Conference Agenda

The Republic of Cyprus (hereafter Cyprus) has been historically experiencing uncertainty at various levels, stemming from political, social, health, and financial challenges. Arguably, the trajectory of education policy and practice is affected by these contextual factors. This session aims to delve into research on inclusive education by demonstrating how research priorities have been shaped and how research efforts have been influenced by those factors. Inclusive education is conceptualized as the active participation and learning of all children in the general school, particularly concerning children vulnerable to exclusion. The session follows a thematic approach of key research themes (i.e., history and the first integration law, evaluation of policy and practice, political and educational changes, and digitalization) linked with a historical timeline in an attempt to show how milestones of uncertain times (e.g., the establishment of the University of Cyprus in 1992, the 1999 Law on integration, the 2010 national curriculum reform, the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, etc.) influenced research on inclusive education in Cyprus. The session also sheds light on how local research has been placed within the broader European and global trends on inclusive education, as being informed but also informing the international research agenda. The session ends with a discussion on the future directions of research and the implications of conducting research on inclusive education at the local level while trying to contribute to the broader literature on inclusive education.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People with migration background tend to be marginalized and disadvantaged. Societal mainstream and politicians promote adaption (assimilation), which furthers these people’s problems as they are deprived of their roots. In the paper, first, a normative concept of integration is presented that permits people with migration background to participate actively in the society without denying their origin. Secondly, a teaching-learning approach is presented that permits to promote the necessary competences and attitudes for them to do so: Values and Knowledge Acquisition (VaKE). A pilot study with 8 young people with Turkish background is presented.

One’s roots, traditions, beliefs and language are key elements for one’s identity and well-being. From the perspective of the dominant society, however, integration means mostly assimilation to the detriment of the original culture. Here, a concept is proposed, based on the different spheres people live in, like the community of people with the same origin, the public sphere of the dominant society or institutions like school or public administration (Berry, 2005). Integration, then, can be based on principles on three levels:

(1) The first level is normative and imperative under all conditions and in all spheres: The human rights, for instance as stipulated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948) and subsequent resolutions. Expression of respect may differ between spheres, but the underlying principle remains the same for all.

(2) The second level is normative as well but can be applied differently in different spheres. Provided that (1) is fulfilled, the effective laws must be respected, and they have priority over, for instance, religion and tradition. This means, for instance, that within the community of people of the same origin or religion, one can practice one’s traditions and religions if the law is not broken.

(3) In different spheres, different practices are acceptable. Practicing one’s original culture within the sphere of like-minded people, but practicing the principles of the dominant culture in public spheres would then be the appropriate way of integration.

The concept of different practices in different spheres can be realized only if specific psychological conditions are satisfied. Behavior must be situation specific, as addressed in Patry (2019); cultural integration competence is necessary (Dai & Chen, 2020); authenticity requires particular attention (Molinsky, 2013); etc.

These psychological conditions are complex and difficult to reach through education. In particular, it should include both values education (e.g., the normative requirements mentioned above) and acquiring the necessary cultural integration competences. VaKE (Values and Knowledge Education; Weyringer et al., 2022a) is a teaching-learning concept that permits just this. It is based on the constructivist framework and combines values education according to a post-Kohlbergian framework (Patry & Weyringer, in press) with competence acquisition according to inquiry-based learning (Dobber et al., 2017); it has an impact on other dispositions such as the ones addressed in Dai and Chen (2020), as discussed in Weyringer et al. (2022a). The participants are confronted with a story in which the protagonist has a values conflict; they must collaboratively decide what the protagonist should do (Blatt & Kohlberg, 1975), but for a competent discussion, they need some knowledge, which they then search, for instance, on the internet. The collaborative learning process leads to a shared conceptual framework, critical thinking, creativity, tolerance, perspective taking, etc. (e.g., Weyringer & Pnevmatikos, 2022). This concept has been successfully used to train unaccompanied minor Muslim boys (Patry et al., 2016) and Muslim female asylum seekers (Weyringer et al., 2022b). In the present study, a small group of second generation young people is trained with VaKE.

