Conference Agenda

This symposium contributes to decades of international research designed to understand and improve leadership practices across educational sites. In times where uncertainty for educational development prevails, the work of a group of educators described as middle leaders, whose remit is largely to support professional learning, brings hope to teaching development. Scholarship shows that the study of educational leadership is predominantly focused on the work, characteristics, and practices of school principals (Gurr & Drysdale, 2013). Yet among the web of leadership practices (Nehez et al., 2022), the leading and development practices of middle leaders are less prominent as a dedicated focus of research (Forde et al., 2019). Across the globe, middle leaders are increasingly recruited to support site-based education development of teachers in primary and secondary schools, preschools, and universities (Grootenboer et al., 2020; Vangrieken et al., 2017). Site-based education development, a term coined by Kemmis et al. (2024), is a central notion for capturing the actual situatedness (needs and circumstances of practitioners) that influence the practices for leading professional learning. This symposium draws together research conducted in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden seeking to redress the more limited body of research focused on middle leadership, particularly as it relates to the productivity of communicative practices employed when middle leaders lead education development in their own settings.

Middle leaders are variously defined across different educational jurisdictions and international contexts (Lipscomb et al., 2023); for example, they are known as first teachers or development leaders in Sweden, or instructional leaders, instructional teachers or middle leaders in Australia and New Zealand. Among their designated roles, it is generally understood that a main responsibility is to facilitate professional development and curriculum change initiatives (Rönnerman et al., 2018). In this symposium, presenters consider middle leaders as those educators responsible for leading, teaching, communicating and collaborating with teams of colleagues as they manage and facilitate professional development among their colleagues (Grootenboer et al., 2020). As previous research has shown, as middle leaders lead the learning of others, the framing and focus of their roles and responsibilities shift responsively across their leading practices requiring different relational intensities as they work alongside teaching colleagues and senior leadership (Edwards-Groves et al., 2023). This heightens the research attention needed to illuminate the sociality, so communicative interactional imperatives, of middle leading practices.

Capitalising on the ‘practice turn’ in education (Kemmis et al., 2014), the papers in this symposium utilise practice theories to explore the nature and influence of middle leaders’ communicative practices as they engage in their leading work. Broad questions for the collection of papers consider the relationship between middle leading practices (what actually happens), the sociality (the intersubjective and interpersonal), the situatedness (the site-ontological responsiveness) and the enabling and constraining conditions (or practice architectures) which influence the day-to-day practices of middle leaders. Practice theories attend assiduously to the site in both existential and ontological terms as being sited (in actual places where things happen), not just as a location in an abstract and universal matrix of space-time (Kemmis et al., 2014, pp. 214-215). In this light, the papers aim to show how middle leaders leading the practice development of their colleagues recognise and respond to the local contingencies ‘at work’ in the site. This reciprocally requires a theory of practice that treats middle leading practices as situated, socially, dialogically, ontologically and temporally constituted. This view of practices is important for considering, as the papers in this symposium do, ways the communication practices enacted by middle leaders are comprised of practices that promote and embody dialogue, relationality and responsivity.

Teachers' professional learning is connected to and dependent on different leading practices. In a previous study, we explored such practices and identified how principals’ leading, teacher leaders’ leading and external development leaders’ leading formed a web of leading (Nehez et al. 2022). In this presentation, we take the perspective of a development leader as a middle leader and explore the interplay between development leaders and teacher leaders in a professional development program, where the leading and learning practices of development leaders and teacher leaders meet. The current study is informed by the theory of practice architectures (TPA) (Kemmis et al. 2014, Mahon et al. 2017) and the theory of ecologies of practices (Kemmis et al. 2014). In line with TPA we regard development leaders’ leading as a site and time specific social practice composed of sayings, doings and relatings hanging together in a distinctive project, which in this study is defined as leading professional learning. The study is conducted in a Swedish school organization where professional learning for teachers is conducted in cooperation between development leaders at an over-arching organizational level, principals, and teacher leaders. The data is collected from a professional development program where 33 teacher leaders participated. It includes the planning of and reflections on the program. The analysis consists of: 1) identification and categorization of the development leaders’ sayings, doings and relatings when leading the program, 2) documentation of the interplay in narratives, and 3) thematic analysis of the narratives to understand what characterized the development leaders’ leading for professional learning. The findings show how the development leaders’ leading practice hangs together with the teacher leaders’ learning and leading practices through four types of responsiveness: 1) responsiveness to ideas of successful leading, 2) responsiveness to experiences and observations of leading practices, 3) responsiveness to teacher leaders’ understanding and 4) responsiveness to own leading practices. Through these, a formative aspect of leading unfolds, where the connection between leading and learning appears. Due to the findings, the web of leading (Nehez et al. 2022) can be further developed. The dimension of learning comes forward as an essential part of the web. To be able to lead responsively, specific arrangements need to be in place. With such arrangements it becomes possible to act responsively and relate to information that is relevant for leading professional learning. Such arrangements form learning leading in the web of leading for professional learning.

Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P. & Bristol, L. (2014). Changing Practices, Changing Education. Springer. Mahon, K., Kemmis, S., Francisco, S., & Lloyd, A. (2017). Introduction: Practice theory and the theory of practice architectures. In: K. Mahon, S. Francisco, and S. Kemmis, eds. Exploring education and professional practice: Through the lens of practice architectures, (pp.1-30). Springer. Nehez, J., Sülau, V., and Olin, A., 2022. A web of leading for professional learning: Leadership from a decentring perspective, Journal of educational administration and history, 55 (1), 23-38.

This paper presents an examination of ways middle leader’s dialogicality and interaction practices create communicative openings for professional practice development among teachers across school and tertiary contexts. The paper addresses issues concerning how middle leaders support the design and implementation of professional learning that is worthwhile and responsive to the needs and circumstances of site-based development. It pays attention to the ways in which apposite communication approaches to practice development are derived from what we describe as dialogic principles for teacher learning that can be employed to guide the discourses and discursivity that enable development and change (Grootenboer et al., 2020; Edwards-Groves et al., 2023). It addresses the multidimensionality of relational trust as critical in creating democratic communicative spaces for professional dialogue, learning and practice development (Edwards-Groves & Grootenboer, 2021). The theory of practice architectures guides the thematic analysis revealing the unique cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that influence the possibilities for creating open communicative spaces where teachers are supported by middle leaders to address issues of change (Grootenboer & Edwards-Groves, 2024; Kemmis et al., 2014). As a theory concerned with the site-based 'happeningness' of practices, it offers a lens to delineate the distinctive ways the dialogic practices of middle leaders create conditions that enable teachers to actively participate in their professional learning conversations. This provides opportunities for engaging deeply with the thinking of others, recognising and expanding their own and others’ insights, and by challenging the ideologies, theories and practical propositions they are encountering. Drawing on empirical cases, the paper will outline ways dialogic approaches to professional learning form a critical pivot point from which middle leading practices support teachers to successfully engage in site-based change (Rönnerman et al., 2018). An empirically-derived, theoretically informed dialogic framework useful for facilitating robust and productive collegial conversations will be introduced. As a fundamental position, dialogue is taken not to be the kind of facilitator talk that simply delivers, lectures or feeds information, but it is a planned-for approach to professional learning that deliberately opens up communicative spaces in democratic ways responsive to individual circumstances and needs, thus maximising teacher engagement in individual and collective learning experiences. Specifically, the presentation demonstrates the value of a dialogic approach to designing and negotiating site-based professional learning, where as a premise, it is considered that it is the dialogues that take place among educators that display the critical position ‘the site’ has for facilitating practice development.

Edwards-Groves, C., & Grootenboer, P. (2021). Conceptualising the five dimensions of relational trust: middle leadership in schools. School Leadership and Management, 41(6),1-24. Edwards-Groves, C., Grootenboer, P. Attard, C., & Tindall-Ford, S. (2023). Middle leading practices of facilitation, mentoring and coaching for teacher development: A focus on intent and relationality. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 19(1), 1-20. Grootenboer, P. & Edwards-Groves, C. (2024). The theory of practice architectures: Researching Practices. Springer. Grootenboer, P., Edwards-Groves, C. & Rönnerman, K. (2015). Leading practice development: voices from the middle, Professional Development in Education, 41(3), 508-526. Grootenboer, P., Edwards-Groves, C. & Rönnerman, K. (2020). Middle Leadership in Schools: A practical guide for leading learning. Routledge. Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P. & Bristol, L. (2014). Changing Practices, Changing Education. Springer. Rönnerman, K., Edwards-Groves, C., & Grootenboer, P. (2018). Att leda från mitten - lärare driver professionell utveckling [trans: Leading from the middle - Teachers driving professional development]. Lärarförlaget. ISBN 978-91-88149-33-6

There is a widespread understanding that schools play a pivotal role in protecting and preserving biological, social, and material resources. However, this requires a certain kind of education practices that support shared responsibility, promote competences in collaboration and facilitate critical and creative thinking. Such practices, denoted in both policy and research as education for sustainable development (ESD), is a response to the need to educate students to cope with the complex challenges associated with sustainable development and future societies. This paper presents a sub-study as part of a larger project (Forssten Seiser et al., 2023) that took place in a municipality in Sweden. ESD was introduced in 2016, and the school administration supported and managed the work for three years. In the sub-study, the function and conditions of ESD facilitators were explored. ESD facilitators are teachers with a function to lead improvement processes towards ESD. As middle leaders, the ESD facilitators’ responsibility was to facilitate dialogue and communication among teaching staff. The ESD process was directed towards a whole school approach, meaning that ESD is fully integrated in the local curriculum and functions as a pedagogical idea (Mogren & Gericke, 2019). In a middle leading position, the ESD facilitators worked from a position between the school leaders and the teaching staff, focusing on both students’ learning and on leading and organizing colleagues’ professional learning (Edwards-Groves & Rönnerman, 2013; Grootenboer et al., 2015). In semi-structured interviews seven ESD facilitators describe their goals, relationships and the practice architectures which enabled and constrained their function as middle leaders. Their reported experiences were analysed in relation to a typology of sustainability change agents (Van Poeck et al., 2017) in which their roles can be positioned along the axes of open-ended vs. instrumental approaches to change and learning, and personal involvement vs. personal detachment. Results show how the ESD facilitator function were more open-ended in schools where there was room for dialogue, reflexive discussions, and collaboration. In schools where there was little space for these activities, the facilitator function became more instrumental. The results show how a lack of dialogue and collaboration created challenges to integrating ESD as a holistic pedagogical idea. An individualistic school culture emerged as a plausible explanation for teachers’ resistance to other teachers acting as ESD facilitators and, that contextual factors relating to the organization and culture have significant influence on middle leaders and their ability to fulfil their assignments.

Edwards Groves, C., & Rönnerman, K. (2013). Generating leading practices through professional learning. Professional development in education, 39(1), 122-140. Forssten Seiser, A., Mogren, A., Gericke, N., Berglund, T., & Olsson, D. (2023). Developing school leading guidelines facilitating a whole school approach to education for sustainable development. Environmental Education Research, 29(5), 783-805. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.215198 Grootenboer, P., Edwards-Groves, C., & Rönnerman, K. (2015). Leading practice development: voices from the middle, Professional Development in Education, 41(3), 508-526, DOI: 10.1080/19415257.2014.924985 Mogren, A., & Gericke, N. (2019). School leaders’ experiences of implementing education for sustainable development: Anchoring the transformative perspective. Sustainability, 11(12), 3343. Van Poeck, K., Læssøe, J., & Block, T. (2017). An exploration of sustainability change agents as facilitators of nonformal learning: Mapping a moving and intertwined landscape. Ecology and Society, 22(2).

The Dutch Educational Network “Sprong Voorwaarts [“Jump Forward”] aims to contribute to knowledge utilization related to future-oriented education. In total, 13 partner organizations participate in the network varying from primary and secondary schools, teacher education institutes, and an academy for community and talent. Within this network teachers, teacher educators, and researchers collaborate in ‘Knowledge Labs’ (KL) to develop knowledge products for daily practice. The network aims at finding possible solutions for future challenges in education related to four overarching themes (1) developing teacher behavior, (2) developing teacher identity, (3) developing leadership and (4) developing organizations. This workshop focuses on the output of the Knowledge Lab: ‘Agency of Educational Professionals’ which is related to the theme of developing teacher behavior in the context of innovations in education.

Agency is defined as "the conscious and purposeful exercise of influence, making choices, taking advantage of opportunities or adopting a proactive attitude resulting in changes in the work situation and/or in one's own professional development (Eteläpelto et al., 2013). Agency is seen as an important part of the professionalism of teachers and teacher educators especially in relation to the continuous changes in education (Oolbekkink et al., 2017). Researchers have indicated that teachers’ professional agency is a key capability for advancing student learning, and for their continuing professional development and school development (Toom et al., 2015). Agency is “practiced when teachers exert influence, make informed choices in a way that affects their work within and beyond schools, and/or their professional identities (Eteläpelto et al. 2013, p. 61).” In relation to the role teachers can play in educational innovations they are sometime referred to as change agents. A study by Van der Heijden et al. (2015) indicates characteristics of change agents pertaining to lifelong learning, mastery, entrepreneurship and collaboration.

However, how to effectively promote professional agency of teachers is still uncharted territory, especially because knowing what agency is, does not automatically gives professionals the capacity to develop their agency within their professional contexts (Oolbekkink et al., 2017). Research suggests that professionals are more likely to develop professional agency, when they: a) involve themselves in acts of agency fitted to their professional contexts, b) choose acts of agency that are within their zone of proximal development, c) when they discuss together which actions are most suitable in specific contexts for them to develop agency, and d) when they reflect on the impact of these actions on the development of their agency (Van der Heijden et al., 2015). These insights were used to develop a knowledge product for practice: the serious game Super Agent in the Knowledge Lab.

The Super Agent game is built around ‘Super Agents’ who all represent a specific quality that supports agency (for example Socrates is the Super Agent that represents “reflection” in the game). All the qualities that are related to change agency characteristics are operationalized in concrete actions that can be undertaken in daily educational practice. After playing this game, the participants are expected to have gained insight in their own agency and they will have taken a next step on their path of lifelong learning.

In recent decades, the Irish education system has undergone a transformative shift with the emergence of progression pathways from Further Education and Training (FET) to Higher Education (HE). Echoing the conference theme, ‘Education in an Age of Uncertainty: Memory and Hope for the Future’ and fuelled by historical developments in European lifelong learning policy, the permeability between FET and HE plays a crucial role in enhancing accessibility within the tertiary Irish education sector (O’Sullivan, 2021). Additionally, permeable education systems not only facilitate lifelong learning but also heighten the appeal of Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes (CEDEFOP, 2012). From a European perspective, the intertwining of pathways between VET and HE has been a focal point in policy and legislative development, particularly in countries with well-established VET systems like Germany, France, and Denmark (CEDEFOP, 2019).

This paper delves into the evolution of vertical permeability from FET Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) provision to Higher Education undergraduate programmes within the Irish education system. The research explores the impact of increased permeability on the learner experience in the Irish tertiary sector. Additionally, it provides a comparative lens on European trends in VET to Higher Education progression, with specific attention to systems in Sweden and Germany.

At the core of facilitating permeable education systems lies the development of the European and National Frameworks of Qualifications (O’Sullivan, 2021; QQI, 2020). Over the past two decades, the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) have offered a structured approach to comparing different learning levels across national and European systems (EC, 2018). This research's parameters explore developments in vertical pathways between NFQ levels 5, 6, and 8 (EQF 4,5 & 6).

In Ireland, not all Higher Education programmes provide entry routes for learners with a Post Leaving Certificate qualification (O’Sullivan, 2021). Historically, FET to HE access relied mainly on local agreements and individual course-by-course arrangements (Rami et al., 2016) between FET Programme providers and HE Institutions. Recent advancements, however, have witnessed Higher

Education institutions, including Dublin City University, embracing non-program-specific PLC qualifications at (Irish) NFQ levels 5 and 6 (EQF 4 & 5) as the basis for entry into a significant number of undergraduate degree programmes. Legislative changes in Sweden and Germany have significantly increased vertical permeability pathways between VET and Higher Education, allowing learners from both countries to access higher education programmes with post-secondary VET qualifications (CEDEFOP, 2022; CEDEFOP, 2017).

For some years now, there have been calls for enlarging the domain of apprenticeships, a device which has been historically aimed at supporting the school-to-work transition of young people, in the direction of raising the age limits for access and include as beneficiaries the entire adult population in working age (Cedefop, 2018). Among the most recent steps, the Council Recommendation of 15 March 2018 on a European framework for effective and quality apprenticeships highlights that they may facilitate adults' professional development and transition to a (new) job and the Recommendation on Quality Apprenticeships, recently approved by the ILO, underlines the importance of promoting skills development opportunities addressed to adults to respond to needs that may arise in relation to the search for a new job and/or the willingness to improve their knowledge and skillset.

So far, Italy has taken timid steps in the direction of promoting an expansion of apprenticeships to adults by extending its well-known and most used form of apprenticeship - the so-called “professionalizing” one - to people who have lost their jobs; however, this enlargement has not yet found fertile ground for development and adequate numbers of beneficiaries. Hence, a research question has been formulated on which elements can promote the success of an apprenticeship towards the adult population, which may be also attractive to businesses.

With the aim of understanding which elements can be identified as "enabling factors" that support the growth of an apprenticeship scheme for adults, a comparative study was launched in 2023 for analyzing different schemes of European countries’ dual systems allowing access to adults. Building on the study carried out by the ILO (2022), which clustered all countries (in Europe and beyond) where apprenticeship schemes open to the participation of adults are in place into three groups, by differentiating them on the share of the over-25 participants, those to be involved in the comparative analysis have been chosen, picking at least one from each sub-group. Hence, the following countries have been selected for the study: Switzerland, Denmark, England, Finland. In all these countries, apprenticeships allow free access from adults, whether unemployed or employed, regardless of their educational level or already acquired qualifications. And in all these countries the share of adults has been growing in recent years compared to the total number of apprentices.

The study takes the start by examining how the different countries have realized the enlargement of beneficiaries of apprenticeships to adults, investigating the regulations, measures and initiatives that support this extension, and then examining the results in terms of participation. The in-depth analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of these schemes, as emerges from the output of the monitoring and evaluation activities carried out at national level, in addition to what is discussed in the relevant scientific literature, allows us to draw useful elements for identifying those that can be defined as the "enabling factors" for promoting the participation of adults to apprenticeships. The study is still ongoing, until the end of the year, and we are pleased to share and discuss the results achieved so far.

Orienting vocational education and training (VET) towards lifelong learning and developing procedures for recognising already-acquired skills and competencies (so-called learning outcomes) in formal VET programmes are important objectives of the confederation and the cantons in Switzerland. In line with the Memorandum on Lifelong Learning (Cedefop, EU Commission 2002), non-formally and informally acquired competencies, such as further training and work experience, should also be given greater consideration. Recognition of prior learning (RPL) should facilitate social and economic integration and enable individuals to get higher qualifications. At the same time, RPL should improve the education system and thus alleviate the shortage of skilled workers. It is generally assumed that recognising competencies should be easier to achieve in VET, with its practice-oriented training system, than in the general (higher) education sector. In Switzerland, RPL practices have so far only been established, documented, and researched in basic VET at the upper secondary level (Maurer 2019, SERI, 2018). At the level of higher professional education and training, which is aimed at people who already have professional experience, and in particular at Professional Education Institutions (PEI), the educational organisations have a great deal of room for manoeuvre, with little transparency regarding RPL practices. This article builds on the results of a national study commissioned by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI, which found that already-acquired learning outcomes are not recognised in around half of the PEI programmes examined (Salzmann et al. 2022). This can be partly explained by the personal pedagogical convictions of so-called gatekeepers, who make RPL decisions and in the underlying didactic concepts of the programmes (Baumeler et al. 2023). This article sheds light on possible explanations at the level of educational organisations, which are not the responsibility of individual actors but have to do with the self-image of the organisations and their willingness to use existing leeway defined by external framework conditions. The study aims to understand better the different RPL practices and justifications of PEIs from the perspective of the organisations to better promote RPL in higher professional education and training. We ask how external framework conditions, such as national minimum requirements, framework curricula and regulations on accessing the occupations, hinder or promote RPL and how much leeway there is for PEIs within an occupational field to recognise students’ learning outcomes. We use a model based on the findings of Damm (2018). With the motif of “boundary work,” he analysed who (potential students) and what (learning outcomes) are allowed through the boundary and which lines of reasoning guide the actions. We analyse four cases of PEI programmes that contrast as much as possible in their framework conditions and RPL practices and show the lines of reasoning from the PEI perspective. We assumed that PEIs recognise learning outcomes only strictly when there is little room for manoeuvre and more generous when there is much leeway. However, there are also counterintuitive cases that deviate from this scheme. These PEIs do not recognise learning outcomes, even though there is room for manoeuvre. Other PEIs recognise learning outcomes, although the possibilities are limited by the framework conditions. This raises the follow-up question of what motivates PEIs to deviate from the scheme, i.e., not to utilise the scope or to maximise it.

Vocational education and training (VET) is a multidisciplinary and multifaceted applied research field. Research is driven by practical, social, political, and scientific interests. The aim of the workshop discussion is to give continuity to earlier discussions aimed to further elaborate an analytical framework on VET research. The framework aims to integrate current VET research, to identify research gaps and to develop a proposal on future research. A first draft of the framework has been discussed during the first VET Skills Week 2016, organized by the European Commission, and further developed at the Crossing Boundaries Conference 2017 in Rostock, and the second VET Skills Week 2017. Likewise, a discussion was also held as part of the sessions of the 2018 and 2019 and 2022 and 2023 ECER conferences.

The growing heterogeneity in classrooms is important in order to include all pupils (United Nations, 2006), but may be challenging for teachers: For instance, teachers need to assess the heterogeneous learning prerequisites of their students to make pedagogical and didactic choices, all while monitoring ongoing learning progress in their day-to-day teaching activities (Helmke & Weinert, 2021). Especially when teachers’ motivation and cognitive resources are low, teachers’ biases may come into play more frequently. Research confirms this and shows that teachers tend to use more heuristic judgement processes in these kinds of situations (Krolak-Schwerdt et al., 2013, 2018).

However, not all pupils are the same; some pupils are more at risk than others when it comes to teachers’ possible biases. Empirical evidence suggests that pupils with special educational needs and pupils with different ethnicities are often subject to biased teacher judgements (Glock et al., 2020). It is therefore crucial to look especially at those groups of pupils in order to examine possible mechanisms as a first step towards a more equitable and inclusive classroom. Thus, this symposium aims to contribute to the understanding of teachers’ perceptions, biases and expectations from an international perspective. To this end, the various contributions address questions that focus on the content of teacher biases as well as on the effects of these biases on teacher behavior:

In the first study from Luxembourg by Pit-ten Cate & Krischler, the focus is on teacher’s warmth and competence expectations and emotions concerning students with special educational needs. It investigates how these expectations and emotions vary based on specific special educational needs characteristics, namely learning difficulties and challenging behaviour. Results show differences between in-service and pre-service teachers when it comes to warmth and competence as well as between different special educational needs when it comes to teachers’ emotions.

The second study from Germany by Glock et al. explores the impact of social behaviour information on pre-service teachers' judgments and feelings of resignation. Pre-service teachers were presented with vignettes on pupils’ social behaviour, either positive or negative, and judged these pupils’ academic performance and learning behaviour. Results show that information, especially unusual negative information, biases the judgement.

The third study from the United States by Garcia Coppersmith et al. shifts the focus to racial-ethnic biases in teacher’ responses to pupils’ novel ideas in a mathematics lesson. By assessing how teachers react to online scenarios with pupils of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, the study shows that teachers found the same math task to be more difficult for Black and Latinx/e pupils. Furthermore, teachers’ language was biased as a function of the students’ race/ethnicity, for example in the topics the teachers discussed with the student.

The fourth study from Germany by Schell et al. adds another layer to the understanding of (future) teachers’ biases by examining stereotypes among pre-service teachers in the context of inclusion. Focusing on autistic pupils and pupils with Down syndrome, the research investigates the relationships between pre-service teachers' stereotypes, diagnostic processes, and decisions using an online simulation. This study aims to uncover how stereotypes may affect the inclusion of students with special educational needs in educational settings. Preliminary results show the existence of stereotypes as well as biased judgements.

Collectively, these studies highlight the important role teachers play in shaping pupils’ experiences while looking at the topic from an international angle. The findings highlight the need for strategies to address these found biases that may contribute to educational inequalities.

The increasing heterogeneity of the student population often poses a challenge for teachers, as they often feel inadequately prepared and therefore less positive about including students with special educational needs (SEN). In this context, research has indicated that a diagnosis or label of SEN affects teachers´ expectations and behaviour. Indeed, stereotype-based expectations of teachers determine their interactions with different students and in turn student outcomes. These expectations are also associated with different feelings, which in turn have an influence on how teachers (re)act in certain teaching situations. Stereotype based expectations can be triggered by just one salient attribute, whereby stereotype knowledge can reduce complexity and facilitates the effective processing of information. Stereotypes develop according to systematic principles, and people´s perception of others is mainly determined by the dimensions of warmth and competence. The mixed stereotype content model proposes that different warmth-competence combinations may trigger differential behavioural and affective responses (e.g. paternalistic emotions vs. resentment). The current study aimed to investigate to what extent teacher expectations of students´ warmth and competence and their emotions concerning inclusion of students with SEN varied as a function of specific SEN. Participants included 25 experienced in-service and 45 pre-service teachers (primary school). Participants were presented with two student descriptions: One student vignette described a student with learning difficulties and another a student with challenging behaviour. After reading each description, teachers were asked to complete scales to rate the student´s warmth and competence and teachers´ emotions were assessed using a semantic differential scale. Results of a 2×2×2 mixed method ANOVA showed significant main effects of stereotype dimension and teacher status but not SEN. Most interestingly however, there were significant two and three-way interaction effects indicating that in-service teachers´ ratings varied as a function of dimension and SEN whereas preservice teachers´ generally provided higher ratings for warmth than competence regardless of SEN. Results of a 2×2 mixed method ANOVA showed that teachers emotions varied as a function of student SEN but not teacher status. Teachers felt les secure, more anxious and less optimistic when considering including students with challenging behaviour than a student with learning difficulties. Results of our study support previous findings concerning the effect of student characteristics on teachers´ expectations and emotions. Given the relationship between teacher expectations and student performance and the associations between expectations, emotions and behaviour, these findings can contribute to understanding factors underlying educational inequalities.

Avramidis, E., Bayliss, P., & Burden, R. (2000). A survey into mainstream teachers´ attitudes towards the inclusion of children with special educational needs in the ordinary school in one Local Education Authority. Educational Psychology : An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology, 20, 191–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/713663717 Cuddy, A. J. C., Fiske, S. T., & Glick, P. (2007). The BIAS map: behaviors from intergroup affect and stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(4), 631–648. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.4.631 Cuddy, A. J. C., Fiske, S. T., & Glick, P. (2008). Warmth and competence as universal dimensions of social perception: The Stereotype Content Model and the BIAS map. In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 40, pp. 61–149). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(07)00002-0 Eagly, A. H., & Chaiken, S. (1993). The psychology of attitudes. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J. C., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 878–902. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.6.878 İnan-Kaya, G., & Rubie-Davies, C. M. (2022). Teacher classroom interactions and behaviours: Indications of bias. Learning and Instruction, 78(April 2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2021.101516

Social behaviors such as impatience and disrespect can be one important component of different types of SEN such as autism or challenging behavior (McClintock et al., 2003) but can also be associated with gifted students (Preckel et al., 2015). As such, gifted students often are associated with behavioral difficulties and negative social behavior, as are students with SEN. Teachers as well as preservice teachers know about typical social behavior patterns of students and how they are related to stereotypes about a particular student group. Stereotypes as generalized knowledge about the members of a particular social group (Smith, 1998), can color people’s perceptions and bias the judgments of the members of this groups. Many studies have already provided evidence for stereotypes biasing teacher judgments, in the domain of ethnic minority students, students from families with low socio-economic background, or students with special education needs (Glock et al., 2020).1 With this vignette study at hand, we were experimentally investigated whether very rare social information about a student biases teacher judgments. Among a sample 88 preservice teachers, we investigated the influence of social behavior on their academic achievement judgments and feelings of resignation. We described two students, one showing respect and patience in the interaction with others, while the other student was described as disrespectful and impatient. We asked the preservice teachers to judge the student’s language proficiency and in mathematics ability. Additionally, we asked the participants to judge the student’s learning behavior, general ability, concentration, motivation, and intelligence. The participants judged the concentration, motivation, and learning behavior of the student described with the positive social behavior more positively than of the student with the negative social behavior. Most impressively, the preservice teachers judged the student with the positive social behavior as higher achieving in mathematics than the student with the negative social behavior. The preservice teachers felt more resignation (e.g. “I would feel helpless”) when imagining a confrontation with the student with the negative as compared to the positive social behavior. Our study shows that simply adding very rare information about the social behavior of a student can bias preservice teachers’ judgments. This implies that students with SEN and also gifted students might at a double risk, because they might cause feelings of resignation and also because teachers might judge them worse even when the remaining information is controlled for.

Glock, S., Kleen, H., Krischler, M., & Pit-ten Cate, I. M. (2020). Die Einstellungen von Lehrpersonen gegenüber Schüler*innen ethnischer Minoritäten und Schüler*innen mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf: Ein Forschungsüberblick [Teachers' attitudes toward students from ethnic minorites and with special education needs]. In S. Glock & H. Kleen (Eds.), Stereotype in der Schule (pp. 225–279). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-27275-3_8 McClintock, K., Hall, S., & Oliver, C. (2003). Risk markers associated with challenging behaviours in people with intellectual disabilities: A meta-analytic study. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 47(6), 405–416. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2788.2003.00517.x Preckel, F., Baudson, T. G., Krolak-Schwerdt, S., & Glock, S. (2015). Gifted and maladjusted? Implicit attitudes and automatic associations related to gifted children. American Educational Research Journal, 52(6), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831215596413 Smith, E. R. (1998). Mental representation and memory. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social cognition (pp. 391–445). McGraw-Hill.

In the U.S., Black and Latinx/e students face educational disadvantages, especially in subjects belonging to the STEM field (Gutiérrez, 2012). Schools have been identified as one source contributing to such disparities (Michelmore & Rich, 2023). Within the school system, teachers and their practices play a critical role. Previous research has shown racial-ethnic biases in classroom instruction (e.g. Tenenbaum & Ruck, 2007). In mathematics, teacher biases can be a result of lower expectations towards pupils from minoritized groups, particularly Black girls (Copur-Gencturk et al., 2019). Whereas teacher biases have been extensively investigated in the domain of academic judgments and disciplinary referrals, to our knowledge, teachers’ natural language in approximations of teaching, particularly in the domain of ambitious math instruction, have not been investigated experimentally. Teachers’ language in their in-the-moment responses to students is a site that may be particularly sensitive to biases, as biases are most salient in non-reflective, automatic processes. We thus aimed to investigate teachers’ spontaneous spoken responses to students’ mathematical explanations in an experimental setting. Participants were N=271 teachers of record in the U.S. The study had a one-factorial between-persons design in which participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a classroom with predominantly Black, Latinx/e or white students, reflecting the relatively segregated nature of American classrooms. Teachers were presented with six hypothetical fourth grade classroom vignettes. The vignettes showed different mathematics tasks and student explanations of their problem-solving process. After reading the target student explanation, teachers were asked what they would say and do next. Using voice recording software embedded in our survey panel, we captured teachers' spoken responses. We employ natural language processing methods to decipher topics by cohesion, identifying unique topics ranging from mathematically-focused language (e.g. number line) to process-oriented language (e.g. explain, who thinks). We also apply a sentiment analysis using the BING dictionary. We find significant differences in the topics discussed by experimental condition. Teachers showed, for example, greater likelihood of affirmative but little mathematical language for the Black condition relative to the White condition. Additionally, we find a tendency in sentiment that teachers were positive toward Black students compared to white or Latinx/e students. Finally, we find more words spoken on average in the white classroom condition compared to the Black and Latinx/e conditions. Our findings have implications for anti-racist teacher education tied to specific instructional domains in ambitious math teaching.

Copur-Gencturk, Y., Cimpian, J. R., Lubienski, S. T., & Thacker, I. (2019). Teachers’ Bias Against the Mathematical Ability of Female, Black, and Hispanic Students: Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X19890577 Gutiérrez, R. (2012). Context matters: How should we conceptualize equity in mathematics education? In B. Herbel-Eisenmann, J. Choppin, D. Wagner, & D. Pimm (Eds.), Equity in discourse for mathematics education: Theories, practices, and policies (pp. 17–33). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-2813-4_2 Michelmore, K., & Rich, P. (2023). Contextual origins of Black-White educational disparities in the 21st century: Evaluating long-term disadvantage across three domains. Social Forces, 101(4), 1918-1947. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soac098 Tenenbaum, H. R., & Ruck, M. D. (2007). Are teachers’ expectations different for racial minority than for European American students? A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 253–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.99.2.253

Inclusion has taken the spotlight in education and teachers and their attitudes play a decisive role in its successful implementation (Markova et al., 2016). Stereotypes are beliefs about the characteristics and behaviour of members of a social group (Hilton & von Hippel, 1996). With regard to inclusion, stereotypes differ depending on the pupils’ needs: Pupils with Down syndrome, for example, are stereotypically perceived as warm but not very competent (Fiske, 2012). Autistic pupils, on the other hand, are often associated with savant abilities (Bennett et al., 2018). However, there is little research on the relationship between teachers’ stereotypes in the context of inclusion and their diagnostic process or diagnostic decisions. The few existing studies show inconsistent results (Glock et al., 2020). We therefore investigate the stereotypes of pre-service teachers, their diagnostic process/ decision as well as the relationship between them. We will focus on autistic pupils and pupils with Down syndrome as two large groups of pupils with special educational needs that are seen as very different (American Psychological Association, 2023) by investigating the following hypotheses: H1: Pre-service teachers have stereotypes towards autistic pupils and pupils with Down syndrome. H2: Pre-service teachers’ judgements are biased by the existence of a diagnosis in comparison to no diagnosis. H3: Pre-service teachers’ stereotypes influence the diagnostic decision so stereotypes lead to a biased decision independent of the actual information. We investigate this in an online simulation. Data collection is currently still running. An estimated N = 180 pre-service teachers will participate in an online study. The participants are presented with four pupils and different sources of information. The pupils vary depending on whether they have a diagnosis or not and whether they are described in a stereotypical way or not. With limited time, they are instructed to gather information and make a diagnostic decision. We also assess implicit and explicit stereotypes, prior knowledge and demographic data. Premilitary results show both- the existence of stereotypes as well as significant differences regarding the diagnostic decision: Considering the Bonferroni adjusted p-value, there was a significant difference between pupils described in the same way but with and without a diagnosis. Final results will be presented at the conference as we are just finishing data collection. We expect pre-service teachers to have stronger implicit than explicit stereotypes regarding autistic pupils and pupils with Down syndrome; leading to strongly biased decisions in which information related to stereotypes is overvalued.

American Psychological Association. (2023). APA Dicitionary of Psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/ Bennett, M., Webster, A. A., Goodall, E., & Rowland, S. (2018). Understanding the “True” Potential of Autistic People: Debunking the Savant Syndrome Myth. In M. Bennett, A. A. Webster, E. Goodall, & S. Rowland, Life on the Autism Spectrum (S. 103–124). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3359-0_6 Fiske, S. T. (2018). Stereotype Content: Warmth and Competence Endure. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(2), 67–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417738825 Glock, S., Kleen, H., Krischler, M., & Pit-ten Cate, I. (2020). Die Einstellungen von Lehrpersonen gegenüber Schüler*innen ethnischer Minoritäten und Schüler*innen mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf: Ein Forschungsüberblick. In S. Glock & H. Kleen (Hrsg.), Stereotype in der Schule (S. 225–279). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-27275-3_8 Pit-ten Cate, I. M., & Krischler, M. (2020). Stereotype hinsichtlich Schüler*innen mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf: Lehrkraftüberzeugungen, -erwartungen und -gefühle. In S. Glock & H. Kleen (Hrsg.), Stereotype in der Schule (S. 191–224). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-27275-3_7

Both parts of this symposium address the professional challenge rapid new-deregulations of laws and standards, freeing people of human-rights (neoliberalism), have created systemic injustice, and the widest gap between poorest and richest since World War II. Mistrust leads to students, more than willing to work hard, dropping out of school without them or their families knowing how to earn a living. At the limits of poverty they beg and are vulnerable to recruitment into regimes of Violence, Uncertainty, Chaos and Ambiguity.

The professional challenge is addressed Symposium Part 2 with perspectives from 1) Albania/Kosovo experiencing youth, the nations' futures, choosing to leave home to be trafficked abroad by boats, 2) US allowing some migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, already in Mexico, to apply to enter the US as refugees, 3.i) Nigeria's urban strategies to improve secondary education to leverage cultural richness and diversity of student populations to cultivate mutual respect, empathy, and active citizenship, and 3.ii) Nigeria's rural strategies to reverse malnutrition and mobilise education to optimise nutritional value of higher yielding crops, whilst attracting youth to stay in Nigeria with hope for sustainable futures. Two themes emerge.

1. Authoritarian hierarchical top-down delivery of PISA driven curriculums in classrooms de-professionalize educators and administrators by removing their autonomy and contribution to policy making (Sahlberg, 2012). Reduced to transmitters of government ideology, teachers are prevented from culturally responsive lesson-planning using students’ baseline-assessments to inform differentiated learning-plans for success. This creates systemic injustice as students with what Bourdieu calls the system's ‘right capital’ succeed and get richer and those without drop out of school to beg, engage with trafficking of illegal goods and people, or fail at school, widening the poverty gap.

2 Capital of disadvantaged students with intersectionalities of discrimination, assessed using deficit models, is found wanting. Students’ marginalised capital remains unrecognised and no differentiated lesson-planning creates pathways to curriculum Intended Learning Outcomes. Rather, they are segregated/streamed to Special Education Needs and Disability/lower ability classrooms with low expectations. This perpetuates patterns of illiteracy and prevents accessing knowledge of community-building to stop neoliberalism and systemic injustice implemented by power of a person, not power of the law.

Presenters offer culturally relevant responses to ways their Universities' Education Departments address the following question:

1. How and in what ways can University Schools of Education act as hubs to support a school to build a professional development community of practice.

Each presenter addresses the question and themes step-by-step.

Step 1 The intricate challenges posed by climate change significantly impact impoverished families, perpetuating social injustice and impeding sustainable development. The symposium partners draw on Dewey's Professional Educators and Administrators Committees for Empowerment (PEACE) to build Participation, Experience, Association, Communication, and Environment. This theoretical foundation employing action research methodology throughout the curriculum design, delves into the multifaceted consequences of the intersectionalities of climate change, war and forced migration. The adverse effects, such as irregular rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, and heightened temperatures for nationals and new arrivals, directly jeopardise agricultural productivity—the linchpin of rural livelihoods and peaceful communities. Lacking resources and knowledge to navigate these challenges, impoverished families face heightened vulnerability, further exacerbated by limited access to crucial information and technologies. Consequently, children from these families often confront early school dropout, amplifying cycles of poverty and social injustice.

Step 2 Adapting ‘A Blueprint for Character Development for Evolution (ABCDE) to offer five stages drawing on social contract theory, to prepare teachers to recognise bias and reverse it.

Each partner incorporates diverse perspectives and community building using the frameworks and methodologies above, to reverse local inequality, and mainstream them through powerful Higher Education networks to reverse g/local inequality.

There are large gaps between the actual results of the students in Albania and Kosovo and even the average PISA results, let alone the top PISA results. Students from Kosovo and Albania are considered functionally illiterate. They are not taught to celebrate their cultural heritage and the memory is lost and their perceptions of the future are without hope. Many young people leave Kosovo and Albania, with high risk of loss of life, to be trafficked to countries where they think they will have a brighter future. They do not realise that even if they are successful in gaining refugee status in another country, they will not have an education that will allow them to be competitive in the labour market. Curricula problems are a misalignment between what students need to learn and what they are taught, are age inappropriate, and students are demotivated and see themselves as failures without hope for a future. Teacher training is not about addressing this problem, or empowering students with the conceptual frameworks and theoretical frameworks to solve their own problems to become self-reliant and resilient. Rather, educational institutions have a great disconnection with the education departments of the universities which misses opportunities to optimise students' learning. Many students have traumatic and post-traumatic problems, behaviour difficulties and have not developed attachment to their peers, families and communities drawing on Bowlby's Attachment Theory. School leaders selection is made according to the political investment in the election which is camouflaged with laws and instructions. In order to camouflage this, some criteria have been set by an international agency for school principals to follow, but this does more training on how to work as a teacher than how the head of the school should lead the staff and students in achieving high results. The appointment commissions are fully selected with political investment. Some universities started preparing leading teachers with postgraduate research degrees, but these are not recognised in the appointment of school leaders. The presentation reveals how following the two steps set out in this symposium abstract; PEACE and ABCDE builds community and empowers teachers, students and families with feedback-loops to policy makers and sightlines to change and hope for the future.

Bowlby, J. (1969) Attachment and loss: Vol 1. Attachment. New York: Basic. Bowlby, J. (1973) Attachment and loss Vol. 2. Separation. New York: Basic. Bowlby, J. (1980) Attachment and Loss. Vol 3. Loss. New York: Basic. Buchanan, J. (1975). Vol. 7 The Limits of Liberty: Between Anarchy and Leviathan in The Collected Works of James M. Buchanan, Foreword by Harmut Kliemt, 20 vols. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1999-2002) Available at http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1827 Taysum, A., & Hysa, F. (2023). Typology of epistemologies for democratising knowledge and policy benefits for all mainstreamed by doctoral-study. European Journal of Educational Research, 12(2), 623- 637. Fehérvári, A. (2017) Management of Social Inequalities in Hungarian Education Policy in Italian Journal of Sociology of Education 9 (2). Freedom House (2022) Freedom of the World Report. https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2020/leaderless-struggle-democracy Hysa, F. and Taysum, A. (2022) Using A Blueprint for Character Development for Evolution (ABCDE) to Build Relationships Through Talk to Mobilise Attachment Theory to Develop Security Attachment Capital for Good Choices that Regulate Continued Good Lives., in Journal of Groundwork Cases and Faculty of Judgement 1, (2) 187-209. USAID (2023) Administrator Power travels to Serbia and Kosovo – May 2023. https://www.usaid.gov/administrator-power-travels-serbia-kosovo

According to Hesson (2023) report by the Biden administration will allow some migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who are already in Mexico to apply to enter the United States as refugees. The refugees are expected to apply for asylum and will be eligible for government assistance through the early resettlement process. These refugees are likely to settle in Texas, California, and New York, which have historically received the most refugees. This symposium presentation examines the dynamics of refugees entering the United States from Mexico and explores potential strategies for their shelter, safety, cell phones, employment, and educational access. This presentation identifies communities of practice that are working hard to facilitate community building for social justice. It also highlights the myriad of difficulties and harsh challenges faced by refugees fleeing for their lives and emphasises the role of lifelong learning in promoting higher education opportunities. Undocumented refugees in the US can obtain legal status through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. DACA provides some two year work permits and protection from deportation. Currently, only a small percentage of undocumented college students are on such a program currently. Once documented, leveraging their current knowledge and skills, refugees can build academic capital that can be recognised by accrediting agencies enabling access to inclusion, education, and the workforce legally. The Professional Educators and Administrators Committees for Empowerment (PEACE) can facilitate democratisation of cultures and languages while honouring cultural heritages and memories of their associated literacies, that enable communities to celebrate previous achievements, participation, cooperation and success. Likewise, adapting “A Blueprint for Character Development for Evolution” (ABCDE), drawing on social contract theory, offers five clear steps to prepare teachers and community members to recognise bias and reverse it. Additionally, the presentation discusses how these approaches address the urgent needs for financial, food, and water security by involving collaborative problem-solving efforts. The research question of the symposium and themes are addressed in the evaluation of how realistic future hope is, that adopting these conceptual and theoretical frameworks will progress communities to finding their own solutions towards achieving the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda. The evaluation will have a particular emphasis on sustainability.

Ball, S. (2004). Education policy and social class: The selected works of Stephen J. Ball. Routledge. Glazer, N. (1987). The emergence of an American ethnic pattern. Ronald Takaki,13-25. Hesson, T. (2023). US to accept certain non-Mexican migrants in Mexico as refugees. Reuters. https://bit.ly/47W9wtZ. Maldonado-Maldonado, A., Carlos Aguilar Castillo, J., Cortes-Velasco, C. (2023). Student migration between Mexico and the United States: possibilities and disputes associated with becoming mobile in H., Pinson, N., Bunar., D. Divine. (Eds) Research Handbook on Migration and Education. EE. Revens, E., Lennin, C., Alvarez, D., Ordonez, S., Benitez, C., Garcia, P., Price, A., Price, R. (2023). The Migrant Experience: A Journey of Hope A report summarizing data obtained from migrants and those helping migrants at the US/Southern Border and in North Carolina. http://camino.tokdigitalagency.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Migrant-Journey-Report-ENG.pdf. United Nations. (2016). Agenda 2030. Sustainable Development Goals https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300 UNESCO. (2022). Marrakech Framework for Action https://www.uil.unesco.org/en/marrakechframework- action USAID. (2021). Higher Education as a Central Actor in Self-Reliant Development: Program Framework. https://bit.ly/45JBkkU Will, M. (2019). Deprofessionalisation is killing the soul of teaching Union President Says. Education Week. https://bit.ly/3PyubOQ

In the past two decades, Nigeria has grappled with political violence fuelled by extreme ideologies, banditry, and ethnic militias, posing a threat to national stability. Concurrently, economic downturns and threats to food security further exacerbate the challenges. This paper contends that fostering democratic values in secondary schools is pivotal for Nigeria's stable democracy. However, schools face significant challenges, including a lack of resources and support for teacher professional development initiatives. Institutional barriers and cultural norms impede the creation of inclusive learning environments conducive to democratic thinking. Despite these challenges, unique opportunities exist to foster democratic community building. Leveraging the cultural richness and diversity of the student population can cultivate mutual respect, empathy, and active citizenship. Drawing on Dewey's theory of education for democracy and Taysum's Professional Educators and Administrators Communities for Empowerment (PEACE) agenda, the study advocates a holistic approach to democratise cultures and languages. This entails transitioning from dishonouring to honouring cultural heritages and literacies. Theoretical underpinnings from Dewey and PEACE guide the university's support for secondary school teachers, emphasising the development of knowledge and skills through action research. The literature review underscores the absence of a participatory culture within schools, hindering relationships between teachers, students, and administrators—critical for quality learning and preparing students for active democratic participation in society (Imam, 2020). Imam and Taysum highlight the vital role of education for democracy in empowering young people, fostering inclusive communities, attachment security, and critical thinking. University School of Education Teacher Training and Teacher Professional Development programs play a crucial role in enhancing teachers' understanding of democratic principles (Biamba et al, 2021). The literature emphasises the need for reflection on teaching practices and beliefs, fostering inclusive and participatory learning environments (Bada et al, 2020). Building communities of practice emerges as a central theme, facilitating knowledge sharing between university educators and teachers. By fostering a sense of community and empowering teachers, the study aims to enhance the nurturing of young people in democratic culture within schools. This, in turn, aims to produce effective citizens capable of active participation in democratic processes, thereby demanding responsible leadership in their communities upon leaving school. The study envisions a democratic education system that equips future generations to contribute meaningfully to Nigerian society.

Bada, H A., Ariffin, T F T., & Nordin, H. (2020, August 24). The Effectiveness of Teachers in Nigerian Secondary Schools: The Role of Instructional Leadership of Principals. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2020.1811899 Biamba, C., Chidimma, O N., Chinwe, O V., Kelechi, M C., & Chinyere, N A. (2021, January 1). Assessing democratic classroom practices among secondary school civic education teachers in the global south: case study of South East Nigeria. Cogent Education, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186x.2021.1896425 Imam, H. (2020). How teachers of secondary schools describe and understand participation in their educational institution. Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 12(1), 80-101. doi:10.14658/pupj-ijse-2020-1-6. Imam, H. & Taysum, A. (2022). Adults and children using A Blueprint for Character Development for Evolution (ABCDE) to facilitate self-reflection through talk to manage emotions and self-regulate for continued good life in post Covid-19 recovery. Journal of Groundwork Cases and Faculty of Judgement, 1 (2), 214. Article 4. Taysum, A. (2019). Education Policy as a Road Map to the Achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Emerald.

Community engagement and social learning skills are pivotal for enhancing farmers' knowledge in agriculture to optimise crop yields/nutrition, farmers accounting skills, incomes and good lifestyles. This study explores the synergies between these elements to empower farming communities. The introduction sets the stage for understanding the significance of community-based approaches and social learning in agricultural knowledge enhancement. Research by Di Falco et al. (2020) reveals that influence in farmers' adoption of climate change adaptation measures, the impact of farmers' social networks on the uptake of climate change mitigation measures, remains largely uncharted. This symposium presentation begins to fill this gap with implications for symposium partners and ECER delegates. Surveying existing research, the literature review delves into community engagement models and social learning theories within agricultural contexts. It synthesises key findings, identifying gaps and laying the foundation for the study's unique contribution to the field. The theory draws from Borgatti and Ofem's social network theory (2010) and Foster and Rosenzweig's social learning concept (1995). It posits that individual behaviour is shaped by peer interaction, encompassing herd behaviour, spillover, neighbourhood, or peer effects. The central premise is that emerging technologies or practices disseminate through social learning knowledge gained from observing and interacting with peers and neighbours (Šūmane et al., 2018), commonly known as spillover or neighbourhood effects ( Vroege et al., 2020). The research will be conducted in Nigeria, focusing on utilising focus group discussions to investigate the dynamic relationships among community engagement, social learning skills, and farmers' knowledge acquisition. In this study, community engagement, social learning skills, and farmers' knowledge acquisition will serve as dependent variables, while farmers' demographic features will be treated as independent variables. Presenting empirical results, this section unveils the data collected from the study. Farmers' responses and observed outcomes are analysed, shedding light on the effectiveness of community engagement and social learning using Professional Educators and Administrators Committees for Empowerment and ABCDE in augmenting agricultural knowledge among participants. Interpreting the findings, the discussion section explores the implications of community engagement and social learning on farmers' knowledge. It delves into the broader significance of the results, considering implications for agricultural practices, community development, and future research. Drawing from the study's insights, this section offers practical recommendations for policymakers, agricultural extension services, and community leaders. Suggestions for optimising community engagement programs and fostering social learning skills are outlined to enhance farmers' knowledge and resilience.

Borgatti SP, Ofem B (2010) Social network theory and analysis. Soc net theory and educ change:17–29 51:17–30 Di Falco S, Doku A, Mahajan A (2020) Peer effects and the choice of adaptation strategies. Agric Econ Foster AD, Rosenzweig MR (1995) Learning by doing and learning from others: human capital and technical change in agriculture. J Polit Econ 103 Šūmane S, Kunda I, Knickel K, Strauss A, Tisenkopfs T, Rios I, Rivera M, Chebach T, Ashkenazy A (2018) Local and farmers’ knowledge matters! How integrating informal and formal knowledge enhances sustainable and resilient agriculture. J Rural Stud 59:232–241. Taysum, A. (2019) Education Policy as a Road Map to Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Emerald. Vroege W, Meraner M, Polman N, Storm H, Heijman W, Finger R (2020) Beyond the single farm–a spatial econometric analysis of spill-overs in farm diversification in the Netherlands. Land Use Policy 99:105019

The diagnosis of a serious illness in children and adolescents not only poses great challenges for the patients and their parents, but is also an important issue for schools and educators. Serious and long-term illnesses represent developmental tasks for pupils that deviate from their usual life routine, which - if not successfully overcome - can be accompanied by further emotional and social challenges. There has been a discussion about further training for teaching during illness since the 1970s. There is a consensus that teachers need additional pedagogical and didactic skills in this field, but there is still no curricular or state-recognised training or further education in German-speaking countries. With regard to adequate schooling in the sense of pedagogy during illness, it can therefore be stated that there is a lack of clarification of (political, financial, scientific and pedagogical) responsibilities as well as a lack of systematisation and evaluation of pedagogical action. In addition, there is a lack of interconnection between practical expertise and scientific knowledge in this area, which is all the more problematic as it is of great relevance, especially in stressful situations such as illness, that pupils receive appropriate educational support in a timely manner. The illness-specific educational support requirements lead to special demands on teachers.

The focus is on questions of professionalisation in the face of the great heterogeneity of sick pupils and special schools as inclusive places of education. The contribution focusses on vulnerability as a heterogeneity dimension using the example of illness and how to deal with it in terms of inclusive education.

This symposium will present findings from projects that deal with pedagogy in the case of illness. One project aims to establish the first international network of Swiss universities in the field of "pedagogy during illness" and "hospital schools" - initially with Germany and Austria - and subsequently with the UK. A sustainable transnational network between universities (science) and hospital schools (practice) has been established in the D-A-CH network (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), in which empirical analyses of the requirements and practical professional goals of hospital schools have been carried out. These empirical analyses will result in the form of a curriculum for a Master's degree course in Hospital School Pedagogy anchored in Switzerland, which will contribute to the professionalisation of teachers at hospital schools and to the further development of pedagogy in the event of illness. In this regard, specific pedagogical aspects that need to be taken into account in pedagogy during illness will be analysed and presented at the symposium.

Another project is investigating the use of digital educational technology for children and young people with chronic illnesses. The question of whether and in what way telepresence systems, such as the AV1 avatar, can enable pupils with chronic illnesses to be included in everyday school life and what opportunities but also hurdles need to be taken into account for educators is being investigated. To this end, an interview study was conducted and presented and discussed at the symposium.

Overarching, the contributions deal with the question of the professionalisation of how teachers deal with sick pupils both in special schools and in mainstream schools in terms of inclusive education. This research question is addressed methodologically in the individual contributions, both empirically and quantitatively.

Remedial schools are conceptualised as inclusive places of education in which, however, pedagogical antinomies with regard to school inclusion cannot be resolved. The antinomies exist, for example, in the temporary school on the one hand and the breakdown of relationships on the other. The character of the sanatorium school as a transitional place, as well as a separative and at the same time inclusive temporary place, is worked out. After inclusion in the hospital school, re-inclusion after a stay in a hospital school can be a major challenge for everyone involved (Tougas et al. 2019). At the centre is the heterogeneity dimension of vulnerability, which is addressed using the example of illness in pupils. Using the hermeneutic approach in educational science, texts on inclusive pedagogy and pedagogy in the case of illness are critically analysed and antinomies in the field of discourse are identified and contrasted. The article is intended as an introduction and framing of the topic and contributions to the symposium.

Piegsda, F .; Link, P . C .; Rossmanith, S .; Kötzel, A . (2020): Eine Schule für besondere Lebenslagen aufZeit . Schulische Zentren für Pädagogik bei Krankheit im Kontext von Transitions- und Inklusionsprozessen . Zeitschrift für Heilpädagogik, 71 (2), S . 58–71 Tougas, A .-M .; Rassy, J .; Frenette-Bergeron, É .; Marcil, K . (2019). «Lost in Transition»: A Systematic Mixed Studies Review of Problems and Needs Associated with School Reintegration After Psychia-tric Hospitalization . School Mental Health, 11(4), S . 629–649 .

In terms of inclusive education, teachers of all school types need additional pedagogical-didactic competences in the heterogeneity dimension of illness. The main aim of the Movetia-funded project is to develop a curriculum for a MAS (Master of Advanced Studies) in Pedagogy in Illness and Hospital School Pedagogy in order to professionalise teachers who work in transition, with chronically ill children and young people and in special schools. The sub-goals for achieving this are, firstly, an analysis of the current situation in order to systematically analyse existing continuing education programmes in the field of pedagogy in illness. The method of choice here is document analysis due to the heterogeneity of the data material. Secondly, a questionnaire will be used to survey the needs of teachers at special schools and teachers involved in the transition of pupils. Thirdly, on the basis of this data, selected expert interviews are conducted and analysed with regard to conditions for success and needs for action and presented to the practice partners. This three-step process and the associated triangulation of the document analysis, data from the quantitative and qualitative field survey and the expert interviews are intended to form the scientifically sound basis for the development of the cross-location curriculum for D-A-CH, which has been evaluated by practitioners. This paper will present the research project as a whole and the initial results.

Langnickel, R., Markowetz, R., Hövel, D. C., Link, P.-C., Falkenstörfer, S., Hoanzl, M., Elbracht, S., & Gingelmaier, S. (2023). Projektvorstellung "Pädagogik bei Krankheit und Spitalschulpädagogik" (Pb-KuS). Sonderpädagogische Förderung heute., 68 (4), 430–434. https://doi.org/10.3262/SZ2304430

In Austria, around 200,000 children and young people suffer from a chronic illness and can only participate in school lessons to a limited extent or not at all due to medical treatment or hospitalisation. The resulting social isolation can have serious and long-lasting consequences for young patients (Kirkpatrick 2020). To counteract this, digital education technologies such as telepresence robots are being used in everyday school life. The small robots enable patients to attend school virtually, meet friends and take part in lessons. This technology acts as a proxy for the patient at school and is controlled by the patient via a tablet. The telepresence systems are intended to help facilitate the social integration of children and adolescents with chronic illnesses so that they can participate in school life despite their illness (Zillner et al., 2022). As part of a qualitative interview study (n= 28) with affected pupils, parents, teachers and classmates, participation with a telepresence system at school was investigated. The study focussed in particular on factors that promote and hinder social inclusion. The data was analysed using qualitative content analysis according to Kuckartz. In this article, the results of the study are presented and put up for discussion. Categories such as attitude, usage behaviour and interaction in the classroom with a telepresence system are discussed. These aspects are discussed in the context of a sense of belonging and social integration in the school environment. The aim is to identify opportunities and barriers to facilitate teachers' use of telepresence systems and to strengthen social inclusion.

Kirkpatrick, K. (2020). Adolescents With Chronical Medical Conditions and High School Completion: The Importance of Perceived School Belonging. Continuity in Education, 1(1), pp. 50-63. Kuckartz, U. & Rädiker, S. (2023). Qualitative Content Analysis: Methods, Practice and Software. SAGE Publications. Zillner, C., Turner, A., Rockenbauer, G., Röhsner, M., & Pletschko, T. (2022). Use of Telepresence System to Enhance School Participation in Pediatric Patients with Chronic Illnesses Involving the CNS: Zeitschrift für Neuropsychologie, 33 (4), 227 - 234.

We aim to present the newly published book, "Interprofessional and Family-Professional Collaboration for Inclusive Early Childhood Education and Care" (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-34023-9), which provides insights from various countries including Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. The emphasis of this Symposium will be on delving into the dynamics of interprofessional collaboration (IPC) within the context of inclusive ECEC in three European countries, namely Finland, Lithuania, and Norway.Formos viršus

Most countries in the world follow the international education priority that is emphasised in UN Sustainable Development Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning for all (UN, 2022). European countries have significantly reformulated their ECEC systems with inclusive education in view. Nevertheless, across the countries, there is still an incomplete provision of equal educational opportunities for all, particularly for children with special educational needs (Hanssen et al., 2021). Therefore, a systemic approach to inclusive ECEC services and a strong collaboration between the different sectors, such as education, health and social is being emphasised.

To address the main internationally agreed priorities related to ECEC, this anthology focuses on ‘inclusion’ in ECEC (UNESCO-IBE, 2008, p. 18). Across the chapters of the book, it is clear that themes, serving as a ‘red thread’ throughout the volume, are related to collaboration in ECEC in various European countries. Initially, our focus was to examine IPC within the realm of ECEC across diverse social-cultural contexts. In the context of inclusive ECEC, IPC is considered as precondition for the holistic child and family practice, partnership-based professional relations, coordinated services, spread of competences, and innovative activities within teams and organisations (Payler & Georgeson, 2013). IPC is a significant factor for the effective provision of inclusive education especially for children with special educational needs and their families aiming to address challenges when jointly acting with representatives from different professions.

Research show that in reality IPC often is a challenge (Hong & Shaffer, 2015). The reasons for this relate to, among other issues, lack of research defining the concept and the structure of IPC, i.e. subjective and different interpretation of the IPC conception, lack of presumptions for success and sufficiency of IPC, issues of professional power, professional identities and relations, and diversity of professional languages and roles (Alisauskiene & Gevorgianiene, 2015). Reflecting on the past experiences, it is evident that the role of a professional was strictly defined by the precise set of functions described in a certain professional code and did not foresee interdisciplinary and interprofessional cooperation nor flexibility in professional roles and functions. The emphasis on professional identity was strengthened by historically developed “niche” of certain professions and their status and prestige in society. In this aspect, the discussion can be based on P. Bourdieu’s conception of habitus, capital (knowledge, linguistic, cultural, etc.), and “practical theory”, which emphasizes virtuous interactions between individuals (King, 2000). The IPC in ECEC might be problematic, when professionals encounter a variety of complex new roles in multi-service settings. Moreover, a common feature is that none of the countries have entirely fulfilled the pledge of strong collaboration between various professionals in ECEC in educational practices (Sundqvist, 2021). Therefore, the countries’ knowledge and experiences can encourage interest in discussions about realising a fruitful interprofessional collaboration within inclusive ECEC. According to Ainscow (2021), learning from what happening on the other places, when we visiting other countries it is like a mirror, it makes us to think about what we do in our context. Insights into diverse approaches adopted by European countries, such as Finland, Lithuania, and Norway, can significantly enhance our comprehension of the distinct collaborations in ECEC.

The society of today puts great demands on personnel in early childhood education and care (ECEC) since expectations are that personnel can support children with a wide variety of needs. Research indicate that personnel in ECEC lack knowledge regarding children with special educational needs (Hannås & Hanssen, 2016) and furthermore personnel might lack knowledge regarding inclusive practice (Lundqvist et al., 2016). For ensuring that children receive appropriate and inclusive support in regular educational settings collaboration between professionals with different competencies is a necessity. In Finland, a common collaborative approach is that early childhood special education teachers (ECSETs) deliver consultative support to personnel in ECEC (Heiskanen & Viitala, 2019). The aim of this paper is to gain an understanding of how ECSETs experience their consultative role in ECEC. We have formulated two research questions that guided the study. The research questions are as follows; `How do ECSETs experience the prevailing conditions surrounding the consultative role´ and `How do ECSETS experience the implementation of consultation and the use of consultation strategies´. For present research, a multiple-case study design was chosen since it is an effective methodology to study multifaceted issues in real-world settings (Yin, 2014). Data is collected through semi structured group interviews and ten respondents from four different municipalities are divided into three interview groups. First, the case analysis was written as a narrative report for each case followed by a cross-case analysis where shared patterns and themes were searched for (Yin, 2014). The in-depth description of each case is presented as three narratives; (a) frustrated knowledge sharer, (b) adapted and collaborative quick-fixers, and (c) satisfied reflection supporters. By comparing patterns through the lens of theory (Abbott, 1988) and earlier research two themes addressing the research question become visible: poor conditions – weak jurisdiction for conducting the consultative task and balancing between quick fixes and the use of reflection as consultation strategy. The chapter concludes that the prevailing practical conditions and a weak jurisdiction hinder high quality consultations. Furthermore, consultation is not clearly stated or implemented in policy documents or in local work descriptions nor is it clearly communicated in the ambits that ECETS operate in.

Abbott, A. (1988). The System of professions. An essay on the division of expert labor. University of Chicago. Hannås, B-M, & Bahdanovich Hanssen, N. (2016). Special needs education in light of the inclusion principle: An exploratory study of special needs education practice in Belarusian and Norwegian preschools. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 31:4, 520–534. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2016.1194576 Heiskanen, N., & Viitala, R. (2019). Special educational needs and disabilities in early childhood education (Finland). In J. Kauko & M. Waniganayake (Eds.). Bloomsbury education and childhood studies. Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350995925.0004 Lundqvist, J., Westling Allodi, M., & Siljehag, E. (2016). Characteristics of Swedish preschools that provide education and care to children with special educational needs. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 3(1), 124–139. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2015.1108041 Yin, R. (2014). Case study research (5th ed.). Sage.

