Conference Agenda

The topic of pedagogy has long been a contested one in education. While there is a level of agreement in terms of the importance of factors such as feedback and interaction, there are nevertheless fundamental disagreements between proponents of more constructivist and discovery-oriented approaches and those that lean on direct instruction and teacher-led approaches (Taber, 2011 ; Hirsch, 2016). In recent decades, there has also been increased dissonance around curriculum, with a skills- and competencies-based approach increasingly contrasted with knowledge-rich curricula (Guile, Lambert & Reiss, 2018). The two debates are often linked, in that a knowledge-rich curriculum is often seen as best delivered through direct instruction, while competency and skills-based curricula are associated with more constructivist approaches to pedagogy (see e.g. Hirsh's advocacy of direct instruction).

An ongoing question, however, is to what extent these perceived differences actually translate into differential practice in the classroom. In this study we make use of a ‘natural experiment’ to compare two jurisdictions that are culturally relatively similar, but have taken a radically different approach to curriculum over the past decade, England and Northern Ireland, with the former transitioning to a strongly knowledge-based curriculum since 2010, while the latter has since 2007 followed a strongly skills- and competency-based approach. The relative cultural similarity between these two English-speaking jurisdictions, which are both part of the UK, allows us to overcome some of the issues present when doing international comparisons.

In this study we use data from PIRLS 2021 to compare the two education systems.

Theoretically we draw from a number of frameworks. Firstly, we draw on the distinction between the intended and enacted curriculum (Pak et al, 2020). This relates to the question to what extent we can expect national curriculum frameworks to actually be present in schools and classrooms. The second theoretical lens we will be employing is that of complexity theory in public policy, which will shine a light on the complexity of policy enactment, especially in multi-layered systems such as education (Cairney, 2012).

To look at the relationship between curriculum and pedagogy we will ask the following questions:

1. To what extent do official and espoused pedagogies and curriculum differ between England and Northern Ireland?

2. To what extent do enacted curriculum and pedagogy accord with official curriculum in England and Northern Ireland, and to what extent do they vary within country?

3. To what extent do enacted curriculum and pedagogy differ between England and Northern Ireland?

4. What is the relationship between curriculum, pedagogy, and student attainment?

Aligned with the reorientation of the arts and culture in the educational field in the EU and the US(Commission, 2019; Heilig, Cole, & Aguilar, 2010), China’s government has been working on enhancing schools' arts and aesthetic education in recent decades. On 20 December 2023, China's Ministry of Education issued a new educational policy titled ‘Notice on Comprehensive Implementation of School Arts Education Immersion Initiatives’(2023). This policy serves as a further amendment since a series of state-level policy came out in the last decade related to school arts education(2015; 2020; 2014). As stated in this policy, arts education is supposed to foster a mentally and physically wholesome personality in students and to involve arts immersion among students, teachers, and schools(2023). These aspects, to some extent, reflect the ambition of the government to emphasize arts education in school settings. However, there exists a tension between the expectation and the reality as the current reality of arts education remains problematic (e.g., ) in schools(Sun & Fan, 2018; Yu, 2016). There are some studies about policy and practice(Wang & Zhao, 2022; Xu, 2018), especially none of the previous literature examined the gap and the transition process between the policy and its implementations or, in other words, the reality in China’s school practice.

Apart from the ideal concepts and guidelines present in the policy, we consider the artistic textbooks and the national standards as important perspectives to understand and investigate the aims and the practice of school arts education in China. They are official and ‘persuasive texts’, representing a series of dominant knowledge(s) and governmental expectations(Wang, 2019). More importantly, they are directly received by the diverse participants in schools, arguably act as the ‘bridge’ between the institutional assumptions and the practice(Issitt, 2004). In this case, we formed research question: ‘What functions are reflected(framed) in artistic textbooks, and how are they perceived and interpreted by teachers?’ .

The research relates to a teacher education programme (TEP) and pedagogical concepts in teacher education, but has already been highlighted at national conferences for transfer to other degree programmes in the context of digitalisation initiatives at universities, e.g. for implementation in all degree programmes at the university. Key research questions: How can a compulsory additional programme for all students to foster digital and 21st century skills be anchored in the curriculum? What prerequisites for success have been identified? The paper discusses the necessity of a change management process in the context of digitalisation initiatives at universities and presents a designing process for advancing digital transformation. Especially the promotion of digitisation-related competences among teachers is an educational policy concern in the context of the digital transformation. Therefore, the question of how prospective teachers can be better prepared for the effective and productive use of digital technologies in their lessons has been under investigation for some time. Media-related and cross-cutting competences should be specifically promoted (e.g. KMK 2012; 2017; Baumert & Kunter 2006; Koehler & Mishra 2009). A key challenge of teacher education is to develop learning opportunities and learning paths that enable teachers to acquire the required competences.

Teacher education is a core area of degree programmes at the University of Education Weingarten, Germany (UEW), as around 2/3 of its students are currently enrolled on TEP. UEW has chosen a comprehensive approach in the context of the project "Teacher Education goes Digital" (TEgoDi), to the sensitive modification of its TEP on the basis of an interdisciplinary concept in teacher education grounded in educational theory (Müller et al., 2021). Modification result: All teacher students complete two mandatory media projects, aimed at promoting digital competences within subject-specific topics. Media pedagogical and media (subject) didactic competences are strengthened within the TEP. A pedagogical makerspace, CoLiLab, equipped with digital tools, provides the necessary learning and production environment. Results, anchored in subject didactics and educational science curricula, are documented and reflected on via an e-portfolio.

University's decision-making processes, especially with regard to changes in the university’s TEP, are not organised top-down, but take their course through the university’s faculties and departments (Graf-Schlattmann et al. 2020). For this reason, TEgoDi included dedicated change agents attached to the faculties acting as experts for e-learning. They promote and mediate communication and cooperation between lecturers, university management, faculties and project staff (Stratmann et al., 2021).

Our paper presents approaches and means for the successful integration of this programme at UEW. For this purpose, the obligatory curricular elements in connection with the digital skills and competences required of teachers and the implementation of various support structures are briefly presented. In addition, the various instruments used in the project under discussion are described in order to systematically and appropriately involve all stakeholders at the university in the change process. As a central element, we consider an actor-specific perspective with action variables to increase the willingness to change. (Grassinger et al., 2022; Stratmann et al. 2021). In addition, the challenges of curricular anchoring are addressed by discussing the difficulties we have encountered in dealing with research and interventions. The curricular integration with all subjects participating in the TEP facilitated the most effective form of implementation. No add-on was introduced, which is often chosen as a solution for implementation. Instead, the existing course offerings were expanded to incorporate the aspect of enhancing digital-related skills, and the workload was relieved from subject disciplines through the support structures. Aims: 2024 formally linked to the existing study and examination regulations by a transitional statute, from 2025 on, compulsory part for all teacher students.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a teaching method in which the subject is taught in a foreign language. Toward the close of the 20th century, European scholars from EUROCLIC introduced the term "CLIL" (Coyle, 2007) to encapsulate the notion of meaningful language acquisition via content-based instruction. Under this approach, language skills are not taught in isolation but rather integrated with the school curriculum topics. This method fosters proficiency in both the subject matter and the language of instruction, facilitating a deeper understanding of educational material alongside language development. Within CLIL, teaching often incorporates problem-solving scenarios mirroring real-life situations, providing ample opportunities for communication in a foreign language and enhancing skills across reading, listening, speaking, and writing. Teaching core subjects in a foreign language can equip students for success in international programs, courses, or future careers requiring linguistic proficiency.

Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools is implementing a trilingual educational policy aimed at preparing future generations of the country, which is one of the most important reforms in the country. In the trilingual policy program, Physics is taught in English, which is the third language. Mastering subject content in a third language gives students access to numerous information resources in Physics at the international level.

In Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools, training in the third language is conducted from the 11th grade of High School.

The main task of High School education is specialized education in Science and Math and ensuring the academic preparation of students for admission to higher educational institutions. According to the Program of High School education students most intensively and consciously develop academic, communicative, social, research, and problem-solving skills. It implements the social, professional, and civil self-determination of students. (Educational program of Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools NIS - program)

The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of students' ability to improve the correct use of keywords and complete responses in English by providing structural assignments using the CLIL method.

