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