Conference Agenda

Sense of belonging, particularly for immigrants, is a complex tapestry woven from threads of cultural continuity, adaptation, community ties and social recognition. It is a dynamic process shaped by personal narratives, cultural interactions and the wider socio-political context, highlighting the resilience and adaptability of individuals in their search for a place to call home (Nikolaides, et al, 2022). Greeks have been eternal migrants/refugees, whereas the last decades the country has been hosting migrants and refugees itself. It has been their turn to welcome, communicate and bequeath such a sense and make everyone “feel like home”.

While first-generation refugees and migrants may grapple with adapting to a new culture, subsequent generations often develop a hybrid identity that seamlessly integrates aspects of both their heritage and the host culture (Georgiadis, 2023a, 2023b). However, their journey is fraught with challenges, and among those are the acquisition of a new language that stands out as a transformative and empowering endeavor. Language learning goes beyond mere communication; it becomes a key tool for integration, understanding, and unlocking opportunities. Resilience, courage, and persistent search for stability in the face of displacement are the lifeline to navigate the complexities of a new life. Peer support for both children and their parents can create a space for emotional connection, where shared experiences would foster a profound understanding of the challenges faced by refugee families. Parents and children may find solace in knowing that their struggles and fears are validated by others who walked a similar path.This validation is a crucial aspect of building resilience. Therefore, the question that arises is how a community and particularly, a school community that includes students, teachers and the parents/guardians can better provide a sense of trust, care and belonging to migrant/refugee and asylum seekers families (Papathanasiou, 2022b).

Peer support can aid refugee children in their academic journey, especially in language learning. Fellow students who have already navigated language barriers can provide guidance, tutoring, and encouragement. Understanding the nuances of a new educational system and culture is facilitated through peer interactions, creating a smoother transition for refugee children. In addition to peer support, a linguistic and culturally responsive pedagogy would serve as the bridge to immediate needs such as accessing services, seeking employment, and communicating with the local community. It is a fundamental skill that empowers individuals to navigate their new environment, gain a deeper understanding of the customs, traditions, and societal norms of their host country, and facilitate a smoother integration process.

Certain factors, such as parents' socioeconomic situation, educational level, and race but also their different perceptions of their involvement in their children’s education, can directly or indirectly influence learning literacy skills for their children (Brooks-Gunn & Markman, 2005). Nonetheless, the same and other researchers state that the key to the emergence of language learning is neither the profession and education, nor the financial situation and race of the parents, but the way in which the parents organize the appropriate activities and engage their children in them, that ultimately facilitates the emergence of writing and reading (Bornstein & Cheah, 2006, Rowe et al, 2016). In latest research, it has been also stated that one of the main responsibilities of parents is to build a positive family environment that will encourage the development and learning of children (Van Voorhis et al, 2013). Why then not invite parents to an activity in which everyone participates, regardless of age, language, and socio-economic level, as it is a tool that enhances primarily dialogue that incorporates critical thinking and reflection which begins with an inquiry that is triggered with a story, art, or a song.

International immigration brought about a change in the human public sphere in Israel and created tensions against the background of differences related to religion, culture, tradition, and language. The education system tries to provide solutions to strengthen non-Jewish immigrant families and community resilience. Additionally, established social initiatives innovative of humanitarian organizations and associations: "Soul Group," which operates according to Waldorf's educational concept, and "Elifelet," citizens for refugee children (https://www.elifelet.org/?lang=en). These organizations support schools, and their goal is to promote a shared life of tolerance, inclusion, and mutual respect while providing equal opportunities for children and their families for social integration, creating social cohesion, health, and security now and in the future days (McAuliffe & Khadria, 2020; Wittenberg, 2017; Magner, 2016).

Social integration helps families to be more protected in the foreign environment in terms of language, behavior, tradition, and appearance of skin color. Immigrants live in a reality of economic and social uncertainty, loneliness, and a sense of foreignness. To create protection and community as a substitute for the nuclear family, the immigrants create communion and live in a neighborhood with residents from the same country of origin and socioeconomic status. This social cohesion contributes to maintaining identity, assistance in raising children, administrative procedures, and finding a job. In terms of the education systems in Israel and the world, there is a trend towards segregation, and immigrant families' children study in culturally homogenous schools that were established as a response to this communalism (International Organization for Migration (IOM), 2022; Kugler & Price, 2009; Schleicher, 2017).

Interactions between different social groups and informal encounters may lead to a discourse involving obedience, acceptance of the authority of a majority group, and absorption of expressions of violence and racism. Therefore, educators and parents from the majority group need to build relationships on trust, inclusion, and respect. The dialogues with the parents are not based only on the transfer of knowledge but also on understanding the trauma experienced by the immigrant parents from difficulties in The conversations with the parents are not based only on the transfer of knowledge but also on understanding the trauma experienced by the immigrant parents from the problems in their new life. Positive feelings towards the "other" dissolve the concepts of "us and them," which causes considerable tension and separation. It was found that forming an image of peace education, which operates according to the principles of "Restorative justice pedagogy," promotes self-awareness of others and the ability to deal effectively with stereotypes and prejudices (Lee & Walsh, 2017; Ratnam, 2020; Ogilvie & Fuller, 2017).

