Some of our keynote speakers
ACAL is pleased to annonce that Professor Joseph Lo Bianco will be a keynote speaker at "Hands up... Hands on..."
Professor Bianco is the Chair of Language and Literacy Education and Associate Dean (Global Engagement) at Melbourne Graduate School of Education in the University of Melbourne. He is also President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
He is well known as the author of the National Policy on Languages, the 1987 policy adopted by the Australian government as a comprehensive national plan covering all of Australia's language needs and interests: English and English literacy; English as a second and as a foreign language; languages other than English including Indigenous language rights, immigrant and foreign languages; and language services such as research, translating and interpreting, and public media.
Joe has more than 32 books and major reports and 120 chapters and articles. His most recent books include: China and English: Globalisation and Dilemmas of Identity (2009), Second Languages and Australian Schooling (2009). He has worked as a language advisor in a large number of countries, including Sri Lanka (on bilingual education and language rights), Scotland (on national language policy, including adult literacy), Ireland (helping to produce a 20 year strategy for revival of Irish, adopted in 2009 by the government of Ireland), Thailand (on a national language plan) and other settings.
His PhD research was on national language debates in the United States on Official English. His areas of research interest include language rights, language planning, literacy and basic education rights for adults, bilingualism, Global English and especially English in Asia, Sri Lankan education and the sociology of English; Italian, Asian studies, multiculturalism, minority language maintenance and intercultural perspectives in language education.
ACAL is delighted to announce a second keynote speaker will be Bill Atweh, Curtin University of Technology
Bill Atweh is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at the Science and Mathematics Education Centre at Curtin University of Technology. His research interests include sociocultural aspects of mathematics education and globalisation, the use of action research for capacity building and critical and socially-responsible mathematics education. His publications include editing several books: Action research in practice: Partnerships for social justice in education ( Routledge); Research and supervision in mathematics and science education (Erlbaum); Sociocultural research on mathematics education: An international perspective (Erlbaum); Ripples of change: A journey in preservice teacher education reform in the Philippines (CHED); Internationalisation and globalisation in mathematics and science education (Springer) and a forthcoming book Mapping Equity and Quality in Mathematics Education (Springer). His overseas projects have taken him to Colombia, Mexico and Argentina in Latin America, Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia in Asia in addition to several destinations in North America and Europe. More recently he chaired a plenary panel discussion on Quality Mathematics Education for All at the 2008 International Congress of Mathematics Education in Mexico.
Bill will speak on
'Ethical Foundations of Critical Mathematics Education: A Socially Response-able Approach'
I will commence this talk by noting that the current policies, curricula and practices in numeracy and mathematics education are often based on an unexamined belief of their importance for the individual and society in general. I will argue for the need to re-examine the role of numeracy and mathematics education in our new times based on two phenomena. First, technological developments have lead to contradictory construction for the role of numeracy in society. While the wide spread use of technology for decision-making points to the increase in mathematization of social life, at the same time it has rendered much of the traditional numeracy and mathematics invisible. Secondly, our new times are noted by complexity, uncertainly and risk-taking that rendered traditional constructions of practice as inadequate to provide normative guidelines for educators. In order to deal with tensions faced by teachers of numeracy and mathematics, I will propose a reconstruction of critical mathematics education on ethical grounds and demonstrate how it may provide us with means to develop a self reflective practice in developing numeracy and mathematics for today’s learners.
