SCOTTISH EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2025
Introduction
This President's Report offers an insight into SERA’s journey and accomplishments since the SERA Annual Conference held in November 2024 and throughout the first six months of 2025.
In 2024 SERA continued to reflect on its first fifty years and celebrate this achievement at the November conference with the members. This report will share some of the highlights of the conference and the ways in which the Executive reached out to the members during the 50[th] celebrations to ask about how SERA could build on its successes.
The annual conference has continued to grow in strength and tackle topics that make connections to themes discussed in previous years, reminding us of the need to continually engage in reaching out to consolidate our networks, membership and partnerships.
In the pages that follow, you will find a detailed account of our notable achievements and the significant moments that have marked our path in 2024/2025. This report also sheds light on areas where we envision further growth and opportunities to strengthen our presence in the educational research landscape.
I extend my sincere gratitude to our dedicated Executive, wider SERA membership, network convenors and external partners for their continued engagement across 2024/2025 and look forward to developing SERA connections for the next 50 years.
Achievement and performance
• SERA Annual Conference 2024
We were delighted that we were able to build on the strength of the past two post-Covid face to face conferences in 2022 and 2023 and return to the School of Education at the University of Dundee for the 2024 conference.
The conference spoke to the theme of Education in a Fragile World: Past, Present, Future (27-29[th] November) in order to address issues connected to the global polycrisis of rising inequality, geopolitical conflict, shifts in health and wellbeing, environmental threats and concerns about artificial intelligence. SERA viewed Education, as a process that could help the world avoid or escape this fragility. The invited keynotes were asked to address these themes and delegates were invited to reflect on how their work would also contribute to strengthening Education. Delegates were also invited to reflect on the past, present and future of SERA.
To acknowledge 50 years of SERA we decided to open the conference on the Wednesday morning with a short 30-minute panel discussion titled ‘Retrospective Reflections’. During the session Dr George Head and Professor Stephen McKinney reflected on the international links built by SERA, our publications and the work of the networks. Work in these areas have played a significant part in contributing to the success of SERA and the Executive wanted to share reflections on these aspects with members.
We had two keynotes at this year’s conference. On Wednesday, Professor Ria Dunkley, who is a Professor of Environmental Pedagogy at the University of Glasgow and Associate Director of the Centre for Sustainable Solutions gave her SER sponsored keynote on ‘Facing the Anthropocene: Community Resilience and Environmental Pedagogy for a Fragile Planet’. In the keynote she examined the critical role of education in addressing environmental fragility in the Anthropocene and involved the audience in reflections of how this could be done. On Thursday, Dr John Krejsler, an associate professor at the Danish School of Education at Aarhus University gave his keynote titled, ‘The Choice: Provincializing Europe or engaging in activist dialogue with Otherness!’. He provided an opportunity to reflect on how we can constructively push for more activist engagement with the ‘Other’ in a fragile world. Copies of the keynote abstracts can be found in Appendix A.
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On Thursday the AGM was concluded with a short celebration of SERA being 50 years and delegates were invited to respond to a series of questions regarding the future of SERA using Mentimeter. See below at SERA at 50 for further details on the results of these discussions and Appendix B for specific details of the results.
On the Friday we continued the tradition from 2022 and 2023 and convened an international panel to consider the conference theme taking questions from the audience to draw points raised across the three days with special consideration being given to the future of SERA and research. The panel was chaired by and consisted of Marlon Moncrief the President of BERA, the president of ESAI, one of the ECR convenors and , the past president of SERA. The conference was closed after the panel, and it was announced that the 2025 conference will be held at the University of Aberdeen. Final thanks
go to for developing an Expressions of Interest form for potential institutions to use to when signalling their intention to host the annual conference.
To conclude the report on the conference I have added this wonderful sketch note (see figure 1) from Caroline McFarlane from the University of Strathclyde, who recorded some of the main ideas and concepts that were discussed across the three days.
Figure 1: A graphic sketch note of the 2024 conference.
