaborated by Cohen et al. (2009), examining how relationships, safety, pedagogical approaches, and the institutional environment contribute to the overall experience of learning and socialization in these schools. An insightful facet of this study is the active participation of children aged 10-11 as co-researchers. Drawing inspiration from Gillett-Swan’s work (2014, 2018), our research employs not only involves children in the development and analysis of data but also places significant emphasis on their insights. This participatory research with children highlighted the need to consider practical, organizational, and temporal aspects for child co-researchers. Balancing the power dynamic and ethically navigating the willingness of children and parents to participate were interesting challenges in these classroom and school settings. Reflections from the study underscore the importance of designing activities that accommodate the logistical and temporal realities of children’s lives. Building trust with participants, being prepared to adapt to the unexpected, and continuously reflect on and adjust methods to suit the needs and preferences of child participants were important. One of the main advantages was the authentic engagement with students, fostering a reciprocal learning environment and enriching data through their creative contributions. This involvement not only provided valuable data but also empowered the children as active participants in the research process.

Cohen, J., McCabe, E. M., Michelli, N. M., & Pickeral, T. (2009). School climate: Research, policy, practice, and teacher education. Teachers college record, 111(1), 180-213. Gillett-Swan, J. K. (2014). Investigating Tween Children’s Capacity to Conceptualise the Complex Issue of Wellbeing. Global Studies of Childhood, 4(2), 64–76. https://doi.org/10.2304/gsch.2014.4.2.64 Gillett-Swan, J. K. (2018). Children’s analysis processes when analysing qualitative research data: a missing piece to the qualitative research puzzle. Qualitative Research, 18(3), 290–306. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794117718607 Moody, Z. (2019). Droits de l’enfant et école : diversité, participation et transformation sociale. In J. Zermatten & P. D. Jaffé (dir.), 30 ans de droits de l’enfant: un nouvel élan pour l’humanité (p. 174-183). Sion, Suisse : Université de Genève, Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant. Wang, M.-T., & Degol, J. L. (2016). School Climate: a Review of the Construct, Measurement, and Impact on Student Outcomes. Educational Psychology Review, 28(2), 315-352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-015-9319-1 Zerika, S., Moody, Z., & Darbellay, F. (2022). Les pédagogies « alternatives » au prisme de trois études de cas. Recherches & Éducations. https://journals.openedition.org/rechercheseducations/12353

Inscribed in the UN-CRC and in other conceptualisations of children's rights are constructions of children (Storck-Odabaşı & Heinzel, 2019, p. 236). In my dissertation study I am looking at this particular aspect that lies 'underneath' and therefore I want to focus on children's interpretations of child(hood). The UN-CRC, in particular Article 12, also plays a central role in the study design, as my dissertation study is linked to a participatory research project about children’s rights that I am currently conducting with two academic research colleagues and 12 children aged 6-12 in Germany. We all meet once a month from March 2023 after school and sometimes on Saturdays to follow child-led questions. We are also providing workshops addressing children’s rights, research ethics and methods. In order to approach my question, the participating children posed in self-assembled groups still images and photographed themselves, adapting the impulse on the second day. Following the still images, we had a group discussion about the photos based on photo-voice method (Wang, 1999) and also with an impulse that took up a quote from the children given in a previous meeting. Especially at this point it can be seen how the children co-formed the research design. During the discussions, two children left the situation, saying afterwards that they were bored, which provides an interesting point of discussion for the symposium, as it particularly emphasizes the points of voluntary participation and self-determination in the research situation (Lundy, McEvoy & Byrne, 2011, p.719-720). For analysis and interpretation of the data I plan to view and discuss central video segments with the children. I want to use elements of concept mapping for visualization and following convergent interviewing techniques to ask for exceptions and explanations (Dick, 2007). By involving the children in this stage of the research process it is taken into account that the data interpretation is a moment directly affecting children (Lundy, McEvoy & Byrne, 2011). Difficulties and advantages of the study arose specifically from taking place outside school or any other institutional environment, like on the one hand building an intense, voluntary relationship or the possibility to take the time everyone needs for certain steps along the way but on the other hand finding time slots and making sure that the children can attend, which mostly meant, that parents had to drive them and pick them up afterwards.

Dick, B. (2007). What Can Grounded Theorists and Action Researchers Learn from Each Other? In A. Bryant & K. Charmaz (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of grounded theory (pp. 398–416). Sage. Lundy, L., McEvoy, L., & Byrne, B. (2011). Working With Young Children as Co-Researchers: An Approach Informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Early Education & Development, 22(5), 714–736. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2011.596463 Storck-Odabaşı, J., & Heinzel, F. (2019). „Findest du Kinderrechte sind gut und wenn ja, warum?“ Partizipative Methoden der Kindheitsforschung im Kontext von Schulentwicklung zu Kinderrechten. In C. Donie, F. Foerster, M. Obermayr, A. Deckwerth, G. Kammermeyer, G. Lenske, M. Leuchter, & A. Wildemann (Eds.), Grundschulpädagogik zwischen Wissenschaft und Transfer (pp. 233–238). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-26231-0_30 Wang, C. C. (1999). Photovoice: A Participatory Action Research Strategy Applied to Women's Health. Journal of Women's Health, 8(2), 185-192.

