Welcome Address

The new century presents us with complex educational ecologies. These challenge traditional wisdom and practices in education. At the centre of any change process is the question: How can we design and implement new educational environments that can generate and promote authentic and substantive learning for all our students?

The task of designing new teaching and learning contexts involves understanding locally situated practices, considering local and global cultural drivers, and appreciating the resilience of existing contexts. Teachers are increasingly involved in researching their own contexts and practices, through action research and communities of practice.

As researchers and practitioners work in tandem to develop innovative pedagogies, practices and technologies, the social experiences-both in school, among teachers and students, as well as out of school, among peers, families, communities and virtual networks-play an increasingly central role in designing authentic contexts to support student learning.

The Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference 2009 aims to provide a global forum for practitioners, researchers, educational leaders and policy makers to interact and share leading-edge research and best practices across languages and cultures. Over the years, the conference has successfully established itself as a platform for scholars and practitioners from both the East and West to forge new and innovative directions for educational research and practice. We are confident that the forthcoming conference will continue to be a venue for pioneering work across the world.

The conference theme is intended to inspire and invite rather than restrict or exclude; inter- and multi-disciplinary proposals as well as research from the Asia-Pacific region and Europe are particularly encouraged. The strands that the conference aims to address are outlined here. Papers that fall outside those listed but still within the broad arena of educational research will also be considered. All papers are peer reviewed for suitability and quality.