The numbers involved in SERA Conference 2024 continued to grow from 2023, with 159 attending on the Wednesday, 164 on the Thursday and 147 on the Friday. The conference continues to be a successful aspect of what SERA does, and this is down to the hard work and dedication of the Local Organising Committee and the conference sub-committee. On behalf of the Executive, I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation for the work of the local organising committee (LOC), , and and
for hosting and ensuring that SERA colleagues and delegates were supported across the event. The LOC worked closely with the conference sub-committee and supported the then Vice President, , in ensuring that the conference progressed without issue. I would also like to express thanks to Caroline Maloney for leading the administration in preparation for the conference and to
their work on the conference programme and budget. I would also like to thank for welcoming delegates to the conference via the reception desk. This welcoming team is important in terms of meeting the needs and expectations of delegates during the event.
We would also like to thank , the Lord Mayor of Dundee for hosting a drinks reception for SERA on the 27[th] November and the staff of the Malmaison Hotel for hosting the conference meal on the 28[th] November.
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• Competition Winners
The following individuals were awarded prizes of £50 sponsored by the Scottish Educational Review (SER). SERA would like to thank SER for funding these prizes and making it possible to recognise and acknowledge the outstanding work of the Early Career Researchers who attend SERA. won the best poster prize,
for rapid thesis and
for short presentation.
• SERA Connects and wider online engagement Online SERA events have slowed across 2024/2025, in line with the decreased online outputs of other institutions and associations and marked by our return to the face-to-face conference. A SERA Connects event is planned for August/September 2025 to showcase the work of the Memorial Award.
Our networks have continued to hold online events to suit the needs and interests of their members, and these will be reported in the section below.
• SERA Networks
As noted in previous reports, the SERA Networks continue to play a key role in the life and work of SERA, working proactively to ensure that we meet our charitable aims.
Each year SERA Networks are required to provide a written report on their activities of the current year and their plans for the forthcoming year. Given the substantial work carried out by the networks, and following on from the success of holding network sharing sessions at the conference, the intra-network event was timetabled for Thursday. Each network was able to present their work and provide delegates with an insight into upcoming events. This approach encourages cross-network activities and/or enable more delegates and SERA members (some of whom belong to more than one Network) to hear more about network activities.
In 2024/2025 some of the networks shifted their social media presence away from X to Bluesky and LinkedIn. The table below shows some of these changes and records some of the online events held by our networks.
| Network Social Media Links | KeyEvents |
|---|---|
| Early Career Reserachers Move from @SERA_ECR to Bluesky Sera-ecr.bsky.social LinkedIn: SERA ECR |
November 2024 - Panel discussion prior to SERA 2024 advising how ECRS could get the most out of SERA Online presentatons on: 26thMarch – Preparing for your Viva 15thApril PhD 101: Navigatng the Journey 22ndMay – Ethical Consideratons - Researching with Children |
| Ethics in Educaton Move from @SERAEthics To seraethics.bsky.social |
Held a successful hybrid event last semester on:The Place of Expressive Arts for Human Flourishing. |
| Digital Educaton Network | June 5th: Augmented Reality in Educaton: Hands-on Workshop for Teachers. In the workshop partcipants can discover how AR can enhance pupil engagement, foster creatvity, and support learning across the Scotsh_Curriculum for Excellence –_from visualising abstract science concepts to boostng storytelling, literacy, and digital literacy. June 4th: Transforming Science Learning through Virtual Technologies. Explore how Augmented Reality (AR) and Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR)enhance science educaton. |
| Inclusive Educaton Network | 24th May 2025Inclusive Pedagogy in Teaching ‘A professional learning journey: refectons on developing the Natonal Framework for Inclusion 3rd editon‘, was presented by Di Cantali. |
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| and colleagues will discussed ‘Newly qualifed teachers’ experiences of implementng an inclusive pedagogy in schools located in high poverty environments’. |
|
|---|---|
| Health and Wellbeing | May 29th- Health and Wellbeing in Inital Teacher Educaton: ‘The Golden Thread of teachingand Learning’ |
On behalf of the Executive, I would like to thank all Network Convenors for their continued contributions to SERA. We are incredibly fortunate to have ten very active Networks that have utilised their connections and collaborations to good effect, providing excellent insight into SERA and our drive to promote the enhancement of high-quality educational research in Scotland. We look forward to building on the good work of the previous years. I would also like to thank
for all the work they do behind the scenes to support and mentor the networks
throughout the year.
• SERA at 50
2024/5 continued to be an important year for SERA as it continued to mark the work and contribution it had made to the field of education in Scotland. The anniversary celebrations were initiated in May 2024 (reported in the previous presidential report) and were finalised at the conference via the sharing of cupcakes and #SERA50 notebooks which were presented to speakers, executive members, network leads and keynotes after the AGM.
