Conference Agenda

The uncertainties surrounding advancements in school improvement are closely connected with three primary dimensions: (1) A global aspect that shapes the educational system through disruptive crises such as pandemics, wars, and migrations, along with ongoing digital and social transformations (Kushnir 2021). Educational institutions find themselves contending with and addressing the complexities presented by this global dimension of uncertainty in their daily undertakings. This encompasses challenges such as the integration of refugees, the formulation of homeschooling protocols amidst pandemics, and the integration of digital tools and skills into the realms of learning, and organizational procedures.

In the hope of managing school quality through data and external evaluation, “external evaluation” was introduced as a new actor in the German administration after PISA 2000 - in addition to administrative supervisors and without a common focus between the two institutions (Diedrich 2020). The introduction of external evaluation introduced evidence and standardization as the main paradigms for school development, hence the effectiveness of school evaluation has not been conclusively proven (Malin et al. 2020, Schmidt 2020).

Those significant effectiveness problems describe a (3) third dimension of uncertainty that affects school leaders' decision-making and influences communication and cooperation between school administration, school evaluation, and principals (Kallenbach 2023). These three dimensions of uncertainty describe a real VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity ambiguity) environment especially for principals.

To face these systemic adversities, in the presented project school administration and researchers work within a research-practice partnership (RPP) together with stakeholders involved in school advice and support.

The aim of this multi-stakeholder partnership is to create an experimental field for the coordination of decision-making for a real problem: the design of new frameworks for the discussion and processing of school evaluation results between all relevant stakeholders, including the perspectives of science.

From an organizational education (OE) perspective, the RPP will help to decide from a wider point of view by sharing perspectives and reflecting structures. On the micro-level (Göhlich et al 2018), we aim to establish new forms of collaboration and communication by elaboration and experience within the project. A main element of the development process are design-thinking workshops to create prototypes for feedback setting to discuss external evaluation results with all stakeholders.

Design-Thinking (Brown 2008, Mintrop 2016) opens a new and not yet established perspective in the field of school improvement. It structures a participative and iterative process, involves all stakeholder perspectives and focuses on creating new ideas, tryouts, and continuous improvement. In contrast, previously dominant strategies of new public management reforms focused on evidence, such as the introduction of school evaluation in the early 2000s, but brought to light systemic contradictions (Hangartner & Svaton 2020) that hinder decision-making, management and control of school development processes.

In our work, we focus on explicit individual sense-making processes, experiences, and tensions in communicative settings and moderated sessions. The design is inspired by principles of network structures and distributed decision-making such as Sociocracy and Holacracy (Robertson 2016, Rau & Koch-Gonzalez 2018). Researchers and school administration establish a participative process that brings new work methods into a hierarchical structure. This approach can be understood as an attempt to disrupt the familiar and established system routines of task distribution, communication and decision-making.

Communication and decision-making are main topics and practices in the RPP. The process focuses on three aspects: clarity about roles and related accountabilities, common rules about cooperation and communication, and shared goals. The project mainly addresses the uncertainties within the organizational structure. Clarifying roles, collaboration rules, and goals opens up the potential for successful leadership actions in the VUCA world, such as "Response-ability," "Judgment," "Decision-making," "Question the taken-for-granted," and "Critical thinking" (Elkjaer 2022).

According to the Conseil Supérieur de l'Éducation (1999) of Quebec’s jurisdiction, school principals have different responsibilities: educational, political, community and administrative. They must manage the resources at their disposal, and exercise the functions and powers delegated to them by the School board (Gouvernement du Quebec, 2024). According to Sergiovanni (2001), they could be considered as the most influential person within their school.

In school administration, leadership can be conceived as all the practices and behaviors of principals that influence the members of the school (Legendre, 2005). Leadership influences the implementation of change (Bateh et al., 2013) and the commitment of students and teachers (Leithwood et al., 2008). As far as leadership is concerned, Bass' transformative leadership is one of the most widely used theories in education. He defines leadership as an interaction during which an individual increases the motivation or skills of his group (Bass & Bass, 2009). The effect of this leadership is to provide creative and productive working conditions that encourage teachers (Leithwood et al., 2008).