Eating habits have social, ecological and health influences, and most of them develop during childhood. As article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) states, children must receive information on health and nutrition. Schools therefore have a duty to offer all pupils fair access to sustainable food, with a view to transforming the situation and helping to reduce social inequalities. The Swiss curriculum includes this education as a theme, without allocating a specific hour in the timetable for pupils aged 4 to 12 years old. In practice little time is devoted to it, and studies show that parents and teachers have little discussion on the subject (Aydin et al., 2022). Faced with these implementation challenges, the project to develop a food education programme for primary schools emerged at the intersection of several Swiss institutions. In this context, several partners were mobilised to reflect on these issues. In addition to scientists, teachers and experts on the subject, a class of 9-10 years old pupils was appointed as a team of expert children, enabling the expertise of the main people involved - the pupils - to be taken into account. A participatory, cross-disciplinary methodology was put in place (Camponovo et al., 2020) to gather the pupils' opinions on the entire development of the programme, from the definition of the themes to the development of the monitoring tools, as well as the graphic design and running of the sessions. A range of innovative methodological tools tailored to children (visual methods, diamond ranking, focus groups, etc.) were used to ensure that children's participatory rights were respected across the 4 dimensions of Lundy's model (2007) (voice, space, audience, influence). This consultation phase will take place during the 2023-2024 school year. This contribution, based on some empirical results gathered during the process, aims to highlight both the advantages and the challenges encountered in our approach. How did the idea of integrating a team of expert children into the project emerge? How was this approach received by the members of the interdisciplinary team working on the project? What conditions and precautions were put in place? In order to draw lessons that can be transferred to another project, we will use field notes taken throughout the process and feedback from team members and children to formulate our thoughts on the effective participation of children in this project.

Aydin, G., Margerison, C., Worsley, A., & Booth, A. (2022). Parents’ communication with teachers about food and nutrition issues of primary school students. Children, 9(4), 510. Camponovo, S., Moody Z., Darbellay F., Berchtold-Sedooka A., & Jaffé, P.-D. (2020). Une approche transdisciplinaire du chemin de l’école : les enfants comme co-chercheuses et co-chercheurs. Dans I. Côté, K. Lavoie, R.-P. Trottier-Cyr (eds), La recherche centrée sur l’enfant. Défis éthiques et innovations méthodologiques (pp. 247-273). Presses de l’Université Laval. Lundy, L. (2007). «Voice» is not enough: conceptualising article 12 of the United Nation convention on the rights of the child. British educational research journal, 33(6), 927-942.

This doctoral research explores the intersection between children's educational rights and their civil and political rights, with a focus on the role of teachers as duty-bearers. The study examines the examples of school protests in Thailand in 2020-2021 as an exercise of civil and political rights in defence of a child's educational rights, as well as other children’s rights under the UNCRC. The original methodology proposed to work alongside a group of Thai secondary school students as co-researchers; however, ethical factors led to the exclusion of children from the research design. Instead, the child rights-based approach (CRBA) developed by Lundy and McEvoy (2012) has been adapted for use with a group of "recent adults" who were in school at the time of the protests but are now over the age of 18. The CRBA is based on a foundation of children's rights and incorporates the concepts of Article 12 and children's ‘right to be properly researched’ (Ennew & Plateau, 2004). The study recruited a YPRAG (young person's research advisory group) (Lundy, McEvoy & Byrne, 2012) of five young people, who were supposed to collaborate throughout the substantive stages of the research project to explore how best to examine teachers’ roles in the implementation of civil and political rights in schools. The collaboration with the YPRAG was intended to mitigate some of the researcher's European bias, reduce the risk of tokenistic examination of the data, and ensure that the research was culturally appropriate (Datta et al., 2014; Hart, 1992). Despite many mitigations explored, COVID-19 presented a substantial challenge, as participatory research relies on sustaining relationships between the researcher, gatekeepers, and the advisory group (Loveridge et al., 2023). The research faced other challenges as well, such as the flux in young peoples’ lives, making it difficult to maintain consistent participation, and after the research design stages, the YPRAG withdrew before data collection had begun. The discussant offers reflections and lessons learned from their doctoral study, suggesting that the CRBA is an ideal standard to maintain, but it should not be used in place of stringent and thoroughly considered ethical decision-making. The participation of children in doctoral research should be thoroughly considered, and researchers must be open to exploring other avenues. The study offers advice for researchers in similar sensitive contexts and emphasizes the need to prioritize ethical considerations and adaptability in decision-making.

Datta, R., Khyang, N., Khyang, H., Kheyang, H., Khyang, M. & Chapola, J. (2014). Participatory action research and researcher’s responsibilities: an experience with an Indigenous community. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 18. 1-19. Ennew, J. and Plateau, D.P. (2004) How to Research the Physical and Emotional Punishment of Children. Bangkok: Keen Publishing (Thailand) Co., Ltd., International Save the Children Southeast, East Asia and Pacific Region Alliance. Hart, R. (1992). Children’s Participation: From tokenism to citizenship. UNICEF. International Child Development Centre. Loveridge, J., Wood, B. E., Davis-Rae, E., & McRae, H. (2023). Ethical challenges in participatory research with children and youth. Qualitative Research. https://doi-org.queens.ezp1.qub.ac.uk/10.1177/14687941221149594 Lundy, L., & McEvoy, L. (2012). Children’s rights and research processes: Assisting children to (in)formed views. Childhood, 19(1), 129-144. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568211409078 Lundy, L., McEvoy, L., & Byrne, B. (2011). Working With Young Children as Co-Researchers: An Approach Informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Early Education & Development, 22(5), 714–736. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2011.596463 United Nations (1989). UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In England, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OfSTED) introduced a new Education Inspection Framework in 2019. Consequently, 3000 previously exempt 'Outstanding' schools are re-inspected from 2021 to 2025. In January 2023, Ruth Perry, a primary school headteacher, committed suicide following her school's downgrade from ‘Outstanding’ to ‘Inadequate’. Headteachers’ and teachers’ unions criticised OfSTED's judgments and their detrimental impact on people’s mental health. Eventually, Perry's school was re-inspected and upgraded to 'Good.' An inquest tied Perry's suicide partly to the initial inspection. A Coroner urged OfSTED to provide a detailed response and timetable, outlining the actions taken or planned to prevent future deaths. In response, OfSTED organised emergency training for inspectors to identify signs of stress and anxiety among school staff and leaders, indicating a belated acknowledgement of inspection-induced fear.

Amid the ongoing debates about OfSTED’s fitness for purpose and effectiveness, this paper employs complexity theory to examine why OfSTED has evolved into a rigid, powerful regime and how to lead meaningful changes if we envision a more humane, just and reliable inspection system.