The AGM was closed with a mentimeter which allowed members to respond to questions about the future of SERA and how it could be improved. Areas highlighted for improvement included ECR support, financial support, and communication with members. A copy of the synthesised mentimeter responses can be found at Appendix B.
To assist with the SERA at 50 celebrations, Julie McAdam was able to apply via the University of Glasgow, College of Social Sciences employability internship hub for funding for an intern. The application was approved and allowed a PGR student registered at the University of Glasgow to be employed for 70 hours. Chantelle Boyle applied and was appointed. She attended the annual conference and interviewed members to create profiles of some members and Estelle Brisard Memorial Award winners to showcase on the #SERA50 webpages. The Executive would like to thank Chantelle for the work she carried out in support of SERA, over the year she has been able to support the development of the webpages in a way that illuminates the history and diversity of the organisation.
• Relationships with BERA, ESAI, NERA, WERA and EERA
Partnerships with our sister associations continued to flourish across 2024/2025.
Our partnership connections and our SERA representatives for each are:
attended the BERA 2024 conference from 8-12[th] September at the University of Manchester. During this event was able to meet with and extend invitations to the SERA conference in November. Chantelle Boyle presented at the conference and was able to meet with the ECR reps to plan joint activities.
In April 2025 at the ESAI conference, held at the Sheraton Hotel in Athlone, attended and met with the president of ESAI at two events designed to foster relations with partners.
Our NERA colleagues continued to attend the annual conference at Dundee, and our keynote asked that we continue to work closely with NERA.
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During the SERA 2024 conference at the University of Dundee, a lunchtime slot was added to the agenda so that that the presidents and vice presidents from BERA and ESAI could meet and agree specific plans for joint work. We all agreed on a plan to look at how to support awards for our ECRs.
• Partnerships with the General Teaching Council for Scotland, Education Scotland, Scottish Government, Further Education, Higher Education and other agencies
In addition to partnerships with sister educational research bodies, SERA also enjoys strong connections to professional bodies and organisations across the education sector in Scotland. Twice a year colleagues representing organisations and sectors including GTCS, Education Scotland, the Scottish Government, and Further and Higher Education join the SERA Executive as liaisons to provide updates and share any areas which could bear fruit for collaboration. During internal discussions at recent strategy day in June, we agreed to continue to revisit this issue, to strengthen and clarify the purpose of these partnerships.
• SERA Early Career Researchers While we are proud of the work of all SERA Networks, 2024/2025 saw the work of the Early Career Network (ECR) grow in strength.
The Network have a strong online presence and this year they ran an online session the week before the conference, titled, ‘Getting the most out of SERA’. Former president and current Vice President presented and offered advice to ECR members who were about to attend SERA.
The Executive welcomes the energy and vibrancy and looks forward to seeing how their work continues under the convenorship of .
• SERA digital presence and media
Social media is a strong feature of SERA engagement. The Executive would like to thank for his valued contribution to SERA’s social media presence over the last seven years. shared his intentions to stand down from this role and this prompted much discussion at Executive meetings during 2024/2025 on our digital and social media presence. SERA acknowledges the ways in which a digital presence has taken our work forward. However, the Executive also discussed some of the pitfalls of using specific platforms and asked some far-reaching questions about how we share and communicate news via social media and our website. Many of our Networks have also been discussing the use of social media and the most fitting ways to share news.
The Executive, Networks and all interested in education and educational research are encouraged to share news, and information and work with the Communications team. For further information on the future of our digital presence, see under Future Plans where some of the issues touched on here are taken forward.
• The Estelle Brisard Memorial Award 2024 saw another strong field of papers submitted for the Estelle Brisard Memorial Award. The 2024 Estelle Brisard Memorial Award winner was Mingzheng Hu from the University of Edinburgh. His paper “Exploring student rationales in relation to enrolment, articulation and immobility on a TNE programme in a University in China,” explores how students navigate complex decisions within transnational higher education, an area of keen interest in the diversification of internationalisation. was encouraged by his supervisor
former Estelle Brisard Memorial Winner in 2018, to enter for the award. The full story was written up by the SERA intern Chantelle Boyle and can be found on the website: - https://www.sera.ac.uk/mingzhengs story/
This much-celebrated award attracted high-quality submissions from early career researchers across Scotland. SERA would like to thank who have taken on the role of co-ordinating the award process. We would also like to acknowledge the contribution made by Professor for providing delegates with the background to Estelle Brisard’s life during the conference award ceremony. We are grateful to SER for their sponsorship of the award over the years, as it has helped us grow and develop awareness about the award. SERA is proud to take over and continue to sponsor this award.