Educators from the majority group, who hold cultural encounters between the parents, must create a safe environment of trust and mutual appreciation with the understanding that there are differences between people and groups, which create the uniqueness of the individual. This will allow partnerships to be built that help the parents and the school define goals and accept joint responsibility for promoting the students' learning and cultural integration processes in the new cultural and linguistic environment (Lerner, 2012; Pharaoh & Li, 2022).

The study examines the contribution of the shared experience in informal encounters between Israeli families whose children attend Waldorf education and immigrant families from Africa and its implications on building the relationships and partnerships between African parents and the school in south Tel Aviv.

The study questions are: (1) In what way do these informal encounters promote the partnership between the school and African immigrant parents? (2) What are the challenges and consequences of informal activities in developing pedagogical, social, and personal responses for immigrant families in the receiving society?

Remembering and storytelling are among the most fundamental human dispositions. Narratives about experienced, inherited and communicated pasts not only have a formative character in the lives of individuals. They are also essential for smaller and larger communities, as the re-presentation of central experiences serves to reaffirm identity and belonging. However, memories need certain media and forms of articulation so that they can fulfil their function of creating identity and meaning. In addition to literature and art, it is above all monuments that play an indispensable role as visible signs in public spaces in the transmission and communication of memory narratives.

By examining the design, history and social reception of commemorative symbols, we can observe the development of public attention for historical events. Meanwhile, gaps in the landscape of remembrance tell us something about marginalised cultures of remembrance. What is remembered in public spaces makes it clear who has the power to occupy it and thus to underpin a specific view of the past as the official one. In this presentation, we would like to show the extent to which the examination of historical narratives and conflicts of remembrance can be used for historical-political educational work and global citizenship education.

Israeli society is deeply divided, and the mutual relations between Jews and Arabs are characterized by inequality, alienation, lack of dialogue, mutual negation, and increasing polarization between the groups (Epstein, 2016; Jackson & Doerschler, 2016; Paul-Binyamin and Haj-Yehia, 2019). Between Jews and Arabs, there are religious, cultural, national, and linguistic differences, all of which create one of the centers of political-social tension in everything related to the political-social power relations, including the inequality between them. (Shdema & Martin, 2022)

The events of Shiva in October threw Jewish society into the heart of darkness, into a state of trauma and uncertainty, as the dimensions of the massacre are unlike any terrorist events or murders of Jews since the Holocaust. Faced with this reality, the Arabs find themselves in a trap. On the one hand, suspicious voices towards the Arabs are getting stronger, as if they are all terrorists while strengthening the sense of national unity and Jewish identity. On the one hand, moderate voices are heard calling to protect the Arabs of Israel and to leave behind the riots and harassment.

The relations of mutual negation and cultural separation intensified following the "Iron Swords" war, and the Arabs are seen as an illegitimate element in the public systems, including the education system, which plays an essential role in shaping Israeli collective identity (Levy, 2023). According to Samuha (2010), power relations and the lack of equality are particularly prominent in the relationship between the Jewish majority group and the Arab-Palestinian minority in the long-standing national and historical conflict.

In the Israeli education system, Arab students' study in separate schools from the Jews. Thus, the system is characterized by discrimination, injustice, segregation, and inequality and does not allow the creation of a common basis for an authentic multicultural education that enables mutual interaction and recognition of others (Abu-Saad, 2020; Lustick, 2019). According to Allport's contact theory (Allport, 1954), direct and unmediated meetings between groups reduce conflicts and tensions and improve their relations. The lack of contact in formative years may harm intergroup relations (Cehajic et al., 2008). The discrimination between Jews and Arabs is also reflected in the legislation of the "Nationality Law" (2018), which highlights the Jewish nature of the country. It blatantly ignores the democratic nature of the country and the Arab minority (Amara, 2020).

Examining the issue of hiring teachers in Israel reveals that, over the years, there has been a shortage of Jewish teachers. At the same time, hundreds of quality Arab teachers are qualified to teach and are looking for employment. The solution proposed by the state is the integration of Arab teachers in Jewish schools (Shaked, 2016).

Researchers (Fa'or, 2021; Pinuras, 2019; Rajput & Talan, 2017; Halabi &) found that, in general, Arab teachers who teach in Jewish schools report a positive feeling alongside difficulties arising from cultural gaps and mistrust arising from national identity related to the Jewish-Arab conflict. Almelek (2020) claims that Arab teachers are often forced to suppress their political positions and beliefs from their students and colleagues to blur the national-political tension and increase the sense of trust.

