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

Meg Cotter and Richard Dove of Wyndham Community and Education Centre were recently awarded a  Police Community Exemplary Award at the Victorian Multicultural Awards for Excellence, for their project Wyndham Citizen’s Academy: A Walk through Justice.

The Public Pedagogies Institute would like to congratulate Meg and Richard for their great work and the recognition it has received.

The project will also be discussed in their presentation at our upcoming conference Walking and Talking Public Pedagogies, November 28-29, 2019. Details here

A video of the Wyndham Citizens’ Academy Graduation, recorded and developed by Victoria Police, can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/eyewatchwyndham/videos/vb.134404370080550/418695362089395/?type=3&theater

“Wyndham Citizen’s Academy: A Walk through Justice is a ground-breaking program, led by Wyndham Community and Education Centre, which provided fifteen culturally diverse community leaders, residing in Wyndham, with a first-hand of experience of Victoria’s Justice System. From Victoria’s State Parliament to the Sunshine Magistrates Court; from Wyndham North Police Station to the Metropolitan Remand Centre – and even The Age Newspaper – these dynamic leaders experienced it all.”

A short documentary outlining the project can also be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxGwjjPxagg

The Towards a Werribee Curriculum document is now available for download on our site here.

From the authors:

We sought to find the knowledge that comes from the community. This document is a record of the knowledge that is circulating now in 2018 in Werribee, Victoria. We decided to use the term curriculum as ‘curriculum documents’, as used by educational institutions, reflect a full body of knowledge.

The authors recognize that this is not complete – the task of accessing all the knowledge of every individual and every place in Werribee is larger than our capabilities.

The ‘Towards a Werribee Curriculum’ booklet contains a brief description of each area of knowledge illustrated by photographs from Werribee. ‘Towards a Werribee Curriculum’ will be of interest to those who wish to know Werribee and to local schools and community organisations.

Download Towards a Werribee Curriculum