McCormick et al. (2002) mention that Bandura (2007) describes an individual with a high self-efficacy in the same way that Bass (Bass & Bass, 2009) describes an effective transformative leader. They explain that the effective leader is characterized by commitment, determination, and effectiveness in solving difficulties. Bandura (2007) defines self-efficacy as an individual's belief in his ability to perform a certain task. He specifies that it’s the individual's belief in his ability to organize and execute the course of action required to produce desired results. Self-efficacy is influenced by the complexity and specificity of the profession. It must therefore be defined and studied in relation to jobs or individuals who share a common denominator (Cherniss, 1993). Tschannen-Moran and Gareis (2004) consider that principals’ self-efficacy related to work is a judgment on their own ability to structure a particular course of action in order to produce the desired results in the school they lead.

The aim of this study is to examine the relation between self-efficacy related to work and the transformative leadership of Quebec school principals. Research exists on the relation between these variables among principals, mostly in the USA. Daly et al. (2011) indicates some positive and negative relationships between certain self-efficacy dimensions and different factors in the transformational and transactional dimensions, as well as the laissez-faire dimension. However, not all relationships are significant. Marín's research (2013) indicates that certain self-efficacy dimensions explain up to 74% of the variance in transformational leadership practices. He mentions that principals who report a high self-efficacy seem to be more engaged in transformational leadership practices. However, no research seems to focus specifically on the population under study, namely Quebec’s French speaking school principals. Moreover, the results of previous studies seem to lack clarity of the relation (positive or negative) between the variables. Consequently, the research problem lies in the lack of understanding of the relation between self-efficacy and leadership among Quebec’s French speaking school principals.

One hundred and twenty-six Quebec French speaking principals responded to the self-efficacy school principal scale (Fernet et al., 2009) and the self-reported leadership scale by Dussault et al. (2013). The results reveal that there is relation between some dimensions of the self-efficacy related to work and different factors of the transformational and transactional dimensions of transformational leadership, with correlations ranging from 0.22 to 0.46. The results also indicate that the dimensions of self-efficacy related to work were not related to the laissez-faire dimension of transformational leadership. These results are discussed in light of Bandura's (2007) self-efficacy and Bass' transformational leadership theories (Bass & Bass, 2009) as well as previous studies.

A school is a stable organization that usually knows how to manage in its uncertain environment. For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite the difficulties, many schools increased their budgets, recruited temporary staff, promoted teachers’ digital literacy, and introduced online platforms (Reimers & Schleicher, 2020). One of the factors enabling this stability is the middle leaders (MLs). MLs are teachers who also perform part-time administrative roles, such as subject leader and head of year. Their primary tasks are coordinating the curriculum, scheduling exams, developing teachers’ professional skills, and monitoring students’ achievements and behavior (De-Nobile, 2021). Positioned as mediators between senior management and teaching staff, MLs facilitate information flow and promote organizational learning, which can reduce uncertainty and foster stability and order in the school.

Organizational learning is the process whereby individual personal knowledge becomes organizational knowledge (Argyris & Schön, 1996). According to this theory, such a process contains two kinds of learning. Single-loop learning is learning that uses existing knowledge, norms, policies, and strategies to correct errors. Double-loop learning is learning that not only seeks to solve a problem but also to question and change the basic norms and assumptions that create it. Both forms of learning are essential for organizational functioning. However, in times of uncertainty, engaging in double-loop learning can be a significant advantage in clarifying organizational routines and enhancing the organization’s ability to answer internal and external expectations. In addition, it can lead to a better understanding of the sources of problems, and provide the organization with innovative solutions that better suit its goals.

However, double-loop learning can also be challenging to implement because it requires a collaborative climate, reflection, and openness to change, which run counter to the usual organizational culture of competition and success by any means (Senge, 1990). While it has already been found that MLs are essential for school management, it is still unclear how they contribute to organizational learning. The present study seeks to delve deeper into this topic, and understand how MLs influence organizational learning and school uncertainty.

