Research Aim:

This study aims to explore the characteristics of quality teaching within the context of creating inclusive learning environments by implementing critical thinking in educational settings. The research seeks to enhance understanding of how educators can foster inclusivity and promote student engagement in diverse classroom settings by examining how to integrate critical thinking into teaching practices.

Theoretical Framework:

This research is grounded in the belief that by promoting critical thinking skills, educators can empower students to become active and engaged learners who can navigate complex issues and contribute positively to a diverse and inclusive society. It draws on theories of critical pedagogy, social constructivism, and multicultural education.

Methods:

This qualitative study utilized a combination of literature review, classroom observations, and interviews with educators to explore the implementation of critical thinking in educational settings. Data analysis involved thematic coding and interpretation to identify key themes related to the characteristics of quality teaching and the promotion of inclusive learning environments.

Findings:

The findings of this research highlight the importance of integrating critical thinking skills into teaching practices to create inclusive learning environments. Educators who actively incorporate essential thinking strategies reported increased student engagement, improved critical reasoning abilities, and a greater sense of belonging among diverse student populations.

Relevance to the Conference Theme and Specific Strand:

This research contributes to the conference theme of advancing quality teaching by emphasizing the significance of creating inclusive learning environments through implementing critical thinking. By promoting critical thinking skills in educational settings, educators can enhance the quality of teaching and support the development of a more inclusive and equitable learning environment for all students. This study aligns with the specific strand of promoting diversity and inclusivity in education, offering practical insights for educators seeking to create more engaging and supportive classroom environments.

Typical academic notions of pedagogy assume separate participatory roles, teachers as providers, pupils as receivers. Increased cultural diversity calls for inclusive and teaching practices that are flexible and equitable. Inclusion and social integration of newcomers are in focus where general education is crucial. Ideology considering personal knowledge as valuable funds that can enhance learning, has been developed, benefitting perhaps mostly children and youth. Adults among immigrants on the other hand often have limited access to formal education. This raises questions about whether informal education might be understated and should be considered as an option for socially just learning environment for newcomers.

For many, craft knowledge is an important part of their funds of knowledge.

In this study I wanted to explore the educational potentials of informal gathering of craft practices among strangers with different cultural backgrounds. The main research question was: What mutual educational potentials might informal craft gatherings have for locals and newcomers? Four open craft gatherings were advertised through Facebook. Data was collected through participant observation, qualitative interviews and field notes. Content analysis was conducted.

Preliminary findings indicate that practicing and sharing craft knowledge informally, can have multiple educational potentials for people with diverse cultural backgrounds. The education taking place seems to exceed learnings about methods and materials in crafts. Additional learnings are learning about one another in a way that might enable mutual integration beyond assimilation in a typical one-way process of the formal, from teacher to pupil or local to immigrant. This education happens through the social magic of actual face to face interaction and sharing funds of knowledge outside of that frame.

In this presentation I argue how the very nature of craft knowledge, being tacit and best transmitted through active participation, may hold realistic and promising potentials for equitable teaching in contemporary society.

Context: In Quebec, newcomer students who don't speak French when they arrive in the host society can continue their education in a welcoming class, where they learn the language of instruction, and where they get to familiarize with social and cultural aspects of their new living environment. Newcomer students can also join the regular class, where they try to keep pace with their peers and benefit from special support in learning French. However, several studies have highlighted the feeling of overload felt by some regular classroom teachers when they welcome in their class newcomer students who does not speak the language of instruction (Charette & al., 2024; Querrien, 2017).

Research aim: Our research aims to document social representations of 1^st grade primary teachers towards the welcoming of these newcomer students in their class and the practices they put in place to support their process of integration in the classroom and in the school.

Theoretical framework: We propose to analyze our data regarding the theoretical framework of inclusive education (Magnan & al., 2021; Potvin, 2014), which are based on four dimensions: equity: taking diversity into account, offering resources adapted to needs, inclusion: supporting the real participation of individuals and combating discrimination (Charette & Audet, 2023).

Methods: Data were collected from nine teachers working on an urban territory in Quebec (Canada). Two data collection tools were used: free association technique and semi-directed interviews.

