Introduction

Imagining possible ways to enhance quality teaching for creating equitable learning opportunities for diverse learners needs to recognize the historically and socially developing opposition between global imperatives that impose uniformity in education and the local cultures that are diverse. The diverse ways of knowing that students bring to formal education are largely overlooked in the stress to homogenize teaching and learning. However, there is much theoretical support to view diversity as a necessary aspect of learning in a dialogic meaning making process (e.g., Bakhtin, 1981) and research literature on teaching and learning uphold the value of multiculturalism (Ladson-Billings, 2014; Parkhouse, Lu & Massaro, 2019; Ratnam, 2020). The ISATT collaborative projects are premised on the epistemological principle that reimagining teaching to diversity involves support to teachers/educators to experience first hand what it means to learn from diversity so that they are able to provide similar support to the diverse students they teach.

Purpose and significance

The ISATT collaborative projects involves 72 members from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America. This provides a rich opportunity for members from diverse sociocultural contexts to gain a firsthand understanding of what learning with diversity means. They learn about, with and from each other as they engage collaboratively in exploring new possibilities for the future of teaching and learning through five studies on research topics which address the persisting challenges of enhancing quality teaching and teacher education.

Symposia Part 1 reports the findings of the first three of the five research topics of the ISATT collaborative project.

1. Filling the gaps of online practicum for pre-school and primary education in-service teachers
2. Integration of AI-based tools as part of teacher training: a step towards digital inclusion?
3. The changing roles of teachers in contemporary education

Leadership

This proposal shares insights from an ongoing collaborative self-study examining deep learning practices in undergraduate teacher education and doctoral educational leadership programs, focusing on integrating self-regulated learning strategies. Our inquiry, conducted by Las Chicas Críticas, a professional collaborative group from multiple southwestern U.S. institutions, investigates our understanding of deep learning, its implementation, and connection to self-regulated learning. Our goal is to improve our future practice (Berry, 2004; Pinnegar et al, 2020) and engage in dialogue with others (Butler & Branyon, 2020).

Our inquiry is guided by the following wonderings:

• How do we conceptualize deep learning in our practices?
• What approaches do we incorporate to promote and support deep learning experiences for our students?
• How can we integrate self-regulated learning approaches to support deep learning?
• How can our insights inform our future practice in preparing teachers and educational leaders for deep learning?

Using a collaborative self-study approach (LaBoskey, 2004), we collect data through course artifacts, student feedback, instructor journals, and reflective discussions. Our analysis involves individual and collective examination of data, using coding techniques (Charmaz, 2006; Saldaña, 2021) to identify points of resonance (Conle, 1997) and dissonance with perceived values and practices (LaBoskey, 2004).

We explore how our understanding aligns with frameworks by Darling-Hammond and Oakes (2019) and Mehta and Fine (2019), emphasizing learning environments that foster deep understanding, critical thinking, and real-world application. We also investigate integrating self-regulated learning strategies (Nilson, 2013; McGuire, 2018).

We anticipate our findings will provide insights into fostering deep learning in teacher education and educational leadership programs, sharing approaches and reflections on our evolved understanding and practices. Our presentation will offer theoretical and practical implications for supporting deep learning in educational programs.

All authors work in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI’s) with non-traditional students who have accelerated degree schedules, full-time jobs, are older, have families, take on-line and/or virtual classes, and often are underprepared to navigate curriculum needs or hidden curriculum of the institution, program, and profession. We wondered what a reflective examination of our diverse mentee-mentor experiences could show about improving mentor-mentee relationships within diverse student populations.

Mentoring programs discussed are those in which faculty mentors provide educational, professional, and personal support for students. Relational characteristics of strong mentors for non-traditional students include interpersonal aspects (trust, respect, care, concern, empathy, cultural and individual awareness). While there is much work on characteristics of strong and week mentorship, suggestions on discrete actions or dispositions of mentees are less robust.

We adopted a continuum of care (reciprocal caring) (Noddings, 2012) reframe our mentoring experiences/stories (Russell, 1988). Mentorship narratives supporting socialization in higher education were developed as authors’ personal practical knowledge (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Individual/joint journaling further developed our adaptation of the continuum of care over time. Analysis was conducted iteratively in bi-weekly meetings. Axial coding helped clarify, further define, and delineate themes.

Emergent themes became moments along the continuum of care and time with repeated exposure between the mentor-mentee dyad. Moments were named responding, engaging, scaffolding, and co-construction, alliterating the shared knowledge transfer available within the moment. Successful interactions and reciprocity by mentee-mentor pairs in each of these moments leads to continued engagement and deepening of relationship. Successful and unsuccessful practices for each moment are discussed.

Non-traditional students are often vulnerable to the unstated invisible curriculum of institutions, including faculty mentorship. It follows that determining and teaching them promising practices of menteeship and expectations for good mentors, can support socialization within higher educational settings. Implications for mentees/mentors working within non-traditional educational settings are described.

This study aims to increase academic equity among the growing immigrant/refugee population in Norwegian schools. In 2022 the immigrant/refugee population in Norway rose to over 16% of the total population and Norwegian teachers now educate an increasing number of immigrant/refugee students. The Norwegian Education Act stipulates adapted language instruction for immigrant/refugee students, but the methods for providing adapted instruction are not clearly defined, and the majority of teachers are not prepared (Arnesen et al, 2023; Næss et al, 2023.). Despite efforts to increase academic achievement in immigrant/refugee students in Norway, these students continue to perform below their native language speaking peers in English, reading, and mathematics, and drop out of school at a higher rate (Norozi, 2023; Rambøll, 2016; Nordic Research Center 2021).