The study directs the focus to the issue of the integration of Arab teachers in Jewish schools as it is perceived in the eyes of Arab teachers. This is to act consciously and intelligently to change the existing situation and promote the implementation of democratic values in society. The interviewees' descriptions constitute an authentic human document that reveals new aspects of their experiences in the current social reality. These stories can illuminate how Arab staff deal with complex situations in their professional practice.

The statistical data highlights the increasing trend of students pursuing education across borders (Van Mol, C., Cleven, J., & Mulvey, B., 2024). Researchers WU, Garza, Guzman (2015), Tomlinson (2017), Gay (2018), Martin, Bollinger (2018), Quaye, Harper, Pendakur (2019), Geng, Law, Niu (2019) have extensively discussed diverse international student needs at universities. These needs encompass such intercultural education challenges as language support, cultural integration programs, accessible academic resources, technological integration, global influences, and the significance of fostering a positive learning environment in higher education.

Numerous challenges (Steiner-Hofbauer & Holzinger, 2020; Kamaşak, Sahan, & Rose, 2021) confront universities in creating a supportive community for students' seamless transition to a new educational system and culture. These challenges are critical for students to successfully adapt.

Researches (Tamtik & Guenter, 2019) from Canada had made a critical policy study and emphasized the questions do the universities prepared enough to welcome international learners. The analysis shows that universities that have established Diversity and/or Equity Offices were more likely to collect more detailed information, monitor EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion) activities, and make proactive recommendations to senior leadership on potential improvements compared to those universities without designated offices. Along with the student recruitment activities, the policy documents address the availability of student support services in regard to scholarships, bursaries, student advising services, curriculum adaptations and new course offerings.

In 2023 we analyzed the possibilities to recognize other forms of diversity and explored how international students can be engaged culturally in a university environment using Museus' theoretical model (2014). Our study results emphasized, that 1) cultural engagement influences students' attitudes by promoting open-mindedness, empathy, and a global perspective; 2) effective communication bridges cultural gaps, fostering understanding among students from diverse backgrounds; 3) tailoring learning methods and the educational environment to accommodate cultural diversity enhances the overall learning experience; 4) teachers play a pivotal role in creating a culturally engaged environment. Professionalism in teaching includes adapting instructional methods to diverse student needs, being culturally sensitive, and promoting an inclusive and supportive atmosphere.

This year our focus continues more deeper on international students' learning environment, aiming to identify newchallenges for students to understand teacher‘s profesionalism. These challenges brought from a macro-level perspective and considered by global influences. So we do not imagine what are students' expectations, values, or guidelines regarding interactions with educators in an intercultural learning environment.

The aim of this research is based on international freshmen expectations to prepare students quideliness for the teachers to navigate challenges in contemporary higher education.

The objectives of the research were the following: 1) To analyze the expectations of first year international students about their understanding of concept “teacher professional”; 2) To distinguish main categories by preparing specific guidelines for the teachers.

Currently, universities focus on students as individuals who develop through the teaching and learning process, emphasizing a more humanistic and socially committed education (González & González, 2008). The traditional view that a competent person possesses the necessary knowledge and skills for a profession is now considered a more complex phenomenon. Competence is seen as the potential to act in a profession with initiative, flexibility, autonomy, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills in diverse and heterogeneous scenarios (Prieto et al., 2018). This highlights the need for such generic competencies in student education. In the university context, the learning environment places the student at the center, fostering active construction of knowledge and skills through interaction, mental restructuring, and collaborative teaching-learning contexts. Active student participation is essential, promoting not only information acquisition but also active engagement and empowerment, encouraging independence, autonomy, and critical thinking (Dochy et al., 2005; Bovill et al., 2019). However, discussions persist on the most effective means to make students active protagonists in the educational process. The goal is for students not to be mere observers but to actively engage in and contribute to the construction of knowledge (García & Lorente, 2017); leading to improved academic performance, satisfaction, and reduced dropout rates (Lei et al., 2018). The role of the teacher is crucial in motivating and training students in higher education institutions, particularly when they encourage, provoke, and inspire during lessons (Vallejo, 2020; De Borba et al., 2020). Creating intellectually stimulating, socially nourishing, emotionally motivating, and respectful learning spaces remains a challenge in higher education (Espejo & Sarmiento, 2017). Establishing environments where students can discuss, question, and share, feeling these are safe spaces for dialogue, debate, and critical discussion is essential (Han & Hamilton, 2022). This context also requires consideration of the high diversity and mobility present in university settings, where intercultural competencies become essential. This applies not only to students experiencing a new cultural environment abroad but also to those facing cultural diversity without leaving their home country. Preparing graduates for increasing globalization is a prominent need in educational policies (Carmona et al., 2020; Knight, 2012; Lorenzo Moledo et al., 2023). The research's objective was to examine the role of the teaching-learning environment and the five dimensions comprising the intercultural competence model: cultural empathy, social initiative, flexibility, emotional stability, and open-mindedness.