Findings: On one hand, our results illustrate a high level of teachers’ mobilization, mainly through equity-oriented practices. On the other hand, they suggest that practices aimed at inclusion are much less invested in by teachers.

Relevance to the Conference theme: Our presentation is fully in line with the conference theme, which aims to examine equity practices deployed by teachers in schools.

The research aims to investigate teachers' representations of student motivation in disadvantaged contexts, characterized by the intersection of economic and social difficulties (Clarke & McCall, 2013) and the presence of the Camorra (Allum, 2001), a criminal organization similar to the mafia.

The hypothesis is that motivation, conceptualized as a "relational" and "dynamic force" (Lewin, 1961), may represent an autonomous area of development, potentially resilient to environmental adversities, especially if supported by targeted educational interventions. Investigating teachers' social representations is therefore important to promote children's motivation by identifying appropriate educational practices. The study is part of a broader project, inspired by a response to intervention approach (Johnson et al., 2006), aimed at promoting children's motivation to study in contexts of deviance and social marginality.

The research focuses on an area of the Campania region (southern Italy) with a high rate of early school leaving (INVALSI, 2023) and adopts a sequential explanatory design. Data collection involves the use of a 1-6 Likert scale questionnaire, aimed at identifying the characteristic aspects of various interpretative models of teacher motivation through an exploratory data analysis (EDA). Subsequently, semi-structured interviews will be conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to explore the relationship between motivational orientations and adopted educational practices.

In line with the objectives of the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child (European Commission, 2021), it is believed that the research can provide a basis for proposing training programs for teachers working in similar contexts, contributing to the promotion of more equitable and inclusive education.

The proposal aligns with the conference themes, exploring the potential of motivation as a resilience factor in challenging contexts and contributing to the debate on how teachers can foster social change for a more equitable and inclusive society.

This paper examines the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework (CCF) in England, a mandatory element for all pre-service teacher education. It explores how the CCF reflects and reinforces a narrow, technicist view of teacher education, driven by government policies aimed at educational reform and international competitiveness. The study also investigates how this approach impacts social justice and equity in education.

The study is grounded in critical perspectives on teacher education policy, drawing on concepts of managerialism, performativity, and marketisation in education. It teases out the troubling concepts of 'trainification' and 'pupilification' promulgated by the CCF which constructs simplified, homogenised versions of teachers and learners.

The research utilised content analysis and a 'doppelganger as method' approach. It examined word usage patterns and compared synonyms to reveal 'doublings' of actions and actors. The analysis reveals that the CCF reduces the complex process of teacher education to a technical, content-delivery model. It constructs a 'doppelganger trainee' - a homogenised version of the becoming teacher required to demonstrate 'fidelity' to mandated content and pedagogy, and pupils are similarly 'pupilified'. This approach fails to account for the social, emotional, and intellectual complexities of education, negatively impacting social justice and equity by neglecting the diverse needs of students and communities, and by failing to prepare teachers to address systemic inequalities in education.

By revealing the reductionist assumptions underlying the CCF and their implications for social justice, the findings challenge prevailing policy directions and argue for frameworks that better prepare teachers for the multifaceted realities of education, including addressing issues of equity and social justice. This aligns with the conference themes of enhancing teacher education quality, reimagining teacher preparation for contemporary challenges, and promoting inclusive, equitable education systems.

Great teaching has a positive impact on students’ learning and promotes equity. Defining great teaching is important since it can lead to the specification of areas for preparation and professional development of prospective teachers and current teachers respectively. This study aimed to assemble a framework for great teaching which describes specific indicators of quality teaching for teaching improvement. A review was conducted using well-established bodies of literature about teaching, as well as classroom observation instruments (Coe et al., 2014; Creemers & Kyriakides, 2011; Darling-Hammond, 2000; Dunlosky et al., 2013; Hattie, 2012; Ko et al., 2013; Muijs et al., 2014; Praetorius et al., 2018; Rosenshine, 2010). Based on this literature, there was search backwards (studies they cite) and forwards (later studies that cite them). There was also an additional search using terms about teaching quality and students’ learning on the databases of Web of Science, ERIC and Google Scholar. The results of this rapid literature search identified the areas of great teaching. The results of the review highlighted four dimensions of great teaching related to 1) the content, 2) the learning environment, 3) the opportunities given to students to learn and 4) the activation of hard thinking. This paper will present this great teaching framework. The use of this four-dimensional framework of great teaching can have important implications for prospective teachers’ learning and teachers’ professional development, since it offers specific areas that teachers could focus on for the improvement of their teaching. Based on this framework, a novel, scalable professional development programme has been developed to present and test the framework in diverse educational contexts. A description of this programme will also be presented. Other teacher educators could use this framework and approach for their initial teacher education, whilst teachers and leaders could adopt these to their context.

