This is an excerpt from my summing up from the SCEAA Conference Day One
It now falls to me to try to recap what we’ve covered today, and perhaps, if I’m feeling brave, to try to weave together some of the many themes that we’ve covered today. To help me out here, I’d like to invite a bit of a collective response – so in the chat window, please, share two or three keywords or phrases that have ‘stuck’ in your mind about today.
As you can see, there’s an extraordinary diversity of ideas and topics covered. Gen started the conference with a powerful call to action for all of us as CCE educators, before introducing Rob and Koorie Heritage Trusts virtual all along the Birrarung Marr. This segued nicely into ACMI’s focus on how we represent ourselves, each other and also how and why we tell each other stories. In short, telling stories – in all the myriad forms, from shadows to video games – are ways that we share our humanity and what it means to be human.
Then we heard from that fantastic youth panel, discussing wellness, the pandemic and activism. The part that really struck me in that respect, as well as how articulate they all were, was how determined they were that they would be listened to, as they rejected the notion of apathy – and of course, how heterogenous young people are – there are no simple answers. This fit well with Lucas Walsh’s presentation about uncertainty, optimism and hope ,and the young people’s barometer.
To my mind, these are Wicked Problems – constantly changing. Climate change. Pandemics. Economic inequality. And perhaps, political influence upon educational porcesses – which is something that we might all be familiar with in terms of CCE.
These are complex, changing and resist linear cause and effect explanations. Yet this is a place that we, as educators, know well – certainly, no classroom I have ever worked in has been rigidly structured or ordred. They key, perhaps, might be about recognising the role of students as co-designers of their own education at this point. And that is something that Adam and Laura spoke about.
Wow! What a day. Make sure you stay tuned for tomorrow, where will take it up a notch! We will begin with two international keynotes – Professors Joel Westheimer and Andrew Peterson before moving onto papers and workshops!
See you all tomorrow