Well-trained and motivated professionals play a crucial role in ensuring the delivery of high-quality ECEC to all children and their families (European Commission, 2021). However, the development of an interprofessional team may face challenges stemming from subjective and differently interpreted communication, as well as a lack of presumptions for success and efficient communication within the teams (D’Amour et al., 2005). This presentation explores the concept of (in)formal communication among professionals as a key component of interprofessional team collaboration in addressing the special educational needs (SEN) of children. Interprofessional collaboration and communication are characterized by active relationships among professionals from various sectors such as educational support, health care, and social support, all working together with the shared goals of joint problem-solving and service provision (Barret & Keeping, 2005; Reeves et al., 2010). In the context of ECEC, interprofessional collaboration is grounded in a holistic approach and is viewed as a prerequisite for fostering equal, partnership-based relationships, along with the complexity and integration of services (Barker, 2009). In our study, we aimed to identify and interpret communication experiences among professionals collaborating within different types of ECEC teams to address the SEN of children. The research question guiding this study was: What are the main components of interprofessional communication as identified by professionals working in contexts within special and inclusive ECEC? The research adopts ethnographic case study research design, delving into subjective meanings of participants to elucidate interprofessional communication within two ECEC settings. Specifically, the study examines implementation of communication and explores the meanings manifested in professionals' narratives (Elliot, 2005; Ntinda, 2020). The qualitative methods, including individual and group interviews and observational journals have been employed to collect data. Qualitative thematic analysis has been carried out following the inductive logics of data analysis. The findings move between concrete expressions and descriptive text on meanings of lived experiences (Van Manen, 2016; Sundler et al., 2019). The research findings are presented through group narratives, collaboratively co-constructed by both the researchers and the participants involved in the study. The findings indicate that professionals in ECEC interprofessional teams highlight the following communication aspects as crucial when addressing children's educational needs: adopting a holistic approach to child development and education; emphasizing informal everyday communication, which involves sharing professional knowledge, experiences, and collaborative problem-solving; recognizing the significance of formal communication during team meetings, encompassing functional goals, the structure of discussions, and the ability to actively participate in team deliberations

Barker, R. (2009). Making Sense of Every Child Matters: Multiprofessional Practice Guidance. The Policy Press. Barrett, G., & Keeping, C. (2005). The Processes Required for Effective Interprofessional Working. In G. Barret, D. Sellman, & I. Thomas (Eds.), Interprofessional Working in Health and Social Care: Professional Perspectives (pp.19-31). Palgrave Macmillan. Elliot, J. (2005). Using Narrative in Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Sage. European Commission (Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture). (2021). Early childhood education and care: how to recruit, train and motivate well-qualified staff: final report. Publications Office, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/489043 D’Amour, D., Ferrada-Videla, M., San Martin Rodriguez, L., & Beaulie, M. D. (2005). The Conceptual Basis for Interprofessional Collaboration: Core Concepts and Theoretical Frameworks. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 1, 116–131. Ntinda, K., (2020). Narrative Research. In P. Liamputtong (Ed). Handbook of research methods in health social sciences. Springer, pp.1-12. Sundler, AJ, Lindberg, E., Nilsson, C., Palmér, L. (2019). Qualitative thematic analysis based on descriptive phenomenology. Nurs Open, 6(3), 733-739. doi: 10.1002/nop2.275. PMID: 31367394; PMCID: PMC6650661. Van Manen, M. (2016). Phenomenology of practice. New York, NY: Routlege. [Google Scholar]

Numerous studies have demonstrated that, on the practice level, the interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in Norwegian ECEC is often unsatisfactory and inadequate—in the sense of it being rare—while also apparently weakening the continuity and quality of inclusive ECEC (Hannås & Hanssen, 2016). A weak system of IPC can be explained by the lack of attention on the policy and legislation levels regarding central guidance and the coordination of services (Nordahl et al., 2018). Surprisingly, neither the Kindergarten Act (KA) nor Framework Plan have been able to provide a guide for IPC for how to draft the interprofessional approach, which has led to them being criticised for not being more detailed and specific about the content and design of IPC (KA, 2006; MER, 2017). Indeed, there is a reported lack of concrete measures and follow-ups on the progression of ECEC work with respect to quality and availability (Nordahl et al., 2018). The aim of this paper is to give an overview of IPC in ECEC at the legal and legislative levels. We have formulated the following question: How is IPC defined and described in Norwegian legal and legislative documents, and what guidelines are laid down for this collaboration? The empirical basis of the current paper is a document analysis. Three main legal and legislative documents which treats the concept of IPC, were chosen for analysis: Kindergarten Act 2006 (KA, 2006); Framework Plan for the Content and Tasks of ECEC (MER, 2017); Meld. St. 6 (2019–2020) Early intervention and inclusive education in kindergartens, schools and out-of-school-hours care (MER, 2019). In the current study, the data consisted of texts that were analysed with the help of thematic analysis using an inductive approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The results show that there is a lack of concrete definitions of IPC in legal and legislative documents. Furthermore, the legal and legislative documents provide some guidelines for IPC but on a general level and with an unclear basis. The chapter concludes that the definition of IPC in ECEC should be clarified and explained more clearly and made more apparently related to each other, both in the legal and legislative documents. As practical implications, drawing up a common national strategy plan and common guidelines regarding IPC in ECEC can be an effective move the authorities could use to steer development in the education sector towards more inclusive ECEC, especially for children with special educational needs.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. Hannås, B. M., & Hanssen, N. B. (2016). Special needs education in light of the inclusion principle: An exploratory study of special needs education practice in Belarusian and Norwegian preschools. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 31(4), 520–534. http://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2016.1194576 Kindergarten act (2006). https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/2005- 06-17-64 Ministry of Education and Research [MER]. (2017). Framework plan for the content and tasks of ECECs. https://www.udir.no/globalassets/filer/barnehage/rammeplan/framework-plan-for-ECECs2- 2017.pdf Ministry of Education and Research [MER]. (2019). Close attention – Early intervention and inclusive community in ECEC, school and after-school care. (Meld. St. 6 (2019–2020)). https://www.regjeringen.no Nordahl, T., Persson, B., Brørup Dyssegaard, C., Wessel Hennestad, B., Vaage Wang, M., Martinsen, J., & Johnsen, T. (2018). Inclusive community for children and young people. The expert group for children and young people with SEN. Fagbokforlaget.

It seems like an unruly quest to investigate teacher diversity as the neverending foci are accompanied by even more questions. This symposium takes up the challenge of scrutinising understandings of diversity related to teachers, teacher identity, and the teaching profession across Europe. With a focus on accessibility and “pass-ability” as well as availability, the presentations in the symposium will pick up possible notions of the concepts of “passing as a teacher” (Weber & Mitchell 2002), “to pass to become a teacher (again)”, how notions of passing have (not) changed over time and how practices of dis/abling teacher diversity manifest themselves in different (national) contexts. (Krause et al. 2023). The presentations will discuss how understandings of the academic realm, education policies and notions and practices of equity shape the possibility of getting access to, passing barriers and avoiding obstacles in, and successfully completing study programs.

Universities are designed to generate academic/scientific knowledge on the one hand and to pass this knowledge on to subsequent students, e.g. future teachers, in an orderly and disciplined manner on the other. Despite all the openness (demanded or hoped for) in research, universities, therefore, are structured spaces that “have to” submit to orders and rules of passing on knowledge. These orders and rules include placing new knowledge in relation to existing knowledges and power structures and, thus, relating to existing academic disciplines. In this respect, universities are always conservative; breaking down disciplinary (scientific) boundaries to generate and value new and/or different knowledges is difficult. (Fleck 1979; Niewoehner 2012) However, universities are not only conservative in terms of knowledge/theorising and scientificity but also in terms of the people who are granted access and those who are allowed to generate new knowledges in research. Research on the decolonisation of knowledges, the structural analyses of power in/of institutions and organisations, and the emancipations of Queer and Black Studies –to name just recent developments– have shown how narrow the boundaries of admission for diverse students and research on other/alternative knowledge systems at universities still are. (Karenga 1988; Sharpe 2014; Brim 2020) And while we can read the (re-)structuring of study programs in the light of the transmission of disciplinary order, new studies also offer opportunities to tear down the boundaries of universities and re-frame them as inclusive spaces. Based on the example of the founding of a new faculty of education at a Swiss university, the paper will address the question of diversity and possible otherness in education science (studies). It will briefly historicise the “common understanding” of the university and assumed roles of those (not) present. (Biesta 2010; Stanley 2006) Questions about opening the floor to others and otherness will then be posed using the Swiss example: - Who is allowed to gain access? Whose voices will be heard? Is it safe to be visibly diverse? - How can education studies be structured to prepare for uncertain terrains outside the scholarly world? - How do we train future teachers to deal with the (multiple) unknowns when thinking diversity at universities is still uncharted waters? - Is the “pluriversity” a strategic exit or another threshold to keep unwanted people out?

Biesta, G. J. J. (2010): Lerner, Student, Speaker: Why it matters how we call those we teach. Educational Philosophy and Theory 42:5-6, 540-552. Brim, M. (2020). Poor queer studies: Confronting elitism in the university. Duke University Press. Fleck, L. (1979). Genesis and development of a scientific fact. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press Karenga, M. (1988). Black studies and the problematic of paradigm: The philosophical dimension. Journal of Black Studies, 18(4), 395-414. Niewoehner, J. (2012): Von der Wissenschaftstheorie zur Soziologie der Wissenschaft. Science and technology studies: Eine sozialanthropologische Einführung. transcript Verlag, 49-75. Sharpe, C. (2014): Black Studies. The Black Scholar 44:2, 59-69, DOI: 10.1080/00064246.2014.11413688 Stanley, C. A. (2006): Coloring the Academic Landscape: Faculty of Color Breaking the Silence in Predominantly White Colleges and Universities. American Educational Research Journal 43:4, 701-736.

This submission highlights barriers and facilitators towards a diversification of the Austrian teaching force. The early onset of segregation remains one of the main characteristics of the Austrian school system (Buchner & Petrik 2023, Herzog-Punzenberger & Schnell 2019). This manifests itself in disadvantages of specific groups such as people with disabilities and so called migration background to education in general and higher education specifically. Further barriers to entering the teaching force remain in place for the same groups: Entrance tests to teacher colleges for primary school teacher training remain focused on physical fitness (e.g. having to be able to do jump ropes and sing; e.g. https://kphvie.ac.at/studieren/studieninteressierte/aufnahmeverfahren.html) and German language, the latter also holds true for university-led training for secondary teacher training. The legal basis for people with disabilities’ access to the teaching force was created in 2006 (BMSG 2006) only and internationally educated teachers remain second class professionals (Proyer et al. 2022), limited in their access to entering the teaching force as such but also remaining excluded or being othered once in the system. So while there is an ever-growing (contested) discourse on whether increasing diversity in classrooms across Europe should be met by a more diverse teaching force (Massumi 2014) and how this could help amend educational inequalities, Austria remains busy retaining traditional order. These tendencies of limiting access to education are opposed to current strategies of the Austrian government to counteract ongoing teacher shortage with lateral entrants. The initiative “Klasse Job!” (https://klassejob.at/) aims at creating a narrative of teaching being an easy-going, more valuable cause than working in a stressful environment of the private sector. With a few modules of introduction into basic education, these “teachers'' usually access the teaching force at the higher end of the salary spectrum. This presentation aims to explore the many ways to become a teacher if meeting specific criteria and unravel the one-way-street if not. Different fragments (legal documents, access criteria etc.) will be mapped out and interpretative narratives will be offered.

BMSG (2006): Bundes-Behindertengleichstellungs-Begleitgesetz. https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/eli/bgbl/I/2006/90/20060623 Buchner, T., & Petrik, F. (2023). Evaluating education policies through a spatial lens: Uncovering the ability-space-regimes of Austrian new middle schools. In Space, Education, and Inclusion (pp. 38-56). Routledge. Herzog-Punzenberger, B., & Schnell, P. (2019). Austria: equity research between family background, educational system and language policies. The Palgrave handbook of race and ethnic inequalities in education, 105-158. Massumi, M. (2014). Diversität in der Lehrerinnen-und Lehrerbildung–zur Bedeutung von Lehrkräften mit Migrationshintergrund. HiBiFo–Haushalt in Bildung und Forschung, 3(1), 17-18. Proyer, M., Pellech, C., Obermayr, T., Kremsner, G., & Schmölz, A. (2022). ‘First and foremost, we are teachers, not refugees’: Requalification measures for internationally trained teachers affected by forced migration. European Educational Research Journal, 21(2), 278-292.

Diversifying the teaching profession has come to be of international concern (Abawi and Eizadirad, 2020; Ingersoll et al, 2021). This is a complex phenomenon drawing across a variety of conceptual underpinnings, performances of identities and ranges of local, national and international contexts. This paper reports on an in-depth study of a range of teacher diversification initiatives both from across Europe and under a nationally-funded scheme in Ireland (Keane, Heinz & Mc Daid, 2023). The paper identifies the rationale for teacher diversification, argues that when it comes to teacher identity, representation matters, but also that representation does not go far enough and teacher diversity work must simultaneously encompass system transformation to achieve a diverse, equitable and inclusive teacher profession. Theoretically informed by the double equity work of Childs et al (2011) equity in and through admissions, the paper presents some key findings in relation to the requirements for Higher Education Institutions in taking diversification initiatives seriously in addition to the experiences of a selection of student teachers participating in diversification initiatives, both in their lectures and on school practicum. It presents an analysis of key moments in the student teacher education that cast light on the possibility for those student teachers to be authentically present in their chosen roles. The paper concludes with an overview of seven key principles which will support a more equitable, diverse and inclusive teaching profession. These principles include: - building awareness and sensitivity among all teachers, school leaders, teacher educators, and policy-makers of the normative nature of school and teacher education cultures as a precondition for meaningful reflection and action to create more equitable and inclusive work environments for all teachers. - Forging safe spaces in educational settings for authentic, respectful, and impactful dialogue in the pursuit of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive teaching profession. - creating safe spaces in education for democratic participation and recognition that the development of inclusive schools is the responsibility of all educators, wherein all teachers, irrespective of their socio-demographic positionalities, need to be prepared for and consider it their responsibility to be effective teachers for all students (Ladson-Billings, 2004; Cochran-Smith, 2009) and supportive colleagues for all staff in schools.

Abawi, Z., and Eizadirad, A. (2020) ‘Bias-free or biased hiring? Racialized teachers’ perspectives on educational hiring practices in Ontario, ‘Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 193, 18-31. Childs, R., Broad, K., Gallagher-Mackay, K., Sher, Y., Escayg, K.-A., and McGrath, C. (2011) ‘Pursuing equity in and through teacher education program admissions’, Education Policy Analysis Archives, 19(24), 1-22. Cochran-Smith, M. (2009) ‘Toward a theory of teacher education for social justice’, in Hargreaves, A, Lieberman, A., Fullan, M., and Hopkins, D., eds., Second international handbook of educational change, Springer International Handbooks of Education, Vol 23, New York: Springer, 445–467. Keane, E., Heinz, M., & Mc Daid, R. (Eds.). (2023). Diversifying the teaching profession: Dimensions, dilemmas and directions for the future, Routledge Ingersoll, R., Merrill, E., Stuckey, D., Collins, G., and Harrison, B. (2021) ‘The demographic transformation of the teaching force in the United States’, Education Sciences, 11(5), 234, available: https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11050234 Ladson-Billings, G. (2004) ‘New directions in multicultural education: complexities, boundaries, and critical race theory’ in Banks, J. and Banks, C., eds., Handbook of research on multicultural education, 2nd ed., San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 50–65.

In the panel discussion, we focus on how temporal and spatial structures affect the life courses of young people, especially those in vulnerable and multi-disadvantaged positions, and their learning performances. Young people’s life courses unfold in various local/regional opportunity structures, which “frame the configuration of possibilities and constraints for thought and action” (Benasso et al., 2022, p. 28) and expand or hinder the access to and accessibility of education (Parreira do Amaral et al., 2015). Our aim is to open the debate on how time and space as selected aspects of these opportunity structures interfere with the life courses of young people and, in particular, with the processes of their subjectivation. To proceed with the idea and the organisation of the panel discussion, we first briefly conceptualise our core concepts.

With regard to time, we depart from the observation that temporality, i.e., the sequence of life events, can be experienced differently by different groups of young people, e.g., as continuous, linear, but also as disruptive or fragmented reality (Hörschelmann, 2011). More specifically, time is inscribed and materialised in histories of (political, cultural, architectural, etc.) transformations that exercise impact over self-perception and identity of the subjects (Graves & Teulié, 2017) and their ability to imagine future. In reference to Doreen Massey, we conceptualise space as an interactive, heterogeneous, and open-ended construct of social and physical worlds, which can be modified, re-defined, contested and re-arranged in multiple, even, yet unknown ways (Massey, 2005). Finally, with the term subjectivation we refer to Michel Foucault (Foucault, 1988) and, in particular, to the notion of subjectivation as a form of self-conduct initiated and performed by the subjects themselves, rather than imposed on them by discursive structures (Bettinger, 2022).

By looking at the interplay of spatial/temporal structures and the processes of subjectivation, we seek to explore how young people’s life courses and subjective biographies unfold within and across European regions. We are well aware that the dialogue between Life Course Research (LCR) and Subjectivation Analysis (SA) has its epistemic limits and pitfalls. For example, while LCR stresses the time-dependent linkage between social structure, institutions, and individual action (Heinz et al., 2009), the process of subjectivation is conceptualised as a discursive effect of unavoidable and constant attempts to define individual self-conduct (Peter et al., 2018), with no specific temporal horizon. Similar differences can be identified in relation to space. Nevertheless, we seek to enable the dialogue between these two research domains specifically in order to account for the less known aspects of young people’s life courses.

To this end, in the panel we will present and compare findings from three European countries (Finland, Germany and Italy) using the data consisting of narrative biographical interviews with young people aged 18–29 years. The data were collected within an ongoing European research project Constructing Learning Outcomes in Europe: a multi-level analysis of (under)achievement in the life course (CLEAR) (2022-2025), which explores the factors that affect the quality of learning outcomes across European regions. In accordance with the conference’s theme, our panel contributes to the debates on how young people navigate their life courses through time (and space), especially during crises and modes of uncertainty. More pointedly, we aim to discuss how young Europeans, especially those facing multiple disadvantages, utilise their existing opportunities, how they perceive their learning performances, obtained skills and competencies, but also their ability to imagine their future(s).

Increasingly rapid and disruptive technological and socio-ecological changes drive contemporary discussion about the uncertainties of our presents and futures, in society and education. In education, policy makers are responding with pedagogical concepts and frameworks. For example, both the OECD (Häggström & Schmidt, 2021; OECD, 2019) and the European Commission's ‘GreenComp’, include futures literacy. (Bianchi et al., 2022).

Various megatrends drive uncertainty, e.g. pandemic, war, human catastrophes. Here, we focus on two inter-linked mega-trends, which raise questions of how we want to live in the present and future: 1) sustainable development and education for sustainable development (ESD); and 2) the rapid expansion of digital technologies. The negotiation of past, present and future has always been inscribed in pedagogy (Koller, 2020; Thompson, 2019). A struggle for futures comes to a head in pedagogical contexts such as education for sustainable development and media education, which have similarities in their premises and didactics (Grünberger, 2022; Rau & Rieckmann, 2023; Selwyn, 2023). A further commonality is the question of uncertain futures.

This symposium explores aspects of uncertainty in a world characterised by digital technology, with regard to ESD in Europe, drawing on data and experience from Teacher Academy Project-Teaching Sustainability (TAP-TS). Our research and analysis is anchored in a shared theoretical basis in social-constructivism, and in particular critical-constructivist perspectives on social learning with a foundation - in the broadest sense - in critical theory. For this, we draw particularly on Habermas (2021) for insights into the normative foundations of critical theory, Fuchs (2020) for insights into criticality, capitalism and media study, Vienni-Baptista et al (2023) for communication in transdisciplinary work, and Gradinaru’s (2016) revisioning of Anderson on imagined community.

The three papers presented here offer distinct and complementary perspectives on digital technology and ESD. The first, "Coping with Uncertainty in Education for Sustainable Development in a Digital World", discusses this question on a general level. PAPER 1 introduces the topic and leads on questions for educational practice and in school. The characteristics of transdisciplinary, open learning communities for strengthening and transforming education in times of uncertainty are analysed in PAPER 2 "Digital media and open learning communities for international sustainability teacher education". Our central focus is the question of how educators’ transdisciplinary relationships across boundaries of academic disciplines, institutions (pre- and in-service teacher education, primary and secondary schools, civil society), and nations, facilitated in part through digital media, have fostered improvements and even transformations in sustainability education. The specifics of "open educational resources'' and “open educational practices” (OPAL, 2011) are examined in PAPER 3. We emphasise in particular the power of critical reflection to prompt agency for sustainability and the status of TAP-TS LTPs as Open Educational Resources (OERs). We also discuss the LTP’s inherent 'beta nature' – all are work-in-progress and are offered as proposals rather than prescribed as ‘solutions’ to teachers and other educators taking part in TAP-TS events and activities. In this way we foreground the TAP-TS aim of enabling learners to participate more fully in a post-digital society.

Following the three contributions, the discussant will formulate a critical view and moderate the discussion with symposium participants with a view to furthering analytical insights within and between papers. In the course of the discussion, a collaborative online pinboard will be used to secure the results, allowing all participants to comment. The results will be taken into account in the further development of the TAP-TS project and will help the project to navigate its way towards the planned goals.

Much has been said in recent years about living in a world of uncertainty. In addition to wars and growing inequalities, we believe that two trends in particular play a central role for the question of future development and pedagogical approaches to that: firstly, the urgent question of sustainable development in our societies, as is discussed around the SDGs (United Nations, 2015) or the EU GreenComp-Competence Framework (Bianchi et al., 2022). And, secondly, the question of what ethical choices we need to make in the present regarding future digital technological developments (e.g. the development of Artificial Intelligence, Discriminating Data and the question of a global internet coverage) (e.g. Chun, 2021; Crawford, 2021; Weich & Macgilchrist, 2023). In addition to addressing these pressing issues, it is also difficult to adopt a decolonizing perspective that allows these central questions to be discussed from a global perspective (c.f. Moyo, 2018). This challenge is compounded when the issues are discussed with children, who are already involved in these future issues in terms of participation (Grünberger, 2023). The proposed presentation explores the question of pedagogical guidelines for dealing with uncertainty, conflicts and paradoxes in the context of education for sustainable development and digitality. Central theoretical foundations can be found in the discourses of media education, media studies, political education, education for sustainable development and educational research with a decolonial perspective. The argumentation is based on these discourses. The presentation focuses on the relationship of learners and teachers while coping with uncertain topics. Also the presentation focuses on learning and teaching scenarios and materials in this context. This is not only a central question for media education and ESD but also a question of school development, because the handling of knowledge, time, space and roles in the school context has changed in recent years and continues to develop due to uncertainties. Teachers are no longer the guardians of scientifically legitimized knowledge; they are becoming learning companions and co-learners and co-researchers. Together with the learners, they navigate through divergent knowledge and collaboratively discuss the question of future developments in a digital era.

Bianchi, G., Pisiotis, U., & Cabrera, M. (2022). GreenComp The European sustainability competence framework. Publications Office of the European Union. Chun, W. H. K. (2021). Discriminating Data: Correlation, Neighborhoods, and the New Politics of Recognition. The MIT Press. Crawford, K. (2021). Atlas of AI: Power, politics, and the planetary costs of artificial intelligence. Yale University Press. Grünberger, N. (2023). Participation as a Key Principle of Education for Sustainable Development in the Postdigital Era. In A. Weich & F. Macgilchrist (Hrsg.), Postdigital Participation in Education (S. 13–34). Springer Nature Switzerland. Moyo, L. (2018). Rethinking the information society. A decolonial and border gnosis of the digital divide in Africa and the Global South. In M. Ragnedda & G. W. Muschert (Hrsg.), Theorizing digital divides (S. 133–144). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. United Nations. (2015). Sustainable Development Goals. United Nations Sustainable Development. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ Weich, A., & Macgilchrist, F. (2023). Postdigital Participation in Education: An Introduction. In Postdigital Participation in Education: How Contemporary Media Constellations Shape Participation (pp. 1-10). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

Sustainability education is vital for the urgent transition to more just and sustainable futures, but also an inherently complex, uncertain and challenging pedagogical proposition. This complexity is apparent in the 17 “integrated and inseparable” Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015); and in distinct and diverse narratives around sustainability and sustainability education in political, academic and popular discourses (Tikly, 2023). ‘Universal’ definitions and frameworks must be negotiated in relation to particular socio-ecological contexts (Brockwell et al, 2022). Moreover, as formal education is deeply implicated in socio-ecological crises (Orr, 2004), realising the potential of education for sustainability involves moving beyond ‘improvement’ to transformation of education (UNESCO, 2021). Transdisciplinarity, which refers to approaches and processes which occur between, across and beyond traditional academic and social boundaries, including academic disciplines, but also professions, cultures, groups, fields of action, social worlds, nations, and media (Kondratjuk, 2023), is necessary for transformation in education (Mittelstraß, 2002). In this paper, we focus on transdisciplinarity in the context of the Erasmus + Teacher Academy Project –Teaching Sustainability (TAP-TS). The TAP-TS Consortium of 11 teacher education organisations, across 7 European countries, includes schools, universities, a government agency, an educational enterprise, and a civil society organisation. The project aims to foster social learning, including transformation, through transdisciplinary engagement across disciplinary, institutional and national boundaries. Digital technologies are both a thematic focus of TAP-TS, through the module ‘Sustainability and Digitality’ and a medium for transdisciplinary learning environments and interactions, for instance in the ‘Climate Crisis Resilience module. TAP-TS aims to foster European educators’ competences for sustainability education through engagement with educational materials and in online, hybrid and face to face learning events as part of an international community of practice. Community of practice is a model of social learning which recognises the complexity and particularities of distinct pedagogical contexts (Wenger-Trayner et. al., 2020). As such TAP-TS brings educators with a shared commitment to sustainability education together, recognising that educators engage with and apply learning in relation to their contexts of practice (ibid.). In this presentation, we describe various applications of digital technologies as part of TAP-TS; the extent to which these have enabled and limited social learning as part of our community of practice; and the ‘level of value’ achieved (ibid.). We draw on data from the project’s formative evaluation (KRE, 2023) that includes participant observation, document analysis, focus groups, and surveys.

Brockwell, A.J.,et al. (2022) Designing indicators and assessment tools for SDG Target 4.7: a critique of the current approach and a proposal for an ’Inside-Out’ strategy, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. Kondratjuk, M., et., al. (2023) (Eds.). Transdisziplinarität in der Bildungsforschung. Perspektiven und Herausforderungen theoretischer, method(olog)ischer und empirischer Grenzgänge. Reihe Studien zur Schul- und Bildungsforschung (ZSB). Springer VS. K and R Education (2023) Teacher Academy project Teaching Sustainability: Evaluation of year 1 activities. Mittelstraß, J. (2002). Transdisciplinarity - New Structures in Science. In Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (ed.), Innovate Structure in Basic Research. (pp. 43-54). Orr, D.W. (2004) Earth in Mind: On education, environment and the human prospect. Island Press. Tikly, L. (2023) Decolonizing Education for Sustainable Futures: Some Conceptual Starting Points, in: Hutchinson, Y. et al. (eds) (2023) Decolonizing Education for Sustainable Futures. Bristol Studies in Comparative and International Education. Pp. 19-48. UNESCO (2021) Reimagining our futures together: a new social contract for education. International Commission on the Futures of Education Wenger-Trayner, E. & Wenger-Trayner, B. (2020). Learning to make a difference. Value creation in social learning spaces. Cambridge University Press

Educating towards more sustainable ways of living requires a considerable change in what is taught and how teachers are prepared and supported to meet this change. It involves exploring the ways “different values and lifestyle choices are related to sustainable practices” (Ilstedt et al., 2017) and matching emerging understandings to engaging learning materials and appropriate pedagogies. The TAP-TS project engages substantively with this challenge at a European level. The project centres on designing, assembling, testing and validating Learning & Teaching Packages (LTPs) - sets of novel and innovative OERs that take as their start-points the EU GreenComp framework for teaching and learning for sustainability, and build towards reflective-engagements that foster values, agency, and informed life-choices. These LTPs explore how sustainability can be introduced at different educational levels and which pedagogical approaches, concepts, and educational resources could be appropriate (Rieckmann 2021). At their core is the idea of enhancing teacher agency through critical & agentic reflection (c.f. Leijen et al 2020; Papenfuss et al 2019; Lunt 2020). TAP-TS engagements (co-production, piloting and use of LTPs) rest on a vision of professional learning based in a model that is ‘deeply reflective’ (Cavadas et al 2023; Goodwin et al 2023) and ‘values-led’ (Purdy et al 2023). This paper presents the TAP-TS experience of designing and building opportunities for this systematic, reflective teacher learning. We describe in detail our work and the centrality of EU GreenComp (Bianchi et al 2022) to fostering agency through critical reflective engagement. We outline the TAP-TS Roadmap for planning deeply reflective learning experiences within project activities (involving resources, materials, and approaches). We also describe the TAP-TS ‘MaRIA’ framework being developed to guide Follow-Up activities that engage critically with TAP-TS LTPs. In this way, we hope to initiate a conversation among the European teacher education community around values-led, teachers’ reflective learning and how this can be catalysed through criticality regarding educating for sustainability and just transition. The presentation emphasises particularly TAP-TS work to prompt critical agency, and the status of TAP-TS LTPs as Open Educational Resources (OERs) with their inherent 'beta nature' – all are work-in-progress and are offered as proposals for joint explorations rather than as ‘solutions’ to teachers and other educators from across Europe taking part in TAP-TS events. In all this TAP-TS works towards enabling learners and teachers to participate more fully in a post-digital society.

Goodwin, A. L., Madalińska-Michalak, J., & Flores, M. (2023). Rethinking teacher education in/for challenging times: reconciling enduring tensions, imagining new possibilities. European Journal of Teacher Education, 46(5) 1-16. Ilstedt, S., Eriksson, E. & Hesselgren, M.I.A. (2017). Sustainable lifestyles: How values affect sustainable practises. Nordes 2017 (7): DESIGN+POWER Leijen, Ä., Pedaste, M., & Lepp, L. (2020). Teacher agency following the ecological model: How it is achieved and how it could be strengthened by different types of reflection. British Journal of Educational Studies, 68(3), 295-310. Lunt, P. (2020). Practicing media—Mediating practice| beyond Bourdieu: The interactionist foundations of media practice theory. International Journal of Communication, 14, 18. Papenfuss, J., Merritt, E., Manuel-Navarrete, D., Cloutier, S., & Eckard, B. (2019). Interacting pedagogies: A review and framework for sustainability education. Journal of Sustainability Education, 20(4), 1-19. Purdy, N., Hall, K., Khanolainen, D., & Galvin, C. (2023). Reframing teacher education around inclusion, equity, and social justice: towards an authentically value-centred approach to teacher education in Europe. European Journal of Teacher Education, 46(5), 755-771. Rieckmann, M. (2021). Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung. Ziele, didaktische Prinzipien und Methoden. In: Demmler, Kathrin/Schorb, Bernd (Hrsg.): Medienbildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung. Kopaed-Verlag, S. 12-19.

From the perspective of social (in)equalities and social justice in education, forced migration unprecedentedly challenges education systems to pedagogically and politically manage the growing diversity stemming from cultural and social groups' experiences. By bringing together research on inclusive education, this proposal stems from the previous symposium held in Glasgow focusing on the activities of the Erasmus+ KAIII (621365-EPP-1-2020-1-NO-EPPKA3-IPI-SOC-IN) project “Co-created Education through Social Inclusion” (COSI.ed).

Considering the different ways of managing marginalised and disadvantaged groups suffering the disproportional impact of negative outcomes, the COSI.ed project sought to develop a co-created education model in which educational staff and students from underprivileged backgrounds collaborate to share their perspectives on learning experiences, develop knowledge and skills, remove learning barriers, and improve educational experiences and pathways. The indirect approach, the equality literacy (Moshuus & Eide; 2016; Stuart et.al 2019) and the co-creation methodologies were incorporated into the model, which was tested and improved in educational settings in Denmark, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.

This proposal of symposium aims thus at discussing the development of policies and practices oriented towards social inclusion based on the upscaling of a co-created model for achieving social inclusion in European countries with diverse contextual characteristics while emphasising the outcomes of the various education professionals' promising practices.

To this end, the contributions to this symposium will show how the experiences and results of COSI.ed can be sustained in the future while supporting educational and youth policies at several levels, including local, regional, national, and European. The symposium starts by analysing the process of enacting social inclusion policies and follows by identifying promising practices, and the conditions within which they were developed to explore policy recommendations at regional and European levels. The ambition is to portray a meta-analysis of policy outcomes associated with social justice and intercultural education. The second contribution discusses the impact of current educational policies on the cognitive, emotional, and social development of young people at risk. The presentation aims to highlight the need for collaborative efforts in implementing inclusive education and social inclusion policies while introducing a conceptual, scientific model developed within the Co-created Education through Social Inclusion project, implemented in five European countries. The COSI.ed model maintains continuity in theoretical and methodological approaches, evolving through implementation in diverse contexts. Despite common assumptions from the MAcE project, the model undergoes changes and adaptations in different regions, leading to five regional/national working models and one European COSI.ed model. The co-creation process is refined through desk research, data analysis, national models examination, and interviews with practitioners and young people, with a focus on humanising methodology. The third contribution underscores the pressing need for adaptations in European educational policies to address the challenges faced by institutions in qualifying, developing, and supporting diverse cultural and social groups, often marginalized or from disadvantaged backgrounds. The presentation identifies how in the development of the project promising practices are translated into policy recommendations, involving diverse stakeholders. The paper summarises the collaborative processes, identifies key policy recommendations from the voices of youth and professionals, and discusses their potential transferability to different contexts and regional practices.

The Co-created Education through Social Inclusion (COSI.ed) project, funded by Erasmus+ (621365-EPP-1-2020-1-NO-EPPKA3-IPI-SOC-IN), aimed to change educational practices by developing a co-created education model. This model engaged educational staff and students from underprivileged backgrounds in collaborative efforts to share perspectives, develop knowledge and skills, eliminate learning barriers, and enhance educational pathways. The COSI.ed model, incorporating an indirect approach and co-creation methodologies, underwent testing and refinement in educational settings across Denmark, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. This paper emerges from an analysis of how regional education and youth policies align with and diverge from the goals outlined in the Council Recommendation on promoting common values, social inclusion, inclusive education, and the European dimension of the teaching of the Paris Declaration. Adopting the Policy Cycle Approach (Bowe, Ball & Gold, 1992; Ball, 1994), the policy process is seen as a series of interconnected actions occurring within specific interest group-dominated arenas at transnational, national, and local levels. The theoretical-methodological approach, includes the context of influence, the context of text production, and the context of influence, while emphasising micropolitical processes and the role of actors at the local level, including professors, support staff, and school communities. Guided by the research question, "What are the ideas and organizations supporting educational policies for social inclusion?" this paper provides a comprehensive exploration of the dynamic landscape of educational policies for social inclusion, shedding light on the ideas and organisations that shape and influence these policies across different levels of governance.

Ball, S. (1994). Education reform: A critical and post-structural approach. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Bowe, R., Ball, S. J., & Gold, A. (1992). Reforming education & changing schools: Case studies in policy sociology. London: Routledge.

Current educational policies regarding inclusive approaches have a huge impact on cognitive, emotional and social development, as well as on the social integration of young people at risk (Gordon-Gould & Hornby, 2023). Our study aims to illuminate the emerging need for collaborative working to implement models for a more inclusive perspective on education and social inclusion policy. We demonstrate a conceptual, scientific model, as well as the process of its development, illustrating useful practice in working with young people at risk of social exclusion, created and implemented in five European countries within the Co-created Education through Social Inclusion project. Among the various ways of acquiring knowledge, models and scientific modelling activities are particularly important (Potochnik, 2017). A scientific model aims to represent empirical objects, physical phenomena, and processes in a logical and objective manner. They “attempt to reduce the world to a fundamental set of elements and laws and on this basis, they hope to better understand and predict key aspects of the world” (Borner et al. 2012, 3). Model is not only a reflection of reality, but also grounds for action, or a stimulus for discussion. Model design usually involves the formulation of a scientific hypothesis or the identification of a particular structure or dynamic. Often the hypothesis is grounded in an analysis of empirical data (Borner et al., 2012). Harré (2004) notes that models can complement theories by providing mechanisms for processes that are left unspecified even though they are responsible for bringing about the described phenomena. The COSI.ed model is qualitative, inductive and uses verbal and graphical description to represent the findings from the bottom-up approach. This starts from observations followed by the identification of patterns and factors, which leads to the generation of conclusions (Borner et al., 2012). The COSI.ed model is characterised by a continuity of theoretical and methodological approaches. Despite it was built on the common assumptions and concepts from the MAcE project, in the process of its implementation in different and highly heterogeneous contexts, common assumptions have been subjected to different processes - changes in perception, understanding, re-signification, repositioning of elements and redefining interrelationship. This led to five regional/national working models, based on which one European COSI.ed model was developed. Drawing on desk research, data, national models analysis and interviews with practitioners and young people, we refine the co-creation process by embedding it in the tenets of humanising methodology (Reyes et al. 2021).

Borner, Katy & Boyack, Kevin & Milojevic, Stasa & Morris, Steven. (2012). An Introduction to Modeling Science: Basic Model Types, Key Definitions, and a General Framework for the Comparison of Process Models. 10.1007/978-3-642-23068-4_1. Downes, S. M. (2020). Models and modeling in the sciences: A philosophical introduction. Routledge. Gordon-Gould, P., & Hornby, G. (2023). Inclusive education at the crossroads: exploring effective special needs provision in global contexts. Routledge, London. Harré, R. (2004). Modeling: Gateway to the Unknown (Studies in Multidisciplinarity 1), ed. D. Rothbart, Amsterdam etc.: Elsevier. Potochnik, A. (2007), “Optimality Modeling and Explanatory Generality”, Philosophy of Science, 74(5): 680–691. Reyes, C. C., Haines, S. J., & Clark, K. (2021). Humanizing methodologies in educational research: Centering non-dominant communities. Teachers College Press. Rogers, K. (2023, November 17). Scientific modeling. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/scientific-modeling

Within the rapidly evolving European landscape, the urgency for adaptations in educational policies is accentuated by the daily challenges faced by educational institutions in facilitating the qualification, development and support of increasingly diverse cultural and social groups, often marginalised or from disadvantaged backgrounds. Despite continuous innovation and modifications in pedagogical practices motivated by the inclusive education movement for social justice, the translation of such principles to educational policies that facilitate the dissemination of successful or promising practices across diverse contexts is frequently disturbed by neoliberal logics and systemic inequalities (e.g. school competition, standardized curricula, managerial control) that underlie educational systems (Mikelatou, & Arvanitis, 2023). Ainscow (2020) highlights how promoting inclusion and equity through educational policies and practices is highly connected with processes of social learning in particular contexts. To achieve this, the author suggests an inquiry framework for inclusive education, which emphasises teacher-student dialogues about teaching and learning, as well as wider discussions about what inclusion and equity mean for different actors. Dialogue and social learning have been chief aspects of the experience practices in the COSI.ed international project when engaging young people, researchers, teachers and other education professionals, as well as actors from management and policy-making sectors in collaborative practices. The co-creation approaches used in the implemented and monitored practices of the indirect approach (Moshuus, & Eide, 2016), the collaborative competence groups (Krane, & Klevan, 2019) and the equality literacy framework (Stuart et al., 2019), which embody the COSI.ed model (as described in the previous paper) align with the emerging trend towards more collaborative and participatory processes in the design of policy recommendations and policy-making (e.g. Goulart, & Falanga, 2022). Therefore, the project team initiated a collaborative process to translate the identified promising practices into policy recommendations for a wide audience of policymakers and practitioners at different levels. This ensured that the recommendations reflected the diverse voices of the project. The paper summarises the collaborative processes used to design and upscale promising practices for policy recommendations of co-created education for social inclusion. This paper also identifies the main policy recommendations that emerged during the design process, highlighting the voices of youth and professionals. The recommendations are discussed in terms of their potential transferability to other contexts, as well as their specific regional practices.

Ainscow, Mel (2020) Promoting inclusion and equity in education: lessons from international experiences, Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 6(1), 7-16, DOI: 10.1080/20020317.2020.1729587 Goulart, P., Falanga, R. Co-production and Voice in Policymaking: Participatory Processes in the European Periphery (2022). The European Journal of Development Research, 34, 1735–1744 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-022-00551-z Krane, V., & Klevan, T. (2019) There are three of us: parents’ experiences of the importance of teacher-student relationships and parental involvement in upper secondary school, International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 24:1, 74-84, DOI: 10.1080/02673843.2018.1464482 Mikelatou, A., & Arvanitis, E. (2023) Pluralistic and equitable education in the neoliberal era: paradoxes and contradictions, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 27(14), 1611-1626, DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2021.1904018 Moshuus, G. H., & Eide, K. (2016). The Indirect Approach: How to Discover Context When Studying Marginal Youth. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406916656193 Stuart, K., Bunting, M., Boyd, P., Cammack, P., Hornbæk Frostholm, P., Thore Graveson, D., Moshuus, G. Walker, S. (2019). Developing an Equalities Literacy for Practitioners Working with Children, Young People and Families through Action Research. Educational Action Research, 28(3), 362-382

The purpose of methodology in social research is to be able to understand research methods and their reasoning. The word method comes from the Greek: meta ta hodos, “to follow a path”. While in empirical social research the path was usually thought out and planned before the start of a journey, Participatory Action Research (PAR) cannot plan this path in advance, because the purpose of PAR is to find ways collectively in the double hope that the path was feasible in terms of the research, but above all that this path can initiate the desired change through the research.

While after the years of 1968 the focus of the research communities was on changing the world, the focus was on the word ‘Action’. So questions like, how to change the world as social scientists or what role social scientists play in changing the world. The new uprising of the last decade of the then so called action research (Lewin, 1946) placed the focus on the participation of non-academics in academic research (Lenette, 2022). Questions, like whose knowledge is present at the universities, who has a role in picking or producing knowledge in academia, came up front. The panelists came together in last years ECER events around a shared interest in such questions around PAR and social inequalities and continued to exchange afterwards. This panel is hence a collaborative reflection of different dimensions of participatory research as an articulated need for an alternative way to do research on co-creating a process with groups in participatory research while we manoeuvre academic demands- a part of the research journey which is not usually shown in conferences. We hope to display this juggling of priorities that we do as academics, area experts, teachers and/or students while we navigate societal/ institutional hierarchy, power relations, expectations, and unwritten rules.

Through perspectives of different research projects across Europe, all of us are tracing considerations in those processes - not just the conscious decision but also making sense of influences, positionalities, localities, etc. At the same time, we seek that our reflections can resonate with the audience's experience, contributing to unravelling their hidden journey as researchers.

Constanza Cárdenas Alarcón will develop the idea of uncertainty and vulnerability as a researcher in her study about inclusive curriculum made by teachers in Chile. How do we comply with the plan before you have a plan?

As Lingyi Chu's narrative research on cross-cultural youths’ transitional care leans onto the community as co-researchers, she questions how space, context, and identity play together in shaping her intercorporeality over her status of a shifting “in-out-sider” (Zhao, 2017)”. An ongoing concern: How does the researcher being a visible minority influence multicultural encountering when researching identity and belonging matters in a homogeneous context?

As Jacqueline Hackl uses Collective Memory Work (Haug 2000) - a hegemony critical research, education and political method using memory scenes to work on transformatory possibilities in a collective - when researching discrimination experiences in education, she reflects on how her methodological/methodical choices and considerations are linked to her positionality. One question that follows: How can we widen or intervene in what is possible with(in) educational research?

Michael Doblmair seeks opportunities for participation of co-researchers in research collaboration in political struggles. As an activist researcher (Ulrich 2019) he addresses the notion ‘Action’ in his PAR. He will focus on grouping processes in Action Research. As in voluntary political activities groups are seldomly consistent, we constantly have to ask: How can we achieve participation, continuity and consens in constantly changing groups?

Teaching quality has been empirically shown to be a key predictor of student learning (Stronge, 2013). In studying teaching quality, teaching effectiveness researchers have for years focused on the opportunities provided to students for learning, as these are crafted through teacher-student and student-student interactions with the content. Yet, following Fend’s (1981) distinction between opportunity and use and more recent work in the German-speaking countries on this issue (cf. Vieluf et al., 2020), teaching effectiveness researchers worldwide have started to more increasingly attend to not only the opportunities created for student learning, but also to how students make use of these opportunities, on the grounds that the former without the latter can only partially explain student learning.

Of particular interest in this line of research are the opportunities provided for student cognitive activation, often identified as the potential for cognitive activation, and students’ use of these opportunities, often identified as cognitive activity (Groß-Mlynek et al., 2022; Rieser & Decristan, 2023). This heightened interest in cognitive activation is justified both because of empirical findings corroborating its role for students’ cognitive and affective learning (e.g., Lazarides & Buchholz, 2019), but also due to studies showing cognitively activating teaching to be highly needed worldwide (cf. OECD, 2020).

Despite this increased interest, our review of the literature showed that in most extant studies scholarly attention has mostly been directed to the potential for cognitive activation without also exploring students’ cognitive activity. Only three studies concurrently attended to and measured both the opportunity and use for cognitive activation in relation to student learning (Lipowsky et al., 2009; Merk et al., 2021; Rieser & Decristan, 2023). These studies, however, differ not only in reporting mixed findings, but also in their methodological design: whereas the former two employed expert classroom observers’ ratings to capture the potential for cognitive activation and student ratings to capture cognitive activity, the latter utilized student ratings to measure both. Concurrently attending to different sources of information (e.g., expert classroom observers and students) is, however, critical, given scholarly calls (e.g., Fauth et al., 2020) to more systematically examine how the source of information contributes to the predictive validity of the teaching quality measures employed.

The scarcity of studies that concurrently attend to the predictive validity of opportunity and use (in cognitive activation); the mixed findings of these studies; and the fact that none of them concurrently used different sources of information to capture the opportunity for cognitive activation—note that the use of opportunities is typically captured only through student ratings—raise two questions:

- How does the predictive validity of ratings on the opportunity for cognitive activation compare with that of ratings on the use of cognitive activation?

- Does this differ when different sources of information (expert classroom observers vs. students) are employed to capture the opportunity for cognitive activation?

Addressing these questions can have important methodological implications for measuring aspects of teaching quality in more optimal ways, but also practical implications for teachers’ formative evaluation. However, to more adequately answer these questions, and especially the second one, attention needs to be paid to ensuring that the measures of the different sources obtained are aligned in the sense of tapping into similar—and if possible identical—aspects of teaching quality. Doing so becomes particularly important, given that our review of the literature showed only a few studies comparing aligned measures of teaching quality from different sources (e.g., van der Scheer et al., 2018)—and even in those cases, not with respect to the issue of their predictive validity.

Teaching quality has been researched extensively in the past years with a high number of empirical studies in educational sciences and psychology. To better understand how learning develops in the classroom, scholars are concerned with the reliable and valid measurement of teaching quality. In doing so, Helmke (2012) considers classroom observation as the “gold standard” amongst other ways of capturing teaching quality (e.g., student ratings in large-scale assessment) because of its direct assessment of teaching practices. However, classroom observation also draws on resources and can be prone to many sources of measurement error. Therefore, when performing classroom observation for any purpose (i.e., research, practical, policy) it is important to consider how to allocate (limited) resources such that high score reliability and valid conclusions about teaching quality are ensured.

Studies suggests that changing the presentation order of lesson segments could particularly affect score reliability (e.g., Mashburn et al., 2014). For instance, using the generic CLASS-Secondary observation system (Pianta et al., 2008), Mashburn et al. (2014) found that 20-minute lesson segments presented in a random order to raters achieved the best combination of reliability and predictive validity. In the present study, we used a different, hybrid observation system (i.e., comprising both generic and subject-specific aspects of teaching quality, Charalambous & Praetorius, 2018) that was first developed to capture teaching quality in German secondary mathematics classrooms, and that draws on the Three Basic Dimensions of teaching quality (classroom management, student support, and (potential for) cognitive activation, e.g., Klieme et al., 2009). The three basic dimensions have been shown to positively relate to students’ achievement in mathematics classrooms across several studies and various operationalizations (e.g., Baumert et al., 2010; for an overview see Praetorius et al., 2018).

Classroom management refers to teachers’ procedures and strategies that enable efficient use of time (time on task), as well as behavioral management (Kounin, 1970). Student support draws on self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and aims at both motivational and emotional support, as well as individualization and differentiation. Cognitive activation, finally, addresses opportunities for "high-order thinking" from a socio-constructivist perspective on teaching and learning (e.g., problem solving, Mayer, 2004).

Empirical evidence suggests that generic and subject-specific measures of teaching quality generate moderately correlated, but still unique information about classrooms (Kane & Staiger, 2012). Evaluating this finding, Charalambous and Praetorius (2018) conclude that subject-specific and generic measures together could explain more variance in student learning in mathematics than generic measures alone. Since subject-specificity might be considered a continuum rather than a binary characteristic, they argue that it could be meaningful for scholars to develop hybrid frameworks of teaching quality, which take both perspectives into account (i.e., generic and subject-specific, see also Charalambous & Praetorius, 2018).

The purpose of the present study is twofold: First, we aim at investigating the effect of presentation order on score reliability in two subjects. Second, we explore an optimal design for the implementation of our observation system in terms of score reliability. Towards this end, we assigned four trained raters to rate videotaped Norwegian mathematics and science lessons either in sequential 20-minute segments, or two nonsequential 20-minute segments.

Lesson Study (LS), a collaborative and inquiry-based model of teacher professional development, has received increased attention in recent years. It involves teachers in small groups identifying an issue in their teaching practice and organising an inquiry to learn more about it. Specifically, teachers jointly plan, teach and reflect on lessons. A rich body of mostly descriptive and qualitative studies suggests that with LS experience teachers may develop pedagogical knowledge, and may be able to identify students’ misconceptions (e.g. Cheung & Wong, 2014; Vrikki, Warwick, Vermunt, Mercer & van Halem, 2017). However, more large-scale controlled studies are needed in order to systematically evaluate the effect of LS (Benedict et al., 2023). In addition, even less evidence exists of the impact of teachers’ participation in LS on their students’ achievements (e.g. Cheung & Wong, 2014; Kager, Mynnott & Vock, 2023).

In addition, variations of the LS model include the presence of an external expert (i.e., LS facilitator, knowledgeable other, moderator). The literature identifies many ways that this external expert can support teachers, including enhancing in-depth discussions about students’ thinking, shaping the quality of the teachers’ inquiry, fostering teachers’ discussions by posing questions, encouraging teachers to share their experiences and managing the LS process (e.g. Akiba et al., 2019; Schipper et al., 2017; Bjuland & Helgevold, 2018; De Vrie, Verhoed & Goei, 2016). These responsibilities are not only vaguely described, but their effects have not been studied either. At the same time, research on teacher and school improvement argues for the important role of an advisory and research team that can work closely with teachers and support their attempt to design, implement and evaluate their action plans (e.g., Creemers & Kyriakides, 2012; Scheerens, 2013).

This paper addresses both limitations in the literature described above. First, it aims to examine how secondary mathematics teachers’ participation in LS affects their students’ achievement in reasoning. Second, it aims to examine how different types of support offered to LS teacher groups can further enhance students’ achievement. Specifically, it examines the impact of the support of a LS facilitator, who guides teachers through the LS process, fosters their discussions and promotes teacher learning which is expected to affect student learning outcomes. It compares this to the impact on student learning outcomes of the support of an LS advisor who in addition to guiding teachers through the LS process, offers subject advice and his/her own ideas to the teachers. Although having these kinds of support is not uncommon, little is known about the effect of different types of support that teachers may have in implementing LS.

In the contemporary era, the important advancements in technology are closely connected with the paramount importance of achievements in mathematics and sciences disciplines. The current societal landscape, characterized by technological progress and the prevalence of a data-driven environment, underscores the increasing importance of mathematical and scientific knowledge.

Mathematics is acknowledged as the foundational language supporting all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines. Numerous stakeholders have underscored the imperative for a nation to enhance the mathematical skills and proficiency of its students (Mujtaba et al., 2014).

In a study analyzing TIMSS 2019 data for Turkey, teacher practices such as relating to daily life and prior knowledge, responding to student needs and encouraging students to participate in the discussion predicted mathematics achievement and explained the one-fifth of the between-schools variance (Sezer & Cakan, 2022).

Also, activities such as asking students to complete challenging exercises, which required them to go beyond the instruction, was an important predictor of mathematics achievement and had a positive relationship in 8th-grade (Sezer & Cakan, 2022). In Sweden, an analysis of TIMSS 2019 data showed that teaching activities such as asking to memorize formulas and listening to the teacher were positive predictors of TIMSS 8th-grade mathematics achievement, whereas relating information to daily life was a negative predictor (Eriksson et al., 2019).

The present study aims to investigate the extent to which specific teacher actions rated by students are predicting the Romanian students’ achievement in TIMSS 2019. Results could identify specific actions that could influence student achievement and propose those actions for further research and improvement.

Therefore, the research questions guiding the present study are as follows:

RQ.1 – To what extent do teachers’ actions, as observed and experienced by students, predict 8th-grade Romanian students’ mathematics achievement in TIMSS 2019 after controlling for socio-economic status?

RQ.2 – To what extent do teachers’ actions, as observed and experienced by students, predict 8th-grade Romanian students’ physics achievement in TIMSS 2019 after controlling for socio-economic status?

RQ.3 – To what extent do teachers’ actions, as observed and experienced by students, predict 8th-grade Romanian students’ chemistry achievement in TIMSS 2019 after controlling for socio-economic status?

RQ.4 – To what extent do teachers’ actions, as observed and experienced by students, predict 8th-grade Romanian students’ biology achievement in TIMSS 2019 after controlling for socio-economic status?

RQ.5 – To what extent do teachers’ actions, as observed and experienced by students, predict 8th-grade Romanian students’ earth sciences achievement in TIMSS 2019 after controlling for socio-economic status?

In recent years, Kosovo has implemented a number of measures to improve quality assurance mechanisms in Kosovo. Participation in large-scale international comparative assessments is part of a monitoring strategy to compare the educational performance of Kosovo's primary and secondary school students with that of children and young adults in neighboring countries, the region, the European Union and other parts of the world, and as such has served as a key indicator of educational quality (MEST, 2020). International monitoring reports and the few academic studies that have been published reveal substantial differences in educational achievement at both primary and secondary levels in terms of student background and family indicators, place of residence (urban vs. rural areas) and school type (OECD; 2023; Mullis et al., 2017). However, in Kosovo, the rich sources of data obtained through participation in international large-scale assessments remain underutilized for educational research and monitoring, and thus have little to offer for evidence-based policy making in education. To date, inequalities have only been partially documented for achievement, but not for other important outcomes of schooling (Pavesic et al., 2022). Moreover, the causes of inequality have not been systematically investigated.

This symposium aims to bring together different perspectives to provide a more coherent picture of educational equity and quality in Kosovo. It will also broaden the perspective of educational equity, whereas to date, large-scale educational monitoring studies have mainly been used to analyse variations in student performance and equity within and across education systems over time. Other perspectives of educational equity, such as participation and recognition equity, are often neglected. These perspectives do not only take into account achievement levels, variances or minimum competence levels, but also focus on capabilities for social and political participation and on factors such as the quality of social relations, the recognition of individual autonomy and voice, and well-being as an end in itself. On the basis of the four papers, inequality will be examined in terms of a) approaches to teaching, b) the relationship between motivation and achievement, c) explanations of gender differences, and d) comparisons with neighboring countries. The symposium will thus provide a basis for a critical review of the extent to which large-scale studies such as TIMSS and PISA incorporate different foci of educational equity in their concepts, indicators and analytical approaches. The relevance and challenges of including valid and reliable measures of equity concepts in the indicator set of these studies will be illustrated by discussing some secondary analyses of LSA data for Kosovo.

Teacher instructional practices are considered amongst the main determinants of student achievement (Cordero & Gil-Izquierdo, 2018). Moreover, depending on the practices used, teachers can either weaken or promote student achievement (Caro et al., 2016; Hwang et al., 2018). Since student achievement is positively related to teacher practices, the impact of different instructional practices on student achievement represents a topic of great relevance for educational equity (Le Donné et al., 2016). This study explores the prevalence of different instructional practices in classrooms and their association with students’ reading achievements, focusing on the 2018 PISA results in Kosovo. Drawing on a dataset of 3,906 students, the research employs exploratory factor analysis to identify three latent variables representing student-centered instruction: individualized learning instructional practices (ILIP), research-based instructional practices (RBIP), and feedback-oriented institutional practices (FOIP). The study aims to answer two main research questions: (1) Which teacher instructional practices are prevalent among teachers in Kosovo classrooms? (2) How do students of different reading proficiency levels perceive ILIP and FOIP, and is there a significant difference in reading performance among students exposed to different instructional practices? Results indicate that ILIP is the most prevalent instructional practice, followed by FOIP and RBIP. Students predominantly report occasional or minimal exposure to ILIP and FOIP. The study also reveals a negative correlation between ILIP and RBIP with FOIP, suggesting a potential trade-off between student-centered and teacher-oriented practices. Benchmarking analyses demonstrate an equal distribution of students across FOIP and ILIP categories based on reading scores, indicating that exposure alone does not guarantee higher performance. However, RBIP stands out, showing a positive correlation with better reading scores, even at low exposure levels. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on educational equity by examining the relationship between teaching practices and student outcomes in Kosovo's education system. The findings underscore the importance of considering various instructional practices in the pursuit of equitable education and inform policy discussions around teacher professional development. The study emphasizes the need for continued efforts to align teaching practices with the goals of the education reform implemented in Kosovo, fostering a student-centered approach to enhance reading performance and reduce achievement gaps.

Caro, D. H., Lenkeit, J., & Kyriakides, L. (2016). Teaching strategies and differential effectiveness across learning contexts: Evidence from PISA 2012. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 49, 30–41. Cordero, J. M, Gil-Izquierdo, M. (2018). The effect of teaching strategies on student achievement: An analysis using TALIS-PISA-link. Journal of Policy Modeling 40, 1313–1331. Hwang, J., Choi, K. M., Bae, Y., and Shin, D. H. (2018). Do teachers’ instructional practices moderate equity in mathematical and scientific literacy?: An investigation of the PISA 2012 and 2015. Int J of Sci and Math Educ 16, 25–45. Le Donné, N., Fraser, P., & Bousquet., G. (2016). Teaching strategies for instructional quality: Insights from the TALIS-PISA link data. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 148, OECD Publishing.

Sub-paper had to be withdrawn.

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It is not only performance and the skills acquired that are of great importance within school and teaching, but also the students' attitudes towards the respective subjects. Learners' self-concepts, motivation and emotions are fundamental factors in learning, this is also evidenced by the performance of the students (OECD, 2023). In terms of gender, international studies report that girls are better readers than boys, partly due to differences in motivation and contextual effects. In addition, girls tend to have more positive attitudes towards reading and consider themselves to be more literate than boys (Mullis et al., 2017; OECD, 2023). Several studies identified the following characteristics as the cause for the better grade point averages of girls. Girls have higher self-discipline, self-control and self-regulation (Weis et al., 2013) and a higher interest in school in general (Houtte, 2004), they exert themselves more and work more, while disrupting lessons less (Downey & Vogue, 2004) are less avoidant of work, show less problem behaviour and better social behaviour (DiPrete, 2008). Although the additional effort of girls is mentioned here as the cause of the gender differences, the costs borne by girls are hardly taken into account, therefore the focus of this article is the elaboration of gender differences in reading-related self-concept and reading competencies, taking into account the family background of 15-year-old students in Kosovo. For this purpose, data from the PISA 2018 study are analyzed using regression analysis with the IEA IDB Analyzer. Rather than testing factual knowledge, PISA tests students' ability to apply and connect this knowledge. The study is conducted every three years and covers three areas, reading, mathematics and science, with reading being the focus of the assessment in 2018 (OECD, 2023). The results show that although girls perform better in reading and have a higher reading-related self-concept, even taking into account their family background, this is associated with higher costs for these girls, as they also report greater fear of failure.

DiPrete, T. A. & Jennings, J. L. (2012). Social and behavioral skills and the gender gap in early educational achievement. Social Science Research, 41 (1), 1–15. Downey, D. B. & Vogt Yuan, A. S. (2005). Sex differences in school performance during high school: Puzzling patterns and possible explanations. The Sociological Quarterly, 46 (2), 299–321 Houtte, M. v. (2004). Why boys achieve less at school than girls: The difference between boys’ and girls’ academic culture. Educational Studies, 30 (2), 159–173. Mullis, I. V. S., Martin, M. O., Foy, P., Olson, J. F. & Preuschoff, C. (2017). PIRLS 2016 International Results in Reading.: Findings form IEA's trend in international mathematics and science study at the fourth and eighth grades. TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center Lynch School of Education Boston College. https://timss.bc.edu/TIMSS2007/mathreport.html OECD. (2023). Programme for International Student Assessment. OECD. PISA - PISA (oecd.org) Weis, M., Heikamp, T. & Trommsdorff, G. (2013). Gender differences in school achieve[1]ment: The role of self-regulation. Frontiers in Psychology, 4 (442), 1–10

Empirical educational research has shown that social inequalities influence the student´s educational achievement. Different theoretical frameworks, such as Bourdieu's capital theory refer to how different types of capital can be related to achievement. For several countries, the correlation of socio-economic status and student´s educational achievement has been shown (Wendt et al., 2012). About 23% of people in Kosovo live in poverty and the GDP is a quarter of the European average (UNICEF, 2021), which indicates a high level of social inequalities. The fact that post-conflict countries, such as Kosovo, have less beneficial conditions and are therefore also associated with lower levels of educational achievement is e.g. shown by the results of the TIMSS study (Mullis et al., 2020). However, analyses show that social inequality in Kosovo is quite small (Wendt et al., i.p.). Moreover, this raises the question of whether the operationalization of socio-economic status in post-conflict countries can take place in the same way than in other countries and whether constructs developed in one culture are valid for other cultures (Matsumoto, 2003). In this article we therefore analyze the operationalization of the socio-economic status indicators. As a theoretical framework we used Bourdieu´s theory (2003, 2012) of capital. Therefore, we conducted secondary analysis of the TIMSS 2019 data of Kosovo at grade 4 to analyze the extent of differences in mathematics and science performance that can be explained by Bourdieu's theory of capital. We use data from the household survey and the student questionnaire, self-reported by parents and students (nstudents= 4496; mean age 9.9). We conducted multivariate regression analysis using the IEA IDB Analyzer. We found a significant relationship for parental education level and number of books for both math and science The lack of economic resources at home is negatively related to mathematics and science achievement. However, the largest difference in achievement is found among children who come to school hungry, with a difference of 31.5 points in science. The "effect" of language practices on science achievement remains significant when controlling for cultural and economic resources. This can be seen as a first indication that the cultural capital acquired by parents through conflict-related migration makes an independent explanatory contribution to the differences in their children's performance. The overall variability in student performance that this model can explain is limited, explaining only about 13% of the variation in student performance, indicating that other important factors may not be accounted for.

Boudon, R. (1974). Education, Opportunity, and Social Inequality. Changing Prospects in Western Society. Wiley. Bourdieu, P. (2003). Interventionen, 1961-2001: Sozialwissenschaft und politisches Handeln. Raisons d'agir. VSA-Verlag. Bourdieu, P. (2012). Ökonomisches Kapital, kulturelles Kapital, soziales Kapital. In U. Bauer, U. H. Bittlingmayer, & A. Scherr (Eds.), Handbuch Bildungs- und Erziehungssoziologie (pp. 229–242). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-18944-4_15 Matsumoto, D. (2003). Cross‐cultural Research. In S. F. Davis (Ed.), Handbook of Research Methods in Experimental Psychology (pp. 189–208). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470756973.ch9 UNICEF. (2021). Annual Report. https://www.unicef.org/kosovoprogramme/media/2931/file/English-2022.pdf Wendt, H., Stubbe, T., & Schwippert, K. (2012). Soziale Herkunft und Lesekompetenzen von Schülerinnen und Schülern. In W. Bos, I. Tarelli, A. Bremerich-Vos, & K. Schwippert (Eds.), IGLU 2011Lesekompetenzen von Grundschulkindern in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich (pp. 175–190). Waxmann Verlag.

Abstract:

At the core of establishing a European Education Area by 2025, lies the need to improve social cohesion and, “experience European identity in all its diversity” (European Commission, 2017, p. 2). To this end, “giving more support to teachers'' becomes a central objective of the European Education Area (ibid, p. 11), as well as ensuring that “Member States take action to support the teacher educator profession” (European Commission, 2013, p. 6) in recognition of their central role in every stage of the teacher’s career. These quotes from key European policy documents underscore the growing awareness at policy levels of teacher education’s crucial role in developing more equitable education systems. This aligns with recent research that emphasises the potential impact of teacher educators in reducing inequalities and leading transformative change (a.o. Forlin, 2010; Ponet et al., 2023). However, caution is warranted, as research identifies a lack of competences among teacher educators in teaching for equity and diversity (Florian & Camedda, 2020), and perceptions that diversity issues are something beyond their professional expertise, and therefore, professional responsibility (Beaton et al., 2021). Many countries also grapple with a demographic and cultural mismatch between teacher candidates and students in schools (Ladson-Billings, 2005), and insufficient attention to “systemic policies that reproduce inequity in the first place” (Cochran-Smith & Stringer Keefe, 2022, p. 9). This session connects with these observations by mapping and evaluating the current state in four European countries (Germany, Flanders, the Netherlands, Portugal) across two key areas: (1) policies and practices in initial teacher education for teaching pre-service teachers to teach for equity and diversity; and (2) policies and practices for upskilling teacher educators’ equity and diversity competencies.

The four papers are connected by a cohesive methodological framework, derived from a large-scale EU-funded project. In every country, the policy web around teacher education for diversity was mapped by reviewing and interpreting official documents and policy statements on the national (macro) and institutional (meso) levels. In a second stage, this document analysis was enriched with understandings of what happens ‘on the ground’ (micro-level) via focus group interviews with a sample of programme leaders and pre-service teachers in each country. This systematic and multi-level approach allows for qualitative comparison across countries, hence delivering a unique understanding of cross-national strengths, gaps, and priorities in teacher education for diversity.

Objectives:

This session aims to map and evaluate the extent to which existing teacher education policies and practices in four European countries address issues of equity and diversity. Specifically, we target three objectives:

1. deliver a rich account of provision for pre-service teachers and teacher educators in the participating countries, with a primary focus on the national (macro) and institutional (meso) levels;

2. identify strengths, weaknesses and gaps in existing provision in each country;

3. define key priorities for the professional development of teacher educators on the European level.

Session Overview:

The Chair (10 min) starts by contextualising the objectives of the session, and describing the research approach that guided data gathering and analysis across participating countries.

Then, presenters from the four countries will deliver focused 10-minute presentations each, offering headline findings related to equity and diversity provision for teacher educators and pre-service teachers. These presentations will include a critical analysis of identified gaps and priorities within their respective contexts.

The Discussant will take the analysis beyond the borders of the individual countries and actively engage the diverse experiences and perspectives present in the audience. Attendees will be invited to contribute their insights, amending and refining findings from the research. The goal is to collaboratively shape and co-create an agenda for the professional development of European teacher educators (40 min).

