CHILDREN IN THE FACE OF DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES

Transcription

1 Faculty of Educational Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań has the honour of inviting you to an International Scientific Conference entitled: CHILDREN IN THE FACE OF DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES which will be held on December 2013 under the auspices of the Dean of the Faculty of Educational Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University (UAM) prof. zw. dr hab. Zbyszko Melosik

2 Childhood is the time which everyone should associate with the joy of exploring the physical and social world, acquiring a considerable knowledge about the world, as well as deriving satisfaction from the process of improving one s cognitive and social activity. It is also the time to experience overflowing love that conditions growth and development of an individual, love that comprises acceptance, understanding, psychological communication, kindness, care, tenderness, affection and protectiveness, prefers Promethean values in life, gives the sense of security and self-esteem. Yet, for many children the reality of their childhood is not happy. This is because, over the recent years, there has been an increase in the number of factors causing difficult situations in the lives of children. It results from the contemporary lifestyle entailed in social and economic transformations that require continuously adapting to changing conditions and taking up new and stressful tasks and responsibilities which often come as an excessive burden, as well as from consumerism, mobility, anonymity of life, technical progress which encourages people to spend their free time in isolation from others, and from the growing problems that endanger families such as expanding social poverty, impoverishment, unemployment, alcoholism, a rising number of divorces, family conflicts or a long-term absence of one of the parents (spouses) when working to make a living abroad. Unfortunately, we have to agree with the metaphor from Zaniedbana piaskownica. Style wychowania małych dzieci a problem nierówności szans edukacyjnych (Neglected sandpit. Styles of bringing up young children and the problem of unequal educational opportunities) (2003), a work by Tomasz Szlendak, which

3 says that it is very few children who have had their comfortable stairs to development covered with cloth whilst others had a pit dug for them from which they cannot get out unaided. Therefore, we would like to invite you to have an interdisciplinary discussion of a contemporary child and its existential problems so that we not only focus on types of difficult situations and their consequences in the lives of the young generation, but also on the educational opportunities of preparing them to overcome such problems. Our suggestion is to discuss those problems with reference to the basic environments in which children live: families which provide the primary context for children s development, and secondary environments such as kindergartens, schools and peers. This conference is to provide a forum for exchange of experience between theoreticians and practitioners dealing with children who are in unfavourable or adverse situations and struggle with various difficulties. Accordingly, our invitation to this conference is addressed to: teachers, special education teachers, psychologists, sociologists, doctors; local government representatives; directors of educational institutions, head teachers and teachers; specialists in the areas of social compensation, educational prevention and rescue.

4 Conference venue: The conference will be held at the Faculty of Educational Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (UAM), 89 Szamarzewskiego Street. Conditions of participation: To attend the conference please send the registration form (Appendix 1) by 1 October 2013 to the following address: Wydział Studiów Edukacyjnych UAM Zakład Edukacji Dziecka ul. Szamarzewskiego Poznań With an annotation Conference or by to: The conference attendance fee is PLN 500 (the fee includes: conference materials, catering coffee breaks, lunches, a banquet, monograph publication). Please pay the conference fee into the bank account of UAM: BZ WBK specifying in the bank transfer description field sub-account K purpose, and adding a note Konferencja XII 2013, by 10 October 2013.

5 A framework conference programme with the necessary organisational information will be provided in the second announcement. Attendees book and pay for their accommodation and travel themselves (for proposed accommodation see Appendix 2). Texts are to be published in a reviewed collective monograph after the editorial requirements (as specified in Appendix 3) have been fulfilled. Please submit your text on the conference day (hardcopy or a CD) and leave it with the organisers. Please contact the conference office for any organisational matters at the telephone number: and ; or by

6 Conference Scientific Committee: Prof. dr hab. Małgorzata Cywińska, chairwoman Prof. dr hab. Danuta Borecka- Biernat (University of Wrocław) Prof. dr hab. Radmila Burgovičová (Ostravská Univerzita) Prof. zw. dr hab. Władysław Dykcik (Faculty of Educational Studies, UAM) Prof. dr hab. Ivana Gejgusova (Ostravská Univerzita) Prof. zw. dr hab. Sabina Guz (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin) Prof. zw. dr hab. Maria Jakowicka (University of Zielona Góra) Prof. dr hab. Marzenna Magda Adamowicz (University of Zielona Góra) Prof. zw. dr hab. Barbara Nowak (Faculty of Educational Studies, UAM) Prof. dr hab. Klaudia Schultheis (Catholic University of Eichstaett Ingolstadt) Prof. dr hab. Lidia Suchanek (Faculty of Educational Studies, UAM) Prof. dr hab. Andrzej Twardowski (Faculty of Educational Studies, UAM) Conference Organising Committee: Prof. dr hab. Małgorzata Cywińska, chairwoman Mgr Katarzyna Arciszewska Mgr Wojciech Arciszewski Mgr Julia Kisielewska Meller Mgr Małgorzata Moszyk - secretary Mgr Maria Pieprzyk - secretary Mgr Anita Sobczak