This paper explores Chinese teachers' perceptions of teaching quality in music education, grounded in my doctoral research on teachers' implementation of recent policy reforms and their views on creativity within the context of twenty-first-century music education in China.

The research is guided by a comparative analysis of Western and Eastern theories of creativity, contrasting Csikszentmihalyi's Systemic Model of Creativity (1996) and Craft's Model of Possibility Thinking (2000) with Eastern perspectives, particularly the integration of fine art, truth, goodness, and beauty, as discussed by Rudowicz (2004). Eisner's (2017) framework of educational criticism and connoisseurship further informs the research methodology and analysis.

An interpretivist qualitative approach was employed, involving three rounds of non-participant observations and semi-structured interviews with six participants—three primary school music teachers and three piano teachers.

Findings reveal that these Chinese music teachers recognise the vital role of music education in fostering creativity through quality teaching. Their perceptions of teaching quality are deeply rooted in a holistic understanding that integrates aesthetic education with cultural and educational values. They highlighted the importance of quality in music education as a means to address challenges, including the limited scope of traditional teaching methods focused on technique and knowledge acquisition, alongside the pressures of examinations and the workload these create.

This research contributes to the conference theme of Characteristics of Quality Teaching by examining the impact of traditional and contemporary teaching practices, alongside systemic pressures, on teaching quality in Chinese music education. It also addresses Curriculum Design for Equitable Teaching by exploring how creativity can be integrated within the existing educational framework.

The LGBTQIA+ community in music education represents an invisible minority in United States classrooms. As Fine Arts teachers are called to be advocates, mentors, and allies for Queer students in K-12 education, there is also a need for support for Queer pre-service music education teachers. In-service teachers have shared that they do not know how to approach LGBTQIA+ discrimination/issues in the United States classroom. Pre-service music education students have also reported that most, if not all, of their curricula did not include LGBTQIA+ issues in the classroom. As the body of literature for LGBTQIA+ issues in Music Education continues to grow, more examples of a Queer BIPOC teacher's personal journey mentoring Queer pre-service music educators are warranted. Using a framework of Racial Queer Identity developed by Adames and Chavez-Dueñas, this critical autoethnographic research calls attention to the researcher's personal journey experiencing both LGBTQIA+ and racial discrimination in the classroom as a teacher. The researcher also shares the experiences of their pre-service music educators, who identify in the LGBTQIA+ and Latinx communities, while mentoring them in their classroom. The classroom is situated in a conservative setting in the Southwest United States. Qualitative data collected over four years were analyzed for themes related to LGBTQIA+ discrimination, racial discrimination, and linguistic discrimination. Findings support the need for LGBTQIA+ curricula in teacher preparation programs and support previous research for the need for professional development on LGBTQIA+ issues for in-service teachers. Findings also support previous research for the need for professional development on linguistic issues for emergent bilinguals in the K-12 classroom for monolingual in-service teachers.

This paper presents findings from a project exploring music education's role in supporting phonological awareness and literacy development in learners at two Glasgow primary schools. Delivered from August 2023 to June 2024 as part of the Youth Music Initiative (YMI), the project aimed to enhance phonological awareness through regular music instruction, focusing on pupils residing in areas of high deprivation and those for whom English is an Additional Language (EAL).

The project drew on Hallam's (2015) research on music's cognitive benefits for language processing, alongside Glasgow City Council's social justice initiatives, which emphasise inclusive education in addressing literacy gaps in disadvantaged communities.

The project involved fortnightly music lessons for Primary 1 pupils, delivered by YMI tutors who provided modelled lessons and resources for teachers. Phonological awareness assessments were conducted at the start and end of the year and were supplemented by classroom observations and pupil-learning conversations. Data were also collected from teachers, EAL specialists, and YMI tutors to evidence impact and is presented in video format.

The analysis revealed significant improvements in phonological awareness. In Primary School 1, 90% of children had gaps in phonological awareness at the start of the year, which reduced to 25% by June, with a 54% increase in average scores. Primary School 2 saw a 43% improvement, with 95% of pupils progressing. These gains were especially marked for those living in disadvantaged communities and EAL pupils, suggesting that the music programme effectively addressed literacy gaps in these groups.

This project demonstrates music education's potential to promote equitable teaching practices and close attainment gaps in literacy. By supporting diverse learners, particularly those living in poverty, with additional needs or language barriers, the music programme illustrates how innovative teaching approaches can contribute to educational equity and inclusion, aligning with the conference’s focus on socially just classrooms.