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Financial Review
The finances of SERA continue to be stable (details in a separate report). The establishment of the Finance Sub Committee has been useful in ensuring that SERA has maintained a close watch on finances during the challenges since the pandemic. I would like to thank the SERA treasurer, , and the wider financial sub-committee for their contribution to generating budgets and monitoring the conference finances. Special thanks also go to John Queen for his mindful advice on budgets and establishing conference costs. Given the importance of marking 50 years of SERA, £1000 was set aside in the budget to accommodate additional costs and was spent on transport and hospitality.
We continued to meet our charitable aims by setting the conference fees at a reasonable day rate for ECRs and providing information on the conference support fund via the webpages. We have continued to review the conference fees to ensure they are reasonable for all delegates and have fixed the rates for this year’s conference, so they remain the same as last year’s rates for all delegates. This commitment to our members and keeping costs down is necessary to offset the current financial uncertainties faced by many in the university sector.
Given many ECRs start their conference experience via presenting a poster, we offer a rate of £25 a day to encourage ECRs to participate.
The conference support fund was able to fund six applicants at the 2024 conference which equated to £960. The Executive would like to thank Ian Matheson for the role he has played in managing this fund over the years.
Future plans
The strategic work of the Executive is on-going and takes up a substantial amount of time during monthly meetings. Following the sessions at the 2024 conference that sought members views, reflections of SERA marking fifty years of operation, and a desire to improve how SERA widens its potential audience, the executive decided to hold an away day. The Executive normally meet online holding two face to face meetings a year, one in January and one in June at the location of the next conference. The June meeting scheduled for the University of Aberdeen was selected for holding two away days on the 19/20[th] June 2025. During this meeting the Executive were able to reflect on several issues in depth, creating practical action points to take forward with Executive approval.
These issues were connected to our mission, our reach, and providing value to members. A major next step is to review and enhance our communication with members, which will continue to be part of our discussion and action plan into 2026.
• SERA Networks
As noted earlier in this report, SERA Network activity is often a showcase of the work of SERA. As we move into 2025, we are keen to support Networks in disseminating their work but also in helping them to bring new members into SERA.
We will continue to support the network sharing session at the conference which proceeds the AGM and continues to be well attended. Network leads will also be invited a lunch on the 19[th] November 2025 with the Executive to discuss the needs and views of members.
• SERA Connects 2024
With the 2024/25 focus being on the 50[th] Celebrations, we observed a decrease in the frequency of our SERA Connects events.
While the regularity of SERA Connects may have temporarily slowed, we believe that Connects is a meaningful way to engage in conversations regarding education and educational research with a wide range of participants across the community. Given the importance of the Estelle Brisard and the fact that we now have a cohort of 12 winners, there are plans for an online event in August/September 2025. The event will bring the prize recipients together to discuss the impact the award had on their research trajectories.
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• Partnerships
In 2024, we dedicated our efforts to re-establishing connections with colleagues, not only with the Scottish Government, GTCS, CLD and Education Scotland amongst others but also with partner educational research associations. Re-engaging with our partner research associations has been fruitful, particularly with a return to in-person conferences. We look forward to further engagement with all partners in 2025 and have set up an afternoon tea slot for partners at the 2025 conference for the afternoon of the 19[th] November 2025.
• Communication and Membership
The Executive would like to proceed to creating the post of a Communication Officer who can liaise with the Communication team to improve communications with the members via the website and our social media presence. The Executive would like to develop a presence on Instagram and LinkedIn. The Comms officer will be responsible for maintaining the webpages and producing a one-page newsletter that highlights upcoming events.
The Executive would also like to begin a survey of their membership to obtain further information on what members value.
• Conference Planning and Growth
The table below shows the number of sessions and the ways in which our promotion of the posters, rapid thesis and short presentations has been successful.
The conference sub-committee are in discussion to amend the programme for running the conference at the University of Aberdeen.
