Keynote speakers

Within the framework of inclusive education established by Decree-Law n.º54/2018, which advocates the participation and learning of all students through support measures tailored to their needs, the early identification of reading difficulties and timely intervention are of particular importance. However, despite significant advances in this field, considerable variability can be observed in children’s outcomes. While some children make rapid and sustained progress, others show a limited response, even when participating in evidence-based intervention programs. Understanding the reasons underlying these differences remains one of the major challenges for both research and educational practice. This conference will present the main factors associated with response to intervention, including children’s cognitive and linguistic characteristics, the presence of co-occurring clinical conditions, motivational and socio-emotional factors, as well as aspects related to family and school contexts. Recent research findings will also be discussed to help explain why children with apparently similar profiles may follow different learning trajectories. Adopting a multidisciplinary perspective, the conference will examine the implications of this knowledge for assessment, educational decision-making, and the development of more individualized and effective responses. Overall, the conference aims to contribute to an informed reflection on how to promote success in reading acquisition and address the diversity of needs that characterizes today’s classrooms.

Speaker

Irene Cadime

Irene Cadime is an Assistant Professor at the School of Psychology, University of Minho, and a Researcher in the fields of child development, learning difficulties, and psychological assessment. She holds a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Minho and conducts research focused on the factors that influence reading acquisition, response to intervention, language development, and the construction and validation of assessment instruments. She is the author of numerous scientific articles, books, and book chapters published by leading international journals and publishers, and she regularly collaborates on national and international research projects dedicated to promoting literacy and educational success.

The sociology of critical education has made important contributions to understanding class dynamics within the education system. However, the emphasis on political critique can lead to dangerous shifts in sociological analysis. The conference will focus on these shifts, especially on “critical functionalism”. These trends are explained by symbolic competitions within the leftist space: the more “critical” and “sophisticated” the critique, the more prestige is accumulated.

Speaker

Enrique Martín-Criado

Enrique Martín-Criado is a Spanish sociologist and Full Professor at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, with a doctoral thesis entitled Estrategias de juventud, later published as a book under the title Producir la juventud. Throughout his career, he has also taught at the universities of Granada and Seville. His research focus spans social theory, sociology of education, qualitative methodology, family dynamics, and labor relations. Notable among his publications is the book La escuela sin funciones: crítica de la sociología de la educación crítica (2010). More recently, in his text “Tres derivas de la sociología crítica” (2024), he explores how the emergence of a blaming, conspiratorial, and populist rationality reflects a lack of self-criticism within critical theory, creating epistemological shortcuts and pitfalls that compromise the consistency and the very transformative potential of educational studies.

Tiago Brandão Rodrigues (1977) grew up in Paredes de Coura and is currently Director-General of the Kyaia Group and Invited Full Professor of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences at the University of Aveiro. He is also President of the General Council of the Polytechnic University of Viana do Castelo, and President of the Ethics Council of the Olympic Committee of Portugal. He served as Minister of Education, also responsible for Youth and Sport (2015–2022), and subsequently as a Member of the Portuguese Parliament, where he chaired the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment and Energy (2022-2024). Between 2010 and 2015, he worked as a cancer researcher at the University of Cambridge. He holds a PhD in Cerebral Metabolism and a degree in Biochemistry, having conducted his doctoral research in collaboration with research centres in Dallas, Madrid and Coimbra. He also served as Olympic Attaché to the Portuguese delegation during the London 2012 Olympic Game.

Paulo Peixoto is an Associate Professor with Habilitation at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra and a researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, where he integrates the thematic line “Urban Cultures, Sociabilities and Participation”. He is Pro-Rector of the University of Coimbra for pedagogical innovation, inclusive policies, volunteering, and student residences (repúblicas). He is a member of the Ethics Committee of the University of Coimbra and serves on the National Council for Pedagogical Innovation in Higher Education. He previously served as President of the Portuguese Sociological Association, Student Ombudsman of the University of Coimbra, Executive Director of the Centre for Social Studies, Coordinator of the Observatory for Education and Training Policies (OP.Edu), and President of the National Union for Higher Education (SNESup).

Tiago de Oliveira Cavaco holds a degree in Communication Sciences from Universidade Nova de Lisboa and studied Theology at the Baptist Seminary of Queluz. Founder of the record label FlorCaveira in 1999, he worked in television for a decade, contributed literary criticism to the magazines Atlântico and Ler, and is a columnist for Observador. He is a Baptist Pastor and, since 2007, has dedicated himself to planting new churches and revitalizing old ones. He published his first book in 2013, titled Felizes Para Sempre e Outros Equívocos Acerca do Casamento (Happily Ever After and Other Misconceptions About Marriage), and since then, his subsequent titles have been published mainly in Brazil.