The relationship of Native American populations with education is complicated by a cultural battle between traditional indigenous values and assimilation into the hegemonic Caucasian society in the United States, with music education being central to these movements. An analysis of literature traces the historical progression of education policy impacting indigenous communities, alongside recent literature advocating for reforms to the educational policies in indigenous schools to address the cultural needs of students. However, recent literature lacks in addressing aspects of reform to music education practices in indigenous communities, and resources have been developed that may be inauthentic to the cultural needs of native students. This study’s purpose was to explore current teaching practices utilized by K-12 music educators in Native American communities and discusses how traditional indigenous music-making could be effectively incorporated into the standardized American music education curriculum. A secondary purpose of this study was to understand how the experiences of K-12 music educators teaching in indigenous communities may better inform equitable teaching practices when instructing culturally diverse populations. Participants were interviewed and asked a series of ten questions regarding their experiences instructing indigenous students. Based on experiences, participants discussed the implications of integrating indigenous cultural music-making into the American music education curriculum, currently based on the Western European model. The implications of this study benefit music educators by better informing equitable teaching practices when working with Native American student populations.

1. Research Aim: Globally, education systems are focused on understanding what constitutes quality teaching and its impact on student outcomes. While much attention has been given to pre-service teacher development, governments are now emphasising the need for ongoing professional learning to improve teaching quality, retention, career progression, and system-wide innovation. This literature review provides a synthesis of research evidence on the impacts of teacher professional learning and ongoing investment in professional learning by governments. This review approaches questions of value and worth from a holistic perspective, focussing on the impacts of quality professional learning on students, teachers, and education systems.

2. Theoretical Framework: The paper combines foundational theories of professional learning with research on evidence-informed policymaking to examine how governments and system leaders use research to shape professional learning strategies. This dual focus provides a generative lens for analysing the design, implementation, and impact of professional learning across diverse educational contexts.

3. Methods: The paper is based on a scoping review of global policy and research literature on teacher professional learning. It surveys key studies from various education systems, including OECD nations, identifying trends, gaps, and the impacts of professional learning.

4. Findings: The paper provides evidence that quality professional learning has strong positive impacts on students, teachers, and education systems. It highlights five primary reasons for investing in teacher professional learning: 1. Strengthening quality teaching and improving student learning; 2. Supporting career progression and leadership development; 3. Bolstering retention and job satisfaction; 4. Fostering collaboration and networked learning; 5. Driving system-wide innovation and improvement.

5. Relevance to Conference Theme: The paper strongly aligns with conference themes by emphasising the critical role of professional learning in fostering equitable and high-quality teaching. Professional learning empowers teachers to offer rich educational experiences for students, making it a crucial investment tool for governments.

As part of my on-going doctoral research, the study acknowledges the contested concepts and tensions surrounding teaching and professionalism among teachers. Activist teaching departs from the conventional managerial practices of teaching and teacher education and recognises contextual interventions that shapes the way teachers enact their professional work and identities. These practices align with what Judyth Sachs has described as teachers taking an active stance through “advising, issue and problem identification, spreading ideas, providing alternative perspectives, evaluating programmes and advocacy” (J. Sachs, 2003, p. 69).

The research argues that activist teaching goes beyond teaching. Where standards take precedence over teachers’ actions and attributes, this research takes the position that teaching is a political act and should not fence-sit to support the status quo. In the case of Scotland’s standards for full registration, teachers are encouraged to critique national and policy influences surrounding teaching and contribute to the development of schools. Although this does not explicitly state that teachers should become activists, this subscribes to democratic professional values which encourage teachers to take an active stance on issues affecting them.

This presentation presents these critical debates surrounding activism in the teaching profession. Through a mapping exercise, the study will be able to identify where these activist teachers are in Scotland and what kind of activist work they do apart from teaching. From there, a cohort of teachers will be invited to reflect on their activist work and professional learning and its implications towards their teaching practices and perspectives. The qualitative data will be analysed to develop a conceptual definition of an ‘activist teacher’ in the context of Scotland and how it can support improvements and equitable teaching practices in schools and expanded involvement in their communities.

Reference:

Sachs, J. (2003). The Activist Teaching Profession. Open University Press and McGraw-Hill Education

The evaluation of effectiveness is still to be considered the weak link in teachers' professional learning: it mainly focuses on the satisfaction of teachers (outcomes), not on the change of knowledge, behavior (output) and organizational and actual practice (impact). Teachers' professional learning is a complex and non-linear process, whose cause-effect relationships are difficult to define. The teachers' professional learning evaluation requires comprehensive models of the complex, situated and contextual nature, open to transformative and critical hypotheses of professionalism itself.

