From October 16 to 18, 2024, Athens hosted the latest Transnational Project Meeting (TPM) for the STRIDE project. This meeting brought together consortium members from across Europe to continue joining efforts toward promoting equity and inclusion in education and training systems.
The STRIDE project, coordinated by OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University and funded by the Horizon Europe Programme, seeks to compile a comprehensive, and comparative knowledge based on effective education reforms, policy initiatives, and interventions aimed at reducing inequalities in education, training and learning outcomes in Europe. The goal will be achieved through analyses of education reforms in national and regional systems with existing large-scale educational assessment data and existing longitudinal data on the causal link between academic and other social policies and inequalities in educational achievements.
The first day began with an overview of recent developments in the project, including presentations on the data analysis plan overview and some preliminary results from Roehampton University (United Kingdom), OsloMet (Norway), The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece), VIA University College (Denmark), TÁRKI (Hungary) and Jagiellonian University (Poland) to provide a deeper understanding of project components, including developing an interactive map and spreadsheet of key indicators. The consortium dove into discussions on data requirements for the map and specific timelines for upcoming deliverables, which focused on coordinating the combined data contributions from each partner on educational reforms across Europe including existing longitudinal data (used for education policy evaluation) in Europe. On the second day, sessions focused on the qualitative inquiry into the cross-sectoral policy making process, identifying effective policy initiatives and interventions, with presentations from each partner on their case studies and data. Members presented the guide draft for interviews with key stakeholders regarding the spotlighted policy reforms as part of the STRIDE project.
The Tárki research team's responsibilities span several important areas of educational policy and inequality assessment. Borbála Lőrincz begin the project by developing inputs and providing essential insights into key factors influencing policy and the assessment of educational inequalities, ultimately contributing to an interactive map developed by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, with the involvement of András Gábos from our team. Márton Medgyesi will conduct a re-analysis of data from International Large Scale Assessment (ILSA) studies using quasi-panel analytic techniques, producing a working paper that examines trends in educational inequalities through longitudinal multilevel analysis. This effort also identifies effective policy initiatives and interventions to address learning disparities over time, focusing on longitudinal data from five countries. Meanwhile, Borbála Lőrincz and Anikó Bernát contribute to a sub-project dedicated to exploring the educational challenges faced by Roma children across Europe, adding a vital dimension to the broader research initiative.
