Conference Agenda

The design of lessons requires consideration of the diverse needs of students. Particularly in inclusive settings, learning opportunities must be developed and continuously adapted in line with individual abilities, learning levels, and interests in order to provide equal learning opportunities (Werning, 2020). This requires teachers to have comprehensive information about their learning groups. Assessment practice is therefore of great importance when it comes to lesson design (Prengel, 2016). However, assessment is a complex process that can be carried out through various practices and with different goals in mind. The discourse on (inclusive) assessment distinguishes between two basic approaches: 1. Summative assessment (Mitchell & Sutherland, 2020) usually takes place at the end of learning phases and is based on formalised assessment tools (e.g. class tests). It is geared towards placing students according to their performance (e.g. through the awarding of grades). 2. Formative assessment (Mitchell & Sutherland, 2020) is integrated into everyday teaching and is therefore not tied to specific test periods. Nor is it tied to specific assessment tools, but instead uses a variety of information in a flexible manner. It is fundamentally geared towards the ongoing adaptation of teaching. Inclusive assessment incorporates both of these approaches but emphasises the particular importance of formative assessment, as it is especially well suited for the assessment of the individual needs of students in heterogeneous learning groups (Walm et al., 2017). However, studies indicate that teachers often have insufficient assessment skills or do not use comprehensive assessment methods in their teaching (McElvany et al., 2023). In this context, teachers also criticise a lack of time for assessment practices (Creagh et al., 2025).

At the same time, the increasing digitalisation of schools and teaching offers significant opportunities for the design of inclusive lessons, but also presents challenges (Schulz, 2023). This also applies to inclusive assessment. It is frequently emphasised that teachers' digital media competencies are often insufficiently developed (Engel & Jörissen 2022). Although digital media are increasingly finding their way into the classrooms, this is only gradually changing the way teachers design their lessons (Proske et al., 2023). The implementation of digital media cannot simply mean the transfer of analogue media into digital formats (Gervé et al., 2023) and therefore requires a shift in the roles of teachers.

These general challenges are situated within specific conditions of subject teaching. While all school subjects come with their own specific challenges and opportunities, science classes can be emphasised as particularly challenging, when it comes to the implementation of digital media as well as assessment practices. The inherent material complexity of the subject and the need to teach demanding content at an abstract level places high demands on teachers’ actions (Stinken-Rösner & Abels, 2021). At the same time, science classes also offer opportunities for inclusive teaching, as activity-oriented and group-based approaches can support individual learning success (Minner et al., 2010).

Overall, science teachers operate within a complex field of requirements and opportunities when it comes to inclusive teaching with digital media. This raises the question of how teachers in inclusive settings integrate digital media into their assessment activities and which specific forms of assessment practices (summative and formative) are associated with the use of digital media, and in what way. This dissertation project addresses these questions (among others) from a praxeological perspective (Schatzki, 2012). With a focus on processes of teacher subjectivation, ethnographic observations and interviews with teachers and students were conducted. The analysis, based on grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 2010), enabled the open reconstruction of different modes of teacher subjectivation in the use of digital media for assessment practices.

Contemporary social transformations, marked by teacher shortages (Mukamurera et al., 2023), increasing complexity of school contexts (Jensen, 2021), and growing demands for inclusive education, call for a reconceptualization of educational spaces as dynamic, relational, and participatory learning environments. Within this context, classroom management represents a central issue, both for students’ academic success (Bernier et al., 2021) and for teachers’ professional retention and well-being (Mukamurera et al., 2020). In this broader context of accelerating social transformations, cooperative classroom management practices can be understood as situated yet meaningful responses to the need to create more resilient, inclusive, and participatory educational spaces.