The design, methodology and results of a training-investigation conducted in 2024 at the University of Bergamo and aimed at monitoring/evaluating the professional learning of teachers are presented. The study involved 200 teachers enrolled in the secondary school teaching qualification program within the course on school evaluation processes. The research question concerned the effectiveness of the professional learning experience in developing transformative and critical attitudes. It followed a mixed embedded design. The quantitative data were collected through a pre-post intervention 'ad hoc' questionnaire and analyzed with correlational statistical techniques; the qualitative data were collected through documentary reports (tools specifically designed for assessing student learning) and analyzed using MAXQDA software.

The results indicate that the professional learning experience has modified some knowledge and behaviors (output) of teachers: it favored a composite knowledge of school assessment and stimulated less routine and more original methods of intervention. It also had a fair impact on the school organizations to which it belongs given the on-site adoption of the evaluation tools designed during the process (impact).

The study offers some remarks at the debate on professional learning, from a systemic and transformative, non-linear perspective. It helps to discuss on presumed concepts of 'quality' and 'efficiency' of teaching and professional development and to redefine the role of teachers as empowered of development, not mere gears in a mechanism.

Metaphors can clarify meaning in complexity. While a large number of studies about teachers’ metaphors have proven productive as researchers seek to understand the complex processes of teaching and working in classrooms and their professional identities, limited studies have examined that metaphors can act as a tool to promote teachers' professional learning. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways that metaphors constructed by a teacher educator could help describe and make sense of facilitation practices of beginning teachers' professional learning. Drawing on transcribed audio recordings from a teacher training program, interviews with the teacher educator and beginning teachers, and reflective assignments, the analysis identifies two predominant categories of metaphors: organism and non-organism metaphors. Organism metaphors assume the process of beginning teachers' professional learning as growth, while non-organism metaphors employ functional objects such as bridges and lenses to elucidate specific aspects of their professional learning. Findings underscore the multifaceted contributions of metaphors to beginning teachers' professional learning: firstly, by elucidating the dynamic nature of professional learning and rendering abstract concepts tangible; secondly, by fostering the articulation of personal knowledge and the evolution of professional beliefs; and thirdly, by cultivating a community of discourse between educators and novice teachers. This study enhances our understanding of the pedagogical potential of metaphors in teacher education and offers valuable insights for future research in the field.

Research Aim: This study investigates the impact of marketisation and commodification in UK higher education on the curriculum, specifically focusing on gender inequality and the marginalization of working-class women. It advocates for a socially just curriculum through Itinerant Curriculum Theory (ICT).

Theoretical framework: Combining critical pedagogy (Freire, 1996), socialist feminist theory (Fraser, 2013), and ICT (Paraskeva, 2016), this research addresses power dynamics and the effects of current curriculum choices on gender and class intersectionality. ICT addresses the world’s endless epistemological diversity and advocates for social, cognitive, and intergenerational justice through non-derivative relevant pedagogical approaches.

Methods: This conceptual piece employs critical hermeneutical qualitative tools (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000; Lather, 2008; Kincheloe, 2011) alongside anti-colonial, decolonial, and Indigenous interpretative platforms (Smith, 1999; Darder, 2019) to excavate the evolution of higher education policies and their impact on curriculum design. Critical analysis systematically examines and evaluates underlying assumptions, power dynamics, and implications, ensuring well-founded changes that address gender inequality.

Findings: The study reveals that a commercialised curriculum, emphasising marketable skills, fails to meet the needs of working-class women and neglects socio-economic and cultural contexts. Undervaluing critical thinking, social justice, and cultural awareness perpetuates patriarchal biases and reinforces social hierarchies. Continuous curriculum evaluation and adaptation is essential for evolving student and societal needs. An Itinerant Curriculum framework would promote social justice, challenge inequalities, and empower all students, particularly working-class women.

Relevance to Conference theme and specific strand: Given current economic, environmental, and demographic challenges facing humanity, it is crucial to keep working on a theory that addresses the world’s onto-epistemological perspectives, needs, and desires. Paraskeva’s ‘itinerant curriculum theory’ challenges educational institutions’ epistemicidal nature, paving the way for equitable curriculum design and classroom.

This work presents an ongoing master's research project within the postgraduate program in education at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The research focuses on analyzing how gender roles are both reproduced and challenged among a group of young girls participating in a technical computer science course that is integrated into high school at the Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul. The study will utilize feminist theories with a post-structuralist orientation, as well as cultural studies, as its theoretical framework. It is understood that societal norms perpetuate gender roles that assign women to domestic responsibilities and, if they aspire to pursue a professional career, they are often expected to choose fields that, though in smaller proportions, are oriented toward caregiving and nurturing roles. To examine the gender dynamics within this technical course, the research proposes a case study methodology. This will involve a qualitative approach combined with the critical incident technique (TIC) to generate data that can reveal everyday situations related to hierarchical differences and gender relations within the course. The methodological tools to be employed include questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and conversation circles.The anticipated results of this research aim to illuminate how gender relations manifest in the course environment. Additionally, the research is expected to provide a framework for critical reflection for both the students and the institution regarding the gender dynamics and relationships that are established within the course. By highlighting these aspects, the study seeks to contribute to a better understanding of gender issues in educational settings and encourage discussions that could lead to more equitable practices and policies in the institution.

