8th IOCES International Conference Co-Convened with 5th WCCES Symposium

8th IOCES International Conference Co-Convened with 5th WCCES Symposium 

Theme: The Future is here:  Transforming with Urgency Education Systems for Equitable Rights to Quality Learning

Background and Rationale 

The COVID-19 pandemic has been unrelenting for the more than 2 years now, causing severe hardships to people and losses across the globe. The education systems have been disrupted continually with several schools scrambling to adapt to the online mode of learning. The results of this short-term approach to learning have been disastrous in most instances. Neither the teachers nor the school administrators had any prior experience with mainstream online teaching and learning. Therefore, with limited or even no professional support, most of them did what appeared to be the most appropriate choice – continue with the same curriculum, assessments, and teaching methods by using Zoom-type synchronous delivery tools. Yet, this is not a domain that lends itself to improvisation with positive outcome. Thus, while prima-facie it may appear to be an easy adaptation for teachers as well as learners, who can comfortably log into their systems, assuming they exist and function, from their home and continue the teaching-learning process that has existed for centuries. The general perception was to ‘manage’ the period of the pandemic, which was expected to last for a few weeks, or a few months at worst. However, to the chagrin of the academic community and other stakeholders of education systems, this pandemic has lasted unabated for more than two years and has shown little signs of global elimination abruptly. Despite major breakthroughs, vaccines are not providing consistent coverage against the new variants of the virus, which is getting ample time for mutation due to the uncoordinated and incomprehensive approach to vaccination worldwide.  

The problems in the newly devised online teaching and learning mode started manifesting in many forms. One of them is about the accessibility of hardware and software required to conduct such teaching-learning sessions. Live streaming of lectures requires sturdy hardware, high-bandwidth Internet, and generally expensive software. This is beyond the reach of a large majority of the world population.   

Teachers, who hitherto enjoyed the privacy of physical classrooms, without any interference from parents of students, were left ‘exposed’ to the scrutiny of their teaching in the online mode. The vehement claims about ‘personalized’ attention to each student in the class by the teachers fell flat in most instances. Many parents with literacy capacity, working from home, intently listened to/ watched the online teaching sessions of their wards, only to realize that several teachers were not at par with their expectations. Some of the parents went as far as even complaining to the school management about such issues, which in turn put more pressure on the already stressed-out teachers.  

Furthermore, the intermittent reopening of the schools for physical attendance, with constantly changing guidance on vaccination requirements, mask mandates, and quarantine rules for infected teachers and students further exacerbated the situation. While still based on anecdotal accounts, there are news reports from several parts of the world that the teachers have started to switch to other professions and are leaving the teaching profession in droves. The pandemic has exacerbated the already stressful teaching conditions with minimal pay packages for teachers, especially in the developing countries.  

The age-old invigilated assessment systems that worked in physical classroom settings, proved difficult to implement in the virtual space. Resistance on part of educators to modify the assessment systems, to be in line with new requirements, when memorization on part of learners is not essential anymore, has further posed a problem for teachers enamored with the so called academic ‘rigor’. Few academics had hitherto paid attention to a whole body of research in online curriculum, assessments, teaching and learning already developed during the last few decades after the advent of the Internet.   

Clearly, the future is here in terms of disruptions in the mode of learning and producing knowledge. Thus, the academic community must reinvent curricula, teaching methods, and assessments for quality education for all. According to scientists there is possibility of more pandemics down the line after COVID-19. Comparative educationists must compare what worked and what did not during this tough time of the pandemic. There is a need to devise new educational systems today to get ready for the uncertain future dotted with pandemics and contribute to exploring possibilities for optimal learning. It is hard to acknowledge that we are already in the pandemic age and we must act now rather than wait for the future.  

Questions for Consideration 

Questions for Consideration include (and are not limited to) the following, which may also be adjusted to the different levels of education:  

1.     How can the educational systems be made more robust and resilient in the times of the current and future pandemics?  

2.     Why is it urgent to transform the educational systems under the current circumstances?  

3.     How to ensure equitable rights to quality learning for one and all?  

4.     Can a global educational initiative help in creating an outreach for the most underprivileged people?  

5.     Should plans made in the past to transform educational systems be modified in the light of the current pandemic before implementation today?  

6.     Is it possible to allow flexibility to learners to choose their own preferable mode of learning – face-to-face in physical classroom, virtual classroom or blended?  

7.     How to best assess and respond to a better need-based system including a better synergy of education and health and other basic needs for learners to maximize their learning potential?  

8.     How to ensure  training for new qualified teachers of all the levels of education to better respond to new learning opportunities?  

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, Kazakh, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish are invited. The extended deadline for submissions is October 30, 2022. Submit through this link. The symposium will be held virtually through Zoom.  

EasyChair link for submissions: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=5thwcces2022  ​ 

Following the 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. The APA referencing convention is used in all these publications. Full papers must be sent for peer review latest by March 31, 2023 to publications@wcces-online.org For more updates and announcements, please visit this symposium webpage and WCCES Main Website. The 5th WCCES Symposium is in a recently established series of yearly symposia between the WCCES World Congresses organized every three years. The XVIII World Congress is scheduled to be held in 2024.

Payment of Registration Fee 

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.  

PayPal (www.paypal.com) allows easy payment options through credit/debit cards, net-banking, etc. While transferring the registration fee through PayPal, please choose the option “Transfer to Email” at treasurerwcces@gmail.com. Please make sure that any PayPal charges are paid by you and not deducted from the payment amount. Payment receipt will be sent after the amount reaches the WCCES PayPal account. You are requested to pay the registration amount as soon as possible (latest by 10 November 2022).  

Please share this information with all your co-authors/ panelists so that they may also pay the registration fee well in time. For queries related to payment, please email to: symposium@wcces-online.org

Please complete the registration form on the conference/ symposium webpage: https://www.theworldcouncil.net/5th-wcces-symposium-2022.html

The presentation schedule will be published and updated continually on the above webpage before and during the event. Therefore, it is recommended that the latest version of the schedule should be frequently checked for and downloaded for use.