About ECE

The European Conference on Education (ECE)

The European Conference on Education (ECE) brings together delegates from many different national, cultural and linguistic backgrounds to London, UK, to present new research and exchange ideas. This exceptional platform welcomes speakers and delegates working in any area of education, from academics and theorists to policymakers and practitioners, in both the private and public sectors, for challenging debate and stimulating discussions around the latest concepts and newest approaches.

Held across four continents, IAFOR’s education conferences attract more than 2,000 delegates a year from more than 100 countries. Education as an (inter)discipline drives the purpose of the forum by bringing alive the notions of the international, the intercultural and the interdisciplinary through scholarly, political, and personal encounters with some of the most important academics and practitioners working in the field, as well as the thought leaders of tomorrow.

IAFOR's education conferences are organised in partnership with some of the world’s most prestigious universities and schools of education, including Birkbeck, University of London, UK; University College London (UCL), UK; Waseda University, Japan; University of Sussex, UK; University of Indonesia, Indonesia; and Virginia Tech, USA.

Our conferences have included Featured Presentations by educators and academics, university presidents, government ministers, journalists, and policy makers, as well as academic fora around some of the pressing issues in the fields of education.

We invite you to use the IAFOR platform to share and test your ideas with scholars around the world, and to join us very soon at one of our education conferences.

The European Conference on Education (ECE) is held alongside The European Conference on Language Learning (ECLL). These two events are scheduled simultaneously to maximise opportunities for interdisciplinary discussion and interaction. Registration for either conference allows participants to attend sessions in the other.


About IAFOR’s Conferences on Education

The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) promotes and facilitates new multifaceted approaches to one of the core issues of our time, namely globalisation and its many forms of growth and expansion. Awareness of how it cuts across the world of education, and its subsequent impact on societies, institutions and individuals, is a driving force in educational policies and practices across the globe. IAFOR’s conferences on education have these issues at their core. The conferences present those taking part with three unique dimensions of experience, encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating heightened intercultural awareness and promoting international exchange. In short, IAFOR’s conferences on education are about change, transformation and social justice. As IAFOR’s previous conferences on education have shown, education has the power to transform and change whilst it is also continuously transformed and changed.

Globalised education systems are becoming increasing socially, ethnically and culturally diverse. However, education is often defined through discourses embedded in Western paradigms as globalised education systems become increasingly determined by dominant knowledge economies. Policies, practices and ideologies of education help define and determine ways in which social justice is perceived and acted out. What counts as "education" and as "knowledge" can appear uncontestable but is in fact both contestable and partial. Discourses of learning and teaching regulate and normalise gendered and classed, racialised and ethnicised understandings of what learning is and who counts as a learner.

In many educational settings and contexts throughout the world, there remains an assumption that teachers are the possessors of knowledge which is to be imparted to students, and that this happens in neutral, impartial and objective ways. However, learning is about making meaning, and learners can experience the same teaching in very different ways. Students (as well as teachers) are part of complex social, cultural, political, ideological and personal circumstances, and current experiences of learning will depend in part on previous ones, as well as on age, gender, social class, culture, ethnicity, varying abilities and more.

IAFOR has several annual conferences on education, exploring common themes in different ways to develop a shared research agenda that develops interdisciplinary discussion, heightens intercultural awareness and promotes international exchange.

Other IAFOR Conferences in Education


Previous Speakers

The speakers below, among others, have presented their research at IAFOR's conferences on education.

Sue Jackson, Pro-Vice Master (Vice President) for Teaching and Learning at Birkbeck, University of London, UK, and IAFOR International Director of Programme for Education; Rosemary Deem, OBE, Vice Principal for Education and Dean of the Doctoral School at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK; education and technology expert Eiko Otani, President of Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan; Barbara Lockee, Associate Director of the School of Outreach at Virginia Tech, USA; Frieda Mangunsong, Professor at the University of Indonesia; Mary Stuart, Vice Chancellor of the University of Lincoln, UK; Svetlana Ter-Minasova, Founding Dean and now President of Moscow State University’s School of Foreign Languages, Russia; Akito Arima, former Japanese Minister of Education and President of Tokyo University; Mona Abo-Zena, early childhood development expert of Brown University, USA.


Ways to Get Involved

IAFOR depends on the assistance of a large number of international academics and practitioners who contribute in a variety of ways to our shared mission of promoting international exchange, facilitating intercultural awareness, encouraging interdisciplinary discussion and generating and sharing new knowledge. We are grateful for the time, effort and expertise donated by all our volunteer contributors.

Here are some of the ways you can get involved:

IAFOR Membership

IAFOR membership provides an exceptional opportunity to be a part of a leading global academic organisation, network and platform that is committed to nurturing the very best in interdisciplinary research in the global public interest. Membership is open to all scholars, professionals and policymakers, researchers, or those with a strong professional interest in education.

Reviewing

With thousands of abstracts submitted each year for presentation at our conferences, IAFOR relies on academics around the world to ensure a fair and timely peer review process in keeping with established international norms of double-blind peer review. Our peer review process, which involves both reciprocal review and the use of Review Committees, is overseen by the Conference Programme Committee under the guidance of the International Academic Board.

If you hold a PhD or another terminal degree in your field, are a current or former faculty member and have previous peer review experience, we encourage you to join the ECE Review Committee.

Editing

IAFOR publishes six online, Open Access, editorially independent journals across a variety of disciplines, which are associated with IAFOR’s conferences. IAFOR journals are edited by academics who are experts in their fields, and journal submissions are evaluated by Editorial Board members and peer reviewers across the globe who have the relevant qualifications and expertise.

Publishing

Journals

Publish your research in one of IAFOR’s Open Access, editorially independent journals. Articles may be submitted via open calls for papers. Authors publishing with IAFOR are not required to pay submission or publication fees of any kind, and IAFOR journals are available to a global readership online, completely free of charge and without delay or embargo.


Conference Proceedings

If your abstract has been accepted, and you presented the work at ECE (including Virtual Presentations), you are encouraged to submit a full paper via the online submission system for inclusion in the Conference Proceedings, which will be made available online. For further details of how to submit your paper, please view the Final Paper Submission page. IAFOR Conference Proceedings are Open Access research repositories that act as permanent records of the research generated by IAFOR conferences. Please note that works published in the Conference Proceedings cannot be considered for publication in IAFOR journals.


THINK

THINK, The Academic Platform, is IAFOR’s online magazine, publishing the latest in interdisciplinary research and ideas from some of the world’s foremost academics, many of whom have presented at IAFOR conferences. Content is varied in both subject and form, with everything from in-depth articles to shorter opinion pieces, interviews, film and photography.

THINK gives academics the opportunity to step outside of the traditional research publishing status quo – to get creative, explore different disciplines and to have their ideas heard, shared and discussed by a global academic audience.

To write for THINK, please view the Submit page on the THINK website and then send your article proposal to publications@iafor.org.

Student Internships

Are you a student? Would you like to meet delegates and academics who are experts in their fields, practice your communication skills and experience a truly international academic event? The IAFOR Internship Programme offers opportunities for students to assist at IAFOR conferences such as ECE, involving responsibilities such as greeting participants, helping with registration and guiding participants to presentation rooms. To find out more about internships at an IAFOR event, please visit the IAFOR Internship Programme page.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to suggest additional ways in which you could contribute to IAFOR’s interdisciplinary activities, please feel free to email ece@iafor.org.