Insights into an action research for pre-service teachers engaged into social action with two underrepresented communities

Abstract

In today’s complex socio-environmental context, universities are increasingly expected to equip future professionals—especially pre-service teachers—with the skills to become agents of citizen engagement and empowerment in society. Thus, one approach is to embed real-life experiences into university curricula, fostering social awareness, agency and responsibility.

This study focuses on two social action initiatives implemented with Greek pre-service teachers. These actions, part of the Erasmus+ BOLD project, aim to connect initial teacher education with citizen engagement, guided by two principles: First, active engagement (savoir s’engager) in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. Second, development of skills for socially-engaged citizenship and community-driven agency.

The paper presents an action research project designed to bridge teacher education and social engagement through experiential learning. Drawing on action research (Burns, 2010), as both a reflective tool and a means to foster agency and professional identity (Barrett & Liu, 2020), the study explores how pre-service teachers respond to real-life challenges. The methodology is based on a qualitative thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) of replies to two questionnaires provided by pre-service teachers who participated in the two social actions in Greece, at pre- and post-implementation stages.