This paper answers three research questions:

(1) What constitutes a complex inspection system in England?

(2) How do the underlying power dynamics lock the education inspection system in?

(3) How to strategize for a new education inspection system?

Through the lens of complexity theory, educational inspection operates as an open system in which various agents—inspectors, schools, parents, teachers’ unions, education policymakers and implementers—exchange information and engage in self-organised interactions, independent of external control (Turner & Baker, 2019). Some interactions adhere to established rules outlined in the Education Act 2005, inspection frameworks and handbooks, while others evolve organically, adapting to the dynamic environment. Over time, the system displays new properties that cannot be derived from its original components. This phenomenon is referred to as emergence (Morrison, 2008; Turner & Baker, 2019). For instance, despite being instructed not to undertake specific preparations, schools have learned to purchase and exchange information about specific inspectors’ personalities and their preferred data collection methods, aiming to appease inspectors and secure favourable inspection results (Author, 2023). This exchange of information and resources among agents has given rise to a new consultancy market selling inspection solutions.

Meanwhile, agents use imperfect knowledge to make choices and decisions. They co-evolve with the system, potentially adapting their agendas, beliefs and preferences over time. For example, after researchers discovered that Her/His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) (full-time OfSTED employees) appeared harsher than OfSTED Inspectors (OIs) (freelancing inspectors paid a day rate) in assessing schools, both groups consciously adjusted their judgments in the opposite direction, inadvertently creating new forms of bias (Bokhove et al., 2023; Jerrim et al., 2023a). Another study indicates that schools employing OIs are more likely to receive an ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’ rating and significantly less likely to receive an ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires improvement’ result (Jerrim et al., 2023b). These findings can influence school recruitment strategies and teachers’ professional development plans.

In summary, education inspection in England represents a complex system wherein interdependent agents exchange information and resources in a self-organised manner. These agents learn, adapt and co-evolve with the system, utilising information acquired from and feeding new information into the system (Davis, 2008). Initial conditions, history and the sequence of events have established a path, impacting the future development of the system (Boulton et al., 2015). Given these inherent characteristics, addressing challenges faced by the current inspection system necessitates complexity thinking. Superficial changes—such as removing a few problematic inspectors, altering inspection frameworks or increasing inspector training—will prove inadequate if we leave the underlying power dynamics unexamined (Biesta, 2010).

In Sweden, as in many countries, the work of school principals has become increasingly complex due to both changed political prioritisations and the societal developments in general (e.g., digitalisation, segregation, and changes in the demographical composition of students). Principals often experience conflicts in their role as they are facing strong expectations being accountable for students results, responsible for the staff in combination with extensive administrative tasks.

While the Swedish Education Act highlights the autonomy of school principals in matters of school organization, finances, and improvement initiatives, it simultaneously underscores the Local Education Authorities' (LEAs) responsibility for school outcomes and ensuring equity. This duality introduces ambiguity and illustrates the challenges faced by actors within local school organizations (Adolfsson & Alvunger 2020). Initiatives from the LEA and superintendent are experienced as administrative by the principals and perceived as interfering with daily work and contributing to an overload of duties. More communication involving long-term visions, frames and interpretations of directives and research are needed in relation to the local context (Norqvist & Ärlestig 2020)

We have in previous epidemiological (Persson, et al., 2021a) and interview studies (Leo et al., 2020) observed that the work conditions of school principals often are overlooked, forgotten, or simply not prioritized by politicians and the superintendents, which are the school principals’ superiors. For example, in a survey that had a nationwide reach, and which entailed more than 2000 school principals and assistant principals, we observed that the principals rated a supportive management as the least supportive factor in comparison with four other factors (i.e., cooperating coworkers, supportive management colleagues, supportive private life and supportive organisational structures) (Persson et al., 2021a). In addition, and when data was broken down further, we observed that only 17% of the school principals and assistant principals agreed with the statements that assessed their trust that superiors had a genuine interest in their job and when needed would help them solving work environment problems for the co-workers (Persson et al., 2021b). Furthermore, when interviewed, the principals explained that the superintendent was the link between the school board (i.e., the political level) and the principals. They also reported that they sometimes experienced opposite expectations from the superintendent and the local school management that caused them to feel that the “gas” and the “break” was applied simultaneously (Leo et al., 2020). There seems to be disconnect between school principals and their superiors that hinders effective cooperation and management. Presumably, dealing with this disconnect will create knowledge that may unlock unused capacity and make the governance of schools more effective and in the end improve student outcomes.

Research on the LEA level give insight of the sometimes challenging relationship between superintendents and principals (Honig & Rainey, 2019; Hakansson & Adolfsson, 2022). However, few (if any) studies have adopted a dual perspective by interviewing both school principals and their immediate superiors within the same organisation to capture their unique perspectives on the same issue. Hence, to gain insight and to improve our understanding of this understudied relation, we decided to conduct an interview study that simultaneously addressed both the school principals and the superintendent’s perspective. Thus, the overall objective of the present study was to identify circumstances that were perceived as facilitating the cooperation between school principals and their immediate supervisors. Specifically, we aimed to answer the following research questions:

Research questions

1. How do school principals and the school principals’ closest managers (often superintendent) describe their collaboration and work relationship?

2. What opportunities and/or potential pathways for improving their collaboration and work relationship are proposed by school principals and their closest managers (often superintendent)?

Accountability and its negative effects on teachers’ working lives and retention is internationally recognised as a problem in education (Buchanan, 2015; Holloway, Sørensen, & Verger, 2017; Teltemann & Jude, 2019), with school evaluation and inspection being a particular issue. Teachers’ working lives are being increasingly affected by the rise in the neo-liberal performativity / accountability culture in schools, as internationally, schools are increasingly preoccupied with policies of achievement, particularly test results. This has led many schools to adopt a results-driven approach, with a plethora of strategies aimed at improving results. This is evidenced by what is commonly referred to as ‘box-ticking’, as teachers’ work is increasingly directed towards assessment, exams, progress measures and preparation for review and inspection, and away from the more individualistic and creative aspects of the job (Perryman 2022).

