Call for Papers

Call for Papers

Education in the North

Call for Papers:

Submissions are invited for a Special Issue of Education in the North:

Finding Joy on the Way: shared journeys in education 

Joy is a difficult topic to pin down and put a box around. Much in the vein of ‘love’ or ‘beauty’, joy manifests for individuals very differently, and can mean many varied and complimentary things. Different disciplines, cultures, and backgrounds interpret joy in a myriad of ways. The psychologist might study joy emotionally, exploring its underlying mechanisms, its neural correlates, and how it influences behaviour. The sociologist might examine joy socially, exploring its presence in cultural norms and societal structures, and categorizing its various modes of social construction. The philosopher might look to joy in moral context, or postulate its relationship to happiness, pleasure, and fulfilment. The neurologist might investigate joy biologically, studying brain regions and neurotransmitters, and tracking how joy is processed and regulated in the brain. And the educator; the educator might synthesise any and all of these.

This special edition of Education in the North seeks to curate a collection of pieces that explore joy in its varied manifestations in our philosophies and our practice, and that evoke inspiration to create and foster joy within individual educational journeys. It hopes to celebrate the joy found in education by sharing your insights, experiences, and reflections with our global community of educators, researchers, and practitioners, and aims to serve as a collaborative platform for dialogue, inspiration, and learning, fostering a deeper understanding of the shared journeys that bring joy to the world of education. This special issue hopes to explore that joy in the following ways, but other positions and considerations on the topic are welcome:

  • Research into the joy of and in education.
  • Reflections on the joys in practice.
  • Case studies of the joys of our students.
  • Observations on joy experienced in our communities through our work.

We are especially interested in publishing submissions from voices never before published, early career researchers, and practitioners in formal and informal educational settings, compulsory, community, further or higher education and allied professionals such as psychologists, social workers and librarians.

We especially encourage contributions from work in minority and Indigenous languages as the journal has a proud history of publishing in Scottish Gaelic over the last 50+ years.

Different types of submissions are possible:

  • Articles dealing with empirical research, not published or submitted elsewhere (up to 8000 words).
  • Features detailing ongoing research or practice (up to 4000 words).
  • Interviews, Dialogues, or Open Letters (up to 4000 words)
  • Literature Reviews (up to 2000 words)
  • Unpublished Fiction, Screenplays, or Playscripts (up to 4000 words)
  • Unproduced Podcasts or Video essays (up to 10 minutes)
  • Other creative submissions (direct questions to our special edition editors!)

Please refer to the journal website for author guidelines.

Submission Deadlines

1. Expression of Interest and 250-500 word abstract sent to eitn@bdn.ac.uk by 31st October 2024.

2. Submission of Manuscript/media sent to eitn@abdn.ac.uk by 17th January 2025.

Special issue Editors 

Suzie Dick, sdick@qmu.ac.uk 

Sarah Green, sarah.green1@ucalgary.ca

Michael Kimm, m.kimm.23@abdn.ac.uk

Julie Morin, julie.morin2@ucalgary.ca

Journal Editors: Helen Martin and Claire Molloy