Conference Agenda

Worldwide, languages are disappearing, particularly indigenous languages which suffering from historical and present-day globalising trends teether towards extinction (Hornberger, 1998). In Guatemala, 30% of the population’s mother tongue is one of 22 distinct heritage languages, a percentage that decreases yearly (Saz-Choxin, 2020). Despite the new laws and curriculum in the last decades, most Bilingual Intercultural Education (BIE) teachers are unfamiliar with evidence-based pedagogical strategies that might support their bilingual practice and students’ success in learning, which is driving indigenous languages towards extinction.

This study’s purpose is to better understand what other countries similar have done to prevent language loss and identifying opportunities in Bilingual Intercultural Education (BIE) models. Guatemala’s educational policy faces barriers and opportunities similar to those experienced by indigenous groups in Europe, such as the Sámi (Lee-Hammond & Jackson-Barrett, 2019), the Roma and Travellers (UNESCO, 2020), and linguistic minorities such as the Euskara (Basque) (Etxeberria-Sagastume, 2006). The study therefore has significant relevance for European researchers.

A challenge for the Mayan Language reclamation and revitalization movements is that it is trying to reverse a 500-year-old trend of colonization with a little over 20 years of new policy (Bastos & Cumes, 2007). Another element to consider, is that the ‘language as a right’ orientation policy (Ruiz, 1984) that was put in place with the 1996 Peace Accords, has had limited impact when the country’s full cultural background remains unchanged (Bastos & Cumes, 2007). Much can be learned from similar struggles in correctly implementing policy, such as the rulings against the discrimination of the Sámi people in Finland, and the state’s responsibility in providing education and resources for these populations (Lee-Hammond & Jackson-Barrett, 2019; McCarty et al., 2008).

Additionally in Guatemala, there is still a resistance on behalf of the European descendent elite, who during the Civil War sided with the military, and despite signing the Peace Accords, have not allowed deep social change to occur, or correct policy implementation (Bastos & Cumes, 2007; Maxwell, 2017). The struggles lived in Guatemala, and the impact after a Civil War, where language education was one of the battleground, is reminiscent of experiences, such as those lived by the Catalans in Spain (Chiesa et al., 2012).

For a bi/multilingual education program to have a positive impact, it must have an effective literacy pedagogical component, because teaching children to read and write in a student’s mother tongue, and requires a strong form of bilingual education aims for “bilingualism, biliteracy and biculturalism” (Baker & Wright, 2021, p. 293). The work that has been done through international efforts in language legislation in Europe can help inform educational public policy in Guatemala, helping overcome barriers and incentivize key drivers for change (McCarty et al., 2008).

Guatemala’s BIE policy has progressed slowly and remains rooted in a postcolonial perspective of education and language (Cortina & De la Garza, 2015). What is still lacking, is sufficient details on where and how the educational and language policy are helping or failing indigenous students. This exploratory study hopes to fill part of this gap in information, doing so by answering the following three research questions:

1. What does existing research identify as barriers to and drivers for bilingual indigenous language education? Might these relate to the Guatemalan context?
2. How do different stakeholders view bilingual indigenous education (in their mother tongue and with Spanish as a second language) in general and in the current education system?
3. What do these findings tell us about the potential barriers to and drivers for the BIE model in Guatemala?

The project “Mobilizing university and community resources through SL(M) for the inclusion of migrants/refugees” (2022-1-ES01-KA220-HED-000087650), funded by the European Commission, was designed to address the following question: What can universities do to contribute to the process of social inclusion of migrants and refugees in Europe? To this end, a consortium of universities and social organizations from three European Union countries (Ireland, Italy, and Spain) fostered collaboration between migrants/refugees living in Europe and university students, with the aim of identifying needs, planning actions, and engaging in a reciprocal and innovative educational and social process.

The project employed the Service-Learning (SL) methodology, which promotes the social mission of universities and provides more comprehensive training for students as responsible citizens within a solid democratic framework, through the creation of exchanges in which diversity plays a central role. The impact of this methodology has been demonstrated in students’ perspectives on diversity, as it enables them to challenge individual and social stereotypes, become acquainted with the population they serve, believe in the value of an intercultural society, and develop greater confidence to act in situations involving diversity.

