Conference Agenda

Effective teachers are capable of self-evaluation, a competence developed through heightened awareness of one’s own practices and clear self-assessment criteria (Dewey, 1933). Kolb (1984)’s Experiential Learning Theory posits that teachers construct their personal theories by reflecting on their experiences; thus, reflection activates essential skills such as planning, problem-solving, analysis, evaluation, and informed decision-making. Likewise, Roberts (2016) argues that experience alone is not adequate for meaningful learning unless it is interpreted through personal reflection and dialogue. Grounded in these perspectives, reflective practice has been regarded as one of the most effective tools for supporting prospective teachers’ professional development within the social constructivist framework of teacher education. In this view, learning is addressed as a dynamic, meaning-making process developed through experience, in which knowledge of teaching is constructed by examining one’s own instructional practices with the help of systematic thinking. In this regard, reflective practice has been highly recommended for teacher education programs to yield the necessary reflective skills to reflect on among students (Freeman, 2002). The use of reflection is also suggested to overcome the dichotomy of theory and practice (Lee, 2008), and studies examining the impacts of reflective practice on PSLT education have catered for numerous advantages on teacher development (e.g., Eröz-Tuğa, 2013; Liou, 2000). Despite their clear benefits, reflective skills are neither innate dispositions nor abilities that naturally develop through individual experience (Gelter, 2003). Rather, they need to be deliberately fostered through explicit instruction (Gelter, 2003). Learners should be guided in how to engage in reflection by means of authentic reflective tasks embedded within a structured reflective framework (Williams & Grudnoff, 2011).

In language teacher education, for pre-service language teachers (PSLT), systematically reviewing and evaluating their own classroom practices is also crucial for developing awareness of the multiple variables shaping teaching, as experience gains value only when critically examined. Accordingly, recalling incidents encountered during macro teaching enables PSLTs to analyze their experiences more directly and meaningfully. In that sense, integration of critical reflective practices in language teacher education programs, in particular, into practice teaching courses where PSLTs perform their macro teachings has been a necessity (Hamiloğlu, 2013).

In contrast to the widespread emphasis on reflection in language teacher education, language teacher education programs were criticized as they did not take the critical role of reflection on teaching practices in the knowledge production process (Freeman & Richards, 1993; Wallace, 1991). Rather, these programs focused on the development of abstract and decontextualized scientific knowledge (Bruner, 1990). Hitherto, studies indicated the lack of reflective skills among prospective teachers (Azeem, 2011; Khanam, 2015), and prospective teachers were not found to be successful while engaging in critical reflection on their experiences (Turhan & Kirkgoz, 2021). Likewise, the utilization of reflective tasks in the practicum process in the Turkish language teacher education context has been quite limited. Only a few intervention studies investigated their impacts on language teacher development (Bener & Yıldız, 2019; Eröz-Tuğa, 2013; Tavil, 2014), and these studies were far from suggesting reflective tasks for the use of language teacher education programs. In this regard, to address the need of structured, task-based reflective tools, this study designed and implemented a reflective task that PSLTs could make use of during the practicum process for their macro teaching experiences with a needs analysis-based research design. Followingly, the study evaluated the effectiveness of the task.

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is being approached on a multi-level scale, exploring its implementation on different educational contexts, including Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) (e.g. Andersson, 2017). In Sweden, different curricular modifications have attempted to implement sustainability as a goal that pertains to all subject areas. In doing this, it is emphasized how the role of educators and teaching aims to contribute to students’ understanding on how the structure of societies and people’s work shapes sustainable development (Skolverket, 2022). Nevertheless, teachers face challenges rooted in the perception and interpretation they have about ESD on different subjects (e.g. Skolinspektion, 2023), and pre-service teacher education in Sweden struggles to motivate value-based and beyond-knowledge conversations that foster responsibility and positive attitudes towards sustainable development (SD) (Andersson et al., 2013; Cederqvist & Högström, 2025).

Responsibility has a central role in the transformation of educational approaches, moving from the individual action to the responsibility towards the social collective (Eschenbacher & Levine, 2022: Fleming, 2022). Fleming (2018) points out how transformative education as conceived by Mezirow (1997) and with Habermas’ influence (2008) is intended to address the “boundaries of systems to humanize and transform them so that they operate in the interest of all” (p.9). Responsibility not only pertains to the act of engaging in discourse critically, but also being able to modify one’s assumptions, biases or taken-for granted ideas, which constitutes the lifeworld in Habermas’ work in the face of someone else’s experiences or criticism.

