In terms of this year’s ECER session, Network 17 retained a total of 39 accepted submissions (of which 1 panel discussion, 4 symposia), which is a little less than previous years, probably due to the high cost of travel to, and hotel accommodation in, Tampere, Finland. The network was very pleased to again receive symposium submissions (4), though, as in previous years no research workshop submissions. We will therefore again warmly invite submissions in all different formats for the next ECER session in Debrecen, Hungary, which will hopefully align well with the Network 17 Special Call.
Some of the highlights of this year’s conference were the panel discussion on Archives Without Borders: Trans-archival Approaches to Educational Research, and a range of ‘temporally aware’ papers challenging the more traditional linear-temporal chronicling of events. Two symposia, on ‘The “Now” in the “Then”: Contemporary Frames in Oral Histories of Education Across Europe’ and ‘Temporalities of Education Policy Agendas: Looking to the Future and Historicising the Educational Present’, respectively, addressed multiple temporalities and uneven spacetimes of education explicitly. As always, there was also proper engagement with, and positive feedback on, the NW17’s collaboratively drafted Special Call. Likewise, NW17’s sessions again alternated between submission formats, which is very much appreciated.
With NW 17 having settled on an improved reviewing process, the quality of contributions overall was also again high, and critical feedback provided, if needed, was of a developmental, and constructive nature, as per Network 17’s working culture.
Network17 finished its work on the cross-network collaborative book project it initiated, to help commemorate EERA’s 30th and Network 17’s 20th joint anniversaries – having experienced some hurdles in terms maintaining pace, which were but slowly overcome. The book is under external review and hoped to get published in the EERA-supported transdisciplinary education research series by Springe, with a two-year delay, by the first half of 2027.