This paper reports progress on an 18-month, Spencer Foundation racial equity research grant, which has direct implications for how we prepare teachers. The funded project adopts and adapts some conceptual tools developed by the EU-funded GeoCapabilities project (https://www.geocapabilities.org/) and by Morgan and Lambert (2023) who explore racial literacy in the context of UK geography teaching. The project is exploratory, not least in the sense that these intellectual resources are being adapted and further developed in a US context.

​Research aim. As an inter-generational discursive space, driven and steered by the emancipatory potential of education, the curriculum is continually made and remade. In this context the overarching research question is: In what ways do raised levels of racial literacy enhance emancipatory curriculum-making processes adopted by history and geography teachers?

Theoretical framework. At the core of GeoCapabilities, framed in the conceptual resources of ‘capabilities’ and teachers’ ‘curriculum making’ activity (Bustin, 2019), is the three futures heuristic (derived from Young and Muller, 2010). The RaLiCaM project aspires to develop racially literate Future 3 curriculum making that will explicitly support student learning through inclusive and equitable teaching practices.

Methods. The research team works collaboratively with 14 social studies teachers in northeastern Wisconsin building two ‘living documents’ (on ‘curriculum making’ and ‘racial literacy’), continually modified throughout the project. These documents are enhanced by teachers identifying and using curriculum artifacts with which to create curriculum vignettes. These are interrogated for their racial literacy and emancipatory educational potential during the action phase of the project.

Findings. The paper will be a progress report and present initial analysis: excerpts from the living documents and teacher vignettes will be shared.

Relevance to the Conference theme and specific strand. The main sub-themes addressed by this research are Curriculum design for equitable teaching and Characteristics of quality teaching.

The focus of inclusive education is the process of breaking down barriers to the learning process for all students. Incorrect implementation of the approved curriculum by classroom teachers can inadvertently create barriers for students. The purpose of this study was to explore Queensland teachers’ accuracy in terms of the cognitive verbs (skills) they teach, which underpin the Australian Curriculum. The Australian Curriculum Content Descriptors, which teachers teach, and the Achievement Standards, which students demonstrate, are underpinned by cognitive verbs. Cognitive verbs are skills which students are required to demonstrate as evidence of learning. Accurate knowledge of these are important as inaccuracy can lead to unintentional barriers to the learning process. 1500 Queensland Primary and Secondary teachers completed a Kahoot quiz of their knowledge of 10 cognitive verbs (Evaluate, Discuss, Recognise, Manipulate, Refine, Design, Communicate, Investigate, Justify, Explain), which underpin the Australian Curriculum. Accuracy of the participant responses varied between 30% (Explain) and 90% (Evaluate). The significant variation in curriculum knowledge by Queensland teachers raises concerns regards the implementation of inclusive education. Lack of consistency of curriculum implementation could unintentionally create barriers for Queensland students. Implications of this study will be explored.

This study aims to investigate the impact of implementing critical thinking in educational settings to create inclusive learning environments. Drawing on theories of critical pedagogy, social constructivism, and multicultural education, the study seeks to explore how promoting critical engagement contributes towards fostering an inclusive and supportive classroom culture.

The theoretical framework is grounded in the belief that encouraging learners to question assumptions, consider multiple perspectives, and engaging in evidence-based reasoning, can empower learners to challenge stereotypes, recognize bias, and appreciate diverse viewpoints. While creating a collaborative and respectful environment where they learn how to resist oppressive power and reclaim their voices and have equal opportunities to participate and succeed.