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 (numbers in August 2024) |
2024 actual |
2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| papers | 83 | 86 | 129 | 98 | |
| symposia | 12 | 10 | 17 | 16 | |
| posters | 13 | 6 | 11 | 8 | |
| Shortpresentatons | 11 | 8 | 18 | 13 | |
| workshops | 6 | 12 | 13 | 13 | |
| roundtables | 9 | 5 | 6 | 6 | |
| Rapid thesis | 6 | 3 | 13 | 7 |
Thank you
This report has provided time for me to reflect on my tenure as president, looking at how much has been achieved and how much we must continue to do in the face of challenges presented by austerity and a fragile eco-system. SERA owes its success to its members and the commitment of the Executive and as we stand on the cusp of the next fifty years, we must take our time to reflect on how we can continue to reflect the diversity of our work and members. The Executive are committed to taking forward new strategic plans connected to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
I extend my deepest appreciation to the SERA Executive for their unwavering dedication, support, and active involvement throughout 2025. At this juncture I would like to acknowledge the continuing contributions of our life members, for the active contributions they make behind the scenes to SERA. Each Executive member is committed to advocating for high quality research across the contexts where they work. Collectively we embrace a quiet commitment to mentoring and knowledge sharing to further the aims of SERA for generations to come.
My gratitude goes out to former president, Vice President,
for all her help support and advice, to our current , who steers our conference sub-committee through challenging decisions, to in her role as Secretary and to in her role as treasurer.
I extend my thanks to all for your enduring commitment and contributions.
SERA President 2025 August 2025
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Appendix A
SER Sponsored Keynote on Wednesday Facing the Anthropocene: Community Resilience and Environmental Pedagogy for a Fragile Planet
is a Professor of Environmental Pedagogy at the University of Glasgow, where she creates pathways for meaningful engagement with climate action and sustainability. Her work centres on ecopedagogy—a people-focused approach that unites communities, educators, and researchers in addressing the urgent challenges of the Anthropocene, our current era of human-driven environmental change. Through the GALLANT project, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, collaborates with Glasgow communities to develop sustainable, locally grounded solutions. As co-chair of the CIVIS Hub for Climate, Energy, and Environment, she partners with European universities to strengthen climate education and resilience. An advocate of community-led science, is committed to empowering individuals and communities to contribute to a sustainable future. She also serves as an Associate Director of the Centre for Sustainable Solutions and welcomes collaborative efforts toward inclusive, practical climate action.
In this keynote, Ria will examine the critical role of education in addressing environmental fragility in the Anthropocene — an era in which human activity has become the dominant influence on Earth’s systems ( ). As societies encounter escalating challenges such as climate change, species extinction, and ecosystem degradation, will argue that ecopedagogy - a pedagogy of the earth (Gadotti, 2002)—is essential. Ecopedagogy, an approach that focuses on raising consciousness about ecological issues and the ethical responsibilities of humans as planetary citizens, can help communities develop the knowledge and motivation to respond meaningfully to these crises. will trace the evolution of environmental pedagogy —teaching methods and practices that prioritise environmental understanding—and explore its influence on contemporary community engagement initiatives. She will introduce the concept of "ecological kin-making" (Haraway, 2016), a framework encouraging connections across species and ecosystems to foster empathy and a sense of care for the natural world. Ecological kin-making moves beyond traditional environmental understanding, suggesting a relational connection and fostering a sense of kinship and responsibility toward all living beings. Through examples from her work with diverse groups, including families, children, and young people, will illustrate that ecological kin-making is a critical component of ecopedagogy. She will discuss how fostering such connections can contribute to ecological consciousness, building on (1970) essential concept of consciousness — an awareness of social and political injustices. Ecological consciousness extends this idea to the environmental realm, promoting awareness of the ecological impact of individual and community actions and the value of shared responsibility. A vital part of this approach, will argue, is the need for ecopedagogues to engage across disciplines and beyond academia to play their part in addressing environmental crises. Given their skills in connecting theory to meaningful action, ecopedagogues are especially well-positioned to foster dialogue that brings together the strengths of varied perspectives. By linking theory with practical application, ecopedagogues may be well-placed to foster dialogue that draws on varied perspectives. The more ecopedagogues engage across disciplines, the broader and more resonant their impact, as diverse viewpoints can resonate more widely and inspire wider participation. Ria will discuss approaches that bridge environmental science and ecopedagogy, illustrating how they can jointly create pathways for resilience in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss. Drawing on community-centred projects like GALLANT (Glasgow as a Living Lab, Accelerating Novel Transformation), which integrates community science to support sustainable urban practices, she will outline strategies for fostering resilience within communities in the Anthropocene. This keynote will close with suggestions for embedding community-focused environmental pedagogy across educational settings, whether formal, informal, or community-led. By inviting the audience to reflect on the evolving need for education in addressing global environmental challenges, Ria will suggest that an adaptive, reflective approach can help cultivate resilience, ecological awareness, and engagement in response to our increasingly fragile world.
