The development of the German speaking CARN- from the idea to an annu...

The presentation will provide insights into the dynamic development of the German-language CARN (CARN DACH) Network focussing on the most recent developments leading to a discussion on building network communities.

During the CARN Conference held in Vienna in November 2011 the idea to create a German-language network was born.  On account of the venue, many of the participants were from Austria, some from Germany and a few from Switzerland. As the conference language was English as usual, the question arose as to the possibility of organizing meetings in German.

Two years later, on October 5^th, 2013, the first meeting of the German-langage CARN took place. It was organized in Vienna by the Institute of Instructural- and School Development at the University of Klagenfurt. 21 participants from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic followed the invitation. The meeting offered possibilities for presentations and sharing of experiences with action research. Further topics were aims, structure and activities of the network and a brainstorming about next steps.

Meanwhile there have been further meetings in Vienna, Graz and Bremen, Linz, Bielefeld and Innsbruck, which were designed as conferences with plenary speeches and symposia where theory behind action research was discussed and participants introduced their work.

The meeting in Innsbruck was the largest to date with over 80 participants from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, South Tyrol and Siebenbürgen. The conference theme was “Sustainable Education” focussing on Education for Sustainable Development and also sustainability in education in the broad sense. A book based on the conference contributions is currently in the review phase and will be presented at the next CARN DACH meeting in Brixen (Campus of University of Bolzano) in South Tyrol, Italy.