This research is aimed at determining the effectiveness of learning based on structural assignments that help students understand and apply the concepts of Physics, and to enhance their academic performance.

This research answers the following questions:

1. How does CLIL learning affect students' performance in Physics?

2. How does learning Physics by CLIL affect their functional literacy?

3. Will CLIL-based learning increase student interest in Physics?

4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the CLIL method elements in studying the Physics?

To conduct the study, all participants give informed consent in advance. All data is collected and differentiated by ethical principles, and the data obtained is kept confidential.

Play has been widely associated with the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) pedagogy and curriculum, as it is considered one of the most appropriate forms of organizing learning. It enhances children's holistic development and learning (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Payler, et al., 2017; Wood, 2015, Loizou, 2017). Article 31 of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (Loizou & Avgitidou, 2014) considers play as a fundamental right of every child. Each type of play (socio-dramatic, imaginative, constructive, creative, kinesthetic, experimental, and games with rules) appears to contribute differently to each of the child's developmental domains (cognitive, social, emotional, and motor). Focusing on play with rules, there seems to be an agreement in the existing literature regarding the positive impact they have on children’s cognitive development (e.g. language development, mathematical skills) (Ramani, et al., 2019; Andika, et al., 2019) and their socio-emotional development (e.g., social skills, interaction) (Anzman-Frasca et al., 2020; Barton, et al., 2018). Individual studies show that games with rules can help children develop their communication skills (Barton, et al., 2018) since they can become dynamic tools that promote the development of critical communication skills by encouraging verbal expression and understanding (Anzman-Frasca et al., 2020). However, the benefits of games with rules in facilitating the development of children's communication skills have not been sufficiently studied and need further investigation (Pellegrini, et al., 2002). In this context, the present research aims to investigate children's communication skills during their participation in a game with rules with peers. We define this type of play as a game with specific rules, specific structure and development. For this research, communication skills were defined and measured considering the following elements: verbal communication, non-verbal communication, listening, utilization of materials for communication purposes and the relevance of communication between children during the games with rules. Five children from six to nine years old participated in this study in a research lab with two doctoral students (researchers). Data collection included observation of each session and information was collected using an observational tool which had been developed by the two first researchers and examined and finalized by the third one for the purpose of this study. For triangulation purposes, data collection was carried out by the two researchers who analysed both the results collected by the observation tool and the results from the videotaping through episode recording. This study was based on the deductive approach of data analysis. It is evident that all the communication skills studied were utilized during the game with rules, some to a lesser and others to a greater extent. Data suggests variations in the occurrence of each skill related to the children's age. Older children used mostly verbal communication skills during their play while younger children used listening and non-verbal communication skills. Specifically, the older children used more their listening skills and commented less on the opponent's actions in the advanced form of play. Findings suggest that games with rules provide children with opportunities to exercise and enhance their communication skills.

The consideration of individualised learning requirements and backgrounds of pupils is a central foundation for inclusive teaching practices. This includes the constant adaption of school development processes as well as lesson planning. Within this discourse, the relevance of assessment is often highlighted (Neumann & Lütje-Klose 2020; Prengel 2016). The guiding assumption is that inclusive school must pursue the goal of offering all students options for individualized learning while acknowledging their diversity (Prengel 2016; Werning 2020). Teaching in inclusive classes therefore means assessing individual needs of students. The meaning and practice of assessment can be understood in different ways though. Those understandings move between a logic of placement on the one hand and a (process-centered) focus of educational support on the other hand (Mitchell 2008; Prengel 2016; Schmidt 2018). This leads to the question, whether assessment is used to assess learning outcomes, e.g. at the end of the school year, and then place pupils accordingly (“summative assessment”, Mitchell 2008, 201) or whether it is used to constantly gather information about individual learning situations in teaching practice and base the constant development of classes on this (“formative assessment”, ibid.). The discourse of inclusion shows an increasing focus on process-centered procedures, since they address all students in heterogeneous learning groups. In this form of assessment Mitchell (ibid., 184) sees (among others) a chance for individual learning, so students “have the opportunity to improve” (ibid.: 184). This also means to find out “why some learners do not succeed and to adapt the curriculum and [to] re-design your teaching to rectify any problems” (ibid.: 184 f.).

Inclusive school developments therefore means highlighting the heterogeneity of students. Here it is necessary to reduce discrimination and disadvantages which is requested and supported on different political levels (e.g. UN-BRK 2006; KMK 2022). The implementation of requirements like this depend on structural conditions of the school system. In this context segregated school systems, such as in Germany, impose additional challenges (Werning & Arndt 2015). Concerning political specifications about development of school and teaching, core curriculums can be viewed as essential baselines for school development and teaching practice. This is, among others, shown by Mihajlovic (2022) for Finland, Buchner & Petrik (2022) for Austria an Caspari (2021) for Germany.

Here this project can be situated. In a comparing perspective it analyses the German core curriculums for the school subject ,German’. Studies comparing teaching practice (on an international level) have shown repeatedly that teachers in Germany often fail to assess their students needs adequately (Schmidt 2018: 15, Mahlau et al. 2020: 88f, McElvany et al. 2023: 180). Furthermore, they struggle to combine assessment and teaching practices, since they often do not adapt their teaching accordingly (Walm et al. 2017, 114 f.). Our project therefore asks in what way assessment is implemented in the different German states and (secondary) school forms via core curriculums and therefore which base is given for teaching in heterogeneous settings.

This workshop introduces the methodology of Design Based Research (Brown, 1992; Plomp & Nieveen, 2013) to map how the team, composed from universities in the Netherlands and Ireland, hope to answer the question: What supportive semiotic, material, and social flows do teachers need in order to engage in the process of curriculum making across the continuum of their career.

The teachers’ role has become highly complex in employing their professional judgement as they face the challenges of the UN sustainable development goals, the velocity of technological change, emerging new curricula (Priestley & Biesta, 2013) and the complexity of new approaches to pedagogy (Doll, 1993). One of the greatest challenges for the teacher is becoming a curriculum maker (Clandinin & Connelly, 1992). Curriculum making may be defined as an “interactive and non-linear process that occurs and flows across various contexts and sites” (Priestley, Philippou, Alvunger & Soini, 2021, p. 273) and engages actors “who interpret, translate, mediate and enact policy through the exercise of professional judgements” (Priestley & Xenofontos, 2021). This understanding of curriculum making recognises the teacher’s role as highly networked and connective, nesting in the wider ecological social system of the school and society and connected to the other sites of curriculum making (Priestley et al. 2022).

The supporting needs and infra-structure to develop teachers’ curriculum making agency and capacity, developed over the continuum of their career, are the foci of this workshop. It offers participants an overview of possible pathways teachers may take in their career (Figure 1). It proposes that this framework can help teachers to navigate their career and that school leaders can use it to support career development and to identify career possibilities within their school.

Figure 1:A model of the framework by Snoek, De Wit & Dengerink,(2020) will be proffered here

Figure 2 depicts the diversification of design tasks from the perspective of three dimensions: substantive (what), socio-political (with whom) and technical-professional (how) (Nieveen & van der Hoeven, 2011; De Vries, Nieveen, & Huizinga, 2020). It zooms in on the importance of teacher agency (Priestley, Biesta & Robinson, 2015), and sees the professional development of the teacher as a curriculum maker as both moving up and along by becoming an expert teacher, moving sideways by adding new roles to the role of classroom teacher (in this case that of becoming a designer) and from the middle, connecting and adding layers of system (by taking design roles at team, school, regional or national settings). Throughout this progression of a teacher’s career, they engage in a process of knowledge making which can be described as an arranging, organizing, and fitting together a multiplicity of components in relation to curriculum (Thijs & van den Akker, 2009).

