CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory organises the second international conference Why still education? The conference is conceived as an open scientific forum which seeks to contribute to reflection on and development of educational strategies, to provide a space for exchange of experience and knowledge, and to encourage fruitful challenges to the existing educational practices.

Potential applicants include:

– Theorists of education in the fields of philosophy, sociology, pedagogy, andragogy, psychology, political theory, anthropology, history, as well as experts in education management;

– Practicioners – teachers, textbook writers, initiators of supplementary and extracurricular educational activities, representatives of the alternative educational programs, etc.

We do not have keynote speakers. Let the speeches determine their keynoteness.

CONFERENCE TOPIC: ACTORS AND DISTRACTORS IN EDUCATION

This year we wish to thematize the role of the participants in the educational process. What actors are indispensable to the educational process, and who are the intruders? Who are the loyal actors and who are the distractors? What type of understanding of education do we have in mind when we make judgements about this? And is the conflict between those “factors” inevitable, or can they be possibly harmonized?

The hidden assumption behind these questions is that there is some kind of educational front which pits adversaries against each other, as friends and foes of education. But the discussion tends to become more complex if we take that actors may sometimes also be distractors, and vice versa. The position of a good or a bad component in the educational process is not warranted in advance. It is always established anew by the enacting (or the failure to enact) its role. But what role is a successful one? Who is the screenwriter, and who is the director in this educational drama?

The state, the society, the local community, and the school board, to begin with the most general factors, may certainly be seen as useful organisational pillars of educational activities. However, they can also act as obstacles to their enactment. Immediate ‘executors’ – teachers, professors, lecturers, animators, pupils and students – can contribute most directly to this or that desirable vision of education, but their contribution may also prove the most perilous. Finally, there are also other ‘institutions’ which, if in less apparent and more roundabout way, have a profound influence on the character and the quality of education. Parents, school, media, technologies and the like, represent those particularly sensitive (distr-)actors.

We strongly believe that many other influential factors condition the existing models of education, or impact on how educational programmes are being articulated. Those span from more or less incontrollable underground currents, such as tradition and globalisation, to ideologies, new styles of life and labour market constellations. Problematizing of desirability of their influences and effects, as well as their interactions, is also most welcome.

This year we wish to thematize the role of the participants in the educational process. What actors are indispensable to the educational process, and who are the intruders? Who are the loyal actors and who are the distractors? What type of understanding of education do we have in mind when we make judgements about this? And is the conflict between those “factors” inevitable, or can they be possibly harmonized?

The hidden assumption behind these questions is that there is some kind of educational front which pits adversaries against each other, as friends and foes of education. But the discussion tends to become more complex if we take that actors may sometimes also be distractors, and vice versa. The position of a good or a bad component in the educational process is not warranted in advance. It is always established anew by the enacting (or the failure to enact) its role. But what role is a successful one? Who is the screenwriter, and who is the director in this educational drama?

The state, the society, the local community, and the school board, to begin with the most general factors, may certainly be seen as useful organisational pillars of educational activities. However, they can also act as obstacles to their enactment. Immediate ‘executors’ – teachers, professors, lecturers, animators, pupils and students – can contribute most directly to this or that desirable vision of education, but their contribution may also prove the most perilous. Finally, there are also other ‘institutions’ which, if in less apparent and more roundabout way, have a profound influence on the character and the quality of education. Parents, school, media, technologies and the like, represent those particularly sensitive (distr-)actors.

We strongly believe that many other influential factors condition the existing models of education, or impact on how educational programmes are being articulated. Those span from more or less incontrollable underground currents, such as tradition and globalisation, to ideologies, new styles of life and labour market constellations. Problematizing of desirability of their influences and effects, as well as their interactions, is also most welcome.

FEES

Full conference participation fee is 275 EUR.

The fee covers:

Transfer from Belgrade to Sremski Karlovci and back
Accommodation: three nights in a single room with breakfast in Sremski Karlovci
Lunch and coffee breaks during the conference
Dinner, with accompanying programme at the local vineries, during the conference
Conference materials, Book of abstracts
Review process, editing and proofreading of papers, and publishing of the collection of papers
Certificate of attendance
Students, young researchers (up to 30 years of age) and school teachers from former Yugoslav republics are eligible for fee subventions. Participation fee is 175 EUR (accommodation in double rooms).

For participants of the conference who do not need accommodation, participation fee is 65 EUR.

Selected participants will receive an invoice for the participation at the conference. The payment is due by May 30, 2015.

If you wish to cancel your participation by the end of May 2015, after registration process, 50% of participation fee will be retrieved, bank transaction fee deducted. Refunding will not be possible after June 26, 2015. Cancellation policy will be applied equally to all registrations. The organisers have to be informed about the cancellation of participation via email wse@instifdt.bg.ac.rs.