Conference: Early Childhood Education in Contexts of Racial and Ethnic Divisions
16 April 2009 – Ghent, Belgium
Joint Learning Initiative on Children and Ethnic Diversity (JLICED), in collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare Studies, Ghent University and VBJK, invite you to participate in an international conference: Early Childhood Education in Contexts of Racial and Ethnic Divisions.
The JLICED is a global and inter-disciplinary network of leading researchers, policy-makers and practitioners who are committed to reducing racial and ethnic divisions and conflicts and building socially inclusive and respectful communities through the promotion of effective early childhood programs. Through the coordinated activities of six Learning Groups JLICED aims to share and disseminate existing expertise and knowledge as well as work in partnership with local organizations and researchers to support the development of new and innovative early childhood programs in regions characterized by divisions and/or conflicts. The founding partners are Queens University, Belfast, the Bernard Van Leer Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies.
One of these six learning groups is the Program Development (racial and ethnic divisions) learning group, co-chaired by Prof. Ileana Seda-Santana (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and Michel Vandenbroeck (Ghent University). Its aim is to study interesting examples of programs to identify common strands in program development that may contribute to reduce ethnic or cultural division. More information about JLICED and the Learning Groups is to be found on www.jliced.org
During this conference, experts from different areas in the world will share their experiences in developing, monitoring or researching programs. During two days prior to the conference, these experts have met in Ghent and discussed among each other examples of enabling practices in their country or in countries they are studying. In so doing they will have uncovered some common strands, as well as issues of dispute or difference. These issues will be discussed in round tables with each other and with the audience.
Invited experts at the round tables include:
- Ileana Seda-Santana, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
- Michel Vandenbroeck, Department of Social Welfare Studies, Ghent University
- Zvi Bekerman, School of Education, Melton Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
- John Bennett, Senior consultant for UNICEF/OSI/REF research on ECEC for Roma children
- Karina Davis, Centre for Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood, University of Melbourne, Australia.
- Khaled El Andaloussi, Atfale, Université Mohamed V, Morocco
- Silvia Helena Koller, Universidad Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Allegre, Brazil.
- Mugyeong Moon, Korea Institute of Child Care and Education, Seoul, Korea.
- Rebeca Puche Navarro, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia.
- Rita Swinnen, Bernard Van Leer Foundation, The Netherlands
- Zorica Trikić, International Step by Step Association, Belgrade, Serbia
Program
The conference will consist of three to four round table discussions with the experts on common strands about delivering programs of early childhood education in contexts of ethnic division. The experts will meet two days prior to the conference to discuss these strands and will continue their discussion with the audience. Consequently, there will be no program with distinct individual key-note speeches. Rather, participants will be able to follow in-depth discussions and participate in them.
Venue and subscription
The conference will take place in the city centre of Ghent:
Auditorium I (T) - Economie
Hoveniersberg 24
9000 Gent
The conference starts at 9h30 and will last until approx. 16h30.
The language of the conference is English. Participants will receive a working paper, summarizing the findings of the conference by the end of September 2009 through e-mail.
Subscription is mandatory, places are limited to 300 persons. Participants can only subscribe on-line from 16 March to 16 April at www.vbjk.be/jliced. The conference fee is € 10 and covers two coffee-breaks and the documentation. Lunch is at the participants’ discretion. There are plenty of lunch possibilities in the conference neighborhood.