This paper explores how veteran teachers conceptualize an expanded notion of student safety, particularly for students with marginalized identities within U.S. religious private schooling contexts. Drawing on a synthesis of critical literature on the concept of “safe spaces” in education (Flensner & Von der Lippe, 2019; Barrett, 2010), this study examines the evolving discourse around expanded notions of student safety and how it intersects with religious school climate and regional political and dynamics. It addresses the ways teachers conceptualize these complexities, balancing the need for psychological and emotional safety with the politics of the teaching context. This study is drawn from a larger project involving 10 veteran educators in private Catholic K-12 schools across six U.S. states who participated in group discussions and individual interviews with researchers over the course of an academic year. These discussions reckoned with institutionalized forms of racism, ableism, and anti-LGBTQ views present in American Catholic school practices and enabled by the specific legal context and culture of the United States. Through an analysis of teacher reflections and collaborative discussions, educators articulated the development and selection of culture-setting strategies that establish their classrooms as sanctuary spaces and expand equitable cultures and practices. The findings suggest that teacher conceptions of student safety serve as a pedagogical bulwark against the “invisible curriculum” of school policy—unspoken norms and rules that often perpetuate inequality. Teachers, by fostering expanded notions of safety, resist these hidden forces and create more equitable learning environments. Additionally, the research identifies evidence of school cultures that purposefully obfuscate discussions of racism, ableism, and LGBTQ+ marginalization. This obfuscation paradoxically creates a demand for sanctuary spaces where these difficult conversations can occur. Teachers, in response, develop culture-setting practices that create spaces where students can safely engage in transformative discussions about power, identity, and justice.

The GEPEFERS research group has been dedicated to combating social injustices. Our discussions—based on the works Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (hooks, 2017) and Black Women Physical Education Teachers (Venâncio; Nobrega, 2020)—have generated new connections for us to think and act towards an anti-sexist and anti-racist education. The objective was to describe strategies to confront racist practices in the daily lives of students during physical education classes. We used (auto)biographical narrative (Passeggi; Souza, 2010), based on the experiences of a Black teacher-researcher working in elementary education in the public school system of São Paulo’s capital. She confronts situations of (un)conscious racist practices that are naturalized (Almeida, 2020; hooks, 2017). This account presents one of these actions where a pale 9th-grade student called her classmate “black” in a harsh and pejorative tone. The teacher-researcher, upon hearing such a comment, decided to intervene, using the situation to generate reflections on how our actions can be laden with inequities. We must educate ourselves about ethnic-racial relations, raising awareness that words, actions, and omissions impact others and, above all, that racism is a crime under current legislation. The student acknowledged the incident and apologized to her classmate. In conclusion, we reveal the urgency of raising society’s awareness of the racisms that persist, their structural causes, and the consequences for those who practice and suffer from them. GEPEFERS has been a means for teacher-researchers to encourage each other to confront discrimination based on their own life stories, building an education that provokes critical thinking and challenges the status quo of society, as all education has political foundations.

Aim

This study examined undergraduate elementary education teacher candidates’ interrogation of student engagement as a strategy for addressing educational inequality through the structure of Professional Learning Community (PLC) seminars. PLCs are a context where TCs develop knowledge and skill needed to support student learning through the application of equitable teaching practices.

Framework

PLCs are oriented toward a humanizing pedagogy where “educational practice requires the existence of ‘subjects’, who while teaching, learn. And who in learning also teach” (Friere, 1998, p. 67). This orientation prioritizes theory in practice and is concerned with pointing TCs toward teaching for equity. Grounded in the theoretical lens of communities of practice (CoP), PLC seminars focus on socialization, learning, and individual/collective identity development of teacher candidates (Wenger, 1998).

Methods

Data comes from reading guides and exit tickets collected during PLC seminars. This data was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019). After identifying patterns and coding the data, themes were generated and defined. These served as analytic lenses framing our sense-making.

Findings

TCs’ latent notions of student engagement were disrupted; TCs operationalized the relationship between theory and practice; TCs envisioned their growth as a process of stitching at the edge of theory and practice. Themes point to teacher candidates’ adoption of an inquiry stance toward student engagement as central to providing students with access to rich learning.