A performative accountability culture can particularly affect the agency of headteachers, as Evans (2001:151) explains: ‘At the same time as heads are being trained for leadership and vision and a mission for the school, they are simultaneously in receipt of education policies that are extremely instrumental and interrupt their own agency as head’. In England, the inspection regime Ofsted is seen as placing a particular pressure on Headteachers. Page (2017:5) writes ‘with Ofsted giving almost no notice of inspection, head teachers commit to continual Ofsted-readiness within their schools, a perpetual state of inspection anxiety that aims for good-or-outstanding practice throughout every day, every week and every year’. Ball et al (2012) found that senior management employed techniques such as ‘learning walks’, training and observation to improve teaching and learning and ensure a state of perpetual inspection-readiness. This shows how inspection creates ‘a marvellous machine’ (Foucault, 1977:202) in the quest for constant improvement. Courtney agrees, particularly with the effects on leadership; ‘Compliance is woven so tightly into the regime’s fabric that head teachers are unaware that performance ‘on the day’ is thereby replaced by a longer-lasting and more deeply affecting fabrication. Thus rather than being controlled and disciplined externally, senior leaders and teachers position themselves in particular ways to change their behaviour and practices in order to ‘fit’ the system, and adapt to changing policy contexts such as changing inspection frameworks’ which is ‘the self working on the self, the self shaping its own conduct’ (Gillies, 2013:79). These studies relate to the effect of Ofsted on Headteacher agency between inspections, but during inspections the pressure intensifies as they are held accountable for the performance of their school and can face dismissal if there is a negative outcome. Leaders of smaller schools, who may be more isolated, are particularly vulnerable and more frequently seek support (Headrest, 2023). In December 2023 a government inquiry concluded that Ofsted had ‘contributed’ to the death of a Headteacher, Ruth Perry, who had committed suicide whilst awaiting publication of an inspection report downgrading her previously ‘outstanding’ school to ‘requires improvement’ (Clarke, 2023).

This paper examines data from a recent research project ‘Beyond Ofsted’ (2023). This was an Inquiry commissioned by the National Education Union. The scope of the Inquiry centred around answering the key question of what a better inspection system in England could look like. Underlying this, we wanted to find out what the principles that make a good inspection system are, and how these translate into inspection processes and practice. One of the main themes of the data was the particular impact of inspection on Headteachers, which this paper will explore, with our reserch question being 'What is the effect of inspection on headteachers in England'.

Education is seen as a key instrument for overcoming global challenges and contributing to the sustainable development of society (Ibisch et al. 2018). The United Nations has also recognized the potential of education and emphasizes its relevance with Goal 4 "Quality Education" of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UNESCO, 2021). However, the number of schools focussing on sustainability - so-called ECO schools or green schools - is only slowly increasing (Hedefalk et al., 2015).

Principals are important in achieving sustainability goals and are multipliers of sustainable development (Rieckmann, 2018). ESD is a leadership issue: School management has a key role to play in the comprehensive anchoring of ESD (Müller, Lude, & Hancock, 2020). Müller, Lude, and Hancock (2020) emphasize that despite extensive literature on ESD, the role of school leaders has been neglected to date.

Mogaji and Newton (2020) conducted an analysis revealing that school leaders frequently possess a limited comprehension of ESD, typically interpreting it primarily through environmental perspectives (Mogaji & Newton, 2020), and therefore find it difficult to implement ESD in their schools. Accordingly, the authors point out the following research gap: There is a need to investigate what specific knowledge and skills (competencies) school leaders need to implement ESD in their schools (Mogaji & Newton, 2020). The second review on the topic by Laurie, Nonoyama-Tarumi, Mckeown, and Hopkins (2016) also found similar findings. In their review, which consisted of a literature synthesis of studies from 18 countries, they discussed that 1) the implementation of ESD in the school as a whole has a positive effect on teaching, but that teachers need professional support and 2) it requires school management that has an understanding of ESD and competences in the field of sustainability management (Laurie, Nonoyama-Tarumi, Mckeown & Hopkins, 2016). Empirical studies such as the one from Bottery, Wright and James (2012) emphasize the need to rethink the understanding of leadership in educational institutions to integrate ESD. Zala-Mezö, Strauss, and Müller-Kuhn (2020) confirm that schools with distributive leadership strategies experience more effective ESD transformation processes. Leo and Wickenberg (2013), Mogren and Gericke (2019), and Verhelst, Vanhoof, and Van Petegem (2021) emphasize that specific sustainability management skills are crucial for the successful implementation of ESD.

Based on the findings of the two literature reviews (Laurie, Nonoyama-Tarumi, Mckeown & Hopkins, 2016; Mogaji and Newton, 2020) and empirical studies (Bottery, Wright & James, 2012; Leo & Wickenberg, 2013; Müller, Lude, & Hancock, 2020; Verhelst, Vanhoof & Van Petegem, 2021), there is a clear research-gap on the question of what competences school leaders need to be able to implement ESD in schools. In this context, Verhelst, Vanhoof and Van Petegem (2021) emphasizes the urgency of further developing school leadership education. Accordingly, this research project examines the role of school leaders in the implementation of ESD in schools as part of a comprehensive systematic literature review:

RQ: What sustainability-specific competencies do principals need to implement Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in schools?

The hypothesis is that targeted promotion of knowledge and skills on the topic of ESD among school leaders will lead to improved implementation of ESD in schools. The education of school leaders plays a key role in this.

Leading schools has become more challenging in recent years as the role of headteacher or principal has evolved and unprecedented challenges have arisen. Research in England, during and after the lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed the intensity of the experience for headteachers and the longer-term impact on their well-being and career intentions (Thomson et al., 2023, Greany et al., 2022). The research brought the sustainability of school leadership into sharp focus.

