Conference Agenda

In the global educational landscape, teachers have encountered challenges to their autonomy, due to the increasing standardization and regulation within national education systems (Burkhauser & Lesaux, 2017; Haugen, 2019; Hodge, 2018). However, South Korea, in contrast to this trend, has recently implemented a unique curriculum reform policy, deviating from its historically centralized education system. The Korean education system, traditionally guided by a national curriculum system specifying subjects and lesson hours (Gim, 2012; Park & Kim, 2014), has been heavily focused on preparing students for college entrance exams, thereby limiting both teachers’ autonomy and students’ learning opportunities (Kim, 2021).

To address these concerns, Korea introduced 'the exam-free semester system' in 2016 for middle schools (grades 7 to 9) (Kim & Joo, 2022). This policy aims to counteract the prevailing test-oriented school culture by providing teachers with greater autonomy in curriculum operation. During one semester of the three-year middle school program, there are no formal examinations, and schools are encouraged to offer diverse classes to allow students to explore their interests and talents, relieving them from exam-related stress.

In this decentralized curriculum structure, teachers encounter both opportunities and challenges. While they appreciate the newfound autonomy in planning and implementing the curriculum, they also face difficulties in designing exam-free semester activities and employing unfamiliar teaching methods.

The study operates under the assumption that new curriculum policies at the national level do not directly translate into implementation at the school level; rather, they involve an active process of interpretation by teachers. Teachers engage in sense-making when encountering a new policy, organizing it within their cognitive framework (Coburn, 2006; Spillane et al., 2002). Sense-making, described by Weick (1995), is an ongoing organizing process that occurs when unexpected events happen, influenced by existing knowledge, beliefs, and contextual conditions.

Teachers’ interpretation of reform messages during policy implementation is not a simple technical process but an active sense-making influenced by their interests, beliefs, and contextual factors (Alvunger, 2018; Leijen et al., 2020; Luttenberg et al., 2013). Teachers’ engagement in curriculum reform is shaped by this sense-making process (Pietarinen et al., 2019), leading to responses such as distantiation, toleration, assimilation, and accommodation (Luttenberg et al., 2013).

Complete curriculum reform, according to Fullan (2015), occurs when the intended reality is created and shared among implementing agents. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how teachers construct and execute the meaning of reform messages, considering differences among teachers and the dynamics in their interpretive practices. Drawing on sense-making theory, this study investigates how Korean teachers make sense of messages and mandates from the state-driven curriculum decentralization policy, specifically focusing on the exam-free semester system and how these meanings shape teachers’ teaching practices for curriculum reforms.

In November 2023,UNESCO adopted a resolution to establish an International STEM Education Research Institute in China. The goal is to achieve inclusive, equitable, context-relevant, Sustainable, and high-quality STEM education accessible to all. While flourishing in China, STEM education is problematic in its "elitism" and "urbanization" orientation(inequity in urban and rural education), utilitarian origins and practical tendencies , and insufficient integration in curriculum development.

From the theoretical perspective of connecting scientific learning with everyday life experiences and concepts such as “funds of knowledge”, we argue that agricultural civilization, as the "ethnic and cultural gene" of China, with its core concept of "harmonious coexistence between humans and nature," can counteract the utilitarian tendencies of STEM education. And the incorporation of themes and content that culture and context responsive may enhance the inclusiveness of STEM education and address urban-rural integration issues. Simultaneously, derived from real agricultural production and life practices, agricultural culture in the context of the history of science and technology provides abundant authentic problem scenarios that are rich in interdisciplinary and hands-on learning resources.

In changing educational environments, curriculum development is not always evidence-informed. Inquiry-based working could contribute positively when secondary schools deal with redesigning the curriculum. However, inquiry-based working is not yet commonly embedded in school cultures (Geijsel et al., 2020). This study aims to promote a sustainable research engaged school culture in nine secondary schools in support of reaching their school development goals. A research culture in schools (or a Research Engaged School; RES; Godfrey, 2016) requires leadership that stimulates colleagues to learn how to use knowledge, for instance, via effective professional learning communities (PLC’s). In such PLC’s, teachers collectively learn with colleagues or experts from inside or outside the schools. Moreover, a research culture in schools requires conditions for teachers to learn through inquiry-based working. Examples of such conditions are time to meet and collectively learn, and access to resources such as literature or podcasts. Research Engaged Schools are characterised by the way research informs curriculum decisions, policies, and practices.

The RES model identifies the following four areas (Godfrey, 2016). Inquiry-based working refers to developing knowledge by combining practical experiences with knowledge from scientific and/or teacher research (Baan, 2020). Multilevel distributed leadership concerns leadership that is provided by various colleagues in the school; formal and informal leaders (e.g., school leaders and teacher leaders) work together based on their position or role, and on affinity and expertise (Al-Fadala et al., 2022). The school as a learning organisation refers to an organisation in which teachers, teacher leaders, and formal leaders together learn how to work inquiry-based (Kools et al., 2020). A systemic perspective concerns the coherence between what happens in the classroom, school, and national context (Cohen et al., 2018).

