Annual Report 2012, Cadiz

Network 14 was pleased to receive around 90 proposals for ECER 2012. In comparison to the previous year, for 2012 NW14 was happy to see its team of reviewers increased, which made the reviewing process easier throughout. Out of those initial proposals, we ended up with around 60 accepted presentations, including papers, symposia and/or workshops. The rate of withdrawal was fairly low, and in the end, seven of the 7 paper sessions had only 2 presentations, and one had only 1 presentation. 13 sessions, however, had three presentations each and our four symposia typically had four.
For ECER 2012, NW14 established 3 thematic main thematic foci, as had been the case last year: Thematic strand 1. Place-based education. Comparative analysis of school-community relationships in rural/urban schooling (6 sessions, 17  papers); Thematic strand 2. Research on life course transitions (home, primary school, secondary school, adult life) (4 sessions, 10 papers); Thematic strand 3. Research on schools-families-communities’ partnerships (11 sessions, 27 papers).
The overall quality of the presentations, and the discussion they promoted, was high.
There was, also, a fairly visible “turn” in the NW’s geographical focus, with eastern European researchers and their projects becoming rather prominent, as opposed to the majority of western/northern European contributions of previous years. These papers are welcome as they bring insights into education systems that have been closed to western eyes until now.
As had already been the case in 2011, our geographical spectrum was fairly broad, as we were fortunate to welcome presenters and attendants from all across Europe (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kindgom, etc.), as well as, for example, Australia, with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) being represented in several of NW14’s sessions.
NW14 had a joint paper session with Network 19, chaired by Dennis Beach, in which 3 papers were presented. Being a paper session, it took place parallel to other NW14 (and NW19) paper sessions, but still achieved a fairly high attendance of some 20 people.
We were also glad to have 4 symposia taking place within NW14: one concerning “Preventive Socialization of Gender Violence from Education”, chaired by Itxaso Tellado and discussed by Sandra Racionero, in which 4 papers were presented; and three dealing with an “International Discussion of Methodological Issues and Possibilities” (which were, then, condensed into two). The latter extended across three timeslots: the first was chaired by Linda Hargreaves and included 4 paper presentations; the second and third were chaired by Aitor Gomez and included a total of 4 paper presentations. These symposia had a very high attendance (considering their taking place during the Conference’s last day), which was seen as a success.
The NW meeting took place on Thursday, 20^th September, at 13:00 hrs. It was chaired by Joana Lúcio, as the upcoming link convenor, and it was attended by about 20 people, between convenors, authors of presentations that took place within NW14 during ECER 2012 and others.
We experienced some rather disturbing issues concerning IT, but that didn’t hinder irreversibly any of NW14’s sessions.
One of our concerns was how a fairly large percentage of presenters ended up not bringing handouts. Handouts are, as we see them, a very important tool in ensuring researchers stay in touch in between ECERs (because they contain, among other things, references and contact information). For next year, NW14 will ensure to contact presenters a few weeks before ECER, in order to remind them of the importance of handouts.

Date: Thursday, 20th September 2012, 13:00-14:00H

Place: ESI 2 – Aula 4, University of Cádiz, Cádiz (Spain)

Agenda:

1. 2-minute pitch about (potential) joint projects/publications (within NW14)

2. NW19’s proposal of a joint symposium on rural schooling; other (possible) joint ventures for ECER 2013

3. Linda & Rune’s suggestion about a publication concerning rural schooling-related projects in Eastern Europe

4. EERA funding for 2013

5. ECER 2012 report

6. Other issues

According to what had been previously agreed between Rune Kvalsund and Joana Lúcio (as Retiring and Upcoming Link Convenor, respectively), the meeting was moderated by Joana.

There were about 20 people present for this meeting, between convenors, authors of presentations that took place within NW14 during ECER 2012 and others.

The meeting began with a small tribute to Rune’s work as Link Convenor for NW14. Linda Hargreaves and Janne Pietarinen, as two of our senior convenors, kindly agreed to say a few words about their history with Rune and about Rune’s priceless role as NW14’s Link Convenor for the past several years.

Although the meeting’s agenda started with the 2-minute pitch, we decided to adjourn it for later on. Therefore, we first began analyzing NW19’s proposal for a joint symposium, as well as other possible joint ventures for ECER 2013. At one point, those present realized that it would be important to go around the table and speak about one’s  research interests, giving that it would then facilitate the emergence of that sort of joint ventures.

Concerning the response to NW19’s Dennis Beach’s suggestion of a joint symposium, Joana was charged with promoting contact between the two Networks. Later during the conference, Joana spoke with Cath Gristy and Andrea Raggl (linked with NW19), and these contacts will, hopefully, be made profitable as soon as the call for papers opens.

Raquel-Amaya Martinez Gonzalez, one of NW14’s convenors will also, hopefully, establish or deepen contacts in order to organize a joint session, or a symposium, concerning schools-families partnerships.

There was also the possibility of such a venture, but concerning life-course transitions, and our convenor Ewelina Rydzewska seemed particularly keen on this.

Rural schools arose as a rather prominent focal point throughout NW14’s paper sessions, and we used this meeting to also discuss possibilities of further development in this field. The suggestion of a publication and/or a symposium first came from Linda and Rune, and, after exploring this possibility in the meeting, it was agreed that those interested in being a part of NW14’s intent of a publication, a symposium and/or, eventually, a seasonal school around the issues of rural schooling would, then, contact Linda. Silvie Kucerová, another of our NW’s convenors, may also have an important role here.

Relating to the meeting’s agenda 4^th subject, we discussed EERA’s announcement (made on the Link Convenors’ meeting on Tuesday, 18^th Sep.) that there will be some funding available for the Networks’ activities, throughout 2013. This funding is especially directed towards organizing seasonal schools, seminar/workshops, and eventually publications. These initiatives are intended to promote the cooperation between researchers in-between ECERs. In our meeting, we announced that there will be three deadlines for applying for this funding: 15/November (for initiatives taking place in early Spring 2013), 15/January (for initiatives taking place in early Summer 2013) and 30/April (for initiatives taking place in early Fall 2013). According to what was later added by EERA’s David Bosold (via e-mail), there is a ceiling of 5,000 EUR for EERA funding for each network, and there is an application form (that Joana sent as an attachment to her 15^th October e-mail “ECER 2012 Follow-up: Fwd: Network Reports and Network Funding”) which must be used.

As for NW14’s activity report, Joana asked all those present to contact her concerning all the activity they were up to since ECER 2011, such as publications, ongoing projects, presentation made at other events… which might be relevant for NW14’s focus.

Since there were a fair amount of new people attending this meeting, we asked for their contact information, so that all those interested in NW14’s activities may be notified via our mailing list. After ECER 2012, Joana contacted EERA’s Jennifer Collins and added those new e-mail addresses to NW14’s mailing list.