Exploring Diversity in Teacher Education

 Thursday 15 – Friday 16 October 2026

 Slieve Russell Hotel, Ballyconnell, Co Cavan

CALL FOR PAPERS

The theme for the 2026 SCoTENS conference, Exploring Diversity in Teacher Education, invites educators, researchers, and policymakers to engage with how diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives shape teaching and learning. The conference will explore diversity across the profession, including recruitment, retention, and representation, as well as how teachers are prepared for increasingly diverse and complex classrooms. It will highlight inclusive curriculum design, lived experience, and everyday practice, while addressing wellbeing, sustainability, and long-term system change. By connecting policy, practice, and teacher education, this year’s conference aims to advance our shared dialogue on more equitable, responsive, and empathic education for learners and teachers across all contexts and career stages.

 In order to address the theme, participants are asked to consider:

• How can teacher education engage with and respond to diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives in meaningful ways?
• What are the key challenges and opportunities in promoting diversity within the teaching profession, including recruitment, retention, and representation?
• How can teachers be effectively prepared for increasingly diverse and complex classroom environments?
• What approaches can support inclusive practice, wellbeing, sustainability, and long-term change in education systems?

This year’s SCoTENS conference offers a timely opportunity to critically consider this major theme and examine the questions indicated above.

We welcome proposals for papers that are relevant to teacher education. Because the slots for presentations are limited we propose to give preference to paper presentations that link most directly to the work of SCoTENS and the conference theme.

Please note: Your institution should hold current membership of SCoTENS.  If you have any queries about this, please contact Tricia at tricia.kelly@qub.ac.uk

We look forward to receiving your abstract and thank you for considering the conference as a forum to share your work.   We hope to see you at SCoTENS in 2026.

Click the following link to apply Expressions of Interest Form

Please complete and return to Tricia Kelly at tricia.kelly@qub.ac.uk by 4pm Monday 13 July 2026