Portugal’s education system has evolved greatly over the last five decades of democracy (1974-2024). Teacher education has also accompanied such a movement which is visible in research and publications in the field. Amongst other issues, inclusion has been identified as a key feature. In fact, Portugal’s inclusive education framework is among the most comprehensive of OECD countries (OECD, 2022). The same report highlights the programmes, resources and support structures developed in the Portuguese context “to meet the needs of all students and to promote educational equity and inclusion more broadly”. In 2018, following the publication of Profile of the Student at the End of Compulsory Education (12 years), – which identifies the set of principles, values and competencies for curriculum development – two key policy documents were issued: Curriculum Autonomy and Flexibility (Decree-Law nº55) and Inclusive Education (Decree-Law nº54). The former stipulates a set of principles and orientations according to which schools are granted greater autonomy to manage the school curriculum. In turn, the Decree-Law nº54 focuses on Inclusive Education and is based on the notion that all students have learning potential, as long as they receive adequate support. This is achieved through a multilevel approach which includes universal measures, selective measures and additional measures. These policy initiatives are important to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in Portuguese schools. Issues of flexibility, autonomy and collaboration among the stakeholders are key in this context. This comprehensive framework has implications for teacher education for equity and diversity. In fact, a new policy for teacher education was issued in November 2023 (Decree-Law nº112/2023). While the main reason for this restructuring process stems from the need to solve the problem of teacher shortage, the new policy stipulates inclusive education as one of the topics to be covered in teacher education curriculum. Although teacher education for inclusion has been identified internationally, there is room for improvement in this field (e.g. Florian & Camedda, 2020; Alves, 2020). In this paper, an analysis of the macro-level of the policies in Portugal is explored focusing in particular on teacher education for equity and diversity following the recent publication of the new policy. A look at the meso level is also included in order to explore how institutions are dealing with the new policy taking into consideration the perspective of the stakeholders, namely programme directors and teacher educators. Implications of the findings for teacher educators’ development are discussed.

Alves, I. (2020). Enacting education policy reform in Portugal: The process of change and the role of teacher education for inclusion. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(1), 64-82. Decree-Law no. 112/2023, Diário da República, 1.ª série, N.º 231, 29th November 2023 Decree-Law no. 54/2018, Diário da República, no. 129/2018, Series I from 2018-07-06, 2918-2928. https://data.dre.pt/eli/dec-lei/54/2018/07/06/p/dre/pt/html Decree-Law no. 55/2018, Diário da República, no. 129/2018, Series I from 2018-07-06, 2928-2943. https://data.dre.pt/eli/dec-lei/55/2018/07/06/p/dre/pt/html Florian, L., & Camedda, D. (2020). Enhancing teacher education for inclusion. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(1), 4-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1707579 OECD (2022), Review of inclusive education in Portugal, Reviews of National Policies for Education, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a9c95902-en.

Effectively addressing diversity in education, converting it into enrichment and strength, is a complex challenge. The Flemish educational system, like many others, grapples with this complexity (e.g., Siongers et al., 2020). Recent PISA results highlight ongoing educational inequalities in Flanders linked to students’ socio-economic status (OECD, 2023). Furthermore, the absence of demographic representation among pre- and in-service teachers, signals a deficiency in responses to diversity and inclusion (SERV, 2020; Flemish Government, 2021) and only 17.0% of teachers report feeling prepared to teach in multicultural classrooms (Siongers et al., 2020). While national policies are slowly taking shape, there is a simultaneous emergence of civil society organisations in Flanders (see LEVL vzw, 2022; Teach for Belgium, 2023). These organisations offer professional development to teachers and urge policymakers to keep the change process towards inclusion and equity on the agenda. However, the role of initial teacher education programmes should not be disregarded. To prepare the next generation of teachers capable of shaping an inclusive educational system, these programmes must put equity in the centre of their organisation (Cochran-Smith et al., 2016). Prior research in Flanders already explored how the curriculum (Dursun et al., 2023) and modelling of diversity-responsive practices by all teacher educators can contribute to this objective (Ponet et al., 2023). This paper extends this exploration by mapping the current provisions in Flemish national policy and teacher education institutions. It aims to enhance the preparation of pre-service teachers for equity and inclusion while stimulating professional development of teacher educators in the matter. This study employs the methodology of the broader EU-project. Preliminary findings confirm the lack of national policy to ensure adequate preparation for equity and inclusion of both pre-service teachers and teacher educators. In the absence of national-level-policies, most programmes develop their own policies and guidance addressing this matter. However, delving deeper into the data reveals that many of these policies are not well translated into concrete actions that foster targeted professionalisation of teacher educators on the one hand, and cohesive curriculum development for pre-service teachers on the other hand. Consequently, many teacher educators are individually sorting out what practises for inclusion and equity they could implement, feeling little support or incentive to do this. To affect change in Flanders, there is an urgent need to address this lack of commitment on both national and institutional fronts, while providing tailored professional development for all teacher educators.

Cochran-Smith, M., Ell, F., Grudnoff, L., Haigh, M., Hill, M., & Ludlow, L. (2016). Initial teacher education: What does it take to put equity at the center? Teaching and Teacher Education, 57, 67-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2016.03.006 Dursun, H., Claes, E., & Ağırdağ, O. (2023). Coursework, field-based teaching practices, and multicultural experiences: Analyzing the determinants of preservice teachers’ ethnocultural diversity knowledge. Teaching and Teacher Education, 126, 104077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104077 Flemish Government. (2021). Nulmeting herkomst leerkrachten in het Vlaamse onderwijs. Departement Onderwijs en Vorming. LEVL vzw. (2022). Diversiteit in het onderwijspersoneel. LEVL vzw. OECD. (2023). PISA 2022 Results (Volume I). Ponet, B., De Clerck, A., Vantieghem, W., Tack, H., & Vanderlinde, R. (2023). Uncovering the role of teacher educators in the reduction of inequalities in education: A critical discourse analysis. Social Psychology of Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-023-09818-7 SERV. (2020). Diversiteit binnen het onderwijzend personeel. Commissie diversiteit. Siongers, J., Spruyt, B., Van Droogenbroeck, F., Bongaerts, B., & Kavadias, D. (2020). TALIS 2018 Vlaanderen - Verdiepend rapport diversiteit (p. 84). Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Teach for Belgium (2023, 5 December). Inclusieve leraarskamers: een werk van en voor iedereen. https://teachforbelgium.be/nl/elementor-26562/.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the first models of collaborative learning for students with and without special educational needs were informally developed in Germany, particularly in Federal States such as Hessen, Bremen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, and Baden-Württemberg (Ainscow, 2021). The legal obligation for Germany to establish an "inclusive education system at all levels" has been mandated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) since 2009 (UN, 2006, Article 24). This convention, aligning with the understanding of disability as a disadvantage faced by marginalised groups, emphasises the consideration of inclusion and exclusion processes in the educational context, recognizing various dimensions of heterogeneity (Ainscow, 2021). In response to these challenges, the Ministry of Education in Baden-Württemberg has adapted its teacher education program to include competencies required for inclusion, integrating inclusive topics into the curriculum (HRK & KMK, 2015). Initiatives like the "Inclusion and Diversity" module, starting in 2018/2019 as part of a joint Master of Education of Albert-Ludwigs University and University of Education Freiburg (Freiburg Advanced Center of Education, FACE), aim to equip pre-service teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge for dealing competently with diversity in their future professional roles. These changes align with recommendations from expert commissions, emphasising the development of essential skills for inclusion in future teachers (Köpfer & Rosen, 2024; Frohn & Moser, 2021; Liebner & Schmaltz, 2021). The paper examines the promotion and understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion in teacher education policies and programs in Germany, with a specific focus on the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg. Policy texts, including national and regional education acts, curriculum frameworks, and teacher standards, are analysed. The research also extends to the meso-level, exploring teacher education programs of 10 teacher education institutions in Baden-Württemberg that address diversity, equity, and inclusion in response to recent policy developments, supported by two focus group interviews with program directors and pre-service student teachers. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for the professional development of teacher educators.

Ainscow, M. (2021). Inclusion and equity in education: Responding to a global challenge. In Köpfer, A., Powell, J. J. W., & Zahnd, R. (Eds.). International handbook of inclusive education (pp. 75–88). Opladen and Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich. Frohn, J., & Moser, V. (2021). Der Stand der inklusiven Lehrkräftebildung in Deutschland. Zeitschrift für Inklusion-online.net, 1/2021. Köpfer, A., & Rosen, L. (Eds.). (2024, in print). Inklusion als Querschnittsthema der Lehrer:Innenbildung - (Inter-)nationale Einblicke und Perspektiven. In Rosen, L., Bastian, P., Friedrich, J., Gericke, E., Hopmann, B., Köhler, S.-M., & Köpfer, A. (Eds.). Crossing boundaries: Methodische und methodologische Reflexionen zur Praxis der Inklusionsforschung. Tagungsband der 5. Jahrestagung der AG Inklusionsforschung in der DGfE. Opladen, Berlin, Toronto. Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (HRK) & Kultusministerkonferenz (KMK). (2015). Lehrerbildung für eine Schule der Vielfalt. Gemeinsame Empfehlung von Hochschulrektorenkonferenz und Kultusministerkonferenz. Beschluss der Kultusministerkonferenz vom 12.03.2015/Beschluss der Hochschulrektorenkonferenz vom 18.03.2015. Liebner, S., & Schmaltz, C. (2021). Teacher training for inclusive education in Germany: Status quo and curricular Implementation. Goldan, J., Lambrecht, J., & Loremann, T. (Eds.). Resourcing inclusive education: International perspectives on inclusive education (Vol. 15, pp. 33-146). London: Emerald Publishing Limited. United Nations (UN). (2006). UN-Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. Available at: http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml [29.01.2024].

Although Dutch society is as diverse in nature as most European countries, this is not automatically translated into systematic attention to diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunities for all, in teacher education. Schools are urged to address educational inequalities, which become apparent in national and international reports (NPO, 2023; OECD, 2023). Policy makers focus on topics such as teacher shortages that add to these inequalities on various levels. For example: teacher shortages are highest in schools that cater for students who are highly diverse on social-economic status, cultural background, or special needs; leading to bigger class sizes or employing non- or underqualified staff. Meanwhile, research points at the importance of addressing diversity and inclusion, and to focus on equal opportunities in all levels of the educational system. Addressing these leads to optimal development of individual students, and to the development of society as a whole, in particular when the stance is that diversity in a class is enriching for all students and, subsequently, that a diverse society is enriching for all citizens. In this study we report on the policies and practices regarding teacher education in order to see whether and how diversity, equity and inclusion are taken up. We focus on teacher education for the primary and secondary education levels. For the present paper, we analyzed policy texts on the national and local level, such as the National standards for teachers, and for teacher educators (e.g., Rijksoverheid, 2016), and several teacher education programmes. First results point at a lack of systematic attention for all facets of diversity, equity and inclusion in teacher education. It is not part of the national standards for new teachers, and because of the teacher shortages, teacher education programmes are urged to focus on “the bare minimum” of being a starting teacher. Everything else (such as diversity etc.) can be learned “on the job”. However, some teacher educators are advocates for the topic, and find ways to address it. It seems that attention for diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunities in teacher education programmes depends on a small group of dedicated teacher educators, who put a lot of effort in sometimes elective courses to help student teachers in their preparation to a growing diverse pupil population, building on the growing body of research in this area. We see these practices as a good starting point for building the expertise to address this systematically in teacher education.

Rijksoverheid (2016). Bekwaamheidseisen leraren. https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/werken-in-het-onderwijs/bekwaamheidseisen-leraren NPO (2023). National Programma Onderwijs: Vierde voortgangsrapportage. The Hague: Ministry of Education. OECD. (2023). PISA 2022 Results (Volume I).

One of the key issues of contemporary education is about conditions created for preparing children for the uncertainty and polyphony of positions that prevail in the modern world. Previous studies have shown that it is important to start at the Early Childhood Education level (Sylva et al., 2014). Activities such as pretend play are of particular interest since situations of uncertainty are modeled in the play process (Schulz, 2022) and play has an imperative role in children’s development (Liu et al., 2017; Smith & Roopnarine, 2018).

In play, a child can build an imaginary situation, take the initiative in constructing and transforming a plot, and solve challenges that arise in communication (Brėdikytė et al., 2015). Research shows that in mature pretend play, prerequisites arise for developing various functions – executive functions, imagination, and the ability for decentration. According to Vygotsky, pretend play is a leading activity that “represents the ninth wave of child development” (1967).

Research on play has highlighted the role of the adult as an important variable for the richness of play. This has been conceptualized in combination with Early Childhood Education Pedagogy. Besides the organization of the setting, one crucial condition for play development is joint play with the mediator of play culture (adult and/or older playful children). In the preschool setting, teachers can create special scaffolding situations and provide indirect and direct play support, creating a special subject-spatial environment that fosters play (Vygotsky, 1967; Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976). Recent studies show that preschool teachers in different countries prefer being outsiders instead of playing as partners with children (Devi, Fleer, & LI, 2018; Bredikyte, 2022) which, along with intensive schoolification, has been leading to the disappearance of play from Early Childhood Education centers.

The symposium includes empirical studies shedding light both on the power of play for developing children’s learning and on teachers’ perspectives on play, its role in pedagogy, and their play support strategies. The objective of the Symposium is to contribute to a research-based agenda for Early Childhood Education teachers’ play education. The Symposium combines perspectives from 3 countries and creates the space for dialogue between researchers to elaborate on the following research questions: how can teachers support the developmental potential of children's play, its impact on children's readiness to face situations of uncertainty in other contexts, for example, when solving non-standard problems; what strengths and deficits of play support strategies may be considered as specific or universal ones; how teachers’ education and professional development can be organized to make the shift (from didactic and outsider positions in joint play to partner) more sustainable.

The most important task of the Symposium is to highlight areas of professional learning that need to be further elaborated so that teachers can become playful, spontaneous, and ready to support children's play.

Pretend play contributes to the development of emotions, self-regulation, and imagination (Singer & DeHaan, 2019), gives children the possibility to follow rules and at the same time – degrees of freedom (Oers, 2014), allows them to merge into the process, challenge themselves, co-construct meanings and meet uncertainty in symbolic space. Replacement of play with structured planned activities, and its exploitation for teaching, leads to the disappearance of play from kindergartens (Loizou & Trawick-Smith, 2022). There is a gap between the declaration of the importance of play and real practice due to the distortion of teachers’ understanding of key features of play and its role in children’s development. The objective is to study how teachers’ perspective on play is related to the strategy of its support. The theoretical framework is a cultural-historical approach to play (Vygotsky, 1967; Pramling et al., 2019; Bredikyte, 2022). This is a mixed-methods study, interpretative paradigm. Participant's consent was obtained. Data were anonymized. The research is conducted according to MCU's ethical code. Semi-structured interviews, including commentary on 2 videos, were conducted with 34 preschool teachers. Thematic analysis of interviews revealed 13 positions of the adult in joint play and 3 subthemes: overvalue the adult's role, undervalue the child; trust children, undervalue the adult; and search of balance. The assessment of the conditions for play development was carried out using the scale "Play Environmental Rating Scale. ECERS-3 Extension" (Shiyan et al., 2024) in 28 preschool classrooms (13 kindergartens). The average total score is 3,35 (sd=1,31; med=3,43), which corresponds to the minimal quality level of conditions for play. Key deficits are the participation of the teacher in joint play with children, and the provision of conditions for multi-age interaction. Significant differences are revealed in the strategy of play support among teachers with a contrasting understanding of the pseudo-play video. Teachers who distinguish between play and pseudo-play and emphasize the developmental value of spontaneous children's play create a multifunctional play environment and more often participate in joint play as partners, supporting more uncertainty in the environment and in the relationship with children. Teachers who do not distinguish between a play and a pseudo-play are more often too didactic or outsiders, they create too realistic play environment and destroy the spontaneity of children’s play by their desire to control and organize the process of play. The results of the study can be used in the elaboration of programs for teacher’s professional development.

Bredikyte, M. (2022) Adult participation in the creation of narrative playworlds: challenges and contradictions. International Journal of Early Years Education, 30, 1-15. Loizou, E., & Trawick-Smith, J. (Eds.). (2022). Teacher Education and Play Pedagogy: International Perspectives (1st ed.). Routledge. Oers, B. (2014). Cultural–historical perspectives on play: Central ideas. In. L. Brooker, M. Blaise, & S. Edwards (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Play and Learning in Early Childhood (pp. 56-66). SAGE. Pramling, N., Wallerstedt, C., Lagerlöf, P., Björklund, C., Kultti, A., Palmér, H., Magnusson, M., Thulin, S., Jonsson, A., & Pramling Samuelsson, I. (2019). Play-Responsive Teaching in Early Childhood Education. Springer. Singer E., & De Haan D. (2019). Igrat', udivlyat'sya, uznavat'. Teoriya razvitiya, vospitaniya i obucheniya detei. Publishing MOZAIKA-SINTEZ. Shiyan, I.B., Iakshina, A.N. et al. (2024). Play Environment Rating Scale (PERS). ECERS-3 extension. Teachers College Press (in press). Vygotsky, L.S. (1967). Play and Its Role in the Mental Development of the Child, Soviet Psychology, 5:3, 6-18.

Playing and creativity are united by the fact that in both cases a person is faced with an open situation of uncertainty. However, in the first case, we are talking about constructing imaginary situations (Kravtsov &Kravtsovа, 2019), and in the second – about solving non-standard problems (Craft, 2007; Veraksa, 2019). We set out to analyze • what are the conditions for play development and creativity in preschool classrooms; • are the quality of the conditions for play and the quality of the conditions for creativity related to each other? An assessment of educational conditions in 39 preschool classrooms in Russia and Kazakhstan was carried out using ECERS-3 extensions: “Play Environment Rating Scale” and “Creativity Environment Rating Scale”. Both instruments assess quality on a 7-point scale (from unsatisfactory to excellent). The conditions both for play and creativity are at a level below the minimum: The average score for the conditions for supporting play is 2.62 (with sd = 0.84), minimum score = 1.00, maximum = 4.43; for the development of creative abilities 2.33 (with sd = 1.09), minimum score = 1.00, maximum = 5.50. Deficiencies in the conditions for supporting play include the rare participation of the teacher in joint play with children, as well as the unavailability of unstructured materials for play. Deficiencies in the conditions for the development of creative abilities include rare joint discussions of problematic situations related to children's lives, including situations of divergent points of view and contradictive situations, with different development options. There are no correlations between the conditions for play and the conditions for creativity (the relationship is not significant at both the 0.01 and 0.05 levels; the correlation coefficients are weak (correlation coefficient 0.28, P-value = 0.0826)), which indicates that kindergartens tend to focus on either one or another group of conditions, and these efforts are not systematically coordinated. The identified deficits allow us to draw a conclusion about the skills that teachers lack: the ability to work in situations of unpredictability and surprises, which is required by both accompanying the play (spontaneity, playfulness, readiness to react sensitively and non-directively joining in the play) (Hännikainen, 2013) and stimulating the resolution of conflicting situations (ability to notice a problem, organize a discussion, support the diversity of children's answers) (Siraj-Blatchford, 2009).

Belolutskaya, A. K., Vorobyova, I. I., Shiyan, O.A., Zadadayev, S.A., & Shiyan, I.B. (2021). Conditions for the development of a child’s creative abilities: results of testing a tool for assessing the quality of education in kindergarten. Modern preschool education, 2, 12–30. Craft, A., Cremin, T., Burnard, P. & Chappell, K. (2007). Developing creative learning through possibility thinking with children aged 3-7. In. A Craft, T. Cremin, & P. Burnard (Eds.), Creative Learning 3-11 and How We Document It. Trentham. Singer, E. & van Oers, B. (2013). Promoting Play for a Better Future. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 21(2), 165–171. Kravtsov, G.G., & Kravtsova, E.E. (2019). Play as a zone of proximal development of preschool children. Psychological and pedagogical research, 11(4), 5–21. Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2009). Conceptualising progression in the pedagogy of play and sustained shared thinking in early childhood education: a Vygotskian perspective. Education and Child Psychology, 26(2), 77-89. Veraksa, N.E. (2019). Dialectical thinking: logic and psychology. Cultural-historical psychology, 15(3), 4–12. Yakshina, A.N., Le-Van, T. N., Zadadayev, S. A., & Shiyan, I. B. (2020). Development and testing of a scale for assessing the conditions for the development of children's play activity in preschool groups. Modern preschool education, 2, 21-31.

The relationship between content knowledge and play in Early Childhood Education (ECE) has been complex (Figueiredo, 2022). Acknowledging the relevance of content in ECE requires attention to the pedagogical appropriation of knowledge but also to the view of knowledge itself. When a sociocultural perspective is assumed, it is about using knowledge as a potential tool for transformation that allows the individual to build himself subjectively and intersubjectively (Pramling et al., 2019). Research has also highlighted how teachers’ lack or inadequacy of knowledge of a certain area of the curriculum can harm children's learning by leading to opportunities that are not explored (Siraj-Blatchford, 2010), while feeling security about their knowledge leads to a greater probability of recognition and learning enhancement in children's play experiences (Hedges & Cooper, 2018). ECE teachers tend to undervalue their content knowledge even though they use it to add depth to children’s learning during play and can use pedagogical content knowledge for organizing play environments (Oppermann et al., 2016; Figueiredo, Gomes, & Rodrigues, 2020). The particular case of introducing algorithmic thinking in ECE contexts in Portugal opened the opportunity to study this connection between play and content knowledge. Computational thinking and algorithmic thinking have been promoted in several educational systems as preparation for the challenges of the future, including uncertainty and openness. Algorithmic thinking, in particular, has long traditions in different scientific areas and can be connected to all curricular areas of ECE in Portugal (Figueiredo et al., 2021). With a focus on problem-solving together with thinking and creativity skills, teachers and curriculum developers are being challenged to foster algorithmic thinking skills starting from the preschool period (Strnad, 2018). Based on a common practitioner research approach, two studies were conducted on Portuguese ECE centers that explored play as a context to develop algorithmic thinking with children from 3 to 6 years old. The practitioners were unfamiliar with the concept and used the research on practice as a learning experience. The reports from those studies were combined with in-depth individual interviews with the teachers to explore how they perceived the relationship between their knowledge and their actions regarding children's play. Results from the content analysis on the combined data set show that a focus on play from a new content area perspective highlighted the role of the adult in supporting play and revealed areas where the adult intervention was relevant.

Figueiredo, M. (2022). Tensions and (re)transformations in the Portuguese ECE curriculum. In S. Almeida, F. Sousa, & M. Figueiredo (Eds.), Curriculum autonomy policies (pp. 45-58). CICS.NOVA. Figueiredo, M., Gomes, H. & Rodrigues, C. (2020). Mathematical pedagogical content knowledge in ECE: Tales from the ‘great unknown’ in teacher education in Portugal. In B. Perry & O. Thiel (Eds.), Innovative approaches in early childhood mathematics (pp. 535–546). Routledge. Figueiredo, M., et al. (2021). Play, Algorithmic Thinking and ECE. In 2021 International Symposium on Computers in Education (pp. 1–4). IEEE. Hedges, H. & Cooper, M. (2018). Relational play-based pedagogy: Theorising a core practice in ECE. Teachers and Teaching, 24(4), 369–383. Oppermann, E., Anders, Y. & Hachfeld, A. (2016). The influence of preschool teachers’ content knowledge and mathematical ability beliefs on their sensitivity to mathematics in children’s play. Teaching and Teacher Education, 58, 174–184. Pramling, N., et al. (2019). Play-Responsive Teaching in ECE. Springer. Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). A focus on pedagogy. Case studies of effective practice. In K. Sylva, et al. (Eds.), Early childhood matters. Evidence from the EPPE Project (pp. 149–165). Routledge. Strnad, B. (2018). Introduction to the World of Algorithmic Thinking. Journal of Electrical Engineering, 6, 57–60.

The integration of refugee children at school is a central task in the context of forced migration. Continuous schooling prevents disruptions in the educational biography of pupils and increases the chances of a self-determined educational and professional path (cf. Herrera & Byndas 2023) but the question of how refugee children should be educated has not yet been answered and is often heatedly debated, often leaving teachers behind feeling overwhelmed or helpless (cf. Mecheril 2008). Solutions must therefore be sought both at the macro level of the education and school system and at the micro level, in the education and training of teachers.

There are several reasons for the structural ineptitude, including the respective national education system. Germany, for example, has a comparatively long history of (forced) migration; nevertheless, the educational approaches towards school integration are heterogeneous - not least within the framework of German educational federalism (cf. Mützelburg/Krawatzek 2023). In comparison, the level of experience in Poland and Hungary is lower; socio-political discourses and attitudes towards (forced) migration also vary. Also, the schooling of refugees is often only considered from the national perspective of the host country only, without taking into account interim stays or the option of pupils returning to their home country.

In this panel we present the results of our international working group EMCE (Education & Migration in Central Europe) on the design of a transnational course for teachers in practice on the topic of school integration of refugees. The course design aims to equip them with professional knowledge, especially in the areas of subject knowledge, pedagogical and didactic knowledge (cf. Terhart 2011). The modules include, for example, information on legal frameworks or national school systems as well as topics such as multilingualism and language sensitive teaching (cf. Dirim 2018) or trauma and resilience (cf. NHS Scotland, 2023). The overall course design is based on two EU guidelines: lifelong learning and the idea of a Euopean study path (cf. EU council conclusions on European Education Area).

Our methodology integrates Desk Research Varia (DRv), In-depth Interviews Varia (IDIv), and Focus Group Discussions Varia (FGDv) with teachers. We analyze migration policies and educational practices, conducting interviews and group discussions to delve into teachers' experiences and perspectives. Data coding allows for systematic analysis and synthesis of findings.

Our discoveries lead to the development of pedagogical course foundations, addressing both educational challenges and pedagogical solutions.

Introduction

Recent changes in education policy emphasize promoting school-to-school support and school-led improvement to enhance resource sharing and build a professional learning network for high-quality and balanced education (Ainscow et al., 2006; Muijs, 2015; Muijs et al., 2010; Liu, 2018). In China, the government encourages prestigious public schools to support weaker public schools, with supporting teachers sent from prestigious schools to implement improvement missions. Existing studies have focused on the willingness of supporting teachers to rotate to weaker schools and its influencing factors (e.g., Du et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2023), with limited research on how these teachers undertake the support work (e.g., Zhong et al., 2018; Zhang & Ye, 2023; Qian et al., 2023). The assessment culture differences between supporting and weaker schools greatly influence the process and assessment of school improvement. The supporting schools and teachers often represent a student-centered educational philosophy, in line with the Chinese new curriculum reform, while weaker areas often focus on test and score-oriented education. However, little research exists on how supporting teachers actively engage in assessment reform to promote teaching and learning reform in supported schools. Therefore, this paper aims to explore how supporting teachers employ their assessment literacies to foster teaching and learning reforms in the schools they support and the strategies they use to span across boundaries.

Boundary spanning practice and boundary object

The concept of 'boundary spanning' arises when individuals venture into unfamiliar territory and must navigate and merge elements from different contexts to create hybrid situations (Engeström et al., 1995). Those who engage in this practice are known as boundary spanners, connecting various communities of practice and facilitating relationships between them (Wenger, 1998). Their activities involve establishing routines that uphold connections between different communities of practice or stakeholders and providing a platform for ongoing engagement in professional activities. To achieve this, leaders may utilize boundary objects (Star and Griesemer, 1989) , which are tangible items or artifacts that exist within multiple communities of practice, serving as a means of translation within multi-site work relations and requirements. The role of individuals as boundary spanners requires the ability to manage and integrate diverse discourses and practices across social boundaries. Additionally, educational infrastructure is essential to foster interactions and networks across schools or communities of practice, support boundary practices, and sustain improvement (Spillane et al., 2016).

Teacher assessment literacies framework

Assessment is a vital element in education, impacting teaching and learning. Teachers' assessment literacy involves understanding the assessment process, the interaction between assessment and teaching, and the ability to conduct assessments effectively (Stiggins, 1991). The focus has shifted towards "assessment for learning," emphasizing teachers' ability to review students' learning and performance data and develop programs that support student learning. Teacher assessment literacy is a dynamic and context-dependent social practice, involving the articulation and negotiation of classroom and cultural knowledge to achieve student learning goals through assessment (Adie et al., 2020; Ataie-Tabar et al., 2019; Baker & Riches, 2018; Schneider, Deluca, Pozas & Coombs, 2020; Willis et al. 2013). Scholars have redefined the framework of teacher assessment literacy, emphasizing aspects such as selecting appropriate assessment methods, interpreting results, providing student guidance, and using assessments for instructional design and school improvement (Brookhart, 2011). There is also a growing emphasis on the ethical dimensions of teacher assessment, including managing ethical conflicts, upholding fair assessment ethics, and addressing student cheating (Pope et al., 2009; Pastore et al., 2019).

Quality assurance (QA) in education has become increasingly decentralised in many European countries over the past decades, making schools increasingly responsible for the monitoring, safeguarding and development of their own quality. Although the main concern of quality assurance in schools is to develop the quality of teaching and learning; different, more school-level approaches to QA can be taken, for instance by drawing on a distinction between external and internal evaluation (Eurydice, 2015). Although quality assurance mechanisms are embedded in educational systems’ regulations, several initiatives and evolutions overarch the differences across jurisdictions in Europe. The European Commission’s Education and Training working group, for instance, points towards the need for capacity building in quality assurance processes (European Commission, 2018).

This capacity building is linked primarily to the pursuit of evidence-informed quality assurance in schools (Brown & Malin, 2022). As part of their (internal) evaluation procedures and quality development, schools are stimulated to make use of different sources of evidence (Wiseman, 2010) to further develop their quality and inform their decision making. Following the digital transformation in education, huge amounts of digital resources and data have been introduced and proliferated in schools for (re)designing and evaluating education, for instance through the introduction of digital learning management systems and Learning Analytics (LA). LA assess, elicit and analyse static and dynamic information about learners and learning environments for the optimisation of learning processes and environments, as well as for educational decision making in organisations (Ifenthaler & Drachsler, 2020; Rodríguez-Triana, Martínez-Monés, & Villagrá-Sobrino, 2016).

Despite its potential, the actual use of LA is still rather scarce in K-12 education compared to the context of higher education (Andresen, 2017; Gander, 2020). Existing literature focused on higher education points to organisational readiness, (Clark et al., 2020), characteristics of data(systems), the ethical issues around the use of LA (Cerratto Pargman & McGrath, 2021; Tzimas & Demetriadis, 2021), and staff readiness (Mandinach & Abrams, 2022) to play an important role in the successful use of LA. In K-12 education, however, LA are currently primarily used at the micro level to identify learners’ needs and tailor instruction to meet these needs (Wise & Jung, 2019). The use of LA by educational professionals, f.i. at the school (management) level, has therefore not yet reached its full potential. This could be due to the fact that K-12 students are mostly minors and even more pressing ethical considerations and caution in the use and processing of learning analytics data are at play. Furthermore, the way secondary schools are organised is very different from higher education. However, the fact remains that schools’ own data regarding learning processes remain largely un(der)explored (Ifenthaler, 2021) due to, i.e., lack of awareness of the vast amount of data available and a lack of capacity to work with these data (Datnow & Hubbard, 2016; O’Brien, McNamara, O’Hara, & Brown, 2019).

In this contribution, we present a systematic literature study conducted as part of a larger Erasmus+ KA project titled ‘QUALAS’ (Quality Assurance with Learning Analytics in Schools), which aims to promote capacity building in secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium), Ireland, Italy and Spain to use (different) LA data for quality assurance (QA); according to the key principles for QA put forward by (European Commission, 2018). Our overall aim is to identify and put into practice possibilities for enhancing the capacity of educational professionals in secondary schools to make appropriately use of learning analytics for quality assurance.

As a first step, we addressed the following research question: what affordances and constraints does existing literature identify for the use of learning analytics in the context of quality assurance in secondary education?

The aim of this proposal is to explore how quality, quality assurance and evaluation of school units are connected in the field of school leadership More specifically, the intention is to examine the possibility of making a structural model that examines the interaction being developed between these concepts.

The implementation of quality assurance systems is one of the cornerstones of any educational system, while at the same time is being understood as a way to improve the quality of school units (Buzdar & Jalal, 2019). More specifically, the quality assurance of school units is a mechanism to ensure the provision of high-quality education, to identify and solve problems in the educational system in order to improve its quality. On the other hand, information is collected about the quality of the education provided (European Commission, 2020; Alaba, 2010). Within the framework of quality assurance of school units, quality should be ensured for the main stakeholders of the educational process. The adoption of quality assurance procedures in school units has many advantages, such as the establishment of high standards, the improvement of educational results, the recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of the educational system (Alaba, 2010). Moreover, improving the quality of education is the first strategic objective set by the Council of the European Union for the period 2021-2030 (2021/C 66/01).

As it is concluded from the above the quality assurance of school units is aimed at ensuring that the objectives set are achieved and includes, among other things, evaluation procedures (Onuma & Okpalanze, 2017). Evaluation of school units is a key component of quality assurance (Eurydice, 2004) and these two concepts appear to be directly linked, as evaluation is one of the procedures that can be used to ensure the quality of schools in conjunction with others, such as the monitoring of the educational system or even the evaluation of teachers (Euridice, 2015). The association of school quality assurance with school evaluation has been a major topic for many researchers (Gardezi et al., 2023; Onuma & Okpalanze, 2017), but no model of their interaction has been proposed so far.

School leadership is a key factor of quality education in schools as it affects school operations in many ways (Anastasiadou & Anastasiadis, 2019). However, the role of school leadership is also crucial for the quality assurance systems used to support schools (Afriadi et al., 2023). More specifically, school leadership has a positive direct impact on quality assurance (Hartati et al., 2019), whereas there is a direct and indirect effect of leadership on quality (Bellibaş et al., 2020). This intercorrelation can create a dynamic organizational entity with novel opportunities (Shattuck & Olcott, 2022). Last but not least, school leadership has become a critical factor for school evaluation in the effort of making schools more autonomous and more accountable as required in recent years (Pont, Nuche & Moorman, 2008).

There can be little doubt that examples and exemplarity are key aspects of any educational practice. Either in the use of examples in teaching, or in the fact that teachers themselves function as exemplars (good or bad ones) while teaching. Yet exemplarity does not seem to feature very prominently in research and theorising on education. Occasioned by the publication of Retuning Education. Bildung and exemplarity beyond the logic of progress (Korsgaard, 2024) this symposium aims to rethink the role of exemplarity in education in order to escape some of the functionalist and conservative tendencies that have been associated with thinking about exemplarity in education. These have been prominent in ideas about a certain canon of examples in for example literature and science and in the emerging ideas around exemplarist ethics and education where a reductive admiration-emulation model is pervasive (see Zagzebski, 2013). These ideas tend to understand the use of examples in functionalist terms with a clear aim or objective in view which subsumes the particular example under a simplistic transactional function, with a specific outcome in mind. What we wish to explore is whether we can think of the function of examples and exemplars in education in a way that escapes such reductive logics (see also Harvey, 2002); a way that keeps the outcome of educational processes radically open, keeping to the Arendtian credo of not determining in advance how students should relate to subject matter, i.e., the examples they are presented with in education (Arendt, 2006). We will focus our attention mainly on the use of examples in teaching, or in the vocabulary of the abovementioned book, didactical exemplarity. Roughly speaking this concerns moments when something functions as an example in education. This is contrasted with educational exemplarity when someone takes up an exemplary function in education (Korsgaard, 2019; 2024). Didactical exemplarity concerns what is to be placed on the table in education and how this is to be presented to the students. One aspect concerns the content [inhalt] of education and the other the substance [gehalt] of education (Klafki, 2007). Choosing the right example or experiment to present the law of gravity to students (e.g. an apple falling from a tree) to students is not enough. It must be arranged and presented in a way that can capture the attention of the students (see Wagenschein 1956; 1977). In this symposium, we wish to explore this pivotal aspect of education in ways that reflect the multifaceted and complex process that lies behind any presentation of subject matter, while attempting to escape the usual reductive and outcome-oriented approaches to these challenges.

The three papers and the response circle the issue from different starting points yet attempt to outline new ways to think about the use of examples in education and, given the centrality of this aspect, education itself.

Education is a field that concerns the commonness of the world and teaching can be viewed as a gift given to the young generation. However, the world tackles difficult matters, where injustice and conflicts are present in different ways, in schools and outside it. War, poverty, atrocities and inequality are a part of our common world. In my contribution to the symposium on Korsgaard’s book Retuning education (2024), I will give a response to when that which is put on the table, the example, consists of sentimental narratives of injustice or conflicts (cf. Hållander 2020, Zembylas 2023). I will do so by doing an emotional reading. We all use examples, within philosophy, teaching and in daily life telling stories that exemplify what is presented. Examples constitute a didactic and ontological singularity, which speaks for itself (Agamben 2009, Hållander 2024). To give an example (in teaching) is a complex act, since “what the example shows is its belonging to a class, but for this very reason the example steps out of its class in the moment it exhibits and delimits it” (Agamben, 2009, s. 18). An example, stands for itself, speaks of itself, but in this singularity, it is also related to that which stands alongside it. This relatedness of the example allows for the possibility to create a knowability (Agamben 2009, Hållander 2024). Education is a matter of placing objects, and ideas in front of the students, so “that they are invited to touch, taste, smell, listen to, think about. Put simply, they are invited to study them” (Korsgaard 2024, p. 5). Teaching examples therefore concerns and creates understandings and knowability. Sometimes this understanding and knowability is emotional. Scholars in various fields of the humanities and the social sciences have explored the significance of affects and emotions in different educational settings (cf. Zembylas 2023). For example, sentimental narratives are used to invoke empathetic feelings, and create not only feelings but also shape identities and formations of ‘us and them’ (Ahmed 2006). Through emotions we react, and act. Dealing with students’ emotions is a part of teachers’ work, and different examples can evoke different emotions (Zembylas 2023, Hållander 2020). In my contribution to the symposium, I will argue how emotions and affective logics of examples of injustice and atrocities can be addressed pedagogically in critical rather than sentimental ways.

Agamben, Giorgio. (2009) The signature of all things: On method. Zone Books. Ahmed, Sarah. (2004) The Cultural Politics of Emotion. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press. Hållander, Marie. (2024) Exemplets didaktik: singularitet och subjektivitet i religionsundervisning. Speki. Nordic Philosophy and Education Review. Hållander, Marie. (2020) The Pedagogical Possibilities of Witnessing and Testimonies Through the Lens of Agamben. Palgrave Macmillan,. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55525-2_5 Korsgaard, Morten. (2024) Retuning Education: Bildung and Exemplarity Beyond the Logic of Progress. Routledge. Zembylas, Michalinos. (2023) Challenging sentimental narratives of ‘victims’ and ‘perpetrators’ in postcolonial settings: thinking with and through affective justice in comparative education, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 53:7,1152-1169, DOI: 10.1080/03057925.2021.2017766

To discuss Korsgaard's (2024) argument, we want to rethink the ideas of Martin Wagenschein (2010) in view of Hannah Arendt’s (1961) conceptualisation of education as the introduction of newcomers to the old world. Wagenschein frames his ideas as didactical and introduces the notion of entry point or Einstieg to criticize the widely acknowledged principle of the learning ladder. We argue that his idea of Einstieg as the starting point into a domain of knowledge is not only fundamental for teaching, but also revolutionary for educational theory as such. The Einstieg serves as an example, but a particular one – we would argue – i.e., it is the thing that a teacher invites her pupils to study together. Therefore, as Wagenschein reminds us, it has to be complex enough to contain a mystery of some kind, an aspect that is unknown, concealed, and therefore, interesting, attractive, if not seductive. The reason for a teacher and her pupils to study this thing is not to acquire some predetermined knowledge, competence, or skills. What is at stake is what is opened by this entry point. This thing is the path through which pupils enter a particular domain of our common world. Studying it allows them to look around and find other interesting matters to study. Perhaps – with time – they will find this domain (mathematics, chemistry, history, poetry, woodcraft, etc.) their habitat. Teaching focused on the thing studied together with pupils requires therefore to lose time and to lose oneself in it: to “grow roots” and “linger” in a thing. This goes counter to the rush that characterizes curriculum-centred teaching focused on ticking the boxes of subsequent themes being delivered. This also goes counter to the neoliberal personalised learning strategies focused on the most efficient way to install new functionalities in the cognitive apparatus of an individual child. In addition, it differs from the liberal student-centred pedagogies focused on children’s needs and talents. Hence, we will present Wagenschein's exemplarist proposal as a clear case of a thing-centred pedagogy. Our analysis is fully in line with Arendt, for whom education is essentially about responding to the condition of natality, meaning that it concerns the meeting of an old and a new generation. Wagenschein adds to this that teaching also always starts with a thing, and orients itself around the thing, i.e., the entry point to our common world.

Arendt, H. (1961). The Crisis in Education. In Between Past and Future: Eight Exercises in Political Thought. The Viking Press: New York Korsgaard, Morten. (2024) Retuning Education: Bildung and Exemplarity Beyond the Logic of Progress. Routledge. Wagenschein, M. (2010) ‘Teaching to Understand: On the Concept of the Exemplary in Teaching’ in Westbury, I., Hopmann, S. & Riquarts, K. eds. Teaching as a Reflective Practice: The German Didaktik Tradition. Mahwah-London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, pp. 161-175

The middle voice denotes a grammatical construction that is virtually absent from English not least because our “somewhat stubborn ordering of subject-verb-object” (Standish 2018, 10) leads to a binary presumption of agency: we act or are acted upon; we are agents or patients; active or passive (Lewin 2011). This grammatical bind forces English thinking and discourse down rather narrow channels. For instance, in the philosophy of technology we schizophrenically leap from asserting our agency (it is up to us how we use machines) to lamenting our impotence before almighty autonomous technology (Lewin 2006). We struggle to express, or even conceive, of a more nuanced interplay between human agency and the ‘agency’ (or as Heidegger put it, ‘das Geschick’) of technology (Heidegger 1977). Similarly, philosophers of religion have tended to assert that an experience of ‘God’ is either a projection of the human subject (in which case false), or a revelation in which the subject is rendered passive - consider William James’ classic definition of religious experience (James 1902). We struggle to conceptualise a harmonisation between the speculations of the religious subject, and the revelations that may thereby occur (Dupré 1998). There is, in short, an insensitivity concerning how experience, thought and language operate in a space between ‘subject’ and ‘object’, between thought and being. That insensitivity risks occluding insights about the nature of technology, religion, or, as I will focus on here, education. Korsgaard’s book (2024) is sensitised to the possible constructions of thought that language brings forth, to inhabit a middle register: education is described here in terms of (re)tuning and resonance through exemplarity. Resonance isn’t something that an agent does, nor do they only undergo resonance. It is active and passive: naming something that takes place between person and world. For Korsgaard resonance is at the heart of the educational relation precisely because education is relational. Building on this argument, I will show how the concept of attention, also key to education and exemplarity, is not something that agents simply control (either by demanding or paying attention). Rather ‘attention’ names something that takes place in a middle realm (Lewin 2014). Through the evocation of the archaic term ‘behold’ I will show how the relations between the three corners of the educational triangle, educator, student and world (Friesen and Kenklies 2022) are brought to life through a trialectic of beholding in which examplarity plays a key role.

Dupré, L. (1998) Religious Mystery and Rational Reflection. Eerdmans. Friesen, N and Kenklies, K. (2022) Continental pedagogy & curriculum. In Tierney, Rob and Rizvi, Fazal and Ercikan, Kadriye, eds. International Encyclopedia of Education. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 245-255. Heidegger, M. (1977) The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. Harper and Row. James, W. (1902) The Varieties of Religious Experience. Longmans, Green and Co. Korsgaard, M. (2024) Retuning Education: Bildung and Exemplarity Beyond the Logic of Progress. Routledge. Lewin, D. (2006) Freedom and Destiny in the Philosophy of Technology. New Blackfriars, 87(1011), 515–533. Lewin, D. (2011) The middle voice in Eckhart and modern continental philosophy. Medieval Mystical Theology, 20 (1). pp. 28-46. Lewin, D. (2014) Behold: silence and attention in education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 48 (3). pp. 355-369. Standish, P. (2018) Language, translation, and the hegemony of English. Tetsugaku. International Journal of the Philosophical Association of Japan, 2 pp. 1-12.

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

This paper describes the collaborative partnership for the design and implementation of an evaluation study. The partnership consists of three key partners; a) four non-formal education providers addressing educational disadvantage in Ireland, b) researchers from an Irish University who serve as external evaluators, c) an Irish grant-making and social change organisation. The overarching goal of the participating non-formal education providers is to tackle educational disadvantage among vulnerable populations, with a specific focus on young people from Traveller, Roma, and Migrant backgrounds, as well as those experiencing rural disadvantage. The evaluation study, commissioned by the funding organisation and led by the research team, aims to capture the impact of the educational activities delivered by these providers in order to build an evidence base that will inform future initiatives in education practice and policy.

Early school leavers in Ireland are more likely to experience further marginalisation and barriers to accessing and completing higher and further education, with implications for career choices and employment security (CSO, 2019). Given the interplay between social class, ethnicity and nationality (Kennedy and Smith, 2018), students’ ethnic background can contribute to learning barriers and inequality in access to educational resources and provision. It is crucial to take into account the documented stigmatisation and marginalisation faced by the Traveller and Roma communities in Ireland (UNCRC, 2016), Thus, there is a pressing need for rethinking the approaches that address the challenges faced by groups experiencing educational disadvantage in Ireland. This emphasises the significance of adopting strategies in education that are tailored to their specific needs and circumstances.

Within the partnership, the research team aims to deepen our understanding of effective strategies to support educational progression for the identified target groups facing educational disadvantage. The evaluation framework is grounded in a differentiated Theory of Change Model (TOC) co-designed with the non-formal education providers and monitored by the funding body. Against this backdrop, the project systematically analyses the educational outcomes for each of the participating education providers through the lens of SDG4: Quality Education. In this context, SDG4 is regarded as a facilitator for addressing SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, while educational activities in the programmes include a variety of SDGs (e.g. SDG5: Gender Equality through the involvement of girls in STEM).

In this paper we explore the following research question:

What are the intricate dynamics of an effective partnership between three types of partners, (academic, funding bodies and charities) in tackling educational disadvantage?

Partnerships in education are not something new. There has been a significant amount of literature about various types, models and approaches of partnership in education and educational research, its different stakeholders (schools, parents, communities, HEIs, private sector, civil society organisations, governments), and diverse areas of cooperation (e.g. Anderson, Freebody 2014; Claypool, McLaughlin 2015; Otrel-Cass, Laing, Wolf 2022).

Quite often, the research paradigms referred to in such literature are engaged and transformative, and do not claim to be neutral. Instead, they explicitly state the positionality of the researcher and other partners. These types of partnership research aim at enacting social change, and promoting equity and social justice (e.g. John 2013). This is the case also in the field of global and sustainability education. UNESCO’s SDG 17 has given them special prominence.

The role of NGOs, or in general - civil society organisations, in working toward the embedding of global and sustainability education in the education system has been investigated by several scholars (Bergmueller 2013; Brown 2013; Rudnicki 2016; Tarozzi 2020). However, the aspect of partnership in research or educational activities in the field of global education was quite rarely given attention.

The presentation summarises the author’s several years of experience in doing research projects in collaboration and partnership with non-governmental organisations dealing with global education in Poland (see: Kuleta-Hulboj, Gontarska 2015; Kuleta-Hulboj, Kielak 2021; Kuleta-Hulboj 2022, 2023). All of these projects focused on global education in Poland and in the long term aimed to strengthen the position and development of global education in the country. In some of them, the author played the role of a hired researcher or consultant, others were designed as a participatory type of research and engaged not only academics and NGO representatives but also teachers, students and public administration officers (e.g. Kuleta-Hulboj, Kielak 2021). Some of the research projects explored the NGOs' activities in global education in Poland (Kuleta-Hulboj 2016, 2017), while others - the condition of global education in Poland, its strengths and weaknesses (Kuleta-Hulboj 2022, 2023) or the place of global and sustainability education in pre-service and in-service teacher training (Kuleta-Hulboj, Kielak 2021). In general, all of them could be labelled “engaged research”.

In the presentation, I would like to focus on the partnership between academia and NGOs aimed at researching, doing and promoting global education in the Polish context. The subject of exploration would be; the nature of the partnership; its strengths and weaknesses, challenges and opportunities; and the roles of different stakeholders. Although the partners from academia and NGOs may have similar interests and goals, they differ in their professional backgrounds, skills and perspectives. They are not the same and their roles differ in the partnership projects. For instance, the NGO partners perform overly advocacy roles while the author as an educational researcher and university teacher is oriented towards educational dimension and knowledge co-production.

Concerning this issue, another aspect to be touched upon is the status of the “hybrid” actors and their roles (Andreotti 2006; Green 2017). This category is used to describe people belonging to different 'educational worlds' (simultaneously or consecutively), such as academia, NGOs, schooling etc. Their knowledge and experience emerge from the intersection and overlap of different roles (e.g. academic, sanctioned as the creation of scientific knowledge; non-governmental, associated with activism and practice, e.g. educational; teacher and others).

The Swedish Government reform project Collaboration for Better Schools (CBS) started in 2015 (The Government remit U2015/3357/S) partly triggered by an OECD (2015) review arguing that many Swedish schools needed qualified support, and that the Swedish school system were in need of urgent reform. The review suggested, among other things, nationwide mobilization for and a unified commitment to school improvement among relevant parties within or linked to the school system. Similar to many other nations (Blossing, 2010; Boyd, 2021; Schueler et al, 2021), the CBS is targeting struggling schools, and, particularly, schools lacking capacity to improve their own education practices, such as teaching and learning for all students regardless of their background and capabilities. In this light, the CBS is hardly unique in 21^st century education largely shaped by a globally structured agenda for education revolving around quality and results for all without exception (Dale, 2005; Rönnström, 2019).

However, although many nations are addressing similar challenges with regard to struggling schools facing difficult challenges, they differ in the ways they respond to, target, intervene in, or support such schools. In Sweden, more than 500 hundred struggling schools (and their local education authorities (LEA)) have been or are participating in the CBS. The Swedish National Agency of Education (NAE) invites selected schools to three-year long multi-level partnerships and research-based collaboration aiming at capacity building (Rogberg et al, 2021). The CBS is largely about capacity building in schools lacking capacity for quality education and necessary change and improvement. The CBS is challenging for the participating schools because of the challenges they face. However, it is also challenging for all parties involved because of the collaborative innovation and the partner relationships required.

Apart from teachers, first teachers, middle managers, principals, school managers and other key agents among LEA’s, and the specially trained agents from the NAE, more than 150 teachers and researchers from Swedish universities are involved in multi-level partnerships. The CBS requires partnerships between school professionals, NAE agents and researchers depending on one another in all phases of the improvement work, such as problematizing, data-analyzing, focusing and goal setting, mobilization and resourcing, iterative intervention and intelligent implementation, and, following up and adjusting interventions. The multi-level partnership developed refers both to a nationwide collaboration within the Swedish school system, and collaboration between different organizational levels of the participating LEA’s. The CBS requires collaboration based on partnerships (Robertson, 2016), but when it started nearly a decade ago there were no prior experience of such required partnerships among the parties involved. Moreover, the NAE and the partner universities had very limited experience of working together with struggling schools facing difficult challenges, and they were usually drawing their resources from research based on successful schools.

Consequently, the CBS required capacity building among all involved in order to support pre-schools and schools lacking capacity for quality education and school improvement. In hindsight, the implementing the CBS has meant that the partners involved have learned the way forward together through the required partnership they formed (Rogberg, 2021). In this paper we describe, analyze and critically examine the CBS as multi-level partnership and research-based collaboration targeting schools facing difficult challenges. In particular, (1) we describe the emergence of partnerships between the partners involved in the CBS, and the nature of the partnerships developed 2015-2024; (2) we analyze and critically examine to what extent the partnerships developed are experienced as enabling or disabling in school improvement; and, (3) we suggest four ways in which partnership-based collaboration is essential to improving capacity building in schools facing difficult challenges.

Online pedagogical practices highlight their potential in improving availability and inclusiveness, especially for individuals with atypical needs (Khan et al., 2022). In this respect, adults comprise the largest audience for online distance education, since the latter provides an opportunity for flexible and continuous learning (Moore & Kearsley, 2011). Still, there exists factors challenging them to engage in online educational; female adult learners have been found to be an especially vulnerable subset of this population (Kara et al., 2019). Individual acceptance and usage of new technologies can be studied using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM; Davies et al., 1989). According to the TAM, the two key factors in determining the users’ attitudes towards an e-learning system, and consequently, the actual system use, are perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU). Perceived Usefulness (PU) is an individual’s view that the use of a specific system can enhance work performance (Liaw & Huang, 2013). Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) is the extent to which an individual believes the use of a certain technology system will not require so much effort to be achieved.

The present study evaluates the validity of TAM in the context of e-learning adoption of adult female postgraduate students in a higher education distance learning course in quantitative research methods. We investigate whether PU and PEOU predict users' overall satisfaction with the system's usage. Furthermore, we explore whether students' Computer Anxiety has an effect on PU and PEOU. Importantly, we test whether students' Academic Self-Efficacy can be explained by the two factors underlying the e-learning adoption, PU and PEOU. In this respect, we propose that, in addition to outcomes related to the user experience, namely, Satisfaction from the use of LMS, affective outcomes, namely Academic Self-Efficacy, may also be explained be external factors using the TAM framework. We investigate the direct effect of Computer Anxiety on learners' Academic Self-Efficacy and the indirect effect through PEOU and PU. Our hypothesis is that the effect of Computer Anxiety on ASE will be fully mediated by the two main factors of TAM, namely PU and PEOU. In our models, we control for the perceived quality of the Technical Support for the use of the LMS.

Originating from higher education institutions, blended learning has increasingly been permeating the K-12 education system in recent years (Picciano et al., 2012). Blended learning refers to the combination of face-to-face (F2F) instruction with online learning. It combines F2F and distance teaching and learning (Hrastinski, 2019). For K-12 education, specific didactic potentials are anticipated in blended learning. These range from enhanced incorporation of students' home learning and other non-school environments to the reinforcement of adaptive, individualized, and project-based learning, as well as the promotion of cross-disciplinary competencies such as self-regulated learning or computer- and information-related skills (Powell et al., 2014).

Blended learning is more widespread in education systems in which distance learning has long been established due to structural conditions (e.g. low population density, possibility of home schooling) and the digitalization of schools is advanced, such as Australia, Canada or the U.S. (Graham & Halverson, 2022). In contrast, blended learning was initially not widely adopted in schools in many European countries. It was only with the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced a reorientation during phases of complete or partial school closures, that blended learning approaches were developed and tested. Studies on teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic indicate a significant increase in the use of digital media in some European countries, especially with regard to learning platforms and communication tools, as seen in Germany or Austria (Karpiński et al., 2020). Teachers recognized the potential in blended learning formats and expressed in surveys their intention to continue using newly tested teaching methods even after the end of the pandemic (Nalaskowski, 2023).

Studies on implementations, primarily conducted in U.S. K-12 schools, have identified different models of blended learning. Watson (2008) categorizes a total of seven blended learning models on a continuum ranging from traditional face-to-face classroom instruction to instruction that is entirely conducted online and remotely. Staker and Horn (2012) map out a two-dimensional space with the dimensions of location (brick and mortar vs. remote) and course content (offline vs. online), identifying four blended learning models (rotation, flex, self-blend, enriched virtual). This classification has gained widespread recognition and continues to be referenced in numerous studies (e.g., Li & Wang, 2022).

However, models like the ones proposed by Staker and Horn (2012) have limited applicability to the European context, specifically in Germany. For example, three of the four models (flex, self-blend, enriched virtual) are based on a configuration where substantial portions of the curriculum are exclusively or predominantly provided online, a situation that was rare in European schools at least until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (European Commission, 2022). Also, K-12 educational institutions transitioning from pure online institutions towards face-to-face learning, as described in Staker and Horn’s ‘enriched virtual’ model are relatively uncommon in Europe, rendering this model even less applicable.Finally, early models like the ones of Staker and Horn are criticized for falling short in considering pedagogical aspects (Graham & Halverson, 2022).

The goal of this study is thus to investigate blended learning models within a European school context. More specifically, the study analyses, which blended learning models have emerged from experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic and how these models are being implemented into regular F2F school practice. Addressing criticisms of early modeling, the analysis incorporates not only physical aspects, such as the arrangement of space and time and the integration of online and offline learning but also aspects related to the design of learning tasks and learning situations.

1. Background of the study

1.1. Problem statements regarding digital technologies for education in digital era

With the rapid innovation of digital technology, the digital transformation of education has accelerated, emphasizing the role of digital technologies in teaching and learning more than ever. The use of digital technology (e.g., Kahoot) to enhance interaction in classrooms, employing personalized learning platforms (e.g., ALEKS), and using augmented/virtual reality to enhance the learning presence are no longer exceptional cases but are commonly found in many classes. Thus, digital technology plays a crucial role in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the teaching and learning environment.

However, Daniela (2019) pointed out that the centrifugal effect of technology can fragment various components of education, such as learning materials, environments, and peer interactions. Empirical studies have also reported that digital usage in education can lead to social and affective challenges (Lemay, Bazelais, & Doleck, 2021). These issues arising from digital technology necessitate strengthening pedagogical perspectives and approaches in instructional design (Daniela, 2019).

In education, digital technologies are emphasized not only as an environment but also as a competence for learners. The Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 of the European Commission (2020) highlighted “Enhancing digital skills and competences for the digital transformation” as its second priority. Learner’s digital literacy (Eshet-Alkalai, 2004) significantly impacts learning achievements in technology-based education (Tang & Chaw, 2016). Therefore, in the context of digital education, it is essential to consider digital literacy as a factor influencing learning, and to ensure that the use of technologies in educational processes naturally enhances learners' digital literacy.

1.2. Research idea to address the problem

In this research, we aim to address educational problems arising in the era of digital innovation by enhancing traditional instructional design model, ASSURE, based on technology-related theory.

The ASSURE model (Heinich, Molenda, Russell, & Smaldino, 1999) is an instructional design model to guide the effective integration of media and learning materials into classrooms. It is a generalized instructional design model like the ADDIE and Dick & Carey models, applicable to various situations and contexts. The model, known for its practicality and effectiveness in enhancing learning achievements, has been widely used so far (Kim & Downey, 2016; Lei, 2023).

However, unlike the past when delivery media were predominantly used, recent technologies are characterized by increased complexity and messiness (Ross & Collier, 2016). In this context, inconsiderate adoption of technology without adequately considering learners' readiness or pedagogy can induce techno-stress and may even lead to extraneous cognitive load (Agbu, 2015; Skulmowski & Xu, 2022). Therefore, if the ASSURE model, a widely used instructional design model, is revised to assist in the integration of innovative technologies into education, it is expected to be more beneficial in the digital era.

As a theoretical framework to improve ASSURE, Task-Technology Fit (TTF; Goodhue & Thompson, 1995) can be considered. TTF is defined as “the degree to which a technology assists an individual in performing his or her portfolio of tasks” (p. 216). Applying TTF to learning implies that if there is an appropriate fit between the learner’s digital literacy (individual characteristics), learning activities (task characteristics), and digital technology for education (technology characteristics), the effectiveness of learning is expected to increase.

1.3. Study objectives and research Questions

Building on the limitations of existing instructional design model in the age of innovative technologies, this study aims to revise ASSURE model based on the TTF model. Research questions are as follow:

Q1. Revised ASSURE mode based on the task-technology fit theory (ASSURE-TTF model) is valid?

Q2. Instructional design according to revised ASSURE model con contribute to the integration of innovative technologies into classes?

After 1945, not only Czechoslovakia but also Europe found itself in a socio-political "new world". Interwar ideas of social and school reform were in many ways undermined by the catastrophe of war and could no longer help to support the formation of a "new" post-war modernising and more socially sensitive Europe. The political and economic division of Europe by the "Iron Curtain" after 1945/48, the socio-geographical and cultural transformation of Europe due to the "transfers" of population after the Second World War dissolved" the cultural and economic symbiosis of interwar Europe. Its central and south-eastern part was geopolitically in the totalitarian grip of the Soviet Union and in the "experiment" of the communist world order, with all its consequences for political, cultural and social life, not excluding the fields of science and education. In general, Europe has "fallen" into the competition between "East" and "West", with all the tactics of "victory".

For this struggle and rivalry it was necessary to offer an ideologically and emotionally charged concept in Czechoslovakia after 1948, transforming or negating the "old" world of education and promising a "new" model of education based on pedagogical science (Kasper 2020). To make the victory "lasting and solid", tasks were defined in the scientific research plans of Czechoslovak educational research institutions and universities. The answer was the concept of polytechnic education, which linked school with life and offered an educational model leading to the "victorious" and successful implementation of the communist economic-social experiment (Mincu 2016). This was similar in other "Soviet satellites" (Tietze 2012).

The paper reconstructs the discourses, practices of "discrediting" the interwar view of the concept of generally education in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s from the position of polytechnic education as a model of "new" generally education. In the second part, the paper traces the successes and failures of the promotion of this concept in Czechoslovak educational and scientific policy (the concept of the scientific revolution), in educational theory and in the reform of educational practice in the 1960s in the socio-political 'revival' process of the so-called Prague Spring (Sommer 2017). The third part reconstructs the processes of 'rehabilitation' and practices of the new legitimation of polytechnic educational concepts in overcoming the economic 'weaknesses' and failures of the so-called 'perestroika' in 1980s Czechoslovakia. The theoretical foundations (with reference to Marx's theory of the alienation of man), goals and practical implementation proposals of the "new" educational model and its transformations in different periods will be analysed. The strengths and weaknesses of its implementation in the practice of school and out-of-school education in the different "stages" of time will be reconstructed.

The transformations of the concept of general polytechnic education will be contextualized and discussed within the socio-technocratic and rationalizing control efforts of the "new" society (Sommer 2019). The issues of the theoretical definition, practical promotion and implementation of the "new" general education model are viewed within the dynamics of cultural transfer and circulation from the "model" Soviet Union (Behm/Drope/Glaser/Reh 2017).

We ask what were the background and specifics of the polytechnic educational concept in Czechoslovakia in the second half of the 20th century? What methods and emotional practices were used in the Czechoslovak debate to justify and advocate the concept of polytechnic education supported by the arguments of the scientific and technological revolution? Why did the concept of polytechnic education in Czechoslovakia not weaken or be completely destabilized after 1868, when in other countries of the socialist bloc its legitimacy was shaken seriously?

European Historical research, and also European Educational research, has regions that it sheds more spotlight on, and it has regions that are definitely out of focus. One of the former is for example the „DDR“, one of the latter is the now called country North Macedonia (MK in this abstract). While the one vanished into the BRD after 1989, the other one emerged as a nation state on ist own after the fall of the socialis eastern states.

In education, there is only little research emerging from MK, and even less dealing with educational topics in MK. Therefore, in this presentation I want to close this research gap with answering one specific research question at the ECER 2024:

1. What role did socialism/communism play in education in Yugoslavian times in the geographical region of MK, how did this change after 1989 and what role did democracy play thereafter, in the newly established national state?

Before the establishment of the University in Skopje in 1946, in the beginning of Yugoslavian times, students from the Macedonian part of Yugoslavia could only pursue teacher education outside of Macedonia, for example in Belgrade or Sarajevo. Up to this day it is only in Skopje that all subjects and school levels are offered for prospective teachers. Until 1991, there were additional teacher education programs for primary education. However, in the last 20 years, these programs were either integrated into universities.

While the „Wende“ took place in Germany in 1989, the „Wende“ happend in MK a little bit later, in 1991, when MK stepped out of the remaining part of Yugoslavia (which was mostly Serbia then). As many other countries after the „Wende“, there was the wish for a fast change of the nation to democracy, including the institutions for schooling. Instructions for changing the education system were communicated to schools and teachers through laws, curricula, regulations, etc. (cf. Janík & Porubsky 2020), as today too. However, these legislative changes normally reach schools later than intended. Furthermore, schools do not „simply“ implement the changes, they transform these into their instution. Mensching calls this process (and product) „living practices“ („gelebte Praxis“, Mensching 2018). Those become visible in the local mesosystem of the individual school (for macro-, meso-, micro-system, see Altrichter & Maag Merki 2016). Because of the fast tempo in changes, also changes in government, schools didn’t have sufficient time to implement all the changes before new ones were introduced (cf. Rizova, Bekar & Velkovski 2020, p. 1502).

Before 1991, teacher education in Yugoslavia was shaped by socialist state ideology, emphasizing the concept of "socialist unity." This ideology permeated the entire education system, from elementary to higher education. Teachers spoke positively of this socialist unity, referring to it as "brotherhood" and "friendship." Teachers are always part of a school culture and professional community (Helsper 2008), and this is crucial for their professional satisfaction (Rothland 2013). The societal contract in with teachers in Jugoslavia implied trust in their autonomous, professional actions (Hargreaves & Fullan 2012). The absence of trust, the „erosion of trust“ (Bellman & Weiß 2009) particularly after 1991 in MK, resulted not only in the loss of autonomy but also in demoralization among teachers (Peck, Gallucci & Sloane 2010, S. 452).

The term "poly-crisis" is currently about to become one of the most popular catchphrases used in the "political and social language" (Koselleck & Richter 2006) of our time. It pretends to characterize the current global situation in general and refers to the simultaneous occurrence of multiple crises and challenges in various domains, such as economy, environment, health, politics, and humanitarian issues. The British Historian Adam Tooze describes ‘polycrisis’ as the interaction of multiple crises and heterogenous shocks at once forming a "cascading and converging" set of challenges that have the potential to reshape our world in profound ways (Tooze, 2022). In this interpretation, the term does not merely signify the simultaneous occurrence of a series of singular critical events but rather serves as outstanding characteristic of present times and seemingly a novel phase in history. In this interpretation, it is not least the complexity of the phenomenon termed as ‘polycrisis’ which is particularly striking and generates the everyday experience that the associated events must be effective, but not entirely and immediately graspable.

The compelling reference to contemporary phenomena of crises has always been a key argumentative tool for justifying educational programs in history (Dollinger, 2021; Hemetsberger 2022; Wrana, Schmidt & Schreiber 2022). Not surprisingly, this is also evident in recent documents related to current issues of educational agenda setting issued by supranational organizations (see European Commission et al. 2023; OECD 2023; UNICEF Innocenti 2023). The same might be expected for the current development of local curricula in educational institutions.

