REAIE is excited to announce a call for Conference presentations/atelier-style interactive workshops for the 11th REAIE biennial Conference to be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre 29 June –1 July 2023.

These presentations and workshops will celebrate the diversity of settings informed and influenced by the values and principles of the educational project of Reggio Emilia. We invite submissions that represent practices working with and for children, and families across Australia, the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

About the Conference title:

If there is one thing that we have learned in the past few years, it is that creativity and curiosity are children’s unwavering travelling companions. There is no doubt that these times have brought children, families and educators across the world, many moments of complexity and uncertainty. Across Australia and around the globe, educators have drawn deeply on their own creative capacities in order to engage with children’s curiosities in new and exciting ways. Standing now at a threshold to the future, we are strengthened by these new perspectives and ready to consider our practices and systems for children through fresh eyes.  

We invite you to consider participating as a presenter as we reconnect with our shared purpose and re-think the relationship between our values and practices, with children’s creativity and curiosity as our focus. This event brings both Australian and International delegates together to uncover new understandings of the strategy of the 100 Languages as a catalyst for change.  

This Conference, planned in close collaboration with Reggio Children, will be a rich and invigorating experience as we excitedly welcome the return of our esteemed friends and colleagues from Reggio Emilia, supported by a collection of presentations from the Australian research community.

Loris Malaguzzi spoke of atelier spaces as places of research and teachers as professional marvellers  (Vecchi, 2010, p.1), indicating the extent to which the expressive languages can be advantaged and evolved when they are woven into pedagogy and understood as fundamental to the processes of knowledge building.

We are seeking proposals for papers and/or interactive workshops/ateliers that consider the role and value of creativity as expressed in many ‘languages’ to ignite the curiosity of both children and their educators towards innovative practice that ventures beyond the known, made visible by meaningful engagement and deep learning.

Successful papers/workshops/ateliers will address the Conference theme, and may do so through the following threads:

  • the hundred languages as a metaphor – theory, practice and knowledge construction,
  • learning contexts as spaces which engage and ignite curiosity and wonder, towards the transformation of learning and teaching,
  • co-constructing curriculum – the role of curiosity and creativity in democratic classrooms, and,
  • which knowledges and whose perspective? Listening to children and crafting curriculum.

Presentations and atelier-style workshops will be scheduled in the program as 45-minute timeframes. (Please note this includes any time for Q&A with delegates).

Reference: Vecchi, V. (2010). Art and creativity in Reggio Emilia : exploring the role and potential of ateliers in early childhood education  [Bibliographies Non-fiction]. Routledge.

Submissions must be received by 5.00pm (AEDT) Friday 27 January 2023. Successful applicants will be notified in March 2023.

Successful presenters will pay a reduced Conference registration fee of $500.00. ONE reduced registration fee will be  allocated to each presentation, additional  presenters will be able to register at the early bird member price of $1200.00. There will be no ability to split the discount. A condition of presenting is that all presenters must be registered for the conference.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING CONFERENCE PRESENTATION PROPOSAL

Please read these guidelines  prior to commencing your online submission. Incomplete submissions will not be submitted to the selection panel.

The following information must be included in all submissions:

  1. Group contact information For submissions that include more than one presenter, please nominate the group contact person for your submission. Please ensure you include the group contact’s email address and phone number. You will also be asked to complete the full name, phone number and email address of additional presenters. Please click here + at the end of the line to add additional presenter’s information.
  1. Presenter Biography Please include a brief paragraph (100 words) which will be included on our website for the Conference program and social media/promotional materials. If this is a group presentation, please include a synopsis of the group.
  2. Presenter Headshots Please include a headshot for inclusion in the Conference program, website and/or promotional materials. You will be able to upload files through the online form. If you experience any difficulties, please send the files to caryn@reggioaustralia.org.au clearly marked with the name of the group contact. This is an essential part of the submission and incomplete submissions will not be submitted to the selection panel.
  1. A brief history of your interest in and work with the educational project of Reggio Emilia.
  2. Presentation Type e.g. seminar; interactive workshop; other.
  3. Title of your presentation / atelier-style workshop.
  4. 5 key words/themes which your presentation / atelier-style workshop aims to address.
  5. Session Descriptor:
    A brief summary of your presentation / atelier-style workshop (no more than 200 words). This will be used in the Conference program and on the website: Supporting photographs/drawn images: presenters are welcome to submit supporting images, please ensure that supporting photographs of/drawn images by children must have prior written permission from parent/guardian(s) at the point of submissions.
  6. Session Outcomes: As a result of their participation, Conference delegates will…
  7. ‘Target’ audience (ECEC; Kindergarten; School; University; Leadership; other)
  8. Audio Visual Requirements for presentation / atelier-style workshop. Please note: we cannot guarantee late requests, so please advise at point of submission.
  9. Referees: The name, phone number and email of at least 2 professional referees.

Please note: Where children have been co-participants, any supporting photographs/drawn images must have prior permission for usage from parents/guardians.

Please note: Any submission which aims to promote/advertise specific products, consultancies or services will not be considered for inclusion in the 2023 Conference.

Review Process and Guidelines:

All Call for Paper proposals submitted will proceed through a blind review by REAIE Committee members. Papers will be selected on their relevance to:

  • The Conference focus on the role of curiosity and creativity in learning, in dialogue with the hundred languages of learning.
  • The amplification or visibility of the values of the educational project of Reggio Emilia
  • Relevance and currency to contemporary educational perspectives

REAIE will notify all applicants of the outcome of the review process. It may be that some applications are selected for publication in the REAIE Challenge journal rather than presenting in the Conference.

Applications must be submitted online by 5.00pm (AEDT) 27 January 2023. We cannot guarantee consideration of applications received after this date.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF OF THE GUIDELINES
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR CONFERENCE PRESENTATION PROPOSAL