The educational and career aspirations of young people living in remote and rural areas have gathered increasing attention in academic research (Kilpatrick & Abbott-Chapman, 2002; Yndigegn, 2003; Corbett, 2016; Bernard et al., 2023; Sampaio & Silva, 2023). While social justice encompasses inclusive education and embodies principles of equity, opportunity, and democracy (Fraser, 2008; Ball, 2021; Estêvão, 2018), it is also accurate that an individual's birthplace significantly shapes their health, education, and life expectancy (Smith, 1994). In the Portuguese context, of the 278 municipalities in continental Portugal, 38 are situated along the border regions with Spain. These areas exhibit many distinctive features that extend beyond geography to encompass educational, socioeconomic, and cultural dimensions (National Programme for Territorial Cohesion's Agenda for Inland Regions 2018). Indeed, these regions face challenges, including an aging population, low-income levels, and geographical dispersion of the population and educational opportunities (Collins & Cunningham, 2017), characterized as peripheral, remote, and primarily rural or semi-urban (Silva, 2014). In Portugal, ten border regions lack secondary education, causing young people to leave their regions to continue their studies. Additionally, over 60% of higher education institutions (HEIs) are located in the coastal areas, posing challenges for those in border regions (Saloniemi et al., 2020). Consequently, young individuals from these regions face difficulties planning their educational and career paths, often considering leaving their hometowns (Serracant, 2015; Silva et al., 2021; Sampaio, Silva & Faria, 2023). A case study in a Portuguese borderland school (Silva, 2014) illustrates how the geographic dimension not only influences mobility but also shapes a sense of belonging, profoundly impacting educational aspirations. Disadvantages stem from economic constraints and social and cultural devaluation, as environmental capital resources dictate life chances, influencing spatial equality of opportunity, i.e., social justice (Israel & Frenkel, 2018).

In this sense, our research aims to comprehensively understand the socio-educational dynamics experienced by young people in these regions, focusing on their future expectations after compulsory education. Specifically, we explore their intentions regarding higher education, employment, and the combination of work and study. Based on Fraser’s (2001, 2008) social justice framework, within the context of Portuguese border regions, it is possible to recognize that social justice operates through a dualistic interplay between recognition and redistribution, disrupted by multifaceted inequalities demanding redistributive measures to address lower incomes, restricted employment opportunities, and identity disparities rooted in geography, history, and culture (Collins & Cunningham, 2017). In summary, our research sheds light on youth's complex challenges and aspirations in Portuguese border regions, aiming to inform policy and practice to enhance opportunities and social justice for young people in these regions.

Research Topic and Objectives:

Children and young people who live in state care typically experience considerable challenges as they progress through the education system (Townsend, Berger & Reupert, 2020). This disparity is evident in literacy (Brownwell et al., 2015), numeracy (Laurens et. al., 2020), graduation rates (Lund & Stokes, 2020), as well as in emotional wellbeing indicators (Romano et.al., 2015). This has implications for their future adult lives including economic instability (Jaffey et al., 2018). In a scoping review, Townsend et.al. (2020) identified the importance of a safe and stable school environment, positive relationships, and teacher expectations on children in care. This suggests that despite difficulties academically and emotionally, schooling can have a positive impact on care-experienced young people.

Although research concerning children and young people in care in Ireland is growing, it remains an underdeveloped field in terms of both data and methodology (Gilligan, Brady & Cullen 2022; National Children in Care of the State and the Education System Working Group, 2020). This research aims to explore what it is like for young people (age 13-17) in residential care to go through post-primary education in Ireland. In doing so, it aims to develop a holistic view of the intersection between state care and education from young people’s perspective, as well as that of professionals, educators and policy makers to impact policy and practice in the intersection of care and education. This will be done by inverting the typical direction of communication, that is, we adopt a bottom-up process, whereby those with lived experience (young people in residential care) have a say in the policy and practice changes that affect them.

Research Questions:

1. What are the important questions that need to be asked when exploring the educational experiences of children in residential care?
2. What stories needs to be told?
3. Who needs to hear these stories?
4. How can young people’s participation in research impact the practice and policy work of the adults who assume responsibility for their care and education?