At the moment, there is still limited knowledge about how the situation of ‘polycrisis’ is reflected on the local level of institutionalised education and everyday pedagogical practice (e.g. Ameli 2022). This applies not least to the question of how concrete representations of a world situation regarded as ‘polycritical’ can be investigated from a social science perspective in educational settings, especially in order to go beyond the simple affirmation of crisis diagnoses as dominating in public agenda setting discourses. And finally, the question arises: What is the special contribution of ethnographic research strategies in this context? The symposium addresses these issues by following several perspectives: Firstly, it clarifies from a historical and systematic point of view the interrelation between the justification of educational ambitions, visions or programs and crisis-ridden time diagnosis; secondly, it discusses methodological issues of investigating global phenomena of crises from the perspective of educational ethnography; and thirdly, it focuses on dealing with phenomena of crisis on the local level of educational institutions by referring to insights and findings from two different ethnographic research projects conducted in Germany and Switzerland. This ultimately leads to the overarching questions of the symposium: How can characteristics of the pedagogical processing of crisis phenomena be captured ethnographically? How do these phenomena manifest themselves in local practices and in connection with socio-material arrangements? And are there similarities/differences in the pedagogical processing of crises in different contexts and pedagogical settings, and if so, what are they?

Considered as the key characteristic of the current era, the narrative that the world has entered a state of polycrisis represents a crucial aspect of the contemporary public debates. This state is marked by the simultaneous occurrence of multiple individual crises, such as climate change, inflation, increasing social inequality, or migration. These crises overlap in time, amplifying each other and their entanglement seems to challenge human problem-solving abilities in unforeseeable ways (Tooze 2022). Regardless of this specific emphasis, the narrative of the poly-crisis exhibits characteristic features well-known from other forms of diagnosis of the times as it interprets the present in the light of a seemingly ‘predictable’ past and calls for immediate action (Alkemeyer et al. 2019). From a historical perspective, diagnoses of crisis have often been the basis for thinking about new forms of upbringing and education (e.g. Koenig 2019). This trend can be traced back at least as far as the Age of Enlightenment (Winandy & Hermetsberger 2020). In the context of the Western world, it can be observed that the societal reflection on states of crises regularly has included their pedagogisation (e.g. Dinkelaker 2023). This encompasses not only the use of diagnoses of crisis to justify new pedagogical programmes, but also the promise of being able to overcome the current state of crisis through suitable forms of education, learning and teaching. In other words: In times of crisis always sets the stage for rethinking pedagogy. As a result, the pedagogical discussion all too easily falls into an affirmative relationship with the prevailing crisis diagnoses, which makes a reflexive approach to them at least more difficult, if not impossible. Against this background, in our programmatically and methodologically oriented presentation we will discuss the narrative of polycrisis as a form of diagnosis of the times by problematising the implications which prepare the ground for subsequent processes of pedagogisation. Then, we will ask which contribution educational ethnography can make when it comes to the question of how to study the manifestations of the current polycrisis and its pedagogisation from an educational science perspective. In doing so, we will focus in particular on the potential of ethnography to analyse a multi-local state of crises at the level of local pedagogical practices. Not least we will address the challenges associated with the fact that scientific research and its institutions may themselves be affected by the impact of the global polycrisis (Morra 2021).

Alkemeyer, Thomas; Buschmann, Nikolaus; Etzemüller, Thomas (2019): Einleitung. Gegenwartsdiagnosen als kulturelle Formen gesellschaftlicher Selbstproblematisierung in der Moderne. In: Thomas Alkemeyer, Nikolaus Buschmann und Thomas Etzemüller (Hg.): Gegenwartsdiagnosen. Kulturelle Formen gesellschaftlicher Selbstproblematisierung in der Moderne. Bielefeld: transcript (Sozialtheorie), pp. 9–20. Dinkelaker, Jörg (2023): Krise als Schema der Pädagogisierung der ökologischen Frage. In: Malte Ebner von Eschenbach, Bernd Käpplinger, Maria Kondratjuk, Katrin Kraus, Matthias Rohs, Beatrix Niemeyer und Franziska Bellinger (Hg.): Re-Konstruktionen – Krisenthematisierungen in der Erwachsenenbildung. Opladen, Berlin, Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich, pp. 47–58. Koenig, Heike (2019): Enabling the Individual: Simmel, Dewey and “The Need for a Philosophy of Education”. In: Simmel Studies 23 (1), pp. 109–146. Morra, Francesca (2021): Towards an Ethnography of Crisis. The Investigation of Refugees’ Mental Distress. In: Anthropology in Action 28 (2), pp. 36–43. Tooze, Adam (2022): Welcome to the world of the polycrisis. Today disparate shocks interact so that the whole is worse than the sum of the parts. In: The Financial Times 2022, 28.10.2022. Online available https://www.ft.com/content/498398e7-11b1-494b-9cd3-6d669dc3de33, last ceck 31.01.2024. Winandy, Jil; Hemetsberger, Bernhard (2021): Ordering the mess: (re-)defining public schooling as a remedy. In: Paedagogica Historica 57 (6), pp. 717–727.

Approaches to materiality and "material culture" have a long tradition in ethnography. Systematically tracing theoretical traditions guiding ethnographic research and analysis, Tilley (2001) highlights the significance of "material culture" as an established and highly relevant object of ethnographic analysis. In our contribution, we first take up this systematization and update it with contemporary practice theoretical (Schatzki 2002, 2010), new-materialist (Tsing 2015), and post-humanist (Taylor 2013, Taylor & Pacini-Ketchabaw 2018) approaches. Concomitantly we claim that (a) (global) crisis phenomena can be understood as a component and result of socio-material processes; (b) they are expressed in (local) socio-material arrangements and practices; (c) it is via these arrangements that they can be analyzed. To do so, we ask how the relationship between global(crisis) phenomena, local socio-material arrangements and practices in kindergarten can be conceptualized and researched based on our ongoing long-term ethnographic research project. With a glimpse in the researched kindergartens, we can see that nature as a theme is a leitmotif guiding through the school year: Easter allows for the engagement with the theme of chicken and eggs, Christmas goes along with small festivities, involving special foods and decoration from nature, a sheep shearing event with the processing of wool etc. We identify strong socio-material aspects when observing everything related to “nature” in kindergarten. We can distinguish three overall modes in this relatedness: (1) a ‘profound-hypernaturalization’ in a city center kindergarten; (2) a ‘technologization/instrumentalization of nature in nature’ in a countryside kindergarten, and (3) a ‘humanized nature’ in a kindergarten on the outskirts of a city. Regarding these three different modes of integrating ‘nature’, we will reconstruct connections between these socio-material arrangements, practices and global (crisis-)phenomena such as the ecological crisis and its associated discourse. How are these connections shaped, and what do they mean to whom? We can assume two basic (contradictory) ways of relating one to the other: The socio-material arrangements are either used to produce a “wholesome” relation to nature which is discussed as one aspect of a good childhood, and which tends to conceal problematic aspects. Or they are used to raise awareness for the vulnerability of non-human life and ecosystems with the primary aim to protect nature from human action. In our talk, we want to lay out these fields of tension based on empirical insights.

Schatzki, T. R. (2002). The Site of the Social. Penn State University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271023717 Schatzki, T. R. (2010). Materiality and Social Life. Nature and Culture, 5, 123–149. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:144844080 Taylor, A. (2013). Reconfiguring the Natures of Childhood. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203582046 Taylor, A., & Pacini-Ketchabaw, V. (2018). The Common Worlds of Children and Animals. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315670010 Tilley, C. (2001). Ethnography and Material Culture. In P. Atkinson, A. Coffey, S. Delamont, J. Lofland, & L. Lofland (Eds.), Handbook of Ethnography (pp. 258–272). SAGE Publications Ltd. Tsing, A. L. (2015). Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton University Press.

In the current age of poly-crisis, the youth welfare office is an institution that is charged with handling individual crises, while simultaneously adapting to external crises, such as pandemics, climate change and war-induced migration. Exploring this ambivalent position, this contribution asks how (pedagogical) organisations, such as the youth welfare office react to external crises and how crisis phenomena potentially affect the youth welfare office’s handling of individual crises? The handling of individual crises is institutionalized in youth welfare in Germany since the 1920s in the institution of the youth welfare office whose authority is particularly based on dealing with individual crises that can occur in the process of growing up. Throughout its history, it has been questioned whether it is a pedagogical authority but at the very least, however, it arose "from the idea of education" (Vogel 1960). Its invention goes back to the idea that children and young people have a right to education and that they are fundamentally educable (Müller 1994; Rätz 2018). Nowadays, the effectiveness of the youth welfare office as an organisation are additionally under pressure as many German youth welfare offices claim to be "in crisis" due to high staff turnover, cost pressure and outdated administrative methods. This complex demand of handling of individual crises while being in crisis itself is constantly challenged by external crises and calls to effectively adapt to them. The ethnographic fieldwork of my PhD project, which was carried out in two youth welfare offices during the corona pandemic in Germany, provides astonishing answers and insights. My research revealed which internal and external organisational crisis narratives existed and how they interacted. And my findings demonstrate that despite this context of having to adapt to external crises the existing institutional structures largely persisted as such, with only small measures of adjustment: Help plan meetings were held on greenfield sites, places in care were created in paediatric clinics to maintain day-to-day business. Therefore, my contribution shows that certain constellations of regulation and "safeguarding" of growing up do not inscribe the handling of external crises into their ‘machine room’ lightly. Instead, my findings indicate that in particular, authorities that are related to pedagogical processes remain persistent through a focus on administration (Biesel und Schrapper 2018, S. 426) and, hence, the dealing with crises is rather based on organizational measures than on pedagogical innovations.

Biesel, Kay; Schrapper, Christian (2018): Das Jugendamt der Zukunft. Zentrale für gelingendes Aufwachsen oder Kinderschutzamt? In: Michael Böwer und Jochem Kotthaus (Hg.): Praxisbuch Kinderschutz. Professionelle Herausforderungen bewältigen. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, S. 422–448. Müller, Carl Wolfgang (1994): JugendAmt. Geschichte und Aufgaben einer reformpädagogischen Einrichtung. Weinheim: Beltz (Edition sozial, 2). Rätz, Regina (2018): Von der Fürsorge zur Dienstleistung. In: Karin Böllert (Hg.): Kompendium Kinder- und Jugendhilfe. Wiesbaden: Springer VS (SpringerLink Bücher), S. 65–92. Vogel, Martin Rudolf (1960): Das Jugendamt im gesellschaftlichen Wirkungszusammenhang. Ein Forschungsbericht: C. Heymann (Schriften des Deutschen Vereins für Öffentliche und Private Fürsorge, 215).

Relevant pedagogical studies have previously highlighted the need for and importance of providing training and support for new Graduate Teaching Assistants (Sharpe, 2000; Young and Bippus, 2008; Korinek et al, 1999; Park, 2004). GTAs are usually PhD students who take on some teaching responsibilities while completing their doctoral studies. This is a widespread practice in the UK and the US Higher Education contexts, as well as in many European and Australian Universities. Research has shown that even full-time postgraduates aiming to complete their PhD in 3-4 years, regularly teach for 4 or more hours per week (Sharpe, 2000). In the UK, the National Postgraduate Committee of the National Union of Students put forward guidelines as early as in 1991 and 1993 on the use of postgraduates for teaching that include a requirement for proper professional training.

Regardless of this recognition by various national and international bodies that PhD students who teach are making a considerable contribution, both to the student learning experience and the smooth operation of Universities, the training provided for teaching assistants often appears to be insufficient or consisting of limited ‘training on the job’ for many. Indeed, the literature has emphasised the many challenges that part time GTAs face and the significant role training and mentoring can have for their future career development. For example, unlike established academic staff, GTAs are seen as both teachers and students (Winstone and Moore, 2017) which can sometimes compromise their authority in the classroom. GTA training and support varies in different Universities and different countries from minimal instruction to more subject-specific preparation and guidance (Young and Bippus, 2008).

Given this context, there is a great need to consider training programme frameworks for the development of Graduate Teaching Assistants in a similar way that junior members of staff are often offered professional development and training in the beginning of their academic careers. Furthermore, discipline specific teaching training is of paramount importance for enhancing both the professional development of GTAs and the learning experience of undergraduate students.

Given this background, the aim of this paper is to explore preliminary findings of the impact of a pilot GTA training scheme. The ‘Sociology GTA Academy’ was launched in the Department of Sociology at Surrey University in Spring 2022 with the aim to provide extended subject-specific training throughout the semester. In its first pilot run, this included three 3-hour long training sessions covering, among other things: engaging students in seminars; creating interactive activities; marking and feedforward; dealing with sensitive topics and managing disruptive behaviours. This new initiative was supported by Faculty funding and it has been further extended in the last two years, following extensive feedback from the GTAs who undertake the training.

A second phase of the project is currently under way and we are gathering information on the Affordances of Discipline specific teaching training for PhD students who teach during their doctoral studies. Based on narrative analysis of the GTAs’ feedback, the paper will consider the learning experience of the GTAs that took part in the training and will highlight recommendations for further subject-specific training and its potential impact for both GTAs as well the UG students who are taught by GTAs.

Introduction

Teacher agency is a concept that underscores the pivotal role teachers play in the educational landscape, emphasizing the importance of granting them autonomy and authority in shaping their teaching practices (Aspbury-Miyanishi, 2022). While most research has traditionally focused on primary and secondary education (Cong-Lem, 2021), recent studies have recognized the significant impact of teacher agency on university teaching (Kusters et al., 2023; Vähäsantanen et al., 2020). This study takes a closer look at teacher agency in the university setting, exploring how lecturers manifest agency and make informed decisions within the framework of an ecological approach.

Theoretical Framework

Teacher agency, according to Aspbury-Miyanishi (2022), is the ability to perceive and capitalize on different possibilities within specific situations. It involves the capacity to determine the most suitable option aligned with broader educational goals. Crucially, teacher agency is not merely compliance with conventional approaches but necessitates the identification of opportunities for action. Drawing on the ecological approach, teacher agency is multifaceted and constructed through the iterational, projective, and practical-evaluative dimensions.

The iterational dimension emphasizes the role of personal and professional experiences in shaping teacher agency. This dimension recognizes that lecturers draw upon their past encounters and reflections to navigate current situations. Lecturers, through iterative processes, accumulate knowledge and insights that contribute to their agency.

The projective dimension of teacher agency focuses on forward-looking actions. It involves the ability to envision future possibilities, set goals, and plan for effective teaching practices. Lecturers, within this dimension, go beyond immediate concerns and engage in proactive decision-making that aligns with their pedagogical objectives.

The practical-evaluative dimension roots teacher agency in engagement with current practices, encompassing practical evaluations of cultural, structural, and material contexts. This dimension recognizes that teacher agency requires an awareness of the dynamic and context-dependent nature of teaching. Lecturers assess the impact of their actions within the broader educational environment, adapting strategies to suit specific conditions.

The ecological model of teacher agency, as proposed by Priestley et al. (2015), captures the interconnectedness of these dimensions. It emphasizes the dynamic and context-dependent nature of teacher agency, illustrating how personal and professional experiences, forward-looking actions, and practical evaluations intersect to shape effective teaching practices.

Research Question
The central inquiry of this study revolves around understanding how teacher agency is achieved in varying teaching scenarios within university settings. The research question is as follows: How and in what ways is teacher agency achieved in varying teaching scenarios in universities? By delving into the manifestations of teacher agency, the research aims to illuminate the ways in which lecturers navigate diverse teaching situations, drawing on their personal and professional experiences, engaging in forward-looking actions, and conducting practical evaluations within the ecological framework. The research question drives an exploration of the complexities inherent in teacher agency within the university context and seeks to uncover the nuanced dynamics that contribute to informed decision-making in the realm of university education.

In conclusion, this theoretical framework provides a comprehensive understanding of teacher agency within an ecological approach, laying the groundwork for the exploration of its manifestations in university teaching. The interconnected dimensions of iterational, projective, and practical-evaluative aspects underscore the complex and context-dependent nature of teacher agency, setting the stage for a detailed investigation into how lecturers achieve agency in diverse teaching scenarios within higher education.

Introduction

Due to the financial organization of academic research, which is for a large share funded on a temporary and project-basis, junior academics find themselves increasingly in precarious situations. In this paper, we are presenting the aggregated experiences of 676 postdoctoral researchers in the Netherlands. Our first analysis (Van der Weijden & Teelken, 2023), based on quantitative analysis, demonstrated high stress levels, and serious mental health problems due to their lack of academic career prospects, the publication and grant pressure, work-life imbalance, and lack of institutional support.

The meaningful findings of our first analysis and the substantial data provided, stimulated us to carry out a secondary data analysis, by using a more open and exploratory approach. In this second investigation, we are taken a closer look at the explanations provided by the respondents, which we have analyzed in a qualitative manner. This approach helped us to distinguish the various discourses. Our research provides a more nuanced, but no less alarming picture of the current situation of early career academics in the Netherlands.

Research Context: Postdocs trends in the Netherlands

Postdocs are employed and have a temporary contract with their university, University Medical Center or research institutes in the Netherlands. A postdoc is not an official position described in the Dutch university collective labour agreement (UFO), but they are part of the group “other academic staff,” including lecturers and other researchers on temporary contracts. (van der Weijden et al, 2016).

The number of postdocs employed by Dutch universities was 2,146 fte in 2005. In 2021, this number had grown to 3,810 fte (Rathenau Instituut, 2023a). The proportion of female postdocs rose from 34% in 2005 to 41% in 2021, with the share of non-Dutch postdocs increasing from 46% in 2006 to 67% in 2021 (Rathenau Instituut, 2023a). For a researcher recently awarded a doctorate, a postdoc position provides an opportunity to stay and perhaps to advance in academia. However, the academic job market is highly dynamic. More than one in four leave every year, with only a relatively small proportion (18%) moving to a more senior position in the university (Rathenau Instituut, 2023b).

In recent decades, universities across the globe opened their doors to a much broader group of students, a phenomenon not only driven by increasing demographics but also opportunities for those whose previous generations did not have a university education. These students are referred to in many research studies as first-generation students (FGS). Research has shown that, compared to continuing-generation students (CGS), the proportion of FGS in part-time employment and the number of hours they work are higher. FGS repeatedly consider whether studying at university is the right choice for them (Vengřinová, 2023). Moreover, FGS often stem from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, are more likely to live off-campus rather than in student residences, and continue to help out at home in various ways, or to care for their own children, which is why they have less time to focus on their studies (Archer & Leathwood, 2005; Bowl, 2003; Chowdry et al., 2013; Hurst, 2012; Nuñez & Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998; Reay et al., 2005). In sum, it can be argued that students without academic backgrounds experience more significant uncertainties about the various steps involved in studying than CGS. It is assumed that first-generation students face similar challenges across countries; this symposium, therefore, focuses on the specific situation and support structures for first-generation students in four different higher education landscapes: Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and the UK, each presenting unique thematic angles: Common characteristics depicting FGS will be presented in the first symposium paper. By putting a specific focus on the German context, it examines the ways in which intersectional disadvantages are taken into account in research and institutional support for FGS. The second paper puts a specific focus on uncertainty during the transition to university from the perspective of emerging adulthood. Qualitative research shows that, in the Czech Republic, FGS have less space to explore and figure out who they are and what they expect from the future. Compared to CGS, the period of emerging adulthood is, therefore, shorter for them. As has been mentioned above, FGS face more severe and diverse problems and challenges during their studies. For example, research shows that FGS may be more vulnerable to mental health problems than their CGS peers (Smith & McLellan, 2023). The third paper presents findings from a mixed methods study comparing mental health problems in FGS and CGS in the UK. Lastly, in the fourth paper, we discuss the intentions of non-traditional students to drop out, with a particular focus on the Austrian situation.

Over the past decades, research on first-generation students (FGS), defined as students who are the first in their families to study at a higher education institution, has steadily increased, resulting in a proliferation of publications (Beattie, 2018). Despite the increasing popularity of this research strand, numerous studies criticize the arbitrary and superfluously use of the term, resulting in an international incommensurability of data, and the lack of differentiation within the group of first-generation students (Ives & Castillo-Montoya, 2020). Not only is there substantial variation among first-generation students, but, compared to continuing-education generations, they are also more likely to be multiply minoritized based upon race, gender, and social class (Chen & Carroll, 2005; Choy, 2001; Toutkoushian, Stollberg & Slaton, 2018). Individuals with multiple marginalized identities are at a heightened risk of facing greater oppression than those with fewer marginalized identities (King & McPherson, 2020; Roscigno et al., 2022). Although it is collectively affirmed that the experiences of students are particularly challenging when the first-generation status intersects with other marginalized identities, such as race, socioeconomic status, gender, and age (Harackiewicz et al., 2016), Ives and Castillo-Montoya (2020) reveal that most scholars frame FGS from a limited number of theories pertinent to dominant “white” identity groups, namely Bourdieu (1986), Tinto (1993), and Bandura (1997). Against this backdrop, employing intersectionality as a theoretical lens is essential to uncover the power structures that shape the experiences of students facing intersecting forms of marginalization (Collins, 2000; Crenshaw, 1989). By aiding in structuring and guiding the data analysis, frameworks play a crucial role in empirical research; yet little is known about the ways in which intersectionality is applied as an analytical framework in research on first-generation students. This contribution attends to this gap by examining over forty empirical studies that analyze first-generation students through an intersectional lens. Through the analysis, key similarities, and differences in their approaches to study FGS as multiple identities are identified.

Beattie, I.(2018). Sociological Perspectives on First-Generation College Students. In Handbook of Sociology of Education in the 21st Century. Cham: Springer, pp. 171–91. Bandura, A.(1997). Self-efficacy:The exercise of control. Freeman. Bourdieu, P.(1986). Forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson(Ed.), Handbook of theory of research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258).Greenwood Press. Chen,X., & Carroll,C.D.(2005).First-generation students in postsecondary education:A look at their college transcripts.National Center for Education Statistics. Choy,S.(2001).Students whose parents did not go to college:Postsecondary access, persistence, and attainment: Findings from the condition of education. Collins,P.H.(2000).Black feminist thought:Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Crenshaw,K.(1989).Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex:A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics.University of Chicago Legal Forum,1,139–167. Ives,J.,& Castillo-Montoya,M.(2020).First-Generation College Students as Academic Learners: A Systematic Review. Review of Educational Research, 90(2),139–178. Harackiewicz,J.M. et al.(2016).Closing achievement gaps with a utility-value intervention: Disentangling race and social class.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,111(5),745–765. King, Colby R., & Sean H. McPherson.(2020).Class beyond the Classroom: Supporting Working-Class and First-Generation Students, Faculty, and Staff. Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. University of Chicago Press. Toutkoushian,R.,Stollberg,R.,&Slaton,K.(2018).Talking ‘bout my generation: defining ‘first-generation college students’ in higher education research. Teachers College Record,120, 1–38.

The transition from high school to college is often referred to as a life change, where the student moves from a controlled educational environment to one where self-regulation is emphasised, and the student has responsibility for his or her education (Vengřinová, 2023). A continuous educational pathway characterises the Czech environment, and with the opening of higher education to a wider population, more and more FGS are entering Czech universities (Vengřinová, 2021). Approximately 66.1% of Czech students study at the bachelor level (Hündlová & Šmídová, 2020). Thus, they are the first in their family to experience the university environment, and unlike their parents, they should be able to experience the period of emerging adulthood fully. That means they should experience a safe period of self-identity exploration that takes place during, among other things, the transition to college, specifically between the ages of 18-25 of an individual's life (Arnett, 2004). This paper will focus specifically on the transition period of FGS and their perception of their emerging adulthood among a specific group neglected in the Czech research environment. However, it now represents more than half of the undergraduate student population, which will contribute to filling the current research gap. Results will be presented based on qualitative analysis of 70 semi-structured interviews conducted with 35 novice FGS. The students interviewed perceive a shorter period of emerging adulthood as they often start working while studying for their CGD. At the same time, they feel pressure from their family to be clear in their lives and not to experiment in their decisions. They felt support from their parents in choosing higher education over work, but they felt pressure to graduate or drop out and go to work during their studies. Suppose the student is uncertain about his/her choice. In that case, he/she feels similar uncertainty from his/her parents, leading to different coping strategies, e.g., hardening up and graduating, leaving school, and working. In all types of coping strategies, however, this leads to an earlier acceptance of one's role as an adult, thus shortening the period of emerging adulthood.

Arnett, J. J. (2004). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. Oxford University Press. Hündlová, L, Šmídová, M (2020). Netradiční student a studentky vysokých škol: Studie z šetření Eurostudent VII. CSVŠ. Vengřinova, T. (2021). Akademická a sociální integrace do studia na vysoké škole u první generace vysokoškoláků: přehledová studie. Studia paedagogica, 26(1), 167–184. Vengřinová, T. (2023). Akademická integrace do studia: Pohled první generace vysokoškolských studentů na své vyučující. Pedagogická orientace, 32(3), 152–177.

First-generation students (FGS; those whose parents did not achieve a university degree) constitute almost half of the UK university population (Office for Students, 2022). The UK University Mental Health Charter (Hughes & Spanner, 2019) recognises that FGS may face greater challenges to their mental health than continuing generation students (CGS; those with at least one parent who achieved a university degree). However, a scoping review of the international literature (Smith & McLellan, 2023) found no published empirical research on the mental health of FGS at UK universities. An online study was carried out to address this gap in the research. Participants were students aged 18 years or older from any UK university and were recruited to the study via advertisements on social media. A sample of 247 university students, comprising both FGS (n = 115) and CGS (n = 128) completed a survey containing demographic questions (gender identity, age, level of study, parental education) and scales to measure mental health problems (depression, eating concerns, substance use, generalised anxiety, frustration/anger, social anxiety, family distress, academic distress and a total distress index). In addition, participants responded to open-ended questions on mental health. In this presentation I will report the findings of this study and discuss the implications for FGS, widening participation and future research in this field. This study makes a significant contribution to knowledge about mental health problems in UK FGS and adds a UK perspective to existing international research.

Hughes, G., & Spanner, L. (2019). The University Mental Health Charter. Student Minds. https://www.studentminds.org.uk/uploads/3/7/8/4/3784584/191208_umhc_artwork.pdf Office for Students. (2022). Equality, diversity and student characteristics data. https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/equality-diversity-and-student-characteristics-data/ Smith, D., & McLellan, R. (2023). Mental health problems in first-generation university students: A scoping review. Review of Education, 11(3), e3418. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3418

This paper examines empirical evidence from higher education research on student dropout intentions. Dropping out from university is associated with high individual and societal costs, a lack of innovation, a shortage of skilled workers, and a loss of competitiveness and diversity (Nairz-Wirth/Feldmann 2018; Thaler/Unger 2014). In addition, one of the European Union's goals is to achieve greater equality of educational opportunity – a goal that depends in part on reducing the number of students who drop out from university (Vossensteyn et al. 2015). With European universities already reporting high dropout rates within their specific systems (Vossensteyn et al. 2015), universities are under increasing pressure to implement measures to prevent student attrition. In this context, dropout intentions can be seen as an early warning indicator and are therefore relevant for empirical research and the design of effective prevention and intervention strategies (Deuer/Wild 2018). The present analysis combines both psychological-individual and sociological-institutional approaches (Heublein/Wolter 2011), exploring the role of institutional social capital (in terms of peers, university staff, and study group), transitional experiences, and individual resilience in relation to dropout intentions. In addition, different characteristics of non-traditional students are considered (Schuetze/Slowey 2002). Therefore, a survey was conducted in 2022 at an Austrian public university among bachelor students in economics and social sciences (n = 1.000). The results of a hierarchical logistic regression model show that high levels of social capital (in relation to other peers), high individual resilience, and positive experiences with the transition to university can have a preventive effect on dropout intentions. No significant effect was found regarding characteristics of non-traditional students, such as first-generation status. However, an extended duration of study may increase the likelihood of having intentions to drop out. Building on previous findings in higher education research during times of uncertainty (e.g. Falk 2022; Álvarez-Pérez et al. 2021; Baalmann et al. 2020; Baalmann/Speck 2020; Bano et al. 2019), the results suggest that early preparation for studying, active management of the transition process by the institution, support for building students' resilience, and promotion of social networks at the institution can prevent dropout intentions and contribute to reducing dropout rates among university students. These findings are relevant - not only during times of crisis - but also for the long term.

Álvarez-Pérez,P.R. et al.(2021).Academic Engagement and Dropout Intention Academic Engagement and Dropout Intention in Undergraduate University Students. In: Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice,0(0),1-18. Baalmann,T. et al.(2020).Multikontextuelle Einflüsse auf den Studienerfolg: Zusammenführung und Ergänzung der bisherigen Ergebnisse.In: M. Feldhaus & K., Speck(Eds.),Herkunftsfamilie,Partnerschaft und Studienerfolg.Baden-Baden, Ergon,281-324. Baalmann,T. & Speck,K.(2020).Der Einfluss der Studieneingangs- und der Lernmotivation auf den Studienerfolg und die Abbruchneigung von Studierenden.In:Feldhaus, Michael/Speck, Karsten (Hrsg.):Herkunftsfamilie, Partnerschaft und Studienerfolg. Ergon, 81-116. Deuer, E.& Wild, S.(2018). Validierung eines Instruments zur Erfassung der Studienabbruchsneigung bei dual Studierenden, 4. Auflage.Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg. Falk,S.(2022).Die Auswirkungen der Corona Pandemie auf die geplante Studiendauer internationaler Studierender an deutschen Hochschulen.In:Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung,44(2-3),144-163. Nairz-Wirth,E. & Feldmann,K.(2018).Hochschulen relational betrachtet. In: AQ Austria (Hrsg.): Durchlässigkeit in der Hochschulbildung. Beiträge zur 5. AQ Austria Jahrestagung 2017.Facultas.,79-94. Schubert,N. et al. (2020). Studienverläufe – Der Weg durchs Studium:Zusatzbericht der Studierenden-Sozialerhebung 2019.Institut für Höhere Studien (IHS). Schuetze,H.G. & Slowey,M. (2002).Participation and exclusion: A comparative analysis of non-traditional students and lifelong learners in higher education.In Higher Education,44(3/4),309-327. Thaler,B. & Unger,M. (2014).Dropouts ≠ Dropouts: Wege nach dem Abgang von der Universität.Institut für Höhere Studien.https://irihs.ihs.ac.at/id/eprint/2259/ Vossensteyn,H. et al. (2015).Dropout and Completion in Higher Education in Europe:Main Report.Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

The two-part symposium presents conceptual, comparative as well as single-country studies that examine the neoliberal reform wave which most governments bought into over the past thirty years. In concert with Verger, Fontdevila and Parcerisa (2019), we refer to this reform package as School-Autonomy-with-Accountability (SAWA). The objective of the studies presented is to move beyond the simple documentation that neoliberalism spread worldwide and instead examine who the political coalitions were that bought into, or resisted, respectively the reform wave, what features of the reform resonated and why they held appeal, what features were repealed and how national policy actors translated key policies into the varied national contexts. These type of research questions are prototypical for research interchangeably labeled policy borrowing, policy transfer, policy mobility, or policy circulation research (Steiner-Khamsi, 2021). The panel attempts to advance both policy transfer research as well as comparative public policy studies by inserting a transnational lens into the analysis of policy processes.

The unit of analysis of all presentations is the SAWA reform. We consider SAWA to be a coherent, pervasive, and controversial reform package that (i) claimed to ensure quality improvement, (ii) advocated for (or at least aligned with) policies to set in motion competition among schools and differentiation in the school offer, such as school-based management and school choice (iii) instated a bundle of policies that strengthened school autonomy under the condition of pervasive accountability, and (iv) advanced a set of preferred policy instruments to trigger and sustain organizational change such as continuous standardized testing and other forms of external supervision. The panelists use this quadruple differentiation of fundamental reforms—their mission, mechanisms of change, bundle of policies, and policy instruments—to reflect the vernacularization or translation of the reform package, that is, what exactly was adopted by which political actors and in which particular political context, and why some features of the reform packaged resonated more than others.

In this panel, the presenters draw on the policy instrument approach which has triggered a lively debate within public policy studies more broadly (Lascoumes and Le Galès 2007; Béland et al. 2018; Capano and Howlett 2020) as well as more narrowly in policy studies related to the education sector (Verger et al. 2019). Several aspects of that approach are appealing for policy transfer research, notably, the insight that the choice of policy instrument is deeply political and has repercussions in who is empowered and who disempowered. Drawing on that approach, we differentiate between the reform goal, reform elements, and the instruments to achieve the goal.

The presentation makes a case for contextual, qualitative comparative analysis that takes into consideration the temporal and space dimensions of policy transfer and disaggregates a reform by its policy goal (theory of change), bundle of policies, and policy instruments. The disentanglement helps to specify what exactly has traveled, and why. In an attempt to illustrate the interpretive framework used for contextual comparison, it draws on two recent co-authored publications on the selective borrowing of the school-autonomy-with accountability (SAWA) reform in Switzerland (Steiner-Khamsi, Appius and Nägeli, forthcoming) and Iceland (Steiner-Khamsi, Jóhannesdóttir, and Magnúsdóttir, forthcoming). The two studies provide an opportunity to reflect on methodological lessons learned for advancing scholarship in qualitative comparative policy studies, in particular research on policy transfer. A special focus will be placed on the temporalities of the SAWA reform in the two countries. In addition, it discusses methodological aspects of how to compare national receptions and translations against a global script, here against SAWA. The study compares the three reform waves, identified by Bromley et al, (2023) based on their analyses of the World Education Reform Database (WERD). The presenter chooses to label the three reform waves as (i) (equal opportunity, (ii) school-autonomy-with-accountability, and (iii) student-wellbeing reforms. She discusses how the three reform waves differ in terms of their policy goal but also their bundle of policies and the choice of preferred policy instruments. The WERD database is the most comprehensive database that exists to date on education reforms globally. It contains over 10,000 policy documents from over 180 countries over the period 1970 - 2020. The database has been developed by Patricia Bromley (Stanford University) and Rie Kijima (University of Toronto) and their associates. It is publicly available here: https://werd.stanford.edu/.

Bromley, P., Furuta, J., Kijima, R., Overbey, L., Choi, M. & Santos, H. (2023). Global determinants of education reform, 1960 - 2017. Sociology of Education, 96 (2), 149 - 167. DOI: 10.1177/00380407221146773 Steiner-Khamsi, G., Appius, S., and Nägeli, A. (forthcoming). School-autonomy-with-accountability: Comparing two transfer spaces against the global script. Steiner-Khamsi, G., Jóhannesdóttir, K., and Magnúsdóttir, B. R. (forthcoming). The school-autonomy-with-accountability reform in Iceland: Looking back and making.

This presentation draws on a forthcoming publication with the same (tentative) title (Steiner-Khamsi, Jóhannesdóttir, Magnúsdóttir, forthcoming). Our study draws on the existing Icelandic scholarship complementing a retrospective analysis of the reform as well as a retroactive interpretation of it. There are three conceptual and methodological features of this study that deserve special mention here: First, we conceive of the NPM reform, also known as the school-autonomy-with-accountability reform as a complex reform with its own (i) theory of change, (ii) a mix of school-autonomy-with-accountability (SAWA) policies, and own (iii) policy instrument to achieve and sustain change. Unbundling the reform package and dissecting its elements affords us to examine why some of the NPM policies resonated at the time with practitioners and policy makers, and others did not. We also show how the selectively borrowed NPM policies were subsequently translated and recontextualized in ways that would address the challenges of upper secondary schools. Second, the study introduces a novel method of inquiry for understanding the fundamental reform in upper secondary schools retroactively: We held several Meaning Making Meetings (MMM) with politicians, policy makers, education experts and policy advisors in Iceland in which we presented our preliminary findings in order to solicit feedback and validation on factual information. Finally, we collectively look back at these MMM to assess which of the NPM/SAWA policies endured, which ones were suspended, and which ones were modified over time, and how and why. In other words, we apply the temporal dimension of policies to examine the lifespan of a policy, that is, we determine when a policy was conceived, when it died, and—not unimportantly—what life it had in between.

Steiner-Khamsi, G., Jóhannesdóttir, K., and Magnúsdóttir, B. R. (forthcoming). The school-autonomy-with-accountability reform in Iceland: Looking back and making sense.

Since at least the 1980s, countries all over the world have prioritized the improvement of educational quality. The amount of education reform globally increased dramatically beginning in this decade and continued through 2010 (Bromley et al. 2023). Quality reform discourse around the world increased both in absolute number and as a proportion of all education reforms during the peak decades of this wave of reform. While countries continued to adopt reforms to expand equitable access to education, a defining characteristic of this recent education reform wave is the dramatic increase in reform discourse focused on improving a narrowly defined conception of quality related to learning outcomes and constrained by what can be quantified and measured (Overbey 2023). What explains the dramatic rise cross-nationally in national education reforms to improve educational quality? To answer this question, this study draws on education reforms from the World Education Reform Database (WERD) adopted in 143 countries between 1960 and 2018. Using negative binomial regression modeling, the study analyzes how factors related to a country’s need or capacity to improve quality, such as the level of economic development, level of democracy, or features of the national education system, may explain variation in the amount of quality reform a country adopts. Alongside country characteristics, the analysis also considers the role of global influences on national quality reform discourse such as a country’s linkages to international civil society and participation in international assessments. The results of the analysis show some positive association between country characteristics and the level of quality reform discourse. Countries with strong democracies with an active domestic civil society are more likely to adopt quality reforms. The results also show that global influences also play an important role. Countries with stronger linkages to world society, as measured by the amount of international non-governmental organization (INGO) memberships and the amount of education related research it produces. Countries that have historically participated in more assessments are also more likely to adopt quality reforms. The results lend support to arguments that the dramatic rise in quality reform discourse is part of the broader global cultural process of rationalization in the approaches to improve education and the scientization of educational problems that underlie the increase in measurement, data, and research observed during the decades of neoliberal education reform (Schofer et al. 2003).

Bromley, Patricia, Jared Furuta, Rie Kijima, Lisa Overbey, Minju Choi, and Heitor Santos. 2023. “Global Determinants of Education Reform, 1960 to 2017.” Sociology of Education 96(2):149–67. doi: 10.1177/00380407221146773. Overbey, Lisa. 2023. What's in a Wave? The Content of Neoliberal Education Reforms, 1970–2018, Wiseman, A.W. (Ed.) Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2022 (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 46A), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 91-105. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-36792023000046A007 Schofer, Evan, John W. Meyer, Francisco O. Ramirez, and Gili S. Drori. 2003. Science in the Modern World Polity: Institutionalization and Globalization. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Since the 2000s, school-autonomy-with-accountability (SAWA) reforms have circulated globally across diverse education systems. As a global reform package, SAWA’s transferability lies in the malleable nature of its instruments and principles, to which multiple rationales and goals can be attached. However, globalization studies often focus on cases of successful transfer of reform ideas and instruments –with their specific contextual adaptations– but overlook instances where, despite adoption efforts, transfer did not occur (Marsh and Sharman, 2009). Put differently, if conditions for transfer existed and attempts were undertaken, what circumstances led to its failure? Or what aspects were selectively borrowed and which were not? This paper explores this puzzle by examining the different degrees of SAWA adoption in Argentina and Colombia. Argentina and Colombia shared neoliberal economic recipes during the 1990s, have decentralized education governance with strong teachers’ unions, and tight links with international organizations, such as the OECD. During the 2000s, while different right-wing coalitions governed Colombia, embracing New Public Management reforms, Argentina was led primarily by left-wing Peronist governments, except for a short period (2015-2019). Two decades later, these countries have diverged on what SAWA instruments were adopted and for what purposes, resulting in quite different governance arrangements. Hence, this study follows a comparative and historical approach to understand under what circumstances, for what reasons, and to what extent the different SAWA instruments have been adopted, recontextualized, and recalibrated in Argentina and Colombia. It focuses on the adaptations, functions, and deployment of two main SAWA components: school autonomy and national scale assessments. Data for this study comes from policy documents’ analysis and interviews (n=68) with decision-makers and key informants in Argentina and Colombia. This presentation concentrates on two government administrations of intense reform activity in each country, the second term of Santos’ presidency in Colombia (2014-2018) and Mauricio Macri’s government in Argentina (2015-2019). Delving on historical institutionalism (Thelen, 1999) and policy borrowing research (Steiner-Khamsi, 2021), the paper unpacks the role of teachers’ unions and political coalitions, the constraints imposed by institutional settings –i.e., federal vs. unitarian government– and the domestic and international political and economic contexts in shaping instruments trajectories. In brief, reform efforts resulted in different policy outcomes in each country, marked by institutional rigidity and political backlash. The study points to the importance of local political and economic contexts behind global reforms and contributes to policy studies research by tracing and comparing cases of successful and failed policy transfers.

Marsh, D., & Sharman, J. C. (2009). Policy diffusion and policy transfer. Policy Studies, 30(3), 269–288. https://doi.org/10.1080/01442870902863851 Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2021). Externalisation and structural coupling: Applications in comparative policy studies in education. European Educational Research Journal, 20(6), 806–820. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904120988394 Thelen, K. (1999). Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics. Annual Review of Political Science, 2(1), 369–404. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.2.1.369

Symposium Aims

This symposium brings together researchers from Sweden, Norway, UK and Chile to discuss the relation between juridification and education. The so far available limited research on this issue has mainly been subject-specific, often split between research on the legislation itself, or the enactment of specific forms of juridification. In addition, in critical studies of education the legal system has until recently remained an outlier, and few have tried to understand this phenomenon in relation to different national contexts.

The aim of this ECER 2024 symposium is to empirically broaden and theoretically deepen our knowledge on the many faces of juridification in education. The double character of juridification is an important starting point, namely that the use of legal means can both contribute to creating a just, equal and democratic society, at the same time as there is a risk of adverse consequences, such as overregulation and leading to a colonization of the lifeworld. This duality also puts the light on the complexity embedded in the concept of juridification, as it points to the many interconnections between education and other systems, especially politics and law. Moreover, from this follows that juridification can appear both as direct means to govern education, as well as a result of surrounding societal changes. Although juridification has received rather limited attention in the education literature so far, there has yet been discussions in other fields for a longer time, especially by sociological researchers with central names as Jürgen Habermas and Günther Teubner. What relevance does the phenomenon of juridification have for education? What is similar and potentially different, between different countries? How can we methodologically study juridification of and in education, in order to contribute important knowledge?

The symposium explore the many faces of juridification. Most importantly, the symposium focuses on the challenges for the stakeholders at both local and state level following new regulations, especially when these are not adequately designed to fit into the educational system. Included in the symposium are papers that provide case studies of 1) law and student rights and 2) the impact on professional discretion, alongside papers that explore 3) the drivers of juridification and 4) the different forms of juridification from a conceptual perspective.

The symposium is of high relevance for the ECER conference, first as juridification so far has received limited attention in educational research, and second as this symposium brings together legal and educational researchers to better understand the complex relation between juridification and education.

Keywords: juridification, differentiation, welfare state. Abstract: This paper is guided by the overriding question: Why juridification of education now – and how? In the context of the welfare state, legal means have traditionally been used to solve social problems with the objective of creating just, equal, and democratic societies. However, the other side of the coin is that there is a risk of overregulation and adverse consequences, which potentially can inhibit democratic progress. The increasingly long arm of the law finds itself entangled with other forms of accountability, creating ever-expanding systems of bureaucratic complexity. The relation between juridification and education is now of high relevance for Nordic educational research (Bergh & Arneback, 2016; Lindgren et al. 2021; Molander et al, 2012; Ottesen & Møller, 2016) and becoming more so in the UK (Murphy, 2022). This paper is an early step towards further collaboration between researchers from different countries. Against the backdrop of successive developments and changes in the welfare state the aim of the paper aims to analyze how and to what extent juridification appears in two different countries: Sweden and United Kingdom are chosen as illustrative cases as these two countries, apart from many similarities, also represent different cultures and traditions as well as legal systems. Theoretically, we draw on Niklas Luhmann’s (1984/1995) theory of functional differentiation, Gunther Teubner’s (1987) problematization of juridification and Claus Offe’s work (1984) on welfare state contradictions. Empirical examples have been chosen that characteristically illustrate how for example content and authority are differentiated through juridification. Our preliminary results indicate that juridification of education is closely interwoven with transformations of the welfare state, including general trends towards marketization and the increased emphasis on legally assured human rights. The paper also explores other sources of juridification, including structural changes to systems of bureaucratic governance and institutional differentiation, as well as the increased pressures on legitimation stemming from civil society. To this, our comparative analysis adds further knowledge on the many faces of juridification, with regard to both similarities and differences between countries. For example, in the UK the spread of a litigation culture seems to be more common than in Sweden and the other Nordic countries, while there are similar concerns on pedagogical and educational consequences, such as how increased use of legal means impacts professional discretion.

Bergh, A. & Arneback, E. (2016). Hur villkorar juridifieringen lärarprofessionens arbete med skolans kunskaper och värden? Utbildning & Demokrati 25(1), 11–31. Lindgren, J., Hult, A., Carlbaum, S., & Segerholm, C. (2021). To see or not to see: Juridification and challenges for teachers in enacting policies on degrading treatment in Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 65(6), 1052–1064 Luhmann, N. (1984/1995). Social systems. Stanford University Press. Molander, A., Grimen, H. & Eriksen, EO. (2012). Professional discretion and accountability in the welfare state. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 29(3), 214–230. Murphy M. (2022). Taking education to account? The limits of law in institutional and professional practice, Journal of Education Policy, 37(1), 1–16. Offe, C. (1984). Contradictions of the Welfare State (Edited by John Keane). London: Hutchinson Press. Ottesen, E. & Møller, J. (2016). Organisational routines – the interplay of legal standards and professional discretion. European Educational Research Journal, 15(4), 428–446. Teubner, G. (1987). Juridification. Concepts, aspects, limits, solutions. In G. Teubner (Ed.), Juridification of social spheres: A comparative analysis in the areas of labor, corporate, antitrust and social welfare law (pp. 3–48). Walter de Gruyter.

Keywords: juridification, school principals, professionalism. Abstract: Juridification in education is a field of study that analyzes the impact of the law on different areas of social policies and services (Rosén, Arneback & Bergh 2021). For instance, in educational systems, the popularization of legal discourse to regulate issues that had traditionally been negotiated and resolved in a non-judicial way has negatively impacted the ability of educators to make decisions based on their professional discretion (Murphy 2022). In Chile, the creation of the Superintendence of Education a decade ago has contributed to juridification of the school system. This institution is part of the National Quality Assurance System (SAC), whose main function is to enforce compliance with regulations in schools that have official state recognition, whether of public, subsidized, or private administration (Law 20,529). Superintendence provides parents and tutors with a formal procedure to present complaints about situations that occur within schools. Most of these complaints are related to issues of school violence (e.g., harassment, physical or psychological abuse, aggressions through social networks, discrimination), but there are also others that point towards issues such as financial resources management, technical-pedagogical decisions, and health and safety protocols. This paper analyzes the incidence that the Superintendence of Education has had in the work of school principals, especially in relation to their management of the educational service, through an instrumental case study (Yazan 2015) with 8 principals working in schools with different administrations. Results suggest that there is an increasing feeling of stress and overwhelm due to the complexity of procedures to respond to complaints. Parents and tutors wield a new power that weakens the ability to reach agreements with representatives of the school without escalating the problem and issuing a complaint with the Superintendence. Most management processes become over-bureaucratized, which diverts principals’ focus from pedagogical issues. Based on these findings, we analyze the negative implications of juridification for the exercise of the professional discretion of Chilean principals, by incorporating highly bureaucratized processes into their management practices. More broadly, we discuss the intensification of negative effects for school leaders’ professionalism that quality assurance and accountability policies have had in Chile and could have in other systems with similar governance arrangements.

Murphy, Mark. (2022). Taking Education to Account? The Limits of Law in Institutional and Professional Practice. Journal of Education Policy 37(1), 1–16. Rosén, Maria, Emma Arneback, & Bergh. Andreas (2021). A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Juridification of and in Education. Journal of Education Policy 36(6), 822–842. Yazan, Bedrettin (2015). The Qualitative Report Three Approaches to Case Study Methods in Education: Yin, Merriam, and Stake. The Qualitative Report 20(2), 134–152.

Keywords: juridification, school environment, students’ rights. Abstract: Juridification implies increased focus on the law, and such movement has clear implications on society, also in a school setting. Concurrently, individual rights are more in the limelight than previously, at the expense of collective ideals. Also, schools are increasingly scrutinized according to legal standards and justice (Murphy, 2022). Blichner and Molander (2008) distinguish between five dimensions of juridification; for example, the expansion and differentiation of juridification, and as conflict resolution based on the law. Together, these forms of juridification express emphasis on the legal consequences of decisions made at different levels in public administration, also at local level by school authorities and leaders (Hall, 2019; Andenæs & Møller, 2016). The aim of this paper is to study how amendments in the Education Act may be understood as expressions of juridification and governance of the Norwegian school system. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of Teubner (1988) and Blichner and Molander (2008), as well as previous, empirical research in the Nordics (e.g. Hall & Johansson, 2023; Karseth & Møller, 2020; Rosén et al., 2021), this study investigates recent changes in Norwegian legislation, more closely section 9A of the Education Act (1998), which ensures students’ individual right to a safe and good school environment. Through content analysis of section 9A itself, the paper also includes a selection of key documents leading up to the changes in 2017, such as Grey Paper 2015: 2 (Ministry of Education and Research, 2015). Early findings in the study suggest that this shift has been paramount in challenging school leaders and their professional discretion. For example, we observe a general increase of regulatory procedures, which tests established practices and positions within and across schools (Murphy, 2022). This is supported by recent survey data showing that the demands in this area of the law are experienced as highly stressful to abide by (Baldersheim et al., 2023).

Andenæs, K., & Møller, J. (Eds.) (2016). Retten i skolen: mellom pedagogikk, juss og politikk. Universitetsforlaget. Baldersheim. H. et al. (2023). Rektors handlingsrom: Er vi styrt eller støttet. Report, Agderforskning. Blichner, L.C., & Molander, A. (2008). Mapping juridification. European Law Journal, 14(1), 36–54. Hall, J. B. (2019). Rettslig styring og rettsliggjøring av grunnopplæringen – konsekvenser for skoleledere som juridiske aktører. In R. Jensen et al. (Eds.), Styring og ledelse i grunnopplæringen - spenninger og dynamikker. Cappelen. pp. 39-55. Hall, J. B., & Johansson. L. (2023). Shifting school environment policies: A Deleuzian problematisation of universal rights in Norwegian education. Policy Futures in Education (Open Access). Karseth, B., & Møller, J. (2020). Legal regulation and professional discretion in schools. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 64(2), 195–210. Murphy, M. (2022). Taking education to account? The limits of law in institutional and professional practice. Journal of Education Policy 37(1), 1-16. Rosén, M. et al. (2021). A conceptual framework for understanding juridification of and in education. Journal of Education Policy, 36(6), 822-842. Teubner, G. (1988). The transformation of law in the welfare state. In G. Teubner (Ed.). Dilemmas of law in the welfare state. Walter de Gruyer. pp. 3-10.

Key words: juridification, education, discrimination, Rights of the Child, conceptualization. Abstract: The aim of this paper is to contribute to conceptualization of different forms of juridification in education. The text focuses on the enactment of legislation on discrimination (Discrimination Act 2008:567), degrading treatment (Education Act 2010:800) and the Act on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (2018:1197, CRC) in Sweden. The theoretical framework is based on research concerning various aspects of juridification focusing on how legislation is enacted in different contexts and involves different dimensions (Blichner & Molander 2008, Rosen et al 2021). This shows that enactment of legislation can lead to both enabling and disabling processes in the society and in education (cf. Habermas 1987, Honneth 2015, Murphy 2022). To methodologically conceptualize different forms of juridification we work in the following steps: 1) Analysing and interpreting the legal sources. 2) Examining how officials at national school authorities enact political, legal, and pedagogical discourse when discussing the CRC legislation, and which dimensions of juridification that are highlighted. 3) Compare the outcomes with previous research on juridification in relation to discrimination and degrading treatment in schools. The result presents and compare two different forms of juridification in education: Accountability-oriented juridification: Research on discrimination and degrading treatment is a suitable example of this form of juridification (Arneback, 2012; Refors Legge, 2021; Lindgren et al. 2021; Rosén et al 2021). The results shows that the legislation in combination with different forms of accountability leads to a juridical framing in education that challenges pedagogical practices. Elusive juridification: Based on data from an ongoing research project the decision to incorporate the CRC into Swedish law illustrate another form of juridification. The law fills a political symbolic function and is understood as a tool for realizing the commitments in the Convention. However, the data reveals uncertainty on how to implement the law and it is unclear in what way the law should be enacted in pedagogical practises. When comparing accountability-oriented juridification and elusive juridification, differences emerge in how increased legal regulation impacts the education system. The accountability-oriented juridification shows clarity in expectations, but challenges pedagogical practices. Elusive juridification lacks clarity and result in uncertainty on its legal and pedagogical implications. These two examples of juridification highlights the need of navigating different forms of juridification and raises the question on what other forms of juridification that could be identified in the education field.

Arneback, E. (2012). Med kränkningen som måttstock. Om planerade bemötanden av främlingsfientliga uttryck i gymnasieskolan (diss.). Blichner, L.C. & Molander, A. (2008). Mapping juridification. European Law Journal, 14(1), 36–54. Habermas, J. (1987). The Theory of Communicative Action. Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason. Beacon Press. Honneth, A. (2015). Freedom’s Right - the Social Foundations of Democratic Life. Columbia University Press. Lindgren, J, A. Hult, S. Carlbaum & Segerholm, C. (2021). To See or Not to See: Juridification and Challenges for Teachers in Enacting Policies on Degrading Treatment in Sweden, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 65(6,) 1052–1064. Murphy M. (2022). Taking education to account? The limits of law in institutional and professional practice, Journal of Education Policy, 37(1), 1–16. Rosén, M, E. Arneback & Bergh, A. (2021) A conceptual framework for understanding juridification of and in education, Journal of Education Policy, 36(6), 822–842. Refors Legge, M. (2021) Skolans skyldighet att förhindra kränkande behandling av elever. En rättsvetenskaplig studie (diss.) SFS 2008:567 Diskrimineringslag [Discrimination Act]. SFS 2010:800. Skollag [Education Act]. SFS 2018:1197. Lag om Förenta nationernas konvention om barnets rättigheter [Act on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child].

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10.3 aims to “ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard” (United Nations, 2015) and SDG 4.5 aims to “(…) ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations” (ibid.). Despite this, language learning policies sometimes follow exclusionary practices, such as segregating students with beginning skills in the language of instruction (LoI), even though they are often referring to aim equal opportunities and inclusive education (Bunar & Juvonen, 2022; Hilt, 2017). These policies are released in the context of education, politics, and ideologies (Cross et al., 2022) and they are intended to be implemented by schools and teachers in the classroom in accordance with legal regulations (Cushing, 2023). However, language learning policies are subject to the interpretation of school leaders and teachers and can be influenced by school resources, ideologies, and other contextual factors (Bunar & Juvonen, 2022; Cushing, 2023). For example, German language support classes for students with beginning skills in the LoI in Austria are implemented in different ways from inclusive to segregated, which deviate to a greater or lesser extent from the current legal requirements (Schwab et al., 2023). In Sweden, teaching newly arrived students is more often based on the school's routines and school-specific solutions than on the student’s individual needs (Nilsson & Bunar, 2016). Therefore, the implementation of language learning policies is not always straightforward. The resources of the school, including personnel and spatial resources, and the interpretation of language learning policies by teachers, based on their ideologies, play a crucial role in ensuring that these policies are implemented effectively (Bunar & Juvonen, 2022; Cross et al., 2022; Cushing, 2023).

Noting the dependency of the implementation of language policies on the context and the responsible persons, the symposium aims to provide insights into the challenges and solutions of implementations of language learning policies for students with beginning skills in the LoI from a transnational perspective. Furthermore, the symposium will take into account a multilevel perspective with each contribution focusing on national, regional, and/or individual contexts of the implementation of language learning policies: the first contribution will examine the interaction of context and policy implementation at different organisational levels; the second contribution will emphasize public administrations as an interface between politics and schools and their regional peculiarities; the third contribution will analyse teachers’ different understanding of the implementation of language policies in a specific region.

The symposium comprises three contributions that address the issue of second language learning policies in educational research. The first contribution analyses the extent to which contextual factors and language learning policies affect the integration or segregation of students with beginning skills in the LoI in the US. The second contribution investigates the feasibility, effectiveness, and legitimacy of German language support policies for students with beginning skills in the LoI from the perspective of employees in public administrations operating in different Austrian federal states. Finally, the third contribution focuses on how Norwegian teachers estimate the inclusion process of students with beginning skills in the LoI in upper secondary schools framed by educational policies. Overall, the results presented in this symposium will aid in the ongoing discussions about second language learning policies in educational research.

Objectives Second language learners (SLLs) in the United States--also referred to as multilingual learners (MLs)--benefit from, and are legally entitled to, specialized language instruction (Lau v. Nichols, 1974; Takanishi & Le Menestrel, 2017). Depending on how this instruction is organized, MLs may be either linguistically integrated or segregated. In this paper, we draw from studies conducted across schools in different US regions to explain how policy and contextual factors converge to create conditions for the segregation or integration of MLs. Theoretical Framework We bring together organizational and political theories to examine contextual complexities in SLL policy implementation (Burch, 2007; Honig, 2006). Such complexities mean that, while ML integration can occur in segregative policy contexts, segregation can occur in integrative policy contexts, with much variation in between (Freire & Alemán, 2021; Umansky et al., 2020). The extant literature points to four contextual dimensions that help to explain this variation: population demographics, external cultural and political forces, school and staff capacity, and organizational structures and norms (Hopkins et al., 2021; Lowenhaupt & Reeves, 2015). Methods We reanalyzed past studies of ML policy implementation conducted in different regions of the US and at different organizational levels (e.g., classroom, school, district, state) and coded for the four contextual dimensions in our theoretical framework. After examining patterns between policy and context in this cross-case analysis, we selected cases that illustrate specific relationships between policy and context and wrote within-case analytical memos (Miles et al., 2014) to better understand the connection to ML segregation and integration. Results We present four cases that highlight distinct relationships between policy and context: 1) segregative policy and segregative context, 2) segregative policy and integrative context, 3) integrative policy and integrative context, and 4) integrative policy and integrative context. Though each case is unique, we illustrate how the four dimensions converge in similar ways to create conditions for ML segregation or integration. Discussion Our findings show how local context can either exacerbate segregation, as in the case of dual language programs lacking the necessary demographics or local interest, or mitigate segregation, such as when school leaders integrate MLs despite mandates for separate language instruction. These findings have important implications for practice, given that these variations in policy implementation may be obstacles to finding solidarity around SLL policy reform and may contribute to the preservation of policies that are detrimental for MLs.

Burch, P. (2007). Educational policy and practice from the perspective of institutional theory: Crafting a wider lens. Educational Researcher, 36(2), 84-95. Freire, J.A., & Alemán Jr., E. (2021). “Two schools within a school”: Elitism, divisiveness, and intra-racial gentrification in a dual language strand. Bilingual Research Journal, 44(2), 249-269. Honig, M.I. (Ed.). (2006). New directions in education policy implementation: Confronting complexity. The State University of New York Press. Hopkins, M., Weddle, H., Bjorklund, P., Umansky, I. M., & Blanca Dabach, D. (2021). “It’s created by a community”: Local context mediating districts’ approaches to serving immigrant and refugee newcomers. AERA Open, 7. Lowenhaupt, R., & Reeves, T. (2015). Toward a theory of school capacity in new immigrant destinations: Instructional and organizational considerations. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 14(3), 308-340. Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M., & Saldana, J. (2014) Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. Sage. Takanishi, R., & Le Menestrel, S. (2017). Promoting the educational success of children and youth learning English: Promising futures. National Academies Press. Umansky, I.M., Hopkins, M., & Blanca Dabach, D. (2020). Ideals and realities: An examination of the factors shaping newcomer programming in six U.S. school districts. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 19(1), 36-59.

In response to the growing plurality of student languages, Austrian authorities introduced a novel language support model in the 2018/19 school year (BMBWF, 2019). As part of the language support model, students who do not meet a certain language proficiency level in the language of instruction are mandated to participate in German language support classes (i.e., GLSC). Previous studies with teachers and school principals have shown that GLSC are associated with considerable organizational difficulties, have a negative impact on the educational biography of pupils and that there is a lack of empirical evidence with sound arguments or justifications (e.g. Spiel et al., 2022). To expand current knowledge about the perceived feasibility, effectiveness, and legitimacy of GLSC, this study, building on Bleidick’s (1985) theoretical framework, examines the perspectives of nine public administrators from different Austrian federal states. Preliminary results of a reflexive thematic analysis according to Braun & Clarke (2022) indicate that participants perceive strong differences in terms of feasibility between urban and rural regions. In particular, the participants report inadequate facilities and an insufficient quantity and quality of staff in rural schools, which is consistent with the findings of Schwab et al. (2023). Concerning urban schools, participants point to difficulties for teachers associated with the high heterogeneity of students in GLSC in terms of age and language proficiency. However, participants were also positive about the feasibility of GLSC, particularly in relation to the curriculum for GLSC students and sufficient support services for GLSC teachers (e.g., support materials). In terms of effectiveness, stakeholders were largely critical of the impact of GLSC on students’ development and socio-emotional aspects, which is in line with the findings of Resch et al. (2023) who point to social exclusion and othering processes perceived by teachers. Interestingly, few participants expressed concerns about the impact of GLSC on students’ language development. Finally, most participants did not criticize the legitimacy of GLSCs in relation to the lack of empirical evidence. This finding could be because the participants themselves take on monitoring tasks and are not involved in the actual implementation of the GLSC. Overall, the results of the present study indicate that it is particularly important to consider the views of administrative authorities, which play an important role in the implementation of top-down decisions in the education system. The implications derived from the present study point to the need to continuously promote close communication between administrative authorities and schools.

Bleidick, U. (1985). Theorie der Behindertenpädagogik : mit mehreren Tabellen. Marhold. Bundesministerium Für Bildung, Wissenschaft Und Forschung (BMBWF). (2019). Deutschförderklassen und Deutschförderkurse. Leitfaden für Schulleiterinnen und Schulleiter. Bundesministerium Für Bildung, Wissenschaft Und Forschung. https://www.bmbwf.gv.at/dam/jcr:f0e708af-3e17-4bf3-9281-1fe7098a4b23/deutschfoerderklassen.pdf Braun, V., Clarke, V., Hayfield, N., & Terry, G. (2018). Thematic analysis. In P. Liamputtong (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences (pp. 84–103). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2779- 6_103-1. Gitschthaler, M., Kast, J., Corazza, R., & Schwab, S. (2021). Inclusion of multilingual students-teachers' perceptions on language support models. International Journal of Inclusive Education, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2021.2011439 Resch, K., Gitschthaler, M., & Schwab, S. (2023). Teacher's perceptions of separate language learning models for students with immigrant background in Austrian schools. Intercultural Education (London, England), 34(3), 288–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2023.2180487 Schwab, S., Resch, K., Gitschthaler, M., Hassani, S., Latzko, D., Peter, A., & Walczuch, S. (2023). From policy to practice: how schools implement German language support policy in Austria. Current Issues in Language Planning, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2023.2269726 Spiel, C., Popper,V., & Holzer, J. (2022). Evaluation der Implementierung des Deutschfördermodells. https://www.bmbwf.gv.at/dam/jcr:2ba5ac1e-3be9-4dd2-8d04-c2465169e726/deutschfoerdermodell_eval.pdf

The inclusion of minority language students (MLSs) has become a significant aim of Norwegian educational reforms since the 1970s (Vislie, 2003). Nevertheless, educational research indicates that recent Norwegian educational policy documents on inclusion still embed unresolved normative tensions and employ “technocratic” – or “efficiency-oriented” – narratives (Rompianesi & Hilt, in review). Not surprisingly, Norwegian teachers appear to have ambiguous representations of inclusion and cultural diversity (Burner et al., 2018) and may employ diverse and not always coherent inclusive practices (Andresen, 2020). Thus, this paper aims to investigate how Norwegian upper secondary school teachers narratively construct the inclusion process of MLSs and to discuss the analytical results within the context of Norwegian inclusion policies. The theoretical framework of this study is based on Bruner’s socio-constructivist perspective and narrative theory (Bruner, 1996, 2004). In this work, public and life narratives are understood “as a mode of thinking, as a structure for organizing our knowledge” (Bruner, 1996, p. 119), and thus as one of the ways we make sense of reality and our own experiences. Since public and life narratives are formed in a shared symbolic space, where knowledge is constructed through interactions with others, narrative research is an appropriate approach “to capture something of the multiple realities and visions which contribute to the realization and enactment of inclusion” (Lawson et al., 2006, p. 65). The study employs qualitative research methodology and methods. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews have been conducted with eight Norwegian upper secondary school teachers. The informants, selected through purposive sampling (Cohen et al., 2018), worked in multicultural classrooms and were from three different schools in the same municipality in Norway. In the first phase, the informants’ narratives will be analyzed using narrative content analysis with an inductive approach (Riessman, 2008). In the second phase, the themes and contents of the narratives will be discussed within the context of Norwegian inclusion policy narratives, as investigated by Rompianesi & Hilt (in review), to identify common patterns, differences, and similarities. The results are expected to provide new insights into how teachers make sense of educational inclusion and how they narratively construct the inclusion process of MLSs. The analysis will also offer new perspectives on how teachers navigate the tensions and paradoxes inherent in policy narratives on inclusion. A deeper understanding of the connections between policy and life narratives on inclusion will contribute to generating new insights valuable for teacher training and policymakers.

