A message from Karen Charman, Public Pedagogies Institute:

I hope this message finds you well. As you may be aware, the Public Pedagogies Institute has been in a bit of a hiatus, however now is the time to move forward and I would like to share with you some of the ideas and developments we have in progress.

The importance of thinking and doing education in settings that are open to generative possibilities can’t be underestimated. 

Recently I have been inspired by an international group whose focus is on Human Education in the Third Millennium. To this end the group has written a Global Declaration where they set out what education should be concerned with into the future. If you are interested in learning about the Global Declaration here is the link: Educating Humanity for the Third Millennium

I am part of the steering committee for the work of this group. Next year there will be a conference held on February 13-15 2025 at Azim Premji University (Bangalore, India). Link to conference details

The focus of this conference is how to put this declaration to work. This is a truly international group and as part of this broader network I am involved with a sub section of people who live in the Oceanic region.

I think the Public Pedagogies Institute has a role to play in the work of this group, after all our remit is learning and teaching beyond formal education. The projects of the Institute have been about foregrounding knowledge in all its iterations and I believe we are uniquely placed to think about future possibilities for education. 

Having said that, remembering and learning from the past is also important. To this end the Public Pedagogies Institute will be running a weekly seminar series in 2025 framed around the following questions:

• How might history be informed by a public pedagogical framing?   
• What are the histories of learning and teaching outside of formal education institutions?
• How might approaches to public pedagogies benefit from engagement with the history of education?
• How is the past remembered and in what ways is the past carried forward in the public realm? 
• What pedagogical responsibilities do we as communities have to bring a public into a relationship with the past and what might the public contours of this engagement look like?

An official call for presentations and dates for the seminar series will be announced soon. 

Lastly, in future directions for the Journal of Public Pedagogies, I am looking for people who would be interested in being a part of the editorial committee for the Journal. The intent is to publish an edition next year. So please reach out if you would like to know more: Karen.Charman@vu.edu.au

Thank you for your interest and support for the Institute and I look forward to the work that we as Institute will continue to do.

Dr Karen Charman
Founder, Public Pedagogies Institute