Conference Agenda

Traditional science education has deep connection with core assumptions of Western modernisation (Gilbert 2024). However, in recent decades science education has been imposed with new perspectives that question the traditional aims of scientific rationality and technological faith. New and traditional perspectives, global crisis, and uncertainties are all together creating diverse conditions for science educators to navigate their profession in today society.

At policy level the contemporary conditions are addressed, for example, with the European Commission framework of science education for responsible citizenship (European Commission 2015), with future-oriented science education (Laherto et al. 2023) and with alternative visions for science education (Sjöström 2024). In addition to field specific frameworks, the contemporary science education is also guided by transversal aims for education, such as European Commissions’ GreenComp reference framework (Bianchi et al. 2022) that aims to outline knowledge, skills and attitudes that should be supported in education to help learners to obtain hope and agency over sustainability challenges.

With variation of frameworks and perspectives a question arises on how teachers envision the education, their personal position and different educational aims. In order to address the question, this presentation examines what kind of future visions of science education do science teachers manifest in their narratives of a regular school day in the future. By doing this, the presentation intends to open a conversation about different perspectives and ambitions for today’s science education. At the same time, this presentation examines the possible use of Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) for analysing teachers' visions of education.
In modern discourse, education is seen as a means to socialize people into rationality, scientific discourse, and technological faith, to pass on progress and wealth to future generations (Aronowitz & Giroux 1991). The contemporary frameworks challenge these assumptions of modern pedagogy and its faith in a linear, progressive future. For example, the Sjöström’s (2024) vision III for science education display that the scientific literacy should aim to understand the interrelationship between the science, technology, society, and environment from the perspectives of complexity and critical inquiry.

There is a strong emphasis on futures thinking and future-education in contemporary frameworks for sustainability and science education, such as GreenComp and future-oriented science education. The ability to imagine alternative future scenarios and identify actions towards future visions is seen as an essential competence to maintain agency, creativity and adaptability (Bianchi et al. 2022; Laherto 2020). When talking about futures thinking and future competencies, science educators play an important role in education as science and technology are commonly seen as unchallenged elements of future (Gilbert 2024).

This presentation analyses the future visions of school-based subject teacher educators (SBTEs) using CLA as an analysis structure. It will propose perspectives and themes categorized to three different levels - litany, societal and worldview - to bring the future visions and the theoretical background to multileveled interaction with each other.
The presentation also includes a critical evaluation of the methodological use of CLA analysis as a tool to analyze educational future visions. There is a need to find tools that help navigate between the complex objectives of science education that could take account the developmental need to evaluate simultaneously the content, values and systemic perspectives influencing the educational imagination and ambitions of the science teachers.

Since 2022, the arrival of Ukrainian refugee students in the Czech Republic has strained the education system. Between 2020 and 2025, the number of Ukrainian students enrolled in Czech primary and lower-secondary schools rose from 8,408 to 51,416 (Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports, 2025).

In Czechia, initial teacher education has traditionally prepared teachers for linguistically and culturally homogeneous classrooms (Bačáková, 2011). Teachers, who had always worked with uniform student populations, now had to navigate multilingual classrooms with trauma-affected children. Foreign language teachers face a unique challenge. Teachers of other subjects simplify Czech instruction, whereas foreign language teachers deliver lessons in a third language, navigating Ukrainian, Czech, and the target language simultaneously. This combination creates a triple language challenge.

Beyond linguistic complexity, foreign language teachers must also address trauma's impact on learning. Ukrainian children carry impacts of war, displacement, and family separation. Trauma-informed pedagogy recognises that such experiences affect students’ learning. Psychological safety and strong relationships are as vital as academic content (Bath, 2008). Therefore, teachers balance several responsibilities, such as subject instruction, language support, and students’ emotional safety.

Research on Ukrainian refugee children addresses school enrolment and curriculum adaptation to learners’ needs (Lintner et al., 2025; Šeďová et al., 2025). Yet, teachers encounter language barriers, cultural differences, and insufficient formal training (Hauge et al., 2024; Frazier et al., 2025). Though trauma-informed pedagogy has gained recognition (Bath, 2008), little research has investigated how teachers without specialised training apply trauma-sensitive approaches in their classrooms (Cerna, 2019; Stathopoulou & Dassi, 2020). Even fewer studies investigate the institutional support that would make these approaches sustainable. Current research documents teachers' challenges, but it fails to explore why teachers remain professionally isolated when surrounded by colleagues facing identical challenges.

The integration of displaced children into Czech schools is one of the biggest challenges for teachers. By 2025, the Czech Republic had welcomed a disproportionate number of Ukrainian refugees, about 36–37 per 1,000 residents, compared to 25 in Poland and 17 in Germany (UNHCR, 2025). This has placed a heavy burden on the unprepared education system. Most newly graduated Czech teachers are confident they know their subject well (74.6%), but only 15.4% feel prepared to teach multicultural classrooms, and 24.5% feel ready to meet students' social-emotional needs (OECD, 2025). These reveal the need for a systemic approach to teacher learning.

The study follows Cerna's (2019) framework, which examines refugee integration across three levels: national policy (macro), school organisation (meso), and classroom practice (micro). Cerna's model underscores the importance of coordination across all levels for the system to function effectively. This study extends the framework, demonstrating that teachers' professional learning isn't a separate issue to address alongside integration. It's a foundation that must exist at all three levels simultaneously. Without it, integration policies become mandates with no real support, forcing teachers to carry the weight of systemic problems by themselves.

Three research questions guide this study: (1) What difficulties do Czech foreign language teachers face in crisis-affected classrooms? (2) What pedagogical approaches do they develop to meet refugee students' needs? (3) What institutional support structures exist, and how do they enable or constrain effective teaching in crisis contexts? Beyond teachers' personal experiences, these questions examine how institutional support shapes teachers’ adaptation to a crisis.

This research makes three contributions. Empirically, it shows how foreign language teachers navigate the previously undocumented triple-language challenge in crisis contexts. Conceptually, it highlights that professional isolation is a structural issue, not a lack of resources. Practically, it offers policy recommendations that reconceptualise how crisis-responsive education systems should support teacher learning, showing that teacher development and student integration are inseparable.