This paper draws on early findings from an ongoing, comparative study of sustainable school leadership across the UK, which seeks a deeper understanding of i) how the UK nations recruit, train and retain school leaders, ii) how well these approaches take account of individual, local and systemic needs and sustainability.    

The focus of this paper is to introduce the conceptual framework for the study. We show how we are exploring leadership sustainability alongside the ideas of identity and place, by highlighting each of these aspects with early findings from the first locality case studies we have conducted in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England.

We approach the study recognising that the way leadership and leadership development are defined reflect understandings of what education is ‘for’. We see leadership as culturally situated and context specific (Torrance and Angelle, 2019), distributed, and a process of influence geared towards the achievement of shared goals (Northouse, 2021). Leadership development we understand as a process of individual career-long growth involving the development of knowledge, understanding and abilities as well as shifts in aspirations, beliefs, values and/or identity.

We thus see the sustainability of school leadership as multi-dimensional and plans for realising it as reflective of values and ethics (Hargreaves and Fink, 2006). An understanding of supply is required but also consideration of diversity, equity, quality and fitness for the future, reflecting understandings of the purpose of education.

Seeing leadership as context-specific means considering place. We take place-related issues – e.g. school catchment, history, staffing and community resources – to mean that every school is unique, and requiring specific leaders/leadership. While the local can be understood as a boundaried place, place is also a site of power, which exists in time/space, through which information, people, things, and discourses flow. Place operates at different scales - national, regional, local – which intersect and interact.  

Identity is the third aspect of the conceptual framework. While individual identities are important, we also recognise collective identities that can be organisational and/or place-based. We thus understand professional identities as dynamic and changing over time - shaped by individual, school, local, national and global dimensions. Identities are individual and collective, socially constructed, and influenced by multiple factors (biography, history, culture, emotions, and professional norms). Identities are negotiated at micro and macro levels (e.g. school and policy), and bound up with values, power and legitimacy.  

We illustrate each of these aspects with data from one of the locality case studies we have conducted, providing insights into the current experience of leadership in specific contexts in each country.

We conclude by drawing out themes and issues that arise from applying our understanding of sustainable leadership, place and identity to the cases. In so doing we contribute to the conference theme by exploring and characterising current reality and beginning to draw out implications and indications for future development.

There is a persistent debate on the meaning of management and leadership, as it is assumed that people in management positions are leaders, but not all managers lead (Bush, 2020). The truth is that management and leadership are distinct but entirely complementary actions. While leadership is concerned with managing change and nurturing shared vision, management deals with complexity and advocates for stability and preserving established routines (Leal-Filho et al., 2020; Mogren et al., 2019) (e.g. it is concerned with organisation and staffing).

Leadership for sustainability refers to the processes that leaders, policymakers and academics undertake to implement sustainable development policies and other initiatives within their organisations. It, therefore, encompasses systemic approaches, methods and solutions to solve problems and drive institutional policy towards a more sustainable organisation. In leadership for sustainable development, the aim is to create current and future benefits while improving the lives of stakeholders (Verhelst et al., 2023; Broman et al., 2017).

Academia has identified the importance of leadership of management teams in education for successfully implementing the 2030 Agenda (Kuzmina et al., 2020; Mogren & Gericke, 2019; Persaud & Murphy, 2019). Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education depends critically on their knowledge and skills (Abidin et al., 2023). It is, therefore, a priority that the people who are part of these teams have a deep understanding of sustainability. However, research on this specific training of school leadership teams has not received much attention.

The breadth of the SDGs, their targets and indicators, as well as the lack of specificity and clarity in the definition of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), continue to deter school leaders from understanding and implementing this pedagogical approach in schools (Hadjichambis et al., 2020; Rieckmann, 2017). Mahat et al. (2016) attribute this lack of interest of these school leaders to their low level of knowledge about the SDGs and ESD. Fullan (2005) also recognised the complexity of being a sustainable leader and identified some attributes needed for sustainable leadership, including persistence, knowledge of sustainability, emotional intelligence, receptiveness to new visions and concepts, commitment to working collaboratively and the ability to transform the school. In addition, Müller et al. (2022) highlight the communication skills, change management, and in-depth knowledge of the staff working at the centre. Abidin et al. (2023) point to the importance of lifelong learning and optimising the use of resources.

Against this background, leadership training on the SDGs and ESD should not only be based on educational legislation, as has been the case so far but on how to transform schools and the lives of children and young people. The issues facing Europe and the world today call for more pragmatic, realistic leadership that addresses local and global challenges. Knowing and understanding the training needs of management teams could offer alternatives to effectively manage and implement ESD in the initial training of future teachers and their professional development. Based on this framework, the following research question is posed:

• What knowledge do the leadership teams have about the SDGs?
• What kind of specific training have the management teams received?

In order to address these questions, the study has the following objectives:

• To analyse school management teams' knowledge of the SDGs.
• To identify the type of training school management teams have received on the SDGs.

Workplace interruptions are a pervasive challenge, reducing performance, evoking negative emotions, and impacting relationships (Zide et al., 2017). Definitions of interruptions have evolved from Jett and George’s (2003) definition of interruptions as “any disruptive event that impedes progress toward accomplishing the organizational task.” Brixey et al. (2007) added the dimension of the suspension of goal-directed action. Later, Werner and Holden (2015) considered interruptions through a systems-based lens rather than as a single “event.” Recently, Puranik et al. (2020) added the unexpectedness of its occurrence to the definition of a “work interruption.”. Interruptions interfere with performance by moving the attentional focus from the planned work task (Puranik, 2020) and can engender negative emotional responses (Poirel et al., 2014).

Although School principals are “eminently interruptible” (Philips 1991), there is in general a conspicuous lack of specific research on interruptions experienced by educational leaders. Based on the literature regarding interruptions (Jett & George, 2003; Brumby et al., 2019; Puranik et al., 2020), one might presume school principals’ responses to interruptions would be similar to those of other types of managers. Even though interruptions potentially expose educational leaders to short- and long-term deleterious effects, school principals often view interruptions as time invested (Hunter et al., 2019). The goal of this study was to map the patterns and sources of interruptions that school principals face and to explore the typical responses to those interruptions.