Relevance

PLCs are an effective context in which TCs developed a unifying perspective of student engagement that is agentic for students from diverse backgrounds and circumstances. Key pedagogies of disruption, operationalization of, and the stitching together of theory and practice have the potential to cut across all areas of teacher education and novice teacher learning thereby preparing teacher candidates as they develop quality equitable teaching practices that impact student learning.

This study applies the concept of place-making (Fataar & Rinquest, 2019)—emphasizing bottom-up, participatory approaches that challenge traditional authority and highlight student agency—within an elementary school situated at the urban-rural interface in Southwest China. This region was selected due to its unique juxtaposition of limited educational resources and the dynamic interplay between urban and rural educational demands, providing a rich context for exploring innovative educational strategies (Wang, 2011). Over six months, ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews with teachers and students were conducted to investigate how participatory seating arrangements impact student engagement and educational equity.

This school has implemented an innovative classroom layout divided into zones where students autonomously choose seats based on their academic performance. This method contrasts with traditional teacher-led seating and aligns with place-making principles, fostering student participation in shaping their learning environments. This empowerment is vital for enhancing students' motivation and sense of belonging.

Findings from the study indicate that:

1. Allowing students to participate in seating decisions boosts their motivation and engagement, enhancing the overall learning process.
2. Decentralizing control over seating disrupts conventional power hierarchies within the classroom, contributing to a more equitable and balanced educational experience.
3. This approach facilitates the creation of diverse, student-driven micro-environments within the classroom. Each zone caters to varying student needs and preferences, thus promoting a more inclusive and adaptable learning environment.

Reference

Fataar, A., & Rinquest, E. (2019). Turning space into place: The place-making practices of school girls in the informal spaces of their high school. Research in Education, 104(1), 24-42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0034523718791920

Wang, G. (2011). Bilingual education in southwest China: a Yingjiang case. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14(5), 571–587. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2011.554971

Relevance: This study’s focus on participatory place-making aligns with the conference's theme of innovative educational practices that enhance social justice and student empowerment in diverse contexts.

The teaching placement, a widely accepted element in teacher education programmes worldwide, presents persistent problems around equity and inclusion for student teachers. Placements, with established hierarchies, mean student teachers are peripherally positioned as novices (Baize 2023; Rosehart et al. 2022) with implications for their professional agency development (Heikonen et al. 2020). This international research project aimed to understand student teachers’ development of professional agency when COVID-19 interrupted their placements and when previous ways of understanding how to teach and how to educate student teachers became insufficient when schools moved online. We used historical socio-cultural theory to conceptualize the pandemic as a societal rupture at the phylogenetic level which also disrupted the ontogenetic (practice) and microgenetic (individual) levels of the social practice of teaching and learning to teach.

For this small qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were piloted, amended, then conducted with student teachers whose schools closed during placement. Using inductive and deductive thematic analysis, with both data-driven and theory-driven codes (Fereday and Muir-Cochrane 2006), we identified how disruption to traditional hierarchies in teacher education created generative spaces to develop student teachers’ professional agency by positioning student teachers on a more equal footing to experienced teachers, especially when their digital expertise assisted the pivot to teaching online.

This study gives a fully developed theorization of teacher education as a social practice and responds to calls for teacher education to foster agile and adaptable future teachers (Kidd and Murray 2022; la Velle 2022). Our findings led us to question the enduring deficit positioning of student teachers. Instead, we suggest a strength-based approach that is cognizant of what student teachers bring into teaching is necessary to foster high quality teacher education and highlight adaptive learning environments and inclusive practices for developing student teachers’ professional agency to intentionally create adaptable future educators.

Student dropout is a significant yet under-researched issue in Russian higher education, particularly within teacher training master's programs. The reasons behind this dropout phenomenon remain largely unexplored both in Russia and globally.

This lack of research hinders efforts to foster an inclusive and equitable teaching profession, which is essential for achieving quality education in a more just world.

In this regard, the aim of this study was to identify the reasons for student dropout from teacher training master's programs.

Guided by V. Tinto’s theory of student attrition, which highlights the importance of academic and social integration, the research involved a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with former students (n=21) from the "Teacher Training" master's program at the Institute of Education, Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow, Russia. The data collection method used was spontaneous sampling.

Based on the analysis of the collected data, the authors presented a typology of reasons for student dropout from pedagogical master's programs and explained the mechanisms by which these factors, individually or in combination, lead to dropout.

The primary factors contributing to dropout included difficulties balancing work and study, weak social integration, and disappointment with the teaching profession, often manifesting as a waning interest in pedagogy and teaching methods. Additionally, students who dropped out frequently mentioned challenges in conducting lessons, particularly those without prior teaching experience.