Figure 2: Framework of Curriculum Design Pathways for Teachers

The success of this process depends on the synergy of three types of flow: semiotic, material, and social (Deleuze and Guattari, 2003, p.22). These three flows must work simultaneously, to bring about transformation or reterritorialization (Deleuze & Guattari, 2003). The semiotic flow is concerned with curriculum ideology, concepts, language, and communication. The material flow is made up of content such as the physical structures, documents, artefacts. How these work together through relationships, pedagogy and collaboration makes up the social flow (Dempsey, Doyle & Looney, 2021). This workshop requests participants to apply these three flows to the five different stages of curriculum design proficiency possibly undertaken by a teacher over their career (Figure 2). Each of these three flows, their fluidity and viscosity, will be applied to important questions: what do teachers’ design? With whom do they design and how do they design?

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

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

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

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

Study Goal

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

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

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

The context for this study is the last decades changes in formal education as well as in society. In Sweden, likewise in many other countries, there is an enhanced focus on assessment for learning as well as assessment of learning, on individual students’ results, grades, and national testing. Simultaneously, today’s students have grown up with the Internet and are used to share pictures with friends in informal networks on social media. In the latest two Swedish curricula (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2011, 2022) it is stated that students are to take a personal responsibility for their academic success, and to develop an eagerness for lifelong learning. However, the students are not only to take responsibility for their learning; they are expected to be wanting to take responsibility for their learning. This is to put the responsibility for learning on minors who cannot foresee the long-term consequences of how they deal with schoolwork in for example informal networks out of the teachers’ supervision. This study/presentation emphasizes the clash that appears between on the one hand New Public Management’s focus on efficiency and measurable results in formal education, and on the other hand the individual students’ achievements seen in the light of teenagers’ everyday life such as sharing pictures and information with peers through digital technology.

The aims of public education are, according to the curricula (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2011, 2022), that students, among other things, are to develop democratic values which will be needed as future citizens. When it comes to writing assignments, students are according to the curricula to learn to compose texts on their own in assignments given by the teachers. However, the curricula simultaneously stress that students should be given opportunities to co-write texts together with peers, give feedback to peers’ texts as well as to receive feedback from peers on their own texts. However, it is not stated in the curricula how these co-composed texts are to be assessed and/or graded.

Goffman’s (1990) concept of backstage and frontstage of public life is used as an analytical tool. It is “backstage”, out of the public eye, that people prepare the impression they intend to give of themselves to the “audience” frontstage. In this study, backstage is considered as the students’ interaction with peers out of the teachers’ awareness in order to ameliorate writing assignments for assessment. The writing assignments they hand in for assessing and/or grading is considered as a token of the impression they intend to give of their performances and ability to the assessing teachers. The concept “backstage pedagogy” (Rönn, 2023a) depicts a complex system of assistance between classmates who are loyal to their peers – but not to the formal educational system. Some examples of such assistance between peers were:

• swapping computers between peers behind the teachers’ back so the more high achieving students could write original texts for classmates,
• copying peers’ assignments (e.g. calculations in Mathematics),
• sending text messages to more high achieving classmates and ask them to forward a picture of their completed writing assignment so the requiring student later on could reformulate the text “in own words”, and that
• more high achieving peers logged into classmates Google classroom-accounts and wrote original texts and/or provided extensive revisions for their peers.

The aim was to explore and give an account for the clash between formal educations’ focus on measurable results and the students’ informal social strategies in assisting peers without the assessing teachers’ awareness.

The research question is:

What might the consequences be of the students’ backstage pedagogy, seen as a in the light of fostering future citizens with democratic values?

Teaching sensitive and controversial issues (SCIs) presents a critical challenge for educators in today's highly diverse societies. This research adopts the Council of Europe's definition, considering SCIs as issues that provoke strong feelings and divide communities and society (Kerr & Huddleston, 2015). These issues, whether political, social, or cultural, cover topics such as racism, religion, sexuality, politics, violence, abortion, immigration, climate change, among others. Teaching SCIs requires educators to elaborate on complex and sensitive issues while creating an inclusive environment where all students feel respected and valued. In an era marked by divisive opinions and polarizing debates, schools are urged to reassess their role and embrace their responsibility as educational institutions. Considering the rising incidents of hate crimes, terrorism, and extreme radicalization, schools can play a pivotal role in creating an environment that promotes freedom of speech, inclusion, tolerance, and human rights while preventing the use of hate speech by students. The European Commission (2015) highlights that addressing SCIs is imperative for the development of democratic cultures and the moral and civic development of learners, fostering peaceful coexistence. Specifically, the integration of SCIs into curricula offers students the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives, enhance analytical and interpersonal skills, and foster respectful dialogue and empathy. Rapanta, Vrikki, and Evagorou (2021) emphasize the cultivation of critical thinking and empathy through dialogue and argumentation and the importance of these skills in today’s interconnected world. They argue that these competencies, when effectively integrated into the educational process, can empower students to navigate complex societal issues, promote inclusivity, and contribute positively to their communities, emphasising the pivotal role of education in shaping future generations who are capable of addressing the challenges of the 21st century with empathy, and critical thought. Despite the importance of dealing with SCIs, several research studies reveal teachers' uncertainty and difficulty in addressing SCIs. Challenges include insufficient training, potential emotional reactions from students, external pressures from the school, local community, and state, as well as teachers feeling constrained by their values, beliefs, and identities (Chikoko, Gilmour, Harber & Serf, 2011; Tannebaum, 2020; Evagorou & Dillon, 2020). The demanding and overloaded curricula, reflecting various societal expectations, add to teachers' hesitation. Fear of being accused of promoting specific political agendas, lack of agreement on what constitutes controversial topics, students' developmental readiness and insufficient knowledge further contribute to the challenges teachers face (Zembylas and Kambani, 2012). Unlike most studies that concentrate on secondary school teachers, this research focuses on in-service teachers across three educational levels—pre-primary, primary, and secondary. The study explores teachers' perceptions of introducing SCIs in the classroom and identifies factors influencing their decisions across different curricula subjects. Specifically, we seek to address the following research questions:

1. What are the perceptions of teachers (pre-primary, primary, and secondary educational levels) regarding the introduction of SCIs in the classroom?

2. What factors influence teachers’ decision to incorporate SCIs across subjects?

This study is conducted in the Republic of Cyprus, where the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, and Youth holds authority over policy-making, administration, and enforcing educational laws. The national curriculum aims to establish a "democratic and humane school," promoting inclusivity and enhancing critical thinking and communication skills. However, externally imposed policies limit teacher autonomy, hindering initiatives and innovation. In the highly centralized Cypriot education system, adherence to prescribed guidelines makes teaching controversial issues challenging. This study aims to identify teachers’ perceptions towards dealing with sensitive and controversial issues and any efforts in breaking away from educational bureaucracy to contribute meaningfully to the development of critical thinking, questioning, analytical and communication skills, and democratic values of their students.