The research methodology involves qualitative data collection through classroom observations, interviews, and analysis of educational materials giving learners a sense of involvement, learning to think of diversity as a strength and that no one way of being is the norm.

The findings of this research will highlight the impact of critical engagement to clearly understand the deeper meaning of inclusive, tolerance and justice in our schools. Wherein both educators and learners can explore their positions on race, stereotypes, and any other forms of discrimination and the many ways in which they manifest; develop critical thinking skills and an understanding of diverse perspectives among learners. While expressing a sense of belonging, communication skills, and appreciation of the value of critical thinking in their academic and personal growth.

This research is highly relevant to the conference theme of "Innovation in Education" and the specific strand of "Promoting Inclusivity in Learning Environments." By showcasing the benefits of integrating critical thinking into educational practices, this study contributes to the ongoing dialogue on creating inclusive and equitable learning environments that support the diverse needs and perspectives of all learners.

This paper seeks to describe and understand how a collective space of curriculum-making frames teacher agency in two Chilean schools.

Inclusive education has been posed as a key challenge for international education policy. This study conceptualises inclusive education as a political and ethical project of transformation (Slee, 2011). It is a constitutive element of education and, hence, a core dimension in curriculum development.

As a theoretical lens, this research uses curriculum-making conceptualised as a social practice (Priestley et al., 2021). This framing construes curriculum-making as different practices that occur across multiple layered “sites of activity”. From this framework, teachers are curriculum makers, considering that curriculum is always interpreted by teachers and influenced by their beliefs, experiences, and aspirations (Rosiek & Clandinin, 2016). Thus, inclusion knowledge would be produced by teachers in their classrooms (Armstrong et al., 2004). In this regard, teachers’ agency is central to inclusive education, considering their sense of purpose, reflexivity, and perceptions about their role as agents of change (Pantić & Florian, 2015).

Through a participatory action research approach inspired by the Freirean concept of cultural circles (Freire, 1968), fifteen teachers from two Chilean public schools participated in a weekly space of inclusive curriculum-making called Curriculum Circles.The design was structured using the experiences of Drew et al. (2016) centred on focusing, interrupting, and making sense of their practice more inclusively.

Multiple data sources were used to document the process, such as semi-structured interviews, focus groups, field notes, and teachers' journals. The findings suggest that Curriculum circles framed teacher agency in diverse ways. From an ecological perspective (Priestley et al., 2015), practicality and collective support were determinants to frame teacher agency. These elements connect teachers with their sense of purpose, fostering their desires and actions to make a more inclusive curriculum for all.

Teacher education debates centres on attracting quality teachers and diversifying the teaching force (Heinz, 2013; Klassen et al., 2021; UNESCO, 2024). In 2016, Chile introduced a new regulation to boost teacher quality, establishing national admission criteria for teacher education (TE) and creating Programs for Teaching Attraction (PAP). Universities implemented these programs for senior high school students. This paper inquiries: how do PAP programs’ curricula foster equity? How do PAP students understand the program's equity purposes? What do PAP students learn about teaching and their relationship with equity?

A “thin” equity stance narrows the concept to a question of access to education. A strong equity stance entails redistribution, recognition, representation, and reframing (Cochran-Smith & Keefe, 2020). PAP programs aim to attract candidates and promote equity in accessing TE (MINEDUC, 2022). Internationally, these programs have been reported to have a positive impact on motivation for teaching, retention in TE, and equity teaching perspectives (Martin & Bianco, 2024).

This multiple case study (Stake, 2005) analyses three PAP programs from different universities, combining content analysis (Krippendorf, 2013) of 142 institutional documents and in-depth interviews with nine students, totalling 27 interviews (Seidman, 2019).

All cases provide access to TE and additional support to PAP students to navigate university (redistributive approach on strong equity). Cases 1 and 3 promoted recognition of emotional well-being and local cultural assets, respectively. Case 2 fostered reflections on the representation of students’ voices in the classroom. Case 3 also focused on reframing, providing opportunities to foster critical consciousness and disrupt inequalities.