Theoretical Frameworks:

Fundamentally, this research works as an acknowledgement of the epistemic responsibility of researchers to acknowledge young people as knowers (Medina, 2013) and take seriously their testimonials concerning their lived experiences (Fricker, 2011). In doing so, young people are treated as experts of state care and education through experience, just as social workers, psychologists, and other professionals are treated as experts through education. Informed by theories of emancipatory education (Freire, 1972), socially-just youth work (Tilsen, 2018), horizontality and democratic relationality (Whelan, 2014; Spade, 2020) it uses a participatory framework to equalize the inputs of young people and professionals.

In line with this, the research is informed by a rights-based approach. Participation in decision-making is of key importance for young people is a protected right under Articles 12 and 13 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989). Within the Irish context it is acknowledged that youth participation in care and treatment plans improve quality of care and practice (Kelleher, Seymour & Halpenny, 2014). Though it lacks statutory implementation, Ireland has recently launched a National Framework for Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-Making (2021). However, there have been ongoing difficulties in engaging ‘seldom-heard’ populations, including young people in care (Kennen et al., 2021). This research aims to intervene at this junction, using research as an avenue for young people to participate in their care as experts through experience.

The European Union is founded on the principles of diversity, inclusion, and equality. Article 10 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2007) explicitly acknowledges the Union's obligation to combat discrimination based on various grounds, including race, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, and sexual orientation. This commitment to diversity is reflected in the EU's policies and initiatives, which aim to foster a society that embraces pluralism, tolerance, and non-discrimination.
As stated in the EU anti-racism action plan (European Commission, 2020), promoting diversity goes beyond simply acknowledging differences. It is about understanding and appreciating the rich mosaic of cultures, experiences, and perspectives that characterize the European Union. By creating an inclusive environment that embraces diversity, the EU can achieve true unity in diversity, where everyone feels valued and respected.

Moreover, in a recent report adopted by the Committee on Culture and Education (2022), the European Parliament outlined a comprehensive strategy to combat racism and discrimination. The report emphasized the decisive role of education and training in dismantling structural racism, fostering inclusive societies, and promoting tolerance, understanding, and diversity. Indeed, racism needs to be addressed at all levels, from individual attitudes to societal structures. A holistic approach is essential, involving collaboration between various stakeholders, including governments, educators, civil society organizations, and individuals.

Literature tells us that, while racism remains a pervasive issue, colorism, a system of inequality that privileges lighter-skinned individuals, often operates alongside racism and deserves specific attention (Crutchfield et al., 2022; Hunter 2008). Colorism has a long history and permeates various aspects of life, including education, social services, and healthcare (Jablonski, 2020; Hannon, DeFina & Burch, 2013).

According to Peterson et al. (2016), despite the significant impact of colorism, much of the research has failed to adequately address this issue, focusing primarily on race, “and often what’s perceived as a racial gap is really a color gap, as studies indicate negligible difference in outcomes among very light African American and Latinx people, for example” (Crutchfield et al., 2022, p. 470). Even children are not immune to this phenomenon, as highlighted by numerous studies conducted in various contexts, both national and international. For example, research has shown that children as young as six months old can categorize people based on skin color (Katz & Kofkin, 1997). Additionally, the well-known study by Clark and Clark (1947) has demonstrated that children can express a preference for lighter skin. To effectively address stereotypes about skin color, a holistic approach is needed that addresses the underlying societal and psychological factors that perpetuate it.

In the context of Intercultural Education, it becomes imperative to examine these issues to equip teachers and prepare children to embrace cultural diversity. Indeed, the aim of this research is to explore children's conceptions of diversity and otherness as shaped by skin color perceptions. Our primary source of inspiration is the work of Italian anthropologist Paola Tabet (1997), who conducted a nationwide study by inviting children from various Italian regions to write short essays beginning with the prompt "If my parents were black…".