Teacher educators play a critical role in strengthening the quality of education through teaching and research. The purpose of this research was to draw attention to the importance that teacher educators actively develop their professionalism through teaching and conducting research in education. The aim was to scrutinize our experience of becoming teacher educators that endavor in their praxis to influence their student teachers and the teacher community. The main research question leading this study was: What characterizes our collective journeys and development as researchers and teacher educators?

Teaching people to become teachers can be a complex profession, it is not simply delivering information about the content of a subject or about teaching methods (Loughran, 2013), it is also about the interplay between the teacher, the students, and the subjects (Hordvik et al, 2020). Critical key themes in teacher education are to enhance the theory-practice nexus and to embed critical reflection into the learning spaces in teacher education (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Korthagen, 2017). Biesta (2017) argues that at the very center of the ‘art’ of teaching is becoming educationally wise and therefore that we need teacher education that is neither orientated towards measurable evidence, nor towards competence, but towards the promotion of educational wisdom. He urges teacher educators to offer opportunities to develop the ability to make educational judgements in order to cultivate educational wisdom.

Teacher education can offer opportunities to connect the professional with the personal and the theoretical with the practical (Korthagen, 2017) to support the cultivation of educational wisdom. By working with the layers of teachers’ professional identity and mission, addressing the whole person to bring about professional learningteacher educators help student teachers reframe deeply ingrained limiting beliefs (Korthagen, 2017). The search for a specific pedagogy of teacher education has been going on for some time and as teaching is fundamentally a complex endeavour it is not only important to focus on the observable dimensions of pedagogy, but also to study the personal, relational, and improvisational dimensions (Cuenca, 2010). Principles of constructive alignments and deep learning is important for student teachers. Teacher educators cannot simply put information into their heads, instead they need to create learning spaces for students to construct their knowledge for themselves (Biggs, et.al., 2022). These learning spaces need to provide students with engaging and generative learning experiences. The learning design of each task and the activities that follow must make them deeply engaged.

One of the responsibilities of the teacher educator is about researching education and to deliver the findings to all stakeholders. Therefore, for teacher educators to write about their experience is important, but it takes time, they need time to reflect on their experience, to analyze it within the scholarship and to learn from it but also to introduce it to the educational community (Loughran, 2014; Martin & Russell, 2020). Martin and Russell (2020) argue that self-study research attends to two different epistemologies, the epistemology of knowing that is captured in the propositions and logical arguments of academics and the epistemology of practice that considers how we learn from professional experience. They find it important to attend to both and to show the evidence of the interplay between the two epistemologies.

Many societies in the current era are characterized by the existence of significant ethnic, racial or religious diversity, and this turns them into multicultural or multinational societies (Tully, 2001). Israel is an example of a multicultural country that includes different national and cultural groups (Dahan, 2007). Societies that consider themselves multicultural place in the forefront the value of equal treatment of different cultures, recognition of heterogeneity and preservation of pluralism (Ezer, 2004, Schweid, 2000). The role of the state, in a society that considers itself liberal, is to enable the existence of the variety of cultures in the country, and the school is one of the places to ensure the necessary conditions for the continued existence of the variety of cultures that exist in society.

One of the challenges in a multicultural society is dealing with learning linguistic literacy skills in the various fields of knowledge and especially in the field of science. The development of scientific knowledge and scientific literacy are considered a central goal in Israel and the world (https://madan.education/review-daily/167/). The teachers in the various fields of knowledge are very literate in their field of knowledge but have not been trained enough to teach linguistic literacy (Cohen & Livant, 2011).

An analysis of the science textbooks shows that the science profession has unique literacy requirements. The examined chapters are characterized by short informative texts, syntactic, simplicity and a low linguistic level. Hardly any difficult or unfamiliar words and phrases that are not specific to the material being studied were found. The vocabulary reflects not only the main points of scientific language but actually the foundations of scientific work. The texts are rich in words such as: characteristics, features, phenomenon, principle, explanation, conclusion, proof. The scientific terms receive a lot of attention and are emphasized both through definitions and through lexical repetitions. (Cohen & Livant, 2011) The purpose of studying "scientific literacy" is to impart both scientific knowledge, that is, scientific content and ideas, and an understanding of the ways of investigating science and the nature of scientific explanation and scientific proof (Dragos & Mih, 2015).

The research has two main goals: (1) to examine perceptions of science teachers regarding linguistic skills and language skills and their importance in teaching science in multicultural schools. (2) to test the science teachers' literacy action strategies in language issues in general and the scientific language in particular when it comes to multicultural schools. These two goals will lead to the formulation of literate proposals and methods of action and will enable the formulation of an appropriate program for studying the subject of science in multicultural schools.

