CALL FOR PAPERS – SPECIAL ISSUE | Teaching as an Intergenerational Profession: Contributions of Generational Diversity to Teacher Education and Professional Development

2025-09-21
Guest Editors

At present, the teaching profession in several parts of the world faces a growing generational gap: between a lack of younger teachers entering the profession, and the most experienced teachers being at or close to the end of their careers. At one end of this spectrum, fewer new candidates are applying to teacher education programmes – a phenomenon linked to the decreasing attractiveness of the profession (Thomas Dotta et al., 2025) – and, at the other end of the spectrum, the teaching population is ageing, with countries such as Portugal recording a significant proportion of teachers being aged 50 and over 

Despite the apparent demographic disconnect between generations of teachers, numerous professional development models are structured around intergenerational learning, namely through induction and mentoring programmes (Brücknerová & Novotný, 2017), highlighting both its necessity and potential for the professional growth of teachers of all ages. Since the rapid changes and challenges defining contemporary society naturally have a bearing on the teaching profession too, there is a need, perhaps more than ever, for an ongoing process of teacher professional development that is able to serve teachers from the beginning to the end of their careers (Kowalczuk-Walędziak et al., 2022). Indeed, the teaching profession is not based on a fixed and immutable body of knowledge, but rather in complex articulations of knowledges – theoretical, pedagogical, practical, and experiential – which are continuously constructed and renewed throughout teachers’ professional journeys.

The sustained vitality of these knowledges can be nurtured via intergenerational dialogues as a means of enhancing knowledge transfer, fostering mutual learning, preventing the loss of shared knowledge, and contributing to teachers’ professional development (Lopes & Thomas Dotta, 2024). Intergenerational dialogues offer pre-service and novice teachers’ opportunities for socialisation and support from experienced teachers (Lopes & Sousa, 2024; Lopes, 2009); they also offer experienced teachers’ opportunities to reconfigure their practices in light of the perspectives and skills they gain from their younger counterparts. As such, the facilitation of meaningful engagement between teachers of different ages and at different stages of their careers – for example, through mentoring programmes or communities of practice (Sousa et al., 2020; Wenger, 1998) – can have a substantial and positive impact on teachers’ professional identities and ongoing learning (Lopes et al., 2016). However, in many teacher education and professional development settings, intergenerational interactions are insufficiently promoted or structured, thus risking the loss of invaluable opportunities for collaborative learning.

This special issue seeks to foster an in-depth debate on how relationships between different generations of teachers can be recognised, encouraged, and intentionally integrated into teacher education and professional development settings and processes. We welcome articles that offer both empirical evidence and tangible, innovative implications that may inspire pedagogical practices and educational policies which truly honour the intergenerational nature – and potential – of the teaching profession.

Thematic Axes

  • Intergenerational dialogues in initial teacher education
  • Experzential knowledge, emerging knowledge, and intergenerational mediation
  • Intergenerational learning and professional development throughout the career
  • Policies, models, and training contexts promoting intergenerational interaction
  • Contemporary challenges and opportunities for intergenerational dialogue in teaching

Deadlines

  • Abstract submission: by 30 November 2025
  • Review process: by 31 January 2026
  • Publication: March 2026

Articles should be submitted to the following email: rle.intergenerationaldialogues@gmail.com

Guidelines
Authors should submit a proposal between a minimum of 30,000 and a maximum of 40,000 characters (including spaces), including abstracts in Portuguese, French, English, and Spanish (1,200–1,500 characters with spaces), along with 3 to 5 keywords.

Graphs, tables, and images must be saved in separate files in JPEG format.
References should follow APA 7th edition style.

Please consult the submission rules at: https://revistas.ulusofona.pt/index.php/rleducacao/about/submissions


All submissions will be reviewed by the guest editors and subjected to double-blind peer review. Up to 10 articles will be selected for this special issue.

Submission languages: Portuguese, French, English, and Spanish

References:

  • ücknerová, K. & Novotný, P. (2017) Intergenerational learning among teachers: overt and covert forms of continuing professional development. Professional Development in Education, 43(3), 397-415, https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2016.1194876
  • European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice (2021). Teachers in Europe: Careers, development and well-being. Eurydice Report. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2016.1194876
  • Korzeniecka-Bondar, A., Kowalczuk-Walędziak, M., Kędzierska, H. (2023). Teacher Education in Poland: Contested Terrains Between Policy and Practice. In M. Kowalczuk-Walędziak, R. A. Valeeva, M. Sablić, , & I. Menter, (Eds.), (2023). The Palgrave handbook of teacher education in Central and Eastern Europe (pp. 83–108). Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Lopes, A. & Sousa, R. T. (2024). Identidades docentes perspetiva ecológica e investigação: desafios para a formação de professores. In S. B. Silva, J. M. Sancho-Gil & F. Hernández-Hernández (Orgs.), Docentes pesquisadores: epistemes e metodologias (pp. 55-70). EDUFBA. https://repositorio.ufba.br/handle/ri/38719
  • Lopes, A. & Thomas Dotta, L. (Coords.), Freitas, A.& Sousa, R.T. (Eds.) (2023). Passado e Futuro da Profissão Docente: Diálogos Intergeracionais. Centro de Investigação e intervenção Educativas da Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto. https://ciie.fpce.up.pt/pt/ebooks/passado-e-futuro-da-profissao-docente-dialogos-intergeracionais
  • Lopes, A. (2009). Teachers as professionals and teachers’ identity construction as an ecological construct: An agenda for research and training drawing upon a biographical research process. European Educational Research Journal,, 8(3), 461-475. https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2009.8.3.461
  • Lopes, A., Pereira, F., Fernandes, P., Dotta, L. T. & Sousa, R. T. (2016). How can teacher education fulfill its more generous intentions? Reflections concerning the pernicious effects of educational evaluation. In A. Montgomery & I. Kehoe (Eds.), Reimagining the purpose of schools and educational organisations: Developing critical thinking, agency, beliefs in schools and educational organisations (pp. 207-219). Springer.
  • Sousa, R.T., Lopes, A. & Boyd, P. (2020). Initial Teacher Education and the relationship with research: student teachers’ perspectives. Studia Paedagogica, 25(2), 161-179. https://doi.org/10.5817/SP2020-2-8
  • Thomas Dotta, L., Rodrigues, S., Joana, L. and Carvalho, M.J. (2025). The attractiveness of the teaching profession: an integrative literature review. Front. Educ. 9 (1380942). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1380942
  • Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803932