On September 6—10, the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) brings together international scholars in education science. ECER 2021 is organized and held by the European Educational Research Association (EERA) and aims at investigating the tensions that exist between the broad social, political, and economic demands placed on education systems and the realities of daily engagement with learners and those connected to them at all stages of the education continuum. World’s leading researchers in education science have participated in the Conference, including Professor Marit Honerød Hoveid (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Professor Ninni Wahlström (Linnaeus University, Sweden), Professor Anne Rohstock (University of Tübingen) as well as Professor Phillipp Gonon (Zurich University) and Lorenzo Bonoli (Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training).
Professor Igor Shiyan, Deputy Head of the MCU’s Research Institute of Urban Studies and Global Education, and Dr. Martin Brown, Director of The Centre for Evaluation, Quality and Inspection (EQI) at Dublin City University (Ireland) have presented the interim results of the joint research with Johannes Kepler University Linz (Austria) and the University of Salamanca (Spain). The CReLES project (Culturally Responsive Leadership and Evaluation in Schools) conducted under the Erasmus+ grant is focused on the inclusion of immigrant students into learning environments, particularly:
- Identification and dissemination of innovative practices in culturally responsive school leadership,
- Development of frameworks for the evaluation of culturally responsive leadership,
- Provision of high-quality training resources in the form of leader training
- Development of a MOOC for school leaders and other stakeholder groups outside of the project.
The first stage of the research included the opinion survey among school leaders on culturally responsive practices (CRP). The responses received have been processed with the use of the Principal Component Analysis method. In the report, Professor Shiyan has discussed the results of the analysis which had revealed the following trends in culturally responsive leadership in schools:
- Participation of parents of migrant students in Parent Councils, Parent Associations, or school management committees influences to a great extent the amount of CRP exercised by schools;
- Support of the majority of parents and community members of the efforts of multi-cultural education in schools influences the amount of CRP exercised by schools;
- Support within the school has a greater effect on CRP than support from external stakeholders.
The identification of these trends will contribute to the development of culturally responsive leadership and evaluation in schools of Europe and other countries, as well as the enhancement of school leaders’ professional competencies. The research results will be used for the design of a training program for school leaders and teachers, a MOOC, and an audit toolkit for school leaders.