Transnational guidelines on skills and competencies for lifelong learning (OECD, 2018; EC, 2019) along with curriculum reforms to promote curriculum flexibility and autonomy in schools (Mouraz, & Cosme, 2021) are pressing teachers to be engaged in curriculum and pedagogical innovation focused on student-centred approaches favourable to the development of learner autonomy. In the Portuguese context, students struggle with the demand of increasing autonomy and workload, particularly at the entrance of upper secondary education (Torres & Mouraz, 2019), even tough they haven’t been trained on the socio-cognitive skills for learning autonomously due to persistent emphasis on content delivery and on preparing for high-stakes assessments. Changing this status quo requires teacher engagement with innovation. In turning engagement in isolated innovation actions into effective and sustained curriculum and pedagogical development, teacher agency (Priestley, Biesta, & Robinson, 2014) plays a key role. As such, working with teachers to promote curriculum innovation cannot be limited to engaging them with the reform guidelines, but includes working with them in addressing expectations, values and beliefs related to educational purposes and relationships, thus igniting their agency in turning innovation into sound and sustained pedagogical action. Design research has been defended for having the potential to support the development of more effective educational interventions while offering opportunities for the production of design principles, curricular programs or resources and professional development of the participants involved (McKenney, Nieveen, & van den Akker, 2006). As such, this paper introduces a project that lays on the assumption that design research applied in the development of a pedagogical innovation has the potential to promote teacher agency in engaging in sustained innovation. The WAY project involves researchers, teachers and secondary education students in the design, testing and validation of a pedagogical model of peer observation and feedback amongst students to promote the development of self-regulated learning competencies. The first cycle of the project design and implementation is on course in collaboration with four Portuguese public secondary schools. It started in the school year of 2023-2024 and involves a set of joint sessions of professional development and collaborative work between researchers and teachers to explore the theoretical framework underpinning the promotion of self-regulated learning in secondary education (Panadero, 2017; Zimmerman, & Moylan, 2009) through peer observation and peer feedback (Panadero, & Lipnevich, 2022). These sessions allow us to discuss and adjust the experiences in practice as well, namely from student feedback collected by the participant teachers and also feedback collected by the researchers through focus groups discussions with participant students. This communication is focused on the teachers’ experiences and presents and discusses a study aimed at identifying contributions to the development of teacher agency in curriculum and pedagogical innovation stemming from teachers’ engagement in design research about self-regulated learning. It draws upon a wide set of materials (collected notes through participant observation, experiences reported in Padlet virtual wall, questionnaires with open-ended questions and written reports) produced by participating teachers in this first cycle of the project. The specific objectives of the communication are to analyze how the participation of teachers in the implementation of a pedagogical model of peer observation and feedback among secondary school students contributed to pedagogical innovation and teacher agency and to identify features of the design-based research approach to professional development that are effective in developing pedagogical innovation and teacher agency. For that, we introduce the project, its theoretical and methodological background, objectives, participants and activities, and provide an analysis focused on the teachers’ perspectives about their experiences in the scope of the projects, considering effects on their professional development, namely in terms of curriculum and pedagogical actions.

This paper seeks to describes inclusive micro curriculum-making practices during a teacher collaborative inquiry project in the Chilean context.

Inclusive education is a cornerstone of European and international educational policy and the core of worldwide agreements for education for all (Ainscow, 2020). This study defines inclusive education as a political and societal project of transformation (Slee, 2011) which seeks to assure the presence, participation and progress of all students (Echeita, 2019), promoting collaborative values for living together (Booth, 2018) driven by the principles of social justice (Sandoval Mena & Waitoller, 2022). Also, it represents an acknowledgement of the unequal structural and social relationships that frame and produce education exclusion as a substantial curriculum issue (Slee, 2019). Accordingly, inclusive education would be a constituted piece of education and, hence, an embedded element in curriculum development indicated by Priestley and Philippou (2019) as "the heart of the schooling".

However, the concept of an inclusive curriculum has been vaguely developed, limiting inclusion mainly just as an adjustment for students who are labelled as "different" (Nind, 2005) or as an orientation (Opertti & Brady, 2011) to the curriculum. This may partly be explained by a bulk of research that continues positioning inclusive education as a technical issue centred on students' deficits (Artiles, 2020), restricting a broad and comprehensive perspective to theoretical aspects (Amor et al., 2019).

At the same time, these conceptions involve the comprehension of curriculum as a prescription, which needs to be implemented or delivered by teachers and, therefore, adapted for those who do not fit into it. Following this vein, Deng (2020) argues that the curriculum discussion should go back to the content not as part of the learning discourse and focus on the academic outcomes necessary but on the purposes of education. An inclusive curriculum, therefore, would imply an ideology compromised with transforming society (Schiro, 2013) that would start with the recognition that education could reproduce social inequalities (Apple, 1990). From there, a broader understanding of curriculum development is needed to develop an inclusive curriculum, as exclusion is not just taught from the explicit, but also from the hidden (Kashimiro, 2000). In this way, efforts to develop an inclusive curriculum should be put into the day-by-day generation of knowledge in the classrooms in which inclusion- but also exclusion- is embodied.

Priestley et al. (2021) conceptualise curriculum-making as a social practice involving different practices that occur across multiple layered "sites of activity" subjected to diverse forms of influence. This model considers curriculum-making as a systemic activity undertaken by many social actors involving the production of various artefacts and practices. From this framework, teachers are curriculum makers, considering that curriculum is always interpreted by teachers and influenced by their beliefs, experiences, and aspirations (Rosiek & Clandinin, 2016). In that regard, inclusive curriculum-making would need teachers' development that emphasises their knowledge framed for the social context in which education occurs, problematising exclusionary logic (Allan, 2003).

From the pioneering work of Stenhouse (1975) in Europe, the teacher as a researcher has been positioned as a vein to foster curriculum decision-making addressing the particular context where teachers work (Craig, 2009). In that regard, collaborative inquiry as cyclical and dialogical practice (DeLuca et al., 2015) through teachers' reflexivity provides a starting point to make an inclusive curriculum, understanding critical teaching as a dynamic dialectic between doing and thinking about the doing (Freire, 2012).

This paper explores how local vocational education and training (VET) curricula is ‘made’ within two different types of vocational colleges in Sweden: Technical College (TC) and Health and Social care College (HSC). We present preliminary results from an ongoing pilot study on local VET curriculum making focusing on what is considered necessary knowledge and aspects of how the educations are gender-coded. Upper secondary schools stand for the provision of VET according to the national curricula, and TC and HSC were introduced a couple of decades ago to increase young people’s interest for a vocational career and to strengthen the influence of labour market institutions on VET programmes (Fredriksson & Stier, 2014; Hermelin & Rusten, 2016; Olofsson & Panican, 2020). Today they have a central role for accrediting schools, consisting of a national organisation but with locally organised steering groups of representatives from schools, employer organisations, industry, unions, and regions. However, we have limited knowledge about how the required knowledge and competences for the labour market are defined and formulated in these local arenas and what implications it has for teaching (Alvunger, 2024).

In international research, scholars have identified both advantages and risks with local partnerships between industries and schools. When partners interests, commitments and views on curricula are aligned, local partnerships may thrive (Huddleston & Laczik, 2018), but the co-operations may be vulnerable due to incompatible interests or economic changes (Ehlen, van der Klink & Boshuizen, 2016), and conflicting ideas on curricula, leading to ‘dead ends’ for the students and difficulties for the students to be employed (Hodgson & Spours, 2015). In the Swedish context, we know that relationships between industry and schools in the local community effect students’ vocational learning (Persson Thunqvist & Gustavsson, 2021), but know the less about how local actors are makers of VET curricula. Vocational educations are positioned in a kind of borderland between school and working life (Broberg 2014; Mårtensson, 2021) where they on the one hand are supposed to provide relevant competence for the labour market (Panican & Paul, 2019) while they on the other hand, as all upper secondary education, shall contribute to young people’s possibilities to independently influence and shape their lives as members of society (Rosvall & Nylund, 2022). These separate logics of school education and working life are not easily reconciled (Johansson, 2019; Jørgensen, 2004) and creates tensions and conflicts of interests on local level (Köpsén, 2022; Nilsson, 2015).

The analysis is based on a theoretical framework of curriculum making as social practice, which means that curriculum is something that is ’made’ and created in interactions between ideas, actors, and contexts across different layers of the education system (Alvunger et al, 2021). The analytical focus is on what is referred to as the meso-, micro-, and nano-levels (Priestley et al, 2021), with the aim of analyzing how different actors assess and define knowledge in various contexts (local steering groups and classrooms). To analyse how necessary knowledge for the students are defined and valued in different regulatory documents and contexts where VET curricula and teaching is discussed and negotiated, Bernstein’s (2000) concept ’discursive gap’ is employed. This may involve how local steering groups respond to policy pressures related to skills supply and labor market needs. In turn, school principals and vocational teachers (micro-level) work with but also make concerning activities to achieve set goals – frameworks for organizing teaching, and selection of content and knowledge for instruction. In the classroom (nano-level), vocational teachers and vocational students create different ‘curriculum events’ (Doyle, 1992) through pedagogical interaction, actively shaping the curriculum in teaching (Priestley et al., 2021).

In recent years, as part of a global shift reflecting policy-borrowing, many countries have reimagined their national curricula, fostering 21st-century skills, student-centred learning, and innovative pedagogical approaches to improve student performance and enhance teacher agency. This study aligns with the ECER conference theme 'Education in an Age of Uncertainty: memory and hope for the future' by focusing on these widespread curriculum reforms' impact on teacher agency, particularly exploring how such changes shape teachers' roles in a landscape marked by past practices, present adaptations, and hopes for future educational resilience (Priestley & Biesta, 2013; Sinnema and Aitken, 2013; Lingard, 2021).