This study implemented and investigated a specific methodology derived from the United States, emphasizing comprehensible language-content instruction, and students’ native language and culture. Using self-study methodology (Samaras, 2011; Feldman, Paugh, & Mills, 2004), and Educational Research Design (McKenny & Reeves, 2019), researchers and practitioners conducted collaborative research to help practitioners improve their own effectiveness (McKenny & Reeves, 2018, pg. 17). Teachers used self-study methods to film themselves using the methods and journal about their experiences each day. Teachers and researchers then met bi-weekly in a critical teacher-researcher group to discuss and analyze adaptations teachers made to the strategies to fit the cultural context of Norway. Teachers and researchers collaboratively developed a revised version of the methodology, and field-tested this version using further self-study and Educational design research. Key findings include: unique culturally responsive adaptations that heavily emphasized collaborative community classrooms and equity while concurrently addressing the diverse needs of language learners. The outcome resulted in a Framework for equity education of immigrant/refugee teaching in Norway, thus directly addressing the conference theme of quality teaching to increase equity.

Recent narratives surrounding education policy in Scotland have sought to prioritise the wellbeing of young people. Indeed, health and wellbeing is officially the ‘Responsibility of All’. Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) is the national approach to which all who work with children should adhere. More recently, the independent review of the care system in Scotland has resulted in the series of reports entitled The Promise. Following this, Scotland’s workforce is tasked with transforming their practice in order to fully support children’s needs. The crucial role of all education professionals within this is recognised if social justice is to be achieved.

This presentation seeks to explore the role of attachment-aware, trauma-informed approaches within the education in Scotland, in particular how we educate our student teachers on this. Given the increasing awareness of the impact of early adversity and enhanced understanding of ‘trauma’, educating our future teachers on these areas has become essential. Current local initiatives reflect this journey towards a new ‘way of being’.

Using data from questionnaires and focus groups, we present the early findings of a scholarship project carried out with student primary teachers at the University of Glasgow. We will explore their evolving understanding of what it means to be ‘trauma-informed’ and ‘attachment-aware’ and how their exposure to content in this area is impacting their practice on placements as they progress through their degree programme.

Discourse in Scotland mentions Adverse Childhood Experiences, trauma and nurture amongst other concepts while in neighbouring England there remains considerable vocal support for a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to challenging behaviour. The objective of this project is to explore to what extent ‘attachment aware’, ‘trauma informed’ content is a useful underlying approach to use with our student teachers in the drive towards improving the life chances of our most disadvantaged young people.

It seems axiomatic that teaching quality affects the richness of students’ learning experiences, outcomes and equitable opportunities for all. While this is so, what we seem to miss largely in our focus on students’ experiences is its seminal link to teachers’ experiences and wellbeing. While teachers are critical actors in providing rich and equitable educational experiences to students from diverse backgrounds, the broader educational system influences their actions. Factors like curriculum design, standardized testing, funding disparities, and administrative policies shape what teachers can and cannot do. We argue that for developing an equitable educational renewal, we need to gain an understanding of the injustices meted out to teachers by the educational and social processes and their damaging effect on them. This symposium which hinges on the link between teacher wellbeing and student flourishing (Cherkowski & Walker, 2018) sees teacher wellbeing holistically including supportive professional relationships, professional growth and a feeling of self-actualization. Toward this, first, the panelists in this interactive symposium, who come from six different contexts, use lived experiences from teachers’ lives to provide a vivid picture of the social and institutional dynamics by which teachers’ status and identity are disregarded, constraining the quest for their self-actualization. Then we engage the audience in a discussion on the question: What is the expression of respect and support teachers in schools and universities require from public, students, officials/administrators, colleagues and media to reawaken the inner voice of their calling?

Significance

This symposium not only helps eschew a deficit view of teachers by identifying the mediation of culture in their cognition, but also paves the way for creating school environments that promote feelings of belonging, respect, value, and trust for both teachers and students.

Elementary teachers often have hindering beliefs about mathematics and how to teach. The impact on student learning is exacerbated in high-needs or historically disenfranchised schools. This project answers, what are the ways a program’s math methods courses impacted beliefs that restrict quality mathematics instruction? Using the mathematical wounds framework, we analyze teachers’ beliefs about mathematics, teaching and learning, and beliefs about themselves as a doer and teacher of mathematics. The mathematical wounds framework includes three approaches for addressing mathematical wounds: unpacking experiences in the mathematics classroom, engaging in the process of doing mathematics, and enacting high-quality teaching practices. This research is guided by the re(humanizing) perspective (Gutiérrez, 2018); using self-study I explore mathematics teacher educator practice to better understand how professional learning tools support early career elementary teachers engage in rich mathematical activities. While the re(humanizing) perspective attend specifically to the teaching of mathematics, for this research, it was used to guide research methodology and course design. This research employs self-study with collaborations between the professor and students, situated with a minority serving institution in the US. The program serves uncertified graduate students currently working in high-needs schools. Preliminary findings show that teachers experienced major shift regarding beliefs about mathematics and best practice for teaching and learning mathematics. Beliefs about themselves as doers and teachers of mathematics show more complicated findings. While many report greater confidence in their mathematics proficiency and their ability to teach, many still report anxiety over facilitating student-lead discussions where the teacher’s lack of understanding might be exposed. This project seeks to identify quality mathematics teacher practices that supports early career teachers working in diverse backgrounds and circumstances. I seek to present in the S-STEP strand within the sub-theme of characteristics of quality teaching.