Engaging in transformative educational practices could serve to disrupt dominant ways of thinking in education (Jickling & Sterling, 2017). An ever-growing body of research literature points out to the importance of providing pre-service teachers with learning experiences that connect to real-world sustainability issues (e.g. Tillmanns et al, 2017; Yavuzkaya et al., 2024). In this abstract, we highlight the opportunities that interactive visualization can provide to foster competencies connected to sustainability and enhance pro-environmental behaviours among young university students (see also González-Muñoz et al., 2024), founded upon the results of a previous study where we explored the implementation of a dialogical, interactive-visual-based intervention. The results of the first study revealed the complexity of navigating sustainability issues, the effect of interactive visualization in raising awareness and influencing affective responses, and pre-service teachers’ views on responsibility to deal with sustainability issues (Author 1).

More research needs to be done to explore how Swedish pre-service teacher education enables future science educators to address sustainability-related issues on from a transformative, critical perspective. The current paper explores visualization-based ‘disruptive’ opportunities for prospective Swedish science studies teachers to address responsibility regarding sustainability-related issues on a holistic level (Sterling, 2001; Tillmanns, 2020). We conducted a group case intervention that enables dialogue-driven interactions with visually communicated local and global sustainability issues. As stated earlier, this study builds up on the outcomes of earlier studies, particularly the different views on responsibility (Author 1) and approaches it through the lenses of the ‘disruptive learning theory’ (Tillmanns et al., 2017; Tillmanns, 2020), rooted in transformative learning (Mezirow, 1997) and deep learning or ‘third order learning’ (Sterling, 2001). Using Disruptive Learning as the lense through which we assess the features of interactive visualizations adds nuance and value to creating interventions for pre-service science teachers while encountering sustainability issues in their training. The study responds to the following research question:

How does ‘disruption’ through interactive visualization interventions in pre-service science teacher education influence pre-service teachers sense of ‘responsibility’ toward sustainability issues?

With the process of globalization, the rapid dissemination of scientific and technological developments has significantly transformed individuals’ lifestyles. While in the past individuals were required to expend greater physical and mental effort to meet their basic needs, today they are able to meet their physical needs more easily, access information rapidly and multidimensionally, and use this information functionally in their daily lives. Although scientific and technological developments facilitate a more productive and effective life, individuals also face various problems. Some of these problems have persisted throughout history, whereas others have emerged specifically in the 21st century. One of the most prominent of these problems is violence.

Violence, encountered daily through television, news media, internet platforms, films, streets, schools, workplaces, hospitals, and homes, is a phenomenon that undermines human dignity, restricts human rights and freedoms, disrupts social peace, and threatens human life. In Latin, the concept derives from violentia, which refers to hardness, cruelty, and power (Polat, 2001). In the literature, violence is defined in various ways. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2002), violence refers to the intentional use of physical force or power against oneself, another person, or a group or community that results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, deprivation, or impairment. As these definitions indicate, the primary purpose of violence is to cause physical or psychological harm to others. Among the various forms of violence discussed in the literature, peer bullying occupies a significant place.

Peer bullying, as a reflection of violence in schools, is defined as deliberate and intentional aggressive behavior based on an imbalance of power between peers. These aggressive behaviors may be carried out physically or verbally (Olweus, 1993). Studies on peer bullying indicate that it manifests in forms such as social exclusion (relational bullying), physical bullying, and verbal bullying (Küpeli, 2020). With the widespread use of the internet and the emergence of social media, cyberbullying has also been added to these forms of bullying.

Peer bullying differs from other forms of violence in several respects. These include the fact that both the perpetrator and the victim are peers, the perpetrator is more powerful than the victim, and the bullying behavior is intentional and repetitive (Pişkin, 2002). Children exposed to peer bullying may exhibit both physical and psychological symptoms, including school avoidance, decreased academic achievement, physical injuries, engaging in bullying behaviors themselves, and discomfort within the school environment. Teachers are among the most important stakeholders in preventing peer bullying. Schools are institutions where individuals receive systematic, planned, and scientific education after the family. Through teachers, individuals are prepared for subsequent educational stages and acquire fundamental knowledge, skills, values, and positive habits related to life.

Preschool teachers and primary school teachers, in particular, serve as significant role models for children. After family members, teachers are the first individuals whom children value and take as role models. Consequently, preschool and primary school teachers are professionals who are expected to encounter and intervene in cases of peer bullying. Therefore, the aim of this study is to reveal the experiences and responses of pre-service preschool teachers and pre-service primary school teachers regarding peer bullying.

Within this framework, the following research questions were addressed:

• How do pre-service primary school teachers and pre-service preschool teachers define the concept of peer bullying?
• According to pre-service teachers, how does peer bullying manifest in preschool institutions and primary schools?
• How do pre-service teachers respond to peer bullying scenarios?
• What types of intervention strategies do pre-service teachers employ in cases of peer bullying?
• What recommendations do pre-service teachers offer regarding peer bullying?