Transnational Reading Approaches in Inclusive Learning Environments - TRAIL conference 2025

Welcome to the offical webpage of TRAIL 2025 at University of Potsdam. 

The TRAIL conference took place on 17–18 September 2025 at the Bildungsforum Potsdam and was organised by the University of Potsdam, the Chair of German Didactics in an Inclusive Context, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Winnie-Karen Giera. This global event brought together experts, educators, and researchers to explore innovative strategies for fostering inclusive literacy for learners aged 10 to 16.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the German Research Foundation for its financial support of the TRAIL conference!

On this page, you can view the programme, impressions and all the key findings of the conference (task card). We also cordially invite you to submit abstracts for TRAIL publication (see below). 

If you have any comments, ideas or questions, please contact us at
teamgiera@uni-potsdam.de

Let us share our knowledge and experience!

F.l.t.r: Prof. Winnie-Karen Giera, Lucas Deutzmann, Amitoj Kaur Gill (photos by Thomas Roese)

Summary: Thinking Reading Promotion Transnationally – The TRAIL (Transnational Reading Approaches in Inclusive Learning Environments) conference, held at the Bildungsforum Potsdam (University of Potsdam, funded by the German Research Foundation)

The conference's guiding principle and atmosphere are symbolically reflected in the TRAIL acronym – in English, the word 'trail' literally refers to a path. The TRAIL conference, held on 17–18 September 2025 at the Wissenschaftsetage of the Bildungsforum Potsdam, indeed brought together the 'paths' of literacy researchers and educational stakeholders from various countries. All 65 participants shared the goal of exchanging and consolidating diverse forms of expertise to develop innovative approaches to reading promotion for students aged 10 to 16.

The conference focused on connecting knowledge from two international research networks dedicated to advancing adolescents’ reading competencies in particular: the International Association for Research in L1 Education (ARLE) and the European Literacy Policy Network (ELINET). Participation in the TRAIL conference was open and free of charge for interested individuals from educational research and school practice. The response was broad, with 65 participants representing ten countries:

Belgium, Brazil, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Austria and the United States of America.

The composition of the group exemplified the event's truly international nature. As well as European scholars, experts from outside Europe contributed their perspectives and professional knowledge towards the shared aim of fostering reading development. The conference's main objective was to establish a new network committed to developing transnational strategies for promoting reading in inclusive classrooms for learners aged 10 to 16. To achieve this, TRAIL followed a specific event structure:

The conference began with welcoming addresses and keynote lectures. The conference chair, Prof. Dr.Winnie-Karen Giera (Junior Professor of German Language Education in Inclusive Contexts at the University of Potsdam), opened the event. She was followed by Dr. Britta van Kempen, Vice-President for Teaching and Studies at the University of Potsdam, and Prof. Dr. Andreas Borowski, Executive Director of the Centre for Teacher Education (ZeLB). Minister for Education, Youth and Sport of the State of Brandenburg, Steffen Freiberg, delivered a welcome address via video message. Prof. Dr. Christine Garbe (formerly of the University of Cologne), former chair of ELINET and a renowned literacy scholar, made a special academic contribution by presenting the history and significance of this European network in the field of reading research.

The first day (17 September) featured two keynote lectures, followed by three further keynotes on the second day (18 September). The invited speakers came from five different countries. Their names and topics are listed below:

Each keynote speech lasted 30 minutes. A defining feature of the conference format was extending these presentations through structured follow-up activities. Immediately after each keynote, participants took part in small-group working sessions, during which they collaboratively recorded key insights. These results were documented on a shared platform using digital task cards. During the final plenary sessions, the keynotes were discussed again, allowing for further questions and scholarly exchange. In total, each keynote was explored for around 90 minutes, with all outcomes recorded in writing and made accessible to all participants.

The conference evaluation highlighted the positive reception of its participatory structure. Participants emphasised that the combination of group work, open discussions and social events fostered a sense of inclusion and active engagement. The transparent and appreciative communication culture, as well as the numerous networking opportunities, received repeated praise. The keynote lectures were regarded as clear, inspiring and intellectually stimulating, providing a solid basis for productive collaboration.

The scholarly outcomes of the conference will be published in an open-access edited volume in the University of Potsdam’s TeachInc series. A call for abstracts invited submissions based on research or practice (see the announcement below). Publication is scheduled for late 2026.

Furthermore, the TRAIL format is intended to continue and be hosted at other international locations in order to further advance a globally connected and innovative approach to reading promotion. The Potsdam conference laid the groundwork for this by establishing an international network of researchers and practitioners. It was also evident that the face-to-face format is crucial for cultivating the highly regarded atmosphere of collegial exchange. Nevertheless, hybrid access was beneficial in facilitating participation for individuals who were unable to travel.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the attendees whose contributions helped to create such a constructive and collegial working atmosphere. Special thanks go to the keynote speakers and the authors of the opening remarks, whose expertise formed the intellectual core of the event. Finally, we would like to thank the German Research Foundation (DFG, project no. GI 1972/1-1) and the European Literacy Policy Network for their financial support.

The following image gallery offers selected impressions of the TRAIL conference and illustrates the inclusive atmosphere in which the 'trails' of researchers and practitioners converged.