In order to stimulate the research cultures of secondary schools, this study inventories the research culture level of nine schools. Informed by this inventory, teachers, teacher leaders, formal leaders, and researchers together design interventions aimed at promoting the areas of the RES model.

This poster focuses on the research question “How do schools perceive the Research Engaged School culture in their school?”. This questions concerns the inventory stage of the larger project.

The author will present an educational, upbringing and social program for young people at risk of social maladjustment, implemented in 2020-2021, titled "COOLektura".Twenty-three 7th grade students from Primary School No. 141 in Warsaw took part in the program.They were observed to have symptoms of risk of social maladjustment resulting from numerous school failures, growing up in a family/peer environment stimulating the use of violence, fearfulness, aggressiveness, risky behavior, as well as lack of motivation to put in effort, low self-esteem, vulgarity, school laziness, and breaking internal regulations, school orders and regulations, lack of sense of responsibility for one's actions, inability to overcome difficult situations, conflicts with teachers or peers, attention disorders.The main goals of the program were: consolidating the reading in an attractive form (poem, epigram, etc.) immortalized in the form of a short film, improving the skills of cooperation and sense of co-responsibility and overcoming one's own limitations, developing the habit of systematicity and planning activities, and the specific goals: learning the ability to write a film script; using students' hidden talents and potentials; discovering and strengthening students' strengths; developing a sense of agency and independence; learning through play.The program was low-budget and was implemented in cooperation with the Academy of Change Advocates and the Local Activity Center.

Sustainability efforts, such as environmentally friendly and resource-saving production, the efficient use of an energy management system, or the trade-off between renewable and fossil fuels, are becoming increasingly important for companies (cf. Cooremans & Schönenberger, 2019, p. 264f.). To address these efforts, different occupational disciplines, such as technical and management disciplines, need to combine their knowledge and expertise. For this, interdisciplinary skills are becoming increasingly important, as different occupations with different areas of expertise need to communicate with each other. One solution to foster interdisciplinary skills early on is to establish these skills during vocational education and training.

In Germany, a dual system of vocational education and training systems offers students the possibility of an apprenticeship. During this apprenticeship, students acquire job relevant skills based on occupation specific curricula. However, these curricula currently lack the promotion of interdisciplinary skills (cf. Sloane et al., 2018, p. 13). While business managers and technicians have to work together on a daily basis in most companies, German schools within the dual system of vocational education and training currently do not prepare their students for this task.

This study looks at the educational programme work of an interdisciplinary educational team of teachers from both business and technical vocational schools. An interdisciplinary team of teachers was formed to propose learning scenarios that are anchored in a curriculum to promote the interdisciplinary skills of students from business and technical vocational schools.

Following the design-based research method, a research portfolio on the interactions between teachers from the interdisciplinary educational team offers insights on interdisciplinary skills at the teacher level. First, the teachers themselves benefited from the interdisciplinary collaboration. Pedagogical experiences were exchanged, new learning and working strategies were developed, and the repertoire of teaching materials expanded. Second, challenges were identified regarding the coordination of course content within the apprenticeship. This includes course contents that are relevant for both business and technical occupations. Teachers had to identify common curricular links and consider their inclusion in the schools methodological and annual didactic planning as well as the concrete design of learning scenarios and the development of teaching-learning arrangements (cf. Sloane, 2021, p. 230). Another challenge that was identified relates to the different experiences, attitudes, and assumptions of teachers, partly due to their occupational discipline (cf. Krainer & Smetschka, 2014, p. 72). This creates barriers that make collaboration more difficult (cf. Claus & Wiese, 2021, p. 280). However, these barriers can be addressed systematically.

Following the framework of Claus & Wiese (cf. 2021, p. 282), the teachers showed "initiative for exchange" as they willingly and actively participated in the interdisciplinary exchange within the teamwork. They also intuitively used "target group-specific communication" to foster the interdisciplinary teamwork. Both mechanisms helped in reducing barriers. Regarding “integration of knowledge” and "reflection on one's own discipline" the teachers showed more difficulties. Here, the teachers appear to need additional support in understanding the other occupational discipline as well as acknowledging more strongly their own discipline.