Preliminary findings indicate that MLs often engage in single-loop learning, which primarily focuses on immediate problem-solving or what they term “putting out fires” and “patching up holes”. Such learning involves identifying and addressing problems swiftly to prevent escalation. For instance, in one case, the grade-level coordinator told us how she stepped in to teach a class in the absence of a subject teacher, thereby reducing the immediate disruption and maintaining the educational routines. However, the findings show that this order is temporary since the same problems arise again the next day with another teacher. In addition, we did not find indications of double-loop learning. Following the previous example, the grade-level coordinator did not look for the reasons for teacher absenteeism, at the organizational routine of checking the teachers’ attendance, or the reward system accompanying attendance and absence. In another case, the subject coordinator told us that she did not know how to promote a bad teacher. The coordinator can see that he is trying, he prepares, works, and asks for help, but she does not know how to guide him to connect with the students, partly because she does not know the background to his difficulties, and how to provide him with professional guidance so he can improve. In other words, she knows what the problem is but does not know how to break it down, examine its components, and reassemble them in a way that suits the teacher, the students, and the school.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Purpose of Study

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

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

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

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

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

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

● What AI is currently be utilised for educational purposes?

Organizational learning is understood, studied and practiced from different theoretical perspectives, as Elkjaer (2022), among others, shows many examples of. When we as researchers work with collective competence and development processes, for example in schools and kindergartens and across municipal service areas, our theoretical perspectives and basic understandings of organizational learning will have an impact on how we work in practice. We always have some presuppositions when we work with research (and development) (Bateson, 2002, Bhaskar & Danermark, 2006). In a time of great uncertainty, combined with a high degree of complexity in the organizations where collective competence development is to take place, it is also an important ethical question how we as researchers contribute to development processes. How do we handle the uncertainty and complexity? Are we able, as Elkjaer (2022, p. 598) points out, to contribute to what is best for society and act responsibly and openly? And do we contribute to learning becoming a method for developing and maintaining critical thinking? Elkjaer argues for a learning theory of organizational learning inspired by pragmatism. In the study that this paper deals with, we will follow Elkjaer's suggestions for what is important for organizational learning in the future, but we will not pursue pragmatism, but rather go to critical realism, which incidentally has a kinship with pragmatism (Zotzmann et. al., 2022), and we will also connect critical realist insights within systems theory, what Price (2023) refers to as third generation systems theory. Like pragmatism, critical realism is a meta-theoretical position (Bhaskar, 2016), and meta-theory specifies ontological, epistemological and methodological presuppositions in scientific practice (Bhaskar & Danermark, 2006). These assumptions can often be less explicit in research and development work, while it can be very enlightening both for researchers themselves and also for the organizational participants involved in collective competence development if they are made explicit and clear, and preferably understandable - because this should be possible and desirable if the researcher is to act responsibly.

There are two intertwined research questions that are discussed in this paper: What is central to a theoretical basis for organizational learning from critical realist meta-theory and third generation systems theory? And what could be important practical implications in light of these theories, for collective competence development in schools and kindergartens, and for the good of society? The aim of the study is to contribute to a theoretical basis for organizational learning related to collective competence development that both addresses uncertainty and complexity, and at the same time provides the most "simple" possible directions for competence and practice development. This contribution is intended for both researchers and organizational participants who are involved in concrete, practical development processes, and who seek basic understandings that can contribute to more sustainable development processes than has often been the case in, for example, school development.

The theoretical frameworks that will be addressed and applied in this study are organizational learning, based on Elkjaer's article (2022) and other relevant publications in this field. Furthermore, critical realism is the most central framework in the study, which also underpins the third theoretical perspective, namely third-generation systems theory, as presented by Leigh Price (2023). Critical realism is a comprehensive meta-theory with a large international literature, and in order to extract some of the main points, I particularly use Bhaskar's 2016 book Enlightened Common Sense, which also points in the direction of emphasizing common sense and simplicity, while maintaining an understanding of the complex and avoiding reductionism.

In the field of adult and continuing education curricula are less regulated than in other areas of education and participation is usually voluntary (Schrader, 2019). Thus, participation in continuing education is a complex phenomenon which depends on various factors (Rubenson & Desjardins, 2009). Boeren (2016), for example, explains participation in continuing education by a multilevel model, which illustrates the interrelationships between factors at different levels. Within this model, organizations and providers of adult and continuing education are recognized as a factor to participation at the meso-level.

The field of continuing education is characterized by dynamic change. Particularly when it comes to program planning, the challenge is to keep pace with social changes and address current needs. Program planning in continuing education has to mediate between the three instances of social needs, addressees, and pedagogical mission (von Hippel et al., 2008). Thereby, it has the task to react on foreseen future problems and awaken new educational needs (Siebert, 2014). Constantly changing socially relevant developments can be understood as uncertainty in the sense of this network’s call.