Even though every human being has the right to high-quality education (Assembly, U.G., 1948), there are signs that children from some ethnic groups may be receiving a lower quality education as compared to others. That is, in many European educational systems including Flanders (the context of the current study), minoritized students often achieve at lower levels as compared to ethnic majority youth (OECD, 2023), and such inequalities remain even after controlling variables like IQ, socio-economic status or generational status (Agirdag, 2020). Still, a recent line of empirical studies offers hope for a more equitable future, as they found that schools can reduce ethnic inequalities in education by means of how they approach ethnic-cultural diversity (e.g., Celeste et al., 2019). Specifically, while schools that choose to acknowledge and value ethnic-cultural diversity have reduced ethnic achievement gaps, schools which adopt more color-blind or assimilationist approaches to diversity tend to have exacerbated ethnic achievement gaps (Celeste et al., 2019; Schachner et al., 2021).

However, as there are still only a limited number of studies that have examined how diversity approaches are related inequities in education, there are still some important research gaps in this field that need to be addressed. First, although studies have shown that the general diversity approach, as expressed in the general vision statements of schools, is related to inequalities in education (e.g., Celeste et al., 2019), less attention has been paid to how these visions are translated into concrete diversity practices. Still, such focus on practices is likely to be important, because previous studies show that assimilationist, color-blind and pluralist visions can be translated into very different concrete practices depending on whether the vision is applied to dealing with linguistic, religious, curricular or identity-related diversity (e.g., Hagenaars et al., 2023). For instance, assimilation is likely translated into very different concrete practices when it comes to linguistic diversity (e.g., punishing speaking other languages) compared to diversity in religions (e.g., banning headscarves), the curriculum (e.g., focusing only on Flemish culture), or identities (e.g., hiring only teachers who identify as Flemish). In a recent study, it was even found that the same diversity ideology may have be differently related to outcome variables like achievement and school belonging depending on the concrete domain in which the diversity ideology is applied (MASKED). This highlights that considering on a more concrete level which specific diversity practices are most effective in reducing inequities is likely to be the most promising way forward.

Second, although an increasing number of studies have started to examine relations between school diversity approaches and several important outcome variables, such as achievement and school belonging (e.g. Celeste et al., 2019; Schachner et al., 2021), we are not aware of any qualitative studies that have examined how these diversity approaches are actually experienced by pupils. Therefore, in the current study we aim to integrate pupils’ own preferences for diversity practices into the scientific debate. By doing so, we not only aim to shed light on which considerations are important in pupils’ lived experiences of diversity practices, but we also hope to offer educational practitioners with important insights as to which considerations they should take into account in implementing specific diversity practices. The main research question in study is ‘Which concrete diversity practices do pupils in Flemish primary schools prefer and for which reasons?’.

Research in many countries has revealed the marginalization of ethnic minority students in school systems. Educational policies and practices frequently exclude, devalue, or marginalize students from migrant, minority or non-dominant language backgrounds and position them within a deficit framework, rather than acknowledging and affirming their strengths and abilities (May & Sleeter, 2010; Race & Lander, 2014). Research in Iceland shows similar findings (see e.g. Gunnþórsdóttir et al., 2018; Gunnthórsdóttir & Ragnarsdóttir, 2020; Hama, 2020). In many cases, the majority language becomes the criteria by which student ability is measured, entailing that lack of majority language abilities is regarded as deficiency and results in labelling and categorization (Nieto 2010; Skutnabb-Kangas et al., 2009). Schools face various challenges when working with refugee children, including teachers’ limited understanding of the experiences of these children and the children’s lack of sense of belonging. Block et al. (2014) note that with the global increase of refugees, recognition of the importance of the school environment for promoting successful settlement outcomes and including young refugees is growing. However, schools may be poorly equipped to recognize and respond to the multiple challenges that refugee children and young people face.  