These findings underscore the importance of strong equity frameworks in PAP programs, showing that their curriculum can promote critical consciousness in future teachers, as shown internationally (Gist et al., 2018). Implications for policymakers and universities to develop robust guidelines for equity-focused curricula are discussed.

The guide for ensuring inclusion and equity in education published in 2017 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization identifies inclusion and equity as key principles for education systems around the idea that “every learner matters and matters equally ”p.13. The guide highlights the vital role of inclusive and equitable education in transforming education systems worldwide. In line with this guide, our paper displays a Turkish small scale pilot study which tries to find out the inclusive and equal teaching techniques used by the teachers working at a variety of schools. The aim in our research was to find out the inclusive teaching techniques used by 11 teachers teaching different subjects and the impact of these techniques on quality. For this purpose, an in depth interview was conducted to 11 volunteering teachers (3 kindergarten, 3 primary and 5 secondary teachers). Based on the literary review on inclusive education principles four main themes (inclusive teaching techniques, technological tools used for this purpose, quality teaching, and evaluation) were identified to be used in the semi-structured interviews. In the analysis of the main themes, the following sub-themes were catagorized as; respect for individual differences, multiple inteligences, use of intelligent board and web2 tools, departmental meetings and inservice seminars, and summative assessment. The pilot study findings display that teachers are aware of the individual differences and try to bring equity into their classes but due to a variety of handicaps (language problems, polarization among students and no space for flexibility in the cirriculum) they do not spare time to check upon quality. The findings show us that we need research to improve the teaching conditions for quality and equity.Under the findings of this pilot study, a larger scale research will be conducted in 2025.

Research aim

There is currently a gap in knowledge around pupils’ growth mindset (GM – see below) and attainment in Scotland, particularly in relation to Socio-Economic Status (SES). This study aims to broaden out insights on the relevance of growth mindset in Scotland for attainment in mathematics by drawing on large-scale data from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA).

The study investigates the relationship between growth mindset, achievement and SES using data from PISA conducted in 2022.

Theoretical framework

In 2006, Dweck’s book Mindset brought to the public attention the notion that young people’s beliefs about the nature of intelligence could themselves influence educational attainment and asserted that these beliefs were malleable (Dweck, 2006). Later work by Claro, Paunesku and Dweck (2016) suggested that GM could mitigate the effects of poverty.

Methods

Data from PISA 2022 was used to explore relationships between growth mindset (GM), SES and mathematics attainment in Scotland. Using multilevel modelling and multiple linear regression at individual and school level, we explored how far variations in gender, SES, GM, perseverance and interaction between GM and SES could predict scores in mathematics.

Findings

A significant association between positive GM and improved mathematics outcomes was found. High SES was also associated with improved mathematics outcomes. However, in contrast to findings in other contexts (Bernardo, 2021), an interaction effect between GM and SES was not associated with improved mathematics attainment.

Relevance to the Conference theme and specific strand

This study contributes to GM research in a Scottish context. Findings challenge the use of interventions to increase pupils’ growth mindset as a tool for closing the poverty-related attainment gap in Scotland. It additionally underlines the importance of robust research in identifying educational interventions for equity, ideally tested and validated across contexts.

Increasingly, in Scotland there is an expectation of teachers to fulfil a social contract in education to close the poverty-related attainment gap and meet the needs of the range of learners in a diverse 21^st century Scotland (General Teaching Council for Scotland, 2021). Using Goodwin’s five domains of knowledge (Goodwin, 2010, 2019), we explored pre-service teachers’ understanding and conceptualisation of becoming a teacher.

This study was carried out with pre-service teachers based at a Scottish Higher Education Institution (HEI) offering initial teacher education (ITE) at postgraduate (Masters) level (Scottish Credit & Qualifications Framework level 11). Participants included those seeking to qualify as teachers in the primary-school or secondary-school sectors (working with children aged 4-11 or 12-18 respectively). An anonymous online questionnaire, available for completion by all entrants and all those successfully completing the programme, was used as a convenient way of collecting data. The data was analysed using thematic analysis methods for qualitative questionnaire data.

