Rethinking the futures of education in the Nordic countries

The conference welcomes contributions on a wide array of topics from the areas of education, teaching and learning with the objective to rethink the futures of educational sciences in the Nordic countries.

• What are the dominant processes in education and learning that extend far into the future?
• How do researchers, by their own scientific constructs and categorizations, shape and take responsibility for the understanding of education and learning in society?

What kind of global role the Nordic countries want to take in developing education in the future?

Guidelines for proposals – paper presentations, symposia, posters, and roundtables:

Abstract text

A NERA proposal for presentation must be written in English. The abstract must have between 450 and 500 words (incl. references, if you have any) and should include the following sections:

1. Research topic/aim
2. Theoretical framework
3. Methodology/research design
4. Expected results/findings
5. Relevance to Nordic educational research

Presentation types

When you submit your abstract, you can choose one of the following types of presentation:

Paper presentation

Paper sessions consist of a presentation and a discussion of papers about ongoing or completed research projects. The time frame for each paper presentation is 20 minutes including discussion. In each parallel session, maximum of four papers will be presented (in sessions with three papers, the time for each paper will be 25 minutes including discussion). In the abstract submission, it must be specified to which NERA network the author wants to submit the paper. A conference attendee will be limited to present a maximum of two papers at the NERA congress.

The timetable for the sessions will be set by the organising committee. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to consider individual requests for presentation time or day of the presentation.

Poster sessions

Poster sessions offer a more informal opportunity to present a project visually rather than orally by means of a poster. During poster sessions, participants can meet the poster presenter at the poster stations. The poster session is thereby a format maximizing interaction between participants and presenters.

The abstract proposal (450-500 words) must describe the focus of the poster. In the abstract, it must be specified to which NERA network the poster is assigned. Posters should be prepared for the Conference in A0 portrait (84.1 cm wide × 118.9 cm high).

Symposia

A symposium session builds on a theme and is proposed and planned by a symposium organiser. The papers focus on a common theme. A symposium has a chair (often the organiser) and one or more discussants, who have read the papers in advance. Some symposia will overlap more than one session. The congress organisers decide how many symposia are feasible at the congress. The symposium organiser will decide how the symposium is to be organised and the time allotment for each presentation. It is recommended that at least two different countries/national perspectives must be represented in the symposium. In the proposal submission, it must be specified to which NERA network the symposium is assigned.

The organiser of the symposium should submit a symposium proposal (as organiser’s text) including all of the following elements:

1. The title of the symposium
2. An abstract describing the entire symposium (450-500 words)
3. The names of the contributors, titles of their presentations and each of their abstracts (450-500 words)

Roundtable discussions

A roundtable session is a forum for the presentation and discussion of developmental work and research plans. Roundtable sessions are intended for focused discussions in small groups of research in progress, practitioner experiences, educational improvement initiatives and issues in institutional effectiveness and improvement.

The organiser of the Roundtable discussions submits a proposal (as organiser’s text) with a plan for the Roundtable including all of the following elements:

1. The title of the Roundtable
2. An abstract describing the entire Roundtable (450-500 words)
3. The names of the contributors and each of their abstracts (each 450-500 words)

The abstract proposal must describe the focus and purpose of the session and ways in which participants will be engaged. In the abstract, it shall be specified to which NERA network the presentation is assigned.

ABSTRACT ACCEPTANCE: NOTIFICATION MESSAGES HAVE BEEN SENT ON 16 DECEMBER, if  you have not received a message, please contact info@aboaservices.fi.

Abstracts are submitted via the Oxford Abstracts online submission system:

• Register to the Oxford Abstracts system to submit (using the submission link).
• After submission you may amend your abstract until the final submission deadline.
• Remember to complete the abstract and answer all the required questions before the deadline. Note that uncompleted abstracts will not be reviewed.
• Please note that all correspondence will be sent to the submitter only. If the abstract is accepted for presentation, the person (or max. 2 persons) marked in the submission form as the presenter, must register for the conference to confirm the abstract’s place in the programme. Remember to inform info@aboaservices.fi in case you wish to change the presenting author(s).

Submission for Paper presentations  and Posters:

Further instructions to submit a symposium or roundtable and the individual abstracts belonging to them:
A “symposium submission function” is used to submit either a symposium or a roundtable and attached abstracts:

1. fill in the required fields and submit your symposium/roundtable proposal
2. after submission the “Symposium/roundtable view” will open and at the bottom  of the page you can either invite your contributors to submit their own individual abstracts by filling in their emails to  “Invite users to attach submission” text box (then click on the “INVITE” tab, the system will send an automatic invitation and link to the submission form). After submission, on the next page, the submitter can attach the abstract to your symposium/roundtable.

OR you can submit the abstracts on their behalf by:

1. click on the “SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT” at the bottom of the page and then fill in the abstract submission form (

2. on the next page after submitting the abstract, click on “attach” where it says “if you would like to, please choose a symposium to attach your submission to”

3. then click on “continue” (which takes you to your own symposium dashboard) and then to submit the second abstract: click on “new submission” , again fill in the form

4. after submission, you see the second abstract listed on your own symposium dashboard, click the abstract open, and attach it to your symposium (see point 2)

5. then again “NEW SUBMISSION”

You can always sing  in again to the system and access  your personal “dashboard” page (by clicking the OA / NERA logo on the left top corner of the page), where you can see your symposium(s)/roundtable(s) and as well as the individual abstract submissions, by clicking on the abstracts you can assign them to your symposium/roundtable, and you may also edit the symposium/roundtable or submit/remove abstracts.

Submission for Symposia  and Roundtables:

ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Please note that you may have been marked as a chair to your session. If you do not feel comfortable being a chair, the task can be allocated to someone else in your session, at the beginning of the session. The main task of the chair is to keep time. The time frame for each paper presentation is 20 minutes including discussion. In sessions with only two or three papers, the time for each paper is 25 minutes including discussion.

A congress assistant will be present in each session room to help presenters with any issues.

Please prepare your presentation and save it in either PowerPoint (PPT/PPTX) or PDF format and bring it to the session room on an USB-stick. The presentation computers are portable PCs with Windows 10. To avoid any technical problems, we do not recommend using your own computer.

POSTER PRESENTATIONS
If you have a poster presentation, the size of the poster board is 88 cm (width) x 118 cm (height) and is thus suitable for A0 size posters in portrait orientation. Pins will be provided at the poster area. Poster boards will be numbered and a poster lists will be available at the poster area. Please note that posters can be on display during the whole duration of the congress.