According to UNHCR data (2025), by mid-2025 it was estimated that 117.3 million people worldwide had been forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, or events seriously disturbing public order. Among them were 36.4 million refugees and 8.4 million asylum seekers.

SL(M) aimed to contribute to increasing the social and cultural capital of both university students and migrants/refugees through networks of collaboration and social support. In addition, it sought to train students in civic and social competences and to promote their democratic and civic participation by encouraging opportunities for social engagement and intercultural development.

Different approaches (Bringle & Hatcher, 1995; MacLabhrainn & McIlrath, 2007; Puig et al., 2007) present service-learning as an educational initiative capable of generating academic gains through community service closely linked to the curriculum. In other words, students learn while serving the community. Service-learning proposals combine learning content with training oriented towards applying that knowledge in real-life contexts.

According to Naval et al. (2011, p. 88), service-learning constitutes a pedagogical approach aimed at seeking specific ways of involving students in the everyday life of their communities, neighbourhoods, and institutions. It is conceptualized within experiential education and is characterized by: (a) students as active protagonists; (b) responsiveness to a real social need; (c) connection to curricular objectives; (d) the implementation of a service project; and (e) systematic reflection.

In this paper, we describe the different actions developed to achieve the objectives of the project and analyse whether participation in SL(M) experiences—here involving faculty members, students, social organizations, and migrants/refugees—improves university students’ attitudes towards these populations. Attitudes towards migrants not only reflect a society’s disposition towards diversity, but also have a direct impact on social cohesion (Cowling et al., 2019; Gonçalves et al., 2023). Empathy, understanding, and recognition of migrants’ contributions can act as catalysts for the creation of inclusive spaces in which diversity is valued as an enriching asset for society as a whole (Louis et al., 2013; Schweitzer, 2005).

This research explores the possibility of developing intercultural education in museums for Adult CCKs using a study of Adult CCKs from the local Chinese communities in Scotland. Globalization has brought about a reconfiguration of cultural diversity (Colomer, 2017: 923). As groups with complex and interwoven culture identities, belonging and special cultural needs (Colomer, 2017: 913), Adult Cross Culture Kid (CCK) has come into the public eye and attracted attention in the fields of education and mental health (Moore and Barker, 2012, p.553). Adult Cross-Cultural Kid (CCK) is an adult “who has lived in – or meaningfully interacted with – two or more cultural environments for a significant period of time during the first eighteen years of life” (Van Reken, 2011, p.33). The recent study of adult CCKs and their behavior in school have emphasize the important of the awareness of education participants (Colantonio-Yurko et al., 2023: 52-53 & Kwon, 2019: 113). The latest research has provided a set of recommendations for educating participants on how to better support inclusion and respect for adult CCKs in formal education Settings such as schools (Colantonio-Yurko et al., 2023: 59). However, this research aims to further expand the study on the importance of educational participants in the formation of identity and belonging of adult CCKs to the field of informal education, especially in the context of museum education.

In collaboration with the National Museum of Scotland, researcher designed a "cultural identity" guided tour program for the adult CCK in the local Chinese community in Scotland, based on the museum's rich collections of Scottish culture and Chinese culture. To better analyze the cultural identity and cross-cultural sense of belonging of CCK, in addition to recording the participants' reactions and feedback during the guided tour, the researchers also designed interviews with the participants at the end of the tour and follow-up visits two weeks after the visit. Eight adult CCK participants are invited to participate in the guided tour along with the interviews. The adult CCKs in this study specifically refers to: adults from the local Chinese communities in Scotland who have lived in Scotland for more than one year before age of 18 and have grown up with diverse cultural background between Scottish cultural environment and Chinese cultural environment and are currently residing in Scotland. The guided tour takes culture as the entry point to explore the complex and unique cultural identity and Transnational Belonging of adult CCK through the perspective of multiple dimensions, such as “art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs.” (UNESCO, 2006, p. 12).