The most recent major iteration of curriculum reform within the state of Georgia has been structured and implemented with a specific emphasis on these particular areas, which is an unprecedented occurrence in the history of education in this country (Silagadze, 2019; Li et al., 2019; Djakeli, 2019; Erickson, 2017). Since Georgia is treading in uncharted waters with these changes, it remains uncertain as to the effects these structural shifts are having on the teaching profession and the extent to which they are fulfilling one of their stated objectives of enhancing teacher’s role in curriculum-making. This study aims to provide an in-depth evaluation of the ways in which the ongoing re-structurisation of the Georgian National Curriculum for Primary and Secondary schools enable or constrain teachers as curricular agents.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Curriculum studies as a field has gone through successive crises of identity, from the assertion by Schwab in 1970s that the field was moribund, to talk of the field being in crisis (Wheelahan 2010) to a call from Priestley and Philippou (2019) to put curriculum at the heart of educational practice. Various agendas are being promoted by the European Union and other political or economic bodies such key competences, calls for democratic/ civic education, the promotion of education for sustainability, the inclusion/equity/ diversity conversations; these all involve questions of politics and power. The curriculum is being asked to be agile and respond to multiple “masters” at once.

EU’s ‘Key competences for lifelong learning’ as a condition for curriculum revision in Cyprus: challenging disciplinarity? Stavroula Philippou

New curricula in Cyprus introduced in 2010, restructured into ‘success and efficiency indicators’ in 2016 and are undergoing an ‘update’ [epikairopoiisi] in 2024; part of the guidelines of the Ministry during this more recent revision has been for curriculum groups to consider how the eight key competences set out by the EU’s Reference Framework (2006) can inform the process horizontally. Drawing on debates around the nature and position of ‘knowledge’ in curricula (e.g. Biesta, 2014; Deng, 2021; McPhail & Rata, 2016; Zipin, Fataar & Brennan, 2015), the paper discusses the institutional processes through which these competences were given as a condition for curriculum revision, in relation to existing curriculum policies and practices which have traditionally favoured strong boundaries between subject-areas in Cyprus.

A quest for the holy grail: The problems and possibilities of ’knowledge’ in VET curricula. Daniel Alvunger

A question in discussions on vocational education and training (VET) programmes is how they are designed to in the best possible ways respond to the lack of skilled and educated staff (Panican, 2020; Wheelahan, 2015). At the same time, VET programmes are located in a borderland between school and work life. On the one hand, they shall contribute to competence and labour provision (Panican & Paul, 2019), while they on the other side are expected, like all upper secondary education programmes, to promote the possibility of the young to independently shape their lives (Rosvall & Nylund, 2022). The presentation relates to recent changes in the VET curriculum from 2022 and an upcoming extensive assessment and grading reform for upper secondary education.

A [re]turn to knowledge in post-competency curricula? Panel speaker 3: Mark Priestley

Contemporary debates in curriculum studies have elicited controversy around the centrality of knowledge in the school curriculum (e.g. Young & Muller, 2010; Rata, 2012). These debates have often been framed in terms of a dichotomy: competency-based curriculum on the one hand, or a so-called knowledge rich approach on the other. Such polarization can obscure the complexities that lie behind the construction of curricular policy. In this presentation, I draw attention to some of the trajectories and discourses that have characterized this apparent shift in emphasis, questioning whether CfE can, in its present form, address such a challenge.

Artificial Intelligence and the new episteme; implications for curriculum. Anne Looney

Debates about the implications of AI for education have focused for the most part on assessment and testing, with consideration of the implications for curriculum confined to discussions of courses in AI. School curricula (however articulated), claim to offer students access to the foundations of disciplinary knowledge, mediated by teachers as curriculum-makers. I consider whether this claim continues to be valid in the age of generative AI and whether the traditional curriculum tensions between skills and knowledge have been made more complex by emerging tensions between the ‘teacher generated’ and the ‘artificially generated’ in classrooms.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Research aim/objectives

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

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

This research aims to understand how geography teachers recontextualise knowledge for students. In doing so, it addresses two overarching themes: recontextualisation of knowledge, and teachers’ professional practice. Bernstein’s (1990/2003, 1996/2000) pedagogic device provides the theoretical model where the concept of recontextualisation is used to conceptualise the movement of knowledge into school subjects for pedagogic communication. The existing body of research on recontextualisation suggests the value of incorporating other approaches, such as subject didactics, to examine the movement of knowledge from disciplines (or regions) to school subjects (Deng, 2020, 2021; Gericke et al., 2018; Hordern, 2021). However, since these approaches originate from different contexts and traditions of curriculum, they have been judiciously drawn upon in this research.

The notion of ‘powerful knowledge’ (Young, 2008) and the heuristic of the ‘three scenarios for the future’ of education (Young & Muller, 2010) offer different approaches to view knowledge within school subjects. As part of a Future 3 curriculum scenario, teachers need capacity to sustain knowledge of the parent discipline to their school subject. However, within Bernstein’s (1990/2003, 1996/2000) pedagogic device, teachers are principally positioned within the field of reproduction. Existing accounts of recontextualisation lack clarity about the actions teachers take to recontextualise knowledge for students and the extent to which teachers can and do draw upon the disciplinary resource.

This research explores how teachers’ recontextualise knowledge as a part of their professional practice. The term ‘professional practice’ is used to encompass teachers’ intellectual work within and beyond the classroom (Clandinin & Connelly, 1995), and capture the interconnected nature of educational practices (Schatzki, 2003, 2005; Kemmis et al., 2014).

The research themes are brought together in this research to develop an understanding of teacher’s curriculum work through engagement with each teacher’s “doing” of curriculum work (Schwab, 1970, p. 31). Through adopting a case study approach, this research provides capacity to render visible each case teacher’s curricular decision-making as it is contextualised within the site of their professional practice.

In the context of a research study that examines the recontextualisation of knowledge, this papers foreground geography teachers’ professional practice, and the professional expertise and knowledge teachers draw upon as they recontextualise knowledge. This is examined through the research question of: what forms of intellectual work are involved in how geography teachers recontextualise knowledge? This paper addresses the ways in which knowledge-for-recontextualisation can be conceived as form of “powerful professional knowledge” (Furlong & Whitty (2017, p. 49) to support teachers’ intellectual work as they recontextualise knowledge for their students. This brings a curricular perspective to how teachers’ education and professional learning influences the intellectual work teachers do.

Transversal Competencies have been at the center of one of the largest educational policy and curriculum changes of the past 25 years, and most governments in Europe and worldwide now include them in their education policies (Care & Luo, 2016; Kim, Care, & Ditmore, 2017; UNESCO, 2016). These skills – initially called 21^st century skills – have long been seen as essential for students’ future success in our rapidly changing world. Originally promoted in part as a response to the then-emerging Knowledge Economy (Drucker, 1969; Powell & Snellman, 2004), they are seen now as even more important in an age of uncertainty. It is argued that understanding transversal competencies and meaningfully integrating them into curricula can provide students with the tools to navigate and thrive in the society and economy of the future.

Though no single, definitive list of transversal competencies exists, most frameworks agree on the importance of creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication – the so-called 4Cs. However, these 4Cs have been shown to be less empirically distinct than other transversal competencies (e.g., self-direction and using ICT for learning), indicating that the 4Cs may be difficult concepts to clearly define (Ravitz, 2014). In terms of the barriers to implementing transversal competencies in curricula worldwide, this definitional deficit compounds the operational-systemic (lack of resources and expertise) challenges faced by teachers (Care & Luo, 2016; UNESCO, 2015).

From a global equality perspective, it is known that major gaps exist for traditional skills in reading and mathematics between countries with different income levels. It is therefore not surprising that a gap also exists for transversal competencies (World Economic Forum, 2015). Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature as to how teachers in diverse global contexts understand transversal competencies in the first place. Thus, the focus of this research is to explore teachers’ understandings of transversal competencies in diverse global contexts. The theoretical framework adopted is pragmatism, highlighting what really works in the context that teachers find themselves in. This study centers specifically on an explorative case study with teachers from Europe and South Asia.