It is well established that education plays a critical role in assisting the social inclusion of refugee children into their new community. Furthermore, their social relationships and social positions often develop in schools and leisure activities. Findings of Archambault & Haugen’s (2017) research with refugee children in Norway indicate that their positive experiences included finding places of belonging in the everyday practices, such as after-school activities which helped feeling included in school. According to Beiser, Puente-Duran and Hou (2015), social competence – the ability to form friendships and to get along with others – is critical for the well-being of youth confronting changes in country, values, and cultures. Additionally, according to research, strong educational partnerships with parents are likely to assist the social inclusion of both children and their families into their local communities. Schools are in many cases the first and most important contact points with the new society for migrant and refugee children and their families (Ragnarsdóttir, 2016). While there exist many intractable internal inconsistencies within the research data, the overall data point to the significant challenges that migrant and refugee children face in social inclusion, participation as well as learning the language of their new country. These children are far more likely to drop out of school early and perform worse on standardized tests (OECD, 2010, 2015).  The racialization of refugee children and youth can further influence how they navigate everyday racism, their access to educational resources and processes of their identity formation in schools and society (Jaffe-Walter, 2016).  

As part of the qualitative research project A Part and Apart? Education and social inclusion of refugee children and youth in Iceland (ESRCI) this paper will draw on theoretical approaches related to the role of education and culture for the socio-cultural inclusion of refugee children aiming to explore the opportunities and challenges that refugee children and youth and their teachers and principals experience in Icelandic schools at different levels (pre-, compulsory, and upper secondary).  

Research question:  

1.1: What are the main opportunities and challenges which refugee children and youth experience in their schools, educationally and socially (including during unusual and difficult times such as Covid19)? 

The objective of this research stems from many visits to the Kainai Nation, part of the Blackfoot Confederacy located in the southern part of Alberta (a Province in Western Canada). The researcher spent over three years visiting the Reserve, an area where the Blackfoot people were forced to live...barren, windy prairies, forced from their homes in the beautiful and abundant Canadian Rocky Mountains. The research emerged from my visits to the Nation in a desire to create relationships with the teachers, administrators, and students at the three schools based on the Reserve. I intended to observe and write about the education system on the Blackfoot land. However, after beginning my visits, observing and asking questions, I realized that I was not there to create a profile of the Canadian Indigenous tribe, but as a friend, I was there to listen to their stories, their anger, their hopes, and their tragedies. My intent to "observe" the schools was quickly discarded and I continued to visit the community as a friend. The relationships I made were authentic with both sides of the relationship. We discussed our lives, ate together, worked with students together, we created artistic relics of the work we continued to do and the months quickly turned to years as I drove 400 km each way to visit the Reserve.

Instead of the research being my end goal, I realized that the relationships that we had created together deserved my ears and eyes. We often discussed Social Justice and the First Nations people gave strong opinions about the phrase and how shallow it was. Listening became essential in our discussions, I heard stories from the children, the youth, the teachers, and the tribal Elders. As much as I felt I was ready for engaging with the relationships that grew out of our visits, my own heart felt heavy and my feelings for the community deepened. It was in the second year that the students and teachers began to discuss how they felt being "put" on a Reserve, dragged from their tribal lands with water, moose, deer, elk, fish, birds, trees: food, shelter, and a fullness of life. Like many of North American Indigenous peoples, they were displaced and forced to live in uncomfortable and unknown areas. By the 1900s, many became addicted to whiskey, and their communities were patroled by police: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and their souls were forced into Catholic, Mormon, and Angelican ways of being.

After the second year of my community engagement with my Blackfoot friends, I began filming in the community, the residents were thrilled that I wanted to film them and to hear their stories. While filming them was basically for my own archival memories, I realized that there were two people I wanted to film and share with my own white colonial people. I had become close to an Elder and his granddaughter, and asked them if I could film them. I wanted to film their stories. The Elder was a product of residential schools and was forced to live with Angelican priests for 12 years. His granddaughter was a student at Kainai High School and a leader in her circles. Both of them defied all the horrendous names and stereotypes that white Canadians had associated them with.

The film was a poignant 23 minute film and I was given a blessing by the Elder and his granddaughter to share the product, allowing white people to see who they really were.

I discuss importance of intercultural relationships and ways a simple research project became lifelong relationships and corrections to stereotypes.

The presentation focuses on the prevention of early school leaving (European Comission, 2015; Gonzáles-Rodrigez, 2019; Paksi et al, 2023), and the analysis presents a preventive intervention for groups of pupils at risk of dropping out.

