Bergen Conference details - 25-28 September 2008

An outline of the conference theme and call for papers

‘Leading to Learn together and Learning to Lead together’

Preliminary Invitation to The 2008 ENIRDELM Conference in Bergen, Norway 25th -28th September

This is a reminder about this year’s conference and an invitation to present papers and prepare for workshops. Paper-presentations will be in parallel sessions, primarily on Friday 26th, workshops Friday and Saturday.

We hereby invite people to propose papers and themes for the workshops by doing one or both of the following:

Paper abstracts (aprox. 300 words) should be mailed to ohk@nla.no by June 15th

Proposals for workshop themes should be mailed to ohk@nla.no by April 30th

The formal invitation to the conference included the program will follow in May 2008, and at the same time we will start registration for the conference.

This year’s conference intends to put more weight on workshops than what has been done the recent years. The idea is to create an environment for discussion, so that people will get feed- back on ideas, practice, research projects, educational policy, leadership experience, school leadership training programs, etc. The workshop groups will each have two 90 minutes sessions. The leader of the workshop should see to that an introduction to the theme of the workshop is given. It should be limited to 15 minutes at the most. A written presentation should be submitted to the participants electronically beforehand. Below you will find a description of the conference theme. This represents the frame of reference for the papers and presentations.

The theme for the forthcoming 2008 ENIRDELM Conference links two key issues which are at the centre of international education discourse: Educational Leadership and Lifelong learning. The current reality, of an expanding and shifting knowledge-base for educational leaders and also the ever changing education context in which they seek to achieve their goals, makes inescapable a commitment to lifelong professional learning by all those involved in education and educational leadership.

The conference theme for 2008 offers a backdrop for discussion and debate on -

• The role of educational leadership in enabling personal, professional and organisational learning?

• What are ‘best ways’ of learning to lead in a collaborative way?

It also offers an opportunity for presenters and participants to explore the interdependence of these two processes and the significance of ‘relationships’ and the affective dimension of leading and learning to both.

During the conference we wish to explore fundamental questions which the facilitation of these processes poses for policymakers, researchers, leaders in education including school leaders and classroom practitioners:

• What are the key enabling / inhibiting factors for ‘learning leadership’ and ‘leading learning’ at institutional and at national level? • What are the main tensions? • Who are the key players? • Does organisational / school culture play a role? • How significant are organisational relationship / power issues? • What is best practice with regard to the management and co-ordination of enabling resources and structures? • Do networks / partnerships have a role? • Are there implications for educational development and teacher continuing professional development?