Conference Program

Educational practices are shaped not only by explicit pedagogical theories and institutional policies but also by conceptions, routines, beliefs, frames of reference, and cultural norms that often remain unexamined (Fives & Buhel, 2012 ;2015). These structures silently guide how teachers and educators interpret situations and make decisions. Because they operate below the level of conscious awareness, they tend to remain unquestioned, but they influence educational processes. Bringing these logics to the surface is therefore crucial for scholars and practitioners engaged in transformative education.

Drawing on the theoretical framework of transformative learning (Mezirow, 1997), this contribution conceptualises conceptions as embedded meaning structures that shape intentions and action within educational contexts. If left unaddressed, such logics can have significant consequences (Civitillo, Juang & Schachner, 2018): first, they may reproduce inequalities by normalising practices and expectations that privilege certain groups of learners while marginalising others. Second, they can limit innovation by constraining educators’ capacity to imagine and implement alternative pedagogical approaches. Third, unexamined logics may close epistemic possibilities, narrowing the range of legitimate ways of knowing and understanding within educational environments. Finally, they can constrain educators’ reflexivity and naturalise existing power relations, making hierarchical structures appear inevitable rather than historically and socially constructed.

Thus, making implicit logics visible becomes a central step in fostering transformative processes in education. Researchers and teacher educators have a particular responsibility to illuminate these often invisible mechanisms, supporting educators in recognising and questioning the assumptions that underpin their professional practice. This process requires creating structured opportunities for reflection and dialogue that enable practitioners to critically examine taken-for-granted perspectives.

To illustrate how unexamined logics emerge in educational practice, an example drawn from an empirical study on teachers’ conceptions and intercultural educational actions will be presented (Agostinetto & Bugno, 2020). The research adopted a qualitative design aimed at exploring how teachers’ conceptions influence pedagogical planning and classroom practices. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 46 in-service teachers, participant observation of educational activities, and document analysis of planning documents (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2018). The findings revealed a broad and sometimes contradictory range of conceptions among teachers, as well as frequent inconsistencies between declared pedagogical intentions and actual practices. For instance, intercultural education was often interpreted through episodic activities (such as organising a “multi-ethnic lunch”) rather than through sustained pedagogical strategies integrated into everyday classroom practice.

Starting from the data collected in this first research phase, a further step of the study involved an attempt to re-conceptualise teachers’ conceptions through a series of focus groups designed as reflective meetings. These focus groups were intended to create a space where participants could critically engage with the empirical findings, reflect on their own implicit and unexamined logics, and collectively explore possible transformations of their practice.

This qualitative research represents an attempt to move from the identification of implicit teachers' conceptions toward their (re)consideration and possible re-conceptualisation. In this way, the contribution reflects on how research can contribute to opening spaces for reflexivity in teachers’ professional practice and to rethinking intercultural educational actions.