Dr. Michaelann Kelley, Chair of the Department of Creative Arts and Professor, Attended and Presented at the 21st Biennial Conference of the International Study Association on Teachers & Teaching at the University of Glasgow, Scotland
The 21st Biennial Conference of the International Study Association on Teachers & Teaching
The 21st Biennial Conference of the International Study Association on Teachers & Teaching (ISATT) was held at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, from June 30 to July 4, 2025. I (Michaelann Kelley) was honored to attend and present at this international gathering of scholars dedicated to advancing research on teachers and teaching.
Background on ISATT
The International Study Association on Teachers & Teaching was founded in 1983 at a symposium on teacher thinking at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. It was established by a group of European and North American researchers seeking to move beyond empirical and mechanistic models of teacher research toward more teacher-focused approaches. The organization’s goal was to cultivate a global scholarly community dedicated to understanding teachers, teaching, and the broader educational process.
Since its founding, ISATT has grown from a small regional network into a robust international association with members from more than 60 countries. Its mission is to enhance the quality of education worldwide by providing a forum for the promotion, discussion, and dissemination of research related to teachers’ identities, roles, practices, and professional learning.
Conference Theme
The 2025 conference theme, Quality Teaching for a More Equitable World, highlighted the critical relationship between teaching quality and student learning. High-quality teaching enriches intellectual development, shapes access to learning environments, and affirms students’ cultural and social identities. Equitable teaching, therefore, is central to advancing both social justice and sustainable development.
Portfolio Group Presentations
Together with colleagues Dr. Cheryl J. Craig (Texas A&M University) and Dr. Gayle Curtis (Texas A&M University), I contributed to two presentations at the conference.
Moments That Shifted a Lifetime of Research: A Self-Study Reframing of Our Group’s Stories and Research Agenda
This self-study presentation employed Bateson’s (1994) metaphorical notion of “letting stories speak to one another” (p. 14). By analyzing our individual research projects, we identified critical moments that “talk[ed] across” narratives (Stone, 1988, p. 2). These narrative intersections illuminated ways in which self-study and narrative inquiry methodologies can deepen collaborative research practices and inform future scholarly work.
During this session, we also learned that our book, Knowledge Communities in Teacher Education: Sustaining Collaborative Work, is currently being used as a textbook in a collaborative writing course at a Florida university.
Developing Skill in Analysis in Narrative Studies
This collaborative symposium involved 12 researchers from across North America and was organized in response to concerns voiced by leaders in the narrative research community, including editors and reviewers of leading journals and book series such as Journal of Teacher Education, Frontiers in Teacher Education, Studying Teacher Education, and Emerald Insight.
The session focused on the need for greater analytic rigor in narrative research. By strengthening analytic skills, researchers can produce more nuanced and trustworthy findings, thereby enhancing the credibility and impact of narrative inquiry. The symposium aimed to expand participants’ repertoire of narrative analysis tools, deepen their methodological expertise, and foster more rigorous approaches to narrative scholarship.
Conclusion
Both presentations were well received by international participants, generating meaningful dialogue on narrative inquiry, collaborative scholarship, and the role of equitable teaching in advancing global educational goals. Overall, the 21st Biennial ISATT Conference reaffirmed the association’s role as a vital hub for international collaboration and rigorous, socially responsive research on teachers and teaching.
References
Bateson, M. C. (1994). Peripheral visions: Learning along the way. HarperCollins.
Craig, C. J., Curtis, G., Kelley, M., et al. (2020). Knowledge communities in teacher education: Sustaining collaborative work. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3252-5
Craig, C. J., Curtis, G., & Kelley, M. (2025, July 2). Moments that shifted a lifetime of research: A self-study reframing of our group’s stories and research agenda [Conference presentation]. 21st Biennial Conference of the International Study Association on Teachers & Teaching (ISATT), University of Glasgow, Scotland.
Craig, C. J., Curtis, G., Kelley, M., & Collaborative Research Team. (2025, July 3). Developing skill in analysis in narrative studies [Conference symposium]. 21st Biennial Conference of the International Study Association on Teachers & Teaching (ISATT), University of Glasgow, Scotland.
International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching. (2025, June 30–July 4). Proceedings of the 21st Biennial Conference of the International Study Association on Teachers & Teaching. University of Glasgow.
Stone, L. (1988). The metaphor of scaffolding: Its utility for the field of learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 21(1), 2–7. https://doi.org/10.1177/002221948802100102