The study focused on how school principals perceive an interruption in terms of the source of the interruption. The study explores how principals perceive the various sources of an interruption and how their perceptions can influence the interpretation of an unexpected event. Given this aim, the following research questions were proposed. (1) What do principals define as an interruption event in their job? (2) Who are the key stakeholders who are the source of these interruption events? (3) How does the source of the interruption affect the principals' interpretation of the event? (4) What determines whether a stakeholder or event is considered an interruption?

Principals are interrupted by various stakeholders (such as students, parents, teachers, and officials from the local municipality). The study shows that these stakeholders can be divided into extrinsic and intrinsic categories. Principals categorize interruptions based on how they align with or contradict their role definition, evaluating the event and the stakeholders based on their affinity to the principals’ core goals. Extrinsic sources not aligned with these core goals are most likely to be considered interruptions. For example, when the Ministry of Education makes an ad hoc request for data it is always considered an interruption as the principals perceived this request as not advancing their goal of concern for student welfare. By contrast, stakeholders aligned with their core goals are mostly considered an intrinsic source. For instance, parents asking for an emergency meeting to unexpectedly help a student would be considered intrinsic stakeholders because of their strong affinity to principals' core goals - such an event would not be considered an interruption.

Based on the findings of the Principals Leadership Behaviour Project in two provinces in China, this paper provides empirical evidence from three school principals that contributes to the understanding of the factors that influence the resilience of school principals in their profession. Resilient leadership is one that is able to sustain an organisation or group's competitive advantage over time through its ability to perform two tasks simultaneously: to adapt and adjust effectively to rapid, turbulent change, and to thrive and prosper successfully against current goals (Dartey-Baah, 2015, Robb, 2000; Masten, 2012; Vera et al.,2020). If educational leaders fail to manage adversity, not only will the leaders themselves suffer psychological disorders, but students and teachers will also suffer as a result of the dysfunctional climate for all concerned.

Resilience research has been around for 50 years, but has been greatly intensified in the last 20 years (Förster & Duchek, 2017). The origins of this field of research lie in developmental psychology in the context of children at risk, suggesting that it is the protective factors with the individual, family and community that allow children at risk in adverse living conditions to thrive in their lives (Werner, 1996; Luthar, 1991). After that, resilience in the context of education is widely applied to children and teachers (Luthar, 2015; Beltman, Mansfield & Price, 2011).

Resilience in the context of education has been studied from a number of approaches to its definition. Firstly, resilience is seen as an important psychological trait associated with optimism, perseverance, adaptability, responsibility, courageous decision-making, personal ethical values, personal efficacy, personal well-being, etc. (Bennis, 2007; Lazaridou, 2020; Olmo-Extremera, Townsend and Segovia, 2022), which help individuals to bounce back from the challenges, disappointments and adversities they face. Secondly, resilience is considered as a socially constructed concept that is relative, developmental and dynamic and influenced by contexts or scenarios (Rutter, 1990; Bernard, 2002; Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Henderson & Milstein, 2003; Gu & Day, 2007; Day, Johansson & Møller, 2011). In this case, resilience develops over time and is influenced by situational and personal factors and determined by individuals’ capacities to manage context-specific factors (Day, Johansson & Møller, 2011; Sarkar and Fletcher, 2014; Rutter, 2006). Apart from the two understandings mentioned above, there is another approach to explore resilient leadership. It is considered as a kind of transformational capability to demonstrate how to use resources (Dartey-Baah, 2015; Teo, Lee & Lim, 2017). Specifically, the capability perspective believes that resilient leadership is the use of social capital and financial, structural or technological resources to achieve the institution's goal so that it can thrive even in the face of adversity. (Vera et al., 2020).

Although the need and importance of resilient leadership is known, only a limited number of empirical studies have involved school principals. Some studies believe that resilience is static and resilient leadership is related to personality traits (Lazaridou & Beka, 2015; Olmo-Extremera, Townsend & Segovia, 2022), while others argue that resilience is dynamic and resilient leaders are influenced by positive and negative circumstances and are able to manage these context-specific factors (Day, Johansson & Møller, 2011). However, there is little evidence on which relevant factors, the trait variables or the context-specific variables, are more justified in Chinese principals and how such variables relate to success in the principalship.

This paper aims to portrait three resilient principals to demonstrate the range of internal and external protective factors impacting on leaders’ work which, together contribute to exercise leadership that resilience plays in enabling them to thrive, flourish and sustain their effectiveness.

Trust is crucial in many areas and levels of society. School is a place for children and students’ learning that promotes personal development to become active, creative and responsible individuals and citizens. Trust between principals and teachers is important regarding collaboration, professional learning and the quality of teaching. Results from various international studies suggest that the interaction between the principal and teachers and the teachers' trust in the principal is closely connected to a school climate that is favorable to students' learning (Price, 2015; Tschannen-Moran & Gareis, 2015).

Trust is crucial for leadership. It is a part of caring for and loving of others, and the way a leader use experience, imagination and empathy that makes life of the other person as eliberating as possible (Løgstrup, 1994, 2007). To create trust is not only something for the other person, rather trust in a relationship makes it possible for both lives to flourish. This is also the case in a principal-teacher relation. To show trust is to completely open oneself up (Løgstrup, 1994) and contains a willingness to make yourself vulnerable for the other and to take a risk, believing, that the other will meet your needs (Blom, 2022; Hoy & Tschannen-Moran, 2000; Løgstrup, 1994).

Vulnerability has an important role in a trusting relation and to be open in contributing to the life of the other. This natural vulnerability and responsiveness to one another is an important part of leading in schools, for example in collaborations, professional learning and teaching. Relational vulnerability can be understood as the “intrinsic ability of humans to be open to their experiences, reflect upon their physical and mental states of existence, and navigate their lives” (Satama, Garcia-Lorenzo & Seeck, 2023, p. 4).

