South African Education Research Association (SAERA) conference 2025

The School of Education was well represented at the 12th annual South African Education Research Association (SAERA) conference, held from 3–6 November 2025 in Durban, South Africa. The conference theme, Education in a Time of Polycrisis: Pathways of Hope, Creativity and Affirmative Ethics, provided a rich context for critical dialogue and innovative scholarship.

There were several contributions from Nottingham colleagues:

• Professor Volker Wedekind and Dr Jo-Anna Russon, both members of the Centre for International Education Research (CIER), chaired and presented in the TVET stream. Their joint paper, Vocational education, human capital theory and the purpose of the TVET lecturer, explored tensions between human capital theory and broader educational purposes in vocational education.
  
  
• Professor Elizabeth Walton, Co-Convenor of the Researching Inclusion and Social Justice in and through Education (RISE) Centre, chaired in the Inclusive Education stream and presented Teachers as collective inclusive education knowledge bricoleurs. Her work highlighted collaborative approaches to building inclusive practices in schools. Elizabeth also celebrated the launch of her book, The Knowledge of Inclusive Education: An Ecological Approach (Routledge).
  
  
• Professor Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan , Co-Convenor of CIER, contributed across several sessions. She co-presented on creative approaches to doctoral theses, participated in the Self-Reflexive Methodologies Special Interest Group (SIG) panel, co-led an arts-based workshop on academic lives in polycrisis, and chaired in the Arts-Based Contribution stream—bringing together arts-informed and reflexive methodologies to reimagine educational research. Kathleen also marked the launch of Arts-Based Educational Research Narratives of Academic Identities: Perspectives from Higher Education (Routledge), which she co-edited alongside Inbanathan Naicker, Daisy Pillay, Lungile Masinga, Theresa Chisanga, and Anita Hiralaal.

These contributions reflect the School of Education’s commitment to addressing global educational challenges through collaborative, creative, and justice-oriented research. The SAERA conference provided an important platform for sharing insights and strengthening partnerships with scholars across Southern Africa.

Professor Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan with members of the SAEAR Self-Reflexive Methodologies SIG

Dr Jo-Anna Russon at SAERA