From a methodological perspective, there is a further focus on the use of the “World Café” brainstorming method as a data collection mechanism. Various methods were considered for this research, which undertook the complex task of eliciting and capturing understandings of difficult-to-define concepts. The World Café (Brown, 2002) offers a research activity in which participants can co-construct conceptualizations of amorphous ideas. It also provides a structure which is simple and flexible enough for use in diverse global contexts where cultural differences, language, resources, and access can all prove barriers to generating and collecting data. These advantages align with the theoretical framework of pragmatism, mentioned above, and the World Café matched as a promising method that might really work in the abstract and physical contexts of this research.

Thus, the research questions posed are:

• How do teachers in diverse global contexts understand transversal competencies?
• Is the “World Café” a useful method for eliciting and capturing teachers’ understandings of concepts which are difficult to define?

The modern globalized educational context constantly presents challenges and imperatives, which take place simultaneously, locally and internationally, "imposing" new tasks and roles on teachers (Hargreaves, 2000 ∙ Swann et al., 2010 ∙ Evans, 2011). These new professional requirements create new conditions for the teaching profession which produce different teacher subjectivities. This occurs in numerous sites, however a key one is professional development, through which teachers are expected to engage in a continuous effort to acquire additional knowledge and skills in new fields or forms of education that appear in global agendas, leading them to re-evaluate and modify their practices, including the national or school curriculum enacted in schools (e.g. Draper et al., 1997˙ Day, 2002 ˙ Geijsel & Meijers, 2005 in Parmigiani et al., 2023). At the same time, teachers’ professional subjectivity evolves through constant connections between their personal and professional experiences (Parmigiani et al., 2023).

One such supra-national policy entangled with schooling has been the European Program "Erasmus," described by the Commission as a program that contributes to the professional development (PD) of teachers through experiences of participation in projects with European partners (2023). In this study “Erasmus” is explored as a case of an educational policy produced at the supra-site of the EU that is recontextualized to the macro-site of the education system in Cyprus, acquiring specific meanings in the process, while at the same time “encouraging” teachers to acquire PD experiences of a specific European character as professionals. I argue that, in turn, this produced new meanings of curriculum as it is being enacted in their schools and classrooms within and beyond their national settings. Drawing on Priestley et al. (2021), curriculum making is understood as a social practice that occurs in supra-, micro- and nano- sites i.e. in international, school and classroom settings respectively.

Therefore, the paper investigates through teacher life histories how the curriculum, as intention and as enactment, changes due to/through both students’ and teachers’ participation in "Erasmus" projects. Specifically, the experiences, actions, practices, program themes, activities, and collaborations Greek-cypriot primary school teachers narrate as having developed for and with their students, colleagues and partners in their life histories are investigated, exploring how the supra-national site is recontextualized at the micro and nano-sites of their schools and classrooms.

According to Pinar (2004, in Tsafos, 2021), the "curriculum" in its traditional form refers to a predetermined trajectory, the same “subject-matter” for all, a standardized procedure, without acknowledgement of its political, institutional, and biographical assumptions. However, by theorising curriculum as a biographical text through its verb formulation "currere", Pinar and colleagues re-conceptualised it as an active process of all educational/formative experiences throughout life as a complex, dynamic, ongoing process of "conversation" and dialogue inside and beyond schools, emerging in formal both and informal contexts (Doll, 1993∙ Tsafos, 2021) . To conclude, it is not considered merely as an institutional text that includes instructions and procedures to be strictly implemented, but rather as a process, a social practice made through the interactions and actions of the teachers and students between them and other texts and materials in schools and classrooms: how was Erasmus involved in these, is the key question this paper aims to address.

Business schools around the world are facing growing impetus to nurture inclusion and equity, and to confront long-standing attainment gaps for minority students (OfS, 2022). Traditional curricula often fail to support diverse identities and cultures creating feelings of alienation leading to potential isolation and drop-out. This paper introduces the integration of structured creative activities as vehicles for self-discovery to cultivate safe, inclusive environments in business and management education where all students can thrive.

Cultivating “identity safety” through positive representations together with a creative and non-judgmental environment help to improve belonging (Lowe, 2020). Furthermore, facilitating students’ discovery and expression of their authentic self promotes the autonomy and competence that fosters motivation according to self-determination theory (Iftode et al., 2023; Deci & Ryan, 2008) .

Specifically, detail of a workshop entitled “Portrait of Your Future Self” held for a group of marginalised students at a UK Business School is provided. The four-hour session led student participants through introspective creation of personal artwork envisioning their desired future selves and goals. Following models of self-authorship from a liberal arts tradition, the activity emphasised openly exploring identity apart from external expectations. Detailed qualitative analysis reveals workshop themes of connection with one’s inner authentic self, relaxation through decompression and flow, hopefulness for the future, and non-judgment.

Interview data found the activity deeply impactful for fostering wellbeing and for envisioning deeper purpose (Sharma & Yukhymenko-Lescroart, 2018). Themes suggest the creative process allowed discovering and articulating students’ “true self” aside from daily pressures and constraints. In addition, sharing future self-portraits organically built empathy and community. Largely, the workshop activated the process of flow and through this a sense of inclusion by valuing participant’s inner lives and fostering optimism (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997).

Overall, this arts-based approach is positioned as exemplifying a conscious pedagogy – a pedagogy where experiences are intentionally designed to meet neurobiological needs such as safety, belonging, love and joy which serve as prerequisites to growth and learning. I argue a conscious pedagogy integrates critical and constructive paradigms with the potential for equity and repairing exclusion respectively (Macdonald & MacLeod, 2018).

Wider integration of self-authorship work may accelerate cultural shifts towards belonging for marginalised students and as such one must consider the scalability implications and limitations of the study. In addition, one can argue that brief interventions have limited impact without wider ecosystem cultivation. Creative sessions allow glimpses of alternate modes of learning but require support through resourcing, formal structures, and leadership messaging. Future research would involve longitudinal studies measuring identity safety and attainment after experiencing workshop interventions.

The paper poses the question: how may creative expression foster inclusion? It proposes a conceptual framework which positions the connection between the main emergent themes and how they mutually reinforce each other in a positive, virtuous cycle. Starting with a non-judgmental creative space, this enables connecting with one's authentic self. By reflecting on identity and values, individuals gained self-awareness.

This self-knowledge then gives hope and agency allowing envisioning of desired future states, fulfilling the third theme of feeling hopeful about the future. Achieving this hopeful view subsequently leads to outcomes depicted in the first theme - feeling relaxed and able to decompress. With optimism about goals and a clearer sense of identity, stress is reduced.

Finally, the lower stress and appreciation of the creative activity makes it more likely for participants to access and connect with their authentic self once more closing the reinforcing loop.

This paper proposes therefore that intentional use of emotive, imaginative pedagogies could help satisfy and motivate those discouraged and alienated by cognitive-heavy business curricula thus helping universities to address the attainment gap.

With enhanced student mobility opportunities through the European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System (ECTS), increased internationalisation, and greater diversity and inclusion of non-traditional learners, current student profiles of European Higher Education Institutions hold significant potential to be truly transformative learning environments. The curricular focus of formal programmes of study and informal learning of the hidden curriculum shape these environments within which student engagement and relationship development are critical. This doctoral research examines collegiality perceptions and experiences of third-level graduates and questions how student collegiality as a peer-to-peer engagement process can be supported throughout undergraduate business degree programmes.

Commitment to inclusive practices in higher education are increasingly associated with systemic change, for example with the development of the university for all (Fleming et al., 2023) and critique of learning strategies to engage diverse student groups (Sanger, 2020, Thomas, 2016, Trees, 2013). A curricular context emerges that prioritises the relational nature of learning and recognises the connectedness between pedagogy and assessment. Social cognitive theory consequently informs the theoretical framework underpinning this research aimed at extending a plurality perspective of higher education that matches the diversity of the student body. Curriculum is thus conceptualised as encounter, largely influenced by the seminal contributions of Maxine Greene’s expansive orientation for curriculum with a call to give voice to those silenced, to expand and deepen shared beliefs (Greene, 1993), to broaden perspectives to seize new meanings (Greene, 1977) and particularly her theorising of curriculum as always emerging “out of an interplay among conceptions of knowledge, conceptions of human beings, and conceptions of social order” (Greene, 1993: 216).