While the study provides valuable insights, its findings are limited by the sample, as the interviews were conducted exclusively with former students of the particular teacher training master's program at the HSE Moscow campus. This limits the generalizability of the results to other universities in Russia and abroad.

Understanding the intersectional experiences of autistic trans and non-binary students in educational settings fosters inclusive and supportive environments. Research indicates a significant portion of the autistic community and the trans and non-binary communities in Ireland feel excluded within educational contexts. This study investigates and foregrounds the lived educational experiences of autistic trans and non-binary students in the Republic of Ireland (RoI). Positioned within a qualitative phenomenological participatory paradigm, four participants who are autistic and gender-diverse were recruited to participate in the study. In depth semi-structured interviews explored participants’ experiences. Data collection, interpretation and analysis were guided by an anti-oppressive framework, which centred IPA and concepts from CAS, Queer Theory (QT) and intersectionality. This framework supported the exploration of the complex dynamics of culture, power, identity, inclusion, exclusion, belonging, and flourishing which shaped participants’ experiences within school environments.

The study’s findings underscore the importance of recognising and challenging the ableist and transphobic norms that underpin the structures, policies and practices of education contexts. Comprehensive changes at all three levels are needed to ensure that students feel safe, supported, visible, included, and respected in these contexts.

This study contributes to educational discourse by amplifying the voices of trans and non-binary autistic people and reporting their experiences within educational contexts. Participants in sharing their experiences provide important insights into how educational contexts can be made more equitable, inclusive, and supportive. Recommendations from the study include robust anti-bullying policies with a specific focus on transphobia and ableism, curricular changes to increase the visibility of both trans and autistic identity, the provision of training for management, staff and peers and a commitment to move away from tokenistic approaches and meaningfully include student voice. This study serves as a foundational step toward greater understanding, and inclusivity of autistic trans and non-binary people in educational contexts.

Research aim: A pilot study which aimed to develop and evaluate a ‘decolonise yourself’ toolkit for supporting social psychologists to reflect on their research and teaching, considering a decolonizing perspective, will be presented.

Theoretical framework: Decolonising the curriculum and pedagogy has been a key priority for higher education, in recent years, in several countries around the world. Various resources have been created with suggestions from indigenous scholars for Western-oriented and colonialised -minded colleagues and institutions. However, some research has shown resistance and unease among academics to decolonialise their research and teaching practices. One form of resistance might coincide with ‘dominionization’, such as ‘the entrenched ownership of expertise that maintains westernised academic privilege over decolonisation efforts’. Other academics might be willing to decolonise their work but might feel insecure regarding the effectiveness of their efforts and the quality of the outcomes.

Regarding the specific context of psychology some reflection has emerged within community, clinical and school psychology, while self-reflection on teaching practices in social psychology in relation to decolonisation are still needed.

Methods: A self-decolonising toolkit was developed from material collected interviewing ten social psychologists from, and educated in, indigenous and colonised academic environments. The self-decolonising toolkit was then developed and assessed by ten academics teaching social psychology in higher education in Western countries.

Findings: the self-colonising toolkit helped to reflect on one's own teaching practice in social psychology and focus on specific short-term and broader long-term objectives to decolonise the curriculum. Further studies should explore the self-decolonising toolkit’s longitudinal effects and its adaptability to other disciplines.

Relevance to the conference theme and specific strand: self-decolonisation of academics is an important step to decolonise the curriculum in higher education. This study is relevant for the ‘curriculum design for equitable teaching’ and ‘equity and inclusion in teacher education’ conference strands.

Research has long demonstrated that Black people’s experiences with state-run schooling in Canada are racializing and antiblack (Black Learners Advisory Committee 1994; Lewis 1992; Williams 1997). Yet there is a long tradition of Black communities advocating for the transformation of public schooling and implementing community-based programs to complement, supplement, and sometimes challenge, state schooling.

This paper presents preliminary findings from a funded research project, asking: “How have Black community supplementary educational initiatives (BCSEs) exercised agency and resistance in addressing schooling issues?,” and meeting the related objective to produce a critical account of the political visions informing BCSE programs, attending to gender, class, and local context.

The paper uses a Black Studies framework, which identifies contemporary antiblackness as the “afterlife of slavery” inherent to Western nation-states and as casting Black communities outside of Western constructions of the Human (Hartman, 2007; Wynter, 2003). It also, importantly, considers the fugitive, sometimes contradictory, ways that Black communities forge BlackLife amid this antiblack weather (Harney & Moten, 2013; Sharpe, 2016; Walcott & Abdillahi, 2019). It uses a Critical Discourse Analysis of in-depth interviews with BCSE organizers.