Vulnerability can be seen as both positive and negative, but is traditionally understood as being related to weakness, dependency, and powerlessness (Gilson, 2014). Positive vulnerability can be seen in the willingness to be honest and open to learning by accepting our not knowing everything and the possibility of being wrong (Mayer, La Fevre & Robinsson, 2017). As Gilson (2014) states “epistemic vulnerability is what makes learning, and thus a reduction of ignorance, possible” (p. 93).

Negative vulnerability can for example be the possibility of embarrassment, emotional pain or feelings of powerlessness, which can result in defensive or ineffective behavior (Lasky, 2005). This affects the trusting relationship between a principal and teacher and may cause negative consequences on students learning.

Leaders and those who hold positional power need to model the courage it takes to confront and discuss difficult issues, especially if these can evoke emotional reactions (Mayer, La Fevre & Robinsson, 2017). For principals this can be issues regarding the cooperation within the school, professional learning and school development. Thus, this includes that vulnerability is also about being sensitive and responsive towards the other.

The notion of vulnerability is important when thinking about how leaders can build more trusting relationships (Mayer et.al., 2017).

Previous research focuses on the broader concept of trust and this study aims at examining how school leaders and teachers think about relational vulnerability and how it manifests in their everyday school life.

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to examine how principals show vulnerability and responsiveness in their leadership in schools as a part of trust, with a particular focus on the principal-teacher relationship.

Research questions

How do principals describe their actions that involve vulnerability and responsiveness to other persons?

What are the possible reasons for principals’ willingness to be vulnerable to others?

How do teachers experience principals’ actions in regards to vulnerability and responsiveness?

The round table invites everyone to discuss research in didactics with colleagues from the host country. Four papers will be presented:

Irene Drymiotou: Promoting Open Schooling: Partnerships Between Schools, Academia, the Community, and Industry for Science Learning

Kyriakos Demetriou: Teachers and students co-creating short animation films for the promotion of the values of inclusion

Agni Stylianou-Georgiou: XILOMATA: Deconstructing art and reconstructing multimodal spaces for embodied inquiry in an art gallery

Agni Stylianou-Georgiou, Maria Hadjianastasi, Maria Vrikki: Fostering social perspective taking through dialogue and ‘radiant reading’ of wordless short animated films.

This Panel engages the question:

How can schooling, teacher agency and inclusion be reimagined and operationalised as hopeful practices for plural, sustainable and participatory futures?

Within the field of education, there is growing interest in futures discourses. Issues including the future of the planet, the opportunities and fears presented by technological developments in AI, and rising nationalisms have resulted in speculation on the future of education and its role in global society. A recent example is UNESCO’s “Reimagining our futures together: a new social contract for education” report (2021). While education does aim to offer responses to societal crises, as a field it is arguably ‘subsumed under a market logic that prioritizes the development of human capital and economic growth’ (Van dermijnsbrugge & Chatelier, 2022, p.3). As such, its orientation towards the future is too often considered to be a ‘known territory to be mapped and conquered and fought over’ (Facer, 2016, p. 70) resulting in little more than perpetuating a crisis-ridden status quo.

Through this panel, we wish to (re)orient ourselves, together with others, in relation to the field of education and to society more broadly by offering ways of being, thinking and doing that ‘not only help reveal structures and systems of violence, exploitation and domination’ (Haiven & Khasnabish, 2014, p. 85), but also by supporting ‘people’s capacity to imagine and forge paths beyond them’ (Haiven & Khasnabish, 2014, p. 85). To this end, we reimagine the concepts of schooling, teacher agency and inclusion, and the practices that underpin them. Through perspectives centered around plurality, participation and sustainability we wish to create ‘a space where an awareness of difference can lead to new ideas, alliances, solidarities and possibilities’ (Haiven & Khasnabish, 2014, p. 244).

The first project presents a reimagined perspective on schooling via a research study conducted in 2024 with a group of about 40 educators in various roles, with different levels of experience and located in diverse contexts across the globe. They applied utopia as method, a speculative and imaginative practice that goes beyond critical scholarship and requires ontological inquiry and direct action (see Van dermijnsbrugge & Chatelier, 2022), in order to generate a shared imagination of a genuinely alternative future for schooling that is better equipped to respond to society’s most pressing challenges.

The second project focuses on reimagining teacher agency. A recent research project, rooted in Actor-Network-Theory (Latour, 2005), shows how teacher agency is entangled with and often restricted by the agency of things (Oosterhoff et al, 2023). Human agency, decision making and taking action, ‘cannot be realized without an in-depth understanding of education “in its becoming”, as it unfolds and emerges’ as complex more-than-human practices (Gourlay, 2021, p. 165). This study supports educational professionals in gaining insight into the influence of objects in action that shape their profession. Through this insight, they develop a wider sense of response-ability that helps them to critically navigate increasingly complex educational practices.

The third project focuses on inclusive educational practices that are driven by a pedagogy of hope, or, in the words of Webb (2019): pedagogical tact for alternative futures. Ten teacher trainers with leadership roles and expertise in pedagogy participated in a phenomenological study (Middendorp, 2015; Van Manen, 2014) wherein they used the mirror letter as a phenomenological method (Middendorp 2015, 2023) to investigate their experiences with and perspectives on hope in inclusive practices. The mirror letter creates awareness of one's (inclusive) actions and helps to make explicit values of individuals and communities.

This Panel offers opportunities to discuss educational practices, and propose ways of thinking and doing that help offset dominant powers, whilst embracing complexity and uncertainty.