Andresen, S. (2020). Being inclusive when talking about diversity: How teachers manage boundaries of Norwegianness in the classroom. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE), 4(3–4), 26–38. https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.3725. Bruner, J.S. (1996). The Culture of Education. Harvard University Press. Bruner, J.S. (2004). Life as Narrative. Social Research, 71(3), 691–710. Burner, T., Nodeland, T.S., & Aamaas, Å. (2018). Critical Perspectives on Perceptions and Practices of Diversity in Education. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE), 2(1), 3–15. https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.2188. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research Methods in Education (8th ed.). Routledge. Lawson, H., Parker, M., & Sikes, P. (2006). Seeking stories: Reflections on a narrative approach to researching understandings of inclusion. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 21(1), 55–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856250500491823. Riessman, C.K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Sage Publ. Rompianesi, T., & Hilt, L.T. (in review). “Heroes”, “Victims”, and “Villains”: Policy Narratives on Inclusion in Norwegian and Italian Educational Documents. Intercultural Education. Vislie, L. (2003). From integration to inclusion: Focusing global trends and changes in the western European societies. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 18(1), 17–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/0885625082000042294

Formation of a model of an inquisitive, intelligent, thoughtful, sociable, consistent, fair, caring, risky, harmonious, reflective student through the organization of research work in mathematics lessons. To show students the importance of organizing research work in mathematics lessons in educating a person with comprehensively developed high moral values, who is ready to apply the acquired knowledge in the process of continuing education in unfamiliar situations.
The article discusses how students can develop their research skills through small research activities. The work of various scientists is analyzed, the results of jointly planned classes on the development of students ' motivation for learning and research skills are analyzed. In the course of organizing research work in action, effective points of joint planning of teachers were identified and outlined. As a result of the study, it was found that the compilation of problems related to real life in a practical direction develops the ability of thinking to synthesize, analyze.

Conducting meaningful research work in mathematics lessons is the basis for developing students ' deeper understanding of the subject and the ability to apply it in real life. The fact that students learn, Act and reflect in a repeated cycle can lead them from academic knowledge to practical insight and the development of its positive attitude to learning, as well as personal and social responsibility.

The purpose of the study: to study the logical abilities of students through a problematic learning approach

to increase interest in their work, to teach students to work consciously on themselves, as well as to achieve solid knowledge, high learning outcomes through this method of teaching.
Research objectives:
Definition of the theoretical, basis of problem-based learning in the scientific and methodological literature;
- Consider ways to solve problems in the development of students ' thinking;
- Pedagogical and psychological description of the level of development of students;
Scientific forecast of the study: if the organized work is organized systematically, purposefully, it will be possible to develop students ' thinking through problem-based learning approaches.

A mathematical study is a long-term, open-ended study consisting of a set of questions, the answers of which are interconnected and mutually contribute to obtaining a solution. The problems are open-ended, unfinished, because students always come up with new questions based on their observations. Additional characteristics of student research include the following:
Students use the same methods used in mathematical research. They work through data acquisition, visualization, abstractions, and proof cycles.
Students communicate with each other through mathematical language: they describe their thoughts, write their judgments and predictions, use symbols, prove their conclusions, and study mathematics.
If the study consists of class or group work, then students become a community of mathematicians, exchanging experience and complementing each other with questions, assumptions, theorems.

Influence of mathematical research work on the subject
The student has a high memory and ability to concentrate, develops the ability to quickly complete a task in unfamiliar situations, and develops the skills of logical thinking, effective use of information.
It is clearly seen that the student is more motivated in the learning process, the ability to identify and find an effective solution to the problem is improved, and he gets pleasure in solving it.
The student has a high ability to think creatively, is able to identify complex patterns using mathematical approaches, such as mathematical language, developed creative thinking, and the ability to visualize tasks in space.
Every research work shows that students can think critically, analyze and present something new, new ideas with energy, whether on their own or in a group. When we find mathematical patterns, we feel that real pleasure is experienced through emotion.

The gendered choice and role of mathematics in pre-tertiary education is maybe one of the most pertinent research topics in education literature (e.g., Ellison & Swanson, 2023; Else-Quest et al., 2010; Uerz et al, 2004; Van der Werfhorst et al., 2003). While Finnish girls outperform boys in mathematics in the comprehensive school, it seems that once they have a possibility to make educational choices after the comprehensive school, the interplay of the internal versus external frame of reference for academic self-concept (Marsh & Shavelson, 1985) sets in motion and leads girls away from math (see also Marsh, 1990; Marsh et al., 2015). In Finland, this has been reported in students’ choice both between the two tracks of the Finnish dual model of upper secondary education (academic vs. vocational), among the different vocational programs, and within the relatively open syllabus of academic upper secondary education (Kupiainen & Hotulainen, 2019). In the current presentation, we set to explore the interplay of students’ gender and math choice in the academic upper secondary education, and its relation to students’ later educational choices.

In the dual model of Finnish upper secondary education (academic and vocational tracks, 56 % vs. 44 % of the age cohort, respectively), ninth grade students have a right to choose among all programs across the country but entrance to academic track schools is based on students’ ninth grade GPA (grade point average). Reflecting girls’ better achievement, they form a majority among academic track students (56 %). Yet, reflecting a longstanding gender-imbalance in students’ attitude toward mathematics and despite Finnish girls outperforming boys in the OECD PISA study (e.g., Hiltunen et al., 2023) and their better grades in math in the comprehensive school (Kupiainen & Hotulainen, 2022, p. 140), there is a clear gender difference in students’ choice between the Basic and Advanced syllabi in mathematics at the upper secondary level after the comprehensive school where all students follow the same syllabus for all subjects (Kupiainen et al., 2018).

The context of the presentation is a recent study of the impact of the Finnish higher education student selection reform of 2018 on academic upper secondary students’ study choices and wellbeing. Despite the long tradition of the Finnish matriculation examination with separate exams for each subject, Finnish tertiary education student admission has traditionally relied on a combination of field-specific entrance examinations and matriculation examination results. In 2018, a reform decreed that half of students in all fields of study shall be accepted based solely on their matriculation examination results and the other half solely on an entrance examination. The main goal of the reform was to speed Finnish students’ slow transit from secondary to tertiary education as due to a backlog of older matriculates vying for a place, two thirds of new matriculates have been yearly left without a place in higher education. The reform was backed by research on the drawbacks of the earlier entrance examination-based student selection (Pekkarinen & Sarvimäki, 2016) and tied the credit awarded for each subject-specific exam to the number of courses covered by the exam. The reform raised vocal criticism, mainly for Advanced Mathematics bringing most credit with its biggest course-load even in fields where it might appear of less value. Yet, the only earlier study on students’ relative success in the matriculation examination showed that on average, students of Advanced Mathematics fared in all exams they included in their examination (average 5,6 exams) better than students sitting for the exam in Basic Mathematics or with no mathematics exam, also allowed in the Finnish system (Kupiainen et al. 2018).

Contemporary principals lead schools amidst rapidly changing and complex contexts, many of which have long histories of persisting systemic and structural racial, economic, and social inequities. Research by members of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) from 20+ countries over the last two decades has found that, regardless of differences in contexts and conditions, successful principals’ work is predicated upon educational purposes that entail but transcend the functional, founded on principles of social justice, equity, and inclusion.

In ISSPP research, schools are considered as adaptive social systems that sit at the nexus of policy, communities, and society. Researching school leadership amidst a complex and rapidly changing society requires conceptualisations and methodologies to be sufficiently robust and dynamic to capture the nuances of the ways that multi-layered influences in society, communities, and schools shape, and are shaped by, what successful principals do.

In seeking to answer the urgent issues of defining how success is achieved and sustained in all schools and especially those serving high need communities, the ISSPP research examines school leadership through the lens of ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) which theorizes individual practices and development within the context of various dynamically interacting layers of social and ecological systems and uses the complexity theory (e.g., Byrne & Callaghan, 2013) to capture the processes and actions in which school organizations operate, develop, and thrive in an increasingly unpredictable, globalized world.

Drawing upon evidence from a sample of selected member countries, this symposium synthesizes ISSPP research findings over time and discusses how the newly developed ISSPP theoretical conceptualization and comparative methodologies enables the research to consider leadership as a multi-level phenomenon and capture the ways in which principals navigate within and between complex systems levels over time to grow and sustain success.

This symposium continues from the first part, beginning with the overview paper that explains the new conceptual and methodological directions of ISSPP research, including how we rethink the knowledge and research contributions from ISSPP to the educational leadership field; why we reconceptualise the field with new theoretical positionings and framing of successful leadership research and how we research with new methodological directions that capture the dynamics of context and leadership (e.g. mixed methods approach, comparative perspectives within and/or across countries). The next two papers present selected case studies to explain how the theoretical lens and/or methodological approach has been used to inform and make sense of the case study data in culturally and educationally relevant ways. The final paper provides a postscript on how the new conceptualisations and methodologies work to advance knowledge and understanding of the nature, practice, and impact of successful principalship.

The symposium concludes with a discussion and concluding comments/postscript as well as questions from the audience.

The introductory paper provides an overview that explains the new conceptual and methodological directions of ISSPP research, including how we rethink the knowledge and research contributions from ISSPP to the educational leadership field; why we reconceptualise the field with new theoretical positionings and framing of successful leadership research and how we research with new methodological directions that capture the dynamics of context and leadership (e.g. mixed methods approach, comparative perspectives within and/or across countries). In so doing, the paper provides a rationale for the use of ecological systems theory in research on successful school leadership, as they lead and manage the complex interactions within and between micro, meso, macro, exon and chrono level systems (Bronfenbrenner, 2009). The paper then unpacks the comparative design and multi-perspective, multi-level approach to conducting research that enables multiple causalities, multiple perspectives, and multiple effects to be charted (Cohen et. al., 2011). The new ISSPP comparative methodology is grounded in four conceptual and methodological considerations. First, context in education is multidimensional and fluid – encompassing not only multi-layered social ecological systems of education, but also how such systems influence each other to bring about change in values and behaviour over time. Second, how context matters and finds its scholarly roots in educational researchers’ intellectual, disciplinary, and professional insights, as well as their positionality and reflexivity from sociocultural and sociopolitical insider/outsider perspectives. Third, assessing the comparability of educational systems, practices, processes, and outcomes both within and across countries matters. Fourth, our approach not only recognizes differences in world views, forms of knowledge and practices between different cultures but also recognizes the reality that there are also important similarities in how children are motivated to learn, how committed and enthusiastic teachers teach, and how successful leaders create and sustain the contextually relevant conditions and cultures for the learning and growth of all children and adults in their schools. The comparative analytical process, theoretical positioning, and comparative mixed methods provide a coherent but contextually sensitive data analysis approach. In so doing, the ISSPP project goes beyond the mainstream “models” to theorize educational leadership in contexts with complexities and multiple layers of dynamic influences and to inform comparative research methodology in the educational leadership field of the future.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard university press. Byrne, D. & Callaghan, G. (2013). Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences. London: Routledge.

Purpose. This paper proposes a fresh analytical perspective to investigate how a school principal has initiated and sustained the “positive disruption” of the governance and structures of an inner-city primary school over time. Conceptualisation. The case study is informed by the philosophy of disruption which is deeply concerned with social changes that enhance and transform the practice and experience of everyday life of individuals and their institution (Manu, 2022). The conceptual strengths are twofold. First, the philosophy of disruption invites us to rethink disruptive change as a flowing, dynamic and organic process. As disruption unfolds to reshape the lives of a school organisation, it disturbs its systems, structures, practices and relationships at different levels, and functions as a catalyst for profound transformation in how individuals and teams envision the difference they want to make and how the organisation creates new cultures and structures upon which they operate to realise the new vision. Second, the philosophy redefines school leaders as positive disruptors who influence individuals and teams by challenging their current views and practices about education and by reshaping organisational structures, cultures, and opportunities to enable them to thrive. Methods. The case study has followed the ISSPP’s recently re-modelled research protocols. The team conducted three in-depth interviews with the principal and two in-person interviews with the current principal. We also interviewed three teachers with middle and senior leadership responsibilities, a class teacher, and a lead teaching assistant. Because of the small staff size (n=22), we are unable to present the teacher survey results in this paper. Findings. Success in this school has been an evolving, dynamic and resilient process of change and improvement. Relational capital, leadership capital, and the courage to disturb norms are essential ingredients of the change process. The portrait of a "positive disruptive" leader reveals the prevalence of the personal over the functional as an act of courage to tell vulnerability and create community. Over time the principal successfully transformed external accountability into an internally assumed and then collegially shared value. In this process, disruption of school cultures created, at times, uncertainties, not chaos. As we have showed through Christine’s leadership endeavor to turn around her school, when successful principals disrupt dysfunctional cultures, their vision, values and high expectations for the future of the organization set clear directions for the journey of success, and also, are fundamental to the sustainability of success.

Manu, A. (2022). The Philosophy of Disruption. Bingley, Emerald Publishing.

Purpose. In turbulent times with societal changes all over the globe, schools and their quality are essential to educate the next generation. Preparing students to meet and understand future challenges and possibilities requires the ability of school leaders to navigate across expectations emanating from national and local policy and culture. Our purpose in this symposium is to understand and explain how various school actors understand and contribute to what they see as good schooling for students in relation to academic results, ethics, and wellness. Conceptualisation. Earlier findings show that successful principals have more similarities than differences in their toolbox despite various contexts (Leithwood et.al, 2021). Successful principals are able to navigate across local and national contexts and policies in a way that benefits teaching and learning. In this process, they attend to diverse issues simultaneously as they engage others in collective competencies towards mutual objectives. Shared understandings, interaction, and communication are crucial to create supportive prerequisites for student learning (Johansson & Ärlestig, 2022). In order to support student learning, school leaders also need to build agency on various levels in the local school system (Biesta & Tedder, 2007; Bronfenbrenner, 1977). Method. The findings build upon the new ISSPP protocols. The empirical data derives from two compulsory schools where school leaders have been employed for more than three years and during that time improved the school outcomes. By using the ISSPP protocols it becomes possible to understand what principals, deputy principals, teachers, students, and parents value and find challenging in teaching and learning. It also enables a deeper understanding about actors’ agency, and priorities in combination with collective interactions and understandings as they strive to meet policy objectives and enhance students’ learning and well-being. Preliminary findings. In this paper we let various actors give their view of contributing factors to school success with regards to structure, culture, and leadership. In focus are the expectations on principals’ and deputy principals’ roles in navigating between existing structures and cultures while simultaneously addressing current and upcoming challenges. Schedules and other structural elements aim to promote a good working environment for everyone involved. How principals and teachers communicate aims and intentions and plan teaching become significant for students’ willingness to accept and contribute to schoolwork. It is also crucial to encourage parents to support teacher- and principal leadership for student learning.

Biesta, G., & Tedder, M. (2007). Agency and learning in the lifecourse: Towards an ecological perspective. Studies in the Education of Adults, 39(2), 132–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2007.11661545 Bronfenbrenner, U. (1977). Toward an experimental ecology of human development. The American Psychologist, 32(7), 513–531. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.32.7.513 Johansson, O., & Ärlestig, H. (2022). Democratic governing ideals and the power of intervening spaces as prerequisite for student learning. Journal of Educational Administration, 60(3), 340–353. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-04-2021-0079 Leithwood, K., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2020). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership revisited. School Leadership & Management, 40(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2019.1596077

Background The recent systemic reforms in the Scottish education landscape feature a complex agenda, elements of which involve structural and cultural change and addressing the achievement gap. This study builds knowledge of successful school principalship in the context of Scotland and highlights the perceptions and actions of successful principals in their efforts to build a connected school system in which all education agents work together. It considers the opportunities and constant challenges these leaders face, and their response to such challenges by focusing on cultivating personal and professional sense of agency. Theoretical Framework This research was guided by a systems-centred approach which investigated the ways in which successful leadership practices contribute to school improvement processes, conditions, and cultures. It considered the ecological systems approach from Bronfenbrenner (1979) a useful theoretical framework for understanding the processes and interactions at multiple levels within and beyond the school system, and that the dynamic, non-linear changes within an educational ecosystem could be effectively understood by applying complexity theory. An ecological model, therefore, examined interactions between the micro-, meso-, macro-, exo-, and chronosystems, and was used to develop context-sensitive accounts of successful leadership in Scottish schools. Methods of enquiry Using a combination of multi-perspective data, an online staff survey and documentary information, this mixed methods research provides in-depth and insightful examples of principals’ successful leadership practices and further investigates relevant perspectives of various key stakeholders in their schools. The focus was on their leadership practices and how their leadership influences the structures, cultures, and the standards in performance of the school. A purposive sample of three schools (two primary, one secondary) was selected as case study sites and was drawn from different geographical regions across the country ensuring a geographical spread. Both qualitative and quantitative data were analysed following an iterative process of inductive and deductive coding (Yin, 2018). This analysis integrated finding and interpreting similarities and differences and acquiring new insights of successful school leadership practices which create structural alignment and ensure coherence and sustainable transformation within schools. Findings Findings from this study provide insight on how successful school leaders consider their entire school as a complex system with interconnected parts and build social infrastructures in order to be established as learning ecosystems. The significance of building relationships through a common set of values, beliefs, and expectations of members within a school community has been a fundamental driver for leading successfully.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press. Yin R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). Sage.

In a time of uncertainty and tension, a leadership for norms and values about equality and value-based leadership seems more important than ever. At the same time, fear and various expressions of resistance seem to hinder leadership for everyone's equal value.

The purpose is to examine principals' narratives about their leadership for gender equality, especially with regards to emotions and resistance, which seems to play a big role. What kind of leadership is needed to support willingness to learn and develop active norms that support values about equality?

Schools are here seen as organizations, especially connected to the “doing gender-perspective” with its first references to West and Zimmerman (1987). It includes an understanding that gender is created and meaning of gender is formed in different relational activities in an organization.

Previous studies have problematized how gender equality should be understood and what it "is" (Magnusson et al. 2008). Resistance in organizations to gender equality work is common, and expressions of resistance are numerous, as shown by various research studies. However, there is a lack of knowledge about different expressions of resistance in schools from a principal's perspective in the role of responsibility. From one perspective, gender equality work is in many ways similar to any change initiative, as changes within organizations often create tensions and expose power dynamics within them. Change can be perceived as encountering unwillingness, resistance to change, and difficulties in altering established routines and work methods. However, many researchers have argued that gender equality work is a particularly complex development effort that involves conflicts, dilemmas, and various difficulties requiring attention to power, interests, and spaces for action (Cockburn 1991, Pincus 1997, Wahl m.fl. 2011, Linghag et al 2016, Amundsdotter et al 2016,).

Several studies stresses the importance of active support from managers and leadership for increased gender equality is emphasized (Acker 2000, Pincus 1997).

Joan Ackers (1992) model for processes where gender plays a role and is integrated in other organizational processes, has served as an important contribution to different research and development projects, that aim to work with understanding how gender is affecting people in an organization and how one can work with change processes. The model points out how gender is intertwined with other processes in divisions, symbols, interaction and internal identity work (ibid).

This proposal draws upon findings from a doctoral research study that explores the ways in which leaders within second level education in Ireland are experiencing mentoring and coaching and in how far (and in what ways) it impacts their leadership identities and leadership practice. This research focuses on the increasing complexity of needs as identified by both newly appointed and experienced school principals, the response from national public authorities in providing support and training for principals in Ireland and the opportunities for developing supportive frameworks that include the potential for reimagining school leadership roles and responsibilities.

The growing global concern about the recruitment and retention of school leaders with notably fewer people applying for leadership roles (Hancock et al., 2019) have led to an acknowledgment that a crisis exists within education. While leadership training exists for all principal teachers in Ireland ongoing provisions that assist principals by incorporating the necessary practical supports and supportive frameworks in developing fundamental leadership ideologies within their school are frequently lacking (CSL Report, 2015) and often been regarded as ad-hoc, disjointed and lacking any system-wide framework. In an attempt to respond to the current leadership crisis, programmes for the induction of newly appointed principals and a developmental programme for school leadership teams are provided for principals which integrate previous professional learning support services into one body since September 2023. In spite of these developments principals are calling for more diverse supports undoubtedly compounded by the pace of change for school leaders and challenges that include the aftermath of a global pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, restrained leadership roles, positions and resources, school accountability and self-evaluation, curricular reform, addressing disadvantage, diversity within school communities and child wellbeing and welfare.

A growing need for providing educational organisations with a clear progressive educational leadership pathway has, in more recent times, become central in the practical preparation and development of individuals in leadership roles. Findings from this study explore in depth the impact that formal supports such as mentoring and coaching have on bridging the gap for newly appointed school leaders in Ireland to support them in dealing with the complexity and extensive nature of the expectations of their leadership roles. Furthermore, this study seeks to provide insights into the lived experiences of established school principals who have engaged with formal supportive networks and the ways in which these supports have impacted on their professional development while working in the role of principal.

This paper is part of a larger study exploring local reconceptualizations of school governance and educational leadership through a continuous, annual data collection. It will enable us to study how governance and leadership is interpreted, translated and recontextualized over time and to possibly identify trends and fluctuations in conceptualizations of leadership. It also includes developing a methodological toolbox for participatory research involving master students (Cooper & Karlsson, 2022) inspired by a Nordic tradition of collaborative research (Rönnerman & Salo, 2012).

Research shows that school leadership on different levels have impact on developing and improving schools, teachers’ collaboration, school culture etcetera (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005; Meyer et.al, 2023; Nehez, et.al, 2022). Context and culture in turn, matter for how leaders are perceived and expectations towards them (Forssten Seiser et.al, 2020; Moreno, 2023). Thus, conceptualisations of leadership are interrelated to context, actions, culture, language and leadership behaviour.

Our systemic approach to context and leaders extends from subgroups (such as teachers in classrooms) within school organisations to international politics and policy-making (Uljens, 2021). Drawing on the work of Stephen Ball (2006) we argue that policy-borrowing on local, national and international levels influence conceptualisations of school leadership on all levels. Similar views are expressed for instance in a study of educational administration and global policies (Sifakakis et.al., 2016) and a study of how leadership practices travel between contexts (Wilkinson et.al., 2013). What is found in one local context can consequently be discursively connected to other local understandings on a national, European and even global scale.

The objective of this particular paper is to critically examine how school governance, management and educational leadership are constructed in local contexts through interviews with educational leaders on different levels. What discourses of governance and leadership are expressed and which subject positions are made available for the leader subject?

The theoretical framework draws on theories consistent with post structuralism, post humanism and discourse analysis. They share a number of ontological and epistemological assumptions that emphasize instability, difference and contingence and regard the social and knowledge as constituted in temporary and contested discourses (Cooper, 2019, 2022). The subject is thus stripped from its hegemonic humanistic position as autonomous, rational and unified and positioned as fragmented and decentered (Foucault, 1972).

Important concepts are:

Assemblage - a constellation of diversified element such as social, discursive, material, cultural, psychological, historical and affective, which are temporarily unified and construct meaning and understandings (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987).

- Distributive agency – agency shared between humans and other elements in an assemblage. It does not presume humans/the subject as the cause of events (Bennett, 2009; Strom & Martin, 2021)

- Intra-action – an assemblage constitutes the social, phenomena, and subjects through intra-action within or between assemblanges (Strom & Martin, 2021)

- Subjectivation – drawing on Laclau and Mouffe’s (1986) understanding of Lacanian theorizing, the subject is understood as a constitutive lack based on the notion of the infant’s apprehension of wholeness being confronted with external images of identity. Consistent with the idea of the subject as fragmented and decentered this constitutive lack is the driving force in the subject’s identification (Cooper, 2019).

For several decades, government authorities and practitioners in many countries, including Norway, have focused strongly on the prevention and restore of bullying (Olweus, 2004; Stephens, 2011). Nevertheless, the number of Norwegian students who report that they have been subjected to offensive words or acts seems to be relatively stable over the years (Wendelberg, 2017). Therefore, Norwegian students’ rights to a safe psychosocial environment, articulated in chapter 9a in the Norwegian Education Act, has been strengthen in 2017. The new law includes descriptions that are more detailed how to redress a safe psychosocial environment. This increases the pressure on principals, who are responsible for implementing measures and restore a safe school environment.

On this background, three research questions are formulated: 1. How do principals interpret and translate the new law into school practices in 9a-cases? 2. How do they construct and legitimise their practice? 3. What kind of dilemmas and tensions do they experience when they try to restore a safe psychosocial environment?

The theoretical framework is connected to Evetts’ (2009, 2010) distinction between two ideal types of professionalism in knowledge-based work in the public sector: occupational and organisational professionalism. The former denotes professionalism as an occupational value; that is, work is controlled by professionals and based on their discretion. Organisational professionalism, on the other hand, is characterised by standardised work procedures and practices that are closely linked to organisational objectives, external forms of regulation and accountability measures (Evetts, 2009). However, occupational and organisational professionalism need not to be mutually exclusive. While organisational control may affect professional work, exactly how this changes occupational values and the space for professionals’ discretion is an unsettled question after the implementation of the new law, depending on local organisational work contexts and the principals’ perceptions of legal regulations.

International studies on changes in professionalism in schools have indicated increased external pressure from national and local governments (Evetts, 2009; Grace, 2014; Ozga, 2000; Sachs, 2001). New public management (NPM) regimes is about public sector becoming more efficient and effective. While management discourses continue to emphasise professionals’ empowerment, autonomy and discretion, professionals in schools are increasingly held accountable for adhering to regulation in law. Earlier studies have explored how institutional regulative pressure impacts work in public schools (see, e.g. Coburn, 2004; Lundström, 2015; Spillane et al., 2011) and demonstrated tensions between external and internal accountability. Discretion is described as a hallmark of professional work. Professional discretion rests on trust in the ability of certain occupational groups to make sound decisions ‘on behalf’ of social authorities. It has been suggested that in Europe, managerialist-influenced policies with increased focus on control and accountability have placed pressure on professional discretion. In welfare states, processes of juridification have been identified, indicating more detailed legal regulation and a tendency to frame emerging problems or conflicts in legal terms (Magnussen and Nilssen, 2013). A recent research in a Norwegian context, called ‘Legal standards and Professional Judgement in Educational Leadership’ have highlighted how rational–legal forms of authority are key aspects in the regulation of education, and how professionals handle legal standards in their practices (Andenæs & Møller, 2016; Ottesen & Møller, 2016; Møller & Karseth, 2016). My project builds on this and wants to understand the interplay between legal standards and professional discretion in schools after implementation of the new law, when students’ rights are strengthened. It is important to unpack the way that legal norms are translated into social practices, how principals legitimise their work in schools and what kind of challenges and dilemmas the new law brings. After recent changes in the law, we know little about how principals’ experiences more juridification in their work as school leader.

Time is a central theme in policymakers’ and educators’ work on curriculum and teaching. It permeates all aspects of policymaking and decision-making from how much time should be allocated for the teaching of school subjects to time for professional learning in education systems. With respect to primary school science, research consistently points to a shortage of teaching time that in turn contribute to inequities in children’s opportunities to learn globally so they can understand the natural world and pursue STEM careers (NASEM, 2022, Tate, 2001). Conceptions of time within the literature on leading improvement in primary school science, however, are undertheorized. Recognizing the importance of time in efforts to improve the quality of elementary science education, we theorize time for primary school science to create a conceptual framework to inform empirical, development, and practical work. In this theory building paper, I examine educational leaders’ (at system and school levels) sense-making about time as they engage in efforts to lead improvement in the teaching of primary school science.

To frame our work theoretically, we bring two literatures - sense-making in educational systems and the sociology of time - into conversation with each other. Educational leaders and teachers ongoing sensemaking is central to the implementation of curricular reforms (Coburn, 2001; Spillane, Reiser, & Reimer, 2002). Whereas interpretation assumes an object to be understood (e.g., policy text), a sensemaking perspective takes a broader approach by attending to what individuals notice in their environments and how they frame, interpret, and respond to those cues (Weick, 1995; Weick et al., 2005). Sense-making is triggered by situations where system actors encounter change, ambiguity, uncertainty, surprise, or discrepancy arising from changes in their environment and from interruptions to their ongoing work practice (Weber & Glynn, 2006; Weick et al., 2005). Sociologists of time identify several different conceptions of time including— 1) time as objective, 2) time as political, and 3) organizational time (Gokmenoglu, 2022; Poole, 2004; Zerubavel, 2020). Time as objective refers to how time is sometimes conceived as being a finite commodity. We often talk, for example, of not having enough time, or of saving or wasting time. Time as political refers to its “political” and value-laden nature drawing attention to how time is tied to power dynamics in society and education systems (Gokmenoglu, 2022; Zerubavel, 2020). Organizational time refers to how “people and organizations orient themselves to common externally defined time scales such as calendars, but also experience critical and significant events that interact with the objective temporal scale” (Poole, 2004, p. 22).

Motivated and framed by these two literatures my research questions are: How does time figure in education leaders’ efforts to lead improvement in primary school science education? How do educational leaders, at both the system and school levels, make sense of time as they make decisions about leading improvement in primary school science?

In this paper, we shed light on the concept of attunement in literary reading (Felski, 2020) and its role in a school that is focused on becoming. Attunement is an emotional process, in which text and reader become in sync. In education, we are exposed to things that make us rethink, re-experience and remake perceptions. What seemed insignificant, or impervious, might become valuable, and appear transparent. For this reason, we argue that attunement can be understood in scholastic terms. When school is understood as free time (Masschelein & Simons, 2013) – time that a teacher and her students use together to found something new in relation to subject matter – then there is space for attunement. And when attunement occurs, it is in a process of becoming. It is not the sedimentation of preconceived student identities, it is the opportunity to come into being as someone in relation to the literary text. Furthermore, this is a process in which the text has its own agency, and at the same time becomes something new. The aim of the paper is to explore attunement in the teaching of literature, from a democratic angle. The fusion of democratic theory, scholastic theory and theory of literary reading is central to the reasoning, but theory is presented in light of an empirical example. The research questions are firstly, how can attunement be understood in students’ meeting with a text that they are assigned to read in school, and secondly, what is the democratic potential of attunement?

The theoretical underpinning is Chantal Mouffe’s idea of liberal democracy as a tension between two logics – the liberal logic and the democratic logic (Mouffe, 2009). Her critique of the current state in west European and American liberal democracies is that democracy has increasingly come to be identified with liberal values. She identifies the situation as post-democratic. It is insufficient to treat democracy as a set of liberal values, and consequently, to treat democratic education as socialisation into a liberal value system. In a Mouffean, agonistic understanding of democracy, identity formation is central; democratic politics is concerned with the formation of collective identities that fight each other on political issues.

For this reason, we explore a way of approaching democracy in literature education that differs from the liberal arts tradition. We regard the classroom as democratic in its own right (Biesta, 2011), and thus as concerned with collective identity formation. Masschelein and Simons trace school back to its Greek origin scholè, meaning ‘free time,’ that is, time that is free from work, non-productive time. In school, the world is suspended, turned into subject matter and freed for novel use. The teacher presents subject matter, brings it into the present tense. She puts it on the table, without telling students how to react to it. But she does not only suspend the world by transforming it into subject matter, she also suspends ideas of who students are, by bringing them into the present tense. The scholastic ideal is thus that preconceived student identities are not sedimented, but suspended, so that school becomes a place where the students get a chance to become someone. But not only must school be a time and a place for students to become someone, it must also be a time and a place for the future generation to form its own generation, in relation to the subject matter that the teacher presents. We explore this as a democratic process.

The quality of teacher-led text-based discussions is essential to students’ reading engagement and comprehension. Qualified implementation of discussion can foster an explorative and cooperative attitude in students that promotes interpretation and analysis of more complex texts (Murphy et al., 2009). However, studies show that such discussions are largely absent from today’s classrooms, partly because many teachers experience that to lead open-ended, probing discussions about complex texts is a challenging task, they distrust their ability to do it, and ask for support in terms of useful discussion models (Fodstad & Gagnat, 2019; Murphy et al., 2016).

This study assesses the effects of a year-long intervention designed to improve the quality of teacher-led discussions about complex literary texts in lower secondary school. Through repeated sessions of criteria-based observation and feedback to teachers, the intervention aimed to promote the enactment of a specific type of talk called “Inquiry Dialogue” (ID) (Reznitskaya, 2012; Wilkinson et al., 2017). In ID, teachers facilitate students’ explorations of text-based problems by encouraging peer-cooperation and critical examination of alternative understandings. The study tried to answer the following research questions:

1) What are the effects of the intervention on the quality of teachers’ classroom enactment of literature discussions?

2) What are the effects of the intervention on students’ explorative and interpretive cooperation during literature discussions?

3) What are the effects of the intervention on teachers’ self-efficacy related to classroom enactment of literature discussions?

4) What are the effects of a year-long implementation of ID on students’ reading ability (comprehension and literary interpretation) and reading-related self-efficacy?

The intervention was implemented in 25 eighth grade language arts classrooms in Sweden. Teachers taught a selection of short stories and received criteria-based feedback (using RIDL) at four occasions across the school year. Feedback was followed up by team group discussions for debriefing and sharing experiences.

To assess effects on quality of discussions, teacher-led literature discussions were videotaped and analyzed before and after the intervention, using a target-specific observation protocol (Rating Inquiry Dialogue about Literature, RIDL). Teachers’ and students’ self-efficacy was measured using questionnaires before and after the intervention. Students’ reading ability was measured before and after the intervention using two different tests (general comprehension and literary interpretation). In addition, complementary data was gathered to provide in-depth explanations of how and why the intervention activities contributed to teachers’ gradual professional development, and what kind of challenges they faced. These data consisted of videotaped teacher-led literature discussions and audiotaped team group discussions between teachers during the intervention, and interviews with teachers after the intervention.

Findings from the study indicate overall positive effects of the intervention. There was a statistically significant and medium-sized increase of quality of discussions at both teacher and student level. Teachers’ self-efficacy related to classroom enactment of literature discussions increased significantly, whereas neither students’ reading-related self-efficacy nor their self-efficacy related to participation in discussion changed. Students’ reading ability (general comprehension and literary interpretation) increased significantly, but the increase was not significantly different from students in control classrooms, whose teachers had not participated in the intervention.

In previous studies, ID has been shown to engage students in careful and cooperative consideration of text-based arguments, and prepare them to make well-reasoned judgments (Wilkinson et al., 2017). The specific pedagogical objective of this study was to foster students’ ability to meet complexity in literary texts, including both ethical dilemmas and aesthetic challenges, with exploration and cooperation instead of with debate and conflict. Detailed qualitative and quantitative analyses showed that both teachers’ and students’ ability to formulate and explore open-ended problems in the stories improved across the school year.

Introduction

Reading literacy becomes particularly significant when we are now in an information age. International organizations such as OECD conduct large-scale assessment of students’ reading literacy. Evidence indicated the reading interests of adolescents can positively predict their reading literacy (OECD, 2019). Exploring effective teaching methods to enhance reading literacy and interests is recognized as an important issue globally (Liu & Jin, 2006; Costa & Luisa, 2018). In line with international trends, the National Chinese Curriculum Standards pointed out the importance of fostering students’ reading interests in order to support their development on core competencies (MOE of the PRC, 2020). However, current reading class reveals deficiencies, including the solidified teaching strategies (Luo, 2021), identical teaching modes (Liu, 2022) and students’ insufficiency of participation (Yang, 2019). More research attention is needed on exploring how to unleash students’ reading interests through effective teaching methods.

Literature circle (LC), recommended by the International Reading Association, is a collaborative learning method for increasing reading literacy. LC has been widely used in the language and literature curriculum in western countries such as the UK (Stien & Beed, 2004; Allan et al., 2005). The benefits of LC is multifaceted, encompassing fostering deep exploration of literature works (Blum et al., 2002), mutual understanding of diverse viewpoints (Ali, 1993), and stimulation of students’ reading interests (Zhu & Liao, 2013). However, the application of LC in teaching native language in China, particularly in high schools, remains under-explored.

This study presents how to design LC activities tailored for Chinese high school students’ needs to stimulate their reading interests. To do this, the research builds on the concept of “Communities of Practice” (CoP) and uses action research as an empowerment approach. This study provides a real-world example of how Chinese high school teachers implement LC model to unleash students’ reading interests in novel reading. This case study is designed with the dual purpose of theoretically refining and optimizing the LC strategy in a manner that more precisely aligns with students’ learning needs; and secondly, to provide native language teachers with practical insights regarding instructional design, specifically tailored to cultivate students’ reading interests.

Theoretical Framework

Harvey Daniels (1994) firstly introduced the concept of “literature circle”. LC integrates various learning strategies, and combines independent learning, collaborative learning, and inquiry-based learning. The key steps of LC are as follows: (1)selecting reading materials (2)forming reading groups (3)assigning student roles (4)establishing group reading rules (5)completing reading tasks (6)facilitating communication and sharing (7)concluding with summarization and evaluation.

“Communities of practice” (Lave & Wenger, 1991) is a social learning system based on the theory of situated learning. Through sharing information, knowledge, and experiences, members of CoP learn from each other and attain advancement. Wenger (1998) identified three requisites for building an effective CoP: (a) mutual engagements (b) shared repertoire of negotiable resources (c) and joint enterprise.

The fundamental principle underpinning both LC and CoP is rooted in cooperative learning. The activities in LC, such as reading and discussion, could be seen as “practical activities”. Reading groups organized around a shared text, and role groups centered on similar reading functions, form two types of “communities”. The knowledge accumulated in LC constitutes the “shared knowledge domain”. Meanwhile, the three structural elements of CoP correspond to the LC learning practices. “Mutual engagements” points to members’ collaborative involvement. “Joint enterprise” is exemplified in students’ collective reading assignments and “shared resources” symbolizes a platform for disseminating outcomes. This study uses CoP as a broad theoretical umbrella to refine and innovate the traditional LC mode. Furthermore, we utilize the modified LC model to guide novel reading practices in native language teaching in Chinese high school.

This study explores how teachers and students respond to ethical and moral themes in open and ambiguous literary texts. The core of our research lies in understanding the integration of ethical and moral perspectives within the framework of teaching literature, a practice gaining importance in today's complex global context (Nussbaum, 1997).

Open and ambiguous texts offer fertile ground for ethical engagement and moral reflection (Lesnick, 2006; Taylor, 2010; Campbell, 2018). This approach to literature education enables students to grapple with the intricacies of texts and life experiences - fostering a deeper level of engagement and understanding (Lesnick, 2006). The significance of such an approach is amplified in the current global landscape, encouraging a cosmopolitan hospitality towards diverse perspectives and cultures (Choo, 2017). Additionally, integrating these perspectives in literature classes facilitates the development of an ethic of care, promoting empathy and understanding among students (Hilder, 2005).

However, to include and incorporate ethical and moral discussions in literature classroom is not without challenges. One obstacle could be the presumption that this approach marks a regression to outdated teaching methods (Booth, 1998). Furthermore, the quality and effectiveness of teacher-led discussions on text-based, complex ethical topics are important for student engagement and comprehension (Sønneland & Skaftun, 2017; Johansen, 2022). Qualified implementation of such discussions could foster explorative and dialogic learning environment, enabling students to delve into and tolerate complex layers of meaning, including ethical and value-laden topics.

Preliminary research results find a notable absence of these discussions in contemporary classrooms . Many teachers find leading open-ended, probing discussions about complex texts daunting (cf. Tengberg et al., 2023). This apprehension often stems from a lack of confidence in their ability to facilitate such discussions effectively, leading to a call for support in terms of practical discussion models.

In response to this educational need, our project titled “Inquiry Dialogue to Promote Comprehension and Interpretation” investigates the effects of a targeted intervention designed to support language arts teachers in leading and facilitating classroom conversations about open and complex literary texts. The intervention focuses on enacting a pedagogical approach known as “Inquiry Dialogue” (ID) (Reznitskaya & Wilkinson, 2017). This method aims to enhance students' comprehension and interpretation skills through guided discussion and inquiry-based learning.

Despite the challenges faced, addressing the ethical and moral dimensions in teaching is important, especially considering the varieties of global challenges and results of technological progress (AI) the world is facing. Ethical dimensions are often overlooked in teacher education programs, yet they hold significant value in fostering a well-rounded educational experience (Osguthorpe, 2013). Literature-based moral education, especially in elementary settings, serves as an invaluable tool for teaching values, responsibility, and sound judgment (Lamme, 1992).

In our project, teachers facilitated classroom discussions on complex literary texts, adhering to dialogical principles from RIDL (Rating Inquiry Dialogue about Literature) but with the flexibility to tailor each discussion to their classroom dynamics. The texts chosen for this study were selected based on criteria such as compositional complexity, thematic openness, poetic language, contextual distancing, direct shock, and the presence of ethical dilemmas (Tengberg et al., 2023).

A comparative analysis of classroom discussions pre- and post-intervention revealed a consistent underrepresentation of value dimensions, despite the rich potential offered by the selected texts for exploring such topics. This study analyzes and explores video sequences where teachers or students address value-related textual topics. We investigate how conversations evolve concerning the ethical aspects raised by events in the text and how these responses are managed. Furthermore, we explore the extent to which the selection of these topics correlates with the opportunities presented by the chosen texts.

Despite the importance of biological evolution as a central and overarching theory in life sciences, it is still poorly understood by students throughout their time in education (Spindler & Doherty, 2009), science teachers, and the public (Authors). This poor understanding has been attributed to diverse cognitive, religious, emotional, and epistemic factors (Rosengren et al., 2012) that evidently biological evolution education is generally not successfully coping with.This investigation explored the impact of inquiry-based learning on biological evolution on high school students' epistemic beliefs towards science and their beliefs in biological evolution. Inquiry-based learning, a student-centered, constructivist pedagogical approach, promotes active student engagement in the learning process, fostering conceptual understanding, higher-order thinking skills, such as critical and creative thinking (Sandoval, 2005), modeling and argumentation skills, communication, and cooperation skills (Minner et al., 2010; Authors). Epistemic beliefs towards science refer to students' beliefs about the nature of knowledge and the process of knowing (Authors; Hofer & Pintrich, 1997, p.88; Muis et al., 2015). There are two overarching theoretical models of epistemic beliefs: those that examine epistemic beliefs from a developmental perspective, and those that explore epistemic beliefs from a multidimensional perspective (Author1). Developmental models focus on explaining the development of epistemic beliefs (Kuhn, Cheney, & Weinstock, 2000), whereas multidimensional perspective models focus primarily on the nature and the characteristics of epistemic beliefs. Various research studies argued that epistemic beliefs should be defined more purely, with dimensions concerning the nature of knowledge (what one believes knowledge is) and dimensions concerning the nature or process of knowing (how one comes to know). Dimensions concerning the nature of knowledge are beliefs about the simplicity (related with the structure of knowledge), certainty (related with the stability of knowledge), and development of knowledge. Dimensions concerning the nature of Knowing are Source of Knowledge, and Justification for Knowing (Conley, Pintrich, Vekiri & Harrisson, 2004; Hofer, 2016; Hofer & Pintrich, 1997; Schommer-Aikins, 2004). Research has indicated that epistemic beliefs are related to students' learning, academic performance, comprehension, perspectives on science, career choices, teaching methodologies, motivation, and self-perception (Authors). On the other hand, students' beliefs in biological evolution pertain to their personal truths and subjective viewpoints on the theory of biological evolution. Research on the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning in shaping students' epistemic beliefs and beliefs in biological evolution remains scarce and inconclusive (Authors; To, Tenenbaum, & Hogh, 2017). This study aims to bridge this research gap by investigating the potential influence of inquiry-based learning on 12th-grade students' epistemic beliefs towards science and their beliefs in biological evolution. Based on previous research, we hypothesised that inquiry-based learning on biological evolution would foster students’ epistemic beliefs (Rutledge, & Warden, 2000; Sandoval, 2005), and beliefs in evolution (Chenf, Adams, & Loehr, 2001). The study involved 70 12th-grade students who underwent inquiry-based learning on biological evolution (The control group consisted of 20 students). Their epistemic beliefs and beliefs in biological evolution were assessed both before and after the intervention, using questionnaires and interviews. The inquiry-based learning intervention incorporated a Cyprus curriculum that employed a series of inquiry-based learning activities, allowing students to engage collaboratively in a guided inquiry approach. This approach empowered students to explore specific concepts and challenges related to biological evolution, deepening their understanding of evolutionary mechanisms and processes while simultaneously developing an epistemic understanding related to various aspects of the history of science, the nature of science, and the nature of knowledge and the process of knowing. The findings indicated a statistically significant improvement in participants' epistemic beliefs following exposure to inquiry-based instruction on biological evolution. However, no statistically significant improvement was observed in participants' beliefs in biological evolution.

Epistemic cognition (EC) has been a flourishing field of research in the past two decades (e.g., Sandoval et al., 2016). Even so, a matter of EC that stands unresolved is the degree to which individual conceptions about the nature of knowledge and knowing should be considered domain-general, domain-specific, or even topic-specific constructs (Sandoval et al., 2016). An intuitive way of elucidating this issue is by studying EC across different academic disciplines (e.g., Greene et al., 2010). However, quantitative instruments to measure EC have demonstrated poor psychometric properties (Greene & Yu, 2014), which has been hypothesized to partially be a result of the instruments not accounting for ontological categories of knowledge (Chi, 1992; Slotta et al., 1995), or forms of knowledge such as “a fact”, influencing the psychometric properties of the items. As an example, a question used by Schommer (1990) is “When I study, I look for specific facts”. Within the framework of onto-epistemological categories, as presented in this paper, across disciplines a “fact” could be interpreted as one of many distinct forms of knowledge. Furthermore, it has been argued, that some forms of knowledge are unique to particular academic disciplines, such as “historical empathy” (VanSledright & Maggioni, 2016). Thus, to measure EC quantitatively, there is a need to investigate which categories students verbalize in association with knowledge.

This paper intends to add to the current body of EC research by investigating which categories are used by students to describe different forms of knowledge, as well as to distinguish these categories as ontological by drawing on perspectives from EC research and theory. Furthermore, it intends to do so at the upper secondary school (USS) level, a level of educational institutions currently underrepresented in the literature, as well as in a geographical context in which no such systematic investigation has yet been undertaken. Drawing on a sample of Danish USS students interviewed in three distinct subjects, the research question is thus: In First Language Studies, Mathematics, and Social Science, what are the different classifications of knowledge that Danish USS students verbalize and how do those classifications differ ontologically from a lens of epistemic cognition?

I draw upon the theoretical frameworks of ontological categorization as proposed by Chi (1992, Slotta et al., 1995), as well as the Apt-AIR framework proposed by Barzilai and Chinn (2018; Chinn et al., 2011). Within Chi’s framework, ontological categories may be distinguished by means of their attributes. Ontological attributes may only be possessed by members of a category. Characteristic attributes are typically possessed by members of a category. Finally, defining attributes must be possessed by all members of a category, but not exclusively by members of that category. Furthermore, the framework allows for categories to be nested within broader categories, allowing for both horizontal and vertical connections. Thus, drawing on an example used by Slotta et al., (1995), all sparrows are birds, but not all birds are sparrows (vertical). In the Apt-AIR framework, aptness is defined as epistemic performance that successfully “…achieves valuable epistemic aims through competence” (Barzilai & Chinn, 2018). This approach allows for a situated approach towards the analysis of EC. The AIR framework consists of epistemic aims and values, epistemic ideals, and reliable processes for achieving epistemic aims (Chinn et al., 2011). Aims and values refer to the epistemic goals an actor may set as well as their perceived importance. Ideals refer to different criteria for evaluating whether a, epistemic goal has been successfully accomplished. Finally, reliable processes are the strategies and procedures used to achieve epistemic aims and create epistemic products (Barzilai & Chinn, 2018). The frameworks are supplemented by inductively generated codes.

Traditionally, research in science education has concentrated on uncovering students' conceptualizations regarding various physical phenomena (Driver, Guesne, Tiberghien, 1985). Unlike earlier methods that overly prioritized verbal explanations, recent studies have encouraged students to express their ideas combining drawings with oral and written language (Tytler, et al., 2020; Tversky et al., 2009). Modern approaches also involve the collection of video-based data, allowing for a more comprehensive exploration of various aspects of student reasoning (Givry, & Delserieys, 2013). This multimodal account of learners’ ideas enables a more accurate understanding and a more effective response to their educational needs compared to previous methods.

In this study, we examine the distributive function facilitated by spontaneous gestures of young learners, seen as a lens of an embodied engagement in explanatory talk in science. By spontaneous gestures we refer to body/hand movements performed without learners being asked purposefully to move their hands but do so naturally (and idiosyncratically) during their verbal utterances. These movements co-occur with speech and are not ergotic, physical actions upon manipulatives or conventional emblematic signs. Our interest in spontaneous gestures is induced by documented analyses of gestures during authentic discourse, particularly when externalizing or constructing explanations of scientific phenomena (Mathayas, et al., 2019; Becvar, et al., 2008). Our examination is grounded in the theoretical perspective that views this kind of gestures as 'objects to think with', as artifacts. This consideration is based on the referential and representational function of gestures in the visual-spatial modality and on their capacity to communicate what is known as embodied knowledge (Abrahamson, & Howison, 2010).

This work aligns with “4E” perspectives on cognition (Hutchins 1996; Clark, 2012) whereas thinking is seen as embodied, extended (or distributed), enacted and embedded (or situated). Our understanding of the world is inherently embodied, structured within conceptual systems rooted in physical experiences and sensations, and actualized through bodily engagement (Clark, 2012). These notions are appealing in orienting our attention to the possibly embedded/extended cognitive role of gestures. The contemporary view is that gestures are extensions of the mind. The mind uses the body to support internal cognitive processes, providing it with an external physical and visual presence.

Gesture studies is an interdisciplinary field, bridging research traditions and motivating the inquiry on the roles that gestures. Extensive research (McNeill, 1992) indicates that co-speech gestures benefits thinking, observed in various situations like describing landscapes, navigating maps, machines, narrating stories, explaining solutions to puzzles or maths problems (e.g., Beattie & Shovelton, 1999). In science education, gesture studies are dispersed, often focusing on higher education and teachers' gestures rather than those of young learners often in specific contexts. Examples include studies on matter properties (Wallon, & Brown, 2019), astronomical phenomena (Crowder, & Newman, 1993), kinematics (Scherr, 2008), and stereochemistry (Ping et al., 2021). Based on our review of the literature, our standpoint is that spontaneous gestures as a form of bodily engagement, has a unique meaning potential with a special signature as part of science language.

This empirical study focuses on how learners employ their bodies alongside their words when engaged in explanatory talk. We will present key findings, guided by the following research questions:

1. How do middle school learners use spontaneous gestures to elaborate their thinking when engaged in a process of explaining every day physical phenomena?
2. How can the identified gestures be classified based on their functionality?

The topic of the proposed symposium is the recovery of Europe through education and its digitalization in several CEE and SE countries. The empirical case is the European Commission’s NextGenerationEU plan (NGEU) in the European countries. From 2020 onwards, the European Union intends to rebuild Europe as a political and social region, including national economies, by generous funding for mobilising “all resources available to help member states coordinate their national responses” to Covid and other challenges, to make Europe more digital, greener and more resilient. This broad-scale initiative will influence a decisive amount of people since it aims at the recovery of the “whole of European society”.

From a historical view, a planned better future for Europe is not a new idea. From postwar “reconstruction” of Europe, to post 1989 “transformation” of Europe (or other, especially post-socialist countries into Europe), the desired future always combined technological solutionism (technocracy) and humanistic values (democracy).

Now, the drive for the “recovery” of Europe and a “new generation” stems from social and economic damages caused by COVID-19 and the new energy crises caused by the Russian war in Ukraine. However, the main means proposed are digitalization interlinked with education, which has a longer tradition (Landri, 2018). Thus, both digitalization of education and education for digitalization is needed for the possibility of recovering our society. Such a complex claim interlinking education with digitalization requires various actors to implement. It combines technical and financial investment into and development of digital and other infrastructures with the normative presupposition about human agency, i.e. citizens, national governments, and the civil sector enthusiastically implement the recovery of and through education. Moreover, since these are the member-state governments that are responsible for the management of these funds, formally visible actors of recovery through the digitalisation of education are actors from these governmental bodies – but in a topological view, other actors are attracted by or reach to NGEU as well. The administrative maps of each country cannot be a decisive optic.

Digitalisation will produce various kinds of people (Hacking, 2002; Popkewitz et al., 2016), the question is what and who will be included and who not – for this is needed to scrutinise new categories of “proper actors” (experts, etc.) and new patterns of achieving agency (Emirbayer & Mische, 1998). Therefore, the concrete actors cannot be constructed as comparative objects in advance, since they are research questions

This symposium does not ask whether the current planned future is the best form for new content, but what is the meaning of recovery this time, how it is changing in the course of recent events, and what does it mean for its actors, receivers, implementers, and how these kinds of people are established. We will bring new insight into three questions posed by this ambiguous planned and elusive, rational and moral, post-material and financially material initiative:

1) How to approach Europe as an agential region for education and how to study it form a comparative perspective 2) What are the discursive topos of education and digitalization as the present imaginary of the future 3) Actors of recovery - who are those men of recovery? How did they emerge? How did they receive their agential positions, and what kind of people and kinds of action are made possible?

This project would address these issues through Central, Eastern, and South European countries case selection.

This presentation will introduce the most recent discussions about Europe as an agential space for education and how to study it from a comparative perspective in the case of NextGenerationEU (NGEU). National recovery plans (NRP) put us in front of theoretical and methodological problems. Despite the common “addressee” (the European Commission giving money and imposing certain conditions of acceptance) making NRPs comparatively accessible, the temporal and spatial views problematise such accessibility. NGEU changed its legitimisation of why Europe should be recovered in time, from Covid, the energy crisis, to war’s threat to democracy. It changes also its scale in terms of financial means provided. Consequently, also national “answers” to this changing initiative change. As is evident from a pre-study of NRPs involved in this broader project, all have more or less publicly changed in terms again time schedules and scale of implementation. The advance in Europeanisation studies in education brought to the fore the danger of uncritical acceptance of administrative maps of both the EU and nation-states (Popkewitz, 2023), and decontextualization character of standardised comparisons common in education (Landri, 2018). NGEU seems to provide just the next Europeanised educational normative. However, although we know much about the translation of these normatives in local settings of given countries (Grimaldi & Serpieri, 2012; Kascak, 2017; Neumann, 2011; Sifakakis et al., 2016; Viseu & Carvalho, 2018; Wirthová, 2022) the elusive nature of the current initiative to recover Europe poses significant comparative challenges. We would like to deal with them through a topological approach, which stresses the possibility of objects being the same while changing the relations among its components. In that sense, both RF and NRP are objects in mutation, not of replication, as they repeat in time and space (Allen, 2016) and we can focus on these changed relations. Helping us with the philosophy of comparison, we acknowledge that the construction of "tertium comparationis" – the third of comparison between cases to be compared (different NRPs) – is actually a conceptual practice and not comparative practice – determining this third is pre-comparative and acknowledges ontological consequences (Weber, 2014). This sensitives us to the politics of education and digitalisation we want to scrutinise, to ways how current nationalism offers a diverse Europeanisation, another spatialisation, and to our own ontological commitments that go with our tertium. Thus, we can compare a recovery effect in a broader richness of its variability than in mainstream numerical and standardised comparisons.

Allen (2016). Topologies of Power. Routledge. Grimaldi, Serpieri (2012). The transformation of the Education State in Italy: a critical policy historiography from 1944 to 2011. Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 4(1) Kascak (2017). Communists, Humboldtians, neoliberals and dissidents: or the path to a post-communist homo oeconomicus. Journal of Education Policy, 32(2) Landri (2018). Digital Governance of Education: Technology, Standards and Europeanization of Education. Bloomsbury Neumann (2011). Negotiating power: Interviews with the policy elite - Stories from hungary lost between genres. European Educational Research Journal, 10(2) Popkewitz (2023). Europe as the Exterior Interiorized in the Infrastructures of Policy. In Krejsler, Moos, School Policy Refom in Europe. Springer. Sifakakis, Tsatsaroni, Sarakinioti, Kourou (2016). Governance and knowledge transformations in educational administration: Greek responses to global policies. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 48(1) Viseu, Carvalho (2018). Think Tanks, Policy Networks and Education Governance: The Emergence of New Intra-national Spaces of Policy in Portugal. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 26(108) Weber (2014). Comparative Philosophy and the Tertium: Comparing What with What, and in What Respect? Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, 13(2) Wirthová (2022). Patterns of actorship in legitimation of educational changes: The role of transnational and local knowledge. European Educational Research Journal, 21(4)

This presentation focuses on the role of digitalisation, education and its mutual entanglement in several versions of National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRPs), as responses to the NextGenerationEU Plan (Landri, 2018). NRPs are normative documents that forecast and plan the future states of European societies. But in their articulations around various desires concerning the future, they significantly shape the present (Decuypere & Vanden Broeck, 2020). For interrogating comparatively the imaginaries of the future of education it projects and the politics of digitalisation that underpins it, we will use the concept of ‘sociotechnical imaginaries’ (Jasanoff & Kim, 2015). Sociotechnical imaginary, as collectively held and performed visions, is an analytical tool to capture the relationship between normativity of imagination and materiality of networks (Jasanoff & Kim, 2015, p. 19). It enables us to approach NRPs as materialisations of such imaginaries containing digital and educational desires (Popkewitz, 2020, 2023). NRPs are well suited for comparative scrutiny to seek the differences and shared patterns of linking ideas about education and digitalisation, the discourses articulated thereby and the potential they afford to redraw existing boundaries (defining time, space, content and relations) in the education field (Bernstein, 2000; Decuypere & Simons, 2020). Methodologically, we read these artefacts from a social topology perspective, inverting our analytical gaze from the European Recovery Plan to the creations that it has induced (Decuypere & Lewis, 2023). We thus focus on how time (present-future relationships) and space (scale and boundaries of digitalisation) are involved in the formation of the social order imagined, figured and fixed. We pay special attention to spatial imaginaries of the scale, extension and intension of education and digitalisation that bypass administrative givens and that so far escaped the focus of critical scrutiny of spatial and temporal relations. The dataset consists of the Czech, Greek and Italian NRPs. In these textual or hypertexted documents and attached materials (reports, press releases, etc) we will go in depth regarding the content, form, and structure of each NRP document to analyse the mutual positions and relations between education and digitalisation in the recovery of each country, and the contexts of where the “recovery” of and through education takes place. This paper will show how the desired role of education and digitalisation is shaped not only by local national traditions and imaginaries about themselves, but also by the need to “respond” to the common donor (the EC).

Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity (2nd revised edition). Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. 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. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2021.1995629 Decuypere, M., & Simons, M. (2020). Pasts and futures that keep the possible alive: Reflections on time, space, education and governing. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 52(6), 640–652. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2019.1708327 Decuypere, M., & Vanden Broeck, P. (2020). Time and educational (re-)forms—Inquiring the temporal dimension of education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 52(6), 602–612. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1716449 Landri, P. (2018). Digital Governance of Education: Technology, Standards and Europeanization of Education. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. Popkewitz, T. S. (2020). The Impracticality of Practical Research: A History of Contemporary Sciences of Change That Conserve. University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11354413 Popkewitz, T. S. (2023). Europe as the Exterior Interiorized in the Infrastructures of Policy. In J. B. Krejsler & L. Moos (Eds.), School Policy Refom in Europe: (pp. 281–302). Springer.

This presentation introduces an exploratory study focused on the actors involved in the recovery of Europe through education, specifically those evoked by NextGenerationEU. Previous literature has shown interest in conceptualizing "recovery spaces" as spaces where actors - their resources, relationships, and visions - are central to understanding governance arrangements in post-disaster and crisis moments or to construct new visions for building back better (Borie & Fraser, 2023). Similarly, prior data indicated the reconfiguration of power relations in the making of national RRFs, for example, among financial and economic actors, institutional social affairs actors, EU civil servants, EU civil society organizations, member States, and the European Parliament (Vanhercke & Verdun, 2022). Drawing on the network ethnography (Rowe, 2024) we take as its empirical object the National Recovery Plans of Portugal and Slovakia concerning the sections related to the digitization of education. In these countries’ plans, we focus on the reconfiguration of actor relations through discursive and intertextual references and relations that produce actors of recovery in Europe through education. More precisely, we aim to describe and understand who these actors of recovery are, how they emerged, how they received their agential positions, and what kind of actions are made possible. Based on networked governance perspective (Ball & Junemann, 2012) we will map the actors invoked in two national contexts undergoing significant educational reforms incentivised also by NGEU to describe: which social worlds they belong to (political-administrative elite, government agencies, businesses, academia, curricular reformists); what are the reasons for their invocation (expert knowledge or brokerage, position, or role …) and what roles are expected to be performed (authors, receivers, implementers); what patterns of relationship between the actors can be observed, and what possibilities for change are imagined they could produce? The data may contribute to illustrating how, in the European space and through the creation and implementation of NRPs, new relationships - collaboration, cooperation, partnership, but also competition - between governments and the private sector have strengthened (Cone et al., 2022; Grek and Landri, 2021). Additionally, we aim to discuss how the pursuit of "building back better" has driven the adoption at national scales of the digitization of education, where Ed-tech takes a central role - outside educational systems - in designing and delivering a digital future (Morris et al., 2022).

Ball, Junemann (2012) Policy networks and new governance. In Networks, new governance and education (pp. 1-18). Policy Press. Borie, Fraser (2023) The politics of expertise in building back better: Contrasting the co-production of reconstruction post-Irma in the Dutch and French Caribbean. Geoforum, 145. Cone, Brøgger, Berghmans, et al. (2022) Pandemic Acceleration: Covid-19 and the emergency digitalization of European education. European Educational Research Journal 21(5). Grek, Landri (2021) Education in Europe and the COVID-19 Pandemic. European Educational Research Journal 20(4). Morris, Park, Auld (2022) Covid and the future of education: global agencies ‘building back better’, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 52:5. Rowe (2024 Network Ethnography in Education: A literature review of network ethnography as a methodology and how it has been applied in critical policy studies. Analysing Education Policy, 136-156. Vanhercke, Verdun (2022) The European Semester as Goldilocks: Macroeconomic Policy Coordination and the Recovery and Resilience Facility. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 60: 204–223. Williamson, Hogan (2020) Commercialisation and Privatisation in/of Education in the Context of Covid-19. Brussels. Zancajo, Verger, Bolea (2022) Digitalization and beyond: the effects of Covid-19 on post-pandemic educational policy and delivery in Europe. Policy and Society 41(1).

The symposium presents results of qualitative research on juvenile politicization on digital platforms in times of uncertainty. Articulations on politics by adolescents and young adults are examined empirically concerning implicit notions of relations of care (Magatti et al. 2019) and temporality (Aswani et al. 2018). We examine concepts of care relations and temporality and analyse transformation processes, especially against the backdrop of the current age of uncertainty, in which modernized societies question fundamental assumptions of development, transmission and continuity (Zilles et al. 2022; Adloff & Neckel 2019). Digital conditions (Stalder 2016) arguably create low-threshold opportunities for social and political participation (Grunert 2022) and transform the access to educational spaces (Jörissen 2020; Stahl & Literat 2022). In this regard, data suggests that adolescents and young adults increasingly use digital media for protest (Literat & Kligler-Vilenchik 2019; McLean & Fuller 2016). Nonetheless, social media also has to be considered in terms of its algorithmic curation based on economic interests, which presents the digital possibilities of connectivity, favours emotional and affective content (Papacharissi 2015) and may lead to discriminatory injustice in visibility - which has direct consequences for political activism online (Etter & Albu 2020; Neumayer & Rossi 2018)

Therefore, the symposium examines political subjectification in the context of digital image platforms, taking into account both the algorithmic structuring as well as the applicable disadvantageous power asymmetries - especially concerning generational order (Liou & Literat 2020; Theodorou et al. 2023). In doing so, we focus on articulations on protest made by adolescents and young adults and analyse implicit political notions of future, present and past. Subsequently, we question the empirical data regarding its inherent utopian potential and concepts of care and temporality. The symposium aims to contribute to the understanding of the modes of political subjectification of adolescents and young adults with special regards to relations of social inequality and underlying concepts of (in)justice as they take shape under the conditions of late modernity and on social media platforms.

Lastly, we examine how the socio-cultural arena, as it is generated via video and image platforms such as TikTok or Instagram, (co-)contours the (in)visibility and significance of certain articulations of care relations and logics of time in the context of the age of uncertainty. By illustrating how visibility and invisibility are shaped by these socio-cultural arenas, the symposium explores how they sculpt and structure discourse on care and temporality. Conclusively the symposium raises questions on the interconnectedness of digital and analogue spheres and their consideration in (educational) research concerning transformative and dynamic societies.

In four lectures, the following questions will be addressed on the basis of four different qualitative research projects in which forms of youth protest in Germany, Spain, Brazil and Switzerland were examined.

The paper seeks to investigate the processes of political subjectivation among young individuals resulting from their engagement in digital image practices. The primary objective is to analyze how young people articulate and negotiate notions of (in)justice in the context of algorithmically structured political utopias and dystopias related to climate change. In particular, we examine concepts (and utopias) of care as they become central to the climate movement, such as transgenerational and transnational care as well as care for nature. We specifically explore how these different modes and concepts of care are articulated via digital media (Liou & Literat 2020). As the climate crisis can also be understood as a generational crisis, temporality and care, respectively generativity (Friberg 2021; King 2022), become closely linked within the activist’ discourse and refer to questions of continuity and transmission, especially within fast-moving digital realms that are mostly frequented by youth and young adults (Literat & Kligler-Vilenchik 2023). Our theoretical framework draws on educational and youth theories, examining how digital image practices influence the thematization of the world and self. The research explores the articulation and negotiation of political ideas and ideals within algorithmically structured contexts, using qualitative analysis of juvenile climate policy articulations on digital platforms. This methodology allows for a nuanced exploration of how young individuals engage in political discourse online, taking into account the algorithmic structures that shape their interactions. By using a qualitative approach, the project aims to uncover the underlying orders of recognition and power dynamics associated with the articulation of political views in digital spaces. The primary data source for this study consists of climate policy articulations by young people on digital image and video platforms such as TikTok or Instagram. The study shows how digital platforms structure political protest in relation to changing concepts of care and time. By understanding the dynamics of social and political participation within these digital spaces, the study aims to reveal opportunities and barriers to access educational spaces and contribute to a broader understanding of (post)digital orders and their implications for education and youth theory. This research therefore contributes to the broader discourse on (in)justice and utopias in an algorithmized society and in an age of uncertainty by presenting the perspectives of young individuals articulated within digital activist spaces.

Friberg, A. (2021): On the need for (con)temporary utopias: Temporal reflections on the climate rhetoric of environmental youth movements. Time & Society, 31(1), 48-68. Literat, I. & Kligler-Vilenchik, N. (2023): TikTok as a Key Platform for Youth Political Expression: Reflecting on the Opportunities and Stakes Involved. Social Media + Society, 9(1). Liou, A. & Literat, I. (2020). „We Need You to Listen to Us”: Youth Activist Perspectives on Intergenerationale Dynamics and Adult Solidarity in Youth Movements. In. International Journal of Communication 14, 4662-4682. King, V. (2022). Generative Verantwortung im Anthropozän. Psyche, 26(12), 1123–1146.