The purpose of this research is to explore the emotional orientation of adult CCK towards the family country culture (Chinese culture) under the atmosphere of the host country culture (Scottish culture) and further explore the transnational belonging of adult CCK in the museum. This study focuses on whether the national culture of adult CCKs will influence the cultural identity of these subjects and affect their understanding of museum narrative. Focusing on the identity and representation of local Adult CCK group in museums, this research also talks about how the practitioners of museum education breaking the mainstream white-centric narrative of museums and better respect and include the multicultural culture identities of museum visitors. By providing a cross-cultural perspective, this study focuses on the reflection of museum narratives and explores how to reconstruct museum narratives and cross-cultural cooperation in a more decolonizing, egalitarian and open way.

Modern higher education is characterized by "massification," a process that brings together students from an unprecedented array of cultural, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds (Nieminen 2024; Zaky 2025). This reality necessitates a shift from traditional pedagogical models based on standardized assessment (Zaky 2025) toward a framework rooted in social justice (Nieminen 2024). This paradigm posits that universities have an ethical and legal obligation to proactively identify and dismantle systemic barriers, ensuring that all students - regardless of their cultural, socioeconomic, or neurocognitive profile - can participate as agentic members of the academic community (Zaky 2025). Central to this study is the concept of diversity, which recognizes variations in humans as an added value rather than just challenges or deficits to be cured (Pachowicz 2023).

College and university students are exposed to a variety of stressors and life transitions, a developmental period that coincides with the age when mental health challenges most commonly emerge (Huang, Nigatu, Smail‑Crevier, Zhang, & Wang, 2018). This decline in student wellbeing is recognized as a part of a global landscape, often described by the VUCA framework (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity), which reflects world trends in higher education (Sztobryn-Giercuszkiewicz 2023). Studies indicate that the situation of young people worldwide pursuing higher education has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (Elmer, Mepham, & Stadtfeld, 2020; Visser & Law-van Wyk, 2021), which showed how much student inclusion and exclusion depend on global shocks and crises (Sztobryn-Giercuszkiewicz 2023). According to the American Psychological Association (2020), roughly 82% of college-aged Gen Z adults (18–23 years old) experience significant stress and uncertainty regarding their education due to the pandemic. Research conducted during and after this period focused on specific groups of students and yielded fairly clear results - they experience greater obstacles and increased susceptibility to stress (Alkowatli, Talal, Al Smady, Saad, & Muttappallymyalil, 2025). Therefore, the population of university students is considered particularly vulnerable.

A particularly significant challenge arises in the context of students preparing for educational and helping professions. These students are in a unique position: while they require systemic support to navigate their own educational or psychological needs, they are simultaneously being trained to provide such support to others in their future professional practice. The literature suggests that the goal of their education should be the development of the "reflective practitioner" - a professional capable of critically analyzing their own pedagogical concepts and worldviews while managing their personal diverse needs (Lejzerowicz 2024).

However, research points to a "process of unfinished emancipation," where increased access to university does not always translate into equal access to the labor market for graduates with diverse needs (Giermanowska et al. 2015). This is especially evident in helping professions, where individuals with neurodivergence or psychological crises may still face stigmatization despite their professional qualifications (Lejzerowicz 2024). Therefore, supporting these students at the University of Warsaw (UW) involves not only neutralizing environmental barriers through Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (Meyer&Rose 2014) but also fostering their professional and personal resilience and self-advocacy.

The current landscape of support at UW reflects a growing demand for assistance related to challenges and mental health crises. Experiences suggest that students seeking consultations are struggling with psychological issues, such as anxiety or depression, which require a specialized, integrated approach. This necessitates a support system that combines Individual Course Organization (IOS) with psychological counseling and tutoring, ensuring that students can meet rigorous professional standards without compromising their well-being.

This paper examines how positive peace education (PPE) is enacted in schools, drawing on Johan Galtung’s (1969) foundational theory of positive peace. Unlike negative peace, which focuses on preventing direct violence, positive peace addresses structural and cultural violence embedded in education systems, institutions, and social relations, aiming for sustainable transformation. Operationalizing PPE in schools remains conceptually and practically underdeveloped, with limited shared understanding of what constitutes positive peace in the classroom. This paper addresses this gap through a critical interpretive synthesis of international literature, combined with empirical insights from teachers’ practices, to examine how educators, students, and school communities enact PPE across curriculum, pedagogy, relationships, and daily school life.