On entry to the ITE programme, there was a range of depth of understanding across the five domains. On finishing the programme, this range persisted. In some cases, pre-service teachers articulated an understanding of what the knowledge domain was about, with some knowledge domains developed to a greater extent than others. For example, the majority of exiting students who completed the questionnaire demonstrated understanding of contextual knowledge but only within the context of the school and local community (i.e. “immediate and proximate” Goodwin (2010, p. 24)). Only a small number demonstrated a broader understanding of the inclusion of political, historical, structural and cultural context.

This study provides thought-provoking data for those involved in ITE as we consider the extent to which we prepare pre-service teachers for the complex demands of achieving equity and social justice through education.

In today's evolving world, the development of students as thinkers is key. In supporting this goal, intentionally incorporating instruction of higher-order thinking (HOT) has been proven to be essential. However, this complex instruction requires wide and deep teacher knowledge. This knowledge goes beyond merely presenting HOT assignments, as has often been the emphasis in professional development (PD). Research shows that when aimed at teaching diverse-students, teachers must have specific knowledge regarding thinking-difficulties and how to support students after identifying difficulties. Without this, mostly stronger-learners benefit from HOT learning, despite evidence that low-achievers are especially benefitted thereby.

This study addresses this gap by examining 115 teachers' analysis of HOT instruction and providing insights regarding (a) thinking-difficulties teachers identify and anticipate; (b) supports teachers offer for assisting students with their thinking-difficulties; and (c) knowledge sources teachers rely on when identifying student-difficulties and when suggesting supports.

The study found that while teachers were rather competent at creating HOT tasks, over half the teachers struggled to address student thinking-difficulties. Teachers' knowledge of student thinking-difficulties was limited, but also it was not highly accessible nor prioritised by them. Teachers' repertoire of supports for thinking-difficulties was also limited, with a majority explicitly stating they do not know how to support students through HOT difficulties. While teachers had wide knowledge of creating and evaluating HOT tasks, teachers' knowledge, of thinking-difficulties and of supports, was either lacking or based almost entirely on personal-experience.

This study has significant educational implications. Familiarity with HOT thinking difficulties, knowing how to seek and identify them, and of course knowing how to address them, must be explicitly taught. It is essential knowledge teachers must develop through PD in order to effectively teach HOT with diverse students.

*The full paper elaborates on the thinking-difficulties identified and the supports suggested by teachers (in preparation).

The objective of this study was to identify the professional knowledge needs of teachers in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through a case study. ESD is increasingly important in global educational discussions due to its relevance for the planet’s future. The Teacher Professional Knowledge in Contexts (TPKinCs) model by Grangeat and Hudson (2015) was used to understand the contexts and beliefs shaping teachers' professional knowledge, with Lange's (2008) definitions and approaches to ESD providing additional support.

A case study was conducted with a Senegalese teacher (Subject 1), who is male, with a seventeen-year experience teaching mathematics and physics. The teacher was interviewed, and the responses were transcribed and analyzed using the theoretical frameworks. Three main themes emerged: the teacher’s characterization of ESD and his view of nature; his perceptions of the teaching profession, other teachers, students, and himself; and his practices and emphasis on community. A table cross-referenced these themes with the TPKinCs model.

The results show that the teacher’s approach is influenced by ongoing ESD and SDGs training, admiration for UNESCO, and religious and other beliefs, shaped by his contexts. While Subject 1’s teacher pedagogical knowledge aligns with the United Nations' vision of lifelong learning and quality education, updated knowledge and progressive pedagogical strategies could be envisioned in matters as gender equality, views on nature, and evaluation methods. Continuous teacher training on ESD can also help develop teacher professional knowledge related to the specific aspects of this field.

In conclusion, although the TPKinCs model offers a useful framework, the study highlights the need for longer duration and direct classroom observation to better assess alignment between the teacher's practices and discourse, as well as a larger sample to better capture the diversity of teacher profiles and needs.

