Enlightening Encounters in Early Childhood

Faculty of Education Enlightening Encounters in Early Childhood National Conference Call for Proposals for National Conference on Early Childhood Education Enlightened Encounters in Early Childhood, a national conference on early childhood education, will be held on December 9-10, 2015 at Levinsky College of Education in Tel Aviv. The purpose of the conference is to help improve the quality of life for young children in the State of srael by reinforcing ties between policymakers, the Ministry of Education, government authorities, educators, childcare workers, teacher educators and researchers. The conference will host guest lecturers and leading sraeli researchers and theoreticians. We seek proposals from the diverse community of individuals involved in researching early childhood in srael, among them experienced researchers in the fields of education and society, students studying for graduate degrees, preschool teachers researching their work environment and educators in various roles. Conference presentations will include research and practical initiatives related to the conference topics. We have chosen to dedicate this conference to the encounters between those engaged in early childhood education in srael out of an understanding that practice and research are dependent

upon the quality of the encounters between people, organizations, communities and cultures. Successful encounters between individuals and organizations are based upon the willingness of each party to accept that different perspectives exist and to understand these perspectives. Hence the name of the conference - Enlightening Encounters in Early Childhood. Conference Themes: Multicultural encounters in early childhood education Encounters between training and teaching and between research and practice in early childhood Encounters from diverse perspectives: children, parents, educational staff, counselors and childcare workers Conference Strands: Values and ethics in early childhood education and research Children's difficulties in various life contexts Coping with challenges in preschool and daycare Encounters between children, parents and educators face to face and via diverse technologies in advanced technological settings Continuity and transitions transitions between cultures, languages, educational settings and the like Reality confronts policy implications for babies, toddlers, children and their families Discourse, language, society and literacy in early childhood Encounters between emotional, social, cognitive and physical aspects in early childhood

Assessment and curriculum modes and dilemmas Encounters with children's books Regular education and special education taken together and each one separately Encounters between the perspectives of children and those of adults *Proposals can also be submitted on other related topics. We encourage the submission of proposals involving qualitative research, quantitative research and mixed research, as well as special or innovative educational models and applied initiatives for promoting early childhood education. Examples include: educational-social involvement in the community; parent-teacher-pupil relations for advancing education; innovation and renewal in educating preschool teachers; models for integrating advanced technologies and their role in early childhood education; including young children in the world of new media: innovative models of cooperative learning; models for creating a learning community; models for implementing multicultural education in an era of change; models and initiatives that foster language and literacy in early childhood. Types of Sessions for Proposal Submission: ndividual lectures: Proposals for individual lectures can be submitted by individual researchers or groups of researchers. The conference organizers will assign each lecture to a session according to its thematic relationship to the session topic. Each session will include four lectures from the same area of interest. The submitted proposal should include a 300- word abstract. Each lecture will be 20 minutes in length.

Complete session on designated topic: A complete session will comprise four lectures on a single designated topic and will last 90 minutes. Proposals for complete sessions should be submitted by the session chair and should include: session title, chair name and institutional affiliation, session objectives, major themes unifying the lectures included in the session and four abstracts, 300 words each. Symposium: Symposia proposals should be submitted by the symposium chair and should include: symposium title, symposium chair name and institutional affiliation, symposium objectives and major themes, names, institutional affiliations and email addresses of symposium participants, name of person responding to the symposium and 300-word abstract outlining the topic to be discussed. Posters: Posters are intended to help presenters describe their work to others. Two types of poster proposals can be submitted: (1) Single posters: The conference organizers will determine how and where these posters are presented based upon their thematic relationship to other posters submitted to the conference; (2) Supervised posters complete session: Proposals for a group of up to five posters to be submitted by a responsible chair/advisor. This option, for example, can be appropriate for a number of different research studies on the same theme carried out by under the supervision of an academic advisor. Poster proposals should be submitted by the supervising advisor with a short description of the goals of the poster session and the central theme, the names of the poster presenters and the title of each poster. Each presenter will be given five minutes to present the poster. The role of the chair/advisor is to stimulate discussion based on the presented posters. Proposals for