This interplay is as relevant in Europe today, where the contextuality of time and place where encounters occur is one of the complicating factors, as is the individuality, prior knowledge, and interest or disinterest, of those involved. This complexity and the consequent reimagining of curriculum as “lived experience” instead of planned programmes, is the underlying rationale for Pinar’s preference for the verb currere, to reflect the active running of the programme where curriculum is “experienced, enacted and reconstructed” (Pinar, 2011: 1). Curriculum as encounter includes individuals and groups or bodies, essentially all social actors, and extends to interaction between multiple players at the five sites of curriculum making identified by Priestley et al. (2021). Curriculum making is therefore, integrated and complex, occurring through constant interaction between these multiple sites with their inherent power dynamics, and in context-specific ways to produce unique social practices (Priestley and Philippou, 2018). While recognising the interplay of all five sites, for the purpose of this research the focus on collegiality will primarily be at the nano level (between student peers) embedded within one micro context (one academic department) to highlight the interconnected dynamics and importance of encounter between knowledge, human beings, and social order in curriculum enactment.

Collegiality as a concept holds significant potential to elucidate agentic relationships in curricular encounters in higher education. While collegiality has been studied primarily from a faculty perspective (Burnes et al., 2014, Elton, 2008, Macfarlane, 2016), this research seeks to examine perceptions of student collegiality amongst graduates to ascertain if collegiality can be supported. The work of Fielding (1999) in conceptualising a more inclusive radical collegiality points in this direction as does the work of Brown (2021) distinguishing four typologies of professional, intellectual, social, and emotional collegiality amongst doctoral students. Furthermore, the use of group assessment as the context for examining student collegiality contributes to the necessary problematisation and naivety of the assumption that successful completion of a group project or task can be equated to successfully working collectively as a group (Channon et al., 2017).

This paper is the result of international conversation and collaboration regarding outside learning, teacher preparation, and innovative curricular design in out of school learning environments. This paper explores ways in which two curriculum scholars are “rewilding” curriculum through two distinct projects that critique existing curricular and school based patterns, and present viable alternatives to the restrictive environments often experienced by students in traditional classrooms. Rewilding, an idea in land conservation that restores an area to its natural and uncultivated state, is viewed here as a curricular concept – focusing on the innate learning that happens within experience, with minimal “management” from educators.

Rewilding is a progressive approach to conservation. It's about letting nature take care of itself, enabling natural processes to shape land and sea, repair damaged ecosystems and restore degraded landscapes (Rewilding Europe, 2022). This serves as both a substantive concept addressed in the Boundary Waters Teacher Institute, as well as a metaphor examined through a curricular lens. What might it look like to “rewild” our curricular practices? How is curricular practice in school damaged? How has teacher curricular practice been degraded in American schools? How might we draw upon curricular orientations that nurture the innate curiosity of the learner (problem based, integrated, embodied) in schools?

The first project is a Cyprus based forest school, research and resource center that gives the opportunity to children to experience a nature-based curriculum, in a serene environment, amongst trees, hills, and ponds. The soil, stones, branches, leaves, wood, and the sky are part of their classroom and their learning material. Observation, exploration, inquiry, building, crafting, trying out possibilities, risk-taking, playing, are part of their experiential learning journey. The forest school also gives the opportunity to teachers to explore ways to create a rich, natural learning environment for the children to unleash their potential through natural installations and set up of the environment in a multitude of ways.

The second project is a teacher professional development program in the United States that takes place in the Boundary Waters Canoe and Wilderness Area (BWCA) in northern Minnesota. The program presents a developing theoretical conceptualization of curriculum that may provide insight towards 1) reclaiming the innate spirit of wonder and learning found through experience and 2) embracing an approach that serves ecological mindedness by seeking an interdependence of knowledges.

The weeklong wilderness program takes place in the Boundary Waters Canoe and Wilderness Area (BWCA) in northern Minnesota, an area that includes over one million acres of undeveloped and ‘wild’ land. This serves as a meaningful backdrop in which to ponder the meaning of ecological and justice oriented curriculum, as well as the limits of protection absent a meaningful land ethic to guide human action and human systems. Most importantly, the experience affords practicing teachers to meaningfully reflect on what it means to integrate relevant knowledges through an experience.

The science education literature in recent decades has included many and varied discussions about what should be included within the science curriculum (Fensham, 2022; Millar & Osborne, 1998). Often driven by concerns with decreased participation in science and the need for the science curriculum to remain relevant for students today and into the future, science curriculum discussions have proposed incorporating more relevant science, the nature of science, and shift in curriculum content from well-established consensus science towards more recent science discoveries (Dagher & Erduran, 2016; Hansson et al, 2019; Stuckey et al., 2013). Within this context, this paper takes up the discussion about greater inclusion of contemporary science ideas in the science curriculum with a focus on contemporary physics in the curriculum.

This paper will examine reasons for including contemporary physics in the physics curriculum alongside the tensions that arise from the historical and epistemological structure of physics as well as discourse about science curriculum change that hinder the introduction of contemporary physics. It does so through a critical examination of how the physics curriculum emerged, how current curriculum documents reveal convergent/divergent interpretations of physics curricula internationally, and how the incorporation of contemporary physics can be imagined and enacted.

Physics is considered a hierarchical discipline and subject (Bernstein, 1996). It aims to develop universal laws that form a common knowledge base and understanding upon which the discipline is built. Over time, physics has been shaped into a “coherent canon” (Simon, 2016, p. 394), which combined with its hierarchical nature, resulted in a curriculum premised on building knowledge over years of formal education via increasingly complex understandings of the same topics (Yates et al, 2016).

For these epistemological and historical reasons, modern and contemporary physics ideas are largely absent from the curriculum until late- secondary or university level education. In this paper, we will differentiate between modern and contemporary physics: contemporary physics is new and emerging physics research and issues, whereas as modern physics is physics developed largely in the 20^th century. Modern physics topics such as special relativity and quantum physics are increasingly taught at the secondary school level and are already the subject of research about how they are taught and included in the curriculum (Treagust, 2022). The inclusion of contemporary physics pushes the boundaries of curriculum further by moving from newer yet firmly established physics ideas to emerging ideas in physics.

Arguments for including contemporary physics in the physics curriculum include providing students with access to cutting edge research that provides insight into the nature of how science is developed and fosters interest and motivation in these topics (Hansson et al., 2019). This paper will also explore how the introduction of contemporary science contributes to the aesthetics of physics education (Wickman, 2006; Girod, 2007; Toscano & Quay, 2021) and considers whether and in what ways aesthetic experiences in contemporary physics align or contrast with those of physics education.

This paper seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the epistemological and historical arguments for the physics curriculum that have made it difficult to include contemporary physics?
2. What are the aesthetic arguments for including contemporary physics in the curriculum?
3. How can these epistemological, historical and aesthetic arguments for contemporary physics in the physics curriculum be reconciled?

‘Open schooling’ has become in recent years a burgeoning theme in the discourse on how to rethink education for the 21^st century and transform schools into better, more relevant, and adaptable organizations (EC, 2015; OECD, 2020). The rearticulation of ‘open schooling’ has been spearheaded by recent reports by the OECD (2006, 2020), such as the OECD scenarios for the future of schooling and the European Commission’s (EC, 2015), Science Education for Responsible Citizenship, which underscore the merits of transforming schools into ‘hubs of learning’ by opening school walls, fostering collaborations with the community, and engaging in innovative research. Opening schools to the community and engaging in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is claimed to offer students (and society at large) the necessary knowledge, skills and values they need in order to successfully perform in 21^st century societies, and to act as responsibly engaged citizens who are motivated to address a wide range of burning social issues (Sotiriou et al, 2017). This transformative shift in the aims of school organization and curriculum requires a root-and-branch, system-wide, reform (Sotiriou et al, 2021). Open schooling is, therefore, regarded as a sea change reform, a reschooling vision, that is aimed at rearticulating the central mission, goals and curriculum of schools, transforming schools into ‘core social centers’ and learning organizations (OECD, 2020).

