Postgraduate supervision conference 2019

Spier estate is where the 2019 Postgraduate supervision conference will take place. One of the olive trees on the farm 

The call for abstracts on postgraduate supervision 2019 is open and closes on 3 September 2018. Early registration is open until 25 January 2019 and the final registration date is 4 March 2019. This is one of the conferences that I can only attend every second year when it is hosted by Spier in South Africa. All equal years, the conference is held in Australia. Every unequal year, it is time to pack your bags and make an early booking at Spier to attend this conference. You need to book your accommodation now already as this venue tends to be fully booked months before the event. And Spier is one of the most beautiful places in the Western Cape. But, if you cannot book accommodation at Spier, there are awesome hotels and wineries in the vicinity and in Stellenbosch that is only a few kilometers from the Spier Estate.

In 2019, the seventh Postgraduate Supervision conference will take place from 26 to 29 March and the theme for the conference will be: The global scholar: Implications for postgraduate studies and supervision. Sub-themes include the following topics, but other, relevant issues can also be addressed:

Researcher and supervisor connections, exchanges and joint scholarly work.

The mobility of research candidates and research supervisors.

Supervising / examining across geographical borders, cultures and disciplines.

The relation of local contexts, cultures and knowledge to the global arena.

The implications of global scholarship for language and writing.

The implications for the careers of research candidates and research supervisors.

The implications for fees, fee-structures and the costs of globalised postgraduate research and supervision.

The implications for distance and electronic supervision.

Both theoretical and empirical contributions in any of the following three tracks are welcomed:

Postgraduate supervision theories and policies

Postgraduate supervision practices

Postgraduate supervision trends and trajectories.

Hope to see you all there! 

2019 ISfTE conference at the Niagara falls

The 2019 ISfTE conference will take place next to the Niagara Falls in Canada

I just received an e mail with the most wonderful pictures of the Crowne Plaza hotel's dining room overlooking the Niagara Falls accompanying the invite to submit abstracts and register for the 2019 ISfTE conference.

I immediately recall us standing at the roadside and looking at the hotel and saying to each other that this would be a perfect hotel for a conference; then you don't need to drive from Toronto by bus to see and experience this wonderful site.  And then the email arrives! The international Society for Teacher Education (ISfTE) will host their 2019 conference from 12 to 16 May at this venue and it promises to by great fun and an inspiring experience. 

As we are fast approaching the third decade of this millennium, the 2019 ISfTE conference theme is Teacher Education for the Next Decade: Looking to the Past to Inform the Future. Delegates are invited to consider how globalization, transformative practice, and advancing technologies may inform and change education in the next few years. Although I am not linked to the college of Education at our University, the warmth and welcoming attitude towards academics from other disciplines made the first ISfTE conference we attended in the Kruger National Park, a wonderful experience. 

The due date for proposals is 30 January 2019. The conference proposals should be between 250 and 300 words in length and must include an indication of the strand that best reflects the focus of the intended paper. The following group strands can be considered:  

• Advancements in Curriculum and Pedagogy
• Diversity Issues in Education
• Preparing Teachers for the Challenges of the New Decade
• Educational Psychology
• Adult and Community-Based Educational Approaches
• Global Trends and Transformations in Education
• Research Methodologies and Methods in Educational Research

Early bird registration is open until 15 February 2019 and the registration deadline is 20 March 2019. There are also special fees for accompany partners and delegates from developing countries (that is us!)