Preliminary findings address the discursive formations through which BCSE leaders, who are 1^st to 1.5 generation immigrants in a small Canadian city, understand their BCSE initiatives. I explore how participants’ narratives embrace both Black liberal and radical imaginations, while also weaving in and out of dominant readings of Black students’ realities, constructing them against the experiences of longer-standing Black communities in nearby megacities.

This paper aligns with the conference theme, questioning what it means to support student learning with equitable teaching practices, and envisioning options not limited to the antiblack Western nation-state and its institutions. It engages directly with the strand around reconciling tensions for a new social contract in education by examining the contradictions within BCSE work.

This work seeks to expand the discussion on the teaching of Afro-Brazilian history, culture, and education for ethnic-racial relations (ERER) within school physical education (EFE) (Corsino & Conceição, 2016). The aim is to highlight three emerging principles in EFE research that focus on anti-racism. The absence of Afro-Brazilian and African history and culture in teaching, anti-racist research methodologies, and the usual content in physical education classes are the subjects of investigation. The research followed a systematic literature review, a rigorous process that includes defining descriptors, searching databases, excluding duplicates, and reading abstracts to identify relevant works. After excluding duplicated theses and dissertations, 16 works were analyzed, of which 7 addressed the absence of ERER and Afro-Brazilian history and culture in EFE. However, this was done superficially, without these topics being the main focus. Regarding anti-racist research methods (Dei, 2008), qualitative research stood out, including interventions analyzed afterward and/or interviews with teachers already implementing such strategies. The studies show that body movement culture, such as dances, capoeira, and games, are commonly used to teach Afro-Brazilian history and culture in EFE, while soccer and basketball are the most common themes for implementing ERER. The results suggest that anti-racist EFE has been developed around sports, games, and dances. Anti-racist research relies heavily on qualitative approaches. Despite this, the absence of ERER and Afro-Brazilian history and culture in EFE highlights the silencing of Black cultures in schools (Santomé, 2001), though these topics are not yet the main focus of research. It is essential to emphasize method, content, and social relations, considering the intersections of social markers of difference (Auad & Corsino, 2018) in their social, political, and cultural dimensions.

Holocaust education is central to ensuring that children and young people learn about the genocide during the Second World War in which millions of Jews perished. In many education systems this is marked on a particular day in the school year known as Holocaust Memorial Day. Curriculum materials provide resources for teachers to plan lessons from and, until recent years, holocaust survivors has been able to share their personal narratives of struggle and survival. As the time lengthens from one of the most horrific periods in world history and the number of survivors diminish, perserving personal accounts and learning from them in the contemporary world is ever more important.

This paper reports on a collaborative project in Scotland to develop a set of educational resources that teachers could use to lead lessons about Scottish missionary, Jane Haining, who died in Auschwitz concentration camp. As matron of a school in Budapest, Jane Haining did not distinguish between the children in her charge, seeking to protect them and offer refuge as the persecution of Jews escalated. While honouring the memory of Jane Haining, the project focuses on learning about values and their relevance and application for children and young people, for them, and the world around them. The paper begins by outlining the underpinning pedagogical foundations for project and how these were agreed by a range of stakeholders. The impact of the project for teachers and pupils / students will then be discussed, drawing from evaluation evidence and learning outputs. The final part of the paper explores implications and next steps and considers how projects of this type contribute to 'quality teaching for a more equitable world.'

The present study is a multiple case study involving four in-service teachers. Utilizing semi-structured interviews and the analysis of diary material as methodological tools, and drawing on the transformational learning theory (Kokkos 2005:75), the study attempts to capture paths for improving the teaching of History. According to this theory, understanding and interpretation generate new symbolic patterns that are added to pre-existing ones and form the individual's cognitive load. The cognitive load of the participants is considered to be their previously established attitude towards the History lesson. The transformation we aim to document focuses on capturing reflections on previous teaching practices, perceived obstacles, the actions planned to overcome them, and the formulation of new proposals. The change in attitude is expressed through the recognition of the obstacles posed by the new situation and the planning of actions to overcome them, leading to the formulation of new proposals that support the improvement of History teaching.

Thematic analysis based on the aforementioned theory, revealed four different cases of the transformation of teaching that improves the quality of the History teaching. Two of them involve the transformation of teaching practices in History and specifically highlight the value of providing cognitive supports to pupils for pictures’ and sources handling as well as engaging pupils in the assessment process and enriching the subject's thematic content. The last two improvement proposals, emphasize the need for teacher collaboration through informal processes of mutual professional development and the recognition and utilization of pupil diversity through role rotation in inquiry-based communities.

In agreement with the conference’s definitions for Teaching quality, the participants recognize the quality in History teaching in terms of focusing on re-shaping the content and the learning environments, and they consider their own professional development within an environment of acceptance and collaboration as a necessary condition for this.