The study draws on ethics of care theory (Tronto, 1993, 2013) to complement Galtung’s framework, providing a relational lens through which PPE can be interpreted and applied. Care ethics highlights attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness, and solidarity in school interactions, enabling a practical understanding of how peace can be cultivated through everyday actions and relationships. Integrating care ethics with PPE allows us to examine not only what schools should change but how change occurs, from interpersonal interactions to institutional practices.

Using a Critical Interpretive Synthesis (Dixon-Woods et al., 2006), the paper analyzes 50 peer-reviewed studies of PPE enactment worldwide, highlighting key themes: (1) situated practice, the contextualized ways schools interpret and implement PPE; (2) pedagogical balancing, the negotiation between competing curricular, cultural, and policy demands; (3) teacher and student agency, demonstrating how individuals navigate structural and cultural constraints to foster peace; and (4) lived peace praxis, showing how peace is embodied in everyday classroom and school interactions.

The paper contributes in two ways. First, it offers the first systematic, international synthesis of empirical studies on PPE enactment, addressing a critical gap in the literature and providing evidence of culturally and contextually grounded approaches. Second, it develops a care-centered theoretical framework reconceptualizing PPE as a relational ethics of peace, highlighting the interconnection between moral, social, and structural dimensions of peace.

The study’s European and international relevance lies in its synthesis of diverse educational contexts, including examples from post-Soviet, Global South, and conflict-affected regions, offering transferable insights for policy, curriculum design, and teacher professional development. By foregrounding ethics of care and teacher/student agency, this work provides actionable frameworks for implementing PPE that can inform international educational policy and practice, including UNESCO’s 2023 Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights, and Sustainable Development.

The current school education system in China has become deeply intertwined with competition, which not only become a key mechanism driving student development but also regarded as a crucial benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of school education. Drawing on theories of educational justice and through a systematic review and analysis of the literature, this study examines the legitimacy of competition within Chinese schools and the paradoxes it engenders, while exploring pathways to transcend these contradictions.

The Theoretical Foundation of This Study: Educational Justice Theory

Current discussions on the core issue of educational justice, both domestically and internationally, primarily follow three paradigms: the distributive paradigm focuses on the equitable distribution of educational resources and rights; the recognition paradigm emphasises equal acknowledgement of personal dignity; while the relational paradigm prioritises non-oppressive educational relationships.

The distributive justice paradigm, exemplified by John Rawls's theory, emphasises fairness in fundamental social structures, advocating for equitable distribution of educational resources and rights among all members of society. Rawls proposed two principles of justice: the principle of liberty and equality, and the difference principle. The latter requires compensating those most disadvantaged in society, aiming to correct social inequalities through institutional arrangements and ensure equal access to educational opportunities and resources for all, particularly vulnerable groups. Educational distributive justice, meanwhile, focuses on the distribution of educational goods such as rights, opportunities, support, and academic assessment. It requires governments and schools to achieve rational resource allocation through policies and systems, thereby preventing educational inequity arising from external factors.

Recognition is deemed more crucial than the redistribution of material resources, constituting ‘a more fundamental issue.’ The acknowledgement of human dignity stands as the central principle of social justice. The paradigm of recognition justice, proposed by Axel Honneth and others, emphasises that the equal recognition of individual dignity is justice's core. It posits that justice concerns not merely resource distribution but also mutual recognition and respect among subjects. Honneth categorises recognition into three forms: emotional care (love), legal recognition (legal rights), and social respect (solidarity), corresponding respectively to individuals' psychological needs for self-confidence, self-esteem, and pride. Within education, recognition justice demands mutual respect between teachers and students, acknowledging each pupil's unique value and equal personhood, while avoiding negative forms of recognition such as humiliation or contempt.

Relational justice theory emphasises the quality of interpersonal interactions and the legitimacy of power structures within educational settings. It advocates achieving the common welfare of all members through public participation, mutual recognition, and relationships free from domination and oppression.