Against the background of current developments such as differentiation of the continuing education market, competitive pressure, and digitalization, reaching and addressing new or changing target groups is becoming increasingly important (Echarti et al., 2023; Kraft, 2018). The recruitment of participants as an organizational process is therefore a central challenge for continuing education staff (Caffarella & Daffron, 2013; Käpplinger et al., 2017). Course design is one relevant factor in order to attract participants. Without curricular regulations, it is important to constantly adapt the program to current topics, individual needs and interests, as well as to external changes.

Futhermore, the relevance of participant recruitment is underlined when taking into account the “matthew effect” (Boeren, 2016, S. 24), which refers to the actuality that the majority of people who take part in continuing education are those who already have a higher formal qualification, or as it says in Matthews’s Bible story: Those who already have receive more (Boeren, 2016; Rubenson, 1998). In order to promote educational equality, it is particularly important to make efforts to reach the educationally disadvantaged groups (Boeren, 2016).

For the German discourse, Mania, Ernst and Wagner (2022) point out that there is no established form or category under which participant recruitment is discussed. In their systematic review, they developed and systemized an overview of the current state of German discussion and research on that topic. Accordingly, participant recruitment is merely treated as a subtopic, viewed from different angles, such as the institutional, organizational, and professional perspective, as well as from the perspective of target group research.

Against this background, our intention is to focus on the international state of discussion and research. Up to now there exists no empirical based systematic overviews systematizing the international state of discussion and research on this topic.

Our contribution therefore aims to take stock of and systematize the topic of participant recruitment and outreach strategies in adult and continuing education in the international (research) discourse. Our review will focus on the perspective(s) from which the topic is captured and discussed, and on strategies and concepts for addressing participants that can be identified in the sector of adult and continuing education. Our specific interest is the area of literacy and basic education, this due to its particular importance (to reach educationally disadvantaged) and specifics of the recruitment process (e.g., must go beyond written offers). The conceptual framework of our approach is informed by the procedure of conducting a scoping review (Arksey & O'Malley, 2005).

The focus of our presentation is the use of smart boards in the classroom. The research was done in the frame of the programme called EFOP-3.2.4. „Development of digital competences” which is the antecedent of an RRF-1.2.1. programme called „Providing equal accessibility to digital education to students and teachers”. These two programmes are originated from recognizing the latest international trends and the needs of educational institutions as for the latest digital technology is concerned.

The research problem is to track changes indicated by central governmental development in the convergent regions of Hungary focusing on supplying them with interactive displays. Our purpose was to identify changes in Hungary compared to international trends as far as the number of interactive displays is concerned, identify possible changes in teachers’ classroom practice due to professional development trainings completed in the frame of the programme.

The research questions are:

• How is the learning environment in the least developed regions changing because of the governmental intervention including supplying schools in these regions with interactive displays?
• What are teachers’ attitudes towards the use of interactive displays?
• What are the main quantitative characteristics of the teachers’ practices regarding the use of interactive displays?
• What are the main qualitative characteristics of the teachers’ practices regarding the use of interactive displays?

The importance of digital literacy in our everyday life and in the labour market is unquestionable (Ala-Mutka 2011, Area & Pessoa 2012). The notion of digital transformation has been defined in almost every field of life. Education is also an area of digital transformation, consequently the need of change in pedagogical perspectives has become a highly important issue (European Commission 2019a, b). A great number of researches has dealt with the role of digital tools including interactive white boards and interactive displays in education and tackling challenges related to them. A meta-analysis taking and pooling research results between 2002-2011 identified seven problem areas (Shi et al, 2012). From the aspect of our research, the issue of spreading and concentration of technology takes priority. The most important question is how availability of digital tools (interactive displays) is changing due to central governmental interventions. The target populations of the researches were teachers and students whose attitudes, behaviours, expectations, feelings and other mental activities towards interactive displays were analysed.

In some cases, the procurement has been accompanied by researches, which can be identified as a continuation of researches related to the use of interactive white boards, since their introduction and spread, and professional experiences, assessment of their use are essential to professional knowledge related to interactive displays. Consequently, the need of change in professional beliefs and concepts has become apparent. The most recent studies have investigated the advantages and disadvantages of interactive displays from the students’ and teachers’ perspectives (İpek & Sözcü, 2016; Schmid & Schimmack, 2010; Sad & Ozhan, 2012; Yıldız & Tüfekçi, 2012; Yang, Yorgancı, & Terzioğlu, 2013; Warwick, Hennessy & Mercer, 2011), the internal and external factors of integrating the use of interactive displays into teaching practice (Drayton, Falk, Stroud, Hobbs & Hammerman, 2010; Stroud et al., 2014), their role in making learning more efficient (Saltan & Arslan, 2013; Saltan, 2019; Türel & Johnson, 2012; Akar, 2020).