References:
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed (revised 1996). New York: Continuum. Gadotti, M. (2002). Pedagogy of the Earth and Culture of Sustainability. Paper Presented at the Lifelong Learning, Participating, Democracy, and Social Change; Local and Global Perspectives Conference: Toronto, Canada.
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Haraway, D. J. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. In Staying with the Trouble. Duke University Press.
Steffen, W., Crutzen, P., and McNeill, J. 2016. The Anthropocene: are humans now overwhelming the great forces of nature?. In: Dunn, R., Mitchell, L., and Ward, K., ed. The new world history: a field guide for teachers and researchers. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 440-459.
Keynote on Thursday
The Choice: Provincializing Europe or engaging in activist dialogue with Otherness!
is an associate professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University. His research on new conditions for (pre-)school and teacher education – in a transnational perspective - brings together education policy and new conditions for producing ’truths’ & social technologies. In addition, he works continuously with theory development (drawing on e.g. Deleuze, Baudrillard and others). His current research interests include the question of the impact of a multipolar world on education, with the ambition to drawing on Indian, Chinese and Africana philosophy in a postcolonial perspective. He was President of the Nordic Educational Research Association (2019-22) and council member of the European Educational Research Association (2009-18 + 2022-24). He was a Visiting Professor at Kristianstad University (Sweden) (2009-2010) at UCLA (2015-2016) and University of Strathclyde UK (2023).
The theme 'Education in a fragile world: Past, present and future' is - I truly believe - a great opportunity to reflect upon and discuss themes greatly impacting education in times when the world is becoming multipolar. The latter happens at a speed that exceeds the mental capacities in a European continent that had become too used to defining ‘the world order’, even in terms of ‘universal values’ for centuries!
One urgent issue that comes to my mind thus relates to how we can push for more constructively activist engagement with the Other in a fragile world. This I see as a precondition, sine qua non , to avoid provincializing a Europe that is rapidly shrinking in geopolitical influence. This requires serious and more systematic engagement with strong traditions (cosmologies, ontologies and epistemologies) in other parts of the world that have often been neglected. This includes e.g. India, China and the exciting and rich emerging tradition of Africana philosophy and thinking and well as a host of other traditions. In my view this could potentially revitalize rich traditions in European education/Bildung and philosophy, thus contributing to make them more fit for a world that is rapidly becoming multi-polar.
This poses, however, an enormous educational challenge. It requires alternative ways of dealing with the othering of the Other that a dominant continent has developed through its centuries long global hegemony. Overt as well as covert ‘global imperial ambitions' have visibly been coming to a close for a while, although realization of this turn of events still needs to materialize in European mainstream culture, including education and curricula. As an example, curricula in philosophy are still shamelessly Eurocentric!
These reflections thus raise troubling questions about whether concepts of 'universalism', 'individual rights' , 'democracy' and so forth were really that universal after all... Maybe they should - more modestly - be reconsidered as ideas from a particular cultural sphere that need sincere engagement with other traditions in a more truly cosmopolitan ambition... This - on the other hand - is not in any way an argument for saying that all ideas in all cultures are equally good and worthwhile pursuing here... or maybe not even there!.... ....
In other words, how could education contribute to making the world less fragile by facilitating an activist – difference-affirming - dialogue with the Other, respecting the otherness of the Other, without undermining key values that characterize progressive struggles in Europe – across time and the diversity that this continent also represents……
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Appendix B: SERA Mentimetre Main Themes
==> picture [418 x 143] intentionally omitted <==
----- Start of picture text -----
Annual Communication
Conference and ECR Support and Social
Other Events Media
Range Financial
of Voices Support
----- End of picture text -----
Annual Conference and Other Events
Preserve:
-
e ~The welcoming and supportive nature of SERA and the conference. e Everyone is lovely, friendly, caring and nurturing. e There is a fantastic atmosphere at SERA which is inclusive and compassionate. e Astrong sense of community that is inclusive of a broad spectrum of members. e There is a genuine mutual respect amongst colleagues and many opportunities for reflective collaboration.