This paper presents the findings of a scoping review of longitudinal research on teaching 1970-2023 in the context of Teachers Professional Journeys (TPJ): The First Decade (2024-2030) study (Author et al, 2024). TPJ, a nationally funded study, is an accelerated longitudinal mixed-methods study focused on understanding the dynamics of teacher learning and development during their first decade teaching in the context of the wider education system at primary, post primary and further education (FE) sectors in Ireland. The study followed the PRISMA guidelines (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) for scoping reviews using these five steps: scoping, searching, screening, data extraction and data analysis (Page et al., 2021). The following bibliographic databases were searched from 1970 to 2023 (published in English): Web of Science, EBSCO and Scopus. Longitudinally-designed studies of teachers and teaching at primary, post-primary and further education and training sectors were included in the initial search with the final set of studies for full text review comprising longitudinal studies 2010-23 involving three or more time points of data collection. Longitudinal studies focused only on initial teacher education were not included. Criteria for data extraction were refined through discussions between the research teams and informed by the larger goals of the study. Two reviewers then worked independently to extract data from the 207 included studies. Findings indicate a somewhat broadly focused literature with studies focused on teacher journeys encompassing (i) describing the self as teacher (teacher identity, knowledge, beliefs, experiences or practices) (ii) appraisal of self as teacher (autonomy, efficacy and job satisfaction), (iii) Impact of teacher professional learning and career experience, (iv) national priorities/policies and (v) teacher supply. Findings under these five headings are discussed along with the scoping review’s overarching finding, that is, the now burgeoning longitudinal literature in teacher education.

Education, including school education, is widely understood as a fundamental part of a just-response to global climate and ecological crises. England and Scotland have distinctly different policy environments in relation to school based CCSE with Scotland having arguably a more comprehensive approach than England, with Learning for Sustainability (LfS) integrated through teachers’ professional standards and the standards for headship. We examined the practices of teachers based in England and Scotland relating to their teaching of climate change and sustainability education (CCSE). In a mixed-methods study, analysis from responses via a survey of teachers in England (over three hundred responses captured in 2022) and professional journals and interviews with teachers (over thirty completed during 2024-2025) in Scotland found that CCSE was realised through classroom teaching as part of the official and planned curriculum, including practices which were action and community oriented. Analysing data through a lens of curricula justice, we argue that justice-oriented CCSE has both knowledge at the centre and has educational outcomes which are guided by action for empowerment and flourishing communities. This framing of CCSE means that children and young people can dwell and become in places, live and learn as part of intergenerational communities, sustain an everyday and global connection to nature and, take action to achieve justice for present and future generations. Whilst Scotland has a more developed policy environment for CCSE through the LfS framework than that found in England, nevertheless we argue there is much still to do in relation to teacher professional learning and leadership education in the context of school-based education in both England and Scotland if justice-oriented CCSE is to move beyond the committed and enthusiastic individual to a place of collaborative practice and shared responsibility which extends across all educational settings.

The aim of this study is to explore stakeholder’s experiences of key benefits and challenges of multi-grade teaching and learning in one Irish primary school. The stakeholders included in this study are teachers, students, and parents / guardians. This qualitative study focused on gathering teacher’s (n=4) perspectives through semi-structured interviews, garnering student’s (n=16) experiences in interactive workshops and collecting parental (n=13) perceptions via an online anonymous questionnaire. Data was analysed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Findings displayed a suite of both benefits and challenges to multi-grade teaching and learning. Benefits included educational benefits, social benefits and pedagogical benefits. Challenges were namely, organisational challenges, behavioural challenges, time challenges, and emotional challenges. The subsequent discussion of these themes allowed for recommendations for future research and reflection on the wider implication of the results in terms of policy and practice. This study aligns with the 21^st ISATT Biennial Conference theme of ‘Quality Teaching for a More Equitable World,’ with particular significance to the subtheme of research on equitable teaching practices. This study explores the world of multi-grade classrooms, an everyday reality for many children, beyond the single stream classroom (Mulryan-Kyne, 2004). Multi-grade education is a ubiquitous delivery of education which there remains a lack of awareness of, and which is underexamined in modern day educational research (Kalendar and Erdem, 2021).

References

Braun V., and Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, pp. 77-101. DOI: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Department of Education and Skills. (2016). Education Statistics Database.[online] Available: https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/Education-Statistics-Database [accessed 1 November 2023].