This presentation draws on findings from a three-year long project. Our on-going project “Voices of the future: collaborating with children and young people to re-imagine treescapes was funded across environmental science, arts and humanities and social science (NERC NE/V021370/1]. This project addresses the call for reconceptualising children’s participation in the construction of knowledge about their environments. With emphasis on active and experiential learning, it is argued that engaging children and their own embodied experiences in research would be helpful to re-imagine what environmental education could mean to them (Rousell and Cutter-Makenzie, 2020).

In our research, we have worked with children aged (7-8) in three different primary schools in the northwest of England. Children from Year 3 and 4 which is Key Stage (2) in Britain educational system, were involved as co-researchers to plan and do different activities related to trees in their schools. These activities took place inside the classrooms whilst thinking about trees and co-designing the new woodlands in the school playgrounds. Some of the activities also took place outside in the school playground including tree planting and measuring carbon sequestration in trees by measuring a tree diameter. On some afternoons, we also visited school forest (woodland area) in one of semi-rural schools to observe the role of trees in awarding children opportunities to learn from nature and trees.

In our experience of working with different groups of children in three different school settings, we see tree/child relations as something porous always connected, embedded, and embodied, dynamic and active (Murris and Osgood 2022). Childhood in our work is not considered as a universal phenomenon (Rautio and Jokinen 2015) but we see it in relations to children’s social and relational worlds, whilst looking at their relations with the natural environments.

In this presentation, we will include examples of creative outputs mainly created by children as part of their collaboration in the treescapes project. We will discuss how these child-led creative outputs offer us to have an expansive view of children’s engagement with treescapes. We will talk about the role of films created by children, creative forms of field notes that children recorded during research activities. We will also showcase examples of our planned research activities which will be developed as toolkits for teachers/practitioners for future use. By doing this, we aim to encourage teachers and practitioners to explore how stories portrayed in different data outputs provide a broader, expansive, and relatively different (not western and adult dominant) view of children engagement with treescapes.

In the pursuit of cultivating an equitable and inclusive educational environment, it is imperative to explore innovative pedagogical approaches that address discrimination in classrooms (Banks, 2018; Carmona et al., 2023). Discrimination within educational settings hampers the holistic development of individuals and perpetuates social inequalities (Ladson-Billings, 2021). This research delves into the transformative power of innovative teaching methodologies to create a more inclusive and egalitarian educational landscape.

The main objective is to analyze two distinct educational case initiatives, “Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO)” and “Memory Walk”, both designed to address discrimination through innovative pedagogical approaches.

Empirical evidence has shown that incorporating diverse perspectives, histories, and narratives, educators can broaden students' understanding of different cultures, fostering empathy and breaking down stereotypes (Gay, 2018). This can be achieved through the inclusion of literature, case studies, and multimedia that showcase the richness of global perspectives.

In particular, FHAO is based on a pedagogical emotional engagement, and ethical reflection strengthen each other. At the centre is the students’ active, upstanding citizenship and their confidence that they can play a positive role in their classrooms, schools, communities, and the world beyond (Romer & Barr, 2018). This educational initiative engages adolescents during a critical time in their development integrating the study of history and literature with innovative teaching strategies. It encourages students to explore identity and human behavior, reflect on the choices they confront in their own lives today, and consider how they can make a positive difference. That is, this initiative supports teachers as they create learning environments where students know they belong and their voices matter.

The different contested nature of memorials and monuments, highlights their role in shaping collective memory and identity within communities (Cubitt, 2007). It emphasizes the influence of contextual and situational factors on identity and memory construction (Gillis, 1994; Halbwachs, 1980; Assmann, 2010). That is, we can explore how historical events are selectively remembered or forgotten, and the power dynamics within societies that shape commemorative practices (Young, 1993).

The Memory Walk concept represents an attempt to make the connection between the two fields in a very concrete way. It is through methods like this that young people learn to appreciate the fact that social reality is contested and that certain voices are heard while others are ignored or delegitimized. The fact that young people from diverse backgrounds can – in a very short time – jointly create a tool that can be used in classrooms demonstrates that limited resources can go a long way and especially in societies with competing perspectives can contribute to better understanding of each other’s past (Boerhout, & van Driel, 2013).

As example, “The Memory Walk” initiative aims to engage diverse groups of young people in researching and documenting contested monuments, fostering critical thinking and intercultural competence (Ashplant et al., 2004). The project involves creating short films about the monuments and incorporating them into educational settings to encourage multi-perspectivity and reflection on the political nature of commemoration.

Both initiatives emphasize project-based learning (PBL) with a focus on social issues encouraging students to explore real-world problems and develop solutions collaboratively (Jalinus et al., 2020; Thomas, 2019). This approach not only enhances critical thinking and problem-solving skills but also instills a sense of social responsibility. That is, student selecting and analyze projects that address discrimination, and students actively contribute to dismantling stereotypes and fostering positive change (Boss, 2016).

