Walking the Talk: Co-constructing the politics of meaning, diversity and learning

11th - 13th September 2024, Bari

In the current landscape of educational research, there is a growing awareness of and interest in discussing the positionality of all actors involved. Through their actions and words, students, teachers, researchers, tutors, etc., all express values and worldviews, collectively shaping the narratives on education across formal and informal learning contexts. At a broader level, this co-constructive process also involves actors such as policymakers, funding agencies, scientific associations, and EdTech companies. In that sense, the social interactions relevant to educational research are not only processes evolving during learning but also involve discourse and action communicating about learning - verbally and nonverbally, explicitly and implicitly across different places and situations.

Thus, not only do educationally relevant phenomena give rise to a polyphonic co-construction of meaning - such co-construction, in turn, also shapes how we perceive and act and thus transforms these phenomena. Our participation as educational researchers in this co-construction has deep implications for educational theory and practice. In this context, a particularly relevant - perhaps confronting - question for reflection is: who gets to participate in co-constructing the politics of meaning and learning? Who are ‘we’ and who are the ‘others’? For even if we agree on valuing diversity, the meaning of ‘diversity’ itself is not fixed, seeing that various kinds of diversity can be at stake in educational research and practice. Depending on how the meaning of diversity is co-constructed, different actors can be included and excluded as agents (e.g., do we mean only human diversity or also more-than-human diversity?).

At this conference, we take the time and space to engage with research as a reflexive praxis. Notably, we aim to expand our understanding of learning and social interaction, diversity in education, and educational theory to foster dialogue not only on what we do but also on how we do it and what that communicates. Such dialogue entails exploring how both our empirical findings and our ways of doing research shape and are shaped by educational discourse and practice. We invite participants to present theoretical, empirical and practical contributions on topics within the scope of SIGs 10, 21 and 25 and to address the implications of their research for educational practices and/or the worldviews and values shaping their research projects.

All aspects of our work as researchers can be enacted in various ways, which contribute differently to co-constructing the politics of meaning, diversity and learning. This raises a variety of questions, for example:

• In what way(s) do we conceptualise educational practices and their transformation?
• In what way(s) do we enter into dialogue and interact with practitioners and educational institutions?
• In what way(s) do we define units of analysis and handle empirical materials to select relevant objects of investigation?
• In what way(s) do we interpret the implications of our findings?

These issues are challenging to address all at once in the course of our work as researchers, yet they are always at play. A conscientious and critical approach to research entails reflecting on the theoretical framing and practical implications of our investigations, as well as considering the political processes that contribute to educational research and practice so we might act and respond to them in an informed manner. Doing so together is not only our ethical responsibility as researchers but also empowers us to take our place in the world more consciously.

Submission policy & submitting a paper

The submission system is now closed, and all authors have received information on the review results. We ask all presenting authors to follow guidelines on binding registration dates. In case of a change of the presenting authors, please contact the conference team.

Registration

Registration is now closed. If you have any additional questions, please contact us at sig102125conference@gmail.com.

Registration fees