Forthcoming Conference

more information will be available here soon...

Recent Conference

The 5th Biennial International Froebel Conference: Froebel College of Education, Dublin, 12-14 April 2012.

The 5th Biennial International Froebel Conference was held in Froebel College of Education, Dublin, Thurs April 12th – Sat. 14th with the theme of "International Perspectives on Froebelian Theory and Practice".

The conference was opened by Marie McLoughlin, President, Froebel College of Education, Dublin.

Joachim Liebschner, who was unable to attend, sent a video message of good wishes which was relayed at the beginning of the conference.

Prof. Philip Nolan, President of National University of Ireland, Maynooth , of which Froebel College, Dublin is a part, attended on Friday.

105 delegates and guests from a wide variety of countries attended. Theorists, historians and practitioners from Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Norway, Spain, USA, Canada, Japan, Korea, China, New Zealand were among the presenters and delegates.

There were five keynote addresses by Prof. Helen May, University of Otago, Prof. Yumiko Suzuki , University of Hiroshima, Dr. Glenda Walsh, Queen’s University, Belfast, Dr. Kristin Nawrotzki, University of Heidelburg, Prof. Larry Proctor University of Alberta.

39 symposia, workshops and paper presentations were held in parallel sessions.

Prof. Kevin Brehoney, University of Roehampton closed the conference on Saturday.

A DROPBOX facility on the proceedings of the conference has been opened. If you wish to be invited to join please send a request through the link on the website.

Evaluation of conference

Following the conference, the evaluation forms, which were filled out by twenty-one of the delegates, were analysed. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with the respondents being particularly complimentary about the friendly welcome that they received prior to and on their arrival at the conference, the quality of the keynote addresses, paper presentations, workshops,and symposia. The attention to detail was commented on in terms of the organisation, the tasty food provided in the college and the overall sense of the whole process being good value and well-worthwhile.

Particular mention was given by many participants to the excellent keynote presentations of Professor Helen May and Dr Kristen Nawrotski. Their presentations were seen to be very relevant in terms of the international context. Some respondents urged for more of the "How does Froebel apply to teaching nowadays?" presentations. There were also a few suggestions that parallel sessions would be run in the morning and workshops in the afternoon.

Finally, the video of Joachim Liebschner was referred to by many attendees, who liked the personal link with this great exponent of the Froebel philosophy and teachings.

Previous Conferences