You are cordially invited to participate in the seminar entitled “Global Childhoods-Portraits of Living and Learning in Asia” organized by the Centre for Childhood Research and Innovation. Please kindly find the details below: Abstract: The Global Childhoods research project investigates the experiences of childhood across six cultures in Asia. The participating members are researchers based in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia. We adopt an ethnographic approach to describe children’s contemporary lives. As an initial focus point we have chosen to ask; what does it mean to be literate in your culture? How do you become literate in your own language? One of the millennium development goals is to improve living conditions of those in developing countries so that they are able to escape from poverty, disease and illiteracy. Thus, it is important to know what how (il)litracy is conceptualized in various contexts. Working with teachers and parents in an in-depth study will enable us to make a major contribution to our understandings about how we organize education and if it is best suited to global childhoods in the 21st century. In this presentation we detail how we initiated the project and discuss the initial findings in Hong Kong kindergartens and schools. Speakers: Prof. Nicola Yelland is a Research Professor in the School of Education at Victoria University in Melbourne Australia. Over the last decade her research has been related to the use of ICT in school and community contexts. She is the author of Shift to the Future: Rethinking learning with new technologies in education (Routledge, New York). Professor Yelland is the founding editor of two journals, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood and Global Studies of Childhood. Dr. I‐Fang Lee is an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Her research interests include critical issues about curriculum reforms and policy changes in early years. She draws on poststructural theories, educational philosophy, critical perspectives, and feminist theories to address issues of social equality and freedom when studying global and local changes in systems of education and care for young children and their families. Date: 12 December 2011(Monday) Time: 1:00p.m. – 2:00p.m. Venue: D2-LP-12 Medium: English A limited number of seats are available on first come first serve basis. You may register by pressing the voting button above or replying to this email.For enquiries, please contact Miss Christine Chan at 2948 6794 or cyochan@ied.edu.hk We look forward to seeing you in the seminar. Best Regards, Centre for Childhood Research and Innovation 
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