According to the data of World Health Organisation (2015), there are over 1000 million people with disabilities – around 15 per cent (or one out of seven) people living in the world. UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) emphasises that countries are obliged to ensure proper healthcare for people with disabilities, without discriminating them against their disability, while health workers must provide them with the services of the same quality as they do to other persons. However, according to the communication by the United Nations, people with disabilities who need to receive healthcare services still face quite a few serious challenges: difficult physical access to healthcare institutions, lack of proper transport, negative approach of healthcare service providers to them. In this case, it is noteworthy that the negative attitude of health workers, according to Santoroa et al. (2017), can be related to the fact that health workers are still not properly equipped to work with people with disabilities and their education in this area is still insufficient. According to World Health Organisation (2016), the entire world feels a clear need to increase the ability of health workers to provide human-oriented services, which requires socially accountable education that includes training on how to work in a team, ethical practice, ensuring communication which is sensitive to rights, gender and culture and patient empowerment. These challenges encourage a closer look at the education of health workers and raise a question how to strengthen it, so health workers who have graduated from the schools of higher education would be able to work more effectively with people with disabilities reflecting their needs. Finding the answer to this strategic question is multi-faceted and nuanced.

The focus in this presentation will fall on the exploration of how future health workers (students of schools of higher education) understand their professional work with people with disabilities. The research has been carried out adhering to the attitude of social constructivism claiming that a human being is an entity looking for and creating the meaning (Crotty, 1998). The collage technique was used as the main method to obtain, collect and interpret the data. In the most general sense, the collage is defined as a piece of art made by pasting together various different materials and images (Butler-Kisber & Poldma, 2010). Collage as an arts-based research method allows participants and researchers to link the “ideas in a non-linear way that brings a deeper understanding of a given phenomenon” (Kay, 2008, p. 147). Each image chosen for the collage evokes associations, memories and feelings, help to connect personal experience with the existing values and attitudes. Not only the choice of individual images, but their composition into one image too helps seeing multiple meanings of objects and phenomena and connections between them, generating the conceptual idea of the collage. Such study based on visual information eases verbal communication and helps to reveal meanings and experiences that are difficult to put into words. Therefore, such collage technique is seen as a valuable means to enter the inner world of a person (Kay, 2013).

This project looks at the phenomenon of superinternational universities through the lens of national cultures and socialization. Superinternational universities are those where international students make up over 50% of the student population, and no single nationality accounts for more than 15% of students. We use the case of Constructor University Bremen in Germany to explore the interplay of national cultures at such an superinternational university. Constructor hosts about 1800 students of 120 nationalities, and international students make up 84% of the student population.

We focus on cultural socialization and its perception by students. Frequently, the position of international students during their study abroad is seen as that of recipients of the host country’s culture (Adams, 2023). This view may be metaphorically termed “the culture monopoly”. In this view, international students absorb the host country's values, traditions and beliefs. The host country’s national culture takes precedence. In the case of superinternational universities, there is a tension for such a model. For Constructor University, the national German culture is not dominant. In fact, the university may be labelled an “extra-territorial international university”, and its national cultures are mixing and fusing. In such a context, it is thus not clear in what direction the diverse national cultures evolve. Are they converging towards a synthetical international culture? Are they becoming broadly “Western”, “European”, “German”, “American” or “uniquely Constructor”?

In this context, students are not passively receiving the dominant culture of the host country. They are instead actively engaged in cultural exchange and contribute to the “polyphony of cultures”. The university assumes the role of the “mediator” or “manager” of diversity and implements measures to facilitate cultural cohesion (Binder et al., 2013).

Research question: What culture emerges out of the “melting pot” of national cultures at a superinternational university?

Objective: To assess the university culture using qualitative methods.

Theoretical framework: theory of organizational culture and socialization (qualitative part) (Schein, 1990).

Facilitating the exchange of research-based and student-centred teaching methods and good practice between European countries is crucial to promoting equitable education. Curricula and the legislation that governs them play a key role in the organisation of teaching. Understanding the content of European curricula is important to assess the application of teaching methods and to compare approaches between countries. This study focuses on a content analysis of the curricula of five European countries from the perspective of key concepts related to Phenomenon Driven Learning (PDL). The differences in the conceptualisation of curricula (Westbury, 2000; Vitikka, 2009) and their guiding influence on the implementation of teaching are important considerations that also justify the relevance of the study. Curricula define, chronologically, the precise objectives and content per subject that teachers must follow (Westbury, 2002; Vitikka, 2009). However, teachers can use their pedagogical decisions to determine how to create conditions conducive to learning, rather than simply acting as recipients of the curriculum in the Anglo-American curriculum tradition (Erss, 2017). In Northern European didactics, teachers' interpretations of the curriculum are given greater weight, and this broader professional perspective defines the approach used in this study (Locke et al., 2004; Erss, 2017). The aim of the study is to map and compare the national curricula of five European countries regarding the concepts of PDL. This aim will be achieved by examining how their national curricula identify and define the following concepts describing PDL: integration, contextualisation, authentic learning, teaching methods and holistic learning. The aim is to understand if and how the national curricula allow for purposeful planning of PDL. The project partners are Finland, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain. The research is anchored in the Erasmus+ project 2023-2024 and the research data was collected during the initial phase of this project in 2023. The project, through (PDL), aims to create a common, inclusive learning pathway at European level. Therefore, it is important to investigate whether the curricula of different countries provide the basis for a targeted implementation of PDL. This research-based analysis will provide a more solid basis for international exchange of educational knowledge.