The aim of this study is to explore what impact creating podcasts have in improving speaking skills and metacognition skills of students in the EFL classroom. Students face difficulty in expressing their ideas clearly and fluently while speaking due to anxiety, lack of enough grammatical and lexical knowledge and long processing time in face to face conversation . Moreover, the only place where students have the opportunity to speak in English is in the EFL classroom. This means that they may not have enough practice to develop their language skill and specifically, speaking skill. By development of technology, Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and its subdivision Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) students will be able to take language learning beyond the classroom walls. Moreover, Podcast is a digital tool that is accessible without limiting itself to the place and time. Fluency is one of the aspects of speaking that can hinder communication. Scott Thornbury in his book “how to teach speaking” suggests that some conditions have an important role in the degree of fluency of speakers. These conditions are divided into three different categories such as cognitive, affective and performance factors. Cognitive factors include: Familiarity with the topic, familiarity with the interlocutor and processing demands. In this experiment students make podcasts about topics based on school curriculum, after receiving adequate knowledge in the classroom. Students create and share podcasts in the comfort of their home using smartphones in a group of three people. This enables them to prepare their speech in advance and practice it several times before making a podcast. Which consequently reduces the processing time and when they internalize required grammar and vocabulary. Affective factors include self consciousness, that is to say when students are under spotlight they may feel anxious and stressed which will lead them to make mistakes while speaking. Since students record their voice alone or along with their teammates, they will feel more comfortable and relaxed. Performance factors include: planning and rehearsal time, discourse control and mode. Real time speaking demands a great deal of processing time for speakers who are new to the language, so students lose their fluency during speaking. On the other hand, if they intend to compensate for fluency, they might lose accuracy. When students conduct research on the topic, write a script, plan the procedure of their podcast, practice it several times, and recreate the podcast many times, their performance will improve. In addition to that, to make a podcast students have to analyze, and evaluate their written text, and design a plan for the podcast. This will raise awareness of students' incompetencies. In contrast to the traditional methods of teaching and learning, when all students are dependant on a teacher to acquire knowledge, podcast making is a learner-centered method. In other words, creating a desirable podcast in the team depends on the individual works of teammates. Thus it will enhance students’ critical thinking since they have to evaluate their own work to make a better-quality podcast. This method improves students’ self-regulation and autonomy because podcasting enables students to notice and understand their own language inefficiencies and so try to overcome them on their own.

During the last two decades, the National Curriculum for Norway has experienced a shift from content-oriented to competence-oriented curriculum that has altered the understanding of how teaching can promote Bildung (Hilt & Riese, 2021). The culmination of this process took place in 2020, with a comprehensive reform of the national curriculum (Læreplanverket). It was said that one of the intents with the reform was to clarify how classroom teaching can reinforce Bildung (danning) among students (Meld. St. 28 (2015-2016)). As a part of this process, policy makers argued that philosophy teaching facilitates Bildung and that it deserved more space in the national curriculum (St.meld. nr. 30 (2003-2004); Meld.St. nr. 25 (2016-2017)).

This poster presentation is about philosophy teachers’ understanding of what the teaching of philosophy consists of and how it relates to the Bildung-promoting task of Norwegian public education. How do philosophy teachers in primary and secondary school in Norway represent the relation between Bildung and philosophy in their classroom teaching?

Curriculum work can be divided into a political, programmatic and practical level (Hopmann, 1999). The political level sets up the framework for the curriculum, the programmatic level is where the actual curriculum is written and formalised as a policy document, and the practical level is where the curriculum is locally interpreted and taught. In the context of curriculum work, effective implementation of Bildung-promoting teaching depends on a use of signifiers of Bildung on the programmatic level that opens for teachers’ interpretive freedom of the concept (Bergheim, 2023). Discourses on Bildung in the Norwegian national curriculum appear to greatly emphasise ‘method-based’ approaches to philosophy teaching at the expense of ‘content-based’ approaches (Bergheim, 2024). Method-based approaches encourage a comprehension of philosophy as a way of reasoning and tend to focus on philosophy as a transdisciplinary fostering of critical thinking and analytical skills (e.g., Vansieleghem, 2013; Kienstra, Karskens & Imants, 2014). Meanwhile, content-based approaches are built on the conception of philosophy as a field of knowledge, with its historical content (e.g., antiquity, renaissance and modernity) and themes (e.g., ontology, epistemology, and ethics) that must be taught to be able to philosophise. Because Bildung-promoting teaching is intimately connected to the autonomy of teaching and learning processes (Hopmann, 2007), for a curriculum to heavily rely on particular teaching methods at the expense of others may be counterproductive. The reason is that it reduces the possibilities for students to experience Bildung-promoting teaching as an integrate part of teachers’ adaptation of the curriculum. However, considered the limited impact of the written curriculum on teaching practices (Hopmann, 1999; Priestley et al., 2021), it is of interest to investigate how philosophy teachers in Norway themselves perceive the relation between their teaching practices and Bildung on a practical level.

The objective of shedding light over philosophy teachers’ representations of the relation between their teaching practices and Bildung is threefold. First, it offers insight into what philosophy teachers themselves perceive as Bildung-promoting in philosophy. Second, it serves as a contribution to studies on the interplay between the programmatic and practical level of curriculum work. Third, it serves as a case-study of how global educational policy ideas, such as competencies-based education, influence the Scandinavian Didaktik-tradition and Bildung-centred teaching.

The study’s theoretical framework is based on discourse theory. Discourses are forms of knowledge that are socially produced and set limits to how social objects and practices can be thought of and expressed (Bacchi & Goodwin, 2016). The concept of ‘discourse’ denotes that language itself is structured according to social patterns that influence our use of language and which can be identified through discourse analysis (Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002).