2012 - 4th Paris International Conference on Education, Economy and Society

The Conference is intended to be a forum, discussion and networking place for academics, researchers, professionals, administrators, educational leaders, policy makers, industry representatives, and advanced students, interested in Education.

The languages of the conference are English and French.

Any and all areas of Education are invited, as are economic, political, cultural and social themes relating to Education. Proposals falling into these areas are welcome, as well as those proposals which will more specifically address any of the three following seminars to be held during the Conference.

Seminar on Schooling in Disaster Situations
Disaster situations require that particular attention be paid to the issue of how to maintain and handle schooling. In such situations, setting a support system ensuring that children continue receiving education is a priority. Among the issues to be addressed: planning operations ahead; mobilising human and material resources; field operation engineering and management; philosophical, cultural and ethical issues; lessons from past experience; the future of international humanitarian assistance in education. This seminar is organised by the International Organization for School Reconstruction in Emergency Situations (IOSRES). The proposals addressing this topic will be presented there.

Seminar on Experimenting and evaluating the method of emotional deactivation of prejudice
The method of emotional deactivation of prejudice (Boucher 2010) has been initially experimented in Canada in Autumn 2003 at the Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Based on several successful classroom applications, the method was then presented at the 29th AQPC Annual Symposium held in Trois-Rivières in 2009, and also at the 2nd Paris International Conference on Education, Economy and Society in 2010.

In this era of globalisation marked by the increasing attention paid to social and cultural diversity, the method of emotional deactivation of prejudice is a tool for bringing closer cultures and groups at global and local levels. The method makes it easier to communicate and exchange with victims of difference-based prejudice, and also with people from other cultures. It aims at educating to citizenship and at decreasing prejudice against minority groups. This seminar will be devoted to presenting and discussing experimentations and empirical evaluations of the method of emotional deactivation of prejudice. Contributions on this topic are called for. [Boucher, Jean-Nil (2010), The approach of emotional deactivation of prejudice, Education, Knowledge & Economy, 4(3), 135-141]

Seminar on Social and cultural diversity and the transition from education to the working life
Building on cultural globalisation and the increasing demand for social equity, this research programme addresses two issues. First, the demand from society and business for social and cultural diversity is internationally investigated. Second, the programme focuses on the ways for schools to address that demand through making their students' diversity an asset for their transition to the working life. This programme was launched in 2010. In this seminar, a first set of findings will be presented, along with the new contributions which will be proposed. Contributions on this topic are hence also called for.