Sub-paper had to be withdrawn.

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Young people spend their free time on the Internet. This is also the place where they inform themselves about politics, exchange ideas and spend leisure time. Whether the so called “mass media” have an influence on young people's political orientations and interests has been discussed since the 1970s. From today's perspective, media, including the internet, have a place as a fixed political socialization instance, alongside the family, peers and school. The talk examines the relationship between young people’s digital information and communication with politics, especially focusing on the role of humour. It looks firstly at how young people use digital tools and media to discuss, produce and inform themselves or others about politics, but also, what temporality has to do with that. Secondly, it asks what role humour plays in the digital political information and communication of young people, what function it has and what form it takes. This will be connected to the idea of playful caring about others – or not. The talk and its initial idea draw from the empirical material from a research project about politics, participation and biographies of young people in Swiss ("Biographical Experiences and political Engagement" (2023-2026)).

Lütgens, J./Mengilli, Y. (2023): Counter–hegemonic Politics Between Coping and Performative Self-Contradictions. In: Batsleer, J./McMahon, G./Rowley, H. (Hg.): Reshaping youth participation: Manchester in a European Gaze. Emerald Publishing, 99-112. DOI: 10.1108/978-1-80043-358-820221006 McMahon, G./Liljeholm Hansson, S./Von Schwanenflügel/Lütgens, J./Ilardo, M. (2019): Participation Biographies. Meaning–making, Identity–work and the Self. In: Walther, A., Batsleer, J., Loncle, P./Pohl, A. (Hg.): Young People and the Struggle for Participation. Contested Practices, Power and Pedagogies in Public Spaces. London: Routledge, 161–175.

The Spanish indignados movement has often been portrayed as a ’youth movement‘, organized by heretofore rather ‘apolitical’ young people. However, this categorization tends to ignore aspects of political continuities, historical memory, and intergenerational solidarity within the movement. The most telling examples of these aspects are the iaioflautas (in Catalan) or yayoflautas (in Spanish), older indignados activists who define themselves as ‘the generation that fought and achieved a better future for our sons and daughters’ (see their manifesto). This rhetoric of care for the younger generation on the one hand avoids the acerbic right-leftist divisions that characterize post-franquist politics; at the same time, it organizes a generational unit, in Mannheim’s sense. As the only ‘grandparents movement’ to emerge in the European Spring protests, it brings together very experienced activists, some of whom had already organized clandestine resistance under Franco as unionists or members of leftist parties, with political newcomers – older people who had never been politically active before but who can identify with the movement’s framing strategy of intergenerational care in the face of the precariousness of the younger generation. Thus, in recent years yay@ activists with very different backgrounds have regularly been at the frontline of occupations or other anti-austerity protests, marked as yayoflautas by their characteristic yellow vests – and the respective hashtag several times reached the status of trending topic in twitter. Younger indignados activists organized digital literacy workshops for the yayos, teaching them the use of social media for mobilization. In exchange, yayos taught the younger activist forms of clandestine organization and subversion they had employed in their resistance against the Franco dictatorship. And, by passing on such repertoires of contention, the movement last but not least also endowed the younger activists with a political legacy…. Based on campaign material and life story interviews with yayoflautas activists and their younger supporters, this paper discusses intergenerational relationships within the indignados movement, particularly regarding the aspects of care and temporality in times of ‘wired citizenship’ (Herrera 2014).

Herrera, L. (2014). Wired Citizenship. Youth Learning and Activism in the Middle East. Routledge. Schwarz, Ch. (2022). Collective memory and intergenerational transmission in social movements: The “grandparents’ movement” iaioflautas, the indignados protests, and the Spanish transition. In: Memory Studies, 15(1), 102-119.

This research delves into the intricate intertwinements between analytical and affective approaches within the context of arts-integrated poetry education. Several researchers have emphasized the importance of integrating analytical and affective approaches, recognizing them as integral components of literary reading that mutually support each other (e.g., Felski, 2008; Xerri, 2013). Despite the acknowledgment of this symbiotic relationship, there is a notable gap in empirical studies that explore how this integration manifests within a classroom context. Furthermore, researchers point out an ambiguity between text-oriented and reader-oriented literature instruction and the ways in which different frameworks of literary theory influence teachers’ instruction (e.g., Pieper, 2020). Addressing this ambiguity is crucial to exploring alternative approaches to teaching literature that allow students to immerse themselves in literature without abandoning an analytical focus. This necessitates an approach to literature teaching that combines the analytical and the affective, acknowledging both the aesthetics of the literary text and its potential to influence and engage the reader (Felski, 2008).

One pedagogical approach to combining analytical and affective approaches in poetry teaching is arts integration. Serving as a transdisciplinary teaching approach, arts integration provides innovative opportunities for teaching poetry in combination with other art forms, such as dance or photography. The goal is to attain equal emphasis on all included art forms or subjects (e.g., Sanz Camarero et al., 2023). Arts-based approaches to teaching poetry have been scarcely researched in secondary education, and scholars call for more research (see Jusslin & Höglund, 2021). Nevertheless, recent research in primary and secondary education implies that arts integrated literature teaching can have the potential to promote both analytical and affective approaches. Studies have indicated that working with art forms, such as dance and visual art, requires close reading of literary texts and enables the incorporation of students’ voices and experiences in the teaching (Curwood & Cowell, 2011; McCormick, 2011). Given these promising gains, arts integration might provide opportunities to focus simultaneously on analytical and affective approaches in secondary poetry education.

Against this backdrop and a genuine wondering about what happens when the art forms of dance and photography are integrated with poetry teaching, this study aims to explore what this integration produces in terms of the relationship and possible friction between analytical and affective approaches in poetry education—and arts education more broadly. This exploration builds on empirical material of teaching that integrated poetry with dance and photography in upper secondary education in Finland.

The study is theoretically grounded in postfoundational theories, which oppose binaries such as body/mind, human/nonhuman, matter/discourse. As such, postfoundational theories can offer valuable perspectives in exploring what is produced in the intertwinements of analytical and affective approaches during the arts-integrated poetry lessons. In this study, we explore how Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987/2013) concepts of smooth and striated spaces can offer opportunities to theoretically explore such intertwinements. Whereas an analytical approach to reading poetry can be understood as a striated space, which is bounded and guided by rules, (e.g., literary elements such as imagery and rhythm), an affective approach might signify the open and allowing perspective of a smooth space. Deleuze and Guattari (1987/2013) emphasize that these spaces exist only in mixture; a thought that might be productive for envisioning how the analytical and affective approaches to reading poetry might intertwine.

As part of the research project that took place between 2023 and 2024, entitled “[in]visible - [in]visibility of identities in Portuguese 1st grade elementary textbooks of Social & Environmental Studies after 1974”, we questioned the presence of a subliminal discourse inducing discriminatory values in the representations of images in these textbooks. The research focused on identifying these discriminatory contents that disseminate the naturalised values of a culture built in the West, heir to a colonial, patriarchal and racist past.

By analysing the representations of identity in textbooks between 1974 and 2023 and building a critical reading archive based on this research, the project aimed to identify the impact of the information made (in)visible in these books (https://invisible.i2ads.up.pt/).

The purpose of this communication is to question the possibility that images representing identities could be different, in defence of anti-discriminatory values.

Based on a workshop held with students from the Master in Illustration, Edition and Print

[MIEI], in the subject “Illustration Project”, at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto [FBAUP] in February 2024, who experienced the possibilities of integrating these values into illustrations, the team proposes to present an analysis of the results of this session, in the context of the research carried out.

The relation between the workshop images and the studied textbooks' pictures will be part of the presentation.

We have turned this question into an essay on alterity in music, on how we can bend the boundaries of the sound we already know, and how we can now project it towards the infinite, the endless sound, and that which is yet to be known.

It's about exposing an uneasy experience of thinking that inhabits and is present in a teacher - musician - researcher, and listener who hears voices that confirm the incompleteness of what he is made of when confronted with the infinity and materiality of sounds.

So here are some fragments of this meditative discourse. Here are the most recent declarations-eruptions of this volcanic activity on his thinking, in which what is most clear is, above all, the emergence of what is said, not so much because of its truth, or even falsity, but much more because of what is said.

falsity, but much more because of his desire for contact and wandering between concepts that project him onto the sonorous face of the Other.

It's important to make it clear that the Other is not a threat, but a challenge, and this must be affirmed.

Early Childhood Education literature considers play as the most appropriate way to plan and promote learning and development. Moreover, we acknowledge the importance of the teacher’s role in children’s play (Loizou, Michaelides & Georgiou, 2019. Vygotsky, 1978) and in enhancing children’s learning focusing on creativity (Leggett,2017). Creative play, as another type of play, connects play with creativity and the arts and provides children with the right context to develop their creativity (Szekely, 2015). The purpose of this study was to show how a creative play program affects children’s creativity focusing on two case studies. Creativity theoretically is defined as an attitude or a habit (Sternberg, 2007) and as a transforming activity for children, which can lead to different ways of acting or thinking (Leggett,2017). Additionally, it is considered as the processes followed by children, such as generating ideas (Robson, 2014), or as the characteristics of the products created, such as originality (Glaveanu, 2011.Weisberg, 2015). In this study we are referring to creative play occurring at play areas in a pre-primary class, as specified by the Early Childhood Education Curriculum of Cyprus (2020). We concur with the definition of creative play ‘as a flow of actions’, where teachers and children ‘in the context of the arts’, participate ‘in the process of creation and creativity’ (Loizou & Loizou, K., 2022, p. 3-4). The research question guiding this study was: How does the implementation of a creative play program impact children’s creativity?

The symposium centers on how Young people imagine the future and what it implies for their present dealing with contemporary life in an age of environmental disaster. Through taking outset in students’ perspectives, the symposium seeks to nuance the understanding of student’s relation and imagination of themselves in relation to or as part of a sustainable future. Further it deals with what can be done educationally to support cultivation of young people’s future expectations in constructive ways, for instance through playful classrooms and/or other kinds of research and educational playspaces (Rousell & Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, 2022) and/or more flourishing in our schools and the use of outdoor spaces. Central questions are: To what extend and how is it possible and desirable to support young people to foster hope and/or positive imaginations about the future? To what extend and how is it possible and desirable so educate young people of today to become eco-democratic citizens and creators of a life-friendly society of tomorrow? To what extend is such aims and democratic education in need of becoming rethought in connection with eco-democracy? (Lundmark, 1998; Pickering et. al, 2020). Thus, prepare the young generation to support and achieve diverse, democratic social, and ecologically just sustainable societies – living within the Earth's carrying capacity – eco-democracy might be an important perspective helpful to think of and understanding educational change, but also enacting change in educational practice supporting living and learning democracy, young people's contemporary and imaginary future. The papers present different angles on this. The aim of the symposium is therefore to bring the papers into a shared conversation about educational research that focuses on young people, their perspectives, and how to respond educationally to the challanges of growing up on a damaged planet, in an ecologically unsustainable society, where many, not least young people dream of something better, yet risk becoming depressed, apathetic or anxious about the future, in the Anthropocene age we now live in (Paulsen, et. al. 2022).

The world's current environmental and climate crises are shaping the future in which our children grow up, which makes knowledge about how primary schools can and should currently navigate in this a subject of both existential and societal friction. This paper investigates how students understand, experience and relate to climate and sustainability issues, and how this informs their view on sustainability education. Despite being the primary concern of education, the students’ perspectives often figure in the background of theory and research concerning sustainability education (Brückner et al., 2023; Payne, 1997; Rickinson, 2001). Therefore, this paper aims to place the student perspective in the foreground by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at three different primary-level schools in Denmark that explicitly work with sustainability in their teaching and school development (CHORA, 2024). Based on ten focus group interviews with around 30 students in 5-6th grade, including participatory observation in different educational settings in and outside the classroom. These empirical findings are combined with focus group interviews using creative methods that explore different ways for the students to express their experiences of sustainability education, which led to several examples containing both local-global, here-and-now and future perspectives. Building on this, this paper presents key findings and themes on how students participate, perceive and experience sustainability education. To explore which frictions and potentials arise through students’ meaning-making processes, expressions of actions, and connection-making etc., with a particular interest in examples of how different forms of we-stories, are illustrating often taken-for-granted categories as e.g. we at this school, we as a group, or we as humans (Verlie 2019; Lehtonen et al., 2019; Gulløv & Højlund, 2015; Gilliam & Gulløv, 2022). Centering the student, motivates an examination of both the child, children and their context, and a curiosity towards different representations of sustainability that incapsulates and illustrates the entangled, transnational, and complex interconnectedness of the children’s world-building. Specifically, looking at examples of fire-fighting as a concern of the students, both in a symbolic and practical sense, as their descriptions, stories and illustrations about sustainability education connect and contain notions of flourishing nature and burning factories, this presentation will present a qualitative perspective on how to nuance the understanding of which different aspects and factors influence sustainability education and the student’s relation and imagination of themselves in relation to or as part of a sustainable future.

Brückner, M., Lysgaard, J., & Elf, N. (2023). Dimensions of Quality in Environmental and Sustainability Education Research. CHORA. (2024). 2030 SKOLER Verdensmålscertificering af uddannelsesinstitutioner. Retrieved 25th of January 2024 from https://chora2030.dk/verdensmaalscertificering-af-skoler/ Gilliam, L., & Gulløv, E. (2016). Children of the Welfare State: Civilising Practices in Schools, Childcare and Families (Vol. 57734). Pluto Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1jktscx Gilliam, L., & Gulløv, E. (2022). Children as potential - a window to cultural ideals, anxieties and conflicts. Children's geographies, 20(3), 311-323. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2019.1648760 Gulløv, E., & Højlund, S. (2015). Feltarbejde blandt børn : metodologi og etik i etnografisk børneforskning (1. udgave. ed.). Gyldendal. Lehtonen, A., Salonen, A. O., & Cantell, H. (2019). Climate Change Education: A New Approach for a World of Wicked Problems. In Sustainability, Human Well-Being, and the Future of Education (pp. 339-374). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78580-6_11 Payne, P. (1997). Embodiment and Environmental Education. Environmental Education Research, 3(2), 133-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350462970030203 Pink, S., & Morgan, J. (2013). Short-Term Ethnography: Intense Routes to Knowing: Short-Term Ethnography. Symbolic interaction, 36(3), 351-361. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.66 Rickinson, M. (2001). Learners and Learning in Environmental Education: A critical review of the evidence. Environmental Education Research, 7(3), 207-320. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620120065230

Many of the problems in the Anthropocene age we now live in – such as the climate crisis – seem rather depressing and unsolvable, due to prevailing political regimes and human folly (e.g. Scranton, 2015). It is, therefore, only natural that this situation gives rise to a plethora of hopelessness, anxiety, passivity, frustrations, as well as burn out and ignorance strategies among young people (Paulsen et. al. 2022). As argued by Marek Oziewicz (2022), contemporary youth predominantly (through media etc.) encounter dystopic narratives regarding the future of the planet and their own lives. In this paper three different types of future narratives and expectations are discussed: a) a dystopic vision where 'everything will collapse,' b) a technofix perspective wherein 'technical solutions will be developed to solve or at least mitigate the worst problems related to climate and ecological crisis,' and c) an outlook where 'we will develop new ways of living, more life-friendly, in partnership with the living world’. In line with Oziewicz (Ibid.) it is proposed that the third type is what we need most, but that it is only marginally cultivated and creatively engaged with by young people today (Nørreklit and Paulsen, 2023). On this background and based on posthuman educational research approaches (Rousell & Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, 2022) the author of this paper have developed a solarpunk speculative cli-fi-roleplaying game, together with Sara Mosberg Iversen, which have been proto-tested with 12 young students, during four days in January 2024, as a potential educational tool to facilitate non-dystopic and life-friendly future imaginations, but also deep reflections on hope and the role of one’s expectations on one’s present engagement in the world. The paper discusses the results of the first testing of the game, in relation to the forementioned 3 types of narratives. By this the paper tries to add important aspects to present discussions about what role education can play in facilitating a transformation to a life-friendly future society. How can education support young people’s future?

Scranton, R. (2015). Learning to die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the end of a civilization. City Lights Publishers. Nørreklit, L., & Paulsen, M. (2023). Life-friendly: who we are and who we want to be. Journal of Pragmatic Constructism, 13(1), 9-22 Oziewicz, M. (2022). Planetarianism now: On Anticipatory imagination, young people’s literature, and hope for the planet. In M. Paulsen et al. (Eds.) Pedagogy in the Anthropocene: Rewilding education for a new earth. Palgrave. Paulsen, M., jagodzinski, J., & Hawke, S. (2022). A Critical Introduction. In M. Paulsen, J. jagodzinski, & S. Hawke (red.), Pedagogy in the Anthropocene: Re-Wilding Education for a New Earth. Palgrave Macmillan. Rousell, D., & Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, A. (2022). Posthuman research playspaces: Climate child imaginaries. Taylor & Francis.

The Anthropocene is, among other things, an age of disentanglement, disenfranchisement, and of onto-epistemological isolation of the human from its surroundings. The polarization is manifest on multiple scales, to the point that we risk leaving young people feeling both hopelessly and helplessly alone against the troubles of our time. The importance of educating for the ability to not only tolerate, but to be active in both imagining and practicing acts of peaceful, mutually constitutive being-with (Haraway, 2008) cannot be understated. Experiences of interdependence and -connectedness is vital for human well-being, yet the paper also takes legitimate human experience of interdependency with nature as a necessary component of successful Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) (Lloro-Bidart & Banschbach, 2019). The aim of this presentation is to examine the potential of meetings between human learners and the more-than-human as part of ESE. More specifically, the paper discusses such meetings in ESE when structured as didactical perspective-taking, building on the critique of reductionism in perspective-taking by Iris Marion Young (1997) as part of the larger discussion on representations of nature in ESE. Importantly, if ESE is to be made to be an eco-democratic endeavour, then the question of the place and representation of the more-than-human becomes paramount (Vetlesen, 2023). While some degree of reduction in education is unavoidable, the paper contends that a less isolated, ahierarchal, interdependent awareness of “nature” in all its forms both is and can be represented in education. Following this, the paper argues for both the possibility and the necessity of respectful reduction as an approach when taking the perspective of more-than-human Others. Here it is suggested that the value of such respectful boundary-crossings between human and more-than-human may supersede the lack of perfect representation, given the potential of revealing previously unsensed entanglements and relationships. The paper further proposes didactical more-than-human perspective-taking as an avenue for of engendering ‘receptive-responsiveness’ to nature as described by Bonnett (2012). Childrens’ meetings with more-than-human Other perspectives may thus serve as an opportunity to broaden conceptions of whom and what to acknowledge as morally relevant, opening for imagining alternative ways for young people to envision their futures. The theoretical discussion will be contextualised with preliminary findings from ongoing empirical research on more-than-human perspective-taking practices in Norwegian secondary education.

Bonnett, M. (2012). Environmental concern, moral education and our place in nature. Journal of Moral Education, 41(3), 285-300. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2012.691643 Gehlbach, H., & Mu, N. (2023). How We Understand Others: A Theory of How Social Perspective Taking Unfolds. Review of General Psychology, 27(3), 282-302. https://doi.org/10.1177/10892680231152595 Haraway, D. J. (2008). When Species Meet. University of Minnesota Press. Leopold, A. (1949). The Land Ethic. In A Sand County Almanac. Penguin Classics. (Reprinted from 2020) Lloro-Bidart, T., & Banschbach, V. S. (2019). Introduction to Animals in Environmental Education: Whither Interdisciplinarity? In Animals in Environmental Education (pp. 1-16). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98479-7_1 Vetlesen, A. J. (2023). Animal lives and why they matter. Routledge. Young, I. M. (1997). Asymmetrical Reciprocity: On Moral Respect, Wonder and Enlarged Thought. Constellations, 3(3), 340-363. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8675.1997.tb00064.x

Contemporary research affirms that we will soon arrive at the point of irreconcilable ecological breakdown. Yet today’s mainstream Environmental Education (EE) research focuses on economic growth with an inattention to the systemic causes of social and environmental injustices. The impact of (mis)education on environmental justice can be profoundly transformative, affecting the well-being and economic prospects of affected social groups. These impacts can be immediate and violent such as factory waste spills in low-income areas, or subtler, overlooked forms of slow violence that go unnoticed for long periods of time (Nixon, 2011). This slow violence is often overlooked because the critical lens of environmental justice is not yet widely applied in the public arena. Education for Environmental Justice is thus confronted with challenging habitual modes of epistemic and methodological approaches to research (Stein, 2019).

The EEJ Reading and Research Collective approaches scholarly thinking through justice-oriented art-making practices and identifies themes in education and environmental justice to co-create research. The collective includes artists who respond to the research, either to further develop, re-interpret, or communicate what the readings and discussions elided and erased. Collaboratively, we interpret the links between art and readings as an ongoing process of research-as-creation. An key objective of this collective is to build a supportive community of early career and established researchers, which we recognise as critical to the sustainability of our collective futures. This proposed symposium engages the interplays between environmental justice and education. We will both explain our methods as a research group and share the way our individual studies connect environmental justice and education. In doing so, the symposium will increase understanding of education's role in establishing (and suppressing) environmental justice in civil society sectors transnationally.

We begin by summarising the ongoing literature review work of the collective emerging from our arts-based practice, then move into individual presentations showcasing the diversity of our work in environmental justice and education. Haley Perkins and Sarah Sharp will open the presentations by proposing that global environmental justice begins with epistemic justice. Using new-materialist philosophies of entanglement and relationality, they make a case for engaging with participatory creative activities using arts-based methods to enact a more just onto-epistemological shift towards sustainability. Next, Shingirayi Kandi and Ceri Holman engage UK-based youth perspectives. Kandi’s presentation will explore the effects, benefits, and challenges of outdoor learning in special schools for pupils with Complex, Severe, Profound, and Multiple Learning Disabilities (CSPMLD), and his ongoing research in primary special schools. Holman’s deliberative place-based pedagogy explores the tensions in Cumbria, England, among fossil fuel interests and the voices of young people in the community. She explores students’ learning and agency through relational positionality. Finally, Rosalie Mathie, based in Norway, will discuss the role of co-creative research methods for environmental justice-oriented education. A collection of examples are brought forward that encourage proactive participant engagement and co-development within academic and educational settings. Our discussant, Maria-Angelika Caceras (recently based in France, but with a history of working in Brazil), will comment on the submissions from the point of view of Indigenous epistemologies.

The long-term ambition of EEJ is to contribute to transforming education across multiple levels to address the burgeoning and socioeconomically differentiated problems arising from the impacts of what is (problematically) termed the Anthropocene. We hope that by sharing the mission and approach of the EEJ Reading and Research Collective, we can engage with a wider audience and explore the possibilities of such a practice while communicating the urgency of the messages that emerge from the interleaving of questions of environmental justice, art, and education.

This presentation begins by emphasising that Environmental Justice (EJ) in education begins with epistemic justice. Most Environmental Education (EE) in Europe is predominantly focused on scientific knowledge transmission about climate change and conservation. It perpetuates ideas of human exceptionalism by separating human activity from ‘nature’ by teaching about the environment rather than acknowledging how we live within it (Dunlop & Rushton, 2022b), resulting in inadequate pedagogic practices to address the challenges of the current ecological crisis (Taylor et al., 2020). Thus, we highlight the need for diversity in educational and research methods, focusing on international and intersectional views of EJ centred on challenging dominant narratives, power structures, and knowledge systems that perpetuate environmental injustices across the world, and within education (Zembylas, 2018). This presentation links issues of environmental (in)justice to the dominating epistemologies of the Global North, which are extensions of ongoing colonial practices that justify the exploitation of both people and nature and exclude different knowledge systems (Silva, 2014). We approach this provocation by first summarising the preliminary findings from ongoing literature review work, informed by critical hermeneutic (Habermas, 1971) and decolonial frameworks (Collins, 2019; Maldonado-Torres, 2007). We will identify both the broad assumptions within contemporary EE practices in the Global North and nuances or gaps that are often overlooked in standard literature reviews. Next, we discuss the implications of these findings on education for environmental justice, and highlight identified openings for future transformative action in EE. We then focus on one such opening for approaching epistemic justice in education, grounded in decolonial and feminist new-materialist philosophies of entanglement and relationality. Understanding ourselves as entangled entities, deconstructing human exceptionalism, and resisting anthropocentric philosophies which implicitly justify the exploitation and destruction of multi-species ecologies, could help us reimagine education within a changing world (Haraway, 2016). We demonstrate an example of pedagogy for epistemic justice that explores participatory creative activities using arts-based methods. This example proposes that creating stories with/in our local environments can intertwine physical landscapes with remembered and imagined ones to foster an understanding of entanglement. We will outline experiences of participating in mixed-media story-making as a way to understand ourselves as ‘entangled’ within the world in its affective state of becoming - knowing that our actions and futures are constantly engaged in relation with all else. This presentation will therefore contribute a proposal for beyond-anthropocentric pedagogies to enact the urgent onto-epistemological shift towards learning to live sustainability.

Collins, P. H. (2019). Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory. Duke University Press. Durham, NC. Dunlop, & Rushton, E. A. C. (2022). Putting climate change at the heart of education: Is England's strategy a placebo for policy? British Educational Research Journal, 48(6), 1083–1101. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3816 Habermas, J. (1971). Knowledge and Human Interests (Vol. 114). Haraway, D. (2016). Staying with the trouble. Duke University Press. Maldonado-Torres, N. (2007). On the Coloniality of Being. Cultural Studies, 21(2–3), 240–270. Silva, D.F.D.. (2014). Toward a Black Feminist Poethics: The Quest(ion) of Blackness Toward the End of the World. The Black Scholar, 44(2), 81–97. Taylor, A., Pacini-Ketchabaw, V., Blaise, M., & Silova, I. (2020). Learning to become with the world: Education for future survival. Common Worlds Research Collective. Paper commissioned for the UNESCO Futures of Education report. Zembylas. (2018). Decolonial possibilities in South African higher education : reconfiguring humanising pedagogies as/with decolonising pedagogies. South African Journal of Education, 38(4), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v38n4a1699

Recently, there has been significant development in inclusive mainstream research (Hong et al., 2020), with individuals with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) not only involved in the research as participants but as researchers themselves too; however, little is still known about pupils with Complex Severe Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (CSPMLD) who face a variety of additional learning challenges (de Haas et al., 2022 and require bespoke educational approaches, and outdoor learning is emerging as a potent methodology (Buli-Holmberg and Jeyaprathaban, 2016). The increasing importance of outdoor learning (OL) has been met with a myriad of studies extolling its benefits (Pierce and Maher, 2019; Prince and Diggory, 2023; Mann et al., 2021; Sekhri, 2019). Hence, I plan to explore the effects, benefits, and challenges, of OL in special schools for pupils with CSPMLD and the experiences of stakeholders involved. In their contribution, Sutherland and Legge (2016) state OL essentially occurs outdoors, as such, issues of environmental justice emerge with the use of the external environment to achieve OL. For example, how are the varying needs of CPSMLD students considered when designing and delivering OL? What are the injustices that emerge when we consider CPSMLD students in the outdoors? My systematic literature reviews that in the context of special schools, OL in CSPMLD is still understudied especially in England, warranting more studies to be done in this area (Guardino, 2019). I plan to conduct case studies (Yazan, 2015) on two selected special schools. In these schools, I intend to conduct semi-structured interviews with school staff and parents/guardians/carers and participatory observations on pupils with CSPMLD. Then analyse the data drawing from Braun and Clarke (2006) thematic analysis. I will put my findings into the context of wider Europe, to show how special schools in England contrast and compare with CPSMLD education strategies in other parts of Europe.

Buli-Holmberg, J., & Jeyaprathaban, S. (2016). Effective Practice in Inclusive and Special Needs Education. International Journal of Special Education, 31(1), 119–134. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1099986 de Haas, C., Grace, J., Hope, J., & Nind, M. (2022). Doing Research Inclusively: Understanding What It Means to Do Research with and Alongside People with Profound Intellectual Disabilities. Social Sciences, 11(4), 159. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11040159 Guardino, C., Hall, K. W., Largo-Wight, E., & Hubbuch, C. (2019). Teacher and student perceptions of an outdoor classroom. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 22(2), 113–126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42322-019-00033-7 Hong, S.-Y., Eum, J., Long, Y., Wu, C., & Welch, G. (2020). Typically Developing Preschoolers’ Behavior Toward Peers With Disabilities in Inclusive Classroom Contexts. Journal of Early Intervention, 42(1), 49–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053815119873071 Mann, J., Gray, T., Truong, S., Sahlberg, P., Bentsen, P., Passy, R., Ho, S., Ward, K., & Cowper, R. (2021). A Systematic Review Protocol to Identify the Key Benefits and Efficacy of Nature-Based Learning in Outdoor Educational Settings. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(3), 1199. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031199 Pierce, S., & Maher, A. J. (2020). Physical activity among children and young people with intellectual disabilities in special schools: Teacher and learning support assistant perceptions. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 48(1), 37–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12301

Socio-political action is insufficient for the climate crisis, partly due to its complexity and hegemonic norms. Young people’s futures will be especially impacted. Youth democratic engagement is often overlooked, despite the human right to express opinions and participate in political decision-making that affects them (UNCRC, 1989). The English school curriculum’s focus on subject mastery and assessment limits opportunities to learn extensively about climate, environmental and social justice, hindering more transformative learning and empowered engagement. In his Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1969) Buckminster Fuller asked who should take responsibility for safeguarding the planet beyond countries’ individualistic ambitions. Recognising the twin impediments to cohesive governance of failing democracies (including lack of trust in governments and rising populism) and inadequate climate action, Willis (2020) suggests trying deliberative democracy. Ordinary people could help pilot Spaceship Earth. Increasingly, consensual decision-making on controversial subjects is being reached using citizens’ assemblies and juries, providing leaders with a clear mandate to act. Could deliberative pedagogy similarly support young people’s learning, skills, and agency? This study introduces a local case study to school students (11- to 14-years-old) in Cumbria, England. Here the UK’s first deep coalmine for 30 years has been approved. Provoking vigorous public debate, it reveals pluralist perspectives on fossil fuels that embody economic, political, environmental, social, and cultural interests. Despite local, national, and global attention, young people have no forum in which to debate the coalmine’s meaning for them, their community, and futures. Using place-based deliberative pedagogy, students explore their relational positionality by analysing key narratives around the mine, collaborating on a review and recommendations for decision-makers. Through a capability approach lens, the research explores young people’s learning and agency as local and global citizens – or pilots. The implications of this approach within the wider European context will be discussed.

Buckminster Fuller, R. (1969). Operating manual for spaceship earth. New York: EP Dutton. Willis, R. (2020). Too hot to handle? The democratic challenge of climate change. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

Today, where environmental and social inequalities are prevalent globally, and the call for decolonising academia leads to pertinent ethical questioning, for example, questioning the inequalities and inequities that arise in research processes (Sempere, Aliyu, & Bollaert, 2022), the role creative and co-developed methods can take to ensure multiple voices are heard is of interest. There is a long history of creative and artistic methods in academia and education, however the Arts and Sciences still for many are divided, or in some cases, science is misusing art: “[…] to promote its hard-sell, to offer images that beautify its results, soften its impact and mask its collusion with corporations whose only interest in research is that it should ‘drive innovation’ (Ingold, 2018, p225). The role art has in education is also being interrogated, such as Biesta (2020) questioning the expressivist and instrumentalist ways art education can be practised that fall short of what he describes as being the ‘real educational work’, which he describes as “[..] bringing children and young people into dialogue with the world” (Biesta, 2020, p117). Research that takes an active role in and for environmental justice can quickly lead us to question our responsibility as researchers. With this questioning comes the requirement, as Ingold (2018) critiques, for academic pursuit to ensure that the role of science as an ‘exporter of knowledge’, does not eclipse our societal duty of care and responsibility. This also demands us to understand why research is often done ‘on’ instead of ‘with’ participants, and within this understand in what context this is and is not appropriate. With methodological roots in Action Research (Townsend, 2019) and Educational Design Research (McKenny & Reeves (2019), this presentation collates creative 'participatory' methods (such as Digital Stories, Artivisim, Photovoice, Community mapping and Visual-timelines), found in both educational and research contexts, that seek to engage participants as co-developers of research: Examples from Art Education (Duncum, 2017), Photovoice projects such as Harper et al (2017), Partners in Science from Willyard, Scudellari, and Nordling (2018), and Rodríguez-Labajos (2022) Artistic Activism literature synthesis, are presented to ignite reflection on ways to enable participants to take on proactive and empowered roles within research. From this the future of research concerning EEJ is critiqued and concludes by calling for the role of co-creative and co-developed methods in academia to not be underestimated.

Biesta, G. (2020). Letting Art Teach: Art Education ‘after’Joseph Beuys Arnhem, The Netherlands. Duncum, P. (2017). Engaging public space: Art education pedagogies for social justice. Social Justice and the Arts, 61-76. Harper, K., Sands, C., Angarita Horowitz, D., Totman, M., Maitín, M., Rosado, J. S., ... & Alger, N. (2017). Food justice youth development: using Photovoice to study urban school food systems. Local Environment, 22(7), 791-808. Ingold, T. (2018). From science to art and back again: The pendulum of an anthropologist. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 43(3-4), 213-227. McKenney, S., & Reeves, T. (2018). Conducting Educational Design Research: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. Sempere, M. J. C., Aliyu, T., & Bollaert, C. (2022). Towards decolonising research ethics: from one-off review boards to decentralised north–south partnerships in an International Development Programme. Education Sciences, 12(4), 236. Townsend, A. (2019). Who does action research and what responsibilities do they have to others?, Educational Action Research, 27:2, 149-151, DOI: 10.1080/09650792.2019.1582184 Rodríguez-Labajos, B. (2022). Artistic activism promotes three major forms of sustainability transformation. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 57, 101199. Willyard, C., Scudellari, M., and Nordling, L., Partners in Science. Nature 562, 24–28 (2018)

Reducing uncertainty has always been one of the key achievements of organizations: They define goals and the ways to achieve them, they allocate resources and align the practices of their members with these objectives. They achieve this not least through a structure of roles and responsibilities that detaches their functioning from individuals and their peculiarities. In this way, organizations use responsibilities to create stability and predictability into an uncertain future. Of course, these organizational responsibilities are not necessarily congruent with the actual (causal) responsibility (Hart, 1968) of individual actors for certain organizational actions. Against the backdrop of an increasing complexity of social and technical systems in modernity, the very idea of attributing individual responsibility may seem outdated and even pre-modern (Besio, 2014). But nonetheless, for organizations there is unfolding room for practical negotiations on the attribution of effects to individual actors that can be made productive in limiting uncertainty – especially under the concept of “decision” (Brunsson, 1990).

However, uncertainty seems to have grown to a challenging level: in times of multiple, overlapping crises of global proportions, uncertainty is no longer just a theoretical prerequisite of social practice in general, but an actual condition of everyday life that is perceptible to individual as well as organizational actors. Higher Education organizations are particularly affected by this development insofar as they find themselves in an ambivalent situation: On the one hand, orientation towards the future is inherent to them as a task and responsibility; on the other hand, they are particularly dependent on the reliability of future developments in connection with their concrete operations.

As a symposium in network 32 at ECER 2024, we would like to explore the manifold relationships between uncertainty and responsibility in higher education organizations and their effects on organizational education.

Generally, we believe that at least three forms of this relationship between uncertainty and responsibility in higher education organizations can be distinguished, that shall be explored in the symposium:

1. How does increasing societal uncertainty lead to an increased invocation of responsibility within higher education organizations? As uncertainty increases in times of multiple crises, many traditional management strategies that are based on comprehensible cause-and-effect relationships and the ability to plan for the future prove futile. Attributing responsibility, on the other hand, may not ensure more successful management, but it does potentially simplify the handling of uncertainty and the processing of failure. Conversely, the ‘moralization of organization’ that we can witness occasionally could be discussed as a problematic signal: „morality does not solve the complex problems facing organizations; however, moral communication can become a temporarily adequate manner of dealing with uncertainty.“ (Besio, 2014, p. 309)
2. How can responsibility at the same time be maintained in the face of increasing uncertainty within organizations? For organizations, this not only increases uncertainty in their environment, but also within themselves: Particularly with regard to their personnel, changing value patterns lead to a changed meaning of work and changed work structures and forms. At the same time, new technical possibilities (e.g. AI) are changing the content as well as the formal organization of work. This tends to be associated with insecure conditions with changed opportunities for the attribution of responsibility.
3. How comes responsibility into play for breaking up structures and creating uncertainty in order to bring about change in higher education organizations? From an organizational education perspective, however, the question also arises how higher education organizations attribute the responsibility to deliberately create uncertainty - i.e. to question established structures, to consider possible changes, to envision alternative futures. After all, this is an important basis for organizations to maintain an ongoing ability to learn.

The call for a decolonized higher education in 2015 (#RhodesMustFall) flagged that all was not well in higher education in South Africa. Student voices that initially petitioned for the eradication of the Western episteme in the curriculum soon included a call to decolonize university structures, including human resources and institutional processes, and culminated with a call to end university fees (#FeesMustFall). For many South African students, if they are lucky enough to make it to university, the start of a better life is enshrouded in debt, institutional alienation and exclusion, language challenges, and cultural intolerance. In this context, is it the responsibility of higher education to address historical legacies? This paper posits three responses. First, universities ought to be a public good. As such, it needs to be responsive to the needs of society, in terms of skills development, but also the values of citizenship. Second, as extensions of the democratic political economy, universities have the responsibility to mirror the values of this political disposition in their policies and practices, and third, given the political transition, higher education spaces are third spaces/ borderlands and are powerful in their ability to effect change. It is pivotal that universities use this power to demand transformation – for students and for society. The discussion contributes to the expanding discourse of decolonization in the Global South, as well as the debates around the role of higher education in the context of crises and neoliberalism.

Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books. Gutiérrez, K.D. (2008). ‘Developing a sociocritical literacy in the third space’. Reading Research Quarterly 43, 148–164, https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.43.2.3 Jansen, J., & Walters, C. (2018). The Recent Crisis in South African Universities. International Higher Education, (96), 23–24 Jansen, J. & Walters, C. (2022). The Decolonization of Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Govender, L., Naidoo, D. (2023). Decolonial insights for transforming the higher education curriculum in South Africa. Curriculum Perspectives 43(Suppl 1), 59–71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-023-00200-3 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J. (2021). ‘Internationalisation of higher education for pluriversity: a decolonial reflection’. Journal of the British Academy, 9(s1): 77–98. Knowles, C., James, A., Khoza, L., Mtwa, Z., Roboji, M., & Shivambu, M. (2023). Problematising the South African Higher Education inequalities exposed during the Covid-19 pandemic: Students’ perspectives. Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning (CriSTaL), 11(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.14426/cristal.v11i1.668 Sayed, Y., Carrim, N., Badroodien, A., McDonald, Z., Singh, M. (2018) Learning to Teach in Post-Apartheid South Africa – ‘Student Teachers’ Encounters with Initial Teacher Education (Y Sayeded). Stellenbosch: African Sun Media.

In the context of multiple global crises and accelerated changes that we are facing, the relationship between university and society is also shifting. Consensuses that were thought to be secure and responsibilities that have long received little public attention are becoming more and more fragile: The discourse on fake news and post-truth is causing uncertainty among parts of the population about the resilience of knowledge and truth (Elven, 2022), digitalisation / AI is putting research and teaching infrastructure to the test (Pinheiro, Edelhard Tømte, Barman, Degn, & Geschwind, 2023) and the climate crisis is raising questions about the extent to which universities are still able to produce the knowledge they need or whether a fundamental reform of knowledge production is necessary (Schneidewind, Singer-Brodowski, & Augenstein, 2016). There is also a questioning of the self-image, task and role of science within the academic discourse - for example on the part of postcolonial studies (Seth, 2009). On this backdrop, we currently are conducting a research project (funded by the German Research Foundation, project number 457876539), where we raise two core questions: 1. How do higher education institutions (HEI) position themselves in relation to these societal challenges, diverse demands and conflicting expectations? How do universities succeed - on an organizational level - in formulating a consistent concept of the universitys social responsibility? 2. How is this concept of social responsibility negotiated within the HEIs and how does the staff relate to it (e.g. accept, deny, negate constructively critize, …)? Which role does the social background of the staff play for relating and can we find systematic differences betweend different groups within the organization - especially between different generations of researchers? In our contribution, we will present findings from the first step of the research project where we conducted a field-focussed discourse analysis of mission statements from German universities. For this investigation, we gathered mission statements from all universities in Germany (without universities for applied sciences and similar institutions; n=120). We analyzed these documents applying techniques of qualitative text analysis by Kuckartz (2014), suggestions for the methodization of discourse analysis (Diaz-Bone, 2006) and categorizing procedures in discourse analysis (Glasze, Husseini, & Mose, 2021). In our presentation, we focus on uncertainties expressed in mission statements and related concepts of social responsibility. Based on these findings, we can shed light on the relationship between growing uncertainties in Europe and worldwide and the necessity to deal with social responsibility in HEIs.

Diaz-Bone, R. (2006). Zur Methodologisierung der Foucaultschen Diskursanalyse. Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung, 31(2), 243–274. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/20762129 Elven, J. (2022). The Negotiation of Social Responsibility in Academia. An Analysis of Ethical Discourses on the March for Science at German Universities. Zeitschrift Für Diskursforschung, 10(1). Glasze, G., Husseini, S., & Mose, J. (2021). Kodierende Verfahren in der Diskursforschung. In Handbuch Diskurs und Raum: Theorien und Methoden für die Humangeographie sowie die sozial- und kulturwissenschaftliche Raumforschung (pp. 293–314). Bielefeld: transcript. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839432181 Kuckartz, U. (2014). Qualitative Text Analysis: A Guide to Methods, Practice and Using Software. London et al.: SAGE. Retrieved from https://books.google.com?id=9B2VAgAAQBAJ Pinheiro, R., Edelhard Tømte, C., Barman, L., Degn, L., & Geschwind, L. (Eds.). (2023). Digital Transformations in Nordic Higher Education. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27758-0 Schneidewind, U., Singer-Brodowski, M., & Augenstein, K. (2016). Transformative Science for Sustainability Transitions. In H. G. Brauch, Ú. Oswald Spring, J. Grin, & J. Scheffran (Eds.), Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace (pp. 123–136). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43884-9_5 Seth, S. (2009). Putting knowledge in its place: Science, colonialism, and the postcolonial. Postcolonial Studies, 12(4), 373–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790903350633

This workshop aligns with the research within the Gender and Education Network as part of the European Educational Research Association. More specifically it responds to the call; ‘Tackling crises and generating hope: including transforming intersectional gender relations through education’. The workshop is designed to ignite hope in those whose work considers the intersectionality between gender, disability and education. The aims of the workshop are two-fold; for attendees of the conference to practically explore the suitability for Arts-based methodology for educational research and to consider their positionality in relation to gender and school experience. The methods of this workshop are similar to those that I intend to use during my PhD and builds on those I used during my Masters and Bachelors projects. My research uses Arts-Based methodology to encourage Autistic women and girls to reflect on their school experiences.

My project is an important contribution to the field of educational research as it provides an alternative method of sharing and understanding lived experiences of Autistic women and girls. My PhD research works on the recommendations of my Undergraduate Dissertation (Clarke, 2020). The recommendations suggested that the women and girls with special educational needs, such as Autism, may experience school differently to their peers. This could be a result of masking (Happé, 2019, p.13). Masking is a term used to describe the act of consciously, or unconsciously, suppressing Autistic ways of being to socially conform to expected stereotypes within society (ibid). One of such stereotypes is the presentation of being a woman or girl. My previous research findings suggest that women and girls within the school environment are often described as passive and ‘silent’ (Hartman, 2006, p.82). This is reflected within current literature. My PhD research uses Arts-based methodology to explore the embodied nature of Autistic women and girls lived experiences of school. Similarly, the workshop that I will host at the European Conference of Educational Research will encourage attendees to reflect on their embodied experiences of school. More specifically, they will create Arts-based pieces to reflect their understanding of gender identity and consider how this may have influenced their school experience.

An Arts-Based methods workshop is both apt and pivotal to include within both my PhD research and at the ECER. Within my own research it provides an alternative method of sharing and gathering data from traditional, and often verbal techniques, such as interviews. This is important to consider when working with Autistic people given that additional communication needs are a key component of the Autistic lived experience (van Kessel and colleagues, 2019). By including this practical workshop as part of the ECER, I will introduce attendees to recognise the value of Arts-based methods for educational research. This includes the respectful nature of Arts-based research for appreciating the embodied nature of experiences. This is particularly important when working with disabled or other marginalised groups to explore their experiences of school. For example, women, girls and marginalised genders.

Consequently, this workshop introduces an innovative methodological approach to working with Autistic people and exploring gendered experiences of school. It supports the growing body of research within Europe regarding the need for further contribution from Autistic people, particularly within ‘central and eastern Europe’ (Rolska and their colleagues, 2018). It responds to the Gender and Equality Strategy in an effort to provide academics with creative and alternative skills to ‘prevent and combat gender stereotypes and sexism’ (Council of Europe; Gender and Equality Commission, 2022, p.4) particularly within schools and educational research.

Democracies all over the world are currently facing a variety of challenges. The rise of right-wing populist actors, particularly in Europe, and the associated erosion of democratic electorates or the establishment of autocratic systems, such as in Russia or China, reveal a glaring problem: the required diffuse support for democratic systems, as analysed by Easton (1975), is not as strong as assumed. In view of the strengthening of authoritarian regimes, e.g. through the election of Donald Trump, even Francis Fukuyama (2019) had to acknowledge that the triumph of liberal democracy is not a law of nature.

In order to ensure the stability of democracies and to strengthen the acceptance of democratic values and human rights worldwide, democracies must address the question of how they manage to anchor democratic beliefs among their citizens. Friedrich Ebert's guiding principle "Democracy needs democrats" seems more relevant than ever. The central key to achieving this lies in the political education of children and young people. Research on political socialization has long focused primarily on adolescence and young adulthood as the formative phase for the development of political attitudes and identity (Abendschön, 2022). Even if political socialization can be understood as a lifelong process (Rippl, 2015), current research suggests that the foundation for the internalization of political and democratic beliefs and values is laid in childhood (Abendschön, 2010). While there are large-scale studies on the political attitudes of young people, such as the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2022 (Abs et al., 2024), there are still significant research gaps with regard to political socialization processes in childhood (Becher & Gläser, 2019). For example, it is still "open and controversial which orientations and skills are socialized at what time and in what way." (Abendschön, 2022, p. 644)

Three major research gaps will be addressed and further closed during this symposium. The first paper, entitled "Democratic values as basic values of children. An analysis of the correlation for children in primary school." sheds light on the connection between basic values according to Schwartz's model and democratic values in children in elementary school. Particularly in adulthood, interesting results were found on the relationship between political values and the basic values of individuals (Schwartz et al., 2014). However, democratic values and beliefs were not considered, nor was this relationship investigated for children. The creation of synergies between the research areas of basic values and democratic values in childhood seems particularly promising, also for the design of political education programs in childhood.

The second article entitled "Politics is only for men! - The impact of gender role attitudes on children's political interest, political knowledge, and political efficacy", focuses on possible influences of gender role attitudes on the political socialization of children at the beginning of lower secondary school. A large number of studies have repeatedly confirmed differences between girls and boys in terms of their political attitudes. Against this background, the study asks whether and how gender roles have an influence on children's political interest, knowledge and self-efficacy.

The third article entitled "Implementing a short-term human rights education program in Greek primary schools to promote adjustment" links the empirical analysis of political socialization processes in childhood with practical implementation. An intervention on human rights values in childhood was carried out and empirically monitored in Greek elementary schools. This not only strengthened the children's political knowledge of democratic and human rights values, but also improved their emotional feelings and social behaviour. The results illustrate that human rights education not only has a positive effect on children's values, but also on their social perception and behaviour within the school.

The stability of democracies depends to a large extent on the development of democratic attitudes and values among their citizens (Easton, 1975). Childhood has emerged as an important phase in socialisation research (Döring, 2018). Although there are initial findings that democratic values and attitudes can already be observed in children, there is still a lack of empirical evidence in this regard (Abendschön, 2010). The research field of basic values has been researched more extensively in relation to childhood, but not with regard to a possible connection between basic values and democratic values. In order to further close this research gap, more than 400 children in third and fourth grade in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany were asked about their basic values and their democratic values and attitudes. The basic values were recorded using the Picture-based Value Survey for Children (PBVS-C; Döring et al., 2010) based on Schwartz's (2012) value model. In the case of democratic values, the focus was placed on five dimensions: Preference for democratic decision-making, equality, freedom of expression, acceptance of rules and renunciation of violence. Two central questions are addressed with the present study: 1. To what extent can correlations between basic values and democratic values and attitudes already be found in children? 2. Are there any indications of explanations for possible differences between the children with regard to their preference for democratic values? The results indicate that children from the third grade onwards already have quite complex basic democratic values. They are already able to differentiate between different situations with regard to their evaluation of decision preferences. Furthermore, significant correlations can be identified between basic values and democratic values. In particular, the higher-order value dimensions "self-enhancement" and "self-transcendence" appear to play an important role in the preference for democratic values. Furthermore, there is a significant effect of the socioeconomic status. In addition, there are indications of possible influencing factors on children's democratic values. Both the person of the teacher and the opportunities for participation at class level seem to play an important role.

Abendschön, S. (2010). Die Anfänge demokratischer Bürgerschaft: Sozialisation politischer und demokratischer Werte und Normen im jungen Kindesalter (1. Aufl). Nomos. Döring, A. K. (2018). Measuring children’s values from around the world: Cross-cultural adaptations of the Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (PBVS-C). Studia Psychologica, 18(1), 49–59. https://doi.org/10.21697/sp.2018.18.1.03 Döring, A. K., Blauensteiner, A., Aryus, K., Drögekamp, L., & Bilsky, W. (2010). Assessing Values at an Early Age: The Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (PBVS–C). Journal of Personality Assessment, 92(5), 439–448. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2010.497423 Easton, D. (1975). A Re-Assessment of the Concept of Political Support. British Journal of Political Science, 5(4), 435–457. Schwartz, S. H. (2012). An Overview of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1116

Men and boys are more interested in politics (Fraile and Sánchez‐Vítores 2020), know more about politics (Abendschön and Tausendpfund 2017; Oberle 2012; Vollmar 2007) and have a greater political efficacy (Gidengil et al. 2008) than women and girls. This well-researched Gender Gap is as alarming and requires further investigation. One explanatory approach is provided by socialization theory, according to which boys and girls internalize different ideas about politics and their gender-specific roles within the political system during socialization processes (Bos et al. 2022). In line with their environmental influences, they familiarize themselves with politics as a male-dominated sphere and adapt their perspective accordingly. Following on from this approach it can be assumed that political gender role attitudes are crucial for the development of political interest, political knowledge, and political efficacy. This article therefore aims to investigate the relationships between these concepts, which are particularly relevant in democratic societies. The underlying research question is: Do political gender role attitudes have an impact on political interest, political knowledge, and political efficacy and, if so, how? Particular attention is paid to possible differences between girls and boys and between children with and without a migration background. To take into account the complexity of the relationships, the analysis is based on structural equation models. This method allows the simultaneous consideration of several directed relationships (Aichholzer 2017, p. 9) and is therefore appropriate for addressing the research question. The data used originates from our research project on political socialization, in which almost 1,300 fifth-graders were surveyed. The data collection was conducted between October 2022 and February 2023 in a total of 20 schools using a specially developed paper questionnaire adapted to the age of the respondents. First results indicate that there are complex but interesting relationships between the concepts investigated. As suspected, the gender role attitudes have an effect, which, however, must be considered in a differentiated way regarding both the dependent variable and the comparison groups.

References Abendschön, Simone, and Markus Tausendpfund. 2017. Political Knowledge of Children and the Role of Sociostructural Factors. American Behavioral Scientist 61:204–221. Aichholzer, Julian. 2017. Einführung in lineare Strukturgleichungsmodelle mit Stata. Wiesbaden, Heidelberg: Springer VS. Bos, Angela L., Jill S. Greenlee, Mirya R. Holman, Zoe M. Oxley and Celeste J. Lay. 2022. This One’s for the Boys: How Gendered Political Socialization Limits Girls’ Political Ambition and Interest. American Political Science Review 116:484–501. Fraile, Marta, and Irene Sánchez‐Vítores. 2020. Tracing the Gender Gap in Political Interest Over the Life Span: A Panel Analysis. Political Psychology 41:89–106. Gidengil, Elisabeth, Janine Giles and Melanee Thomas. 2008. The Gender Gap in Self-Perceived Understanding of Politics in Canada and the United States. Politics & Gender 4:535–561. Oberle, Monika, ed. 2012. Politisches Wissen über die Europäische Union. Subjektive und objektive Politikkenntnisse von Jugendlichen. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Vollmar, Meike. 2007. Politisches Wissen bei Kindern - nicht einfach nur ja oder nein. In Kinder und Politik. Politische Einstellungen von jungen Kindern im ersten Grundschuljahr, eds. Jan W. van Deth, Simone Abendschön, Julia Rathke and Meike Vollmar, 119-160. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

The active implementation of human rights at school seems to foster an inclusive environment based on democratic values (e.g., Bajaj et al., 2016. Stavrou et al., 2023). Studies show that the educational value of human rights is gradually recognized by both students and teachers shifting from traditional to more participatory and cooperative teaching methods. Although human rights education has different forms, there is currently a general research interest on its transformative nature (Bajaj, 2017. Tibbitts, 2017). Transformative human rights education describes learning about, through and for human rights. However, the evidence demonstrating its effectiveness at school is scarce (Bajaj, 2017). For example, little is known about its effect on children’s adjustment at school, which reflects their interpersonal relationships, school perceptions, school attitudes, and feelings at school (Vassilopoulos et al., 2018). Thus, the aim of the present study was the evaluation of a 12-session, short-term, school-based transformative human rights education program on children’s knowledge of human rights and their school adjustment. Specifically, it investigated whether the children’s perceptions of human rights, empathy, school liking, school avoidance and loneliness would change after the implementation of the program. Sample selection was based on the availability of the teachers who contributed as group facilitators. Research participants were 340 Greek primary school students, who were allocated in the intervention group (n = 187) and the control group (n = 153). Intervention group members participated in 12 weekly human rights education sessions with activities from the Compasito manual on human rights (Flowers et al., 2007). Control group members followed the official school curriculum and did not participate in any human rights education program. Research data were collected through a written questionnaire, measuring knowledge of human rights, interpersonal relationships with their teacher and peers, empathy, and perceptions, attitudes, and feelings towards school. The questionnaire was administered to all participants one week prior and one week after the termination of the program. A follow-up measurement was conducted four months later. Results were encouraging in the intervention group, showing an increase in the members’ knowledge of rights, emotional support from their teacher and peers, and school liking, as well as a decrease in school avoidance, and loneliness. On the other hand, control group members did not report any improvement over time. Human rights education seems beneficial to children and schools, enhancing adjustment through strong human bonds and engaging school environments. Benefits and further human rights education possibilities are discussed.

Bajaj, M. (Ed.). (2017). Human rights education: Theory, research, praxis. University of Pennsylvania Press. Bajaj, M., Cislaghi, B., & Mackie, G. (2016). Advancing transformative human rights education: Appendix D to the report of the global citizenship commission. Open Book Publishers. Flowers, N., Santos, M. E. B., & Szelényi, Z. (2007). Compasito: Manual on human rights education for children. Council of Europe. Stavrou, V., Brouzos, A., Vassilopoulos, S. P., & Koutras, V. (2023). Evaluating the impact of human rights education on the adjustment of Greek primary school students. International Journal of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12937 Tibbitts, F. L. (2017). Revisiting ‘emerging models of human rights education’. International Journal of Human Rights Education, 1(1), 2. Vassilopoulos, S. P., Brouzos, A., & Koutsianou, A. (2018). Outcomes of a universal social and emotional learning (SEL) group for facilitating first-grade students' school adjustment. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 6(3), 223–236. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683603.2017.1327830

This symposium contributes to decades of international research designed to understand and improve leadership practices across educational sites. In times where uncertainty for educational development prevails, the work of a group of educators described as middle leaders, whose remit is largely to support professional learning, brings hope to teaching development. Scholarship shows that the study of educational leadership is predominantly focused on the work, characteristics, and practices of school principals (Gurr & Drysdale, 2013). Yet among the web of leadership practices (Nehez et al., 2022), the leading and development practices of middle leaders are less prominent as a dedicated focus of research (Forde et al., 2019). Across the globe, middle leaders are increasingly recruited to support site-based education development of teachers in primary and secondary schools, preschools, and universities (Grootenboer et al., 2020; Vangrieken et al., 2017). Site-based education development, a term coined by Kemmis et al. (2024), is a central notion for capturing the actual situatedness (needs and circumstances of practitioners) that influence the practices for leading professional learning. This symposium draws together research conducted in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden seeking to redress the more limited body of research focused on middle leadership, particularly as it relates to the productivity of communicative practices employed when middle leaders lead education development in their own settings.

Middle leaders are variously defined across different educational jurisdictions and international contexts (Lipscomb et al., 2023); for example, they are known as first teachers or development leaders in Sweden, or instructional leaders, instructional teachers or middle leaders in Australia and New Zealand. Among their designated roles, it is generally understood that a main responsibility is to facilitate professional development and curriculum change initiatives (Rönnerman et al., 2018). In this symposium, presenters consider middle leaders as those educators responsible for leading, teaching, communicating and collaborating with teams of colleagues as they manage and facilitate professional development among their colleagues (Grootenboer et al., 2020). As previous research has shown, as middle leaders lead the learning of others, the framing and focus of their roles and responsibilities shift responsively across their leading practices requiring different relational intensities as they work alongside teaching colleagues and senior leadership (Edwards-Groves et al., 2023). This heightens the research attention needed to illuminate the sociality, so communicative interactional imperatives, of middle leading practices.

Capitalising on the ‘practice turn’ in education (Kemmis et al., 2014), the papers in this symposium utilise practice theories to explore the nature and influence of middle leaders’ communicative practices as they engage in their leading work. Broad questions for the collection of papers consider the relationship between middle leading practices (what actually happens), the sociality (the intersubjective and interpersonal), the situatedness (the site-ontological responsiveness) and the enabling and constraining conditions (or practice architectures) which influence the day-to-day practices of middle leaders. Practice theories attend assiduously to the site in both existential and ontological terms as being sited (in actual places where things happen), not just as a location in an abstract and universal matrix of space-time (Kemmis et al., 2014, pp. 214-215). In this light, the papers aim to show how middle leaders leading the practice development of their colleagues recognise and respond to the local contingencies ‘at work’ in the site. This reciprocally requires a theory of practice that treats middle leading practices as situated, socially, dialogically, ontologically and temporally constituted. This view of practices is important for considering, as the papers in this symposium do, ways the communication practices enacted by middle leaders are comprised of practices that promote and embody dialogue, relationality and responsivity.

This paper presents critique of the development of “co-leading” (Spillane et al., 2008) practices among principals’ and teachers’ in a distributed model for school improvement initiative implemented in primary schools in a Swedish municipality. “Co-leading” is a collaborative practice whereby principals and teachers, as middle leaders (Rönnerman et al., 2018), work in a distributed leadership model for school improvement. “Co-leading”, recommended in the state public inquiry report The Trust Delegation (Bringselius, 2018), draws on the theoretical framework of distributed leadership which values the mutual execution of leading (Spillane, 2006). The notion of distribution argues for others than formal leaders to have authority to lead (Liljenberg, 2015) in orientations focused on ‘power-with’ rather than ‘power-over’ (Møller, 2002). “Co-leading” is built on a foundation of trust, openness, transparency, tolerance and reciprocal accountability which require genuine collaboration and communication between the leaders. Importantly, ‘accountability’ means recognising the mutual relationship between answerability, responsibility, and capacity-building (Hatch, 2013). Over four years a distributed leadership model involving principals and teachers as “co-leaders” with site responsive assignments focused on leading school improvement was developed in the Stenungsund municipality. The project design, inspired by Ekholm’s (1989) infrastructure model based on Miles’ (1965) understanding of social life in organizations, involved principals and teachers as middle leaders being assigned tasks, responsibilities, and mandates to lead school-based activities for teachers’ professional learning. Critical reflection, evaluation, and analysis of participant feedback found that to make the distributed leadership practice work, requires leaders at all levels to take explicit accountability for their assignments. Lack of clear assignment descriptions tended to limit co-leaders work to simply passing on information and administration (Harris, 2014). Multiple dimensions of accountability were found, including: • Individual teachers’ accountability for instructional development. • Teaching staff’s collective accountability in educational practice development. • Individual “co-leaders” accountability in collective developing an improvement area. • “Co-leader” networks collective accountability in developing an improvement area. • Networks coordinators’ accountability for the development of “co-leaders” learning and leading of teachers’ learning. • Principals’ accountability in leading individual “co-leaders” and their network. • Head of schools’ accountability in leading principals’ learning and leading. Findings provide insight into ways the co-leader initiative has implications for designing professional learning through a systematic and collaborative process where co-leaders work together to develop mutual understandings of what reciprocal accountability must entail. Results also show that a successful distributed leadership practice including teachers builds capacity for middle leader development.

Bringselius, L. (2018). Styra och leda med tillit – Forskning och praktik. SOU 2018:38. Utbildningsdepartementet, Stockholm. Ekholm, M. (1989). Att organisera en skola. In, L. Svedberg & M. Zaar (Eds), Skolans själ (s. 17–36). Utbildningsförlaget. Harris, A. (2014). Distributed leadership matters: Perspectives, Practicalities, and Potential. Corwin. Hatch, T. (2013). Beneath the surface of accountability: Answerability, responsibility and capacity-building in recent education reforms in Norway. Journal of Educational Change, 14 (2), 113-138. Liljenberg, M. (2015). Distributing leadership to establish developing and learning school organisations in the Swedish context. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 43(1), 152-170. Miles, M. (1965). Planned Change and Organizational Health: Figure and Ground. Change Processes in the Public School, (p. 12–34). University of Oregon Press. Møller, J. (2002). Democratic leadership in an age of managerial accountability. Improving Schools, 5(1), 11-20. Rönnerman, K., Edwards-Groves, C., & Grootenboer, P. (2018). Att leda från mitten - lärare driver professionell utveckling [trans: Leading from the middle - Teachers driving professional development]. Lärarförlaget. Spillane, J. (2006). Distributed leadership. Jossey-Bass Spillane, J., Camburn, E., Pustejovsky, J., Pareja, A., & Lewis, G. (2008). Taking a Distributed Perspective: Epistemological and Methodological Trade-offs in Operationalizing the Leader-Plus Aspect. Journal of Educational Administration, 46(2), 189–213.

It is well established that middle leaders make a difference in school development (Edwards-Groves et al., 2019) but understanding their specific leading practices has remained less clear, particularly of those middle leaders who have both teaching and leading responsibilities in schools (Grootenboer et al., 2014, 2020). This paper examines the efficacy of dialogue conferences employed as a participatory approach to supporting middle leaders’ professional learning in a four-year research project investigating middle leaders practices in Australian schools. Dialogue conferences, also known as research circles or study circles, is a methodology rooted in Scandinavian traditions of democracy, collaboration and inclusion (Löfqvist et al., 2019; Rönnerman & Olin, 2012). In this study, dialogue conferences involving middle leaders were used as a collaborative approach for determining the day-to-day practices middle leaders enact when supporting teaching change in their schools. The dialogue conferences had three interrelated purposes: i) member checking, ii) professional learning and dissemination, and iii) data gathering. In this presentation, we focus on the first and second purposes to discuss ways dialogic conferences created conditions which validated the work of middle leaders and simultaneously promoted robust engagement in professional conversations and extended knowledge about nature of middle leading roles and responsibilities. Deductive thematic analysis, using the theory of practice architectures as an analytical framework, showed how participating in the dialogue conferences enabled middle leaders to enter and engage in a democratic dialogic space that valued different ideas, practices, experiences and opinions (Bahktin, 1981). Participants attributed value in the activities (guided, but not governed, by the researchers) that explored their understandings about their own leading practices; and, according to participants, to ‘challenge theoretical thinking’, ‘broaden understanding of professional practices’, ‘boost to confidence in using existing ideas about middle leading work’ and to ‘introduce a valuable new, expanded lexicon about middle leading practices’. To conclude, the dialogue conferences created cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that enabled middle leader participants to (a) extol the value of encouraging dialogue about their different leading practices; and (b) be reflexively encouraged the develop intersubjective understandings about their own ideas, presuppositions, knowledge and practices. Responding to Forde et al’s (2019) call for focused professional development for middle leaders, results demonstrate the value of dialogue conferences for rigorous intellectual engagement and knowledge generation.

Bakhtin, M. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M.M. Bakhtin. M. Holquist (Ed). Trans. C. Emerson and M. Holquist. University of Texas Press. Edwards-Groves, C., Grootenboer, P., Hardy, I., & Rönnerman, K. (2019). Driving change from ‘the middle’: middle leading for site based educational development, School Leadership & Management, doi10.1080/13632434.2018.1525700 Forde, C., et al. (2019). Evolving policy paradigms of middle leadership in Scottish and Irish education: implications for middle leadership professional development. School Leadership & Management, 39 (3-4), 297-314. Grootenboer, P., Edwards-Groves, & Rönnerman, K. (2014). Leading practice development: Voices from the middle. Professional Development in Education, 41(3), 508-526. Grootenboer, P., Edwards-Groves, C. & Rönnerman, K. (2020). Middle Leadership in Schools. Routledge. Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P., & Bristol, L. (2014). Changing practices, changing education. Springer. Löfqvist, C., Månsson Lexell, M., Nilsson, M., & Iwarsson, S. (2019). Exploration of the research circle methodology for user involvement in research on home and health dynamics in old age. Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 33 (2), 85-102. Rönnerman, K., & Olin, A. (2012). Research circles - enabling changes in site based educational development. Paper presented at the Australian Association of Research in Education, Sydney, December, 2012.

