7th IOCES International Conference Co-convened with the 4th WCCES Symposium (Virtually through Zoom)

Conference Theme - Values Education and Emotional Learning: Broader Implications for Holistic Curriculum & Schooling during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education”                                                                                                - Dr. Martin Luther King   

Background and Rationale 

For more than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has continued its devastation in the world despite the advent of vaccines. The inequalities on the bases of race, gender, social class, ethnicity, national origin, religion and a broader set of grounds of social differentiation, within and between nations, have been further exposed by the ravages of the pandemic. For instance, despite promises, vaccines have been hoarded by wealthy nations while leaving the developing nations with limited capacities in managing this global crisis within their respective borders. This pandemic has also tested the leadership almost everywhere in the world by bringing their morals, values and priorities on the forefront. The reality in which communities and nation-states interact and scientific facts indicate that it must be eradicated globally to ensure the safety of all everywhere.    

Humanity has always faced the fundamental questions of values, calamities/adversities. However, historical facts indicate that this global pandemic is unprecedented. Social distancing norms imperative for controlling the spread of this pandemic have challenged the way people relate to, and care or fail to care of each other. Continual or repeated lockdowns in various parts of the world in tandem with the so-called “waves” of the pandemic have resulted in closures of all schools from the lower levels to the institutions of higher learning. Learners of all age groups and levels have been deprived of the traditional modes of education, and the socio-emotional environment of learning has been greatly impacted. Children, confined in their homes due to fears of the raging pandemic are emotionally, socially, and physically constrained. The need to have an internal compass to guide themselves through this time of crisis is felt strongly at this time. A firm foundation of values and emotional competencies can contribute to providing this internal and societal compass.     

A compartmentalized conception and application of education has limited capacity to help achieve the holistic education of learners, to be well-rounded graduates in any disciplines with relevant tools to be productive participants in society. Value-based education and emotional learning provide tools for critical and creative thinking. They also provide the instruments for navigating the educational space for optimal learning of cognitive skills. They equip the learners with the tools that later in life help them in their working/ broader social environment at the local and global level. Foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) learning is critical at the beginning of a life journey of knowledge acquisition. Starting and reinforcing strong foundation of cognitive learning is not mutually exclusive with value-based and emotional learning. In fact, values education and emotional learning are essential in unleashing the cognitive potential and capacity of the learners of all social origins at all the levels of education, particularly at the defining foundational level at the beginning of the learning process. Having acquired solid holistic foundation including cognitive skills as well as values education and emotional learning, the learners would then be prepared to participate in a compassionate world as both local and global citizens. Therefore, rather than a dichotomy of cognitive viz. value-based education and emotional learning, it is more promising to envision a holistic curriculum and schooling that encompass both.     

Furthermore, literally the need for values education and emotional learning as essential in developing capacity to acquire cognitive skills has become evident under the circumstances ensued by various dimensions of the ongoing COVID crisis. More broadly, what has been referred to in education theory, curriculum and pedagogy as social-emotional learning helps not only as a coping tool, but a philosophy and acquisition of skills in the areas of interpersonal communication and self-awareness that are major determinants of successful acquisition of educational cognitive and attitudinal skills, results, outputs and outcomes. These skills acquired through values education and emotional learning are as important as the cognitive acquisitions and are fundamental and instrumental throughout life. It is critically important that scholars and practitioners of comparative education engage more systematically in research, leading to knowledge production and its application in these areas of a holistic education process. Since, to date the work by academics/ teaching professionals, policymakers, and practitioners have put more emphasis on cognitive learning, there is a relative vacuum regarding the important component of values education and emotional learning that must be addressed. The participants of this conference/ symposium will shed light on these less commonly addressed yet important parts of the education process.

Questions for Consideration 

A number of questions, including (but not limited  to) the following are raised as guiding threads  for this symposium:  

- How can comparative education rise to the call in the SDGs towards the promotion of the idea and requirements to nurture shared values caring for our local and global, social and physical environment in recognition of our common humanity?  

- What processes are taking place and/or can be envisioned to leverage the constructive impact of the education systems in different parts of the world during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic?  

- How can education be re-conceptualized through the curriculum and delivered as an effective tool that can help achieve the humanistic values and goals?  

- How can emotional learning become an integral part of education systems?  

- How can emotional learning help in inculcating universal values in human beings?  

- What is the state of current research on cognitive viz. values education and emotional learning?  

- What are the future research trails to systematically engage in better understanding and application of this holistic approach to curriculum and schooling?

Modalities for Submissions 

Submissions of 300 words abstract (in Microsoft Word) for individual presentations or 500 words abstract (in Microsoft Word) for panels in any of the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish are invited. The extended deadline for submissions is October 10, 2021. Submit through this link (you will need to open a new free Easy Chair account as an author even if you used Easy Chair for other conferences earlier). The symposium will be held virtually through Zoom. 

Following the conference/ symposium, presenters will be invited  to revise and submit their papers to one of the three WCCES publication outlets (each with its rigorous peer-reviewed process): 1) Papers of 6000 words in Global Comparative Education: Journal of the WCCES 2) Short papers of 3000 words in World Voices Nexus: The WCCES Chronicle 3) Papers of at least 6000 words as chapters in one or more edited volumes in the WCCES-Brill | Sense book series. Full papers must be sent for peer review latest by March 31, 2022 to publications@wcces-online.org 

The registration fee has been waived off for participants hailing from low and lower-middle income countries (World Bank List of Economies, July 2021) and students from anywhere in the world. For other participants, the registration fee is USD 50. Donations to support the symposium will be much appreciated and acknowledged. For more updates and announcements, please visit the symposium webpage and WCCES Main Website.