News: Crossing Borders at EDULEARN22

EDULEARN22, the 14th annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, was held in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) on the 4th, 5th and 6th of July, 2022. After 15 years, EDULEARN has become a reference event where experts from more than 80 countries get together to present their projects and share their knowledge on teaching and learning methodologies and educational innovations. 

We took this amazing opportunity to disseminate our research, presenting the project overview and the first steps of data collection and data analysis. Dr. Amalia Creus, one of the principal investigators, represented the team in this event, leading an oral presentation at the session entitled ‘Diversity and Equity in Education’. In her talk, Dr. Creus had the chance to explain the main features of the Crossing Borders project’s methodological design. There followed a lively discussion on how to cope with the complexity of an international project that approaches many different educational contexts and very singular expressions of discrimination against migrants. 

‘Diversity and Equity in Education’ was a great environment in which to present the project, as it was the main session dedicated to educational equity in the conference. The session included six papers from different parts of the world: Romania, South Africa, Malta, Spain, Ireland and the USA. Among other issues, the papers tackled topics such as, stories of inclusion and exclusion of learners with disabilities, team mentoring of youth women students, and the impact of racial discrimination on students’ social-emotional skills.

The Crossing Borders project was presented in line with the reflections on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education, focusing on the deepening of educational inequities affecting racialized and minoritized migrants around the world. The session lasted 90 minutes including a debate about the opportunities and barriers to ameliorate inequities that affect vulnerable groups in each country, as well as future research trends. Overall, the conference afforded an opportunity for the Crossing Borders project to be discussed in an enthusiastic networking atmosphere, where different international perspectives on education were shared in the sessions, workshops and networking events.