Annual Conference of the School Research and Didactics Commission in the School Pedagogy Section of the German Society for Educational Science (DGfE)

"Transnational Perspectives on School and Education"

Educational systems are affected by processes of globalization as the worldwide expansion of educational systems bears the entitlement of a more and more encompassing implementation of an "Education for All". Currently, these developments are being widely discussed in relation to the political proclamation of education as a human right. This demand, however, is being opposed by the realization of education in national and local contexts. Transnational School and Education Research bears this area of tension in mind though.

Thus, international comparisons point out the transcendence of national boundaries in planning and implementing education, teaching and learning in school since systems and schools adapt and relate their concepts as well as curricula to one another. Within school research, the focus is set on gaining distinctive insights into transnational similarities within educational systems on the one hand. On the other hand, local or rather cultural divergences shall be investigated. Thereby, disputes about how global action demands can be put into practice (e.g. inclusion, migration or education for sustainable development), and how teaching subjects can be dealt with differently in class take place.

Over the last few years, a significant increase of studies about transnational topics and/or a comparative point of view can be reported. Particular attention is payed to large scale International Student Assessments. A growing number of qualitative ethnographic and reconstructive studies on school and teaching and learning, which refer back to processes of an increasing globalization and mobility through comparative perspectives, can be found. Also, questions about teaching and learning and school from a transnational and/or comparative viewpoint are discussed in Historical Education Sciences.

The Commission Conference "School Research and Didactics" aims at gathering research contributions that are, inter alia, rooted in the following domains:

• Internationally comparative research: Outcomes of empirical school and teaching and learning research about culturally specific orders and practices of doing school, differentiating (and/or distinctive) practices as well as about orders of teaching and learning, also considering didactical questions regarding the handling of teaching subjects are of interest.
• Investigating local contextualizations of education and school under the conditions of transnationalization: Specific attention is payed to the interplay of cultural attachment and global action demands, such as the implementation of overall policies (i.e. inclusion, education for a sustainable development, digitalization).
• The reflection of methodological designs and of the challenges occurring in transnational and/or comparative research: The portrayal and discussion of comparative and transnational research approaches is of interest. These are to be interrogated as to what extent they implement transnational perspectives and which chances and challenges are affiliated with the practical realization of comparative projects/studies in light of transnationalization. In this regard, self-critical perspectives taking hegemonic relations within research perspectives into account can be pinpointed.

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The conference is supported by