poster sessions should include the session title, the name and institutional affiliation of the presenters and a 300-word abstract. The posters displayed at the conference must conform to a unified format of 100 cm X 70 cm. Posters should include a minimum amount of text and a maximum amount of visual information, and the text should be at least 20-point font. Round Tables: This type of session is suited for developers of programs, initiatives and unique models in early childhood education. This type of presentation is appropriate for presenters interested in receiving feedback on their work and in stimulating animated and constructive discussion on the goals and ways of implementing their initiative/program/mode. Each initiative/program/model will be presented at a separate round table. After a short presentation, a discussion will be held on the goals, implementation methods and contribution to early childhood. Proposals should be submitted by the round table organizer and should include the title of the session, the name and institutional affiliation of the round table organizer, the objectives of the round table and the major themes and questions it raises. Each session, including presentation and subsequent discussion, will be 45 minutes long. Proposals should be submitted in the form of 250-word written abstracts. Debate Hyde Park: This type of presentation session is suitable for those interested in raising major arguments or dilemmas in the areas of policy, practice or the relationship between them in early childhood education. The purpose of such a presentation is to stimulate thought and action. Presenters will make a seven-minute presentation of their arguments, followed by a discussion with participants regarding the topics raised. The

presenter will be asked to document the discussion. The conference organizers will collect the documented discussions and will subsequently post them on the conference website in the form of an electronic collection that will present major issues of interest to the community of those engaged in all levels of early childhood education. Debate proposals should be submitted in the form of 250-word abstracts, including the title of the debate and its objective, the name and institutional affiliation of the presenter, the name and institutional affiliation of the individual documenting the debate and a list of discussion questions to be addressed to the participants. We seek debate proposals from the following fields: controversial topics in the field of early childhood education, such as teaching the Holocaust in early childhood; integrating technology in early childhood education; using children's books in different languages in public preschools; celebrating Christian and Muslim holidays alongside Jewish holidays in preschools with mixed populations. Technological Start-Up Competitions in Education: Creative developers are invited to submit proposals for innovative and unique start-up projects for integrating technology in early childhood education. Proposals should include start-ups whose development was completed from three months to two years before the date of submission and that can be demonstrated. Proposals should be submitted in the form of 250-word written abstracts. Abstract structure: start-up objectives, rationale, target population, short description of the start-up, importance and implications for education. Proposals should include the url of a website that demonstrates or provides information about the start-up and a short biography of each of the developers. The start-ups will be judged by a committee of experts. The three top ranking start-ups will be exhibited at the conference plenum and will be awarded a

certificate in the presence of all the conference participants. The winners will also receive help in conducting research to accompany the start-up and academic exposure. nstructions for submitting abstracts: 1. ndicate the following information at the beginning of the abstract: type of proposal research or practical initiative/model; type of session: individual lecture / complete session on designated topic / symposium / poster / round table / debate. 2. The length of the abstract should be in accordance with the instructions for each type of session as outlined in the section on type of session outlined above. 3. The abstract should be written in Hebrew, 12-point David font, double-spaced and rightjustified. 4. The abstract title should be in 16-point bold font and contain a maximum of 50 characters. 5. The name(s) of the presenter(s) should be in 14-point bold font. The email address and institutional affiliation of each presenter should be indicated. n the case of several presenters, the main presenter should be listed first, followed by the names of the other presenters. n each case the first name should be indicated first, followed by the last name. 6. Every abstract should include the proposal objectives, a short theoretical background, methodology or educational practice or initiative description, findings, and importance and implications of the research or the initiative. 7. The abstract should include up to three references, in APA style.

Send the abstract as a Word file to the following email address: kenesgilrach@levinsky.ac.il All submissions will undergo anonymous review. Deadline for submission of abstracts: April 30, 2015 Notification of Acceptance/Rejection Sent to Authors by May 30, 2015 Conference Chairs (jointly, in alphabetical order of family names): Dr. Russo-Zimet Gila and Dr. Tal clodie Scientific Committee (in alphabetical order): Prof. Aram Dorit, Dr. Ben-Nun Nicol, Dr. Brody David, Dr. Broka Esther, Dr. Dolev Smadar, Dr. Erez Tamar, Dr. Ezer Hana, Dr. Friedman Avigail, Hadad-Ma-Yafit Sima, Prof. Gilat Ytzhak, Dr. Glushenkof Claudia, Prof. Kacen Lea, Dr. Keren Einat, Prof. Korat Ofra, Prof. Mevorach Miriam, Marry Saruan Ebtisam, Dr. Pariente Bilaha, Dr. Rodin Shay, Dr. Russo-Zimet Gila, Dr. Sady Sylvia, Prof. Sher Anat, Dr. Shreiber Michal, Dr. Tabak Edith, Dr. Tal Clodie, Dr. Vardy-Ratt Esther, Dr. Zimmerman Hana, Prof. Ziv Margalit, Dr. Ziv Yair, Dr. Zorman, Rachel