Welcome to our Society

On behalf of the members of Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia, I welcome you to our website.

The purpose of our Society is to advance educational research, policy, and practice. Our specialist discipline is the philosophy of education. The Society was founded in 1971.

Our annual conference provides the major venue in Australasia for the presentation of research papers and discussions about education.
John Ozolins
President

Conference 2009 Hawaii

December 3 to 6, 2009

East West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii

Papers are invited for the 38th Annual Meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA), to be held from Thursday, December 3 to Sunday, December 6, 2009 at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

For more information, visit the conference web site

The Program Committee invites submissions that address a wide range of educational issues from a variety of theoretical/philosophical perspectives and traditions. What is of educational value in philosophical dialogue across different cultures perspectives?

Theme: Dialogue and Difference

How might different philosophical traditions generate critical debate on contemporary educational issues? What can these different philosophical orientations offer to educational thought and practice? What is of value in inter-cultural dialogue?

Modern educational thought is marked by a considerable and apparently irreducible diversity of ideas and practices. Global society is increasingly an arena of marked divergence in educational values and philosophical orientations arising from a wide variety of traditions and perspectives. This is particularly true in the context of education in the Pacific Region in which differences can be defined not only in terms of competing European philosophies of education and their respective visions of value and practice, nor only in terms of the vastly different traditions of educational thought of East and West, but also in terms of different indigenous perspectives, such as those represented by various aboriginal and minority groups.

Papers that focus on the conference theme may be selected from among those presented at the conference, after further review, for a special issue of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Papers that deal philosophically with other educational issues are also welcome.

The tradition of the Society is to provide a supportive environment for the presentation of papers and the encouragement of a more profound understanding of practical and theoretical issues in education.

Refereed Papers

Papers should be submitted to the Program Chair no later than September 1, 2009.

I. Papers should not exceed 5,000 words in length(excluding references and abstract).

II. They should be prepared in the style of the Society's journal, Educational Philosophy and Theory (See http://www.wiley.com/bw/submit.asp?ref=0013-1857&site=1).

III. An abstract of 150–200 words should accompany each proposal

IV. They should be submitted as an email attachment in either Word or PDF format with a title page that contains the following information:

i. Title of paper

ii. Author's name

iii. Institutional affiliation

iv. Postal address

v. email address

Each paper submitted will be blind reviewed by members of the conference program committee.

Papers will be delivered in concurrent sessions of two or three presenters each, allowing each presenter time to summarize their work (papers are not read in full) and providing time for discussion.

Visit the 2008 conference web pages >

What's new?

1. Visit the 2009 conference web site
2. Time to renew your membership. See the instructions on our membership page.
3. The President, on behalf of the Society, congratulates Linda Graham on her prestigious appointment. John said "it is fantastic news, the award of a PESA Scholarship to Linda two years ago was insightful early recognition of her ability".
4. Congratulations to Peter Roberts on his appointment as professor of education at Canterbury University.

Linda Graham

As was announced: "Dr Linda Graham has been awarded one of six Macquarie University Research Fellowships for 2009.  This was a highly competitive grant with over 130 applications across all disciplines.  Dr Graham is the first in any field of education to have won this prestigious three year research-only fellowship.  Her award comes with $50,000 in research funding to support her proposal to investigate the political economy of special educational needs across four international contexts: New South Wales, England, Alberta and Finland. While she and her international partners won an SSHRC grant earlier this year to support the Finland/Alberta comparison, this fellowship will provide Dr Graham with the support needed to research the Australian component. Linda will be taking up her appointment with the Children and Families Research Centre in the Australian Centre for Educational Studies at Macquarie University in January 2009."

Society Journal

The Society publishes the prestigious journal Educational Philosophy and Theory. Our journal is rated A+ by ERA. Read more>

Journal Editor Michael Peters

Conference proceedings 2007

If you wish to purchase a copy of our conference proceedings please email the secretary, Robert Shaw, robert@porirua.net This includes the dvd of Andrew Gibbon's interview of James Marshall. It provides all the refereed conference papers and other papers about the Society and the conference. It includes photographs. Cost of $50 USD includes package and postage.

Pictures from our 2007 conference>
Conference Pictures Page 2>
Conference Pictures Page 3 >
Conference Pictures Page 4 >
Papers from our 2007 conference>

Our 2007 guest
Paul Smeyers

New Fellow David Beckett watched by Paul Hager

Scholarships

PESA scholarships further the interests of the Society by encouraging doctoral students to engage with philosophical issues in education. The value of each scholarship is $A10,000 and two are awarded each year.

All enquiries about scholarships should be sent to the Society Vice President, Nesta Devine, nesta.devine@aut.ac.nz.

Scholarship Policy: information for applicants

Scholarship Announcements

Linda Graham, 2006

Sandy Farquhar, 2006

Robert Shaw, 2007

Eleanor Horton, 2007

Online forum

The PESA forum provides for online discussion of the philosophy of education and Society matters. It is also the place for news about people and appointments. Students are welcome to participate. If you have lost your login and password email Peter Fitzsimons pjf05@attglobal.net.

Be a member

We welcome new members. Apply online here>

The "Renew your Membership" instructions are on this page>

For our privacy and website use policy see the Rules of PESA.
For comments on the website, email the Webmaster.
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© The Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia, 2007