This paper critiques middle leadership research, in particular the research presented in this symposium, that address and account for ways the different communicative practices of middle leaders in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden align and disalign - converge and diverge. It contextualises and capitalises on the growing body of international middle leadership research the site-based conditions under which middle leaders work in the different jurisdictions. In particular, the paper discusses the concept of communicative space, and the practices that middle leaders employ, as a productive way to promote teacher professional learning in schools. By drawing across the papers, remarks will be made about the need to understand the nature of how such a space is constituted as practice-in-action. In particular it aims to shed light on what space means in the creation of communicative spaces - as a practice architecture - which promote open productive dialogues, a notion often taken to be a catch-all phrase. It seeks to shed light on the importance of communication practices in middle leader work to extend beyond more common understandings of ‘collaborative learning’ (Fisher, 2013) and ‘communities of practices’ (Wenger, 2000). The discussion will highlight the nature of the spaces and the practices enacted by middle leaders, to consider how in the different international settings these spaces are created, nourished and sustained by the leading practices of middle leaders. The critique will directly highlight how each of the papers from the different national contexts enable and constrain communication through the practices of middle leaders as examined in the research. Questions will be posed the presenting authors related to further research.

Grootenboer, P., Edwards-Groves, C. & Rönnerman, K. (2020). Middle Leadership in Schools: A practical guide for leading learning. Routledge. Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P. & Bristol, L. (2014). Changing Practices, Changing Education. Springer. Rönnerman, K., Edwards-Groves, C., & Grootenboer, P. (2018). Att leda från mitten - lärare driver professionell utveckling [trans: Leading from the middle - Teachers driving professional development]. Lärarförlaget.

Skill mismatches and especially skill shortages present significant challenge for the socio-economic development of many EU countries and neighboring developed economies in the conditions of the post-pandemic recovery and degrading global geopolitical situation. Understanding of the nature of skill mismatch and skill shortages in the context of changing labour markets and their implications for labour migration is crucially important in seeking to deal with existing inadequacies by applying skills development, activation and matching, remuneration, changing work conditions and innovations at work (EC, 2020). According to the European Labour Authority (McGrath, 2021) skills shortages in the workforce affect as many as 28 occupations currently employing 14% of the total EU workforce, concerning STEM, healthcare, IT and communication, as well as transport, hospitality, retail, manufacturing and construction. Skill shortages are usually dealt by the labour market stakeholders and policy makers by investing in the development of the local human capital or relying on attracting of the migrant workers. Triandafyllidou (2017) claims that current skills shortages in the EU can be dealt with more effectively by a demand-led approach taking into consideration economic cycles of Member States, different economies and labour markets and long-term socio-demographic processes like ageing of societies, configuration of nuclear families without extended support networks, and participation of women in paid work. McGrath (2021) claims that most employees in shortage occupations in the EU have a medium level of qualification and the possibilities to compensate for skills shortages by employing migrants are limited by the shortage of such workers in origin countries. Despite of growing understanding of the role of immigration in the solution of skills shortages in the EU and neighboring developed countries, applied practices of immigration and integration of migrant workforce raise many issues of sustainability. Employing migrant workers is widely used to solve labour and skills shortages but is often based on short-term economic interests and lacks socio-economic sustainability. European Commission concern over reliance of sectors and enterprises in the EU on low skilled migrant workforce is because this is an unsustainable strategy that worsens the quality of work and life not only for migrants but also for the societies of host countries. Sustainability of international recruitment of migrants involves not only dignity of their work and employment but also development of their human capital by creating a pool of talent to be used also by countries of origin (EC, 2020). The EU New Pact on Migration (European Commission 2020) encourages the establishment of wide skills partnerships in the EU and third countries covering policies of education, economic development, public administration, sectoral development, research, energy, environmental protection and dealing with climate change. This document also stresses the importance of capacity building for VET and integration of returning migrants in both countries of origin and destination.

This workshop seeks to discuss the implications of the skills shortage models of so called destination countries in Europe for the choices of economic stakeholders and policy makers between the investment in the development of local human capital and attracting migrant workforce. There are discussed the following research questions: 1) What are the common and specific features of skill matching and skills shortages in the countries? 2) How are the eventual skill mismatches and shortages regarded and treated by the enterprises, education and training providers and policy makers? 3) Tow what extent and how immigration and attracting foreign workforce is favored as solution of skill matching and shortage problems?

It is based on the research executed in the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 programme project “Skill Partnerships for Sustainable and Just Migration Patterns (Skills4Justice) implemented in 2023-2026.

Global trends of increasing inequalities, decreasing citizen participation, pandemics, climate or technological change all have a profound impact on education. At the same time education is a critical site for change-making that can empower citizens to shape their future, but also those of communities and societies. Educational literature and policies increasingly suggest that teachers can act as ‘agents of change’ for addressing the challenges, such as increasing diversity of student populations that result from migration flows, or those related to the spread of artificial intelligence.

The idea that teachers can be key actors for leading and responding to change has reflected in the increasing number of empirical studies of teacher agency in relation to inclusion and social justice (Li & Ruppar, 2020; Pantić, 2017), school transformations (Reinius et al., 2022), climate change (Andrzejewski, 2016) and responses to pandemic (Ehren et al., 2021). These and other studies have started to show how teachers exercise agency for different purposes, pointing to the importance of relationships and collaboration, accounting for diversity of perspectives, opportunities for reflection. However, teachers’ capacity to act as agents of change is still under-researched, especially with regards to their impact on change and its mechanisms amidst other powerful influences. How do they make a difference that really matters to their students, professional and wider communities? And how can they be prepared and empowered to exercise agency to enact, shape or at times challenge change?

Agency is often described as a slippery concept. Different philosophical, sociological, psychological and educational theories emphasise differently individual and social aspects of agency. Questions about the nature and purposes of change are at the heart of understanding teachers’ roles and ways of responding to various, often external, agendas. Studies begin to show how educators’ own understanding of change might position them as both agents of change and of continuity. For example, they might embrace or resist technological change depending on its impact on their practice and availability of support to develop relevant skills. Teacher agency is highly contextualised and dependant on other actors in complex institutional, political and cultural dynamics (Berliner, 2002; Vongalis-Macrow, 2007).

Taking into account its relational and contextual nature, this symposium considers manifestations of teachers’ agency for different purposes and across different contexts, and its implications for teacher education and development, as follows:

1) The first paper considers interaction between teachers’ relational agency and structural conditions in three schools in Scotland, focusing on the patterns of teachers’ collaboration around support for migrant students.

2) The second paper considers the impact of the accessibility of artificial intelligence on Italian teachers’ agency focusing on their own beliefs, expectations, and fears.

3) The third paper highlights the importance of collaborative learning for development of teacher agency in Collaborative Action Research (CAR) programmes in six schools in Serbia.

4) The fourth paper considers the internationalisation of teacher education programmes in Sweden as a way of broadening student teachers’ perspectives that can make a difference towards addressing global challenges, such as diversity and inclusion.

Together these papers aim to unpack the concept of teacher agency for change in relation to the different areas of change and relative to the specific opportunities and constrains afforded by different school and country contexts. Central to these considerations is the role of schools and educators in shaping rather than simply responding to and coping with change. The symposium also considers opportunities for teacher education and development to collectively, together with learners and other actors, shape the kind of education that reflects the needs of their communities and for learning across different school and policy contexts.

This study aims to connect the dots between policies and practices in teachers' support for migrant students in Scotland. A universalist approach to integration of migrants in schools requires teachers to collaborate with specialists such as English as Additional language to support students withing the mainstream provision. In doing so they exercise a form of relational agency (Edwards, 2010) to mobilise the knowledge that exists within the school community. While contexts matter for the formation and dynamics of collaborative relationships and networks in schools, which contexts matter and how, however, often remains unestablished. Our study observes how teachers in three different schools collaborate with specialists to enact policy guidelines. The research questions are: 1) how the forms of teachers' collaboration reflect the policy arrangements within their school culture, and 2) in students’ perceptions. The study is informed by the principles of inclusive pedagogy, which sees diversity as the norm. In particular, the principle of inclusive collaboration among teachers and school staff is used as an interpretative lens for interactions that underlie teachers’ relational agency (Pantic & Florian, 2015) to codify the intensity and nature of teachers' collaborations and networks supporting migrant students, especially in their interactions with specialists. The study triangulates data collected with mixed methods, including social network and policy analysis, with qualitative fieldwork data collected in three schools in Scotland - Juniper, Beech, and Rowan (pseudonyms) - over the course of three years, from 2020 to 2023. The findings show how schools operating in the same policy setting have taken different approaches to addressing student diversity in their internal policies and to inform their daily practice. Teachers in different schools have used specialist support, such as the English for Additional Language teacher, differently in ways that are more or less aligned to the principles of inclusive pedagogy. Findings also show that policies largely focus on academic learning, with little to no mention of socialization and a sense of belonging, which is also reflected in students’ perceptions. Migrant students are primarily seen as speakers of a different language, flattening the heterogeneity of the group. Overall, this study unveils teachers’ relational practices in the support of migrant students at the intersection between the prevailing approach in Scotland and school-specific cultures of collaboration.

Edwards, P. A. (2010). Relational Agency: Working with Other Practitioners. In Being an Expert Professional Practitioner (pp. 61–79). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3969-9_4 Pantić, N. & Florian, L. (2015). Developing teachers as agents of inclusion and social justice. Education Inquiry 6(3), 333-351.

The recent global emergence of freely accessible Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms has marked a radical turning point in the field of education as well. However, while some analysts magnify the potential beneficial effects of AI on student learning, others highlight the risk that AI may impoverish the social and emotional aspects of teaching and, more broadly, deprofessionalize teachers (Holmes, 2023; UNESCO, 2021). This tension also permeates research on AI in Education (AIED), which highlights the potential of such tools in promoting student learning (e.g., by providing personalized learning content and intelligent feedback), but overlooks the crucial role played by teachers in facilitating this enhancement (Lameras, 2022). In light of this, it is pivotal to investigate the effects that the introduction of AI in schools has on teacher agency, as a key dimension of their professionalism. To this end, this contribution adopts a notion of agency as an ecological and relational dimension, which emerges through dialogue among actors within the structural and cultural context they are part of (Edwards, 2015; Pantić, 2015). In this sense, the literature emphasizes that teacher beliefs are instrumental in achieving professional agency (Priestley et al., 2015). Consequently, it is important to understand whether they also play a relevant role in shaping their approach to AI in education. This theme has been investigated through an exploratory study that examined the perceptions and orientations of primary school teachers towards AI through two research questions: - RQ1: What are the beliefs of primary school teachers regarding the use of AI in education? - RQ2: What are their expectations and fears in this regard? The study used a mixed methods approach through a survey that included both closed and open-ended questions directed at primary school teachers in Italy. The participants were a convenience sample, contacted through bulk email invitations, totaling 327 respondents. The quantitative data were processed through a descriptive analysis using SPSS, while the open responses were examined using thematic analysis supported by NVivo. The analysis of the survey results offers an initial interesting overview of teachers' beliefs regarding the potential impact of AI on their professional agency. The findings and their related implications in terms of ethics, inclusion, and social justice will be presented and discussed during the symposium.

Edwards, A. (2015). Recognising and realising teachers’ professional agency. Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 779-784. Holmes, W., & Kharkova, I. (2023). The Challenge of Artificial Intelligence. Anthem Publishing. Lameras, P., & Arnab, S. (2021). Power to the teachers. An Exploratory Review on Artificial Intelligence in Education. Information, 13(1), 14. Pantić, N. (2015). A model for study of teacher agency for social justice. Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 759-778. Priestley, M., Biesta, G., Robinson, S. (2015). Teacher agency: An ecological approach. Bloomsbury. UNESCO (2021). AI and Education: A guidance for policymakers. UNESCO Publishing.

Over the years, various approaches to addressing what teachers need to know and how they should be taught to address differences between learners have been promoted. With traditional in-service training proving ineffective, there's been a push for alternative methods of professional development (PD) (UNESCO, 2020). Effective PD, as suggested, should be school-based, collaborative, embedded in teachers' daily routines, and offer follow-up support (Bull & Buechler, 1997). This has led to the development of different forms of collaborative PD, including frequently used action research (Waitoller & Artiles, 2013). Action research, especially collaborative action research (CAR), has shown promise in enhancing teachers' sense of agency, redefining professional roles, and fostering competencies (Angelides et al., 2008; Jovanović et al., 2017). So, how come many teachers still report feeling unprepared or lacking confidence in addressing learning differences (Cochran-Smith et al., 2016), despite the promise and widespread implementation of CAR? We aim to present a cross-case analysis of CAR in six primary and secondary schools in Serbia. The analysis explores how teachers and researchers perceive their learning through CAR, while also identifying system-level barriers to CAR as a PD. Since May 2022, researchers and school practitioners in six schools in Serbia have collaborated to develop inclusive practices and foster inclusive school communities. They've utilised a CAR design involving planning, acting, observing, reflecting, and revising (Zuber-Skerritt, 1996). The planning phase included a two-day workshop devoted to situation analysis, problem definition, and collaborative planning of action research. The acting and observing stage is followed by joint reflection on the process and outcomes of CAR. The reflection process is further supported through communities of practice, which engaged participants from all six schools. Six case studies, one from each school, will be prepared using various data sources - focus group discussions with school practitioners and researchers, research products (e.g., research plans), and written communication between practitioners and researchers. The cross-case analysis will be approached inductively using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings will be discussed from a systemic perspective (Senge, 2020), attempting to identify patterns, system structures, and underlying beliefs that hinder the use of CAR as a tool for strengthening teachers’ competencies for inclusive education. The work is part of the project “Enhanced Equal Access to and Completion of Pre-University Education for Children in Need of Additional Support in Education” implemented by UNICEF Serbia and Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia, supported by the Delegation of EU.

Angelides, P., Georgiou, R., & Kyriakou, K. (2008). The implementation of a collaborative action research programme for developing inclusive practices: social learning in small internal networks. Educational Action Research, 16(4), 557–568. Bull, B., & Buechler, B. (1997). Planning together: Professional development for teachers of all students. Indiana Education Policy Center. Cochran-Smith, M., A. M. Villegas, L. Abrams, L. Chavez-Moreno, T. Mills, & R. Stern (2016). Research on Teacher Preparation: Charting the Landscape of a Sprawling Field. In D. Gitomer & C. Bell (eds.), Handbook of Research on Teaching (pp. 439–546). AERA. Jovanović, O., Plazinić, L., Joksimović, J., Komlenac, J., & Pešikan, A. (2017). Developing the early warning system for identification of students at risk of dropping out using a collaborative action research process. Psihološka istraživanja, 20(1), 107-125. https://doi.org/10.5937/PsIstra1701107J Senge, P. (2020). Commentary: Why practicing a system’s perspective is easier said than done. Applied Developmental Science, 24(1), 57–61. UNESCO (2020). Global Education Monitoring Report. Inclusive teaching: preparing all teachers to teach all students. Available at: Waitoller, F. R., & Artiles, A. J. (2013). A Decade of Professional Development Research for Inclusive Education: A Critical Review and Notes for a Research Program. Review of Educational Research, 83(3), 319-356.

Internationalisation is now integrated into the policies and curricula of most universities in the world, and increasingly embedded within education courses. It is valued for contributing to the quality of education and for broadening students’ experiences during their studies (Beelen & Jones, 2015). But, initial teacher education programs are still nationally-oriented, and internationalisation questions are often marginalised (Alexiadou et.al., 2021; Bamberger & Yemini, 2022). Our presentation reports findings from a research that investigates internationalisation of initial teacher education in a Swedish university. We focus on dimensions of internationalisation from the perspectives of the curriculum for K4-6 and students. Our research questions are: (a) How does the teacher education curriculum engage with internationalisation? (b) What are the perceptions and experiences of teacher education students in relation to internationalisation? Our empirical research consists of (a) content document analysis of the Primary Teacher Education programme curriculum; (b) review of core documents that frame teacher education in the specific university, and, (c) interviews with ten teacher education students. Our analysis suggests that despite the aspirations in the university-level policies, internationalisation does not emerge as an apparent agenda at the syllabi level. Explicit references of internationalisation are quite scarce. There are however (a) student skills and attributes connected to internationalisation such as critical thinking and global citizenship, and (b) whole syllabi that deal with interculturality and inclusion (themes of social justice, democracy, diversity, multilingualism, human local and global ecosystems). Nevertheless, the syllabi appear to be mostly situated in local and national than global narratives, which reflects the dilemma of universities, and Teacher Education, in their internationalisation process: balancing between national/local needs and those from internationalisation agendas. The students’ interviews suggest very positive attitudes towards further internationalisation of the curriculum. Students critique the relatively low engagement with internationalization questions, and propose that this could be better integrated into the pedagogical practice.

Alexiadou, N., Kefala, Z., Rönnberg, L. 2021. Preparing education students for an international future? Connecting students' experience to institutional contexts. Journal of Studies in International Education, 25:4, 443-460. Bamberger, A., Yemini, M. 2022. Internationalisation, teacher education and institutional identities: A comparative analysis. Teachers and Teaching 0:0, pages 1-19. Beelen, J., & Jones, E. 2015. Redefining internationalisation at home. In A. Curaj, L. Matei, R. Pricopie, J. Salmi & P. Scott. (Eds.) The European higher education area. Between critical reflections and future policies (pp. 59–72). Springer Open.

Both parts of this symposium address the professional challenge rapid new-deregulations of laws and standards, freeing people of human-rights (neoliberalism), have created systemic injustice, and the widest gap between the poorest and the richest since World War II. Mistrust leads to students, more than willing to work hard, dropping out of school without them or their families knowing what to do to earn a living. Children and families turn to begging at the limits of poverty and are vulnerable to recruitment into regimes of Violence, Uncertainty, Chaos and Ambiguity.

To address the professional challenge in this first part of a larger symposium the following themes are addressed by perspectives from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) including Iraq, Morocco, Palestine, and Syrian Refugees' experiences in Lebanon, Turkey and France of:

1. Authoritarian hierarchical top-down delivery of PISA driven curriculums in classrooms de-professionalize educators and administrators by removing their autonomy (Sahlberg, 2012). Reduced to transmitters of government ideology, teachers are prevented from culturally responsive lesson-planning using students’ baseline-assessments to inform differentiated learning-plans for success. This creates systemic injustice as students with the system's ‘right capital’ succeed and get richer and those without drop out of school to become beggars, or engage with risky business of trafficking of illegal goods and people, or fail at school and, in any case get poorer.

2. Capital of disadvantaged students with intersectionalities of discrimination, assessed using deficit models, is found wanting. Students’ marginalised capital remains unrecognised and no differentiated lesson-planning creates pathways to curriculum Intended Learning Outcomes. Rather, they are segregated/streamed to Special Education Needs and Disability/lower ability classrooms with low expectations. This perpetuates patterns of illiteracy and prevents accessing knowledge of community-building to stop neoliberalism and systemic injustice implemented by power of a person, not power of the law.

Presenters offer culturally relevant responses to ways their Universities' Education Departments address the following question:

1. How and in what ways can University Schools of Education act as hubs to support a school to build a professional development community of practice.

Each partner of our symposium addresses the question and our themes step by step.

Step 1 The intricate challenges posed by climate change exacerbated by war and forced migration, significantly impact impoverished families, perpetuating social injustice and impeding sustainable development. The symposium partners draw on Dewey's Professional Educators and Administrators Committees for Empowerment (PEACE) to build Participation, Experience, Association, Communication, and Environment. This theoretical foundation employing action research methodology throughout the curriculum design, delves into the multifaceted consequences of climate change, war, forced migration and reaching the limits of poverty. The adverse effects, such as irregular rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, and heightened temperatures for nationals and for new arrivals, directly jeopardise agricultural productivity—the linchpin of rural livelihoods. Lacking resources and knowledge to navigate these challenges, impoverished families face heightened vulnerability, further exacerbated by limited access to crucial information, technologies and transparent democratic policy for social justice. Consequently, children from these families often confront early school dropout, if schooling is even available, which amplifies cycles of poverty and social injustice.

Step 2 Adapting ‘A Blueprint for Character Development for Evolution (ABCDE) to offer five stages drawing on social contract theory, to prepare teachers to recognise bias and reverse it when building community with teachers, students and families.

Each partner incorporates diverse perspectives and community building using the frameworks and methodologies above, to reverse local inequality, and through powerful Higher Education networks, mainstream them in education systems to reverse g/local inequality.

Refugees in Iraq have been the most complicated humanitarian crisis in the region, and has had an impact on all sectors of life. The areas most affected by the crisis are located in the north of the country, mainly around Mosul. This area has witnessed extremely harsh humanitarian crises for the last three decades after thousands of people were forced to flee their homes and villages for safety. Mosul has been the site of many conflicts across different fronts that have resulted in the displacement of thousands of families and the disruption of access to primary education for thousands of children. Most refugees are currently staying in refugee camps with minimum support and severe living conditions. Mosul and the surrounding areas were liberated from the terrorist groups but refugees are still in their camps with no foreseeable plan of returning home. Addressing the requirements of the support needed by people, mainly children, within such a context of uncertainty is challenging in the areas where the camps are. Thousands of children in the camps have been deprived of their rights to access education. The 1948 United Nations declaration of human rights clearly states in Article 26: ‘Everyone has the right to education’, but thousands of Iraqi refugee children are deprived of their basic education rights and are trapped in poverty with no hope for the future. Using the conceptual frameworks and theories of this symposium, lessons learned from the refugee crisis in Iraq are presented around how to effectively assess the needs of the refugees, establish a workable system to support their situation in all aspects of life, and achieve a sustainable education for them in new partnerships between Universities, school teachers, students and families.

Brown, K. M., Benkovitz, J., Muttillo, A. J., & Urban, T. (2011). Leading schools of excellence and equity: Documenting effective strategies in closing achievement gaps. Teachers College Record, 113, 57–96. Cole, J. (2012) ‘Iraq in 1939: British Alliance or Nationalist Neutrality toward the Axis?’ Britain and the World 5 (2) 204-222. Dodge, T (2006) The British mandate in Iraq, 1920-1932. The Middle East Online: Series 2: Iraq 1914–1974. Dogan, Serkan, et al (2017) ‘A glimpse at the intricate mosaic of ethnicities from Mesopotamia: Paternal lineages of the Northern Iraqi Arabs, Kurds, Syriacs, Turkmens and Yazidis’, in PloS one 12 (11). Garavini, G. (2019) The Rise and Fall of OPEC in the twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Garfield, R. (1999) Morbidity and Mortality among Iraqi Children from 1990 through 1998: Assessing the Impact of the Gulf War and Economic Sanctions. Hatem Issa, J., Jamil, H. (2010) Overview of the Education System in Contemporary Iraq in European Journal of Social Sciences, 14 (3) 360-368. Ministry of Planning (2018) Iraq National Development Plan 2018-2022. Baghdad: High National Development Plan Development Planning Committee. Wenner, J. and Campbell, T. (2017) The Theoretical and Empirical Basis of Teacher Leadership. 87 (1) pp. 134–171.

In the rural regions of Morocco, the intricate challenges posed by climate change significantly impact impoverished families, perpetuating social injustice and impeding sustainable development. Drawing on Dewey's Professional Educators, and Administrators Committees for Empowerment (PEACE) to optimise Participation, Experience, Association, Communication, and Environment) framework as a theoretical foundation and employing action research methodology throughout the curriculum design, this study delves into the multifaceted consequences of climate change. The adverse effects, such as irregular rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, and heightened temperatures, directly jeopardise agricultural productivity—the linchpin of rural livelihoods. Lacking resources and knowledge to navigate these challenges, impoverished families face heightened vulnerability, further exacerbated by limited access to crucial information and technologies. Consequently, children from these families often confront early school dropout, amplifying cycles of poverty and social injustice. The literature review incorporates diverse perspectives, with Leach's 2008 work providing a foundational understanding of the environmental context, Adger's 2006 emphasis on vulnerability and resilience, and Pelling and High's 2005 exploration of adaptive capacity and social capital. Blaikie's 2006 focus on community-based resource management and Gupta et al.'s 2010 tool for assessing institutional adaptive capacity contribute additional insights. To address these issues, the study advocates for building communities of practice that facilitate knowledge sharing among educators, community leaders, and families. Within an action research framework, University Education Department teacher training programs play a pivotal role in equipping educators with the skills to embed climate change resilience into the curriculum. Collaborative efforts involving teachers, communities, and families inform the curriculum, ensuring its contextual relevance and promoting sustainable practices. By fostering a sense of community and empowering educators, the study aims to enhance the adaptability of rural communities to climate change, simultaneously mitigating social injustices and breaking the cycle of early school dropout and poverty.

Andalousi, S. (2022) Berries with the taste of misery: Shocking exploitation of Moroccan female workers. El-Estiklal Newspaper. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2022) Near East and North African Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition; Trade as an Enabler For Food Security and Nutrition. Cairo https://www.fao.org/3/cc4773en/cc4773en.pdf Morocco World News (2022) A Legacy of Abuse Continues for Moroccan Migrant Workers in Spain. https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/08/279532/abuse-moroccan-migrant-workers-spain . Nuffic The Dutch Organisation for internationalization in education (2022). Primary and Secondary Education Morocco National curriculum https ://www.nuffic.nl/en/education-systems/morocco/primary-and-secondary-education Open Government Morocco (2021) national Action Plan 2021-2023. The Kingdom of Morocco https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Morocco_Action- Plan_2021-2023_EN.pdf Statista, (2023) Unemployment in Morocco in 2020 by gender and region. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1292145/unemployment-rate-in-morocco-by-gender-and-region/ United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights (General Assembly Resolution 217 A). Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/universal-declarationhuman-rights/. Taysum, A. and Zohri, A. (2023). Evaluative Policy Analysis Informing Framework Proposal to Micro-Credential Leaders of Lifelong Learning through King Mohammed VI African Institute, Marrakech Framework and 2030 Agenda, Journal of Groundwork Cases and Faculty of Judgement 2(2), 209-234.

School leadership refers to the persons or teams that guide, manage or lead education institutions at multiple educational levels (Pont, 2020). In Palestine, school leaders form a community of practice which aims to maximise the collaboration among them and exchange best practices to improve their professional growth, decision making and problem solving skills during and post crises. Education improves through effective school leaders. School leaders could improve the quality of thinking, learning and management as they can share multiple scenarios with teachers and students. In the Palestinian context, school leadership could be defined as a mixture of history, memory, educational and financial crises, the daily struggle against occupation, the desire of independence and several initiatives to make tangible changes in schools (Salha & Affouneh, 2023). School leaders face various challenges like workplace problems, and leading organisational change. Data were gathered through interviews and questionnaires by a mixed method case study design, with the gathering of quantitative and qualitative data. Results, and integration are used to provide in-depth evidence for the investigated case. Specifically, the researcher of this present study used sequential design, as it began with qualitative data collection, which was analysed and used to construct the study questionnaire. It was then followed by qualitative data collection in order to strengthen the interpretation of the results of quantitative data analysis. Findings revealed school leaders made significant differences in student learning and school improvement when granted autonomy to make decisions. School leaders acquired knowledge and skills in decentralisation as a new policy for education under uncertainty. Despite the lack of resources, Palestinian school leaders demonstrated trust in learning and teaching as national interest, and belief that community engagement is a main factor in school policy. In Palestine, School leadership is a goal and a tool, a goal that should promote and a tool to create community leaders and a community of practice. It could be difficult to lead schools in uncertain conditions, which is the usual case in Palestine. School leaders showed high flexibility to overcome several challenges to normalise emergencies and to manage crises. Designing a well-structured program of school leadership within University Education Departments, during and post crises is urgently needed to secure social justice, quality education and professional development. Adoption of decentralisation policy to empower school leaders to manage crises is recommended to engender their immediate response and learning through situational practices operationalising this symposium's frameworks and methodologies.

Salha, S. & Affouneh, S. (2023). The State of Art of Educational Leadership in Palestine: The Two Faces of the Coin. In Kh. Arar et al., (Eds). Demystifying Educational Leadership and Administration in the Middle East and North Africa (1st ed, pp 153-165). Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003334835-9. Pont B. (2020). A literature review of school leadership policy reforms. Eur J Educ, 55: 154–168. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12398

Since the uprising in 2011 in Syria, the political regime implemented increasingly intolerant and brutal and violent practices. Migrating Syrians, fleeing from Syria for their lives as undocumented refugees, face rapidly changing bureaucracy which, as quicksand, offers no foundation for building a good life. Access to education for children and young adults operationalises ‘exclusion by inclusion’, with little incentive to study. Three important case studies, in Lebanon in Turkey and in France show how the lack of inclusive policies has led to the exclusion of Syrians in these two neighbouring countries and the European country equally. In Lebanon, Turkey and France, Syrian refugees, like Palestinian refugees do not have equal access to education and the labour market. Virtual learning degree courses that may be accessible to Syrian and Palestinian refugees are useless with no pathways to a nation state's professions or teaching. This prevents Syrians and Palestinian refugees co-constructing public policy that supports diversity, equity and boosts inclusion. Drawing on this symposium's framework as a theoretical foundation and employing action research methodology throughout the curriculum design, this study delves into the multifaceted consequences of culturally relevant challenges for Syrian refugees in these three cases. These include Violence, Uncertainty, Chaos, Ambiguity and war, a loss of home, a loss of good livelihood, a loss of family and cultural traditions, and forced migration with refugee undocumented status into nation states that do not honour the Syrian language, literacies and wisdom. This can erode memories and ABCDE offers communities the chance to reignite the powerful memories of a culture and language and build community to advocate for social justice with feedback-loops to policy makers. The PEACE can mobilise ABCDE with agendas to develop strategies with milestones, that can be monitored and evaluated to hold governments accountable, through open government partnerships, to script inclusionary policies for education and all ares of the quadruple helix to realise social justice. Step by step PEACE and ABCDE can be mainstreamed with Virtual Universities in the digital economy offering high quality Micro-Credential Modules for teacher training and Continuing Professional Development to build communities’ languages and cultures of democracy to dismantle systemic injustices.

Al-Abdullah, Y. (2021). Facing the educational obstacles in the Northern Parisian Suburbs. The case of Allophone Syrian Dome Children in St Denis. Keynes et Mineurs en Mobilite, 6, 39-49. Al-Abdullah, Y. & Papa, R. (2019). Higher Education for Displaced Syrian Refugees: The Case of Lebanon. In K. Arar, J.S. Brooks & I. Bogotch (Eds), Education, Immigration and Migration (Studies in Educational Administration). (pp. 169-189). Emerald Publishing Limited. Adler, M. (1941). A Dialectic of Morals: Towards the Foundations of Political Philosophy. University of Notre Dame. Ball, S. (2004). Education policy and social class: The selected works of Stephen J. Ball. Routledge. Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and Education. MacMillan. Haidar-Baldwin, M., & Taysum, A. (2021). A contextualized policy analysis of Lebanese Education from the end of World War II 1944, to the dissolution of parliament in 2020. Journal of Groundwork Cases and Faculty of Judgement, 1(1), 72-93. Open Government Partnership. (2023). Global Summit. https://www.opengovpartnership.org Taysum, A. (2019). Education Policy as a Road Map to Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Emerald. United Nations. (2016). Agenda 2030. Sustainable Development Goals https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300.

Major global developments, such as climate change, migration, rising inequalities and demographic shifts, have contributed to the significant diversification of communities and classrooms (Cerna et al., 2021; International Organization for Migration, 2020; OECD, 2016, 2019). The increasing diversity has important implications for education systems, and policy efforts have, in many national contexts, begun to focus on “closing the gap”, in terms of academic outcomes, between students from majority and minority backgrounds (Howard, 2019). The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 calls on the education community to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. Learning environments play an important role in realizing the SDG 4 goals. However, little is known regarding equitable and inclusive learning environments and how these environments can manifest and link to educational outcomes in contemporary education.

This symposium explores how, and to what extent, learning environments can contribute to creating more equitable and inclusive education futures for learners in formal education settings. Researchers from Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands and China draw on a range of theories and methodological approaches to interrogate how physical, psycho-social and pedagogical contexts in which learning occurs can support students to achieve their full educational potential and develop a sense of belonging and self-worth irrespective of their personal and social circumstances (Cerna et al. 2021). Our symposium will provide a preview of a selection of papers which will be part of a Special Issue to be published in the Learning Environments Research Journal in the last quarter of 2024.

The first paper focuses on physical school spaces. It offers critical insights into how inclusion was prioritised from the outset in the design of vertical secondary schools, a new type of school in Australia. The authors combine capability and salutogenic theories in their conceptualisation of ‘inclusion and thriving’ to explore the diverse experiences of students. Challenges and trade-offs in achieving inclusive facilities for all are illuminated, providing valuable insights for future educational infrastructure development.

The second paper explores ‘wellbeing’, a complex and contested concept which has gained growing attention in education and research in recent years. Using a participatory art-informed photovoice methodological approach, the author explores students’ perspectives and experiences of wellbeing, and of their schools’ wellbeing-related supports in Ireland.

The third paper describes and discusses a university-wide teaching and learning initiative, developed in the Netherlands, which aims to create a more inclusive learning climate for all students. The ‘Mixed Classroom’ model, which was designed to enhance teachers’ and students’ diversity literacy and to stimulate meaningful interactions within classrooms, will be described and experiences with its implementation discussed.

The fourth paper focuses on inclusive pedagogies and, specifically, teachers’ conceptions and skills regarding differentiated instructions in China. The authors of the study used a variety of quantitative tools as well as in-depth interviews to explore the relationships between student teachers’ conceptions of diversity, equity and inclusion, their behavioral intentions, and pedagogical practices. Drawing on their findings they make recommendations for strengthening teacher professional development for more inclusive pedagogical spaces.

Following the four paper presentations, the lead editor of the special issue will discuss and interrogate theoretical perspectives and research findings to illustrate important areas for consideration, challenges and opportunities regarding the conceptualisation and realisation of safe, inclusive and equitable learning environments. Core strands of the learning environments literature as well as the most widely used learning environment measurement tools will be reviewed (Fraser, 2023) to identify and critically discuss how equity issues have been positioned and conceptualised in this body of work so far, and how these conceptualisations may benefit from further development and expansion in the future.

Schools that remain unchanged for decades influence whether generations of young people feel included and can access educational entitlements. Physical spaces communicate who was imagined as inhabiting the spaces as learners and what kind of pedagogic choices and meaningful learning would happen. Attending to how inclusion was prioritised from the outset in the design of new vertical secondary schools can inform future builds. So too can attending to the lived experiences of students to understand how these inclusive aspirations were and were not yet being achieved. For individuals and groups, particularly those identifying as a marginalised or minority group, living with disability, identifying as gender nonconforming, or someone from a non-majority cultural or religious background, infrastructure that may be largely considered ‘inclusive’ for most, may also be experienced as exclusionary for those who do not fit within the assumptions about what inclusive facilities require. To attend to diverse experiences, inclusion is uniquely conceptualised in this study as combining capability and salutogenic theories. Capability acknowledges that an individual’s right to choose a life they value is more likely to be achieved when people can be, feel, and do things to achieve those valued aspirations with the resources in their environment (Sen, 1985). The salutogenic potential of school environments (Antonovsky, 1996, Franz 2019) including ease of navigation within the built environment (comprehensibility), full participation (manageability), and links to purposeful life choices (meaningfulness) informed the data analysis. Vertical schools, a new type of school in Australia, provide the context for this study. These multi-storey schools in urban settings occupy significantly smaller areas of land than traditional ‘horizontal’ schools. They differ sufficiently from traditional schools to require and enable new ways of thinking. Aspirations for inclusion that were designed into three vertical high schools from the outset are outlined alongside data from over 200 Year 8 students about their experiences as learners in these environments. Student annotated maps were analysed alongside architect and educational leader interviews in a qualitative thematic process. Particular attention was paid to data from students whose experience was not the same as others. Inclusive environments were evident when they were authentic, made sense and were easy to manage. Aspects where students had to work harder to manage the learning or themselves in the environment resulted in students making trade-offs between competing aspects of wellbeing and inclusion, a challenge in achieving SDG4a, where facilities need to be inclusive for all.

Antonovsky, A. (1996). The salutogenic model as a theory to guide health promotion. Health promotion international, 11(1), 11-18. Franz, J. (2019). Designing ‘Space’for Student Wellbeing as Flourishing. School spaces for student wellbeing and learning: Insights from research and practice, 261-279. Sen, A. (1985). Well-being, agency and freedom: The Dewey lectures 1984. The Journal of philosophy, 82(4), 169-221.

Wellbeing is a multifaceted, complex and contested concept (Svane et al., 2019) that has gained increased attention and become more visible in education and research in recent years. With a greater focus on young persons’ wellbeing in Ireland (NCCA, 2021), this study supports efforts to nurture wellbeing in school by deepening our understanding of the multiple perspectives held by students regarding wellbeing. The participatory art-informed approach to this study aims to gain insights into the students’ perspectives and experiences of wellbeing, and into how young people perceive that their school supports their wellbeing. Photovoice is used as a reflective tool for students to explore what supports their wellbeing in their school context and as a tool for collaboration with teachers and other stakeholders. The participatory approach in itself aims to foster wellbeing, relationships and connectedness. Consistent with one of the overarching purposes of arts-informed research, it is an explicit intention of this study to reach audiences such as parents, students, and management boards. First-year student wellbeing was explored using photos and narratives from 43 student participants. The data was analysed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006). The participatory study design aimed to strengthen student voice and agency throughout the research process; a Children’s Research Advisory Group (CRAG) was involved in each step of the research process including with presenting findings which informed their own school-improvement plan and wellbeing programme. Six students volunteered for the CRAG. The research explores the potential power of images to access young people’s emotional stories and experiences of wellbeing, agency and belonging in school and will support professional development of teachers both at individual and whole-school level. This study demonstrates the significant and rich insights young people can provide when given voice. It highlights the impact relationships and connectedness have on student wellbeing and suggests areas for development that reflect student wellbeing in its complexity. The research concludes with recommendations regarding approaches that can assist schools in amplifying student voice, engendering greater agency, and contributing to decision making for an improved school environment.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design, Cambridge, Harvard University Press. Byrne, D., Carthy, A. & Mc Gilloway, S. (2020). A review of the role of school-related factors in the promotion of student social and emotional wellbeing at post-primary level. Irish Educational Studies, 39, 439-455. DES (2018). Wellbeing policy Statement and Framework for Practice 2018-2023. Dublin: DES. Graham, A., Powell, M. A. & Truscott, J. (2016). Facilitating Student Well-Being: Relationships Do Matter. Educational Research, 58, 366-383. Lundy, L. (2007). "Voice" is not enough: conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Educational Research Journal, 33, 927-942. NCCA (2021). Junior Cycle Wellbeing Guidelines 2021, Dublin, NCCA. Smyth, E. & Darmody, (2021). Risk and protective factors in adolescent behaviour: The role of family, school and neighbourhood characteristics in (mis)behaviour among young people. ESRI Research Series. Dublin: ESRI. Svane, D., Evans, N. & Carter, M. (2019). Wicked wellbeing: Examining the disconnect between the rhetoric and reality of wellbeing interventions in schools. Australian Journal of Education, 63, 209-231. Wang, C. & Burris, M. (1997). Photovoice: Concept, Methodology, and Use for Participatory Needs Assessment. Health Education & Behavior, 24, 369-387.

Educational systems, including higher education, are not yet level playing fields (Taylor et al., 2020; UNESCO, 2020). Also, within the Dutch context, higher education is characterized by inequality in terms of access, study success and belonging. Students with minority identities drop out more often, study longer, have lower levels participation, and experience lower levels of belonging (Wekker et al., 2016; Waldring et al. 2020). They are underserved in the current education systems. It is urgent to make education more equitable. However, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion approaches often focus on minority students. They aim to support them in closing gaps in terms of academic skills, and intend to familiarize them with the dominant university norms and codes (Essed, 2008). Inclusive education involves institutional transformation towards inclusive excellence, which is based on learning environments and pedagogies that are attuned to the varying needs, talents, and worldviews of every student, and brings out academic excellence in every student. But building on diversity this way requires deep levels of awareness of teachers and institutions. It can be quite abstract to translate into practical teaching interventions (see also Salazar et al., 2010). It is not easy to establish inclusive classroom environments, especially in polarized times like these. Students in our universities do not always feel safe to express themselves, and sometimes experience microaggressions or racism in class (Waldring et al., 2020; Slootman et al., 2023). Teachers often feel unequipped to manage heated discussions (Müftügil-Yalcin et al., 2023). The VU Mixed Classroom Educational Model provides a way to enhance an equitable learning environment that fosters inclusive excellence. Teachers in Higher Education can establish an inclusive learning environment by building on different perspectives and talents in the classroom. This can be a challenging process. In this article, we offer practical guidance by offering a vision, strategies, and examples of learning activities for various (online/offline, larger/smaller) classroom settings. We also explain the process of development and implementation. The model, developed at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, unpacks three phases in classroom dynamics that lead towards an end goal: creating inclusive learning environments to educate future academics and professionals who are capable of building on differences between themselves and others, using different perspectives in resolving complex problems.

Essed, P. (2008). Cloning cultural homogeneity while talking diversity: Old wine in new bottles in Dutch organizations. Transforming Anthropology, 11(1), 2–12. https://doi.org/10.1525/tran.2002.11.1.2 Müftügil-Yalcin S, Brodsky NW, Slootman M, Das A, Ramdas S. Managing “Hot Moments” in Diverse Classrooms for Inclusive and Equitable Campuses. Education Sciences. 2023; 13(8):777. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13080777 Salazar M. C., Norton A. S., & Tuitt F. A. (2010). Weaving promising practices for inclusive excellence into the higher education classroom. To improve the Academy, 28(1), 208–226. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2334-4822.2010.tb00604.x Slootman, M., Korthals Altes, T., Domagała-Zyśk, E., Rodríguez-Ardura, I., & Stanojev, I. (2023). A handbook of e-inclusion. Building capacity for inclusive higher education in digital environment. Published Online. Accessible from https://einclusion.net/project-outputs/handbook-for-inclusive-digital-education/ Taylor, M., Turk, J. M., Chessman, H. M., & Espinosa, L. L. (2020). Race and ethnicity in higher education: 2020 supplement. Washington, DC: American Council on Education. http://www.equityinhighered.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/REHE-2020-final.pdf UNESCO. (2020). Global Education Monitoring Report 2020: Inclusion and education: All means all. Paris, UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373718 Waldring, I., Labeab, A., van den Hee, M., Crul, M., & Slootman, M. (2020). Belonging@VU. Amsterdam: VU Wekker, G., Slootman, M. W., Icaza, R., Jansen, H., & Vazquez, R. (2016). Let’s do diversity. Report of the University of Amsterdam Diversity Commission. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam.

In recent decades, there has been a global commitment to diversifying the teaching profession, to integrating diverse perspectives into curricula, and to establishing comprehensive diversity and equity plans (Keane et al., 2022). This trend is particularly pertinent due to the increasing diversity of student populations worldwide, including in relation to age, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, socio-economic status, and political perspectives (Cerna et al., 2021). China, for instance, has witnessed a marked increase in student diversity, highlighting the prevalent issue of educational inequity. Teachers are central to addressing equity challenges, necessitating a paradigm shift in teacher training programs (Florian & Camedda, 2020). However, many student teachers are insufficiently prepared to teach diverse student populations, primarily due to limited understanding and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) (e.g., Chubbuck, 2007). Even those with positive DEI orientations often exhibit gaps between their conceptions, intentions, and actual practices (Lee, 2011). Additionally, teachers tend to rely on traditional teaching strategies rather than active and experiential approaches suitable for diverse classrooms (Mills & Ballantyne, 2016). Notably, teachers often lack proficiency in differentiated instruction, a crucial skill for addressing DEI issues and fostering equitable learning environments (Maulana et al., 2023). To bridge these gaps, student teachers must develop a cohesive repertoire of DEI conceptions, behavioral intentions, and practices. However, the current research on the interrelationships between these teacher factors is insufficient (Mills & Ballantyne, 2016). It remains unclear how these factors can be nurtured in a consistent and mutually reinforcing manner, and how teacher education programmes can facilitate cost-effective training and comprehensive professional development. This study investigates the connection between student teachers' diversity conceptions and their differentiated instruction practices in secondary education. It employs various instruments, including the Munroe Multicultural Attitude Scale Questionnaire (MASQUE), to assess conceptions towards diversity and inclusion. The My Teacher Questionnaire was used to evaluate differentiated instruction skills from students' perspectives (Maulana & Helms-Lorenz, 2016). In-depth interviews elicited student teachers' reflections on their teacher education experiences. The sample includes 192 student teachers and 1201 students from various Chinese teacher education programs. Multilevel SEM modeling explored associations between these teacher factors. Content analysis identified patterns in teacher education components influential for these teacher factors and teachers' recommendations for enhancement. This study contributes to addressing educational inequity by emphasizing the alignment of teachers' conceptions with effective differentiated instruction to promote equitable learning environments, offering insights for reimagining teacher education programs.

Cerna, L., Mezzanotte, C., Rutigliano, A., Brussino, O., Santiago, P., Borgonovi, F., & Guthrie, C. (2021). Promoting inclusive education for diverse societies: A conceptual framework. Chubbuck, S. M. (2007). Socially just teaching and the complementarity of Ignatian pedagogy and critical pedagogy. Christian Higher Education, 6(3), 239-265. Florian, L., & Camedda, D. (2020). Enhancing teacher education for inclusion. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(1), 4-8. Keane, E., Heinz, M., & Mc Daid, R. (Eds.). (2022). Diversifying the Teaching Profession: Dimensions, Dilemmas and Directions for the Future. Taylor & Francis. Lee, Y. A. (2011). What Does Teaching for Social Justice Mean to Teacher Candidates?. Professional Educator, 35(2), n2. Maulana, R., & Helms-Lorenz, M. (2016). Observations and student perceptions of the quality of preservice teachers’ teaching behaviour: Construct representation and predictive quality. Learning Environments Research, 19(3), 335–357. Maulana, R., Helms-Lorenz, M., Moorer, P., Smale-Jacobse, A., & Feng, X. (2023). Differentiated Instruction in Teaching from the International Perspective: Methodological and empirical insights. University of Groningen Press. Mills, C., & Ballantyne, J. (2016). Social justice and teacher education: A systematic review of empirical work in the field. Journal of Teacher Education, 67(4), 263-276.

Gender pay gap, unfavourable working conditions for mothers, and lack of all-day childcare facilities are examples of marginalised situations for women all over Europe. These inequalities are a social problem that have an impact at various levels, including their educational and career path, as women's skills and abilities are often not recognised. Similar situations occur with racialised people such as migrants and refugees, where their bodies and perspectives are excluded e.g. in political and academic spaces and discourses often wrongly marked as too personal, too emotional and too subjective (Kilomba 2016). Accordingly, women who are racialised are facing marginalising structures in the intersection of gender and race not only individually, but also structurally and institutionally.

The research issue to be discussed here is how these discriminatory structures affect migrant-ised women in their everyday life, especially in their educational and career paths. By using the term ‘migrant-ised’ the authors highlight the complex process of migrant-isation, where (forcedly) moving people and their following generations are turned into migrants and acknowledges the institutionalised sociopolitical category of governance and power the terms migrant and migration are filled with (Worm 2023). Following this critical approach, the symposium aims to analyse the discriminatory structures migrant-ised women face due to the intersection of gender, race and class by centralising so far untold stories of migrant-ised women in educational research. The necessity of these often-excluded voices to be heard - especially in academic discourses - has derived from their value to detect and dismantle the faced discriminatory structures.

The first paper presents findings from an ongoing research project with migrant women. Taking a (self-)critical look at the asymmetrical interview settings in terms of race, language, class and academic status, the researcher shows how including a joint research perspective can become. This is seen not only as an aspect of the data-production, but more so in the research process, as it can affect the whole research project and its output. This leads to new insights, enables new ways of tackling racism, gives way to politicisation, solidarisation and perhaps even to the educational process of gaining agency (Bildung).

The second paper examines the intersection of language barriers, gender dynamics, and epistemic justice encountered by Arab women pursuing doctoral studies in the UK. The study, employing feminist theory, uses qualitative methods, including 15 semi-structured interviews, to explore the challenges of mastering English and the access to the academic discourse. Unveiling the unique pressures and biases faced by these women, the research highlights equity issues in academic leadership and mentorship and advocates for inclusive practices.

The third paper aims to contribute to a reflexive perspective on the positionality of White and BIPOC researchers in European societies and focuses on challenges of researching racial injustice, highlighting the impact of researchers' social positioning and biases. It emphasises the importance of reflective practices, particularly in qualitative research, and advocates for increased participation of BIPOC researchers. The presentation centres on a study that examines the education of migrant and refugee students in Germany and highlights the tensions reflected in interactions between interview partners and the female migrant-ised researcher.

Following the reflexive approaches the question of (language) barriers and the term migrant-ised will be critically discussed in the symposium considering the fact that even this term contributes to the wrong essentialisation of a homogenous and singular group and can be traced back to the national socio-political and historical differences of used terms like ethnicity and race between UK and Germany (Chadderton & Wischmann 2014). The terms and concepts used in these discussions involve the challenges and opportunities of integrating individuals in societal discourses in order to overcome exclusion.

In the realm of higher education, the issue of language barriers among international students transcends mere linguistic challenges; it represents a multifaceted hurdle with profound implications for their academic journey. For Arab women pursuing doctoral studies in the UK, this challenge is particularly pronounced, as they grapple not only with mastering English as an additional language but also with navigating the intricacies of academic discourse and engaging in scholarly debates within a non-native linguistic and cultural context (Badwan, 2021). This paper delves into the intricate relationship between language barriers, gender dynamics, and epistemic justice faced by Arab women doctoral students. Drawing on feminist theory (Bell, 2016) and epistemology of resistance (Medina, 2013), the study seeks to unravel the nuanced challenges these women encounter in accessing knowledge and participating in academic discourse within the British higher education landscape. Central to this exploration is the recognition of the intersectionality of gender, ethnicity, religion, and nationality, which further complicates their academic journey. Gendered expectations and cultural norms impose unique pressures on Arab women doctoral students, influencing their confidence levels, assertiveness in academic settings, and access to support networks. Stereotypes and biases rooted in ethnicity and gender may further marginalise these women, hindering their ability to fully participate and thrive within academic communities. Moreover, issues of equity in knowledge access loom large, with limited representation in academic leadership and research positions restricting their access to mentorship, funding opportunities, and institutional support (Okan, 2019). To unpack these complexities, the study adopts a qualitative approach, gathering insights from semi-structured interviews with 15 Arab women doctoral students in British universities. Thematic analysis illuminates 3 key research questions surrounding language barriers, access to epistemic justice, and the gendered dimensions of their experiences. By providing a platform for these voices to be heard, the research sheds light on the intersecting challenges faced by international Arab women students and contributes to a deeper understanding of language barriers in doctoral education. In advocating for inclusive practices, the paper calls for targeted interventions that transcend essentialism and coloniality in language (Gabriel & Tate, 2017). It underscores the importance of raising awareness, fostering solidarity, and promoting activism within academic communities to create a more just and accessible educational environment for all. Ultimately, by recognising and addressing the intersecting challenges faced by Arab women doctoral students, universities can take significant strides towards fostering a more equitable and inclusive academic landscape.

Badwan, K. (2021). Language and Social (In)Justice. In K. Badwan [ed.]: Language in a Globalised World Social Justice Perspectives on Mobility and Contact. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77087-7_9 Bell, L. (2016). Theoretical foundations for social justice education. In M. Adams & L. A. Bell [Eds.]: Teaching for diversity and social justice. (pp. 3–26). New York: Routledge. Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Gabriel, D. (2021). Race, ethnicity and gendered educational intersections. Gender and Education, 33(,), pp. 791-797 https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2021.1967667 Gabriel, D., and S. A. Tate. 2017. Inside the Ivory Tower: Narratives of Women of Colour Surviving and Thriving in British Academia. London: Trentham Books. Medina, J. (2013). The epistemology of Resistance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Okan, Z. (2019). Language and Social Justice. In R. Papa [eds.]: Handbook on Promoting Social Justice in Education. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74078-2_111-1

This paper presents insights into an ongoing research project with female migrants who came to Germany from the Middle East as adults, often mothers. Most of them are refugees. This project was planned as a ‘classic’ biographical study with aim to reconstruct experience of different societal groups in terms of education in transnational contexts. Even though the researcher is familiar and sensible for critical race and critical whiteness perspectives and the dilemma of voice in asymmetric interview-settings (in terms of race, language, class and academic status) and hence willing to reflect this, she was surprised by the way the “participants” turned the projects into their own political project. The interviews were conceptualised as narrative interviews (Schütze 2012). These interviews are usually conducted between two people: the interviewer and the interviewee. This setting was the first thing that has been transformed, because many of the interviews were part of a larger group in the setting of a women’s project at a refugee support centre. The second thing was language. Most women wanted to speak German and did it, but they also switched to Arabic. Some interviews were solely in Arabic and were translated after transcription. Hence, the hegemony of German was not only addressed but relativized at least to some extent. Thirdly, the women became involved into the process of publication and hence to re-appropriate their stories. The whole research process became a joint project within the context of a refugee initiative in Flensburg. From a Critical Race (Delgado et al. 2023) and Critical Whiteness (Applebaum 2016) point of view it is important to name and hear racial and with-it intersectional power structures also on the level of research (Chadderton 2012). In this paper will be outlined, in which ways racial lines are tackled and at the same time politization and solidarization is practiced and bound back to biographies. This might open new perspectives on education or Bildung as process of gaining and maintaining agency (Wischmann 2018). Therefore, two of the (so far 8) interviews as (counter)stories (Solorzano and Yosso 2001) will be presented. The interviews are analysed with a reconstructive, narrative-analytical approach (Rosenthal 1993).

Applebaum, B. (2016). Critical Whiteness Studies. In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Online verfügbar unter https://oxfordre.com/education/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-5?source=post_page---------------------------. Chadderton, C. (2012). Problematising the role of the white researcher in social justice research. In: Ethnography and Education 7 (3), S. 363–380. DOI: 10.1080/17457823.2012.717203. Delgado, R.; Stefancic, J.; Harris, Angela P. (2023): Critical race theory. An introduction. Fourth edition. New York: New York University Press (Critical America). Rosenthal, Gabriele (1993): Reconstruction of life stories: principles of selection in generating stories for narrative biographical interviews. In: The narrative study of lives 1 (1), S. 59–91. Online verfügbar unter https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/5929. Schütze, F. (2012). Biographieforschung und narratives Interview. In: Oral history. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. Solorzano, D. G.; Yosso, T. J. (2001). Critical race and LatCrit theory and method: Counter-storytelling. In:International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 14 (4), S. 471–495. DOI: 10.1080/09518390110063365. Wischmann, A. (2018). The absence of ‘race’ in German discourses on Bildung. Rethinking Bildung with critical race theory. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(4), 471-485. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1248834

Various research disciplines address social injustice using different methodologies. When analysing and approaching racial injustice, there is a relevant debate on how structures of injustice and racism are reproduced by White researchers (Scharathow 2014; Rühlmann 2023). While there is already knowledge about the role of researchers in qualitative studies and the significance of reflecting on the power dynamic they hold, it is a different context when the researchers themselves belong to a minority within academia (Karabulut 2022). Usually, researchers who are not BIPOC and come from 'educated' middle-class families (ibid.) are the norm. However, when researchers share the same social positioning as the individuals being studied, it raises questions such as how interviewees will react and what kind of information will be shared. Additionally, it is important to determine the extent to which the data is evaluated, analysed, and interpreted. Creswell (2015) suggests that one criterion for qualitative research is reflecting on one's own subjective positioning. Therefore, it is important for researchers to be aware of the potential influence of their experiences, preconceptions, and beliefs, and to reflect on them. This is particularly relevant in research approaches such as Critical Whiteness Theory (e.g. Collins 2000, Kilomba 2016). Additionally, it is crucial for BIPOC researchers to conduct more research on topics relevant to BIPOC in order to broaden the discourse. The presentation aims to initiate a discussion on how perspectives and positionality influence data acquisition, analysis, and research outcomes. To connect this reflexive approach to an ongoing study, we will introduce data from two research projects. Addressing the practices and challenges associated with the education of migrant and refugee students, 18 qualitative semi-structured interviews with teachers and school leaders were conducted across six secondary schools in Germany. Newly arrived migrant students are usually placed in separate classes with a focus on rapidly acquiring German as an additional language for academic purposes. The data collected and interactions during data collection reflect a habitual inclination towards monolingualism. It highlights the complex and ambivalent positions of teachers, as well as their varied actions and reflections regarding the incorporation of students' multilingual competencies in the German classroom. The study reveals the challenges faced by educators in balancing linguistic diversity and the prevailing monolingual educational norms. The interactions of the interview partners with the female migrant-ised researcher mirror these tensions and shall be focused on in this paper. The second project focuses on high-achieving women's biographies.

Creswell, J. W. (2015). 30 Essential skills for the qualitative researcher (1st ed.). Sage. Hill Collins, P. (2000). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203900055 Karabulut, A. (2020). Rassismuserfahrungen von Schüler*innen: Institutionelle Grenzziehungen an Schulen. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. Kilomba, G. (2016). Plantation memories: Episodes of everyday racism (4. Aufl). Unrast. Rühlmann, L. (2023): Race, Language, and Subjectivation. A Raciolinguistic Perspective on Schooling Experiences in Germany. Springer: Wiesbaden Scharathow, W. (2014). Vom Objekt zum Subjekt. Über erforderliche Reflexionen in der Migrations- und Rassismusforschung. In: Broden, A. & Mecheril, P. (2010): Rassismus bildet. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag. https://doi.org/10.14361/transcript.9783839414569.87

In the rapidly evolving landscape of education and growing educational inequalities, the need to maintain diversity and inclusive practices has never been more important. "Teachers of Colour, Minority and Indigenous Teachers: Continuities and Futures in Educational Research" is a symposium that aims to explore the diversity of staffrooms in shaping the educational landscape, addressing challenges such as (linguistic) racism, and fostering a more just and resilient future.

Structural inequalities and the perpetuation of systems of power that maintain racial hierarchies in schools across Europe and beyond are a common starting point. Related, overarching questions focus on how institutional practices, policies and cultures within education systems contribute to the marginalisation or empowerment of minority teachers. In addition, counter-narratives that challenge dominant racial ideologies are explored by highlighting the voices of teachers who resist racial inequalities, thereby providing a broader understanding of how individuals navigate and challenge discriminatory practices.

The symposium brings together four contributions to what has now become an important and wide-ranging field of educational research (see Gist & Bristol, 2022; Gutman et al., 2023). Each contribution addresses unique aspects of diversity within the teaching profession and its impact on the educational landscape:

Paper 1 emphasises the importance of a diverse teaching workforce in actively challenging and unlearning stereotypical prejudices in South Africa. It examines how schools can become cultivated sites where diverse teachers and learners can serve as valuable opportunities and encounters for unlearning the epistemic damage of stereotypical biases and myths.

Paper 2 explores the perceptions of minority pre-service teachers on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in Israeli teacher education. This aspect of diversity involves the intersection of technology and education, emphasizing the importance of considering the diversity of pre-service teachers when incorporating AI applications in teacher education programs.

Paper 3 focuses on the biographical narratives of minority pre-service teachers who bring multilingualism into the classroom. On the one hand, it sheds light on the ambivalences that arise when they hardly distance themselves from the monoglossic language ideologies of the German school system. On the other hand, it highlights their potential to combat linguistic racism.

Paper 4 investigates the impact of study abroad experiences on the perceptions of diversity and inclusion among in-service teachers in Japan. Findings reveal that while participants recognize alternative practices for inclusion, they struggle with effectively implementing change within the existing school culture, balancing their commitment to diversity with the pressure to conform to prevailing norms.

Together, these four papers contribute to the broader conversation about the importance of teachers of colour, minority and indigenous teachers, and teacher mobility, in shaping a more inclusive and socially just education system in Europe and beyond.

The commitment by some historically ‘white’ schools in post-apartheid South Africa to retain their historical identity and privilege is especially evident in two discernible, yet inter-related paradigms. The more prominent one concerns the slow pace of learner diversity, while the other relates to the starkly neglected matter of teacher diversity. While historically excluded ‘black’ learners are kept at bay via the emergence of a new race-class discourse, ‘black’ teachers are excluded through an ambiguous language of ‘qualified, but incompetent’. Incompetency derives from one or several intersectional identity markers, which can include anything from culture, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, class, to qualification and knowledge, ultimately casting diverse teacher identities in images of mistrust. Of interest to this paper, on the one hand, is a seemingly a priori association of competence, as well as unquestioning trust coupled with ‘white’ teachers. While on the other hand, ‘black’ teachers are treated with suspicion and mistrust, not only because of their presumed incompetence, but because of who they are and the kinds of knowledge they stand to bring. What, therefore, is the role of schools in disrupting the binary between ‘white’-competence-trust’ and ‘black’-incompetence-mistrust? And how might schools become cultivated sites where diverse teacher and learner cohorts can serve as valuable opportunities and encounters for unlearning the epistemic harm of stereotypical biases and myths?

Hunter, M. (2016). The Race for Education: Class, White Tone, and Desegregated Schooling in South Africa. Journal of Historical Sociology, 29 (3), 319–358 Ingersoll, R., May, H. & Collins, G. (2019). Recruitment, employment, retention and the minority teacher shortage. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 27(37), 1-37. Kohli, R. & Pizarro, M. (2016) Fighting to educate our own: Teachers of color, relational accountability, and the struggle for racial justice. Equity & Excellence in Education, 49(1), 72–84. Sleeter, C. E. (2001). Preparing teachers for culturally diverse schools research and the overwhelming presence of whiteness. Journal of Teacher Education, 52(2), 94–106. Teeger, C. (2015). Ruptures in the Rainbow Nation: How Desegregated South African Schools Deal with Interpersonal and Structural Racism. Sociology of Education, 88 (3), 226–243.

During these days there is growing interest in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the education world (Celik, 2023; Păvăloaia & Necula, 2023). The academic institutions for teacher training carry out procedures for the integration of these applications in the teaching and learning of students. In this framework, the pre-service teachers at the academic institution who come from different sectors: Arab, Jewish, Christian, and ultra-Orthodox were exposed to practical lectures and workshops on the integration of AI applications in education. The research used a mixed method approach using qualitative and quantitative analysis. This paradigm calls for an in-depth examination of investigated phenomena through qualitative analysis but also enables data quantification to examine general trends through quantitative analysis. Two research tools were used: (1) a reflective protocol (2) a questionnaire regarding the dimensions of pre-service teachers' use of AI tools. The analysis of the study reveals six main categories: 1) the contribution of the exposure to AI applications; 2) AI applications and their use in teaching-learning; 3) reducing gaps between the students with the use of AI applications; 5) assessing the use of AI applications; 6) skills acquired with the use of AI applications. This research provides an understanding of the pre-service teachers from a multicultural academic institution's perception regarding the uses of AI in the early stages of their teaching, and its main uniqueness. In light of this, these findings help policymakers in teacher training in academic institutions from two main perspectives: policy aspects – it offers a comprehensive, wide, and multicultural perspective regarding the various ways in which students use AI applications and their perspective, and teacher training process and the scaffolding that students from a different background and culture need for establishing their role as future teachers in AI era.

Celik, I. (2023). Towards Intelligent-TPACK: An empirical study on teachers’ professional knowledge to ethically integrate artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools into education. Computers in Human Behavior, 138, 107468. Păvăloaia, V. D., & Necula, S. C. (2023). Artificial intelligence as a disruptive technology—a systematic literature review. Electronics, 12(5), 1102.

Research on minority (pre-service) teachers in Germany dates back to the first decade after the turn of the millennium (Lengyel & Rosen, 2015, p. 162). However, there is a lack of research in this area, which contrasts with education policy that has long since developed a strategy for recruiting minority teachers. According to education policy, minority teachers posses specific competencies due to their own or their families' migration experiences, and as such are bridge-builders, integration facilitators, etc., who contribute to reducing educational inequalities in the German school system. Migration researchers in educational science in Germany are critical of this ethnicization as it promotes stigmatization and deprofessionalization (see Goltsev et al., 2023, p. 128; Rosen & Jacob, 2023). In a recent literature review on minority teachers in Germany, multilingualism was identified as one of four research foci (Rosen & Lengyel, 2023). This paper focuses on biographical perspectives towards monoglossic language ideologies (Thoma, 2022), building on an exploratory finding from this review that minority (student) teachers exhibit ambivalence towards multilingual language practices in school. This paper uses biographical narrative interviews with plurilingual student teachers (n=10) to investigate the impact of past school experiences on their professional identities in relation to multilingualism. The research question is: What is the impact of past school experiences on student teachers' views of multilingual practices in future schools? The Grounded Theory analysis (according to Charmaz, 2014) shows that the minority student teachers hold 'one-language-at-a-time monolingual ideologies' (Wei, 2018, p. 16): Because they believe that it was acceptable to be asked to act monolingually in their previous schooling and plan to continue to do so as teachers, they do not distance themselves from the monoglossic language ideologies of the German school system. This is theorised in relation to the concept of linguicism (Skutnabb-Kangas, 2015) and a raciolinguistic perspective (Rosa & Flores, 2020), and discussed in relation to findings that consider students' perspectives. Here, studies show that multilingual students who have experienced that 'my teacher had an accent too' see themselves as legitimate members of a linguistically heterogeneous community (Putjata, 2019), pointing to the potential of multilingual minority teachers to combat linguistic racism.

