“The Open Window – A Sense of Freedom"
Janusz Korczak, (Szkoła Specjalna 1926/27)
The theme of the three day congress is:
The Child- The Subject. The Agent. The Citizen. The Person.
September 13 - 15, 2017
Warsaw, Poland
Polin - Museum of the History of Polish Jews
European Museum of the Year 2016
The 3 Pillars of the Conference:
Day 1: History and Remembrance
Day 2: Philosophy, Pedagogy and Practice
Day 3: The Rights of the Child
The conference provides a global platform featuring multimodal presentations from diverse disciplines and perspectives that will contribute to the conference discourse and cater to the broad audience comprised of scholars, educators, policymakers, students, young people and the worldwide membership of Korczak affiliated associations.
DAY ONE:
Memory is simultaneously given to us, as it is generated by and through us. Memory is living, evolving, also changing our understanding of it and how it influences our life. Of key importance is how our relation to memory, shapes our identity, community ethos and educational activities.
The changing understanding of and relationship between memory and history is perhaps the most significant sign of a new era in the history of memory. Until recent modernity, the accusation of a dominant history, meant conquest and eradication of memory.
Today, an important historical source has become the oral history, with the past generation constantly seeking for itself new forms of existence. What is the role played in current memory in the process of the development of the individual, community building and intercultural integration? To ensure that the past becomes a memory, there is a constant need for the implementation of its forms into the present and a living dialogue with her.
Memory of the Future refers us to the reflective dimensions of reference for our debate. The first of these is the awareness of the dynamic changes, to which contemporary memory is subjected to, and the attempt to grasp them in the perspective of what is coming and towards that which we are heading. The second dimension concerns the understanding of a culture and ecology of "practice" of the past, or remembrance, and its importance in shaping the future.
The thematic areas are as follows:
• What we remember: Memory and History
• Who remembers: Memory and Community
• How we remember: Memory and Culture
DAY TWO:
The name Janusz Korczak can be found listed in UNESCO’s 100 famous educators together with Pestalozzi, Dewey and Gandhi, as those who have left their mark on global educational thought. Being a widely published and accomplished public speaker, Korczak’s influence found its way across Europe, from the Russian education system and to the research centers of Switzerland. However, a century later his educational work is overshadowed by his biography, limited translations into English and his ideas being well ahead of his time. He directed a plea to each and every one of us who works directly or indirectly with children to employ critical reflection on our actions every day. Despite leaving us no specific theory or strict method, his catch cry, to repair education is to repair society which still rings true for policymakers, educators, academics and families around the world. Drawing upon his deep insights into subjectivity and human agency, we hope to generate a discourse with sufficient momentum to turn our words into deeds and inspire others. “Thanks to theory I know it, thanks to practice I feel it” Korczak writes as a perfect accompaniment to the art and science that is pedagogy and teaching.
The thematic areas are as follows:
• Rights-based Approach
• Tolerance, Inclusion or Respect
• Nature, Communities and Play
• Risk, Resilience, Mastery and Well-being
• Infancy & Early Childhood
• Research through Action (methodology using observations, practice-theory & reflexivity)
• Education as a Revolutionary Act
DAY THREE:
In the past 25 years, the rights of the child have achieved dynamic growth in terms of social awareness and political action. Thanks to Janusz Korczak’s sense of pedagogical, ethical and social responsibility, certain values and norms regarding the relations of adults and children have been nominated for the status of children's rights. Hence it is no coincidence that Korczak is commonly viewed as the father of children's rights. His philosophy and understanding of the responsibility for the child and the child’s subjectivity became the spirit in which the Convention on the Rights of the Child was constructed - the document in which the international community recognized the need for the special protection of children against various threats, the provision of appropriate conditions for children to reach development of potential and children’s democratic participation by raising the personal status of children and integrating them into society. Protection, provision and participation (the 3Ps) together, constitute the ideological backbone upon which the rights of the child are expressed in the Convention.
Going beyond legal rights and equality, we must promote a just society by challenging injustice and a shared humanity which is manifested in everyday lives of people.
The thematic areas are as follows:
• Children's participation and agency as a realization
of their subjectivity, their ethnicity and citizenship
• Children’s rights
• Participatory research with children
• Case studies and examples of exemplary practice
• Actions to reduce risk of threats (health, violence,
migration, marginalisation, poverty, child labour etc.)
Call for papers
Guide for Presenters:
• Working language is English and Polish (some simultaneous translation available).
• Abstracts in English, 200-300 words (including which theme), 2-4 keywords,
one of the Pillars of the Conference and 60 word biography.
Presentations will report on original research, innovative programs, professional practices and theoretical insights on topics which relate to Korczak’s philosophy, literature, methodology and legacy. These sessions are expected to be engaging and will be grouped by the Committee for coherence and to stimulate debate. Seating for presentations are lecture style, with 30 minutes allocated and a further 15 minutes dedicated to question/answer session.
Workshop/Innovative Format offer opportunities to develop participants’ understanding, knowledge and skills using a variety of methods including multimedia, performance arts and experiential. Each session is interactive, practical and hands-on. The Committee will choose the workshops and formats which complement and expand upon the content of the selected presentations, in the spirit of promoting learning, reflection and action. The allocated time is 60 minutes.
Where proposals include the participation of young people, please define the nature of this involvement and complicity.
Important Date
Deadline for submission: 20th January, 2017
Notification of acceptance: 31st March 2017
Deadline for final paper submission: 30th April 2017
For abstract submission and any enquiries regarding the Congress, please contact:
IKAconference2017@gmail.com | www.korczak2017.com
Organising committee: Prof. Adam Frączek [PL], Dr. Avi Tsur [IL], Prof. Barbara Smolińska Theiss [PL], Barbara Janina Sochal [PL], Basia Vucic [AU/UK], Batia Gilad [IL], Prof. Ewa Jarosz [PL], Prof. Hanna Zaremska [PL], Jonathan Levy [FR], Krzysztof Czyżewski [PL], Marek Michalak [PL], Marta Ciesielska [PL], Teresa Skudniewska [PL], Tomasz Polkowski [PL], Dr. Ula Markowska-Manista [PL/GER], Prof.Wiesław Theiss [PL], Zygmunt Stępiński [PL]
International Janusz Korczak Association
Międzynarodowe Stowarzyszenie im. Janusza Korczaka
ul. Jaktorowska 6, 01-202 Warszawa, Polska
KRS: 0000030828; NIP: 526-17-31-946
Bank account:
BPKO PLPWPL 08 1020 1156 0000 7402 0058 6917