The research was carried out in Hungary, which has an early school leaving rate of 12.4% in 2022, compared to the EU average of 9.6%. The SES index for Hungary measures a high number of students' performance (OECD 2019). Students with low social status are more likely to live in deprived areas and small towns, and Roma students are over-represented among them. International research on Roma has found that the most persistent forms of group-based disadvantage are linked to identities of origin (minority), with one form of inequality promoting or deepening another (Howard and Vajda 2017). Another problem is the limited access to educational services, which is caused by the frequent segregated education in addition to the settlement disadvantage (Kende, 2021).The educational attainment of disadvantaged and Roma youth is significantly lower than that of their higher social peers, and they are more likely to have failed schooling and to drop out early (Kende-Szalai, 2018; Bocsi, Varga & Fehérvári, 2023). These are described to lack career guidance, which if present, is characterized by “randomness” in elementary school (Bereményi, 2020, p. 19.). According to a Hungarian study (Kisfalusi, 2023), Roma students are less likely to apply for a secondary school career that requires a longer learning path. This is due to the lower socio-economic status of Roma students, cost-benefit expectations and their lower self-esteem. Lack of information and lower career offers from teachers may also play a role. Studies show that mentor programme reduce the gap in career guidance; besides it is understood to prevent early-school leaving (Fehérvári & Varga, 2023). The research investigates an ongoing mentoring programme in 1-1 classes in 10 schools, supporting the successful progress of disadvantaged and Roma students (N 130). The aim of this programme is to connect services and resources in the student's environment and strengthen career guidance to help prevent early school leaving. The key actors in the programme are mentor teachers, who work along a career-focused mentoring plan tailored to their institution and supported by horizontal learning. In their work, cooperation with families and institutions that provide peer support in secondary school or university courses for pupils is important. The presentation inquires peer mentors (secondary school students), who, based on the literature also benefit from participating in such mentor programs (Beltman, Herker & Fischer, 2019). Elementary school pupils’ primary socialization (as they are from disadvantaged background and/or of Roma minority) differs from the institutional secondary school socialization sphere; due to this, they undergo bicultural socialization (LaFromboise, Coleman & Gerton, 1993; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2013). In the programme peer mentors are attributed by similar socialization patterns as pupils (mentees), meaning they have undergone or are undergoing same or similar difficulties as their younger peers.

This presentation focuses on the role of peer support in career guidance by introducing students who participate in the programme as mentors. Twenty students from Gandhi Roma High School joined one of the 10 schools in the framework of the School Community Service (and/or volunteering). The criteria for joining were that they should preferably be "alumni" of the school and/or from a surrounding locality.

Learning to live peacefully and with meaningful connections to others in a diverse society is arguably an educational imperative for children and young people living in a rapidly diversifying Europe, and for those tasked with educating them. This imperative speaks not only to attempts to secure the long-term flourishing of European societies but also to immediate educational challenges and practicalities. In many parts of Europe, as well as the wider Global North, these challenges manifest as chronic educational inequities and inequalities affecting racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, such as low attainment, disproportionate exclusions, and teacher and peer racism (e.g. Archer and Francis 2007; Bochaca 2006; Gilliam 2023; Wallace and Joseph-Salisbury 2022). They also relate to the well-documented issue of de facto segregation inside many classrooms (e.g. BBC 2017). These problems persist despite decades of dedicated policymaking aimed at tackling them.

This paper addresses two reasons why the challenges of conviviality and educational inequity continue to exist. Firstly, we argue that following the fraught history of dealing with difference in education, ideas and practices of intercultural education have ended up as somewhat detached from the social and political realities of living and schooling in diverse contexts. That is, they do not sufficiently address the unequal effects of policymaking or indeed the politics of education. Secondly, we draw attention to a sort of ‘museumification’ of diversity, not least in educational settings, and argue that ‘diversity’ has come to be reified as an object (of celebration, of critique, of attainment, of teaching and learning). In these conditions, there is often an expectation that racial and religious minority people perform ‘their diversity’; that they represent a static, often ‘exotic’, and essentially different culture in ‘high fidelity’. We aim to demonstrate that such curated and performed diversity is at quite some distance from the empirical reality of diverse lives in towns and cities across Europe.