Our research fills a gap and is unparalleled with its big sample because of the lack of researches related to interactive displays. It is based on the series of governmental actions, including procurement, installation of 3000 interactive displays, organizing professional training for teachers in the convergent regions of Hungary in 2019. Thus, we intended to contribute to the support of teachers’ conceptual change.

The average classroom is disrupted every 42 seconds (Wettstein & Scherzinger, 2018). Over the time of an entire day at school, teachers and students are facing up to hundreds of minor and major disruptions. Since a well-structured lesson and a less disturbed classroom are key aspects for students’ academic success (Adeyemo, 2012; Marquez et al., 2016; Talebi et al., 2015), there is an urgent need for educators worldwide to address this issue. This is especially true when facing the consequences of permanent disruptions as stress for teachers: (mental and physical) health issues (Kokkinos, 2007; Wettstein et al., 2021).

Additional to this already important matter the educational systems around the world have to deal with more and more digitization (Meinokat & Wagner, 2022). This transforms educational systems worldwide (European Union, 2020; Wohlfart & Wagner, 2023) and affects all areas of teaching in classes. Classroom Management, as “the actions teachers take to create an environment that supports and facilitates both academic and social-emotional learning” (Evertson & Weinstein, 2006, p. 4) is therefore affected as well. Dealing with disruptions, so “behavior[s] that seriously interferes with the teaching process, and/or seriously upsets the normal running of the classroom” (Infantino & Little, 2005, p. 493), is part of classroom management, but research so far is missing the impact of the digital changes on this topic.

The pandemic has shown that teaching already and in future might benefit from and in digital settings (Meinokat & Wagner, submitted). Digital settings can occur in different forms: digital enhanced face-to-face learning, online learning, or blended learning (Meinokat & Wagner, 2022). All forms can be found interdisciplinary across various subjects at schools. Research in this area so far is lacking an explicit look at the topic of classroom disruptions, rather focusing on classroom management generally, and is mostly teacher focused (Meinokat & Wagner, 2022). To generate a more complete understanding of this important research area, teaching must be investigated from different perspectives. This cumulative PhD Project is therefore addressing classroom disruptions in digital settings from multiple views and regarding various subjects, answering the following research questions:

• How is the current state of research on the topic of classroom disruptions in digital education?
• What strategies do teachers use to prevent and intervene classroom disruptions and how are they impacted by digital media?
• How do students experience the digital evolution in their classes and what are their views on classroom disruptions in digital settings?

This study aims to explore teachers’ experiences using adaptive learning (AL) approaches in gifted education in Kazakhstan schools. This study employs a qualitative case study methodology to illustrate the phenomenon under examination and includes eight purposefully selected teacher participants who have worked and/or are working on an ALpilot project in gifted education. The results from this study may aid policymakers and school administrators in evaluating and enhancing teachers' experiences in gifted education.

Promoting equity and excellence at all levels of education is a top priority for all educational systems to ensure that all children have opportunities for success. Equity, connected to the concept of fairness, means that personal or socio-economic conditions such as ability, gender, ethnic origin, or family origin do not hinder the success of education. Fostering excellence, on the other hand, implies striving to provide quality education tailored to the different talents and needs of all students, striving to enаble each of them to reach their potential (Brusoni et al., 2014; Peters & Engerrand, 2016; Reis, Renzulli & Renzulli, 2021).

Both principles are desirable, possible, and compatible (Schleicher, 2014). However, only a few education systems around are capable of achieving both objectives simultaneously to satisfactory levels (Peters & Engerrand, 2016). As a result, the number of students who fully benefit from compulsory education is limited. This is especially true for gifted and talented students, whose clаssroom experiences are usually focused on topics they have already mastered (Letina, 2021; Pfeiffer, 2012) and too often do not have access to quality opportunities to mаximize their learning (Little, 2012; Reis, Renzulli & Renzulli, 2021).