Phenomenal Learning is a Finnish product that, according to Lähdesmäki (2021), is strongly based on Dewey's (1912) pragmatic pedagogy. The PDL process design model provides teachers with research-based tools to design well-structured and theory-based learning (Lähdesmäki, 2021; 2022). In this study the term Phenomenon-Driven Learning (PDL) is used (Lähdesmäki, 2021; 2022). It can be interpreted as having developed from two main theoretical roots (Linturi, 2014). The first is Dewey's theory of functional learning, and the second perspective is related to both constructivist and socio-constructivist theory (Silander, 2015). The PDL framework of this study is structured around six key elements, as outlined by Lähdesmäki (2021). These elements include a curriculum-based approach, systemic learning process, method-based learning, contextuality, holistic perspective and authenticity. These are central concepts for this research and provide a lens through which PDL can be clearly characterised (Lonka, 2018; Silander, 2015b; Tarnanen & Kostinen, 2021; Symeonidis & Schwarz, 2016).PDL is a flexible teaching approach because it is based on several different pedagogical methods rather than being a traditional method. It includes familiar elements from different learning approaches (Tarnanen & Kostiainen, 2020). PDL builds on the development of many essential skills such as self-direction, innovation, socio-emotional and interactional skills, collaboration, creativity and courage as it is based on a student-centred, collaborative, experiential and integrative approach (Lonka, 2018; Lähdesmäki, 2021). Based on the analysis, several common definitions were identified for each concept, such as active learning methods, relevance of the subject matter to the student, connection to the local context, accessibility and inclusiveness.

In times of war, forced innovation can affect the learning environment in a number of ways. In this case, it is important to pay attention to how the war and the circumstances related to it can shape the education system and lead to a change in the learning environment. In wartime, where the physical learning environment may be impinged, distance learning becomes an important tool to enable people to learn regardless of geographic location.

Distance studies include various learning formats, such as blended learning, flipped classroom, social and cooperative learning, simulations, game-based learning, synchronous and asynchronous video lectures, polling software or collaboration authoring tools (Casanova, Paguia, 2022; Kusel, Martin, Markic, 2020; Butrime, 2020; Petrauskienė, 2018).

In the last 20 years, the following features of ICT-based distance studies in higher education institutions have emerged (Casanova, Paguia, 2022; Nwanko, 2015; Bailie, 2015; Vilkonis et al., 2012; Garrison, Anderson, Archer, 2000; G. M. Moore, 1998; ):

• studies are regarded as a service, thus, the student is a customer;
• higher education institutions offering distance learning must take into account the expectations and experiences of students so that all distance learning activities and resources are directed to the highest level of student satisfaction.
• expectation levels of students participating in distance studies are the following: infrastructure (technology), teacher, ways of learning, course design, and evaluation system.
• distance education and learning are characterized by a transaction that occurs when a student and a teacher communicate in a virtual learning environment, and that communication may not take place at the same time. This leads to unique patterns of student and teacher behaviour.
• the following 3 types of interaction are distinguished: student - teacher, student - learning content, and student - student.

The educational environment at a specialized university is special in that most of the teachers working here do not have a traditional pedagogical education, so learning from experience while studying their own activities is very important. In this way, efforts are made to improve educational competence, and to create a learning environment based on equal relations between teachers and students, and meeting the expectations of learners (Jucevičienė et al., 2010).

This study also aims to determine how teachers at a specialized university can better respond to the learning needs of students from warring countries, who have chosen this university, by creating an educational environment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Research questions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Children are one of the most vulnerable groups, especially those children who cross borders forcibly or voluntarily – whether they are migrants, refugees or asylum seekers. Children who cross borders without being accompanied by parents, relatives or adults responsible for their care by law or custom are known as "unaccompanied minors" or "unaccompanied children". These children are particularly exposed to risks such as exploitation and violence at various stages of their journey. Unaccompanied minor asylum seekers are a particularly vulnerable category of refugees who need the legal protection and care of the state. Research shows that this is a group at high risk of developing mental health problems and that unaccompanied children present significant rates of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress. However, several scholars point to the mental resilience demonstrated by immigrant children and that most adapt effectively to new living conditions.

