UAB hosts top-level European conference on research into early childhood education.

03/09/2015

The 25th edition of the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) will be held on Bellaterra campus from 7 to 10 September. Around 1000 people from all over the world will be taking part in this conference: mainly university lecturers, teacher trainers and early childhood teachers. The conference aims to address the future challenges facing early childhood education, the stage from 0 to 6 years of age.

The theme of the conference is "Innovation, experimentation and adventure in early childhood". Among the speakers will be renowned international experts like Hilary Bradbury-Huang from the State University of Oregon, USA, Teresa Colomer from the UAB, Stephen Moss an independent author and TV broadcaster from the UK, and Christine Stephen from the University of Stirling, Scotland.

The participants come from all over the world (Israel, India, South Africa, the USA, Japan, Indonesia, among others), with a strong contingent of early education teachers from northern Europe: the UK, Norway, Finland and Iceland, in particular.

The conference begins in the afternoon of Monday 7 September, at Hotel Campus, with a performance of Catalan human towers and a workshop on this tradition. During the whole of Monday the participants can visit various nursery schools in and around Barcelona that stand out for their use of innovative teaching methods.

On Tuesday, 8 September, the opening ceremony takes place at Hotel Campus, with welcome speeches by Joan Mateo, Secretary for Education Policy of the Catalan Government (Generalitat), and Ferran Sancho, Rector of the UAB. This is followed by the keynote addresses and parallel sessions, at Hotel Campus and the Faculty of Education.

Innovation, experimentation and adventure: the theme of the 25th edition of EECERA
The theme of the 25th EECERA conference is "Innovation, experimentation and adventure in early childhood". This theme looks to the future, embracing, exploring and debating childhood, in a world that is becoming more and more standardised, globalised and risk-averse, but which also offers more and more opportunities, is technologically competent and is beginning to acknowledge the rights and the voice of children.

In particular, the keynotes will deal with questions like units of exploration with children, the impact of "digital childhood", children's connection to nature and the natural world using concepts of "biophilia", and new methodologies of participative action: striking examples of innovation, experimentation and adventure in present-day childhood.

An association that promotes research into early childhood
EECERA is an independent international association that promotes and disseminates multidisciplinary research into early childhood and its applications to policy-making and practice. It is a non-profit organisation that seeks to maintain and develop the rich European tradition of thought on early childhood: the legacy of Pestalozzi, Owen, Froebel, Steiner, Vygotski, Piaget, Malaguzzi and other pioneers, while at the same time looking to the future and encouraging the exploration of new paradigms, methodologies, concepts and applications in a field of study that is constantly evolving. It is markedly international in scope, encompassing the various European cultures and also the rich traditions of other countries in early childhood education.

This is the first time the conference has been held in Barcelona. In its 25 years of existence it had previously been held only once in Spain, in Santiago de Compostela.