This research aimed to explore student-teachers’ understanding and perceptions of the factors involved in designing an environment for quality learning and teaching, and to identify common elements, ideas, or specificities in their perceptions. The research was conducted during a teaching session of the elective course Stimulating Environment for Teaching and Learning, which was enrolled by second-year students (N=25) at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Rijeka, Croatia. Based on the modern educational paradigm and socio-constructivist theory, the process of learning and teaching is understood as a dynamic, holistic, developmental category in which designing an environment adapted to students’ needs encourages active and collaborative learning, individualization, and differentiation (Čepić & Pejić Papak, 2021). Using a qualitative approach, students’ written papers on the elements of the spatial environment aimed at stimulating student activity were analyzed. Thematic analysis was conducted starting with text analysis, development of main topical categories, followed by two coding processes and category-based analysis. Our findings indicate that students emphasize the importance of teacher competence in modernizing the learning and teaching process and adapting teaching methods to different learning styles and individual needs. They underscore the significance of collaborative relationships and the creation of a supportive atmosphere in the classroom. The spatial environment of the classroom is recognized as a key factor in providing a pleasant, safe, and adaptable space that encourages student activity and creativity. Specificities in students’ perceptions are manifested in varying emphases on teacher competence, collaborative relationships, and classroom atmosphere. This paper provides useful insights into understanding the possibilities and limitations of the elements of the spatial environment from the students’ perspective and underscores the importance of comprehensive student-teacher training to foster a dynamic, responsive, and equitable educational environment for quality learning and teaching in which every student can develop and progress according to their abilities.

This project aims to better understand how faculty members co-construct a shared understanding and collective agreement on how UDL aligned strategies should be operationalized in a teacher preparation program. A growing number of students with dis/abilities are entering higher education institutions (HEI; Fleming et al., 2017; Hartsoe & Barclay, 2017; Madaus et al., 2021)’ therefore, it is essential higher education faculty have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to effectively teach students with dis/abilities. This is an equity imperative, as students with dis/abilties are graduating at lower rates than their non-disabled peers (Lightfoot et al., 2018). Consequently, higher education faculty need to implement instruction designed to increase accessibility and learning for all students. I propose Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as an effective framework to support students with dis/abilities in higher education (King-Sears et al., 2023). Further, higher education faculty need to feel empowered to use inclusive instructional strategies which may disrupt previous norms of university-level instruction. In this Mixed Methods Action Research (MMAR), participants engaged in three asynchronous professional development sessions to build their foundational knowledge of UDL. These short online sessions emphasized practical ways for UDL aligned strategies to be implemented in higher education classrooms. Participants learned about multiple means of learner engagement; multiple means of representing information; and multiple means for learners to take action and express themselves. Additionally, participants co-developed an Innovation Configuration (IC) map to explicitly define acceptable instructional strategies for integrating UDL. Data was collected through a pre/post inventory, session transcripts, and participant interviews. Initial findings show that through this collaborative process, HEI faculty developed the knowledge, skills, and disposition needed to operationalize UDL practices. This presentation will address the sub-theme “equity and inclusion in teacher education” by sharing the lessons learned throughout this process.

Research Aims

This research investigates interdisciplinary curriculum practices in secondary schools in Scotland. Global policies such as The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development (UN, 2015) emphasise the need for young people to be fully engaged in their learning, acquire key skills and knowledge by applying their learning within real life contexts. Within Scotland this is reflected in Curriculum for Excellence where Interdisciplinary Learning (IDL) is cited as one of the four contexts for learning. However, some studies suggest that a serious implementation gap exists and many teachers remain unsure about how to incorporate IDL into their own practice. (Harvie, 2018; Graham, 2019).

In this study, Glasgow City Council and the University of Glasgow partnered to conduct a research study in three secondary schools which were identified as have good practice in IDL. The study aimed to identify practical approaches schools took to implement IDL and the impact this work had on pupils, teachers and the wider school community.

Theoretical Framework

Harvie’s (2020) model of IDL was used as a theoretical framework to underpin the research. This framework was used to inform the questions that were asked during the focus group discussions, analyse the data and present the findings.

Methodology

This was a small-scale qualitative study which adopted a pragmatic constructivist approach. Three focus groups were conducted in each of the three participating secondary schools. Focus groups comprised of members of each school’s Senior Leadership Team, class teachers and pupils.

Findings

The study found benefits for students, teachers and the wider school community. These included cognitive advancement for students in the disciplinary areas, the development of students’ social, interpersonal and transferrable skills, improved relationships between teachers and pupils and increased teacher confidence in terms of curriculum design.

Relevance to the Conference theme and specific strand

Curriculum design for equitable teaching.