Grounded in the perspective of innovative learning environments (ILEs), this paper presents an action research project (Dumouchel & Rondeau, 2024–2025) focused on the implementation of Cooperative Classroom Management Practices (CCMPs), including the cooperative assembly, at the preschool and elementary levels. These practices are based on a redefinition of traditional roles within educational spaces, emphasizing recognition of students’ agency, their active participation, and the co-construction of conditions that support learning. They engage teachers in a posture oriented toward guidance and accompaniment rather than control (Bucheton & Soulé, 2009).

CCMPs draw on cooperative learning principles such as positive interdependence, individual and collective responsibility, the development of social skills, and the establishment of democratic classroom processes (Plante, 2012; Sénéchal et al., 2023). They promote shared pedagogical leadership between teachers and students (Freiberg & Lamb, 2009; Dumouchel et al., 2022). Within this framework, teachers and students in Ontario (Canada) experimented with transforming traditional cooperation councils into cooperative assemblies, conceived as innovative learning environments better aligned with their educational realities. Through these environments, students were invited to play an active role in regulating classroom climate, developing social skills, and fostering self-regulation.

This presentation will bring into dialogue the experiential perspective of one participating teacher and the scientific findings identified by a member of the research team, offering complementary practitioner and researcher viewpoints.

The overarching objective of this action research was to understand how CCMPs can be implemented and optimally integrated into the daily practices of preschool and elementary teachers. More specifically, the study sought to co-investigate with participating educators the implementation of these practices and to identify conditions that facilitate their effective deployment in classrooms. This approach aligns closely with the ECER thematic focus on roles and participation, as it examines transformations in professional postures, students’ roles as collaborators, and the contribution of communities of practice as collective spaces for professional development.

An innovative, evolving co-investigation process was implemented, consisting of four interconnected phases: professional development, classroom experimentation, participation in a community of practice, and reinvestment of learning. The study highlights the importance of collaborative structures in supporting the appropriation of new classroom management practices that require shifts in both student and teacher roles. The findings highlight the importance of a teaching posture oriented toward accompaniment rather than control and invite critical reflection on hierarchical structures in traditional educational settings, as well as on the conditions necessary for the emergence of more collaborative models in educational practice, teacher education, and research. These findings may inform similar initiatives in other educational contexts seeking to foster participatory and cooperative classroom practices.

Education is increasingly denationalized through the influence of international organizations such as the OECD and the EU and through cross-country collaborations like Erasmus+ projects. However, we still know little about how national educational traditions and values are negotiated and reshaped within such collaborative frameworks. Vlogging Beyond Classrooms (ViBes) is an Erasmus+ project designed to foster media literacy and intercultural understanding among primary school pupils across three European countries. Its overarching aim is to support schools in integrating vlogging into their pedagogical practices, thereby enhancing inclusivity and cultural awareness. Used both as a method and a learning tool, vlogging can expand pupils’ communicative repertoires and help teachers recognize competencies that may otherwise remain invisible.

In this study, classes of 11–12-year-old pupils from Norway, Belgium, and Ireland participated in a series of vlog exchanges aimed at promoting cultural understanding through digital skill development. The study investigates how teachers in the three countries recontextualized the ViBes project over time, with particular attention to the evolution of their pedagogical practices. All teachers received an introductory course in vlogging from experienced media producers affiliated with local universities, along with access to a comprehensive online digital learning resource developed by the same team. Over two academic years, both teaching practices and pupils’ vlogs developed through the ongoing collaboration.

As educational discourses—such as student-centered vlogging—are recontextualized into practice, ideological influences inevitably shape their implementation (Bernstein, 2000). It is therefore expected that the ViBes project manifested differently depending on local contexts and actors. Drawing on Bernstein’s (2000) theory, the project is underpinned by an invisible pedagogic orientation associated with the Nordic educational model. This orientation contrasts with the more explicit pedagogical approaches commonly found in other European settings (Blossing, Imsen & Moos, 2014), such as Belgium and Ireland.

The central research question is:

How did teachers’ recontextualizations of the ViBes project develop over time across the three countries?