The advancement of technology, such as Google clаssroom, Renzulli Learning, and AL systems (e.g., ALEKS, CogBooks, CANVAS) in the 21^st century created various opportunities to ensure gifted learners' personalized learning, particularly through the study of pupils' learning to better serve individualized growth. Rather than additional learning material, these personalized approaches to learning promote a range of learning experiences addressing student learning needs. This incorporation of technology into personаlized learning environments has produced a new development path: technology-enabled personalized learning (Peng et al., 2019; Shemshack & Spector, 2020).

AL is considered a strаtegy for delivering personalized learning in order to provide each student with efficient, effective, engaging, and individualized learning routes (Harati et al., 2021). The benefit of AL is that the system provides the student with tailored learning opportunities аdjusted to their performance in the previous session. This approach allows the learners to skip information if they are already acquainted with it, and judge it as too simple or too difficult, which positively impacts the individual's educational trajectory (Ordov et al., 2019).

The purpose of this study is to examine and describe Kazakhstani teachers’ experiences with AL approaches in gifted education. Drawing on empirical data and associated literature, this study intends to examine how Kazakhstani teachers conceptualize AL, what their experience with the approach has been, and how they go about implementing it. By exаmining teachers' experiences, we aim to discover the obstacles they confront, the teaching strategies they find effective, the opportunities adaptive learning systems offer, as well as the limitations of AL.

Developing higher thinking skills in geography is very relevant in today's realities, so it is essential to improve and develop them and look for new ways of developing them in the best and most effective way. The annual national tests of pupils' achievements provide an opportunity to obtain feedback on pupils' knowledge and its application and on developing higher-order thinking skills in geography. Using the insights from the results of these tests, it is the higher-order thinking tasks where pupils struggle the most and perform the worst. The updated general curriculum also emphasizes the importance of higher thinking skills. The curricula contain seven competencies, of which cognitive competence is linked to the development of higher thinking skills. The General Education Standards for Geography state that students should be able to recognise and understand the overall geographical context based on sound factual knowledge, judgment and problem-solving skills (Wuttke, 2005), to educate students to become responsible citizens, and to provide them with the opportunity to engage in social discourse. Developing competencies is one of the most critical objectives in the Geography curriculum. In the scientific area, digital environments are proposed to develop these processes, as they offer more opportunities for creating effective feedback, and searching for information, multimedia content creates even more possibilities for analysing problems, and the possibility of working independently or collaboratively. Developing critical thinking is proposed through virtual reality and various smart technologies, thus increasing students' engagement in problem-solving, achieving better understanding and awareness, and bringing a new dimension to their learning approach. Therefore, it is essential to explore the possibilities of using intelligent tools and to develop educational scenarios that include an educational environment, a model of action where social and digital environments interact. Such educational scenarios could be used by educators teaching the subject of geography to develop higher thinking skills. Failure to develop higher thinking skills or inadequate development of higher thinking skills, results in poorer student learning outcomes, narrowing education to the teaching of knowledge, and a lack of development of thinking skills (Palavan, 2020). Educators' discretionary choice of methods and tools to develop higher thinking skills produces ineffective results. As a result, it is challenging to develop these skills, and pupils do not set themselves higher learning goals or improve.

The study aims to improve students' higher thinking skills in geography through educational scenarios in a digital environment.

1. to analyse the possibilities of developing pupils' higher thinking skills in geography lessons by applying educational scenarios in a digital environment;

2. to identify students' higher thinking skills in geography lessons through the use of eye-tracking methodology and think-aloud protocols.

The idea behind this research includes the following questions: how to you choose and apply an appropriate conative, metacognitive or other learning strategy? We will explore digital scenarios in the subject of geography by focusing on the problem-solving process, the development of higher thinking skills (Rosiyanti et al., 2021; Nurkaeti, 2018), for which we will apply a eye-tracking approach for a deeper analysis (Strohmair et al., 2020; Schindler et al., 2019). The think-aloud method will be applied for a more in-depth uncovering of the decision process (Rosenzweig et al., 2011; Ericsson, 2006; Shwerdtfeger and Budke, 2021). To formulate arguments in geography lessons, students must engage with the geography problem and use classroom materials to gather data to support their views. A special feature of geography lessons is that students can link arguments from natural science (physical geography) and social science (human geography), and factual and normative arguments can also be used (Budke, 2013).