Lengyel, D. & Rosen, L. (2015). Diversity in the staff room – Ethnic minority student teachers’ perspectives on the recruitment of minority teachers. In Tertium Comparationis, 21(2), 161–184. Putjata, G. (2019). Language in transnational education trajectories between the Soviet Union, Israel and Germany. In Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung 4, 390–404. Rosa, J., & Flores, N. (2020). Reimagining Race and Language: From Raciolinguistic Ideologies to a Raciolinguistic Perspective. In H. Samy Alim et al. (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Language and Race (pp. 90-107). Oxford University Press. Rosen, L. & Lengyel, D. (2023). Research on Minority Teachers in Germany. In M. Gutman et al. (eds.): To be a Minority Teacher in a Foreign Culture (pp. 107–123). Springer. Rosen, Lisa & Jacob, Marita (2022). Diversity in the Teachers’ Lounge in Germany – Casting Doubt on the Statistical Category of “Migration Background”. In European Educational Research Journal, 21(2), 312-329. Skutnabb‐Kangas, T. (2015). Linguicism. In Carol A. Chapelle (ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics (pp. 1–6). Wiley. Thoma, N. (2022). Biographical perspectives on language ideologies in teacher education. In Language and Education, 36(5), 419-436. Wei, Li (2018). Translanguaging as a Practical Theory of Language. Applied Linguistics 39 (1), 9–30.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the study abroad experience on teachers’ perceptions about diversity and inclusion at schools. It examines how these teachers are minoritized as outsiders who bring in unnecessary challenges to schools. As a theoretical framework, this research adopted Functional Context Theory of Learning (Sticht, 1975). The theory regards learning as information processing, in which the learners actively look for information and use it to construct a meaningful interpretation of the world. These interpretations lead to the knowledge base, with which learners further interpretate new incoming information. In this research, the study abroad program, that are intended to build a global view, is predicted to change teachers’ way of processing information. Consequently, the teachers with study abroad experiences are hypothesized to have unique perspectives on the issues and challenges that schools are facing, including the diversity and inclusion issue. In terms of methodology, in-service teachers in Japan who had participated in a four-week study abroad programme as part of their teacher education training programme between 2015 and 2020 were invited to complete a survey and follow-up interview. The survey and interviews focused on the participants' perceptions of diversity and inclusion issues in schools, as well as how they believed their views on these issues were treated among teachers. As can be seen from the results, the returning teachers who took part in the study reported that they had experienced a unique struggle. Although they can see an alternative way of practicing inclusion at schools, they do not necessarily know an effective way to make changes in the current school culture. While they care about diversity and inclusion of students and teachers, they also feel their need to fit in to the current teachers’ culture by acting as if they care more about uniformity.

Sticht, T. (1975). Reading for working: A functional literacy anthology. Alexandria: Human Resources Research Organization.

The need for effective interventions to promote staff health in schools is undisputed in light of studies on the health situation of teachers. To date, however, workplace health promotion in schools has focused strongly on the individual, holistic health promotion at the organizational level is rare and the existing projects are rarely evaluated. In particular, there is a lack of prospective studies that record, analyze and explain the development processes of comprehensive, complex interventions on a longitudinal basis (Dadaczynski et al., 2015). The presented intervention study addresses this research gap by evaluating a participative organizational-level (OL) occupational health intervention (OHI) designed to improve working conditions and the health of teachers.

The analyzed intervention is an offer for systemic workplace health promotion in which customized and targeted measures are derived and implemented in a participatory manner based on the results of a staff survey. The survey tool provides individuals with feedback on their personal values immediately after completing the survey. On the other hand, a report is generated for the individual schools/school units, including the Job-Stress-Index of the school (balance of demands and resources) and the positioning of organizational demands and resources in relation to the benchmarks of other schools. The need for action is indicated by a traffic light system (green, yellow, red). These organizational results are discussed in workshops with the whole school team aiming to interpret the results of the survey and to identify fields of action for health-promoting measures. The intervention follows a configurable intervention approach in which the measures are adapted to the needs of the individual schools. The naturally occurring variation in the implementation makes the evaluation challenging (Bauer & Jenny, 2014).

The analytical framework of the study is based on Job Demands-Resources Theory (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014), which conceptualizes the background of the intervention that aims to reduce workplace demands and foster workplace resources in order to improve workplace health of teachers. On the other hand, the Framework for Evaluating Organizational-level Interventions (Nielsen & Randall, 2013) with the three basic elements (1) context, (2) process and (3) mental models of the actors involved (of the intervention and their work situation) is guiding structured description of the individual schools.

The paper presentation will focus on the context of the intervention as previous research shows that the effects of an OHI depends on the context of the individual school. The effectiveness of organizational occupational health interventions is influenced by the preintervention health status and prior experience of the organization (Semmer, 2006). Schelvis et al. (2016) showed that lack of trust between leadership and staff, learned helplessness and high teacher independence impede the desired effects of an intervention. Facilitating contextual factors were competent leaders (Abildgaard et al., 2019), organizational resources such as collaboration and low initial stress, and the integration of the intervention into the existing strategy (Kliche et al., 2010).

The presented paper aims to describe the context of the intervention in relation to the change in the Job-Stress-Index. We structure the description of the schools along the following questions: Who are the participants in the intervention? What is the reason for the participation in the intervention? What capacity does the organization have to conduct the intervention? What are the current challenges of the school? How is the intervention embedded in the school program and the school strategy? Did the intervention show the expected outcomes? Which hindering and facilitating factors in the context influenced intervention outcomes?

The current landscape of schools is marked by heightened uncertainty, with factors such as ongoing war conflicts, eco-anxiety, and economic crises significantly impacting the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. Recognising the pivotal role of teachers in children and young people’s experiences in school, our research targets teachers and their own wellbeing. In order to successfully contribute to the mental health of children and young people, teachers themselves need to feel good in school and have relevant skills, not just knowledge, about developing mental health.

Our research targets Slovakia, a country with a neglected education system that has not fully gone through the transformation to support the development of 21st century skills, since becoming an independent democratic country just over 30 years ago. 95% of teachers in Slovakia report experiencing stress in school and 25% find the school atmosphere harmful to their mental health (Durikova, 2021). When considering the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in schools, it is therefore essential to start by examining teachers. What are the current wellbeing needs of teachers in Slovakia? What training do they need to facilitate positive wellbeing experiences in schools? To what extend could experiential training support the wellbeing of teachers in Slovakia?

We emphasise an experiential approach to professional development in the area of mental health and wellbeing. Experience-based learning is pivotal to understanding one’s own and proximal others, and this underpins the whole-school approaches to wellbeing. We draw on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory and conceptualises teachers as change agents within the microsystem of the educational environment. The framework highlights the interconnectedness of teachers, students, and the broader school community, illustrating how support networks contribute to effective teaching practices in the face of evolving challenges.

Our understanding of wellbeing includes hedonic and eudaimonic elements to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing teachers' experiences. Hedonic aspects, focusing on positive emotions, and eudaimonic elements, emphasising purpose and personal growth, collectively shape the conceptualisation of wellbeing in school.

Our study leverages cross-national collaboration, involving educators from Slovakia, the UK, and Ireland. By comparing experiences and strategies across diverse educational contexts, we aim to provide nuanced insights that can inform policies addressing mental health and wellbeing on an international scale.

There has been growing attention to developing effective interventions to improve teachers' occupational health (Agyapong et al., 2022). As teaching is a highly demanding profession, a significant percentage of teachers experience high stress levels and report poor occupational health (Sandmeier et al., 2017). Two approaches to improving teachers' occupational health are discussed in practice and literature. In practice, so far, most interventions have addressed the individual's responsibility to deal with workplace-related demands (Cann et al., 2023). Another approach that, to date, has been applied to a somewhat limited extent and, hence, has been seldom evaluated by research are organizational health interventions (OHIs) (Dadaczynski et al., 2015). This approach concentrates on changing the structural and social factors of the work environment, such as workload, leadership behavior, and relationships between colleagues. As part of the intervention, these factors are identified, discussed, and redesigned in a collective process, which is organized and guided by external coaches and leadership.

Thus, an essential aspect of OHIs is employees' involvement and engagement in the intervention's implementation and change process. In public health literature, this process is referred to as stakeholder participation, which is "a conscious and intended effort made by individuals at a higher level in an organization to provide visible extra-role or role-expanding opportunities and enhanced control for individuals or groups at a lower level in the organization" (Nielsen & Randall, 2013, p. 605). In public health literature, stakeholder participation is vastly seen as a normative imperative, which implies that participation and, more specifically, a high level of involvement is preferable. This is argued on the grounds that a high level of participation ensures that the measurements meet the needs of the employees and, therefore, result in sustainable long-term changes (Rosskam, 2009). However, findings from public health research challenge this assumption. These findings indicate that a high level of participation does not necessarily result in better intervention outcomes and can sometimes lead to unintended adverse effects (Roodbari et al., 2022; Schelvis et al., 2016).

These inconsistent findings can partly be explained by the complexity and diversity of participation in OHIs. Participation can be realized in various forms and settings and different approaches are used by practitioners (Abildgaard et al., 2020). Understanding the diversity of participation can help to understand why some interventions fail while others succeed. So far, the complexity of different forms of participation has seldom been systematically described, partly because convincing analytical frameworks were missing (Marent et al., 2012). Abildgaard and colleagues (2020), therefore, suggest describing different forms of participation along four dimensions: content, process, directness, and goal. These dimensions capture stakeholders' impact on intervention objectives (content), on the organization of intervention activities (process), the degree of involvement (directness), and the underlying justifications and objectives driving participation (goal).

The analytical perspective by Abildgaard et al. (2020) forms the theoretical framework for a qualitative study to identify and describe different forms of participation in an organizational health intervention in schools. The study addresses the following questions:

RQ1: How can the analytical framework proposed by Abildgaard et al. (2020) be applied to describe and understand different forms of participation in OHIs within school settings?

RQ2: Which forms of participation can be identified along the dimensions of content, process, directness, and goal in the schools?

RQ3: What relationships can be observed between the organization of participation (process, directness), the actual participation of the stakeholders (content), and the objective of the participative process (goal)?

It has long been acknowledged that science skills play a crucial role in fostering economic development (Hanushek & Woessmann, 2012) and technological innovation (Varsakelis, 2006). Therefore, governments around the world are searching for ways to effectively enhance science education. Teachers and their instructional quality play an important role in student achievement and learning (Harris & Sass, 2011). It is also emphasized that teachers are one of the essential factors to enhance student skills and knowledge improvement (Harris & Sass, 2011). However, among several factors associated with students, teaching strategies, school, and home, teacher quality has an important role in student achievement.
The teacher quality framework (Goe, 2007) suggests that a teacher’s college degrees, certificates, and their test scores, among a group of inputs, can indicate who might be a successful teacher inside a classroom. However, teaching quality is not only defined by teacher certification and training but is also explained by what teachers do inside a classroom and how they teach, i.e., their classroom practices. Blömeke, Olsen and Suhl (2016) evaluated the relationship between educational input and process properties of schooling, and students’ cognitive outcomes with TIMSS 2011 data. The study revealed that teacher quality was significantly related to instructional quality and student outcome, while instructional quality was not a good predictor of student outcome.
Teacher’s knowledge of subject-matter, teaching skills, personal characteristics, and professional development have been found to be among the most effective characteristics of teachers (e.g., Toraman, 2019). However, no consensus on the essential teacher qualifications that explain students’ academic performance has been reached (Scheerens & Blömeke, 2016; Lee & Lee, 2020). Moreover, despite the emphasis on improving teaching qualifications (Goe, 2007), students from socioeconomically disadvantaged households and ethnic minorities are less likely to receive instruction from qualified teachers, since less qualified teachers are concentrated in schools and classrooms teaching students with low socioeconomic status and academic achievement (Luschei & Jeong, 2018).
Additionally, educational equity and quality are considered central points of Swedish school policy (Kelly et al., 2020). The Swedish Education Act underscores the school system’s mission of offering equal education quality, learning opportunities, and support to all students regardless of their background characteristics, and the type of schools they are attending (Swedish Education Act, 2010).
Against this background, the main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between teachers’ experience, education, and their instructional practice, while controlling for students’ socioeconomic background and classroom SES composition. The study also aims to examine the schools’ compensatory effect of the teacher -related factors for educational equity, which is measured as the influence of home educational resources on students’ science achievements. According to the national curriculum for the compulsory school in Sweden, science is separated into the subjects of biology, chemistry, and physics. Therefore, the following research questions will be scrutinized in each of the science subjects:
1- Are teachers’ instructional practice, teachers’ experience and education, and classroom SES composition significantly related to student science achievement, controlling for students’ family background?

2- How do teachers’ experience and education, and classroom SES composition relate to their instructional practice?

3- How do instructional practice, teacher experience and education, classroom average achievement level and classroom SES composition mitigate students’ family background impact on their achievement?

Effective teaching is a multifaceted endeavour influenced by various factors. It extends beyond the mere possession of subject knowledge and teaching experience and is intricately tied to teaching methods (Darling-Hammond, 1997; Hudson et al., 2021; Leino et al., 2022; Shulman, 1987; Wharton-McDonald et al., 1998). International large-scale assessments (ILSA) such as the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) have been widely used to establish links between teachers and their students in mathematics (e.g., Toropova et al., 2019), science (e.g. Fauth et al., 2019) and in reading (e.g., Johansson et al., 2015; Myrberg et al. 2019). However, research on teacher effects has yielded conflicting and inconclusive findings (Blömeke & Olsen, 2019; Coenen et al., 2018; Goe, 2007), partly due to the diverse methodological approaches employed in various studies. A major contributing factor is the lack of comparability and precision in defining teacher competence and teaching quality indicators. Furthermore, significant variations exist among countries in terms of the length, structure, and content of teacher education and instruction, necessitating country-specific analyses with accurate information on these specific features.

Investigating teacher effects on student achievement through large-scale data, such as PIRLS assessment data, presents distinct advantages. Firstly, large-scale assessments provide large samples, where whole classes of students are sampled, allowing comprehensive analysis of teacher effects across diverse student populations. Secondly, these assessments offer multiple measures for evaluating teachers and their teaching quality. However, a major challenge with ILSAs when estimating the impact of teachers on student outcomes is that we cannot account for students’ prior achievement. This complicates the task of isolating the direct influence of teachers on student learning outcomes.

In the present study, we address this limitation by utilizing the Swedish PIRLS 2016 sample to which additional register information from earlier and later grades was added. This means that we are not only able to account for prior achievement but also investigate long-term teacher effects on student performance. More specifically we are investigating the relationships between teachers’ reading specializations and the short-term and long-term impact of teachers’ reading comprehension practices in grade 4 on student performance in the PIRLS assessment and students’ subject grade in Swedish in sixth grade. We make use of scores from PIRLS, students’ national test results in grade 3 as well as subject grade in Swedish in grade 6.

Our research questions are:

1. What are the relationships between teachers’ reading specialization and students’ PIRLS achievement and subject grade in Swedish in grade 6?
2. What are the relationships between teachers’ reading comprehension activities and students’ PIRLS achievement and subject grade in Swedish in grade 6?

The relationship between student socioeconomic status (SES) and achievement is apparent in almost every educational system across the world. In the Nordic educational systems, although it may be weaker than other countries, SES is yet one of the strongest predictors of academic achievement (Sirin, 2005). Few studies, such as Myrberg & Rosén (2009), explore the direct and indirect effects of various factors on the relationship between SES and student achievement. Further investigation into these mechanisms is necessary, as SES is mostly used to control for selection bias (Gustafsson, Nilsen, & Hansen, 2018).

Given the Nordic educational systems’ aim of increasing equity, an important apsect to investigate is to what degree teacher related factors influence the relationship between student SES and achievement. Previous studies have indicated that teachers account for a significant portion of variance in achievement between classrooms (Darling-Hammond, 2014). Indeed, there is a consensus that teachers are a crucial school factor, and their competence is the foundation of high-quality schools, instruction, and learning (Blömeke, Olsen & Suhl, 2016). Teacher competence (e.g., higher quality instruction, efficient classroom management etc.) positively affects student achievement (Kelcey et al., 2019) and overall may have a positive effect on reducing inequity in education (Wößmann, 2008).

Specifically, an essential characteristic for effective teachers lies in their ability to deliver quality instruction, by explaining the content clearly and assessing student understanding of the subject matter (Ferguson, 2012). While instruction quality is related with student motivation, it has been documented to be positively related with student achievement in mathematics (Bergem, Nilsen & Scherer, 2016). This is an important aspect, especially in Sweden, where challenges arise due to the unequal distribution of well-qualified teachers across schools, leading to a widening achievement gap between schools and student groups (Yang Hansen & Gustafsson, 2019). Further, not many studies have investigated the effect that instructional quality has on the relationship between student SES and achievement in Nordic educational systems. Also, a limited number of studies have utilized representative International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) data in this context.

Thus, the main objective of the present study is to investigate how instructional quality relate to equity in education. Specifically, the study focuses on how student perceptions of instructional quality may mediate or moderate the relationship between SES and eighth grade students’ math achievement in the Swedish educational system. This study is grounded in the Dynamic Model of Educational Effectiveness theory that explores factors influencing student outcomes across all school levels, which can be either equitably or inequitably distributed. The model acknowledges the nested structure of educational systems and the relationships among various factors at different levels. Specifically, the model refers to observable instructional behaviors of teachers in the classroom and includes eight instructional quality dimensions: orientation, structuring, questioning, teaching-modelling, application, time management, creating a learning environment, and classroom assessment (Creemers & Kyriakides, 2013). The research questions that guide the study are:

1. To what extent does student perceived instructional quality and math achievement relate?
2. Does classroom level student perceived instructional quality have an effect on the relationship between student SES and math achievement?
3. To what extend does student level student perceived instructional quality mediates the relationship between student SES and math achievement?

Learning to learn skills are fundamental cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, and affective resources to help reach a learning goal (James, 2023). Acquiring these skills and abilities is vital for lifelong learning in the 21st century. The Finnish Learning to Learn (L2L: Hautamäki, 2002; Vainikainen & Hautamäki, 2022) scales have been developed and utilised in national and regional assessments since the late 1990s. They cover general cognitive competences needed in different school subjects, such as reading comprehension, mathematical thinking skills, general thinking and reasoning skills, and problem-solving.

This paper reports on a longitudinal L2L study, in which around 1000 children were followed through the nine-year basic education in Finland. Longitudinal studies can collect a broad range of information and provide unique insight into the importance of cognitive development in the early stages of education, identify connections between student abilities and academic achievement, and allow for adjustments to the pedagogical process throughout schooling. Studying the characteristics of stability and trends in the development of cognitive abilities in different age groups makes it possible to identify the weakest points and direct pedagogical efforts to increase the level of abilities and motivation (Metsämuuronen, J., & Tuohilampi, 2014). The level of development of cognitive abilities largely determines performance in mathematics and other subjects and seems to influence children's goal orientation in learning (Mägi et al., 2010; Williams, T., & Williams, K. 2010). Longitudinal assessments of them also make it possible to identify certain trends in the development of certain skills at different age periods, which must be taken into account in the diagnosis and evaluation of the learning process (Weinstein, 2015).

The present study focuses on the development and changes in the cross-curricular cognitive competences and learning-related beliefs measured by the Finnish L2L scales. We also study how they are reflected on pupils’ school achievement as measured by grade point average (GPA). We aim at analysing how individual and group-level differences develop from when the pupils enter the formal education system until they complete basic education and move to the tracked upper secondary education. We answer the following questions:

1. How are the cognitive L2L competences, learning-related beliefs and school achievement connected and how do they influence each other over the years during basic education?

2. How stable are the individual and group-level trends observed in cognitive L2L competences, learning-related beliefs and school achievement throughout the school years?

Student’s effort and motivational factors behind it have an essential role in determing how students approach new tasks and perform in them (e.g., Kupiainen et al., 2014). Together, they affect the ability to apply the cognitive processes fundamental to identifying problems and designing and applying solutions (Kong & Abelson, 2019; Skinner ym., 1998). These processes have traditionally been measured and evaluated through self-reports and observation. While these methods undoubtedly have an important place in the human sciences, they have challenges regarding validity and large sample sizes. One solution to these challenges is that the technology's vast potential allows seamless data collection from individuals in digital environments without disrupting their natural activities (Wise & Gao, 2017). Hence, this paper focuses on investigating what time on task, number of trials, and use of problem-solving strategies in different tasks tell us about student performance and whether the results in different tasks are consistent with each other. The relations between these task behavior indicators are examined from the perspective of motivational profiles students may hold by examining whether the profiles differ in this matter.

In this study, the focus is on students' control-related beliefs within the framework of Action-Control Theory (Skinner et al., 1988). According to the theory, perceived control encompasses beliefs about the relation of agents, means, and ends, shaping a student's perception of how school outcomes are achieved and the extent to which they are actively involved. These beliefs are found to be related to school achievement in to a varying degree and varying hindering or fostering effects. Accordingly, while some students with beliefs that have shown to positively predict school performance have done well, other students with similarly above average beliefs have done less well, highlighting the existence and importance of different combinations of beliefs when considering their association with motivational orientation and performance (Malmberg & Little, 2007).

Treating time use as a measure of motivational investment in a task is grounded in Carroll's Model of School Learning (Carroll, 1989). According to the model, students vary in the time they need to learn, which in turn depends on students' aptitude for the task, their ability to understand instruction, and the quality of instruction. Higher aptitude corresponds to shorter learning times, while lower aptitude may require more effort. The time students ultimately invest in learning is composed of the time allocated for learning and the time students are willing to dedicate. The required time, the time spent, and the quality of instruction act as the determinants of the level of learning (Kupiainen et al., 2014). Computer-based assessment (CBA) research has confirmed that students' too short time on task indicates a lack of effort and task commitment (e.g., Wise & Gao, 2017). This results from reacting too quickly compared to the time needed for a proper task solution (Schnipke, 1995). This supports findings in problem-solving tasks, indicating that in every ability level longer response times positively correlate with correct answers as task difficulty increases (Goldhammer et al., 2014).

The study delves into the diverse strategies individuals employ during problem-solving that guide the problem-solving process and ultimately influence how effectively they navigate problem-solving situations (Stubbart & Ramaprasad, 1990). Some problems may require multiple trials and inductive reasoning, while in other problems the most appropriate way is to test how individual variables affect the outcome, isolating the effect of other variables. CBA enables the exploration of these strategies by utilizing log data collected during tasks, which have been done in the past, particularly for studying the differentiation of the effect of variables in solving more complex problems (e.g., Greiff et al., 2016).

Previous studies have shown that the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in leisure time, and also at school, is related to lower level of school performance (Biagi & Loi, 2013; Gubbels, Swart, & Groen, 2020). Furthermore, data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) studies have indicated that higher levels of ICT use is related to lower scores in reading literacy both internationally and in Finland (OECD, 2011; Saarinen, 2020). Analyses of the PISA data from 2012 have also shown no significant improvements in student achievement in reading, mathematics or science in the countries that had invested heavily in ICT for education (OECD, 2015). These findings have sometimes been interpreted as an indication of the harmful effects of digitalisation of education.

PISA results have shown a declining trend in many countries (OECD, 2023). The most recent decrease in PISA 2022 scores have been explained, at least in Finland, for example, by the excess use of ICT. On the other hand, mixed results have also been reported, and it is difficult to draw clear conclusions about the relationship between the use of digital technologies and learning (Harju, Koskinen, & Pehkonen, 2019). PISA studies have found that students who use computers moderately and for a variety of purposes have the highest levels of literacy (Leino et al. 2019, p. 94; OECD, 2011).​

The use of ICT in schools can be seen as a target of learning but also as a learning tool, which means that ICT can also be used as a mean to support students (Jaakkola, 2022). Based on previous research, there are some indications that the digital technology is used to differentiate teaching (Biagi & Loi 2013; Lintuvuori & Rämä, 2022; OECD 2011, pp. 20-21). This study will test the hypothesis that the use of ICT could be targeted especially to lower performing students.

The research questions investigated in this study are:

1. How the use of ICT at school is related to students’ reading literacy scores in PISA? Do the levels of proficiency in reading literacy explain the relationship between ICT use and reading performance?

2. Does the student’s special educational needs (SEN) status explain the relationship between the ICT use and reading performance scores?

Our education is continuously confronted with the challenges and opportunities of the rapidly changing society. Whether these changes concern technological developments, varying political landscapes, economic fluctuations, or global pandemics and war, they bring uncertainties to our students, teachers, teacher educators and other stakeholders in education. To aptly train teachers for their increasingly difficult teaching task, Fenstermacher (1986) already pointed out that the development of sound reasoning is vital in teacher education. More recently, Loughran (2019) described the importance of overtly articulating teachers’ pedagogical reasoning for teachers’ professionalism.

Teachers’ reasoning or pedagogical reasoning is broadly defined as the why underlying teachers’ educational practice. Research studying pedagogical reasoning therefore reveals the underlying thinking of teachers when making decisions during their teaching. The concept was originally described by Shulman (1987) as the pedagogical reasoning and action (PR&A) process where content knowledge (CK) is transformed to teachable elements. Through this process, the individual teacher uses as well as builds their professional knowledge. Since then, research has taken different perspectives towards this complex concept and investigated it in a variety of contexts, using a variety of conceptualisations and operationalizations.

In this symposium, we’ll take you through three recent papers involving pedagogical reasoning within varying contexts to highlight the importance yet complexity of the concept. First, a scoping review on the conceptualizations of pedagogical reasoning in publications between 2000 and July 2023 will be discussed by Lotte Schreuders (PhD Candidate, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands). Next, Ottavia Trevisan (PostDoc, University of Padova, Italy) and Anneke Smits (Professor, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands) will present their work on different qualities of preservice teachers’ pedagogical reasoning when confronting the complexity of the job through their internships. Finally, Bram Cabbeke (PhD candidate, University of Ghent, Belgium) will focus on the importance of PR in the context of technology integration by presenting a study focused on exploring how and when pre-service teachers adopt PR when collaboratively designing ICT-rich curriculum materials.

During the symposium, we wish to inform fellow researchers about the importance of pedagogical reasoning in education, especially in these times of uncertainty. We hope to inspire them to give more attention to this concept and join us in our quest to gain more insight into teachers’ PR.

One way to gain a better understanding of teachers’ everyday practice is by studying teachers’ pedagogical reasoning (PR). Studying PR, or the thinking that underpins teachers’ practice, provides insights into the why underlying teachers’ informed decisions. The concept was originally described by Shulman (1987) as pedagogical reasoning and action (PR&A), a process where content knowledge (CK) is transformed to teachable elements through a cyclic process involving six steps: (1) comprehension, (2) transformation, (3) instruction, (4) evaluation, (5) reflection and (6) new comprehension. Since then, the concept of pedagogical reasoning has been used by many researchers in various research fields and educational contexts resulting in varying conceptualisations. In an attempt to untangle the current conceptual unclarity, this scoping review aims to provide a synthesis of the various conceptualisations of PR in literature between 2000 and 2023. A systematic search across four online databases (ERIC, PsychInfo, Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection) yielded 1,026 results on July 4th, 2023. After deduplication, the remaining publications (n = 549) were subjected to a title and abstract scan. Publications had to meet the following five criteria to be subjected to a full-text screening: (1) the publication was published between 2000 and on July 4th, 2023; (2) the publication appeared in a peer-reviewed journal; (3) the publication was written in English; (4) the publication had an explicit focus on professional or pedagogical reasoning and; (5) the publication focused on the professional or pedagogical reasoning of pre- and/or in-service teachers. From the remaining 148 publications, we were able to retrieve 146 which were subjected to a full-text screening. Here, a sixth inclusion criteria was applied to assess the relevance of the publications, namely: (6) the publication conceptualizes pedagogical reasoning. During a preliminary analysis of the remaining 92 articles, we identified two main theoretical perspectives. The first stream defines PR as a cyclic process where teachers use knowledge to make a decision, reflect on the outcomes and expand their knowledge. With that, this stream often follows or builds upon the original work by Shulman (1987). The second stream separates reasoning from decision-making in their definitions and focus on the content, depth, or richness of PR. For example, the values to explain teachers’ favorite technology tools or the depth of reasoning required to stimulate students’ mathematical reasoning. During the symposium, we’ll discuss these theoretical perspectives, their differences, and implications for research in detail.

Andrews-Larson, C., Johnson, E., Peterson, V., & Keller, R. (2021). Doing math with mathematicians to support pedagogical reasoning about inquiry-oriented instruction. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 24(2), 127–154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-019-09450-3 Gotwalt, E. S. (2023). Putting the purpose in practice: Practice-based pedagogies for supporting teachers’ pedagogical reasoning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103975 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.05.009 Holmberg, J., Fransson, G., & Fors, U. (2018). Teachers’ pedagogical reasoning and reframing of practice in digital contexts. International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 35(2), 130–142. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-09-2017-0084 Hughes, J. E., Cheah, Y. H., Shi, Y., & Hsiao, K. H. (2020). Preservice and inservice teachers’ pedagogical reasoning underlying their most-valued technology-supported instructional activities. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 36(4), 549–568. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12425 Kavanagh, S. S., Conrad, J., & Dagogo-Jack, S. (2020). From rote to reasoned: Examining the role of pedagogical reasoning in practice-based teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102991 Loughran, J. (2019). Pedagogical reasoning: the foundation of the professional knowledge of teaching. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 25(5), 523–535. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2019.1633294 Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1).

This study targets the connection between preservice teachers' pedagogical reasoning quality and early indicators of reality shock during their field internships. Teachers' pedagogical reasoning (PR&A) refers to their ability to make informed decisions about instructional strategies, content selection, and classroom management based on their knowledge, beliefs, and understanding of educational theory. It plays a crucial role in shaping their teaching practices and can greatly impact instruction effectiveness. We investigate this process when it first emerges in future teachers: at the time of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs. Reality shock refers to the disorientation and stress experienced by newly qualified teachers when they face the stark contrast between their teaching expectations and the actual challenges they encounter in the classroom. We argue that early indicators of reality shock are already visible in the late stages of ITE when preservice teachers perform field internships. Field-based internships within ITE aim to bridge the theory-practice gap and potentially mitigate reality shock while fostering high-quality pedagogical reasoning in future teachers. Nevertheless, a gap remains in understanding the relationship between preservice teachers' PR&A quality and their experiences of reality shock precursors during internships. The research aims to elucidate these connections. The overarching goal is to provide insights into how preservice teachers' PR&A quality correlates with their experiences of tension during internships. This will serve as a potential indicator of teaching quality and susceptibility to reality shock as they transition into the profession. By identifying and addressing this relationship, ITE institutes can refine their programs to better prepare future teachers. This will improve retention rates and teaching quality as teachers navigate demanding early career years. Utilizing a qualitative methodology with convenience sampling (N=38), the study delves into preservice teachers' interpretations and descriptions of recent teaching experiences during their internships. The research uses a PR&A normative framework to appraise preservice teachers' reasoning quality through the dimensions of core concepts of the professions and pedagogical orientations. Four distinct pedagogical reasoning quality profiles were identified: Naïve, Emerging, Evolving, and Substantiated. Each of these PR&A quality profiles displays different signs of reality shock precursors, as well as different coping strategies. The study underscores the need to customize ITE programs, addressing specifically the link between pedagogical reasoning development and reality-shock precursors. Developing awareness of reality-shock precursors and reasoning skills among preservice teachers could help them navigate the challenges of the early-career "survival stage".

Blömeke, S., Hoth, J., Döhrmann, M., Busse, A., Kaiser, G., & König, J. (2015). Teacher change during induction: Development of beginning primary teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and performance. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 13(2), 287–308. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-015-9619-4 Hanna, F., Oostdam, R., Severiens, S. E., & Zijlstra, B. J. H. (2022). The development of the relationship between professional identity tensions and teacher identity: A quantitative longitudinal study among Dutch primary student teachers. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 75, 101199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2022.101199 Loughran, J. (2019). Pedagogical reasoning: The foundation of the professional knowledge of teaching. Teachers and Teaching, 25(5), 523–535. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2019.1633294 Kvam, E. K., Roness, D., Ulvik, M., & Helleve, I. (2023). Newly qualified teachers: Tensions between needing support and being a resource. A qualitative study of newly qualified teachers in Norwegian upper secondary schools. Teaching and Teacher Education, 127, 104090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104090 Trevisan, O., & Smits, A. (2023). Probing the quality of preservice teachers’ pedagogical reasoning & action (PR&A) in internships. Teaching and Teacher Education, 125, 103983. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103983

The rapidly changing educational landscape, characterized by superdiverse classrooms and rapid technological advancements, has underscored the imperative for teachers to attain adequate digital competences. Regarding this, the European DigCompEdu framework serves as an example of these growing digital competency demands. However, preparing student-teachers for technology integration is a complex endeavor, as students should learn that integrating technology in practice goes beyond the mere addition of a tool into an existing teaching activity, but requires making informed decisions about technology based on sound pedagogical reasoning (PR). However, little is known about students’ adoption of PR during their technology integration efforts. During this symposium, we wish to present a study focused on exploring the technology-related PR that student-teachers adopt when collaboratively designing ICT-rich learning materials. A 10-week Teacher-Design-Team intervention was implemented at a Flemish teacher training institute during the academic year of 2021-2022. The intervention consisted of 7 sessions of 3-4 hours each (an introductory lesson, 5 design sessions, and a microteaching). Grouped in design teams of 3/4 students (N = 23), students designed ICT-rich curriculum solutions for authentic pedagogical problems experienced by an in-service mathematics teacher (context: secondary school). Throughout the sessions, design teams explored and determined which tools to use, brainstormed solutions, designed and developed materials, and tested, evaluated, and revised their materials. A qualitative case study approach was employed to analyze the design talk of three design teams. In total, 56,5 hours of audio data were transcribed and analyzed. With the design talk of the TDT as the unit of analysis, this study applied three phases of coding: (a) identifying the design activity in which a technology-related design discussion (TRDD) emerged (analysis, design, develop, implement or evaluation); (b) discerning what type of reasoning was at the basis of a TRDD (pedagogical, practical, or external); and (c) coding the level of inquiry present in the TRDDs (no-depth; sharing ideas; collaborative). At ECER, we aim to showcase how and when students engaged in PR. Overall, findings indicate that students engage in PR, but that the extent and depth of students’ PR in TRDDs (1) varies between design sessions and activities and (2) is often short-circuited by decision-making based on pragmatic or external reasons. The findings and implications of this study will inform (teacher) educators and researchers about the importance of PR in the context of technology integration.

Farjon, D., Smits, A., & Voogt, J. (2019). Technology integration of pre-service teachers explained by attitudes and beliefs, competency, access, and experience. Computers and Education, 130 (November 2018), 81–93. Niess, M. L., & Gillow-Wiles, H. (2017). Expanding teachers’ technological pedagogical reasoning with a systems pedagogical approach. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 33(3), 77–95 Redecker, C., & Punie, Y. (2017). Digital Competence of Educators. Edited by Yves Punie.

Shaping Minds, Empowering Educators: Unveiling the Power of Teacher Mindsets from University to Service

Drawing on diverse educational landscapes, this symposium aims to contribute to research on teacher mindsets. As we dive into these research narratives, we'll navigate the territories where teacher beliefs, subject specificity, and mindset evolution converge across different countries.

Theoretical Background

Developed by Dweck (1999; 2006), mindset theory centers upon the motivational mechanisms associated with our beliefs about intelligence. When faced with challenges, this theory suggests that our mindset influences our drive to learn and persevere. Rooted in early attribution theory, it revolves around the notion that our implicit theories shape how we interpret events, like attributing the causes of failure (Yeager & Dweck, 2012). Dweck's theory distinguishes between growth and fixed mindsets, where growth mindsets foster incremental beliefs, such as intelligence being a journey, not a destination. Fixed mindsets, in contrast, are static beliefs about abilities. Research findings of mindset research have been transferred into many different areas, however an early focus of mindset research were educators’ mindsets and their possible advantages for students’ motivation and achievement, as well as their own mindset (Mueller & Dweck, 1998; Dweck, 2014; Yeager et al., 2022).

Methodology and Research Aim

While some progress has been made in attempting to understand the development of mindsets (Blackwell et al., 2007), the mindsets of educators at different stages of their careers remain critically underexplored. Additionally, while most mindset research focuses primarily on mindset alteration through interventions, little is also known about how mindsets can change in the absence of these interventions. Understanding how mindsets develop outside of specific interventions as well as exploring their connections with other important educational constructs, such as intercultural competences is also crucial. As classrooms have become more heterogeneous, this creates new challenges for teachers, and currently the links between the development of mindsets and intercultural competences in teacher education remain underexplored.

This symposium will bridge the gaps in current mindset research by bringing together studies on both in-service and pre-service teachers. In the first contribution, development of mindsets in several subjects throughout university teacher education will be the main focus. In the second contribution, early childhood-in-service teachers’ perceptions of mindset theory is examined, laying a special focus in identifying support mechanisms that can help them fostering growth mindsets in their students. Lastly, preservice teachers’ mindsets and their connection with intercultural competences is emphasized; and enriched by qualitative exploration. By combining research on both pre-service and in-service teachers, we aim to close the current research gap in mindset research on development of mindsets during teacher education as well as their association with an important asset to face the challenges in modern classrooms, namely intercultural competence. Additionally, we include relevant research work on early childhood educators’ mindsets to address practical implications regarding the possibility to foster mindsets in the classroom.

Conclusions

This collection of research works provides valuable and unique insights into the dynamic nature of mindset development throughout various stages in teachers’ careers across different countries. The integration of three research works from different contexts, featuring both quantitative and qualitative strategies, enriches the understanding of teacher mindset evolution in Europe and beyond, highlighting its relevance from primary in-service teaching to tertiary teacher education. By doing so, we will be contributing to the dynamic research field of mindset research, placing a special focus on teacher mindsets.

Teachers significantly influence student learning and motivation, with their beliefs playing a key role in shaping instructional behavior (Dweck et al., 2006; Hattie, 2023). Growth mindsets, emphasizing the malleability of abilities through effort, have been linked to better educational outcomes (Burnette et al., 2023). Field-specific ability beliefs (FABs) focus on the context-specificity of mindsets, assessing beliefs about the necessity of innate ability for success in a subject (Leslie et al., 2015). Most longitudinal mindset studies focus on the development of Growth Mindset in the context of an intervention (Yeager et al., 2022); there is a scarcity on research regarding the question how mindsets, especially field-specific mindsets, change in the absence of interventions; even more so related to teacher mindsets. This study investigates the longitudinal development of FABs as well as Growth Mindset in 1,015 preservice teachers across 21 subjects over four years. Structural equation modeling and latent growth models were employed to analyze changes in both field-specific mindsets and general mindsets of intelligence. Pre-service teachers rated both their belief in the necessity of talent in their subject and their belief in the necessity of intelligence for academic success in general. Covariates were gender and prior achievement. Overall, FABs decreased over four years, indicating a shift toward reduced emphasis on innate ability for success. STEM subjects (Science, Technology and Mathematics), in general, started with higher FABs and showed steeper declines compared to non-STEM subjects. Pre-service teachers in mathematics showed the strongest FABs at T1, but also the strongest decline. Physical education was the only subject where FABs increased over time. Gender influenced initial FABs, with men exhibiting stronger beliefs in innate ability at the start of teacher education. Growth mindset, on the other hand, showed a different trajectory throughout teacher training, with a decreasing curve at the first two years of university. After the third year we found a weak increase in growth mindset in most subjects, however, Physical Education showed once again a more complex pattern. The findings highlight the dynamic nature of mindsets during teacher education. Results suggest that teacher university training may contribute to a shift towards a growth-perspective in specific subjects, but not in the mindset of intelligence. Subject-specific variations emphasize the need for tailored interventions and teacher training strategies. Overall, the study contributes valuable insights into the complex interplay between teacher beliefs, subject specificity, and mindset development during the crucial phase of teacher education.

Burnette, J. L., Billingsley, J., Banks, G. C., Knouse, L. E., Hoyt, C. L., Pollack, J. M., & Simon, S. (2023). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Growth Mindset Interventions: For Whom, How, and Why Might Such Interventions Work? Psychological Bulletin, 149 (3-4), 174-205. Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House. Hattie, John A. C. (2023): Visible Learning: The Sequel. A Synthesis of Over 2,100 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. New York: Routledge Kunter, M., Klusmann, U., Baumert, J., Richter, D., Voss, T., & Hachfeld, A. (2013). Professional competence of teachers: Effects on instructional quality and student development. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(3), 805-820 Leslie, S.-J.; Cimpian, A.; Meyer, M.; Freeland, E. (2015). Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines. Science, 347(6219), 262–265.

A growth mindset positively impacts academic achievement, motivation, and student’s agency for learning (Dweck, 2016). There is increasing evidence that students’ recognition of their capacity to learn using a growth mindset assists them to achieve greater success in learning in the primary and adolescent years (Claro et al., 2016; Good et al., 2003; Paunesku et al., 2015; Yeager et al., 2019). However, very few studies have researched how to support the development of student’s growth mindset in the early years. A limited understanding of the teaching of mindset theory as a metacognitive strategy in early childhood classrooms warrants further exploration. Developing student’s growth mindset in the early years may assist students to build effective learning strategies for future academic success. This study investigated the current perceptions that early childhood teachers have of mindset theory and devised principles to support them to incorporate the teaching of mindset theory and foster a growth mindset in students. The theoretical framework for this study draws upon Deweyan pragmatism whereby knowledge is gained through interventions as connections between actions and consequences are made (Tashakkori, 2010). Design Based Research (DBR) was used in this study as a methodology for exploring an educational problem to understand how, when, and why educational innovations work in practice. Entrenched in practice, DBR considers the influence of place to produce theoretical and practical insights to extend knowledge and sustain innovative learning environments. Using a pragmatist paradigm this mixed methods study followed four stages of DBR (Brown, 1992; Collins, 1992) over 10 weeks to develop design principles in early childhood classrooms in one school in Western Australia. Two iterations were designed and examined with teachers of children aged 3.5–6.5 years. The participants recorded weekly video diaries to reflect on the principles. Three focus groups were conducted, at the beginning, middle, and end of the two iterations, allowing the researcher and teachers to collaboratively develop, refine, and reflect on the principles. Throughout the DBR process, design principles were developed by drawing on theory and the real world to address the research problem. This study’s contribution lies in the theoretical and practical grounding of the nine design principles which teachers found highly effective in assisting them to foster students’ growth mindsets for positive learning outcomes in early childhood contexts.

Boylan, F., Barblett, L., & Knaus, M. (2018). Early childhood teachers’ perspectives of growth mindset: Developing agency in children. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 43(3), 16–24. https://doi.org/10.23965/AJEC.43.3.02 Brown, A. (1992). Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2(2), 141–178. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327809jls0202_2 Collins, A. (1992). Toward a design science of education. In E. Scanlon & T. O’Shea (Eds.), New directions in educational technology (pp. 15–22). Springer-Verlag. Claro, S., Paunesku, D., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Growth mindset tempers the effects of poverty on academic achievement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(31), 8664–8668. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1608207113 Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindset: The new psychology of success (updated edition). New York, USA: Random House. Good, C., Aronson, J., & Inzlicht, M. (2003). Improving adolescents’ standardized test performance: An intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 645–662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2003.09.002 Tashakkori, A. (2010). SAGE handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral research (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications. Yeager, D.S., Hanselman, P., Walton, G.M. et al. (2019). A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement. Nature 573, 364–369. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1466-y

Recent findings reveal a significant achievement gap between native Finnish students and first- and second-generation immigrant students in Finnish education systems (Jahnukainen et al., 2019). This underscores an urgency for targeted research focusing on Finnish teachers’ intercultural competences. Intercultural competences refer to the attitudes, knowledge and skills that enable teachers to effectively interact within intercultural contexts (Perry & Southwell, 2011). Research in psychology on implicit beliefs has shed new light to the study of teachers' intercultural competences. Individuals with orientation towards incremental theory (i.e. growth mindset) believe that qualities and traits can be altered, while individuals oriented towards entity theory (i.e. fixed mindset) believe they remain stagnant (Dweck, 2010). As these orientations have been found to impact stereotyping, prejudice, and intergroup relations (Carr et al., 2012; Rattan & Georgeac, 2017), they are increasingly being found to be useful for examining intercultural competences as well. Research focused on in-service teachers in Finland shows how orientations towards these different theories strongly influence teaching practices and interactions with students as well as are associated with their intercultural competences (Rissanen & Kuusisto, 2023; Rissanen et al., 2023). However, currently the link between mindsets and development of intercultural competences remains unexplored within the territory of teacher education. This study addresses this gap by utilizing mixed-methods research to explore Finnish student teachers’ malleability beliefs and intercultural competences. Survey data from student teachers (n=232) as well as semi-structured interviews (n=13) utilizing vignettes, was gathered to gain a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between implicit beliefs of malleability and intercultural competences. Findings based on statistical analysis of survey data found that student teachers were more oriented towards incremental theory mindsets which also correlated significantly with social justice beliefs. Enthusiasm for teaching culturally diverse groups was moderate, but those with more experience with diversity were more enthusiastic for teaching culturally diverse groups. Preliminary findings from qualitative analysis of interview data seem to indicate that student teachers are in fact more oriented toward growth mindset, and that these orientations may make them more inclined to favor teaching practices that align with culturally responsive pedagogical practices. Implications of findings will be discussed for intercultural competence research as well as teaching and teacher education.

Carr, P. B., Rattan, A., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Implicit theories shape intergroup relations. In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 45, pp. 127–165). Elsevier Science & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-394286-9.00003-2 Dweck, C. S. (2010). Even geniuses work hard. Educational Leadership, 68(1), 16–20. Jahnukainen, M., Kalalahti, M., & Kivirauma, J. (2019). Oma paikka haussa: Maahanmuuttotaustaiset nuoret ja koulutus [Searching for a place of one’s own: Young people with an immigrant background and education]. Gaudeamus. Perry, L. B., & Southwell, L. (2011). Developing intercultural understanding and skills: Models and approaches. Intercultural Education (London, England), 22(6), 453–466. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2011.644948 Rattan, A., & Georgeac, O. A. (2017). Understanding intergroup relations through the lens of implicit theories (mindsets) of malleability. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 11(4), e12305-n/a. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12305 Rissanen, I., & Kuusisto, E. (2023). The role of growth mindset in shaping teachers’ intercultural competencies: A study among Finnish teachers. British Educational Research Journal, doi: 10.1002/berj.3875. Rissanen, I., Kuusisto, E., & McMullen, J. (2023). Identifying core beliefs of an intercultural educator: How polyculturalism and group malleability beliefs shape teachers’ pedagogical thinking and practice. Social Psychology of Education, 26(5), 1201–1225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-023-09785-z

The task of preparing future teachers for diversity, equity and social justice is a challenging and complex task (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005; Milner, 2010; Lucas et al., 2008). It is a task that Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs continually strive for, but researchers often conclude that programs are not doing enough (e.g., Magogwe & Ketsitlile, 2015; Thomassen & Munthe, 2021). Our goal is that this review will be of help to teacher educators when developing future programs and interventions by providing a knowledge base of what ITE programs already do and what results they have achieved. We will also shed light on the various theoretical perspectives used when designing and discussing interventions (including courses).

Previous reviews on multicultural and anti-racist education in ITE have highlighted varying conceptualizations and methodological shortcomings in the existing studies, leading to inconclusive findings. They also highlighted the need for research to dig deeper to enhance our knowledge of how ITE can contribute to teaching for diversity, for social equity, and to address the emotional aspects of prejudice and racism. The current review is an attempt to dig deeper into the strategies used when attempting to prepare teacher candidates to work with diverse students in diverse contexts especially in the field of prejudice prevention and racism. Our study aims to analyze strategies, implementation approaches, and what they intend to achieve (intended or non-intended learning outcomes).

While our review has a broad focus encompassing multiculturalism, diversity education, prejudice, and social justice, there is an underlying connection with prior reviews like Hambacher and Ginn (2021) and Solano-Compas et al. (2020). This review acknowledges both the importance of challenging established beliefs and addressing race-related issues, aligning with the themes of awareness and discomfort; and also focusing on both pedagogical strategies aiming to modify beliefs, knowledge, and skills, aligning with the themes of orientations and pedagogical knowledge and skills, in a wider context. We aspire to contribute to the understanding of this domain, with implications for future research, policy, and practice in ITE.

In this review, we limited our focus to interventions within ITE that aim to prepare future teachers for work on discrimination, racism, and prejudices in school. More specifically, we will investigate the following research questions:

1) What are the main characteristics of the studies?

2) What are the main characteristics of the interventions (type – aim – duration – consequences)?

3) What similarities or differences are there in the studies’ educational approaches in terms of what they aimed at versus what they achieved?

In the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world (“VUCA world”); in which we live (Tichnor-Wagner et al., 2019), the movement of diverse cultural, ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups has raised important and complex questions about citizenship, human rights, democracy and education (Banks, 2011). In this context, global citizenship education (GCE) has gained prominence not only in educational discourse (Davy, 2011; Goren & Yemin, 2016; Gaudelli, 2016; Pasby et al., 2020), but also in the agenda of several international organisations such as Oxfam and UNESCO, seeking to address key social issues of social justice, human rights, inequalities, discrimination and humanitarian and environmental crises. Linked to sustainable development (Agenda 2030), GCE is a transformative pedagogy that aims to empower individuals to understand, imagine and act in favour of a world with social and climate justice, peace, solidarity, equity, sustainability and international understanding (GENE, 2022). Based on a sense of belonging to a common humanity, it aims to contribute to building more just, inclusive and peaceful societies (UNESCO, 2018). Therefore, GCE stands out for its potential to contribute to a transformational and social justice agenda (Shultz, 2007; Tarozzi &Torres, 2016). However, the way in which GCE is materialised in curricula, school and teacher practices still requires attention and reflection (UNESCO, 2013). Although it is recognised that European universities play an important role in promoting GCE through teacher education programmes (GENE, 2017), teacher education practices in this field remain under-explored (Tarozzi & Mallon, 2019). Indeed, the way in which teacher education programmes are addressing GCE and social justice (SJ) in the preparation of future teachers (Cochran-Smith, 2020; Tarozzi & Mallon, 2019), alongside teacher educator’s professional development in this scope, is a scholarly concern (Mairi et al., 2023).

This background reinforces our intention to understand how a public higher education institution in Portugal is developing a pre-service primary school teacher’s education for social justice and global citizenship. Bearing in mind that teacher educators play a key role in education (Cochran-Smith, 2003; Goodwin & Kosnik, 2013), by directly influencing the quality of student teachers’ preparation and, more indirectly, the learning outcomes of children and young people (Ping, Schellings & Beijard, 2018), it is paramount to investigate teacher educator’s understanding and teaching practices as regards education for global citizenship and social justice.

This current paper presentation, which is part of an ongoing doctoral research project (SFH/BD/04942.2020), is based on the following research questions:

a) How do teacher educators understand GCE and SJ?;

b) What importance do they attach to the development of a GCE and SJ in pre-service teacher education programmes?;

c) How are the curricular units/courses they teach contributing to such development?

d) What factors do participants identify as facilitating or inhibiting the promotion of GCE and SJ in the preparation of pre-service teachers?

Increasingly wider income inequalities have caused severe educational disparities among students with different socioeconomic statuses. To address the problem, solutions have been suggested from perspectives such as school-level organization, student health, living conditions and so on. In this research, we focus on an emerging concept of preservice teachers' competence—equity-oriented teaching competence which can be understood as preservice teachers’ teaching beliefs, skills and practices that foreground equity and social justice (Blömeke et al., 2015; Cochran-Smith et al., 2016). Research has demonstrated the importance of preservice teachers’ equity-oriented teaching competence in promoting educational equity for socially minoritized students (e.g., Chubbuck, 2010; Gorski, 2017). Moreover, studies have shown the crucial role of initial teacher education in shaping preservice teachers’ teaching competence (e.g., Cochran‐Smith, 2010; Milner, 2010). However, most research regarding preservice teachers’ teaching competence and initial teacher education is conducted in Western contexts, which leaves the East, especially China, largely unexplored (for reviews, Liao et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2020).

This research aims to bridge the gap between the East and West by conducting a systematic literature review of how initial teacher education prepares preservice teachers to engage with equity and social justice-related issues in China. More specifically, as equity and social justice are political topics situated in different social contexts (Dyches & Boyd, 2017), we first identified those concepts' understanding in Chinese scholarship. Secondly, we intended to grasp an overview of the empirical research trend of educational equity in teacher education in China. In other words, rather than following a specific theoretical framework to analyze selected empirical research articles, we want to know the research foci, design and findings of equity-related issues in teacher education studies in China. Therefore, the research questions that drive this study are as follows:

1) what is the understanding of equity and social justice in teacher education in the Chinese scholarship?

2) how does initial teacher education prepare preservice teachers to engage with equity-related issues in China?

The objectives of this research lie in two aspects. First, it aims to recommend research gaps for future teacher education studies in China. Second, it is expected to provide implications for education policymakers and teacher training programs.

Open Science especially recent endeavours to archive and share research data on a large scale provoked a discussion of how research, as a search for knowledge – if not: truth – deals with data as an offset of this knowledge. The Symposium reflects on practices of sharing and reusing data and asks, first, exactly what knowledge it generates and, second, where this knowledge comes from in the process of scientific work.

The first contribution discusses Open Science as a collection of related practices concerning access to data and resources as well as results and knowledge, methodologies and participatory research practices (Reichmann, 2017). This complexity evokes an epistemic discussion of the concept of open knowledge (Rubin 2021) and its implications for education and educational science against the background of a new practice of science through Open Science and its involvement in certainty and uncertainty as an epistemic question of research culture(s).

The second contribution takes on a position of quantitative methods and methodology and discusses replication crisis versus opportunities of Open Research practices for quantitative analysis. While a re-use of data opens up great and economical opportunities for the generation of reliable knowledge (Krammer & Svencik, 2021), a light is shed on methodological and scientific-theoretical challenges in the re-use of data, like comparability and consistency of the constructs recorded. At the example of pracitices like HARKing (hypothesizing after the results are known; Kerr, 1998) possible threats to both value and validity of statistical hypothesis tests and thus of scientific findings are discussed.

The third contribution takes the position for qualitative research and shows how formal data sharing standards of for instance findability, accessibility, interoperability and re-usabilty like the European commission framework FAIR in Horizon Europe (European Commission, n.d.) meet challenges concerning the distribution of the way, data was collected (Jesser, 2011) as well as processed and what role participants played in making sense of it. Data sharing will therefore be regarded in the light of standards for qualitative research (Strübing et al., 2018), opening the discussion for considering the whole process of knowledge construction in Open Science practices.

In the fourth contribution Open Research practice in educational science is discussed against the background of data archiving, sharing, and re-use. Quantitative and qualitative data more and more has to meet requirements of scientific funders and journals (Logan, Hart, & Schatschneider, 2021). Data curators are introduced as players in the Open Research community supporting researchers in overcoming the discussed challenges of sharing data and in meeting Open Science standards.

Open science can be understood as a collective term for various movements (Fecher & Friesike, 2014) that advocate for a cultural shift toward openness within the scientific system (Reichmann 2017). Practices related to openness such as open access, open data, open methodology, open peer review and open educational resources not only affect the dissemination of knowledge but also the production of knowledge (see Grabensteiner and Svecnik, Grabensteiner and Heers in this symposium) and the related establishment of insights and truth. These movements in the sciences are taking place in the context of a society that is more dependent than ever on robust scientific insights to deal with the uncertainty of today's world and the crisis of truth. Against this background, questions arise such as: - What concept of knowledge do open science practices presuppose? - How important are openness and pluralism as epistemological principles in open science? (Leonelli 2022; Rubin, 2023)? - What is the relationship between openness and uncertainty? - What significance does an open view of knowledge have for education and educational science, which has the transfer of knowledge as its concern? In light of this, the concept of knowledge in the context of open science and its implications for education and educational science will be discussed from a social perspective on knowledge.

Fecher, B.; Friesike, S. (2014). Open Science: One Term, Five Schools of Thought. In Opening Science by Sönke Bartling and Sascha Friesike. Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00026-8_2. Leonelli, S (2022): Open Science and Epistemic Diversity: Friends or Foes? In: Philos. sci. 89 (5), S. 991–1001. DOI: 10.1017/psa.2022.45. Reichmann, W. (2017). open Science between social structures and epistemic cultures. A Conceptual Complement from a Science Studies Perspective. TATuP, https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.26.1-2.43 Rubin, M. (2023). Opening up open science to epistemic pluralism: Comment on Bazzoli (2022) and some additional thoughts. Critical Metascience. https://doi.org/10.31222/osf.io/dgzxa

The so-called "replication crisis" in (social) psychology a good 10 years ago showed how uncertain scientific findings can sometimes be. In many cases, it was not possible to replicate seemingly undisputed effects that had been published in high-ranking journals following peer review and taught in university studies (Open Science Collaboration, 2015). This phenomenon is not limited to psychology and resulted in the dictum ‘Why Most Published Research Findings Are False’ (Ioannidis, 2005) what can also be expected for educational research (Makel et al., 2021). This raises the question of how scientific knowledge can be improved and made more reliable. There are indications that Open Science, or more precisely its components Open Materials and Open Data, can make a significant contribution (e.g. Krammer & Svecnik, 2021). Open data in particular can be seen as an opportunity to generate stable findings in educational research, but it also raises a number of related questions. For example, the sequence of theory - hypotheses - data collection - analysis and conclusion required as good practice in the classic NHST paradigm (Neyman & Pearson, 1928) is disrupted by the data basis already available. On the one hand, this threatens the validity of statistical hypothesis tests and, on the other hand, encourages HARKing (hypothesizing after the results are known; Kerr, 1998). Both endanger the value and validity of scientific findings. Furthermore, the re-use of data, among others, raises the question of comparability and consistency of the constructs recorded. These and other questions of gaining knowledge through empirical research are discussed in the contribution.

Ioannidis, J.P.A. (2005). Why Most Published Research Findings Are False. PLoS Medicine, 2(8), e124. Kerr, N.L. (1998). HARKing: hypothesizing after the results are known. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2(3), 196–217. Krammer, G. & Svecnik, E. (2021). Open Science als Beitrag zur Qualität in der Bildungsforschung. Zeitschrift für Bildungsforschung, 10(3), 263-278. https://doi.org/10.1007/s35834-020-00286-z Makel, M. C., Hodges, J., Cook, B. G., & Plucker, J. A. (2021). Both questionable and open research practices are prevalent in education research. Educational Researcher, 50(8), 493-504. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X211001356. Neyman, J. & Pearson, E. S. (1928). On the use and interpretation of certain test criteria for purposes of statistical inference: part I. Biometrika 20A:1/2, 175-240. https://doi.org/10.2307/2331945 Open Science Collaboration (2015). Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac4716.

Open Science will be discussed along the methodological principles of Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2006; Grabensteiner, 2023). Research processes as communicative endeavor will be distinguished from methodically guided knowledge construction through an interlinkage of theoretical sensitivity and data collection. Data sharing practices of Open Science ask for standards, focusing on research data to be findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable, as for instance stated in the European commission framework FAIR in Horizon Europe (European Commission, n.d.). Beyond that there are criteria for scientific practices to meet standards. Strübing et al. (2018) propose appropriateness towards a specific subject matter, empirical saturation, theoretical depth, writing performance and originality (Strübing et al., 2018, p. 85f) as quality criteria. Discussing frameworks, both for data sharing and for data collection, the question arises, how data and knowledge are intertwined and in what way qualitative research practice challenges and enables Open Science simultaneously by meeting its own quality criteria. Jesser (Jesser, 2011) proposes two forms of data information to be shared and archived along with the data. First, meta-information “necessary to understand the content and structure of the dataset” (Jesser, 2011, p. 8) and second “context information”, meaning “institutional, theoretical and methodological background” (Jesser, 2011, p. 8). This enables insight into ways of data collection, data processing as well as reflections by researchers in the course of dealing with the dataset. Writing memos is already an established practice in qualitative research whereas haring them in order to make data accessible for secondary analysis is still in progress of becoming a standard. New forms of Open Science shed a light on data documentation practices, making way for qualitative research to contribute to customs of “openness” in qualitative and quantitative research. Up to the point where research participants are not only “voices” heard in the research process, but also contributors to knowledge construction. Borg et al. (Borg et al., 2012) show at the example of Co-Operative Inquiry, they develop different criteria of openness, being consensus, historicity (process of knowledge production), reflexivity (especially on asymmetries) and knowledge co-production (interaction with participants, giving something back) (Borg et al., 2012, p. 10ff). Applying those as standards in the process of data construction, shared data gain a further dimension of depth and saturation. Synopsis of standards for data sharing and documentation of knowledge construction processes shall inspire reflections on future Open Science practices considering the whole research process.

Borg, M., Karlsson, B., Kim, H. S., & McCormack, B. (2012). Opening up for Many Voices in Knowledge Construction. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 13(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-13.1.1793 Charmaz, K. C. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. SAGE Publications Ltd. European Commission. (n.d.). Open science. Retrieved 22 January 2024, from https://rea.ec.europa.eu/open-science_en Grabensteiner, C. (2023). Medienbildung im Medienhandeln. Rekonstruktion relationaler Bildungsprozesse am Beispiel von Instant Messaging in Schulklassen. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40699-8 Jesser, A. C. (2011). Archiving Qualitative Data: Infrastructure, Acquisition, Documentation, Distribution. Experiences from WISDOM, the Austrian Data Archive. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(3), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-12.3.1734 Strübing, J., Hirschauer, S., Ayaß, R., Krähnke, U., & Scheffer, T. (2018). Gütekriterien qualitativer Sozialforschung. Ein Diskussionsanstoß. Zeitschrift Für Soziologie, 47(2), 83–100. https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsoz-2018-1006

As in other social science disciplines, in educational research, there is a growing demand for more transparency throughout the research cycle (van der Zee & Reich, 2018). Data archiving, sharing, and re-use are at the center of these discussions. Against this background, more and more educational data are made available for secondary analyses. This holds for quantitative but also more and more for qualitative data. Data sharing is also increasingly important to meet the requirements of scientific funders and journals (Logan, Hart, & Schatschneider, 2021). In order to provide high-quality data with re-use potential, data curators play a crucial role. This contribution will outline specific challenges that researchers face when sharing their data. It will elaborate on how data curators can support them in overcoming these challenges. In a final part, the benefits for researchers of sharing and having data professionally curated are outlined.

Logan, J. A. R., Hart, S. A., & Schatschneider, C. (2021). Data Sharing in Education Science. AERA Open, 7, 23328584211006475. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211006475 van der Zee, T., & Reich, J. (2018). Open Education Science. AERA Open, 4(3), 2332858418787466. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858418787466

The competency-based educational approach is a project that generates significant interest in global educational policy, as it is promoted by highly influential international organizations such as the OECD (Rychen, 2016) and UNESCO (2015), along with other supranational organizations like the EU (Council of the European Union, 2018) and OEI (2010). Since the 1990s, numerous countries worldwide have undertaken reforms in their national curriculum to introduce the competency-based approach at all educational levels (Anderson-Levitt & Gardinier, 2021).

This educational approach interprets the learning process as the acquisition of a set of competencies necessary for students to overcome life situations (Levine & Patrick, 2019). Competence is defined as a combination and mobilization of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable individuals to confront problematic contexts (Le Deist & Winterton, 2005; Westera, 2001).

However, the approach is not without its criticisms. Firstly, there is a lack of universal acceptance of the competency definition, with ambiguous interpretations contributing to the absence of a single model (Le et al., 2014; Westera, 2001). Furthermore, competencies and learning outcomes are often considered equivalent, leading to evaluative processes determining if students’ performance aligns with expected standards (Le et al., 2014); in other words, assessment is performative. Additionally, criticism arises regarding the influence of international organizations compelling countries to hastily implement policy reforms introducing competencies into their education systems, following global trends and causing these changes to become impositions (Krejsler, 2019; Díaz-Barriga, 2019).

Despite the abundance of empirical material on the competency-based educational approach, it faces numerous criticisms due to the perceived tendency to impose a global educational agenda linking formative processes with economic needs (Preston, 2017; Tröhler, 2013). Therefore, Díaz-Barriga (2019) advocates for continuing conceptual studies on this approach to unravel its educational implications and contribute to knowledge in this field.

This conceptual study aligns with the current that critiques the competency-based educational approach. We argue that the competency-based educational approach is an instrument of the capitalist system designed to connect educational processes with economic needs. The study aims to provide a comprehensive view of the competency-based educational approach. To achieve this, we will follow the trilateral analysis proposed by Barnett (2022) to understand the educational implications of any pedagogical project: the political, the epistemological, and the anthropological.

International acceptance of the competency-based educational approach should not hinder the ongoing task of questioning its project, exploring the relationship between this approach and centers of power, and considering alternative approaches.

The question of how to live an ethical, meaningful, and purposeful life is one of the most fundamental issues in education. In Kemmis’ words, education is about ‘living well in a world worth living in’, and for Biesta, education is the ‘how’ of existence. This existential turn is certainly a welcome alternative to narrow conceptions of education as preparation for future employment. A deep challenge arises however, when attempting to determine how to live well or what it means to exist. This is not because these are difficult topics but because they seem to beg the question. An answer to the question of what is education is presumably the result of some educational enquiry and is therefore asking how we are to educate ourselves about education. As one attempt to explore this challenge, this paper takes a radical alternative. Instead of understanding education as about existence, it explores what it might look like for existence to be about education.

I begin with a thought experiment that brings the existential question into sharp focus – imagine having one minute left to live. Clearly undesirable, I expect most would experience a crushing sense of anxiety. However, for the sake of argument, suppose you wanted to determine what you should do with the rest of the time you had left. Two immediate responses spring to mind. The first would be to do nothing, perhaps paralysed by indecision or an awareness of the meaninglessness of any decision. A second response might be to somehow quickly attempt to do that which you think, or feel is the most important thing that you must do before your time is up. And yet there are further ways to increase the existential angst. There is the question of determining which of those two responses is the best. And then the question of by what purpose or criteria such a decision is to be made. At this point, I would wager that anyone’s response would be that these are impossible tasks given only a minute left to live. Yet what is the difference between one minute and one year, or 100 years? What makes answering the question of what to do any more possible simply by extending the time available?

I have framed the situation in terms of time because of the immediate resonance of its force upon our experience. However, this thought experiment draws attention to another equally taken for granted concept, perhaps even more fundamental than the nature of time. It is the presupposition of making any educational progress at all. Whether presented as one minute or 100 years, both cases betray an underlying assumption of something that can be done, with time simply being a limiting factor. In fact, we would not feel the pressure of time in constraining what we can do unless we already believed we can do something. Regardless of time, what reason do we have for thinking we can make any progress at all on questions such as what to do?