9:00 am - 9:15 am

9:15 am - 9:30 am

Presenters: Ulla Licandro (UOL) & Heloise Sathorar (NMU)

9:30 am - 10:30 am

Presenters: Yasemin Karakaşoğlu (Uni Bremen)

Migration challenges the structures and paradigms of national school systems. Schools are potentially places where migrant, migrantized and racialized people experience exclusion, discrimination, and racism. This makes it all the more important to critically examine the structures inherent in schools, assumptions of normality, and the attitudes and actions of educational staff when dealing with migration-related plurality in schools. The keynote will discuss findings, desiderata, and examples for practices in teacher education from the perspective of transnationality and anti-racism research with special reference to Germany.

10:30 am - 10:45 am

10:45 am - 11:30 am

Presenters: Jessica Adaobi Nnamani & Julia Wurr (UOL)

In English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education, textbooks are among the most widespread media. They are not merely linguistic tools but cultural mediators that shape how learners perceive the English-speaking world. In German lower secondary schools, these materials also largely substitute real and personal experiences with target language cultures.

This presentation explores how EFL textbooks help construct students’ understanding of "race”, history, and cultural identity. Grounded in the theories of Edward W. Said and Gayatri Spivak, this presentation applies a postcolonial lens to reveal how dominant discourses influence depictions of ”race”, power, and history in a particular German EFL text book (Cornelsen’s Highlight 4). Particular attention will be paid to practical reflections from classroom experience and how educators can foster cultural awareness in a learning environment that encourages critical thinking when working with sensitive historical topics in school.

11:30 am - 12:15 pm

Presenters: Dörte Gerkan (Gymnasium Eversten Oldenburg)

"School without racism - School with courage" is a growing network of schools that have set themselves the goal of actively confronting all forms of discrimination and understanding differences and diversity as opportunities. Gymnasium Eversten has been part of this network for three years. We would like to provide an insight into our work by reporting on specific projects. In doing so, we want to encourage people to take this very rewarding path.

12:15 pm - 1:15 pm

1:15 pm - 2:00 pm

Presenters: Marije Michel (RUG)

In the spring of 2025, the German government installed systematic border checks. After 40 years of free movement within the Schengen area, the border between the Netherlands (NL) and Germany (DE), both founding members of the agreement in 1985, faced systematic identity checks. While the Dutch government did not follow suit, angry Dutch citizens self-implemented checks on the border between the Netherlands and Lower Saxony in June 2025 in an attempt to hinder unwanted migration. This act of vigilante justice is yet another indication that today core democratic values in Europe are under pressure (cf. Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, 2012). Yet, in order to meet future challenges, we “need a society that is resilient and solidly united”.

By focusing on the specific relationship between the Netherlands and Germany, Marije Michel will showcase how learning each other's language serves as a bridge to cultural understanding and, as such, fundamentally underlies democratic citizenship.

Article: On Borders and Democracy

2:00 pm - 2:45 pm

Presenters: Heloise Sathorar & Shervani Pillay (NMU)

2:45 pm - 3:00 pm

9:00 am - 9:15 am

9:15 am - 9:30 am

Presenters: Tina Grummel (UOL)

9:30 am - 10:30 am

Presenters: Callum Philbin (NHL Stenden)

For all the horrors of the authoritarian backlash against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), it exposes two real limits of liberal inclusion in schools: how speech acts name inequalities without confronting them, and how an impartial justice entrenches division in place of solidarity. Callum Philbin will take us along in his vision on how to sustainably deal with both issues.

10:30 am - 10:45 am

10:45 am - 11:30 am

Presenters: Vesna Radivojevic (NHL Stenden)

Inward is the only way forward in building a positive classroom culture. This workshop starts with a story, helping you position yourself as you explore ways in which you can broach this complex topic. The workshop incorporates arts and literature as successful means in getting a message across. It also helps you navigate the various complexities of a classroom culture using the asset-based pedagogy approach. As the participants of the workshop, you will have the opportunity to work in small groups and in pairs. You will gain practical ideas that are easy to apply in your classrooms.

11:30 am - 12:15 pm

Presenters: Kristina Thornton (NHL Stenden) & Juul Habraken (Tûmba, Fryslân)

Kristina Thornton and Juul Habraken will present and share a comprehensive tool-chooser containing resources to make curricula more inclusive, including social justice issues such as race and ethnicity. In addition, they will discuss how to address critical incidents in a classroom.

12:15 pm - 1:00 pm

1:00 pm - 2:45 pm

Presenters: Debra Williams Gualandi (NHL Stenden)

The focus of this workshop is to challenge "universalizing western frames" in Global Citizenship Education. The workshop entails experiencing "productive conflict" through the lens of one agonistic pedagogical strategy. Through reflection it aims to make salient how classroom discussion based on this approach functions to make space for the experience of difficult knowledge, while seeking complexity over linear, solutions-centered thinking. Although agonistic pedagogical approaches and engagement with the concept of difficult knowledge can open opportunities for students to engage critically with GCE, the workshop will also deal with its potential pitfalls.

9:00 am - 9:15 am

9:15 am - 10:00 am

10:00 am - 10:30 am

10:30 am - 11:30 am

11:30 am - 12:30 pm

12:30 pm - 1:15 pm

1:15 pm - 2:00 pm

2:00 pm - 2:45 pm

2:45 pm - 3:45 pm