The idea that schools need to connect to the community certainly did not originate with the concept of open schooling and can be traced back, at least, to John Dewey. Various recent approaches have highlighted the ethical significance and effectiveness of learning with and for the community for promoting democratic principles and more just schools (e.g., Ishimaru, 2019). The Community Schools literature is an important case in point (e.g. Dryfoos, 2000, Heers et al, 2016), as is the more general school-community partnerships literature (Furman, 2002; Valli et al, 2016). Furman (2002), for instance, highlighted the need to bridge the artificial gap between the school-as-community strand and the school-community-connection strand toward the formulation of a more robust ecological perspective. While developments have been made recently to articulate what ‘open schooling’ means and entails, especially in EC-funded projects, current articulations of open schooling, nevertheless, remain theoretically underdeveloped. Given that systematic discussions on ‘open schooling’ are largely absent from peer-reviewed academic journals and publications, a gap can be identified between recent reform efforts expressed in international policies and reports and rigorous theoretical discourse.

This paper attempts to bridge this gap by engaging in the theoretical development of ‘open schooling’ and the conceptual analysis of the different forms of openness that open schooling entails. If reform efforts are to realize the beneficial impacts expected of them, such efforts must be met with appropriate theoretical rigor. Given the community-based approach to open schooling that is currently advocated by the EC and OECD, the paper proposes to connect the articulation and theorizing of what open schooling means to Furman’s ecological model of school-as-community (Furman, 2002) and to Schwartz’s circular model of universal values (1992). The multidimensional model of school openness that is presented here further expands and conceptually organizes the understanding of what openness means and entails and as a consequence also offers beneficial insights for the implementation and research of open schooling.

Middle leadership is a topic of interest across education systems with a push to find the relationship between leadership and student outcomes (Bento et al 2023: Lipscombe et al., 2023). In Ireland the Department of Education (DE, 2022a, p.10) policy sees ‘leadership and management as inseparable’ and as serving teaching and learning. School leaders are charged with promoting ‘a culture of reflection, improvement, collaboration, innovation and creativity in learning, teaching and assessment, managing the planning and implementation of the school curriculum, fostering teacher professional learning that enriches teachers’ practice and students’ learning and fostering a commitment to inclusion, equality of opportunity and the holistic development of each student’ (2022a, p.15). These are the four standards that are judged to be ‘effective’ or ‘highly effective’ in school inspections.

This paper is focused on the role of the deputy principal in Irish primary and post-primary schools with a particular emphasis on leading within the curriculum space. Deputy principals have been described as leaders of learning or instructional leaders (see for example, Lochmiller and Cunningham, 2019; Shaked, 2023), however, in this paper we focus on leading curriculum making in schools. We did not focus on the measurable impact of leadership on learning or teaching rather how deputy leaders described their role in each of these. Most leadership research focuses on the role of the principal with the empirical research on middle leadership less developed (Tahir et al, 2023; Lipscombe et al., 2023). There is very little research on the range of responsibilities of deputies (Leaf and Odhiambo, 2017) or the critical skills needed for the role (Kumalo and Van der Vyer, 2020).

In this paper we explore the role of the deputy principal in relation to the dynamic processes of curriculum making within the theoretical framework of the ‘multilayered and rich ecologies of education systems’ where ‘layers, activities and actors are intertwined’ (Alvunger et al, 2021, p.275). In the topology proposed by Alvunger and colleagues (2021) the deputy principal is found within the micro layer of the sites, actors and activities. This pivotal layer between the macro (policy makers, agencies including curriculum and politicians) and the nano layer (students, parents, community) merits further empirical exploration. This research explores how the deputy principal acts as an intermediary between the curriculum, principal, parents, students, teachers and community through connecting, translating and at times brokering. Curriculum making is taken to mean ‘a highly dynamic and transactional process of interpretation, mediation, negotiation and translation’ within the complex everyday work of leading a school (Priestley et al, 2021, p.273).

Middle leaders have been described as being pivotal to the successful running of a school (Flemming, 2019) and as impacting directly and indirectly teacher practice and curriculum (Lipscombe et al., 2023). The deputy principal is involved in curriculum making through their work on for example, interpreting curriculum policy, timetabling, teacher allocation to areas of the curriculum, student allocation, leading professional development at school level, managing assessment and feedback for students, communicating with parents/ guardians and advocating for students who need additional supports. They often act an intermediary between the principal and the teachers. Recent discourse on school leadership has emphasised the value of greater collaboration in schools, including ‘distributed leadership’ (e.g. DE, 2022a, 2022b; Hargreaves and O’Connor, 2018). This is evident in the Irish school system with an enhanced middle leadership structure, pointing to the need for this research at this time to inform policy on the role of the deputy principal as a hidden asset in schools.

In this paper, we trace the enactment of Home Economics and Health Education (HE/HE) curricula as narrated in the life histories of Greek-Cypriot primary teachers across six cohorts that correspond to different periods of recent history in Cyprus (late 1950s-2010s), to explore it as emerging amidst sociopolitical and historicized contexts, where both constancy and change are possible. By tracing changes and constants, we highlight how this subject-area has been simultaneously connected to an institutional context as well as broader sociopolitical and economic conditions, which remained constant in envisioning particular types of (elementary) schooling and of teachers as professionals, although of changing modalities.

In its local reiterations and in connection to broader institutional contexts, HE/HE relates to how the spread of mandatory public schooling -- through which curricula were mobilized as a mechanism of modernist governance of populations by nation-states, especially in urban centres -- have been entangled with public health policies (e.g. Ball, 2013) and gendered constructions of the teaching profession (e.g. Llewellyn, 2012). In such contexts of administration and governance, ‘curriculum’ has largely been conceptualized as institutionalized text. These constitute what Doyle names ‘programmatic curriculum’, locating it between its ‘societal’, and ‘classroom/instructional’ representations of curriculum (1992a; 1992b) or between Deng, Gopinathan and Lee’s (2013) ‘policy’ and ‘classroom curriculum making’ because it ‘translates the ideals and expectations embodied in the policy curriculum into programmes, school subjects, and curricular frameworks’ (p. 7).

‘Home Economics’ and ‘Life/Health Education’ have long both been part of the programmatic curriculum in Greek-Cypriot education, as labels used in official policy, curriculum texts, and timetables denoting a specific subject-area (Persianis & Polyviou, 1992). However, the shift in terminology from the former to the latter during the most recent educational reform (which included a curriculum review, evaluation and restructuring in 2010/2015), along with the expansion of the timetables from the last two grades to all grades of public elementary schooling, was designed to mark a shift in its content and approach (Ioannou et el., 2015). Life/Health Education became a subject-area where citizenship content was largely relocated and which gradually, in the context of this most recent educational reform, became the primary curricular space for constructing the ideal citizen, embodied in the notion of the ‘democratic socially responsible citizen’. Construing the concepts of ‘citizenship’ and ‘health’ as inextricably linked, the official texts were found to gravitate towards notions of health, safety, and responsibility, marking a shift from national/ethnocentric (as social or political contents of) citizenship. This was a culmination of sedimented health discourses (intersecting with European and Intercultural Education discourses), infusing relevant curriculum documents over the preceding forty years and enabling the formation of a particular type of ideal citizen: an individual responsible over personal health, work, and consumption, hence also contributing to local and/or supranational labour markets (Philippou & Theodorou, 2018; 2019).

It is the enactment of this programmatic curriculum in classrooms that we sought to trace by focusing, in teachers’ life histories, on their narrations of everyday practices in schools and classrooms during their career overall but also in subject-areas, including HE/HE. In this paper, we illustrate how the school curriculum, through and as pertaining to HE/HE, remained distinct, centrally prescribed and recognizable over the last 60 years, although of changing narrated enactments, marking shifting teacher professionalisms and conceptions of elementary schooling.