Welcome to the Conference

The Asia-Pacific Network for Moral Education
Eighth Annual Conference

26-30 June 2013
Yogyakarta State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Learning from Diversity and Commonality:
Ways Forward for Moral Education in the Asia-Pacific.

APNME 8th Annual Confernece - Yogyakarta State University - 26 to 30 June 2013

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Welcome to the website of the 8th annual APNME international conference on moral education, to be held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia from 26-30 June 2013!

We extend a very warm invitation to participate in the 2103 APNME annual conference, which will be held at the Yogyakarta State University, one of the most prestigious universities in Indonesia.

The conference theme this year is both challenging and forward-looking.  It invites all who participate to explore the diversity and the commonalities of the Asia-Pacific region, as a backdrop for advancing moral education in the Asia-Pacific Region. 

What are the differences across and within national and cultural groupings and what do we share?  How can the diversity and commonalities of the Asia-Pacific region provide a resource for cultivating children's and teachers' values and moral/ethical sensitivities?

Is the drive towards globalisation in this region helping or hindering the cultivation of moral awareness?  Indeed, does moral or values education have a good future in the region, or will it decline in the face of globalisation and pressures on the curriculum to teach "more important" subjects?  Does moral education matter?  How may it best be practised in today's Asia-Pacific?

The Conference Committee believes that cultivating moral values and sensitivities does matter, not simply as an item on the curriculum but as a foundation for education (if not of life as a whole), especially in relation to learning and teaching – what some have called values-based learning or values pedagogy.

 

Who is this conference for?

  • Teachers in schools and early-childhood educators who care about fostering moral values in what they teach and how they teach;
  • Teacher-educators, who work with pre-service and in-service teachers and who appreciate the importance of moral values as a foundation for education;
  • School counsellors, whose work brings them face to face with children and parents who are experiencing difficulties at school and at home;
  • School administrators and policy-makers who recognise the importance of values as a foundation for education, both nationally and regionally; and
  • Educators from international and non-governmental organisations and associations, who foster values in their work, in communities and individuals.

 

So, this conference is not only relevant to teachers who are directly involved in moral education, either at school or university level.  Rather it provides a forum for all who care about the place and dissemination of values in education.  This may be through the curriculum, implicitly or explicitly, or through a concern to foster the idea that education itself is a values-based endeavour.

The conference is also keen to encourage cross-disciplinary engagement, across school subject specialisms of science, humanities, social studies and the arts, and between those with different academic backgrounds.

 

The conference aims to:

  • Increase understanding and knowledge of concepts and practices of moral, values, citizenship and character education, and their application and development in the Asia-Pacific;
  • Promote and provide a forum for regional, national and local networking, collaboration and the exchange of ideas and perspectives in relation to moral education through interdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue;
  • Disseminate research findings on moral education approaches, projects and practices in the Asia-Pacific; 
  • Stimulate thinking and cooperative action in relation to moral education and re-orient, deepen and broaden horizons for moral education for the benefit of society in the years ahead;
  • Offer a full programme of stimulating academic and enjoyable cultural activities in a comfortable hotel and university, in the midst of one of the renowned cultural capitals of Indonesia with a long and diverse heritage; and
  • Allow participants a glimpse of the practice of moral education in Indonesia and its context through a school visit and the opportunity for cultural activities.

 

Bring your ideas and experience and join the discussion.  We look forward to warmly welcoming you in Yogyakarta!

The Conference Organising Committee