Learning for Change: Connecting Local and Global Education

The Centre for Global Education’s 2010 conference will attempt to identify the common principles that underlie various methodologies for ‘learning for change’, i.e. what kind of education results in the learner altering their lives and action choices to achieve a common goal of a just and sustainable world. The conference is meant to inspire, and bring together a community of educators to allow us to connect with each other and realise that we are not isolated in the work that we do. We may have different foci, target audiences, methodologies and parameters but we share a common goal of inspiring learners and creating active citizens who want to engage with the world around them to make it a better place. We have been thrown into a world of chaos, and it is time to identify the change agents that can allow us to take control and promote more rapid and positive change in our communities and beyond. The conference aims to support the work of participants by looking into the theories beyond learning for change and providing in-depth workshops on selected methodologies that can be adapted to different organisational and individual needs. Keynote speaker David Selby will address ‘Transformative Learning in Interesting Times: Thoughts from a Darkened Corner’:

“The fields of global education, education for sustainable development, education for sustainability and other related fields are concerned with addressing the confluence of social and environmental crises faced by human society, as threat and uncertainty loom ever larger in our lives. Their agenda is about developing understanding, skills and dispositions in learners so they are equipped for proactive change agency and change advocacy. But, does the agenda match with the actual crisis in the human condition or, if we were to look in corners we avoid, do we arrive at a radically different agenda that readies the learner for the real crises and transformative potentials of our time? What, then, does learning for change look like?”

Keynote speaker:
David Selby
Sustainability Frontiers

Conference facilitator:
Chris Chapman
Change Exploratory

Workshops include:

• Moving from the Local to the Global in Community Settings: Poverty and Health
  Facilitated by: Helena McNeill & Rachel Dempsey, Lourdes Youth and Community Services

• Experiential Learning: What is it and how do we optimise its effectiveness?
  Facilitated by: Bobby McCormick, Development Perspectives

• Exploring global development through music & radio
  Facilitated by: Darren Ferguson, Beyond Skin
  
• Positive Images: Promoting positive attitudes towards asylum seekers and refugees
  Facilitated by: Orla Devine & Neil Thain-Gray, British Red Cross
  
• Power, oppression and diversity – developing a critical analysis
  Facilitated by: Helen Lowry, Migrant Rights Centre Ireland

CONFERENCE FEES: £20 / €25 (WAGED) £10 / €20 (UNWAGED)

A coach will be provided from Belfast to Dublin and return the day of the conference at an additional cost of £15. Limited space available. Fees include lunch, tea and coffee.

For more information, contact Jenna Coriddi

For more information on the Centre and other events, please visit our website.

Camden Court Hotel, Camden Street, Dublin