Conference Agenda

Ableism is socially constructed along gender and racial ideologies that lead to institutionalized forms of violence negatively influencing girls and women with disabilities (Ben-Moshe & Magaña, 2014; Parsons et al., 2016). Parsons (2017) defines gendered ableism as “the cross section of discrimination based on both disability and gender having serious implications for women with disabilities who are rendered powerless by society” (p. 209). Gendered ableism leads to higher risks of violence and lack of access to resources for minoritized girls and women (Kim & Shalk, 2020; Moral-Cabrero & Serrato-Calero, 2025). In compulsory schooling, girls with disabilities endure multiple obstacles hindering their wellbeing and inclusion, being vulnerable to facing discrimination, distress, and unmet socio-educational needs (Nanda, 2019; Ramírez Morera, 2022). Statistics reveal how only 41.7% of girls with disabilities complete primary school in contrast to 52.9% of able-bodied girls in Europe (UN Women, 2025). These barriers are the result of enforced heteropatriarchal ableist ways of knowing and being historically operationalized in schools (Dean et al., 2023; Hall, 2011; Zamorano et al., 2024). Likewise, disability hierarchies across the disability spectrum further perpetuate the stigmatization of non-normative bodies (Grue et al., 2015; Pritchard, 2023; Sánchez Rodríguez, 2023). These hierarchies lead to “soft” disability categories such as emotionally disturbed, ADHD, and “mental retardation” (Nanda, 2019). Racialized girls with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to being pathologized across axes of institutionalized oppressions, including racism and cultural erasure (Miller, 2024; Tesfahunegn, 2025).

This literature synthesis analyzes recent studies published between 2015 and 2025 decentering gendered ableism in schools by attending to the perspectives, experiences, and assets of girls and young women with disabilities. This framing shies away from pervasive discriminatory discourses portraying these minoritized learners as depleted and agencyless, when focusing solely on their social marginalization. Thus, this literature synthesis includes only peer-reviewed sources that follow a critical social model of disability (Oliver, 2013). Feminist disability frameworks are used alongside capital theory to examine the literature on gendered ableism in European educational settings. Feminist Disability Studies (FDS) emerged in the 1990s to challenge the medicalized view of disability and recognize it as a complex sociopolitical construct (Garland-Thomson, 2005; Hall, 2011). This framework rejects victimization narratives and condemns ableism as a social ill, impairing everyone’s lives (Kim & Schalk, 2020). In addition, feminist disability studies expose the interlocked forms of violence, including racism, capitalism, heteropatriarchy, hindering the lives and opportunities of girls and women with disabilities (Moral-Cabrero & Serrato-Calero, 2025). The interplay between ableism, heteronormativity and citizenship has been silenced to uphold the cis-ableist state (Glenn, 2015; Patel, 2017). Applied to the field of education, this framework serves, for instance, to explain the overrepresentation of students of color in special education settings (Temel et al., 2025). In addition, Bourdieu’s capital theory is used to problematize the socially constructed nature of disability as a cultural, historical, and political phenomenon (Holt, 2019; Mithen, 2015). In a field dominated by able-bodied discourses and ideologies, the disabled body possesses “disabled capital” (Berezin, 2014). Disability is often constructed through a pathologizing lens, which acts as a barrier to accumulating the valued “cultural capital” (set of normative knowledge, skills, values) that schools relegate exclusively to the status quo (Bourdieu, 1986). This work embraces the socially rejected forms of capital the youth bring with them to school, contributing to the deconstruction of what counts as capital. This literature synthesis seeks to answer the following research question: what are the experiences and perspectives of girls and young women with disabilities exposing gendered nativism in schools? This work holds scholarly significance considering how the topic has been underresearched and these youth’s perspectives undertheorized across educational and disability studies in Europe.

In contemporary societies, increasing visible diversity related to gender, culture, ethnicity, disability, and sexual orientation has made questions of social cohesion, mutual respect, and democratic coexistence central to public debate. As school textbooks are fundamental pedagogical resources used consistently over many years (Stará et al., 2017), they play a crucial role in shaping societal perceptions of professions typically associated with men or women (Fruehwirth et al., 2024). Although their primary function is the transmission of knowledge, textbooks often convey gender stereotypes and may influence how students perceive their future, their abilities, and their role in society.

This research (Kerger, Pianaro & Schadeck, 2023) is grounded in a theoretical framework combining gender studies, critical discourse analysis, and the sociology of education. Drawing on the work of Brugeilles and Cromer (2005, 2008), the Centre Hubertine Auclert (2015, 2020), textbooks are conceptualised not as neutral reflections of reality but as normative representations that legitimise specific social orders. From this perspective, representations of gender and diversity in textbooks can either reproduce inequalities or promote equality, inclusion, and respect for diversity, influencing students’ attitudes, aspirations, and understanding of social norms.

The central research question guiding this study is: To what extent do school textbooks used in the lower cycle of Luxembourg’s secondary education reflect and promote values of gender equality, diversity, and inclusive citizenship in line with national, European, and global commitments? More specifically, the study examines how gender, disability, ethnic diversity, and sexual diversity are represented across different school subjects.

