• New four-part online seminar series explores the conditions shaping education today

The Charles Sturt University School of Education returns with its free annual public seminar series on Tuesday 28 July which invites participants to grapple with what it calls the ‘apocalyptic’ conditions shaping education today.

Lecturer in Education in the Charles Sturt School of Education Dr Natalie Thompson is the host of the series.

She said educators across early childhood settings, schools, TAFE and universities are facing challenges like never before – from the rise of generative AI, widening inequality and exclusion, to ecological collapse, capitalism, colonialism, global conflict and social media.

Educators are being asked to respond to these pressures amid increased external scrutiny and public distrust, and education can feel somewhat apocalyptic right now.

But apocalypse does not only mean destruction; it comes from the Greek apokalypsis, to uncover or reveal.

The series begins from that more generative understanding, with the word apocalyptic not used here to catastrophise, but to consider what is being made visible in this moment, and what might re-emerge.

Across four connected panel seminars, participants will engage in discussions with a range of international and national speakers, including educators, academics, parents, activists and young people that consider the conditions shaping education today, and what might be possible in response.

Seminars are from 7pm to 8.30pm AEST on Tuesdays:

• 28 July – Naming the apocalypse
• 11 August – Education, critical consciousness and democracy
• 25 August – Teacher professionalism in the age of compliance
• 8 September – Solidarity and possibility

The series is open to all. Find out more information or register.