According to UNHCR data, it is estimated that more than 28,000 refugee children were in Greece at the end of 2021, of which 2,225 were unaccompanied. While, from 2016 until March June 2023, 3,072 unaccompanied children, from war-torn areas and African countries, took the refugee path to Cyprus. Today, just over 1,100 unaccompanied minors are under the care of Social Welfare Services. They are hosted in the various programs/structures for unaccompanied minors throughout Cyprus. The largest percentage of them (42%) are placed in semi-independent living programs, which are either run by agencies subsidized and inspected by the Social Welfare Services, or by arrangements of the services with relatives of the minors. At the same time, 31% are placed in institutions/other accommodation and 11% in foster families.

Despite the fact that almost all countries - including Greece and Cyprus - have signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC 1989) more than 30 years ago - thus recognizing the importance of recognizing and promoting the rights of the child child – significant action has only been taken in the last two decades. However, very little is known about what works in host countries for children on the move, and whether professionals and policy makers support children's real needs or what is judged to be in their best interests, according to existing political and legal frameworks. Increased arrivals of asylum seekers in Greece and Cyprus in 2015 and 2016, combined with additional political developments such as border closures by Balkan countries and the EU-Turkey deal in spring 2016, resulted in thousands of asylum seekers being stranded. and immigrants – among them many unaccompanied children – who had no choice but to seek asylum in Greece and Cyprus, turning these two countries into host countries. Professionals working with unaccompanied minors need to provide a safe environment to support minors with their process of adjustment and integration. Moreover, the professionals would need to manage the vulnerability and trauma of minors, resulting from their refugee journey, to overcome uncertainty and facilitate acclimatization to the new reality. Additionally, workers in the field need to handle many issues stemming from legal, administrative, operational and funding transitions.

Context
This study examines the variations and commonalities in the implementation of sustainability/ecological and citizenship practices in European and Belarusian schools, targeting Belarusian teenagers with a migrant background.
The persistent political unrest in Belarus since 2020 has compelled numerous Belarusian families to emigrate to Poland, Lithuania, and Germany in search of protecting their fundamental rights to freedom, employment and education, and freedom of expression. Their children were suddenly introduced to distinct educational systems with alternative regulations and methodologies, particularly in regard to sustainability and citizenship education. The middle and high school students were asked to compare their prior educational experiences with those of Europeans and to explain their findings within the research framework.

Theoretical framework
This comparative cross-cultural study aims to address the existing gap in literature regarding the influence of migration background on educational experiences, specifically in relation to participation opportunities in school policies. It particularly focuses on the perspectives of school students with a migration background, encompassing not only ESD or citizenship education. The researcher's extensive connections among Belarusian diaspora populations in German, Lithuanian, and Polish schools facilitated the recruitment procedure for participants in these countries.

Inquiries for investigation

What are the differences in the perspectives of sustainability and civic practices among Belarusian teenagers from a migrant background when comparing their experiences in EU schools (in Germany, Lithuania, and Poland) to educational institutions in Belarus?
Which educational methods and strategies do Belarusian teenagers find motivating for engaging in active and sustainable lifestyles?
What are the differences between the participation and leadership opportunities in sustainability practices between schools in the EU and Belarus?

Self-realization of the Members of Free Age University in Life-long Learning Environment

Self-realization can be defined as a person becoming healthy and mature, developing all the necessary parts (dimensions) of the personality, discovering and realizing vocations and special talents, finally becoming what a person can become by developing self-esteem based on spirituality (Ryan & Deci, 2000). According Maslow self-actualization as an episode of self-realization, is based on human forces and concentrated in a particularly effective and purposeful way, where a person becomes more integrated and less distracted, more open to experiences, more special, more witty, more independent of lower needs. It is generally accepted that relationships with people, lifelong learning and self-esteem are important to a person and even determine that person's self-realization and perception and sense of life (Marjan, 2012). Thanks to meaningful relationships with other people based on mutual understanding and respect, a person can raise his self-esteem and live happily in his environment. Since seniors have free time, they have a special opportunity to participate in the process of lifelong learning. This is a great opportunity for seniors to realize their inner potential and develop opportunities for self-esteem development, precisely the main idea of Free Age universities is to construct possibilities for older people to realize their uniqueness, express their cultural variety of professional experience and intercultural dialogue, and pursue an active social life (Helwig & Ruprecht, 2017).

The activity of the Free Age universities is considered as the main means of education for the elderly in the scope of Lithuanian adult education policy. By participating in the lifelong learning process, older people develop cognitive and motor skills and preserve and strengthen their self-esteem (National Program of the 2012 European Year of Older People's Activity and Intergenerational Solidarity). As we are talking about self-esteem is needed to confirm that self-esteem is presented as a person's generalized opinion about himself/herself and how valuable he/she is.

The aim of this report is to reveal the possibilities to buildout self-esteem of the members of Free Age university when developing self-realization in lifelong learning environment. The objectives are as follows: a) to discuss the construction of seniors self-esteem based on the self-realization; b) to describe the cultural variety of professional experience of the members of Free Age university, highlighting possibilities for development of self-esteem based on the self-realization; c) to identify the directions of educational research that the experience of the Free Age university learning environment implies the process of self-realization.