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The seminar will bring together researchers, policy makers and school leaders who are interested in developing educational practices and school leadership. It is organized in collaboration with Tallinn University, The Estonian Association for School Principals, Pedagogy, Education and Praxis (PEP) research network and Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä.

Program:

12.00 Opening. Vice Rector Eve Eisenschmidt (Tallinn University)

12.05 The practice architectures of autonomous decision-making in schools in Finland, Australia and Jamaica”. Dr. Laurette Bristol (Catholic College of Mandeville, Jamaica), Dr. Jane Wilkinson (Monash University, Australia and Dr. Hannu L. T. Heikkinen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland)

12.40 Short comments and questions

12.45 "Teacher autonomy as perceived by Estonian, Finnish and German teachers" Maria Erss, doctoral student in Educational Sciences (Tallinn University, Estonia)

13.15 Principals’ autonomy in Estonian schools. Toomas Kruusimägi, head of Estonian Association for School Principals (Estonia)     Discussion

14.00- 15.00 Afternoon coffee and informal communication

The speakers:  The international speakers of the seminar are involved in an international research network ‘Pedagogy, Education and Praxis’ (PEP) which responds to the questions of: ‘what is educational praxis’ and ‘how are educational practices enabled and constrained across educational sites’.

Dr. Laurette Bristol is the President of Catholic College of Mandeville, Jamaica and an Adjunct member of the Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE) at Charles Sturt University, Australia. She is Trinidadian born and initially trained as a primary school teacher. Laurette Bristol has an extensive background in teacher education and has practiced in Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom and Australia. Her research interest explores the intersection between historical traditions and practices in educational sites. She has a growing international research profile in the areas of school leadership, faculty mentoring networks, practice theory, in-service teacher education and professional learning.

Dr. Hannu L. T. Heikkinen is a senior researcher and and an Adjunct Professor in University of Jyväskylä (Finland). He is also an Adjunct Professor in Åbo Akademi University (Finland), University of Tampere (Finland) and Charles Sturt University (Australia). He is the coordinator of the Finnish Network for Teacher Induction, and he has been actively working in the European Conference on Educational Research ECER as the link convenor of Network 1: Continuous Professional Development (CPD). His research interests have mostly focused on practices of mentoring and teacher induction and more broadly on the professional development of educators as well as curriculum theory and teacher education research. He is also an expert of action research and narrative inquiry.

Dr. Jane Wilkinson is Associate Professor in Educational Leadership at Monash University and co-convenes the Faculty of Education’s  Educational Leadership Research Group. Jane Wilkinson’s research interests are in the areas of educational leadership for social justice, with a particular focus on issues of gender and ethnicity; and theorizing educational leadership as practice, drawing on sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's work and the philosopher, Theodore Schatzki. Jane Wilkinson has published widely in the areas of women and leadership, refugee students and theorizing leadership as practice. She is currently the convenor of the Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) Leadership Special Interest Group.

Maria Erss is a doctoral student at Tallinn University in educational sciences where she will shortly defend her dissertation "The politics of teacher autonomy in Estonia, Germany, and Finland". Her research interests are teacher autonomy, teachers' responses to changing political environment, the interplay of education policy and implementation, comparative educational research and curriculum. Maria has 10 years of experience as a public school teacher of German and French in Tallinn. She holds a master's degree in German philology and has studied both in Germany and France.