2nd International Conference on Education Research for Development in Africa (ICERDA)
In 2015, an academic research partnership was established between th University of Sussex, UK and the University of Ghana, Accra. The goal was to create a unique space for new and established education researchers to meet regularly to disseminate research that addresses and develops a critical discourse on education for development in Africa. ICERDA responds to the need for an independent forum where African voices, and scholars who work with African colleagues, can share evidence based insights into educating the next generation of young Africans. We seek to promote a new balance between the stakeholders that shape public policy which privileges evidence and rational dialogue. As the Sustainable Development Goals are adopted it is more important than ever that the locus of control of development and the ideas that make a reality of theories of change are driven by African public intellectuals who can speak truth to power.
The second ICERDA conference will be held at Alisa Hotel, Accra, Ghana from the 3rd-5th October 2016. The theme of the conference is: “Towards a Vision of Education for Sustainable Development in Africa”. The goal of this year’s conference is to promote meaningful and equitable progress in education for sustainable development informed by the experience of Education for All and responsive to the aspirations of the next generation of learners. The conference will reflect on the stories of education for development in Africa since 2000 and provide an African arena to review the past, appraise the present and plan the future of educational investment.
This year’s conference offers the opportunity to present research studies in education and related fields of study, collate analytical reviews, invite theorising linked to evidence, and encourage policy dialogue around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the context of Africa’s development.
The conference will have three distinguished speakers:
1. Emeritus Professor Keith Lewin from the University of Sussex, UK, who has decades of research experience in Africa will speak on the topic: Will the SDGs Disrupt Underdevelopment in Education in Sub Saharan Africa?
2. The second distinguished speaker is Professor Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, a renowned development economist. He will speak on the topic: Making Education work for Development in Africa: what works under what conditions.
3. The third speaker is the distinguished South African Professor and Secretary General of the World Education Research Association (WERA), Professor Liesel Ebersöhn who will speak on the topic: Sustaining well-being in education by considering Southern African pathways to resilience.
Special guest of honour at the conference is the Honourable Minister of Education from the Republic of Malawi who will make a presentation on the role of the Ministry of Education in driving an agenda for education for sustainable development in Africa.
The conference invites papers, posters and thematic presentations on a range of themes linked to new visions of education for sustainable development that include:
· critical discourses of education for development in Africa;
· assessment of donor roles and the politics of education in Africa
· policy research on strategies for inclusive and equitable educational quality;
· analyses of teacher management to enhance educational quality and equity;
· assessment of the roles of private sector participation in education
· analyses of the financing of education in Africa
· expanded secondary school and curriculum relevant to sustainable development;
· science, technology and mathematics education for development in Africa
· gender, social inequality and equity.
All contributors and papers should include reflections on some aspect of Education SDG 4.1 or 4.7 and offer insights into how commitments to sustainable development can be translated into new approaches to education and development in Africa. The UN Sustainable Development Goals can be found at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/
Selected papers will be published in a new ICERDA journal: “Perspectives on Education for Development in Africa”, (PEDA) with an international editorial board.
Deadline for submission of abstract is 19st August, 2016
Participants whose abstracts are accepted for the conference and wish to have their paper considered for publication in PEDA should submit a full draft by 9th September 2016.
Professor Kwame Akyeampong,
University of Sussex, UK
Chair – ICERDA Organising Committee
Members
Professor Jonathan Fletcher – University of Ghana
Professor Audrey Gadzekpo – University of Ghana
Dr. Ernest Ampadu – University of Ghana
Professor Ghartey Ampiah – University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Dr. Ato Essuman – Methodist University, Ghana
Professor Brian Hudson – University of Sussex, UK
Professor Keith Lewin – University of Sussex, UK