#18 Empowering students: how to make digital transition an opportunity for inclusive education? with Muriel Epstein

Empowering students: how to make digital transition an opportunity for inclusive education? Empowering students is the cornerstone of inclusive education. To do this, we look at inspiring situations to understand the conditions and context that help teachers grow into inclusive practice. We ask what travels and what needs tailoring – what can be replicated, what must be adapted to local conditions and context, and what should not be copied. In particular, we will address the ambivalent role of digital technology: it can lock in inequities or, when guided on purpose, expand agency and support the sustainability transition. More about our guestMuriel Epstein is a researcher in the educational sciences at the EMA laboratory (Ecole Mutations Apprentissage) at CY Cergy Paris University, and is affiliated with the SAMM laboratory (Statistical Analysis and Multidisciplinary Modeling) at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. After working on school dropout and spatial segregation, her research focuses on digital technology as a possible lever for transforming schools toward greater inclusion. She is particularly interested in the risks of “crystallization” associated with digital technology and in the potential evolution of teachers’ roles and professional stance. She also works on methodological issues and on how qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined in social science research.