Temporality and its conceptions are fundamental to educational discourse, policy, and practices. More specifically, education is often and ubiquitously put about a specific kind of temporality, i.e., the future and ideas about possible and/or (un)desirable futures (e.g., Arendt, 1954). While (the concept of) future is often put in relation to education in rhetorical, tokenistic, or even instrumental ways, there are indeed different aspects of this bond that have been recognized and analyzed from diverse ontological and epistemological perspectives. For instance, we may think about how education will look like in the future, how it concurs in building the future or how it prepares students for the future, on the other hand, we may invert the relationship and ask ourselves how ideas and attitudes towards the future affect educational thinking, practices, and policies today. Here, for instance, ideas about technology and their role in future societal settings – so-called sociotechnical imageries (Jasanoff and Kim, 2013) – inform and define present discourses, practices and policies pertaining to education. This often happens in normative, preparative, or even speculative ways. In fact, as Facer (2021) summarizes, in the educational sector ‘the future’ can be subject to many diverse activities following heterogeneous aims: prediction, imagination, speculation, (adaptive or agentic) preparation, critique, emancipation, suspension, reflection and even repair. These activities, and the effects they induce upon present and future schooling, also depend upon which actors (students, teachers, policymakers, tech companies, financial speculators), interests (pedagogical, economic, political, … ), and generations participate in the construction of specific ideas, attitudes and conceptions of the future, but also upon how near or far the imagined future may be conceived.

In this paper, we are interested in discussing and confronting educational futures (and of futures in education) of small and rural schools. Education and educational practices are always embedded within broader territorial systems that define geographically specific needs, desires, constraints and grammar of school. Subsequently, educational conceptions of the future – and their influences and effects on the present – may also vary depending on territorial differences and specificities (Boix et al., 2015). Small and rural schools have specific features, needs, and grammar of school when compared with bigger schools in urban areas, for instance, regarding student numerosity and heterogeneity, classroom organisation or integration with other territorial actors and institutions. In this regard, one of the many questions arising is where, for which areas, and with which consequences educational futures are imagined, perceived, produced, built, or speculated upon.

By drawing on the current interest in the future in sociology (see the special issue in Sociological Review, 2016; New Media and Society, 2021; Qualitative Inquiry, 2022; Levitas, 2013; Urry, 2016) and on the ongoing investigation in small schools in Italy resulting from a collaboration between CNR-IRPPS and INDIRE, we will present social imageries of small schools emerging from participatory research with three schools aiming at stimulate bottom-up projects that makes operational the idea of the school as a learning hub. Our idea is to propose to work with the concept of ‘school as learning hub’ as a possible future scenario of the future grammar of the school in well-known OCDE scenarios of schooling to understand: a) how the idea of ‘school as learning hub’ may give a name to their schooling practices, and act as concrete (what could or ought to be), an abstract (core principles to engage critically with the present), or latent future (future in the making, but yet to materialise) (Halford & Southerton, 2023) for the three cases; c) to what extent this exercise of the future may help small schools stimulate their singularity and creativity in a bottom-up way.

Schools in the UK are currently at a disjuncture with regards to LGBT inclusion. In England, ‘LGBT content’ has been added to the curriculum for Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). Within this, government advice is tenuous, with notions of age appropriateness and parental consultations dominating guidance. These polices are also framed within a neoliberal climate, where structural inequalities are masked, and individualised solutions are favoured (Woolley, 2017). The resulting implementation of LGBT practices, and policies has been variable, both within and between schools (Llewellyn & Reynolds 2021). This picture sits alongside a rise in opposition to LGBT inclusion in schools (Nash & Brown, 2021).

In light of these contending notions, it is important to be sceptical of universal and linear narratives of progress which permeate modernity (Brown, 2001), education and research (Facer, 2023). However, linear narratives are only one of several possible “temporal framings” (Lazar, 2019) that are experienced. Indeed, education itself is often caught between competing conceptions of progress and conservatism. Both advocate a desired future, but each has a different relationship to the past, the former to discard and the second to preserve (Decuypere & Maarten, 2020). These ideas are adjoined to discourses of the desired child through a projected future (Lesko & Talburt, 2012). Arguably, nowhere are the lines between progress and conservativism more keenly drawn than with regards to LGBT inclusion in schools. Within this, conceptions of the desired child are used to advocate for, and notably against, LGBT inclusion. The moral rhetoric of “let kids be kids” (Bialystok & Wright, 2019) regularly appears in campaigns against LGBT inclusion, which can be seen more globally.

One group of people who are at the centre of these contestations are LGBT teachers, who are, to some extent, living their identities, and responding to the presence (or absence) of LGBT within their workplace. Identity formation in general has a relationship to time (du Gay, 2007). For teachers, they operate with the present, yet their work is centred around educational narratives of progress, and of their children’s future. However, teachers have a relationship to schooling through their own experiences, thus there is a recollected past that may impact their practices, perceptions, and identity formation. More broadly, for any individual, a “perception of their past, present and especially their future(s), is inextricably connected to psychological well-being” (Clancy, 2014, p. 36).

For LGBT teachers temporalities have even more significance, as often their own schooling has been harmful. UK schools have historically operated a homophobic relationship to LGBT content and people, with particular significance placed upon the legacy of Section 28 - this stated local authorities shall not “intentionally promote homosexuality” (DES, 1988). The impact of Section 28 has arguably led to decades of silence around sexuality in UK schools. Whilst present day schools may be less overtly homophobic, the inclusion of LGBT content, and treatment of LGBT people is variable, with emphasis often placed upon antibullying strategies, which construct a limiting victim narrative (Monk, 2011). Within this, schools are places that overwhelmingly reproduce heteronormativity; therefore, it is possible, LGBT inclusion is largely present through a “discourse of accommodation” (Omercajic and Martino, 2020). Alongside this, ‘LGBT people’ are also bounded by narratives of inevitable progress. This is demonstrated through public discourses such as the “it gets better” campaign, launched in 2010 in the US, and popularised through celebrities and online video content (West et al. 2013). Whilst these videos offer examples of hope and resistance, it is also possible that that they create a singular hero narrative, that streamlines an acceptable LGBT experience. Again, there is a separation into hero and victim.