-
e Agood range of networks. e The quiz was mentioned several times as a core memory/aspect of the SERA conference.
Improve:
-
e The types of presentations (workshop, individual, roundtable) could be better indicated on the programme.
-
e Time between the presentations should be timetable into the programme, to give individuals time to travel between rooms.
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e Rather than having those presenting also being chairs of the session, ask for volunteers to take this role.
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e Suggestion around live streaming sessions during the conference.
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e Requests for more in person and online events throughout the year. e Events like a Sportsfest were mentioned. e Suggestion around professional development events.
Early Career Researcher Support
Preserve:
-
© Great support and mentoring for ECRs.
-
e = There is a lot of nurture for ECRs with opportunities to collaborate with other colleagues in a welcoming environment.
-
e — ECRs are involved in a lot of work at the conference.
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Improve:
-
Possibly an introduction of an ECR mentoring programme.
-
Would be good to see more masters students involved with the ECR network and at the conference.
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Support for individuals who are ECR but feel they are too old for this group.
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More ECR workshops.
Communication and Social Media
Improve:
-
Ensuring members’ information is up-to-date (emails) for communication to get to individuals.
-
Communication around the successes and emerging research of members.
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Website needs an update/refresh.
-
Several comments were around the role of social media and SERA’s presence on these platforms. Some suggested having one shared account to share the information from all networks. Others suggested that a greater presence on social media in general.
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A SERA podcast was mentioned several times.
Range of Voices
Preserve:
-
It was mentioned frequently that SERA is very inclusive.
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There is an international community which is growing.
Improve:
-
One voice that was mentioned several times was that of classroom practitioners/teachers. Having more presentations from these individuals is something that members would like to see more of.
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Another perspective that could be included in SERA is from the college researchers and colleagues.
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Some mentioned that it would be nice to see more doctoral, masters and mid-researchers presenting.
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• Having a wider scope of educational research moving forward.
Financial Support
Improve:
-
It was mentioned that financial support for attending the conference could be introduced. Maybe this could be communicated to members.
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Another suggestion was having an annual research scholarship introduced.
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SCOTTISH EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2025
Independent Examiner
Approved by order ofthe[board][of][ trustees][on][24/09/2025][and][signed][on][its][behalf][by:]
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REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: SC003928
SCOTTISH EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
ACCOUNTS FOR THE AGM
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Scottish Educational Research Association
Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 30 June 2025
| INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS Notes Donations and legacies Other trading activities 2 Investment income 3 Creditor correction Total incoming resources EXPENDITURE Charitable activities 4 Support costs Total resources expended Net income/(expenditure) Reconciliation of Funds Total Funds brought forward Total Funds Carried Forward |
2025 2024 £ £ 6,474 7,850 44,281 41,880 1,057 924 780 879 |
|---|---|
| 52,592 51,533 |
|
| 41,811 22,917 4,621 5,539 46,432 28,456 |
|
| 6,161 23,077 |
|
| 77,659 54,582 |
|
| 83,820 77,659 |
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Scottish Educational Research Association Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 30 June 2025
| INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS Donations and legacies Membership subscriptions Other trading activities Conference income Sponsorship Creditor correction Investment income Deposit account interest Total incoming resources EXPENDITURE Charitable activities SERA conference expenses Conference admin Reps at other RA events Conference expenses EERA/WERA membership Estell Brisard Award Networks Support costs Management Membership admin Insurance Finance Sundries Bank charges Web services Governance costs Accounting support Accountancy and legal fees Total resources expended Net income/(expenditure) |
2025 2024 £ £ 6,474 7,850 44,281 39,780 2,100 879 1,057 924 |
|---|---|
| 51,812 51,533 - 4,520 3,484 1,936 2,444 34,506 16,234 354 400 400 449 |
|
| 41,811 22,917 2,505 2,650 854 703 |
|
| 3,359 3,353 716 262 653 |
|
| 262 1,369 103 1,000 714 |
|
| 1,000 817 46,432 28,455 |
|
| 5,381 23,078 |
This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements
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