THE CONFERENCE
The three day conference aimed at creating a learning community that values and develops child centered thinking, celebrates diversity, democracy, innovation and connectivity. It offered a vibrant, interactive learning space for educators.
School education is arguably the single greatest challenge facing the country today. Issues of pedagogy, professional development of teachers and policy require our urgent attention. Schools need to adapt to the challenges of change with imagination and resilience. In an age of intolerance and narrow mindedness, schools need to foster tolerance and openness. We are now aware that children learn differently and this must be reflected in governmental and school policy. The recent announcement by HRD Minister Mr.Kapil Sibal to bring in uniformity into school education by de-traumatizing learning strongly echoes with the conference theme of education for knowledge. Schools must thus actively create, through institutional improvement and change, a fundamentally different culture of inclusiveness. We cannot begin to enable these changes without collaborating, networking and connecting on a national level.
Schools can no longer be confined to their narrow spaces. Schooling must reach out into the community and into the world. Schools must have porous boundaries and their pedagogy must be built upon connections with people and resources in the world beyond the classroom. Academic disciplines alone can neither meet the needs of our time nor equip our children to make sense of the world that they inhabit.
CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE
The conference tracks provided the conceptual framework within which the participants were exposed to and engaged with an interesting combination of:
- Plenaries – common sessions that were attended by all delegates.
- Panel Discussions – special focus groups who discussed contemporary and key educational issues.
- The Jazz Element – participatory workshops conducted by specialist teachers which provided hands-on teaching experiences for participants.
- World Cafes – an interactive methodology hosted by domain experts. These conversations offered a cross pollination on educational questions that mattered.
- Research Opportunities
CONFERENCE THEMES
The MAIS 2009 Education Conference was built around the following themes:
- Thought leadership in education - challenges and future perspectives
- Sensitivity to factors impacting on teaching and learning
- Social ethics and responsibility of education- community initiatives
- Reflections- experiences and strategies in teaching, including the meaningful use of technology.
CONFERENCE TRACKS
The core themes of the conference had been woven into four tracks that addressed the issues mentioned above and sought to bring together an eclectic group of practitioners, thinkers and professionals.
- Engaging Young India - Addresses thought leadership, challenging
and changing student thinking. - Create, Celebrate! - Innovation, creativity in thinking and teaching, the role of the creative and performing arts in our classrooms.
- Enabling the Resilient School - Inclusive thinking, sensitivity to factors affecting learning and community based initiatives.
- Designing New Learning Milieus – Using technology, developing strategies, fostering environments and thinking outside the confines of the traditional classroom.
CONFERENCE OUTCOMES
- Forging partnerships to enhance collaboration in key areas of school education
- Creating toolkits for use by teachers in the classroom
- Sharing good teaching practices and showcasing ideas through workshops and research papers.
- Generating a set of recommendations with a view to influencing policy.
- Making grants available for action research for selected participants who have submitted viable and meaningful proposals
- Giving students a voice on issues related to their education
DELEGATE PROFILE
Participants:
A niche segment of 300 members from across the country within the education space had participated in the event as well as sustained the momentum post event by leveraging the learning on the school’s online platform.
Participants included:
- Principals of selected government and private schools
- Board members, administrators and financial officers of selected private schools
- Teachers of government and private schools
- Representatives of NGOs in the educational sector
- Teacher trainers
- Policy Makers, including legislators and civil servants
- Members of civil society who have an interest in education
- Researchers in the field of education
- Representatives of Corporates who support educational initiatives
- Key education media and special correspondents covering policy & reforms
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
| Day 1 - Dec. 04, 2009 |
Morning Session - Was common for all.
Lunch
Session 2 - Tracks (a track by choice)
Sessions Conclude: 05.30 p.m |
| Day 2 - Dec. 05, 2009 |
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Sessions - Started at 09.00 a.m. and concluded at 04.30 p.m.
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| Day 3 - Dec. 06, 2009 |
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Morning Session - World Cafes - Started at 09.00 a.m. Session 1 - Tracks (a track by choice)
Session 2 - Tracks (a track by choice)
Lunch |