Mulryan-Kyne, C. (2004). Teaching and learning in multigrade classrooms: what teachers say. The Irish Journal of Education, 331, pp. 5-19. DOI: https://www.erc.ie/documents/vol35chp1.pdf

Kalender, B. and Erdem, E., (2021). Challenges faced by classroom teachers in multigrade classrooms: A case study. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 5(4), pp.76-91. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33902/JPR.2021473490

The Erasmus+ “Constructing a Green Wave in VET – A New SDG Perspective” project, aligns with the priorities of the new Erasmus+ program for environmental sustainability and UN objective 4.7, which aims to guarantee that all students acquire the knowledge and skills which are necessary to promote sustainable development as well as global citizenship. This contribution focuses on some results of the project; focusing on how the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be implemented in construction and education sector, University of Bari, in particular, had the commitment to elaborate a Pedagogical-didactic Model (PDM) to encompass Sustainability in Vet schools’ curriculum: as final output of the project, the creation of a common PDM across the European countries involved in the project, had the aims to explore and improve the integration of sustainable education in Professional and Technical Training (VET) contexts linking this need to the development of inner competencies of students: so the PDM bases its innovative character on one hand, stimulating the development of inner and critical skills, but also creative skills which are necessary to face the new challenges of sustainability, always placing students at the center of learning process; on the other hand, it offers an innovative teaching-model for teachers, aimed not only at the creation of new contents relating to sustainability but also at the development, in a metacognitive sense, of the pre-conditions that allow us to think and build sustainability, for both poles of the educational relationship, students and teachers. In this model the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) on one hand, the head-hands-heart framework on the other hand, are therefore addressed and developed, intended precisely as structural pre-conditions that futher allow the development of the skills of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Research aim
The aim of the article is to present the strategies of refugees from Ukraine staying in Poland in terms of completing their education and thus searching for ways to improve their situation on the labor market.
Theoretical framework
The main theoretical framework is Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus used to present the change in the situation of refugees and the decrease in their status due to the need to perform work below their qualifications. The consequence of this temporary degradation is the search for ways to improve their qualifications or obtain new ones by using the Polish education system.
Methods
The empirical material comes from 40 in-depth interviews with refugees from Ukraine staying in Poland. The supplementary material is data from reports on the situation of Ukrainians on the Polish labor market.
Findings
Refugees from Ukraine decide on the following strategies:
- Educationally passive - most often physical work below qualifications;
- Educationally active;
a) completing the education obtained in Ukraine in the Polish education system;
b) nostrification and improving competences in the Polish language;
c) taking up education in Poland and full or partial retraining
Relevance to the Conference theme and specific strand
The text addresses an important issue related to equality and inclusion of refugees and shows the opportunities, but also limitations, that refugees from Ukraine face in work and in the education system.

The study explores the integration of art tools into peacebuilding education, emphasizing its potential to transform teaching methods within the context of conflict resolution and social justice. Grounded in foundational theories, such as Johan Galtung's "positive peace," this study will evaluate the role of visual, performing arts, and other creative tools as pedagogical tools that transcend linguistic and cultural barriers, fostering emotional healing and promoting constructive dialogue (Galtung, 1969).

The research looks to identify effective creative artistic tools for teaching concepts of peace and reconciliation to refugee and internally displaced children, as well as those affected by conflict in the context of Azerbaijan. The project will utilize an art-based intervention approach alongside participatory action research (PAR) methods, that incorporate some creative methods like zine books, theatrical techniques, and sculpting, to uncover students' understanding of peace and reconciliation. The aim is to overcome language barriers and cultural misunderstandings, which often lead to conflicts. By observing how children convey empathy and emotions non-verbally, the study seeks to explore alternative pathways to understanding and reconciliation. By employing creative co-creation methods, participants will take on the role of active creators rather than mere interviewees, allowing them to choose the topics they wish to explore and share while controlling the depth of their involvement.

This research will help to leverage innovative approaches to address social justice and promote equity and inclusion through effective partnerships. By offering insights into the potential of art-based peacebuilding education, it will contribute to the ongoing dialogue on reconciling tensions in education and fostering global citizenship. The study can help educators and policymakers advance peace through innovative and inclusive educational practices.

Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, Peace, and Peace Research. Journal of peace research, 6(3), 167-191. https://doi.org/10.1177/002234336900600301