13th International
OOFTAS Collective Symposium
16-17 August, 2026
Call for Papers
The 13th symposium for the OOF-TAS Collective is online due to global disruption.
The theme for the symposium is:
Global perspectives on research into out-of-field
Blended Symposium
Powered by Zoom
Cost: Free online
Key dates:
Registrations are open now
Submissions open till: July 1
Feedback on submission by: July 8
Program released: July 15
Release of zoom details: July 31
Symposium: August 16-17
Out-of-field teaching remains a critical issue internationally, especially in countries experiencing teacher workforce shortages. What can we learn for other countries about how it arises, how other jurisdictions respond, and who plays critical roles in sustaining teacher and school quality under such circumstances? This theme underscores the importance of exchanging research and solutions across different contexts, while emphasising the actual and relative effects that these research endeavours and solutions are producing.
We welcome national and cross-national research and commentary on the policies, the people, and the effects associated with OOF teaching. Post-graduate students and early career researchers are welcome.
Abstracts for the symposium are welcome (see below).
Registration (see below): now
Registration Cost: no cost
Symposium details:
Day 1 and 2: 16-17 August, time TBC.
Online access
Zoom will be used for the entire program and for all delegates. Please register to get access to the zoom links with the program.
Recordings will be made of all presentations but not the discussions and there is an option for your presentaotn to be included on the website, but this is not mandatory. The powerpoint presentations and/or the zoom recordings will be placed on the OOFTAS website after the presentation.
Preparing for the symposium
It is preferred that presenters give their presentation in real-time (either in person or online). If this is not possible we can play a pre-recorded presentation during the symposium.
A timetable will be created that provides ‘best times’ for the presenters.
With your permission, we would like to upload a recording of your presentation. The content will remain your IP.
Presenting and participating
Everybody is welcome to attend the presentations. Please register and the zoom links will be emailed to you.
Presentations:
Presentations will be 20 minutes, presenting in person or online in real time.
Question and answer time will be 10 minutes following the presentation. For all participants, questions and feedback by the audience can be posed using the Chat function and verbally.
Program and recordings
Program can be downloaded here.
Sunday, August 16
*Melbourne, Australia, times used
14:00-14:15 Zooming in
14:15-14:30 Welcome and introductions
14:30-15:00 Presentation 1: Anna Du Plessis, Donna Pendergast, Sarah McManus, Jay Deagon
The Ripple Effects and Underlying Causes of Out-of-Field Teaching: Policy Decisions Shaping the Learning Tide
15:00-15:30 Presentation 2: Bredan Hyde
Teaching Religious Education (RE) as an out-of-field subject in Australian regional and rural Catholic schools
15:30-16:00 Presentation 3: Jennifer Stephenson, Coral Kemp
Special/inclusive educators and out-of-field teaching
16:00-16:30 BREAK
16:30-17:00 Presentation 4: Joanne O’Mara
Skewing subject English: Teacher shortages, subject vulnerabilities and an attrition cycle
17:00-17:30 Presentation 5: Connie Cirkony, Linda Hobbs, Trevor McCandless, Seamus Delaney, Emily Ross, Susan Caldis, Janet Dutton, Merrilyn Goos, Greg Oates, and Karen Shelley
Out-of-field Teaching in Science: Beyond the binaries of "in" or "out"
17:30-18:00
Presentation 6: Karishma Do, Seamus Delaney, Linda Hobbs
Out-of-Field Teaching and Sustainability Education: A Systems Thinking Study of Teacher Engagement in Victorian Secondary Schools
18:00-18:30 BREAK
18:30-19.00 Presentation 7: Ronit Halstuch, Giora Alexandron, Yael Shwartz
Teaching a New Discipline Without a Core Teaching Community: An Out-of-Field Perspective on AI Education
19:00-19:30 Presentation 8: Ana Idalina Tillmann, Nicole Glock Maceno
Scientific argumentation and conceptual thinking in the initial teacher formation: challenges beyond for Chemistry
19:30-20:00 Presentation 9: Paulo Loureiro, Julie A. Luft
Out-of-field Teaching and Resources: A longitudinal exploratory study of Newly Hired Science Teachers
Monday, August 17
*Melbourne, Australia, times used
14:00-14:15 Zooming in
14:15-14:30 Welcome and introductions
14:30-15:00 Presentation 10: Helen Silvester
Reimagining Teacher Professional Learning
15:00-15:30 Presentation 11: John Cripps Clark, David Kellogg
"Complexive" Teaching Is Not Interdisciplinary But Transdisciplinary: Three Take-aways from Vygotsky's Out-of-field Experience
15:30-16:00 Presentation 12: Margaret Jakovac, Linda Hobbs, Emma Rowe
Beyond Binary: How Out-of-Field Mathematics Teachers Construct Success
16:00-16:30 BREAK
16:30-17:00 Presentation 13: Teresa Beck, Rapheala Porsch
Teaching Out-of-Field from a Sensemaking Perspective: Challenges and Coping Strategies of Student Teachers
17:00-17:30 Presentation 14: Till Schröter Draband, Merve Uyar, Sophia Jendrzejewski
It's (not) the teaching qualification, stupid! The role of the state teaching qualification for teaching civic and citizenship education in North Rhine-Westphalia
17:30-18:00 Presentation 15: Marcel Grieger, Ariane S. Willems
Student Teachers' View on Cooperation as a Resource for Lesson Planning in Social Studies
18:00-18:30 BREAK
18:30-19.00 Presentation 16: Raphaela Porsch, Joel Guttke
Self-reports of (non-)specialist primary EFL teachers' instructional quality: A latent profile analysis
19:00-19:30 Presentation 17: Pipit Novita
Anticipatory Coping in Policy-Induced Out-of-Field Teaching: Indonesian Primary Teachers Navigating Mandatory English Reform
19:30-20:00 Presentation 18: Silvana Carlini, Nicole Glock Maceno
Crossing boundaries: Brazilian Portuguese teachers and the multimodal challenges of Science Communication as an out-of-field experience
Call for abstracts - single papers
Call for abstracts - symposia (3 or 4 papers)
Submit here
Registration - open
Please complete the form below.
Please indicate your the preference for attending below.
Photo by Elena Taranukhina on Unsplash