Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra in collaboration with the Nitra branch of Union of Slovak Mathematicians and Physicists organized with the support of ERME ( European Society for Research in Mathematics Education), the most important European organization for research in mathematics education, the on-line spring school for graduate students and early career researchers: Intensive Training School in Qualitative Research Design and Research Methods in Mathematics Education. Spring School was held on 22 - 26 March 2021 under the supervision of doc. PaedDr. Janka Medova, PhD. a doc. PaedDr. Sona Čeretková, PhD. with the technical support of RNDr. Kitti Palenikova, PhD. from the Department of Mathematics and the support of electronic education of participants in CMS Moodle was provided by doc. Mgr. Martin Drlík, PhD., Vice-Dean for External Relations and Development of the Faculty.

Sixty young scientists from 28 countries of the world (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ghana, Greece, Egypt, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Hungary, Macedonia, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Austria, Slovakia, Serbia, Shanghai, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom) participated in the spring school. As graduate students of mathematics education at UKF we also attended this important event.

During the spring school we actively participated in lectures and workshops during which we learned more about the theoretical bases of qualitative research, became more familiar with its use and different examples of qualitative studies. Eight foreign lecturers, three from the Czech Republic and one speaker from Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Greece, and from Sweden accepted the invitation to the spring school.

Introductory workshop, led by Janka Medová was aimed at the informal meeting of the participants. Libuše Samková (Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic) provided an introduction to qualitative methods of research in mathematics education. Jarmila Novotna (Prague, Czech Republic) introduced the theory of didactic situations as a theoretical framework for qualitative research, Konstantinos Tatsis (Ioanina , Greece) introduced us to the interpretive analysis of the course of collaborative problem solving in mathematics. Antonín Jančařík (Prague, Czech Republic) focused his workshop on the principle of charity in the analysis of student solutions to mathematical problems. Lecture by Tatjana Hodnik (Ljubljana, Slovenia) addressed the solution strategies of mathematical problems. The lecture by Jorryt van Bommel (Karlstad University, Sweden) demonstrated the analysis of documentation of the solution of problems by children of preschool age. Zsolt Lavicza (Linz, Austria) together with his graduate students presented various qualitative studies. The last of the lecturers, Bozena Maj-Tatsis (Rzeszow, Poland) finished the series of lectures and workshops about qualitative methods in the professional development of mathematics teachers.

Lecturer and workshop facilitators dragged the participants into the environment of their own research and research of their PhD students and share their valuable experience. The on-line form of the meeting also allowed us to establish new informal contacts. The participants of the spring school took away huge amount of experiences with qualitative research, a lot of online experiences that enriched them in the pandemic period and also inspired the own research and based it in European research area.

Text: Mgr. Veronika Bočková, Mgr. Katarína Laššová