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.