Slovene Society of Educators in Boarding Schools (DVDDS) organizes VII. International professional congress in cooperation with The National Education Institute and Community of Boarding Schools Slovenia. The title of the congress is:
CHALLANGES OF EDUCATION IN GLOBAL SOCIETY
The congress will take place on 25 and 26 March 2021 online.
The Congress will be held as a meeting of experts, intended for professionals working in boarding schools, primary and high school education, educational and correctional facilities, universities, facilities for adult education, social work centers, NGOs, health care centers, and other institutions providing care for children and young people who are included in the educational system in one way or another.
The aims of the congress are directed towards professional training, exchange of views and practices inside and outside of the expert field of education. The topics covered should help strengthen the professional identity of the educators and other professionals as well.
With the intention to broaden and enrich our knowledge with practices from different places and from other professions, we invite experts from other countries to take part in the congress.
Topics will be presented in six sections:
- Ethos, integrity, competence, and autonomy in educational work;
- Boarding schools in the past, present, and future
- Leadership and management in education
- Culture, sport and other free time activities
- Teenagers facing the challenges of modern society
- Youth section.
A brief overview of the individual sections;
- Integrity, competence and autonomy in educational work
Within this section, we would like to focus on ethos, integrity, and competence of educators in the education field from different points of view. What are the areas in which an educator should gain the most competencies: communication, relationships, teaching, logistics/organization skills, leadership…? We are interested to gain knowledge in different views or interpretations of the autonomy of a boarding school, school, institution, and the autonomy of a teacher/educator and how this is implemented in practice? How do ethics and autonomy manifest in school/boarding school culture and climate and who is responsible for providing frames of ethics, integrity, competence, and autonomy in education? What can we do to intertwine education for values with the curriculum and dimensions of each personality? Theoretical views, experiences, initiatives, ideas, etc.
- Boarding schools in the past, present and future
In this section we will be thinking about, reflecting, analyzing, and evaluating life and work in boarding schools in the past, present, and future. We will touch upon theories, trends, principals, values, and concepts of educational practices that had the key influences on the development and operating of boarding schools. The educational process is taking place on an interpersonal level of a relationship and is based on trust. We will touch upon the topic of the added value and examples of good practices that boarding schools offer with their social contribution on the national and global levels. Scientific research in the area of work in boarding schools helps us raise awareness on identifying where we stand at the moment and enables us to plan for the future. In the promotion of boarding schools, media and political decision-makers play an important role. Sustainable development guidelines encourage us as education professionals and teenagers in our care to maintain respect and dignity towards our fellow human beings and everything that surrounds us.
- Leadership and management in education
To be a good leader, the headmaster has to master many different skills, which are impossible to be covered by just one person. Consequently, it is important to discuss about collaborative leadership that has to take place with the aim to encourage professional collaboration and inclusion of all staff in debating and decision making on all of the important topics. Also of great value is ongoing care for personal development and professional development of leaders, constant reflection and self-evaluation, implementation of good practices, adoption of new concepts of leadership and, nonetheless, organizational and operational changes in educational institutions.
This section will cover the following topics: What does it mean to have a professional approach within the frames of a modern boarding school? Management and assertive approach to leadership in boarding schools. Added-value of senior educators 50+ years of age. Headmaster as an efficient manager of an institution. Headmaster cooperating with the environment. Headmaster has a leading role in the development of the educational institution and is responsible for identifying and ensuring quality. Other.
- Culture, sport and other free time activities
Arts, crafts, and sports activities have always played an important role in education. Most educational institutions and especially boarding schools pay a lot of attention to such activities as part of their educational program. In this section, we want to include activities and projects, examples of good practices, goals, which help to improve the quality of free time and simultaneously strengthen interpersonal bonds. What are the effects of these activities, how did we conceptualize them, put them into practice, how could we improve them… These are the guidelines for our discussion and inspiration for our future work.
- Teenagers facing the challenges of the modern society
Through our work, educators come across many different individuals. While some are very agile in executing the developmental and working tasks, others can have a great amount of problems in that process. The question is, how do we act and respond as professionals? How do we see and experience struggling adolescents? Are we able to recognize nonconstructive behavior and its consequences? What are the methods and practices we use to feel effective at tackling these issues?
In this section, we will give space for debate about all the challenges of adolescents (and consequently ours as professionals) that we are facing. How are we dealing with them and how could we be more successful at facing these challenges in the future? The aim is to share interpersonal experiences, examples of good practices, and to inspire each other for new approaches and views. We are trying to break down prejudices and accept diversity. We are responding to the current social events, offering our opinions and solutions for a more active role of educators, consequently also adolescents, in the future.
