This international summer school addresses doctoral candidates and post-doctoral researchers from the fields of social sciences, education and history who are conducting research on textbooks or other educational media used in schools.

Textbooks and other educational media are actively participating in processes of globalisation. 'Globalisation' is recognised as one of today's essentially contested concepts, touching as it does on a wide range of epistemological, political, cultural, economic, technological and social issues. National forms of reference are changing; political boundaries are shifting, and socio-cultural differences within nation states are drawing attention to the multiple, contingent and situated nature of identity As these changes are articulated in educational media, they provide a wealth of material for scholars seeking to understand and/or reform contemporary educational systems; yet research is only slowly beginning to engage with the central issues. The dynamic focus of this summer school explores how current research is attempting to address these issues and how the field can be developed further.

The summerschool offers to focal areas. In Block 1 the focus lies on the global dimension of the production and the reception of educational media. In Block 2, contemporary and historical educational media will be analysed through the lens of diversity, a concept which ist becoming increasingly important in contexts of globalisation.

The summerschool aims to provide an interdisciplinary and international forum enabling participants not only to discuss some of the key issues facing the academy today, but also to develop imaginative and reflexive ways of drawing on new globalises frames of reference in their specific research projects. Finally it aims to engage participants in an expanding network of young scholars keen to continue developing these new directions, and to consolidate a strong branch of the field.

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