The study is situated within a strong institutional and legal context. Luxembourg has ratified key international conventions, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (United Nations, 1981), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) (United Nations, 1969), and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (United Nations, 2008). Additionally, national policies such as the first National Action Plan for LGBTI Rights (Ministère de la Famille, des Solidarités, du Vivre ensemble et de l'Accueil, 2018) reflect a commitment to inclusive education. These frameworks align with broader European objectives promoting equality, non-discrimination, and democratic citizenship as articulated by the Council of Europe.

Despite these commitments, recent public debates in Luxembourg—illustrated by parliamentary petitions (Petition, 2024) concerning the inclusion of LGBTIQ+ topics in education—demonstrate that issues of diversity and inclusion remain socially contested. This highlights the importance of empirically examining how educational materials address gender and sexual diversity, particularly in ways that are age-appropriate and focused on values such as respect, empathy, and openness.

The importance of this research extends beyond the national context. Across Europe and worldwide, textbook analyses have consistently revealed persistent gender stereotypes, underrepresentation of women and minorities, and limited visibility of non-heteronormative identities. By focusing on a multilingual and culturally diverse country such as Luxembourg, this study contributes to comparative international research on inclusive education and textbook reforming. Its findings offer insights relevant to policymakers, educators, and researchers seeking to align educational practices with international human rights standards.

Ultimately, this study underscores the responsibility of educational systems to ensure that textbooks support the development of critical thinking, democratic values, and social inclusion. By examining the gap between institutional commitments and actual representations in textbooks, the research highlights both challenges and opportunities for fostering equality and living together in increasingly diverse European and global societies.

Compulsory schooling in Denmark is currently confronted with sustained concerns about pupils’ student motivation, school satisfaction, and well‑being and engagement, alongside renewed attention to inequalities in achievement and engagement. Recent Danish and international research indicates that pupils’ school satisfaction and student motivation tend to decline across grade levels, with notable differences by gender and other background factors (Bang et al., 2020; Pless & Katznelson, 2019). Furthermore, levels of academic achievement remain critically low. Reflecting this trend, the share of students failing to pass Danish or Mathematics in their final examinations has risen to an unprecedented 11.9% (Jensen, 2025). In parallel, large-scale comparative assessments continue to document gendered patterns in achievement (OECD, 2023). Thus, in their latest analysis, Dansk Erhverv documents that Danish girls’ mean grade average across all subject fields is 0.8 (on a scale from -3 to 12) higher than that of boys. Against this backdrop, evaluations and policy analyses have questioned whether performance-oriented governance and reform initiatives have succeeded in improving learning outcomes, while also highlighting potential adverse implications for well‑being and engagement (Carlsson, 2022; Jacobsen, 2024).

Danish school policy has recently shifted toward greater local autonomy and an emphasis on freedom, immersion, and renewed attention to Bildung, learning, and well‑being and engagement. This reorientation is articulated in the governmental policy initiative “Prepared for the Future II: Freedom and Immersion” (Danish Government, 2023). Consistent with this agenda, a growing number of schools are revisiting student-centred and participant-directed pedagogies, including project- and problem-based learning (PBL). PBL is a learner-centred pedagogy that enables students to influence their own learning processes while designing solutions to authentic problems. It has a long-standing tradition in Denmark and is widely associated with the ‘Aalborg model’, in which learning is organized around collaborative, problem-oriented project work (Stegeager et al., 2024).

This paper reports findings from a municipality-wide school development project in Northern Denmark (2022–2026), in which all public schools worked to integrate PBL across subjects and year groups. The project was based on the following problem statement: What conditions and systemic factors shape the possibilities and potentials for implementing project‑based learning (PBL) across the primary school system of a Danish municipality when approached through a pragmatic whole‑systems framework?

Researchers from Aalborg University and VIA University College supported the implementation through teacher professional development and a mixed-methods evaluation design. Two survey waves (2024 and 2025) were administered to staff and pupils, yielding responses from 2,613 pupils on student motivation, sense of mastery, and attitudes toward group work and project work. Survey findings are complemented with qualitative process data (e.g., implementation logs and interviews with pupils, teachers, and school leaders) to contextualize variations in adoption and classroom enactment.

Preliminary results suggest that pupils of all genders report particularly high student motivation for group work and collaborative project work. While student motivation for schoolwork generally declines with age, the decline appears less pronounced for group work and project work than for conventional individual school tasks, aligning with research that frames student motivation as relational and context-dependent (Pless & Katznelson, 2019). Moreover, whereas overall school student motivation shows clear gender differences, with boys more likely to ‘completely disagree’ or ‘disagree’ with the statement “I work with engaging things at school”, these differences are attenuated in relation to group work and project work. These patterns indicate that project-based, collaborative pedagogies may function as an equity-promoting learning environment by broadening participation and strengthening pupils’ sense of competence and belonging. In the full paper, we will discuss the implications of the study for municipal capacity-building, teacher professionalism, and pedagogical design practices that safeguard well-being while pursuing academic improvement.