You are hereby invited to participate in the NERA 2026 conference with the theme: Courage and Agency in Education for the Present.
With this theme, the conference highlights the crucial role of education in fostering meaningful engagement with the world. In this regard, education becomes an arena where people, both individually and collectively, can explore and expand their opportunities to create meaning, actively participate, and take responsibility in and for the world.
This calls for the courage to take ownership, take a stance, and make choices despite fear and risks.
Courage is the prerequisite, and agency represents the capacity to act autonomously and with "Mündigkeit". Through these concepts, we invite an exploration and discussion of the significance of education and pedagogy in the development of subjectivity in a world shared with others.
The theme addresses both those who are taught, raised, educated, and formed within institutions, as well as professionals; early childhood educators and teachers—and their courage to pursue what is right and translate it into action and pedagogical practice.
With this theme, we emphasize the relational and ethical aspects of education, where courage and agency are not merely abstract ideals but concrete practices embedded in our connections to the world and to each other. The task of education thus becomes to create opportunities for children and young people to engage with the world as beings in their relationship to the world. This places demands on relationships, communities, teaching, and learning environments, calling for approaches that enable connection to the world and to one another from a lifeworld perspective.
The theme raises pressing questions:
- How can educators and teachers balance care and responsibility while strengthening children’s autonomy and capacity to act in the world?
- How can professionals bravely and independently engage in relationships, challenge and exert influence, while also stepping back and allowing the child to emerge as themselves?
- Does teaching have the potential to cultivate the courage to challenge assumptions and make responsible choices?
- What does agency look like in educational institutions, classrooms, schools, and society.
We invite exploration and discussion of these questions and encourage contributions within the theme. However, as always, we also welcome contributions beyond the theme that are relevant to Nordic educational research and the ongoing conversation about pedagogy and education.
Join us on March 4-6, 2026, at VIA University College, where we will together explore how courage and agency can unfold in education as a practice that engages and connects us with the world.