- Youth section
Life in a boarding school through the eyes of a student.
This section is devoted to the presentations of our students. Sports, cultural projects, humanitarian projects or activities, and other free-time activities in boarding schools. They will be talking about their experiences of life in boarding schools or how does it feel to be a teenager in these times… are some of the ideas for presentations. A presentation can be the work of one or more students (maximum three). Presentations can be executed in a variety of ways (posters, PowerPoint, video….). The presentation is limited to 10 minutes. The students get a written certificate of participation at the congress. Mentors (maximum of 2 mentors per article) can prepare a written article by themselves or together with students according to the guidelines for articles at the congress. Mentors also receive a certificate of participation. According to past experiences of participating students, participation in such a congress can be a very informative and connecting experience.
GENERAL CONDITIONS AND DEADLINES
The formal language at the congress is Slovene, working languages are also English, Croatian and Serbian language.
Active participants (the ones with written articles or a workshop and an article in the Information Publication of Subjects) apply for participation on this link – APPLICATION or. send the title and summary of the article through the e-mail address: kongres@dvdds.si.
The latest date for application for active foreign participants is 30. 11. 2020. Please, stick to the deadlines, because only this way can we ensure that your article can be part of the conference program.
Articles should be prepared according to ‘The guidelines for authors for the preparation and presentation of articles on the VII. International congress of boarding schools of Slovenia 2021’, which are published on the web page of the DVDDS.
- Everyone can participate with only one contribution.
- The paper may be presented at the congress only by the author and/or co-authors.
- Papers will be reviewed using the technique of blind review.
- The certificate of active participation will be given to participants, who will also present their contribution to the congress.
- Submitted manuscripts must be proofread.
- If you are going to submit photo material on which minors are present, please arrange all the needed permissions with their parents in accordance with the law (permission for the photo being published in the proceedings).
- Full-time students, pensioners, and the unemployed claim a discount when paying the registration fee with appropriate proof of status.
- If the registered participant without the paper will not be able to attend the Congress, he/she can notify the organizers about the alternate participant within two days (48 hours).
- Congress may be photographed and filmed, published online, therefore photographs and recordings can be made public. By registering, under these conditions, the participant confirms that he is aware of the possibility of being visible on the photos, recordings, and other created content of the Congress that might be uploaded to the Internet and published.
- Articles will be published in the native languages of the presenters, summaries in the native and English language.
Presentation of article
In February you will send us a presentation of your article. It can be a video presentation, PowerPoint presentation with audio sound, or some other visual presentation. It should not be longer than 15 minutes. We will give attendance access to your presentation and if it is possible you will join us on congress by Zoom video call.
We can help you with the presentation. One of the ways is to record the Zoom video presentation. Contact us if you need help. We will be in touch to offer you support.
Other participants (with no articles)
Apply for participation through the e-mail address: kongres@dvdds.si.
The latest date for application is 19 March 2021.
All current information about the conference will be available on the web site: http://www.dvdds.si
For any extra information, you can contact us at the e-mail address: kongres@dvdds.si.
Important dates
| Due date for early application for active participants, including article title and summary | 7.9.2020 |
| Due date for application of active participants, including article title and summary | 30.11.2020 |
| Notice of confirmation to active participants about their application | 03.12.2020 |
| Due date for submission of the complete written article | 14.12.2020 |
| Notice to active participants about the results of the review procedure of the articles | 11.1.2020 |
| Due date for amended articles | 24.1.2021 |
| Due date for early participation application and payment of participation fee for other participants (without an article) | 25.1.2021 |
| The due date for participation application and payment of participation fee for other participants (without an article) | 19.3.2021 |
Participation fee and discounts
| Member of the DVDDS | 50 |
| Other participants | 75 |
| Retirees, full time students and unemployed | 20 |
| High school students | Free |
*Invited participants are exempt from registration fees.
For every second participant from the same institution, the price of the participation fee is reduced from the relevant price in the table above for 10 EUR.
The application has the status of a purchase order and serves as a basis for the participation fees.
Retirees, full-time students, and unemployed individuals can claim the discounts with appropriate proof of their status.
In case you have already applied and paid the fees and you are not able to attend the congress, you can inform us of a substitute individual, that will be filling your place but no later than 48h before congress (valid for participants without the article).
The participation fee covers all lectures and workshops, 20-day access to presentations, Information Publication of Subjects (in electronic form), promotional material, Certificate of participation.
The preparatory committee of the Congress