Based on empirical research in Birmingham, UK, one of Europe’s most diverse cities, we call for a move towards educating for ‘living diversity’, which comprises the complex, entangled, competing and ongoing currents of diverse people’s lives. Diversity, thus, is not an object or discipline; it is a lived and living reality that is constantly in play, including at the intimate levels of individual and familial life. We thus intend for the idea of living diversity to both challenge dominant approaches conceptually and operationalize an alternative educational model. As we aim to demonstrate, such an educational turn depends in part upon strong collaborations between multiple stakeholders dedicated to social justice, and artistic practice is one of its central components. Furthermore, it depends upon adopting a more sophisticated understanding of identity, reflexivity, and agency – both individual and communal. Drawing on the work of Stuart Hall (1990) and Margaret Archer (2012), we argue that educational attempts to ‘pin down’ identities or discover their ‘historical essence’ are doomed to fail. Instead, educators should pay attention to the ‘points of suture’, often straddling numerous places and times, which constantly animate people’s sense of self, other, and belonging, and which individuals use as definite positions of reflection, analysis, and action.

The aim of the study was to evaluate staff experiences and interventions in teaching and learning research methodology in the Department of Entrepreneurship and Management Studies. However, the majority of staff and students belong to the previously disadvantaged communities where the latter continue to experience poor education infrastructure and quality of secondary education. Many previously disadvantaged communities still have limited access to information and communications technology (ICT) in addition to poor road networks, inadequate school infrastructure, lack of electricity, and a low economic status (Hlalele 2012). For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions had to immediately revert to on-line teaching and learning which further disadvantaged students from townships and rural areas from the non-white communities. Overall, eliminating the apartheid policies of dispossession still remains a challenge for the South African government to transform education (Department of Education 2005).

According to Pirthiraj (2017) and Langtree et al.(2015), student performance is linked to social, psychological, economic, environmental, and personal factors. While Hobden and Hobden (2015) highlighted that access to higher education is a matter of economic and social fairness, this being the case in South Africa. A further analysis of education history and quality shows that South Africa faces challenges in the accessibility and affordability for students who qualify to study at universities. As the majority of students registered at Durban University of Technology are derived from previously disadvantaged communities with poor school and educational infrastructure, low economic capabilities and complex social issues, their level of preparedness for university life and overall academic performance is compromised (Pirthiraj 2017).

Lombard and Kloppers (2015) comments that while there is considerable international interest in promoting research skills at postgraduate level ,research methods in the context of undergraduate studies has little attention as there are few systematic discussions about curriculum design and teaching research methods experiences. Students perceive research methods courses to be complex and demanding, which leads to poor performance in research methods and, as a result, a negative attitude toward the field of educational research as a whole. Acton and McCreight (2014) also found that students who struggled with basic arithmetic showed less interest in research methodology studies. This scenario is relevant as the majority of students registering at DUT originate from previously disadvantaged communities.

The aim of social justice is to guide societies on transforming different aspects for instance curriculum, historical injustices and cultural values, and to mitigate disparity (Albertus 2019). In education, social justice relates to the extent of social fairness and equality within the schooling system. Social injustice occurs when circumstances such as wealth, gender, and/or race determine a person's educational opportunities. Hence students who do not acquire an education compared with more privileged students are provided with a poor foundation for the rest of their lives. In a socially just approach, the curriculum is chosen to help the learners extend their students’ worldview by exposing them to diverse concepts, opinions and challenging beliefs (Francis and Le Roux 2011). Schools that are committed to a socially just education give careful consideration to the selection of their curriculum and how it can be used to broaden the learners’ perspectives (Wassell, Wesely and Glynn 2019). In this regard, students who come from schools that are socially unjust often have a narrow worldview which will inherently affects their learning curve as they are inadequately prepared for the level of social and cultural diversity at the university and the world at large (Uleanya and Rugbeer 2020)