ECER-Conference "Education and Cultural Change"

Cultural change has emerged as an important issue in most European countries due to increased migration. With regard to education in Europe, culture is often perceived as referring mostly to ethnicity, religion and language, though cultural diversity also refers to race, gender, class, age, ability and sexual orientation. Changes in the cultural contexts where education takes place have raised new questions both in educational practice and research. Thinking of students in terms of traditional categories of race, class and gender declines in usefulness; instead the intersection of categories as well as consideration of local and global contexts needs to be taken into account. In addition, alongside formal schooling, other domains of activity such as youth and popular cultures, extra-curricular activities, as well as social, environmental and religious movement are vital in understanding cultural changes and their significance to education. The theme brings to the forefront the view that educational institutions need to take cultural contexts into consideration in their policies and activities. It emphasizes how cultural changes impact the way children, adolescents and adults are educated in both formal and informal education. The conference theme provides an orientation for keynote speakers and for invited symposia and panels. It mights also be taken as a reference for the topics of sessions organised by EERA networks. The conference welcomes all contributions relevant to educational research.

Source: EERA