Please see below details of an excellent event happening just before AERA 2012 and open to SIG members. The event is hosted by BCTF and has been co-organised by SIG member Larry Kuehn. Contact Larry for further details – see below.

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Intercontinental Encounter on Education: Emancipatory Pedagogies and Resistance to Neo-liberalism

A seminar sponsored by the IDEA Network/Red-SEPA

April 12–13, 2012, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Hosted by the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation

The Intercontinental Encounter will examine how neo-liberal economic and social policies are affecting education and pedagogical practices, and frame alternatives to these policies. The focus will be on understanding the nature of neo-liberal education policies in different parts of the globe, their impact, forms of resistance, and pedagogical alternatives that are empowering and emancipatory.

Participants will be researchers and activists from teacher unions and academic researchers who focus on teachers’ work and teachers’ unions. They will be from Latin America as well as North America and other regions. Spanish-English translation will be provided.

The structure of the seminar will be panels of presentations, followed by working sessions in two languages.

This seminar will precede the conference of the American Education Research Association (AERA) being held in Vancouver, Canada, from April 14–17, 2012.

The number of participants will be limited by the need for simultaneous translation. The seminar organizers anticipate that about 20 participants will be from Latin America. There will be room for up to 50 other participants.

More information:

Larry Kuehn, Director of Research, BC Teachers’ Federation (lkuehn@bctf.ca)

Steve Stewart, Technical Secretary, IDEA Network/Red-SEPA (sstewart@codev.org)

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The IDEA1 Network/Red-SEPA2 is a network ofteacher unions, student organizations, and other groups advocating for public education in the Americas—South, Central, and North. It co-ordinates research on education issues in the Americas, holds conferences, issues research reports, and publishes a journal on education, Intercambio. Italso co-ordinates campaigns that have common themes across regions.

1 IDEA = Initiative for Democratic Education in the Americas

2 Red-SEPA = Red Social para la Educación Pública en las Américas

The organization’s web site is at www.idea-network.ca/ideas/english/home.cfm; Facebook: IDEA Network-Red SEPA. The most recent issue of Intercambio is at www.idea-network.ca/ideas/english/research.cfm?pagenumber=5.

The organization has a Research Network and an Indigenous Educators’ Network. 2

Tentative Program

April 12, 2012 (9:00 am to 4:30 pm)

I. Neo-liberal education policies and practices—what do they look like in the South and North?

What are the key elements of neo-liberal education policies in each region?

How do neo-liberalpolicies affect the nature of the work of teaching and the role of the teacher?

What are the mechanisms used to spread neo-liberal policies? How can these be countered?

II. Forms of resistance and rejection of neo-liberal education policies.

Role of teachers and teacher unions in social movements and education alliances

Role of teachers and teacher unions in elections

Use of collective bargaining, strikes and other union tools in resisting neo-liberal policies

The role of student movements in galvanizing support for public education.

III. Two stories of resistance—Chile and Honduras

Privatized education and inadequate funding has been challenged by movements in Chile, first by the revolt of the Penguins (secondary students) and more recently by university students and community and political allies.

Teachers and their unions in Honduras were central to the challenge to the coup. The response from government has been to move to privatize education and to repress the teacher unions. This struggle has now been taken up by a revitalized high-school students’ movement throughout the country.

April 13, 2012 (9:00 am to 3:00 pm)

IV. Pedagogical alternatives—emancipatory pedagogies

1. Reports on projects and publications

(Examples: Non-sexist pedagogy project in Central America; outcome of the Education International Latin America Pedagogical Congress; alternative education projects in Mexico; The Federation of Central American Teacher’s organization’s proposal for new pedagogies; publications of Rethinking Schools.)

Developing approaches to sharing the pedagogical work.

2. The role of teachers’ organizations (and other sectors of the education community) in developing and promoting alternatives to the neo-liberal ideological offensive within schools (administration, methodology and content).