Multilingual, inclusive, and identity-safe learning environments developed in transnational co-creation: an exchange between researchers in Valencia and Jyväskylä
Participants of the FORTHEM Multilingualism Lab’s project retreat on 18 March in the Jyväskylä University Library Lähde. From left to right: Sergio Maruenda-Bataller (University of Valencia), Katarzyna Molek-Kozakowska (University of Opole), Torild Marie Olsen and Gro-Renée Rambø (University of Agder), Minna Sorri (University of Jyväskylä), Eli-Marie Drange (University of Agder), Luke Pearson (Sheffield Hallam University), Petteri Laihonen and Tamás Péter Szabó (University of Jyväskylä). Photo credit: Petteri Laihonen.
The Faculty of Education and Psychology of the University of Jyväskylä welcomed Sergio Maruenda-Bataller from the University of Valencia as a Visiting Fellow from March 13 to April 13, 2026. Hosted by Tamás Péter Szabó in the Department of Teacher Education, this fellowship focused on the project “Multilingual, inclusive, and identity-safe learning environments: Discursive pathways to safer and braver spaces in Teacher Education”.
The visit served as a launch of a transnational project that interrogates discursive practices that sustain or challenge gender(ed) inequalities in institutional contexts. By integrating insights from a University of Valencia led project Social justice through the linguistic inquiry of gender(ed) violence discourses: research-based outputs for education, media and socio-political institutions (SJ-DISGEN), the stay enhanced an applied critical discourse analytical exploration of how teacher education can more effectively embed identity-safe communication practices by conceptualising spaces as sites of discursive struggle.
The visit served as a continuation of Dr Szabó’s one-month visiting fellowship at the University of Valencia (November 2025), where Dr Maruenda-Bataller hosted him to further develop a diversity framework within the Language Education Policies project currently held by the FORTHEM’s Multilingualism in School and Higher Education Lab. This ongoing synergy strengthens the strategic partnership between the universities of Jyväskylä and Valencia within the FORTHEM Alliance.
Activities during the stay engaged researchers and students of the JYU Equity Team and the FORTHEM Multilingualism Lab. Dr Maruenda-Bataller has participated in the Lab’s writing retreat (March 17–19), contributing to the ongoing dialogues on language education policies. On March 31, he held a researcher meeting and on 9 April, he convened a workshop (April 9) on the project topic. The practice-oriented workshop was integrated into the JYU Educational Sciences Master’s Program course Teaching in Multilingual and Multicultural Settings, and enhanced interaction among students and attending researchers.
The next phases of the project will produce outcomes, including pilot guidelines for inclusive communication, public events such as workshops, a joint conference paper and a co-authored research article. By connecting SJ-DISGEN’s work with JYU’s equity initiatives, the project also supports UN Sustainable Development Goals 4 (Quality Education) and 5 (Gender Equality). An expansion of the project towards further FORTHEM universities is foreseen in the near future.
Dr Maruenda-Bataller’s visit was funded by University of Jyväskylä’s JYU Visiting Fellow Program.
Dr Szabó’s visit was funded by the University of Valencia’s “Talent Attraction” Vice-Principal for Research Program
